The Mama Pirate

walking the plank of motherhood

May 22, 2013
by SarahK
0 comments

Pregnancy Update: 28 weeks

28 weeks pregnant

How far along? 28 weeks, 78 days left!
Total weight gain/loss:  +6 pounds? Honestly I’m not watching my weight this time since I’m not ballooning out like I did with B.
Sleep: Betterish now that we’re working on B sleeping in his room and I have half the bed to myself.
Best moment this week: Laying on the couch watching Battlestar Gallactica with Hubby. He had his hand on my stomach and baby kept kicking and wiggling.
Symptoms: Ohhh the indigestion and heartburn. Even water gives me pain.
Symptoms I DON’T have:  Swelling is still at a minimum. No nausea.
Food cravings: Ravioli and lasagna. We don’t have an Italian restaurant here so whatever I want like that, I have to make. Which is too much of a pain in this heat.
Food aversions: Not too much bothers me really.
Gender: Boy
Labor Signs: Nope.
Belly Button in or out? In.
What I miss: Being able to reach my toenails to paint them.
What I am looking forward to: This sounds crazy, but I’m looking forward to Halloween this year. I love dressing up B and can’t wait to come up with a costume for him and his baby brother.
Weekly Wisdom: Peppermint Tums are so much better than the fruit flavored ones because the mint cools the acid burning feeling.
Milestones: I hit third trimester!

May 14, 2013
by SarahK
0 comments

I really didn’t mean to co-sleep

Last year when Hubby went on the road, B started having a hard time sleeping. He would have nightmares and wake up crying and would grind his teeth. It was a terrible time and I started having him sleep in bed with me so that I could wake him up.

That continued for months and I didn’t know how to stop. He seemed to sleep better when he was in my room and I felt better having him where I could wake him up to stop the teeth grinding. Hubby was only home every other weekend so it didn’t really bother him. When he was home, he would just wait for B to fall asleep and then move him into his room for the night.

Finally this past January Hubby got a dedicated (meaning home every night) job. B’s remaining nightmares and teeth grinding have totally stopped. It was apparently just the stress of never knowing when Daddy would be home or for how long that was causing his sleep problems.

Unfortunately though, B is still co-sleeping with us which has become a problem. He wakes up in his room if moved there and just comes and gets into bed with us which doesn’t work. He is a very active sleeper and kicks and rolls and wakes up Hubby who has to get up sometimes at 3:30AM for work. It is also a problem for me as I get rounder from pregnancy and need more space to get comfortable.

Hubby and I have decided it is time for B to sleep in his room again. B isn’t happy because he says he is scared of the shadows in the windows. Shadows in the windows sound scary, even to me.

We’re now leaving a lamp on in his room, the kitchen light on, a nightlight in the hallway, and the bathroom light on. We have a bedtime routine and go check on him every twenty minutes to make sure he is staying in bed until he falls asleep. If he comes to get in bed, we lead him back to his room. Over and over and over.

It hasn’t worked for a full night yet but I know that we just need to stick with it. In the meantime, I’m resigned to being tired.

Keep Calm and Make Coffee

via Pinterest

Any advice on anything else that might help us get B to stay in his bed is appreciated. 

May 11, 2013
by SarahK
1 Comment

Pregnancy cravings: junk food vs. real food

Since I’ve started staying home, I’ve really worked on cooking fresh, real foods. Mostly because I’ve scared myself silly about GMO’s and preservatives, but also out of boredom. No more boxed stuff like Hamburger Helper or Pasta Roni. It has been a great learning experience but not always easy since I’d never really cooked before. When I get frustrated, I remind myself that my grandma cooked 3 meals a day, every day, with 6 kids running around.

Lately though I’ve been having crazy pregnancy cravings for junk food. Processed, preservative filled, junk food. Some things I’ve come up with substitutes for, thanks to the internet. The homemade pasta roni was delicious and the recipe is definitely a keeper. Next time I’m going to try it  with chicken broth instead of chicken bouillon and water.

Some things I just can’t come up with anything that will taste the same.  Like Chef Boyardee ravioli. I finally caved and bought some and devoured it. B asked to try it and thankfully said that it tasted yucky.  I don’t think it helped that I had layered processed American cheese throughout it. It was like something out of a public school cafeteria.

Oh and those chocolate covered donuts that you get from the gas station, wrapped in cellophane?  They have a weird waxy texture which would normally gross me out to no end, but right now they are delicious. Of course no decent recipe in it’s right mind would replicate the waxy texture which seems to be what appeals to me the most. It is almost like licking a chocolate flavored candle.

We’re a one car family and usually these whacked out cravings come during the day, when Hubby is at work and I have no car. By the time he gets home, usually they will have passed. But not always.

Any mamas out there have tips on not giving in to the cravings? I only have 89 more days to get through!

May 8, 2013
by SarahK
2 Comments

It has been a tough couple of days for me. Bring 600+ miles away from home and not knowing anyone else here, aside from Hubby and B, makes me sad some days.

The other night Hubby was nearly 2 hours late getting home. His phone went straight to voicemail and I hadn’t had any messages from him since that morning.

Now I’m not a clingy wife but I was getting really freaked out. All I could think about was that he’d been in some terrible accident and what we would do if that happened. Of course Hubby did get home and was fine, just totally worn out from an extra long day, with a dead cell phone.

I know I need to try harder to make friends but I don’t know how. This is sort of what you’d call a one horse town and there aren’t many places for socialization. I’m not the sort of person who can just walk up to other moms at the grocery store and start a conversation, ending with an exchange of numbers and tentative play date. Then again, I don’t know many people who could.

How do you make friends when you don’t know anyone? When there is no one to make introductions? Until we moved here, I’d lived in the same city my whole life and had friends from all the way back in middle school.

I’ve just had some really lonely days and pregnancy hormones aren’t helping. I hate feeling so sad and alone. It has to get better eventually and I’m sure it will. In the meantime I’m just going to hang onto the fact that I still have internet and a phone to reach home when I need to.