Hot Women American Perspective

Did you know that we are in the middle of another Jewish holiday right now? It is called Sukkot. As Jewish people we eat our meals and sometimes even sleep outside in "booths" called a Sukkah. It commemorates a time long ago when there was so much work to do at harvest time, the farmers would actually live in the fields in booths until the work was done. It also commemorates the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, when the Hebrews lived in fragile booths and didn't have real homes. The boys were so excited to see the walls and roof of the Sukkah up. They were even more excited when I told them that they were old enough to decorate the Sukkah themselves. It is traditional to hang fruits/vegetables from the ceiling. We use plastic fruits/veggies from Michael's Crafts. And we like to also hang twinkly lights. It is very pretty out there eating our meals under the lights. Here is a picture of my crew in the middle of decorating. I took the pic through the ...

Here is my belly. The top of the fundus has been in contact with my ribcage for over a week now, and the reflux is fairly constant. But this is pregnancy stuff. Same as when I was in my 20s.

Anything for you, Devan. :-D New potty training update first. HE USED THE BIG POTTY AND IS SO PROUD HE KEEPS DOING IT!!!!! This may not sound like a big deal, but it really helps with my feng shui, so to speak. Now when DH or I want to take him out with us, we don't have to drag a full potty, although it is convenient to leave it in the minivan on the floor between the seats, but all we really need to bring is the potty seat insert. So picture us at any restaurant or store and we hear the dreaded words, "I have to go potty" 80 I know I even have a folding potty seat insert stored in some box somewhere. Ah well, I'll probably locate that after he doesn't need it anymore. Potty Training Synopsis (for boys--girls tend to potty train themselves) 1. Encourage the little one to sit on the potty and try to tinkle. Find a time, such as when you are drawing his bath, that it will be almost irresistible. There is something about the sound of the rushing bath water th...

I feel like my life is revolving around the countdown for baby. 9 more weeks and counting. The potty training is going well. We have made it to level 4. He is wearing Fruit of the Looms under his pants now. He is still afraid of the big potty, but I just located the padded toilet seat insert from the garage that he can use to sit on the big potty. Hopefully he will find it cute and want to try it out. I'm pretty relaxed about the whole thing. We went to the park today, and I brought the potty in the car. I was pretty sure he would have an accident during play, though, which he did. He was wearing corduroy pants which were very absorbent. His socks didn't even get wet. He looked so shocked and walked bow-legged all the way to the car. I think it might have been a "learning experience". :-) I also went through all the older boy clothes and divided them by sizes and donated a bunch of stuff that was not to my liking. For example, all the "camp" t-...

...when I told them that the ffn test had been performed about 4 hours after DTD. They later told me that the ffn tests for protein, and that semen or blood *will* cause a false positive. Not maybe. Will. I didn't know. I had heard rumors on the internet, of course, and mentioned it to the doc office in the afternoon, not the morning, but I guess doc was CYAing. So there were a couple of good contrax and a few very small ones. More of an irritable uterus. And the little guy had a nice heart rate that responded well to his kicking and the contrax. She said his tracing looked "beautiful". Another good thing was that I got to go scope out the parking situation. I haven't been down there for my official hospital tour yet, and I didn't want to have to walk a mile to L&D in full labor. They have these nice parking spots in front of the ER that are for maternity drop-off. I'm still a little perturbed to have to be going to a new hospital this time. T...

It's not as dramatic as it sounds, lol. I tend to get preterm-ish bh contrax with every pregnancy, and never delivered before 9 days before the due date. I had been getting more this past week and complained to the doc about it at my checkup this am. I told him that they were coming sometimes every 3 minutes in the evening about every 3 days. Which is really typical for me. He did an ffn test to be safe, and told me my cervix palpated as long and closed. I just heard from the doc office that the ffn was positive and I need to report to l&d to get on the monitor. I asked if BD 4 hours before the test might cause a false positive. They said even if it is a false pos, I need to be monitored. I'm not too bothered, because I really have been worrying about the little guy. I'm a worrier, and the little one has been having a lot of hiccups, which I also told the doctor about. He assured me the hiccups were fine. So now I'm waiting 45 minutes for dh to get home from work. N...

This is my daughter's first year in an apartment. She has been calling me more often now, and the former attitude is gone. I'm glad. She and I had always been close. Maybe staying here all summer just got on her nerves. Of course, now it is her roommates who are getting on her nerves. She ended up with a group of party animals, and she feels out of place. She is stubbornly refusing to stay up until dawn smoking and drinking with the rest. I told her I was proud of her for being herself, and not feeling like she needs to "be cool" like that. She goes to sleep at 10pm with ear plugs in her ears so the partying doesn't bother her. Hopefully the kids calm down when classes start next week. In the meantime, her roommates cook in her pots and pans and then "forget" to wash them. I asked her about the vacuuming situation and she said that though her room is spotless, the rest of the apartment is in "squalor" with so many fast food wrappers...

