Baby, George, and Brackets

Thanks for everyone's concern lately. Everyone wants to know what's going on (which I appreciate) but I didn't want to bore everyone with too much of my complaining. Anyhow, yes, I'm still pregnant. The contractions I was having earlier seem to have become less frequent and regular than they were. They did get down to about 10 minutes apart for quite a while, but then puttered out. Of course, I still have some and they are still as intense, and I don't expect that to change. I know that my body is practicing for the big day, and, for the moment, I don't feel like things are as imminent as I thought they were earlier this week.

As someone put it to me this morning: "This is new territory for you!" Indeed. I've read all the articles, I've done all the research, but I've never been through this part of a pregnancy. My trouble is that I can't see beyond two days from now in terms of being pregnant. I know nothing will happen today. Probably nothing tomorrow. Who knows after that? And as each day passes, I just move up my wait-and-see approach another two days. It's about all I can do, as I just can't grasp being like this for 5 more weeks. That is like forever! In fact, here's proof that it is forever:

for·ev·er
[fawr-ev-er]

–adverb
1. without ever ending; eternally: to last forever.
2. continually; incessantly; always: He's forever complaining.

–noun
3. an endless or seemingly endless period of time: It took them forever to make up their minds.

—Idiom
4. forever and a day, eternally; always: They pledged to love each other forever and a day.
5. the last five weeks of a woman’s pregnancy

Use forever in a Sentence:
The last five weeks of a woman’s pregnancy are without question “forever!”

See?! It's true. Ok so maybe I fudged a bit on that, but it might as well be. I guess I need to get myself a distraction. I've gotten so many things done so I would be ready for the big day, that now I don't have much left to do but obsess with my discomforts, which is just as well since I don't have the physical capacity to do anything anyways. So I just sit around and wonder...and wait...and wonder...

Meanwhile, so as to not bore everyone too much, I invite you to indulge in our latest tribulations here at the Orsetti household. No, it's not about the 30 minutes it takes Kestian to eat a small bowl of green beans at dinner. No, it's not about the screenings I have to do every time the kids "wash" their hands. This is about bedtime!

Oooo! Bedtime! Such a fun topic. We have always had such "fun" times with this aspect of the day. Anymore, though, we have a pretty set routine: potty, bath, brush teeth, stories, hug and kisses, bedtime. It's mostly the last part, the actual "bedtime," that continues to be a ... uh... challenge. You see, the kids like to talk to each other before they fall asleep. No one here has a problem with that. But this often goes on for a good hour or so. It also often includes team trips to the bathroom, to get a Kleenex, to get lip gloss, to get a drink of water, etc. Or it involves calls to Mommy or Papa to ask about important before-you-fall-asleep questions like: Why can't I ever see any bats? or Can we name the baby "Pickle?"

The other night was just one of those nights. Everyone was getting up. Everyone was calling for Mommy or Papa. I finally pulled out the big guns, and after one or two warnings, took away their sleeping toys. Of course this was met with protest, but of course I had to follow through. Laa-Laa, Big Pooh, and the Lorax were taken. No one was happy. A few minutes later, Damon heard footsteps upstairs and he went to investigate. He overheard the following:

"Kestian, we're going to keep George and not give it back until Mommy give us back our toys."

This was Adelaide whispering to Kestian, in a most devious voice to be sure. So Damon walked in and said "Where's George?" to the most shocked children evar.

Stunned, Adelaide finally spoke up, and with no loyalty whatesoever, immediately offered up her brother: "Kestian!" she said, who then produced the infamous George.

You may, by now, be wondering who or what is "George?" George is only my favorite teddy bear from back when I was a child. I still have him and he sits on our bed. I was trying to find a picture of him to show all of you, but Damon thought it best to use an artistic interpretation instead. Here is Damon's 60-second rendition, created in Paint:


Here's mine:

Yes. It is hard to draw with a mouse. It's also hard to draw. Sorry Mom. I think your talent skipped a generation.

Just in case you are still curious, here's what George probably looked like when he was new:


Now just add about 25 years of love and hugs to that....

So yes, we have little schemers in the house. We are actually quite proud. They came up with a plan. They executed it. They worked together. They also sold each other out at the first sign of trouble. Awesome!

Now, getting back to my not-so-quiet misery, since I need a distraction from this all-consuming belly, I have recently put my energy into Damon's work. I'm talking about March Madness, baby! Damon put together the bracket, I entered it to win! He's picked West VA to win it all. I'm good with that. GO... uh, what's their team's name? Oh! GO Mountaineers!