Teatopia

Questions about Circumcision

In my last post, I mentioned that I had something personal to discuss, and Chas guessed that maybe it was about circumcision. Although there's more I want to talk about, I was planning on addressing this "issue" soon.

Let me just say, I'm not even sure how I feel about circumcision. It's not something I've ever thought about before. I always assumed most guys are circumcized. It's not like I go around asking, but it seems like most men are. Lately though, I've been hearing more and more about it, and now I'm not so sure what to think now. I started thinking a little about it when I got pregnant, but I decided to address the issue if it became necessary, aka if I was having a boy. After my initial joy at finding out about my son, I thought, great, now I've got to think about circumcision. My friend A circumcized her first son, but really researched it with her second son and decided not to do it for him. She regrets having done it with her first son. I obviously want to read more about it, but I was hoping maybe those of you with sons could offer me some advice. If you don't have a son but still want to share an opinion, thanks! I appreciate it.

You'll get no judgment from me. I am undecided and no matter what I end up deciding, one of the most important things about circumcision is respecting parents' rights to make their own choices. I was almost hesitant to blog about this because I've heard people get so defensive and judgmental about it. Which makes me all the more nervous about making a choice.

Ok, here's what I want to know if you feel comfortable sharing.

1) What decision did you make regarding your son? (or what decision would you make?)

2) What brought you to that decision?

3) Did you do any research before deciding?

4) Are you happy with the choice you made?

I hope people aren't too hesitant to talk about this. I'd really appreciate any input from either side.

Merry Belated Christmas!

The good news is, our Christmas was good for most of the day. I finally started feeling better after getting some antibiotics on Saturday, but then Olivia got sick Christmas afternoon and threw up all over her Santa outfit before she could even show it off. Luckily, she hasn't thrown up again, but she has a fever and bumps everywhere. I thought it might be hand, foot, & mouth disease, and the doctor confirmed it today. She has blistery bumps all over her lips, hands, feet, and behind. They aren't seeming to bother her, but she's fussy and I'm praying she doesn't get any blisters inside her mouth, which would make it hard for her to eat and drink. I don't know where in the world she picked it up. I'm always soooo OCD about cleaning things and wiping shopping carts and changing tables with anti-bacterial wipes, but that just shows me that I can't protect her from everything.

We had a fabulous Christmas. Olivia really understood it this year. It was so exciting to watch her run into the living room and see her gifts, yelling "Santa toys, mama!" Santa was good to all of us this year, even though James and I cut back on the spending for each other this year. I gots some great books and DVD's, among other things. James also got me some rare Starbucks memorabelia, which he knew I'd love. I'm such a dork. :-)

James took this Christmas morning before Olivia and I woke up. You can see the Rose Cottage we bought for Olivia. We probably should move to a bigger house just so there's more room for this thing. It conveniently folds up though and we just stick it in the corner.

While James was taking picture, me, my double chin, and Olivia were still sleeping.

top row: My pretty sister, my grandma eating a cookie*, Olivia admiring all her gifts
middle row: Olivia in awe, my blossoming belly, Olivia playing with her new doll at my parents'
bottomw row: my sister's bf drinking coffee while wearing "Billy Bob" teeth (hilarious!!), my awesome dad, Olivia in her Santa outfit before she threw up

*I believe this picture must be explained. My sister and I baked Christmas cookies-- very tasteful, appropriate cookies, but we realized that the dog bone shaped cutter we used looked quite, uh, funny, so my sister broke of part of it and turned it into something not-so-appropriate. Interestingly, although I have a religious family, they are hilarious, so we gave the cookie to my grandma to eat. At first she didn't get it, but when she saw it, she had a good laugh and played along. Funny! Hard to believe it all started with a perfectly innocent dog bone shaped cookie cutter.

Ok, I think I'll leave you with that. I do have something personal I want to talk to you all about soon. Probably in the next few days when Olivia is feeling better.

Wow, oh wow! (it's a ....)

That's all I could say when they told me the sex of the baby. It wasn't what I was expecting. I also cried because I was happy. What lucky parents we are!

