Currently listening

Yesterday I mentioned cleaning while listening to podcasts, so I thought that I would give an update on all of the podcasts that I am tuning into these days. Most of these podcasts have "seasons" which means that I am thankfully not trying to listen to 10+ podcasts on a weekly basis.

NPR Podcasts

Embedded- This is a fairly new podcast hosted by Kelly McEvers (who also hosts NPR's All Things Considered). Every week she takes a topic and does a deep dive into it for about 40 minutes. The first episode really hooked me as she followed the story of Opana users in Indiana (her second to last episode gave an update on one of the users too). I look forward to every episode.

Invisibilia- This podcast ended its first season back in February of last year but just updated that new episodes will be starting next month! Hopefully this season will be longer than the first one as I found every story fascinating (enough to write a blog post about one of the episodes).

Serial- Ahhh the original podcast that got me started on listening to podcasts. As most of you know, the first season about Adnan Syed was amazing. I wasn't super excited about the second season focusing on Bowe Bergdahl so I sort of shelved the podcast for a while. Now that the second season has ended, I have downloaded all of the episodes and I am binge listening to them and finding it very enjoyable once again. I'm curious to see what they cover next season.

Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me- I don't subscribe to this podcast, but I do listen to it if I miss the show on Saturday mornings on NPR.

Freakonomics- I also don't subscribe to this podcast, but will listen to the shows every once in a while when I think the topic is interesting. I definitely listen to it more when Game of Thrones is not on and I have more time for other podcasts. :-)

Game of Throne Podcasts

Yes, I can't believe it but I have a category for just GOT podcasts as I have NEVER gotten this into a show, but I do listen to THREE different podcasts. I'm such a nerd.

EW's Game of Thrones Weekly- I just started listening to this podcast this year and I find the hosts to have an interesting discussion of the show. Plus sometimes they have insider tips because they interview people on the show.

Nerdette Recaps Game of Thrones with Peter Sagal- I love me some Peter Sagal (host of Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me- see above) so last year when I heard about this podcast, I knew that I had to listen. The hosts have a good rapport with each other and make the recap funny so it is always the first GOT recap that I listen to.

A Cast of Kings- A Game of Thrones Podcast- Sometimes the hosts get too down on the show and are too picky, but overall I like that one of the hosts hasn't read the books (like me) and the other host has read the books. 

Misc. Podcasts

Jesse vs. Cancer- Originally I was tipped off about this podcast by Mel and I got hooked pretty quickly. Jesse Case is a comedian that has Stage 4 ass cancer (his phrasing) and while sometimes he can go off on rambling topics that have me fast forwarding the podcast, his frank talk about cancer and other things in life is really interesting.

Criminal- This mostly weekly podcast has fairly short (20-30 min) episodes on a huge variety of topics. One week they will dive into an 1800s murder case, the next week they are talking to a courtroom sketch artist, the following week they are talking about a case where someone poisoned a huge tree in TX. You never know what you are going to hear on this podcast.

Mystery Show- A quirky podcast of (so far) only 6 episodes. The premise is sort of silly- this woman finds "mysteries" that can't be solved just by Googling and proceeds to try to solve them. I think that what makes this podcast so interesting is that she has a knack of getting random people to open up to her so you hear random backstories that are fascinating despite their lack of ties to the investigation.

Limetown- A fictional podcast about 300 people that disappear from a town in TN. The host of the podcast works for an NPR-like organization and chronicles her investigations into what happened to everyone. There were a few characters that needed to dial down their acting on the podcast, but I did get hooked at the beginning and couldn't stop listening. I hope there is a second season!

My sister's podcast- Because this blog is anonymous, I actually can't name my sister's podcast but I do look forward to listening to it every week. She has had a good range of guests on the show and she is rather funny. For Mother's Day she actually interview my mom for the show and her intro on how amazing our mom is made me want to cry on my walk to work.

So that's what I listen to these days....mainly on my train ride to/from work, my walk to/from the train to work, when cleaning, and when taking Buster for walks. I find that I haven't been reading any books lately because if I have time, I am listening to podcasts! Do you have a podcast that you love that isn't on my list? Please tell me about it!

Sick days and mom guilt

Yesterday I took a needed sick day. Over the weekend I could feel the sickness starting and Sunday night I was fairly miserable with a cough that while productive, was leaving a bloody/metallic taste in my mouth. I didn't sleep well that night and when I woke up, achy, still coughing, and exhausted, I decided not to go into work.

Faced with the prospect of not working AND not having Izzy at home all day, after dropping her off at daycare and taking a short walk with Buster before it got too hot out, I went back to bed for almost two hours. It was glorious.

