A day in the life

>> 6:15 wakeup call
>> 8 dozen donuts
>> 15 Tiger Cubs
>> carload of recycling
>> two naps
>> hospital class
>> Thai food with friends
>> RPG prep session
>> little bit of laundry
>> baby gymnastics
>> blogging

Man, no wonder I'm tired. I did the first of three before-hours breakfast events at work today. It went really well, even though I had one of those annoying "I'm at work and nothing's going right" anxiety dreams right before waking up this morning. All the kids and parents seemed to have a good time, and they learned some neat stuff. Plus, there were donuts. LOTS of donuts. I really feel like I have developed a knack for coming up with strong programming at work, which is both fun and rewarding. I just have to hope it keeps paying off, I suppose.

Because I'm a nerd and a bit of a Type A personality, MB and I signed up for four different preparatory classes at the hospital. We've completed two weeks of a six-week Prepared Childbirth course, we took infant and child CPR, and today we had a basics of breastfeeding class. I wasn't sure how helpful it would be, since the mantra of breastfeeding tends to be that it's natural and your body will probably know what it's doing. We went over lots of good info, though, including how many wet and dirty diapers a baby should have each day (there was a color chart of what the poo should look like. MB studied it intently and pronounced it "very helpful," and I think he was right...though it was helpful in a trainwrecky don't want to look / can't look away kind of way), how to encourage a good latch, how long I should wait before giving the baby a bottle and trying to pump for milk, and even different ways to hold the baby while nursing. It's hard to say how much I'll remember in January, but I figure having the information and the notes from the class definitely can't hurt.

I'm still a bit shellshocked that we're almost through our list of classes. I signed up for them back around 20 weeks, because we were encouraged to enroll early in case they filled up and I needed to be able to choose dates that fit with my due date and my work schedule. I distinctly remember how foolish I felt back in August, sitting at my computer with barely a belly and selecting baby-prep classes for us to take. It all seemed abstract and far-off to the point of absurdity, really. And today, MB made a widget for his desktop with a tear-off calendar announcing that there are only 60 days remaining until "Hugo's Big Day." (Still lacking an actual name for our baby, we've lately taken to calling him Hugo.) Someone told me when we announced our pregnancy that I was facing the longest seven months of my life, but I feel like it's been the opposite. This year has slipped away so fast, and as happy as I will be to meet our little dude, I am having faint panicky clutching-at-straws feelings about how soon it's going to happen. We're excited, but OMG ARE WE READY? HOW WILL WE KNOW? And realistically even if we're not ready, it's too late now! I suppose, though, this is our greatest adventure, our leap from the precipice. At least we're doing it together, and I couldn't ask for a better companion for the journey.


Speaking of the passenger, I'm attempting to win a mei tai carrier so that he can ride around in style. If you're interested (or just curious), visit Hobo Mama and check it out. You don't have to have a baby to enter, so you could always consider entering to win on my behalf ;)