So, I don't know if you know the difference between a mounds and an almond joy. There was a commercial that played on the fact that one has nuts and the other doesn't (mounds doesn't). They didn't do this when we had Olivia's ultrasound, but today, they broke the news with a candy bar.

The lady picked one up, and held her hand over it, and dropped it into James's hand so he could read the wrapper and reveal the sex. Lots of fun! At first, he was confused by the color of the wrapper, but the technician told him to read what was in it and ignore the color of the packaging, so James proudly announced that he was holding...

an Almond Joy! The baby has nuts! Boy, does he! He wasn't shy at all. He proudly opened his legs for us. My little baby boy...

Initially, I thought I'd have a boy (you may remember me saying that), but over the past week, I had an overwhelming feeling it was a girl.

It feels so strange to think we're having a boy. What do I know about boys? I'm so excited though to have one of each. It's ideal. We are so happy and excited to meet our little guy.

Here he is:

Our OBGYN won't do their ultrasound for a few weeks, but we paid to have a 16 week gender determination at a 4-D place the way we did with Olivia. What can I say? I'm impatient. Besides, they give you you a DVD of the baby and tons of pictures. It's soooo worth it!

Anyway, I went and bought the little guy an outfit today. I have a lot more shopping to do, but we've got time. Time to pack away the pink stuff! :-)

Oh, and I didn't wait to post until tonight just to drive you nuts. I have a horrible cold, and I prepared Christmas dinner tonight for my whole family, which was planned days ago and food was bought before the cold. I just didn't have the chance until now.

pink or blue?

Today's the day! We'll know soon whether Olivia will have a baby brother or sister! I'll be back to report later! :-)

Tell my truly...

Is purple eyeshadow tacky? I love purple eyeshadow, but lately, Olivia points at my eyes and laughs, calling me "grape eyes." I asked her if Daddy had grape eyes or if she had grape eyes, and she said, "no, Mommy grape eyes" and when I asked her if it was my make-up, she said yes and she knows all about make-up. She watches me put it on whenever we go out and begs for me put some on her-- she's got 15 more years for that.

So am I really so tacky that a toddler is making fun of my eyeshadow?

babies, birthing, and potty training!

Things have calmed down, finally. I'm enjoying the busyness of the holiday season-- finally got all my stuff mailed! I've been busy wrapping gifts, which is next to impossible with a toddler "helping" and also helping out my mom. She's improving a little each day, but still has a ways to go.

I'm most enjoying feeling little kicks and flutters as I go about my day, but it's also kind of freaking me out. Those of you who have more than one child need to reassure me that I'm not crazy for having another and I'll be able to handle. As Olivia gets older and more difficult-- but not in a bad way-- I'm wondering how I'll manage two of them. And I still have all those fears about loving another one as much. James gets upset whenever I express this concern because in his mind, why wouldn't I love another just as much? But I don't think he understands how it is for the mother. He doesn't have the same bond I share with Olivia. A Daddy's role is a bit different I think. She grew in MY tummy, came out of MY body, nursed from ME for 18 months. I can't imagine nursing another one that isn't Olivia. Is that weird? I feel guilty already for not being able to play "horsey" and have Olivia bouncing on my tummy.

Speaking of the new baby, I loved "The Business of Being Born" and it struck a chord in me because I related so much to it. Although I had a "typical" birth the first time, there were so many things I wasn't happy with. They made me push the second I was dilated completely, and being 10 cm does not mean you are ready to push. I never even had the urge. I think because they made me push earlier than I was ready for, it caused them to have to use the vacuum and cut me to make room not once, but twice. Had my body been ready, I might've been better at pushing her out on my own and I might not have all these bladder problems. I didn't like that I was stuck in bed because it's a proven fact that you need to move around to help the baby pass through the pelvis. They wouldn't let me drink water. I couldn't have a birth plan, which meant I had no say in anything. I don't want that again. I want freedom to be an active part of the process and not a bystander. So, I have decided to go with a certified nurse midwife, who is a nurse practitioner, but also a midwife. She works with an OBGYN practice, so if I needed a doctor, I'd have one available. It feels right. I think I'd like to try to birth naturally this time, so I am going to take a Bradley course. I think epidurals are great if that's what you want, and if I end up with one, that's ok, but I want to try to do it another way this time.