Here is my belly at 30 weeks. I barely fit into this dress, which is really a nursing dress. But with my wardrobe dwindling quickly, I need to squeeze into all the random clothes I can. Only 2 more months (or so) and I'll have a lot of my wardrobe back again. Or at least the pieces that are amenable to nursing an infant. I'm feeling mostly good. I had a little tummy upset a couple of days ago. Not fun when the intestines are cramping and the little one is kicking right into the spot. 8O Otherwise I have not reached the completely miserable stage yet. I am able to bend over to pick up toys off the floor, but I prefer to make the boys do it as good training for them. I can still run errands, but if I overdo it I tend to get a lot of contractions afterwards. I'm not too worried about the contractions. Of course I'll run to the hospital to get checked if they come too close together, but the painless contrax prior to 38 weeks never led to anything with me in the ...

I have a lot to do this week. Yesterday, I hardly had time to catch my breath. I got up early, got myself and everybody dressed, got DS to the school bus and went to work at the office. When I got home after lunch, I pulled together the snow pants, jackets, knit hats and gloves for the 8-y-o and 4-y-o for their ice skating class. They had a great time. Then home again, rushing to cook dinner, and greeting the babysitter because it was back-to-school night for the 3rd grader. Good thing I went because this is going to be a challenging year. DS will need to pass tests at school on material that we never studied at home. He will need to extrapolate from prior spelling tests to spell new words altogether. And tonight is Rosh Hashana. I already baked the special bread, Challah. The house is smelling good. And there is a nice beef stew in the crock pot. I got some apples and honey as well. Apples dipped in honey is a traditional food for a sweet new year. I told my 4-y-o about...

Also, the question was asked, exactly how did I get all the kids to post like that underwater? Here's how it went. I wanted to make sure that I took a good group shot of all 5 kids before September, so I could include it in my Rosh Hashana (Jewish New Year) cards. All of my kids love the water, and I thought an underwater shot of the entire crew would be unusual and fun. In June all of them came to live with me from their various locations. DD returned from college, and DS-16 from his Dad's house. One problem was that DS-8 was scheduled out for a 3-week vacation with his dad from mid July through the first week of August. Also, earlier in the summer, both of the youngest boys were unable to hold their breath underwater. They were in private swim classes, though, and that program emphasized how to hold breath underwater, among other safe-swimming strategies. So I decided that mid-August would be a good time for it, and made a mental note. I needed all 5 kids to be *home...

Someone on another site asked for pre-baby to do lists. After I posted, I thought it would be fun to share it here: There isn't too much to do before baby, as this is my 5th boy in a row. But I do have some plans: * finish potty training youngest DS (age 2.75) * purchase a Moby Wrap * purchase a Miracle Blanket * ask oldest DS to set up the bassinet again. * locate the newborn boy clothing, launder and place it in baskets under the changing table (still set up from prior ds). * pack hospital suitcase including Maya wrap ring sling and Over the shoulder baby holder ring sling. I love to have slings in the hospital. The nurses can't believe that the baby is so happy and content. :-D * type up Thanksgiving recipes/menu for my mom in case I'm not available to help out on T-day. * call the caterer and get things set up as much as possible for the bris (Jewish circumcision get-together on baby's 8th day). * make and freeze lasagnas/casseroles.

I know it is the natural way of things. Teenagers' relationships with their parents grow in friction until they feel driven by a need to move out of the house. I don't know why I hoped to be spared this little ritual. But I swear it was tough having my dd here all summer. Most times when I would say something to her she rolled her eyes. I could site a laundry list of further transgressions, but you parents of teens probably already know the story. So she wanted me to meet her dad today with all her stuff in the car. He wasn't available at a convenient time for me, so we set the rendezvous for Thursday evening (last night). DD said that was fine, but she figured I'd want to spend one more day with her. Ya. I really want to spend ONE MORE DAY with a sullen, moody, hermit who only emerges from their inner sanctum (bedroom) to eat all my popsicles. So I got a babysitter to come over and watch the boys because we had to remove all the seats from the van to get all...

My weight gain total as of this morning is 14 pounds. With 12 weeks to go, that puts me at 26 pounds weight gain total gaining a pound a week here on out. I gained 2 pounds the last 2 weeks, so things are going well. I have been enjoying some nice lunches out lately, craving and consuming french onion soup and large plates of beef ribs. Yum!