Comatose dog, comatose mom

So I'm a little nervous. Our last ultrasound guesstimated the baby would be 8.5-9 pounds, if he arrives on time. That's a big baby to have to push out. I'm also a little nervous because these last few weeks home with Buddy have made me realize something - I hate sitting home alone. I am so bored. My mood is starting to plummet, my energy is gone. I have work that I could be doing but the thought of doing academic writing is really no more exciting than the reruns of 90210 I could be watching. I think today Buddy's bladder is at the point where I could go out for a couple of hours, which I am SO looking forward to. But the whole experience has me more than a little nervous about what life at home with the baby is going to be like. Now mind you, I'm assuming the baby will be a little more engrossing than Buddy, who has taken to lying on the floor semi-comatose for up to three hours at a time. But still, I'm missing talking to people, the change of scenery, spending money!! I want to go downtown and toss my green paper around! I want to go out for lunch and converse with other human beings!!

Otherwise, all goes fine with the pregnancy. The little one is currently all smooshed up on the left side of my body so the left half of my stomach sticks out an inch farther than the right. It's pretty funny to look at actually. I alternate, sometimes very rapidly, between being in an absolute panic that I will be a parent in 6 weeks and wanting this kid out of me TODAY. Man, I'm going to eat so much sushi after little BenFinnCoen comes. I can't wait for some fresh yummy tuna roll!

Practice parenting

So our poor Buddy has developed a serious case of seasonal allergies. After several weeks of itching himself nuts and several visits to the vet, we finally got to the bottom of it. Poor little one was covered in scabs and sores from his constant scratching. Anyway, Buddy has been put on steroids and the itching virtually stopped overnight which is fantastic. The only downside is that he has to pee every 3 hours! We discovered this the first night when Buddy woke us up before 5 a.m. whining and then peed in the hallway. So now we get up a couple of times in the night to take him out. And during the day, he goes every couple of hours. And such monster pees. Sometimes he'll pee for almost a full minute (and that's usually in the afternoon only 1.5-2 hours after his last pee). The funniest part is that Buddy is as unhappy about having to go out so often as we are. We often have to coax him out with treats and happy voices. He'll glare at us and drag his feet but then he'll pee for 45 seconds - he must have wanted to go but you wouldn't guess if from his behaviour.

Anyway, everyone seems to think that this is good practice for parenting but I tend to differ. I mean, do you know any 7-month pregnant women who set their alarms for 3 a.m. to practice what it's like to get up in the middle of the night? Mostly I'm just irritated about losing my last few weeks of decent sleep! But I am encouraged at how I am holding up. Mark has his ups and downs, which isn't a surprise as he tends to wilt if he misses sleep several nights in a row. Overall, though, he's been awesome, especially considering he's working all day. And while I've had a couple of days with afternoon naps and one headache, mostly I've been holding up well. I'm just cranky and SO BORED!!! I can't really leave the house, since I'm taking Buddy out to pee every couple of hours. I've been finishing up my internship paperwork from home, watching a lot of tv, playing online, going for walks with Buddy when I'm not too exhausted, and generally just going stir-crazy. I'm realizing that I'm going to have to find a bunch of mommy and me type activities to take part in. I just am not an alone at home kind of girl.

Of course, things brings me face to face with the part of parenting I'm most stressed about - making friends with other parents. Over the past few years, I've discovered that while I'm good at socializing, I'm not so good at making friends. I go through phases of social anxiety and withdrawal as my depression waxes and wanes and generally don't feel as confident about meeting new people as I used to. But if I don't make friends with other parents, then I can't arrange play dates for my son and then he'll have no friends. No one to come to his little birthday parties, no one to play in the park with, no one to take cute playing in the sandbox pictures with. Not making it any easier is that all the parents in my neighbourhood are perfect thin, fashionable, rich parents or nannies. There don't seem to be many messy, regular type parents. But hopefully they'll turn up in some of these community classes. My sister suggested I check out Dufferin Grove park where more hippy parents hang out but we decided I couldn't show up there with my Bugaboo! lol We finally settled on Trinity Bellwoods - hip downtown parents, probably a little too cool for me but at least a little more messy.