Oh!!! Guess what? We have a little potty trainee! She has initiated it all on her own and has successfully tee-teed on the potty twice. The first time was a couple nights ago. She decided to sit on her potty before her bath, and she went! Today she tried to take off her pants and when I asked her what she was doing, she said, "I go potty! Diaper off!" She sat there on the potty for a while, so finally, I left her on her little potty while I went to get a diaper, and she came running out of the bathroom yelling, "I tee-teed in potty!" Sure enough, she had! We had to tell everyone. When we called my grandma so Olivia could tell her, Olivia held the phone up right above her potty, pointing to it and yelling, "See? Look! Tee-tee in potty. See it?"

I'm not going to get really serious about it until after Christmas because we're out a lot, but I think she's more than ready!

Flutters!

Last night, I was laying on the bed after folding a pile of clothes. I was laying perfectly still, which I rarely do, because Olivia was playing with James. All of a sudden, I felt a strong, obvious movement! I am positive it was the little peanut! It actually felt strong for being the first definite movement I've felt.

I can't wait to find out the sex of the baby!!!

Losing My Mind

Lately, things have been stressful to say the least. There are times I think I'll simply lose my mind because of everything going on, and other times, I feel God's peace and I'm thankful for the blessings in my life-- and there are many.

My mom hasn't been doing so well. She's having trouble keeping up with her exercises and she's in terrible pain. I've watched people in my family have knee replacements before. There is a rare condition in my family that causes leg deformities (I'm not a carrier) so leg surgeries are nothing new, but my mom's was extremely complicated because of the severe nature of her deformities. From the outside, her legs have always looked fairly normal besides off-center knee caps, but inside, the bones are not formed properly and she's missing parts. It's going to be a long recovery.

My grandma finds out tomorrow whether or not she has cancer, pre-cancer, or something completely different. If she has cancer, I will be devestated. Few people I've ever known are as close to their grandmas as I am. I talk to her every single day. I see her several times a week, at least 4. I have never lived more than 15 minutes from her my entire life, no matter what state we were in. She is a second mother to me. I tell her everything. How many teenages do you know who talk to their grandmothers about their boyfriends? She has always been my advice giver. Seeing her with Olivia brings tears to my eyes. I know she has to go someday, but I'm not ready. She has to get to know this new baby. I am terrified. Please pray for her.

I'm trying to juggle family duties (and taking care of a high-maintenance toddler) and be a good organizer of my Christian mom's group. It's been a rough start, and although I have been diligent about not saying anything negative (besides on my blog) about the group I left (Karen's group), rumors are flying. It would take me a million years to get into everything, but I'm very confused and angry as to why our shared members (people who are in our group and Karens) have no problem with Karen talking about us behind our backs all the time (many people have told me what she says) yet people are mad at me and my co-organizer for, in their words, judging Karen. Because we left to start a Christian group, they think we must be judgmental of her and her group because it wasn't good enough. People will find fault in anything. It just makes me mad because my co-organizer and I have been so careful not to say anything negative about Karen or her group so we could keep a clean, Christian reputation, and it hasn't made any difference. People assume the worst anyway. We've been praying hard for our group, and things are better. The people who just wanted drama are gone, and the ones left are awesome, Christian moms with awesome kids. Before I end this topic, I have to say one thing that gave me just a little satisfaction, even if it's wrong to feel this way. Karen has tried hard to eliminate any group in the area but hers. I've heard her say things about other groups in the past, so I have no doubt she hates ours, too. She "coincidentally" schedules events at the same time as ours, and yesterday, she scheduled an event at the library at the same time as ours. We couldn't be sure she did it on purpose, but it's a safe bet. Well, when we got there, she was arguing with the library because she wanted her "usual" room, the one we were in. They explained that we booked it first, so really, by scheduling her event at the same time, she screwed herself out of her room. Maybe she learned something. I can proudly say that I've done nothing to hurt her or her group and I don't see it as a competition. I don't want her members. I left them for a reason. :-) If I only have a few members who are kind, drama-free people, I'll be thrilled.

