Day 6 – A Day in the Life of Me

Yesterday's post was a deeper one, so today's maybe will be a bit more lighthearted. And since I'm not getting to this until the evening, it may have to be a recap of quirky every day life that has taken place today. 

I'm somewhat trying to relax and not go into labor until Saturday. I know it's kind of ridiculous to try and plan the perfect delivery scenario... yet I'm trying anyways. With Ruth, one of my best friends was working at Beaches Baptist, the hospital I was going to deliver at, as a labor and delivery nurse. We happened to get very lucky and she was working the night I went into labor and Ruth was born. I don't know what the opposite of the perfect storm is, but that's what I would call it. Unfortunately for us, but fortunate for everyone delivering at Baptist Downtown, she is now working the night shifts over there. So there isn't a chance of getting lucky and walking into our own hospital here at the beach with her as our nurse. But if we can just make it through one more night, she is off until next week and can still be a part of Henry's delivery.

So today, I intended to relax a good bit and probably let Ruth watch entirely too much Daniel Tiger. Though we didn't leave the house today, we did so many things inside the house instead. Yesterday, Ruth was helping me wash clothes. I had a few things of my own to wash and put in the hospital bag that is still only partially packed. But this time around, I'm ok with that. I'm fairly certain I was in labor at my house with Ruth and still throwing things in the bag until the moment we left for the hospital. I'm confident I'll be doing the same this time. Plus we live about 90 seconds from the hospital. Did I ever mention that Andrew and I actually did a test run to the hospital to time it before Ruth was born? So that should tell you there's literally nothing any of my new mom friends or soon to be moms out there could do that I would consider too embarrassing or over the top at this point... 

I have completely turned into my husband and derailed where I was going with all of that. Ok, back on track. Ruth is a wonderful helper. I know in many scenarios, perhaps that could be said with a fair dose of sarcasm. In this case I'm being serious. Being close to full term in this pregnancy though, there are some things that I could genuinely use some assistance with. If I get the clothes out of the washer and hand them to her, she's quite good about shoving them all in the dryer. Her height works out well for this situation. And she's really the perfect person to unload the dryer into the basket when it's done so that I don't have to bend down at all. She will even empty the lint trap for me. 

As Ruth was helping me put some of her clothes in with mine that I had grabbed from her hamper, she quickly realized that she had much more in her hamper than that... silly mom. So she emptied the hamper and brought sweet little armloads of clothes to the washing machine, hopped up on her stool, and dumped each piece in. This is one of those activities that she was completely content to do and took about 10-15 minutes for her to make all of her trips and get everything in. I consider that a major win for me, needing a slight break from the activity. Plus it's way more fun to watch her. And by fun, I mean I am so proud of her and she is such a big girl, yet I'm also crying a little on the inside at how much she can do on her own. 

Back to the laundry. Today was the day we actually folded it all. That part is still a bit more of a game for Ruth. As in, I fold it all and she sees how quickly she can grab it and toss it in the air like confetti. I'd say for the most part I'm hiding in my laundry room trying to fold it on top of the dryer as quickly as I can, then shuffling out to the various rooms to put it away, also as quickly as I can. As I was sorting Ruth's clothes, I realized that all of her grandparents are a vacationing bunch of people. All of her pajama tshirts are from various places in the world. I also realized just how much I could use a vacation about now. That thought evaporated quickly as I heard the words "Mama! I pee!" for the nineteenth time this morning. Ruth likes to keep things interesting for us because that could mean that she has already peed or that she needs to go pee. Here's an added layer of fun - Ruth calls pee, poop, and farts all by the same word, which is pee. She's a smart cookie, and we've corrected her a thousand times, but she's stubborn as all get out. So my dear little princess could've just farted and yet she's got you running in the room to see if she just peed. It's fun.

After the laundry was finally folded and put away, I started doing dishes. Now I must say, I rarely do the dishes. Andrew does them almost daily to which I'm very thankful. Occasionally he will joke that I could step up and do the dishes if I wanted, to which I usually reply that I'd be happy to, if he could just make the Costco run this weekend with Ruth. That my friends is why he's perfectly content to keep right on doing those dishes, while leaving most all of the other household management tasks to me. Even just taking Ruth to Publix up the street for a few things can be quite the event. That trip is now officially impossible without a trip to the bakery for a cookie first. And those trips only last as long as that cookie does...

While doing the dishes today, I heard the "Mama, I pee!" coming from the bathroom. Ruth has finally figured out how to pretty well pull down and up her underwear on her own, so this could have been past or present tense pee. I went running to the bathroom and she had in fact peed... and then attempted to empty her potty into the toilet on her own. Dear Jesus in heaven. There was pee everywhere! This nonsense right here is why it's so hard to get stuff done during the day. Just saying. Stay at home moms aren't sitting around watching soap operas and eating bon bons. 

Ruth and I took a long, well-deserved nap this afternoon. I somewhat succeeded in resting more than cleaning or organizing, at least compared to the morning. When I saw that Andrew had pulled in the driveway, I told her to start calling for daddy because I thought he was home. I absolutely have to get this on video one day because it's adorable. Instead of putting her hands by her mouth to call out for someone, she always puts her hands up by her eyes almost like goggles. So she will run through the house to the front door calling for her daddy with her little hands at her temples. I want to remember her doing that forever.

I put Ruth to bed tonight around 7:50 or so. I think she's developing a bit of night owl tendencies like her mom and dad. A good hour or so later, I heard her talking to herself. She yelled "Mama!" at one point, but I did not give in. I'm on to the games that child plays...

So assuming no baby delivering takes place tonight, tomorrow it's on! I'm going to start eating spicy food around lunchtime and will have only spicy meals until this baby boy arrives. If you see me at Publix in the morning stocking up on spicy salsa and pineapple, don't ask questions. Just wish me luck with this baby!