CP and I had a conference call with our financial advisor to talk to her about the house remodel, I had lunch, and then the mom guilt kicked in. I was still coughing, but no longer achy, and I was feeling rested. I needed to show that I actually did something with my time so I fired up some podcasts and did four loads of laundry, vacuumed rugs, swept floors, cleaned the kitchen, and cleaned the bathrooms. It actually was sort of enjoyable when listening to my podcasts at the same time (must have been a combination of the podcasts distracting from what I was doing and nesting).

But man, this mom guilt is crazy. When I was in the third trimester with Izzy, if I had a free day I would have felt somewhat obligated to do something with my time if I was feeling better, but I wouldn't necessarily do it. This time around I knew that I couldn't squander the entire day. I had taken care of myself that morning by sleeping, but I needed to justify the day off. CP was quite surprised when he came home and the house was so clean.

Today I am back at work, still coughing but not always tasting blood in my throat. I need to save my sick time so that I can get paid during my maternity leave, so I can't really afford to take any more days off. I don't really have the abs to do all of this coughing and I'm sure the baby is wondering what is going on with all of the belly shaking when I do cough! Fingers crossed I am feeling better by this weekend as it is my sister's wedding and I'm going to be tired enough from all of the activities without being sick as well.

Snippets

So many thoughts, so little time to flesh them out into longer posts.

*Tomorrow I will have hit 30 weeks in this pregnancy and I'm so happy that I have made it this far. Although I know that this will be my last pregnancy and that I should savor being pregnant, I'm already ready to be done. Believe me, I feel horrible for saying that. I don't have any major issues other than sciatica pain, but being pregnant with a toddler is hard. I truly don't know how SAHM do it because at least I get a "break" during the workweek. I know that even after birth I won't truly get my body back because I will be recovering from the c-section and nursing for a while, but this 37 year old is looking forward to it. Eight more weeks.

*Last week CP and I were in the middle of a conversation and he mentioned if it would be possible for me to get my tubes tied while I had the c-section. Uhhh whaaaat?? We have NEVER talked about this before and frankly before this miracle pregnancy, we would have never thought that it needed to be talked about either. We are definitely done after two kids but I sort of thought that I would just take birth control pills. He hasn't mentioned it since then so I am not sure if this is something that he actually wants to talk about or not.

*Today I dropped off all of my leftover meds at my RE's office from the cycle that never was. Hopefully a self-pay person is very happy as some of the more expensive medications were part of the huge bag that I dropped off (Gonal f, Menopur, Ganerelix, Minivelle patches, etc). The staff was very nice and they were excited to see my baby bump. As I drove away it felt like a huge weight had fallen off my shoulders. Maybe after having this baby I can go back to the healthy person I was prior to trying to have a baby.

*With two kids in the house, we are trying to determine whether we get a double stroller or just get an add-on so that Izzy can stand on the stroller if she gets tired of walking. We don't use the stroller with Izzy right now and haven't in a while, but do have to carry her when we are walking around a lot. I think that if I was a SAHM I would get a double, but we would only use it on the weekends so right now I don't think we need one?

*Other than the stroller stand thing, I think that the only other thing we need to buy for the baby is an Ergo carrier. I used one with Izzy but it was borrowed from my friend and she is currently using it with her newest kid. Luckily, my friend that gave me the Bjorn didn't need it back so I will use that for when the baby is small and then transition to the Ergo when he gets a little heavier and I need more back support.

*CP and I are currently mulling over options to remodel our house. We may have an opportunity because of my very generous parents to expand the house now (well, next summer) instead of waiting many years until daycare payments are over. Stay tuned.

Almost Wordless Wednesday

It's picture time!

Once Izzy's indoor soccer class finished up its winter session, we decided to enroll her into swim class as she did so well while we were in Hawaii. CP enjoys going with her weekly to the class and Izzy really loves it. 

Waiting for swim class to start

On Saturday we went to a local nursery to see if we could find any shrubs, trees, or bushes that might work in the back of our property so that we have some privacy with the neighbors (we took out two trees in January as they were dying). We ended up coming home with two blue flowered Roses of Sharon and three Chokeberries. 

Hard to see the new plants amid the daylilies so let's hope they start to grow quickly. :-)

CP didn't have much planned for Mother's Day (grumble, grumble) so I guess the plants were my Mother's Day gift?

Sorry for the upside picture, but here is what the plants will look like later in the year.

Luckily Izzy saved the day with her made-in-daycare fake bouquet of flowers. She burst into the bathroom and shouted "Happy Mother's Day Mommy!" with no prompting from CP. 