I think all the stress and physical stuff I've been doing (cleaning, helping my mom, baking for friends and family, carrying heavy packages to the post office) has caused me to spot again. It's light, and there's no cramping or dark red blood. The doctor assures me all is well with the little one (and I think I'm feeling flutters maybe), but I know I'm doing too much. I wish I had a day to myself. Tomorrow night, I'm going with some friends to see "The Business of Being Born" hosted by our local birth network, so I'm excited about that. It might help me make some decisions about the birth I want this time.

In Olivia news, she is as funny as ever.

She insists regularly that she "pegnant" and says "Have beebee in my tummeeeee." She tells me she loves me all time time and that I'm pretty. Then she says, "eeeya (she calls herself this) pretty, too!" She calls Santa everyday on her pretend phone and tells him she wants a dolly. It makes me tear-up seeing her do all these things. Her vocabulary continues to amaze me. She's speaking better than most 2 year olds I know. The pediatrician assures us she's extremely advanced. :-) I just need to remind myself all kids learn at different paces and this next one might be totally different. I'm guessing that unlike Olivia, he/she will walk early and talk much later and be the total opposite.

We find out the sex in a week and a half. Don't forget to vote.

Well, that concludes this update. Time for bed...

Please pray for my family

I haven't been online much this passed week because my mom had major surgery and we've had family visiting. My mom had a complete knee reconstruction and replacement on Thursday. Originally, she was scheduled for surgery on Dec. 27, but she was in so much pain they decided to move it up. My mom was born crippled, and although she walks fine because of surgeries she had as a baby, her bone structure isn't normal and she has degenerating bones, causing her a lot of pain. The surgery was atypical because of the way my moms knee structure is, so the surgeon had to do a lot of studying and planning in order to re-build everything, but he's confident he did a good job. It's going to be a long recovery though.

Also, my grandma had a bone marrow test yesterday to see what's going on with her consistantly low platelet count and the possibilities are not so good.

If you could, please pray for my mom and grandma.

I promise to be a better blogger, I've just had a lot of family stuff this week, and that has to come first.

Right now, James is out buying more Christmas lights to put up outside. We've never decorated much outside and we completely underestimated what we'd need when we bought some last week. We're hoping to get them all up by tomorrow.

Anyway, I hear James pulling up and Olivia is fussing. She only napped for 15 minutes today, so she's been pretty difficult.

Great Books of 2007

I'm going to follow GFF's lead and tell you about the best books I read this year.

Reading is what I look forward to at the end of a long day. After Olivia and James are snoozing away beside me, I quietly grab my current read-- the book on top of the huge stack next to my bed-- and snap on my book light. Then, I'm taken to another place.

These are the best books I read this past year:

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
This is the fascinating story of a Bengali family living in America. The son, Gogol Ganguli, hates his names and wants to change it, until he finds out how meaningful the name really is. This was a great read, and I'd recommend it to anyone. I am seriously DYING to see this movie. It's on my Netflix list, and my Christmas list too!

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
At first, this book seemed odd to me and somewhat hard to follow, but the more I read, the more drawn in I was. I literally couldn't put this book down. It's the story of Henry, who I found myself having a crush on, who uncontrollably travels through time constantly, meeting his love at different stages in her life until they finally meet in the present. I became very emotionally involved and found myself crying when it was over, which I rarely do.

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
Wow. This book broke my heart and fascinated me at the same time. It's the autobiographical story of the author, who grew up in extreme poverty, yet her family was loving and valued education. Her parents made crazy choices like choosing to be homeless while their kids wanted normal lives. It's amazing anyone lives like this, yet strangely, in some ways, her family wasn't so dysfunctional.

The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd
This was a lighter read-- a great beach book I think, especially since it's vivid descriptions of the island and sea found me wishing I was laying in the sun while reading. In the story, a middle-aged mother and wife goes home to help her crazy mother and falls in love with a monk living at the monestary on the island. She goes through a string of emotions about what to do about her husband and how to handle her intense feelings for the monk.

Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert
I'm still reading this book, and already I'm totally into it. Anything cultural fascinates me, so the fact this woman felt drawn to leave her life and explore these three places is just completely fascinating to me. I didn't used to be a big biography reader, but I'm finding more and more that I love having insight into an author's soul, and this author holds nothing back.