Baby Update

I just wanted to post a quick update on the baby news. Today is my official due date, and not shockingly, there is no sign that he is going to show up any time soon. I had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday and I'm dilated 1cm and 50% effaced. I've been that since about 36 weeks. A little disappointing that I haven't progressed much, but I'm trying to stay positive. At least I have 1 less centimeter to dilate. I also have a non-stress test scheduled for Monday and another doctor's appointment on Tuesday. The doc told me that if I don't go into labor by then, she will schedule me for induction on Thursday. Normally, I would be very against being induced. I had to have Pitocin with Sam, although I wasn't induced, and it was a horrible experience. However, the last several months have been very difficult for me, so I welcome the opportunity to have this baby as soon as possible. And if it's by induction, so be it. Plus, it's nice to know that I have an actual end date in sight. Sam was 11 days late and I am more than happy not to have to repeat that. Here are a couple of pictures of me in my final stages of pregnancy. I'm not sure how I look, but I feel like a bloated whale.

The Light at The End of The Tunnel

I have officially one week until my due date. It's wonderful to know that there is an end in sight. Bless my doctor too, because she told me she'd only let me go a week overdue if I don't go into labor on my own. Sam was almost two weeks late. There are days when I wish the baby were here already though...sometimes I wish he would have come 2 weeks ago. By the end of a pregnancy you feel like you've been pregnant forever, and you don't remember what it was like to not be that way. I'm pretty sure most pregnant women feel this way. At least I'm not an elephant. (I'm only as big as one.) They're pregnant for 2 years. That's what I've heard anyway. I'm tired of this big belly getting in the way of everything. Plus, I don't know what my feet look like anymore. I'll have to ask Chris to give me a description.

However, right now, (and probably only in this moment) I'm glad for the time I have left until my due date. I want to enjoy my little family of three as long as I can before we become a family of four. Plus, anybody who knows me knows that I am a compulsive list maker. I have a 2-page list of everything that needs to be cleaned in the house before baby C arrives. I've got the "nesting" urge, but I don't quite seem to have the energy to get any of it done. I think it is very important that the walls get wiped down and the hall closet gets organized before I go into labor. (Just a testament of how neurotic a pregnant woman can be...but then again, maybe it's just me.)

My biggest concern though is just having two kids. Sure, it'll be fine when Chris is home because then we can each man a kid. But when I'm alone, it's two against one. I worry about things like going to the grocery store or the post office. It already takes 5 minutes just to get Sam in and out of the car to make a 30-second drop off to the dry-cleaners. Is it going to take 10 minutes now? I need the advice and wisdom of all mothers of two (or more) on how to manage these seemingly simple tasks. Any mother who can do this is Super Woman in my book. But I ask you, am I worrying for no reason? Is it going to be much easier than I'm anticipating or will it be as scary as I think? I usually run to my two best friends, Ben and Jerry...once, twice, sometimes three times a day for comfort. But it seems the comfort they give me doesn't last long and I usually end up feeling worse after consulting them.

In the end though, I'm excited to meet this little guy and can't wait to add him to the family. I'm sure the challenges and worries will be nothing compared to the joy baby C will bring to our lives.
I have to get going now...Ben and Jerry are calling.

Knocking Down Barriers

To our 3 or 4 regular readers, we apologize for the blogging hiatus. The hard drive in our relatively young computer died a horrible death and the computer has been in the shop. Roughly $250 dollars later, we are back in business but not without a few casualties (pictures and files).


During the past few computer-less weeks, a few things have changed.


Sam is now able to climb onto chairs, which means that tables and some shelves are no longer safe zones for objects that we do not want to fall into Sam's hands. It used to be that the only things that he could climb up onto were the Lay-Z-Boy chair and the couch, which was great because the couch backed up to the front window where he could watch the neighbor's dog, random birds, and cars as they go by. This new ability has significantly complicated our lives. The kitchen table, the computer desk, kitchen counters, and dressers are just a few of the once secure spaces that are now accessable to our high energy 21-month old. Where do we now put drinks? Food? Important papers? Keys? Cell phones? It also leaves us asking the question: "what's next?" We are probably only weeks away from him gaining the ability to open doors and climb out of his crib. What's to stop him then from leaving the house and speeding down the street.


On the topic of speeding, nowadays if Sam is going somewhere, he is most likely running to his destination. He reminds me of the young Forrest Gump. He loves to run. Most of the time when he is running he will completely relax his jaw and make an "ah" noise, which generates a motor-like sound. It's quite endearing.


Also, he is now just slightly taller than the kitchen table and the master bed foot board, both of which have nasty corners. So, if he is not climbing up onto the table or bed his is likely running by them. When he gets overly excited or tired, his head will occasionally come in contact with the corners as he runs by. So we have dealt with a few more bruises and bumps lately. As a result, we have softened the corners using some old socks and duct tape.

Even though we have a few new challenges, we sure do love our little guy and are very excited to meet his younger brother.

by the way, the below lawn mowing accident resulted in $280 worth of repairs...the most expensive chore I've ever done.

The Dangers of Yard Work

This is what happens when you hit a rock mowing the lawn and your car is nearby...

Windows are overrated anyway, right?