For actual Mother's Day we went into city to meet friends for dim sum brunch (2nd annual!). Afterwards we hit up some of the nearby shops before heading home. 

I went to the mall while CP tried to put Izzy down for a nap and found two maternity dresses for my sister's upcoming wedding (phew!). Izzy didn't nap and was quite frustrating the rest of the day (the fun included pee accidents- weee!). Not quite the Mother's Day I envisioned, but CP made me my requested dinner- a Rosemary Chicken with Avocado and Bacon salad and it was delicious. Highly recommended!

Otherwise, we have been busy outside now that it has been a little nicer. Izzy has been enjoying her bubble machine that I found at Walgreens for less than $10. She loves to run around after the bubbles and it beats her spilling bubbles all over the place.

Last year we didn't do any mulch so this year we had 7 cubic yards of mulch delivered to our driveway so that we could spread it around the yard. We are almost done (I'm not much help but my job has been to weed the beds before we put the mulch down).

Izzy has been helping as well.

Finally, this picture and her outfit just makes me laugh. The rain boots (it wasn't raining that day) and the fuzzy bunny purse that my MIL sent her definitely make the outfit. (groan)

This weekend

I know that I am crying at everything these days, but this video that Leah made had me sobbing.

Second trimester bump pictures

My how things change during the second trimester!

15 weeks
Whatcha doing Mommy?

16 weeks
Woof woof woof?

17 weeks
In Hawaii!

18 weeks
In Hawaii!

19 weeks

20 weeks

22 weeks
(I missed 21 weeks)

23 weeks
Buster is bored this time around

24 weeks
Yes, Buster follows me everywhere these days

25 weeks
Yep, Buster in the background again

26 weeks
I'm not joking. He is quite the stalker.

Second trimester recap

I'm officially into the third trimester as of this weekend! Yay for 27 weeks!

It's funny to look back on my last second trimester recap with Izzy to see the similarities between the two pregnancies and the differences.

Similarities

• I gained my energy back in the second trimester. I didn't need as many naps and I was somewhat better rested and ready to deal with a toddler. 
• I started to get some swelling in my fingers and feet, especially if I was out walking a lot in hot weather or on the flight back from Hawaii.
• Despite the posterior placenta placement, I didn't feel the baby until 18 weeks. Maybe because I have had less time to sit down and really concentrate on whether I was feeling something? This time around instead of feeling bubbles in the beginning, I started feeling kicks right off the bat.
• Hard belly after eating and/or drinking.
• A fairly stable mood with some odd instances of crying (see at Sesame Street Live with Izzy). :-)
• Sadly, Harry the Hemorrhoid and his friend Biff never truly went away after my last pregnancy. So far I haven't had any issues with burning or itching from them but I know that they will want to make themselves known soon. Ugh.

Differences

• Bleeding gums after flossing. That one has been interesting and required me to get an electronic toothbrush. Hopefully my gums are not as sensitive in a few months! 
• Shooting pain in my breasts. I don't remember that from last time....
• Insomnia. Ugh. Although I haven't been as tired, I basically dread going to bed every night because the combination of hip pain, bathroom wake-ups, and overall uncomfortableness makes it so that I am rarely happy with my night of sleep.
• At my 19 week appointment I had a pain in the side of belly when the doctor put the doppler on to get Baby Boy's heartbeat. She checked it out on ultrasound and couldn't find anything wrong and thankfully the pain was gone by the time my Level II ultrasound rolled around.
• I'm not sure when I started to have to pee all of the time last time but around 21 weeks I felt the need to pee only 10 minutes after peeing the first time.
• Aching legs.
• My wedding ring came off very early this time- around 19 weeks. As long as it stays cool my engagement ring should be on for a while.
• Huffing and puffing after walking up the stairs- especially if I am carrying Izzy at the same time. This didn't start until the third trimester last time so this doesn't bode well for the next 11 weeks.
• Around 24 weeks I started to see the baby kick and move my stomach already!
• Sore and swollen labia. This is probably TMI, but it's super annoying and uncomfortable when sitting down at work all day.
• While my fingernails and toenails are growing like crazy, the hair on my legs is growing very slowly. That worked out well when we had a really nice day a couple of weeks ago and I hadn't shaved my legs in probably two weeks. The black hairs on my chin were growing rapidly in the beginning of the pregnancy, but have slowed down their growth recently.
• An oh-so-fun trip to Labor & Delivery at 26 weeks.

So far I have gained 17 pounds in this pregnancy. I assume that I am going to gain a bit more than in my pregnancy with Izzy (I think that I gained 20 or 25 pounds?), but I hope not too much more as the more I put on, the harder it will be to get it off.

Onwards and upwards to the exhausting third trimester!