The Itchy Little Kid

Do any of you have allergies, food or other? Do any of you have children with allergies? We took Sam to an allergist fairly early in his life (7 months) because he clearly had a problem (severe eczema and constant itching, as shown above). The original diagnosis was that our little guy was allergic to tree nuts, dairy, wheat, egg whites, and flax seed - whatever that is. We made immediate changes to Amanda's diet because, at that point, Sam was still getting most of his nurishment through breastfeeding. The changes were almost immediate.

Over the past year or so, we have become a bit more lax in what we feed him. He is a very picky eater and needs to be tricked into eating new things. Some of the things that we can always count on him eating are cheese, fig newtons, crackers, potato chips, and bread. Most of the time he does not react to the dairy, wheat, and egg which are included in the ingredients of the aforementioned favorite foods; however, every once in a while he does react in the form of a rash or an itch fit.

Fastforward to today. Today he reacted to something by itching himself bloody. The poor kid. He typically itches his hands, elbows, and legs with this hands and he rubs his feet together to scratch that itch. We try to keep socks on his feet to limit his access, however he is a pro at getting the socks off.

I'm not sure what the moral of this story is, but it is clear that we will need to wash the sheets.

Signing on the Bottom Line

Is it okay for men to blog? My wife assures me that it is and that it shouldn't be included with activities such as watching "Americas Next Top Model", doing the laundry or anything like that.

So here I go.

My father worked for the same company for over 30 years. He had a very nice engraved gold-rimmed champagne glass to prove it...until it fell victim to my pre-teen clumsiness. They told us in high school that our generation (generation X?) would change jobs at least 5 times before we would retire. Well guess I am two-fifths of the way to retirement because this past Friday I signed an offer letter committing us to change jobs in August. If I continue to change jobs at this rate (once every 23 months), I should qualify for retirement in just over 6 years. If only our savings account would allow it. We accepted a position in the Spokane office of Moss Adams, LLP - a public accounting firm. We think that this one should stick for a while, so maybe I'll never get to that 5th job change. As long as we are talking generational issues, they say that the next generation ("the millennials" or "generation Y") should expect to change jobs 12 to 20 times before retiring at 75 years of age. That doesn't sound like any fun at all.

So we have been stewing on this decision of a month or so now and it has been causing Amanda some unwanted anxiety. She is 7-months pregnant. Those of you who have experienced the human gestation period know that the emotional state of pregnant woman is fragile enough already; consequently, additional stress and/or deviations from the normal routine can leave a mark. Needless to say, both Amanda and I are relieved that we somehow found the guts to make a decision. Now we can focus on preparing for the arrival of the second dude to our brood.

Our actual move to Spokane will depend on who we can find to rent our house. It could be as early as September 1 to as late as late October. Know anybody looking to rent in the Seattle area? I'll make 'em a good deal, maybe even throw in free cable. Plenty of free parking and the neighbors are only somewhat intrusive.

They say that the only thing constant is change, and so it goes in the Skidmore home.

I've got to run, "The Gillmore Girls" starts in just a few minutes.

Highlights from the week...

It's not so much that we did anything very exciting or even blog-worthy, but there were a few interesting things that I thought were funny, interesting, or even just plain annoying that happened this week.

1. After watching the Wiggles with Sam on Monday, I've had the lyrics "toot toot chugga chugga big red car" stuck in my head all week. It didn't help either that when I mentioned this to Chris, he started singing the song for me, only changing the words to "toot toot chugga chugga big blue Nissan."
2. One morning Sam had a poopy diaper, but in this case he somehow defied the law of physics and pooped out the side of his bum as most of the poop was on the side of his diaper and down his entire leg.
3. In reference to #2, I took Sam to the bathroom to clean him off, and as I pulled off his diaper a big piece of poop came out the bottom his pajamas and landed on the rug. As I was cleaning this mess up, Sam decided it wasn't enough to poop on the rug, so he peed all over it too.
4. Sam and I decided to visit Chris at work and have lunch with him. Chris was running a little behind and was in a meeting with several co-workers. The blinds were open in the board room, and Sam could see his dad. So, he decided to pound on the windows and door until they let him in. Once he was in and securely positioned on Chris's lap, Sam decided to freak out and cry at the top of his lungs. He wanted out of that room. I told Chris that he probably realized what his life would be like if he became an accountant. Chris didn't find it very amusing.
5. I took Sam to Barnes & Noble to play with the train station they have in the children's section. Sam played for 5 minutes and decided it was time to pull every book out of it's place. After he finally found a place to settle down on the floor and look at some books, I joined him on the floor. After another few short minutes, Sam again decided it was time to move on. He jolted back to the train station and left me on the floor. I stupidly/naively used a book shelf to help hoist myself up. In the process of doing this, I broke the shelf and the books came tumbling down. I felt so fortunate that there were so many people there to witness my humiliation. I know they were just thinking "What did that poor shelf ever do to her to deserve such treatment?" Sam and I left shortly after.
6. Sam does not like to sit still for a diaper change. Usually it consists of laying him down long enough to get his diaper off. Then I have to chase him down again to put his diaper back on. This last time was no exception. He decided that after he jolted, he was going to look at one of his books. I think he likes to read in the nude personally. I sat there just long enough to watch him pee all over his book. I know better now for next time.

This is my life with a toddler.