In case the 10 million Pinteresty pictures in your Facebook feed of adorable children holding little signs announcing their newest grade hasn’t tipped you off, it’s Back-To-School week!

Yesterday Beth Anne posted wrote a post for Babble that got me thinking. She posted it to her Facebook, resulting in a string of mommy-blogger opinions going back and forth on the hot back-to-school topic of kindergarten redshirting. Dun! Dun! DUUUUN!

If you don’t know, kindergarten redshirting is basically holding your kid back from starting kindergarten so they are older in their class, particularly if they are spring/summer babies that would be young in their class. In my experience it seems parents of boys are likely to do this because sometimes little guys take longer to mature, but I have heard of parents holding back their girls too. I have no problem with kindergarten redshirting if your kid is developmentally or academically behind. I also admire parents who make the difficult decision to have their child repeat a grade if they need to. There’s no shame in that, you have to do what is best for your child.

FYI, I’m an August baby. I was the youngest in my class and hated it. I whined about being the last to get my drivers’ license. My parents told me I was ready for kindergarten and I was going. I did pretty well academically. They also reminded me that many of my friends had their licenses already and could give me a ride. They had no pity for my complaining.

What I think is incredibly stupid is holding back your child for aesthetic or athletic reasons. Meaning, you want your kid to be bigger than the other kids or be better in sports. I’ll admit, I am raising a girl and was raised in a family with girls. Those things were NOT particularly valued in my home during my upbringing. Being the biggest, strongest or most athletic is not at all important to me. So, you understand why I feel holding a child back for those reasons is silly.

However, I have a confession that I fear makes me no better than a vain, redshirting parent.

I am very blessed to be a fertile, regular ovulator. I know, not everyone has that luxury. I feel guilty even saying that as I have many friends who have struggled with infertility. I was lucky enough to time my conception and pregnancy to make sure my babies would be born in the fall or winter so I wouldn’t have to worry about the kindergarten cutoff. I’ll admit, if I had not concieved in time to have my baby between October and February, I would have stopped trying for a number of months, and started again when the time was right. 

I really wanted to have my baby in the fall/winter so I didn’t have to make any difficult kindergarten decisions. The state of North Carolina made my decision for me. The cut-off date here is August 31. Boom. She’s born in November, she won’t be the absolute oldest, but older. She’ll have plenty of Pre-K under her belt and ready to go at 5 1/2 for kindergarten.

So there you go. Apparently conception redshirting is a thing too. Now I can’t scoff at your son, who’s a head taller and a year older than the rest of the team.

 

I had to describe what the first trimester feels like to a man the other day. Not just any man, my husband. I wasn’t sure where to start with this description. How do you define these three months of life that begin another? I think you have to take it in phases.

Phase 1: Ignorance and Wonder: In this phase you don’t even know you’re knocked up. Nope. You are in the dark as much as that zygote in your uterus. During this time you may be blissfully unaware of your delicate condition and decide to party hard at your friend’s wedding, eat sushi appetizers and go on roller coasters because you have to get all that in before you get pregnant, right? So, you feel oblivious.

You may be more cautious because you are in your “two week wait.” If you don’t know what that means, you must not hang out on fertility and pregnancy message boards. For shame! The 2WW or TWW is the time between ovulation and your expected period. A gal desperately seeking conception may not dare let champagne nor raw fish touch her lips. This means she is probably counting the days until she can pee on a plastic stick. Chances are, you are overly assessing every stomach rumble to figure out if it’s morning sickness. So, you feel anxious.

Phase 2: Queasy: Morning sickness is a woefully misnamed affliction. Pick a time of day. Each girl feels sick at a different time. For me, it was in the evening. Most are hanging over the toilet when they wake up. The unlucky ones are so sick all the time they actually lose weight in the first trimester because they can’t keep anything down. The doctor may give them Zofran. Then they feel like they’ll never poop again. So, you feel nausous and constipated.

Phase 3: Drugged: Surely someone has poisoned you. They must have slipped something in your drink. I personally had flashbacks to my 8th grade mono days. That’s how tired you feel.

Imagine you are on a long car or boat trip and you feel seasick. Okay, then what do you do? You take a Dramamine, right? Let’s be honest, Dramamine only touches nausea a little. It really just knocks you out. Combine the feelings of phases 2 and 3. So, it feels like you’re a seasick person on Dramamine.

Phase 4: Generally Emotional: If you really want to be pregnant, you could be crazy elated. Regardless of whether this is a surprise baby or not, you’re pretty much terrified because once you see that plus sign, the uncertainty sets in. You are worried about the baby and hoping the pregnancy goes well. You are unsure you will be a good mother, or unsure you can handle another child. So, you feel overwhelmed.

Phase 5: Bloated: That’s self-explanatory.

I guess if you have to describe it to someone you can say the first trimester feels oblivious-anxious-nauseous-constipated-drugged-exhausted-elated-worried-usure-overwhelmed and puffy.

Thank God it’s over. Hello second trimester. I’ve been waiting for you. You’re much easier to describe.

I recorded this video the night of March 5, the night I found out I was pregnant.  After I took a pregnancy test I ran to the store to buy Charlotte a Big Sister shirt to show daddy  You can see the rest.

I love everything about this video.  I love my husband’s befuddled look, his messy curls and that old Han Solo t-shirt.  I love that he doesn’t act disgusted even though I’m handing him something I just peed on.  He’s the kind of guy you have babies with.

This morning was one big flashback to 2 1/2 years ago.  I should say it was lots of little flashbacks to 2 1/2 years ago.  You know, when I was all round and glowy, maybe a little sleepy too.  Ah!  Here she is…

FLASHBACK! September 2010, about 34 weeks pregnant

I joined a group of round, glowy and sleepy gals this morning at Rapid Fitness in Raleigh.  I have been to lots of gyms, but I seriously love this one.  I like fitness classes because I’m an uber-extrovert who can’t stand the solidarity and monotony of running.  (Let’s be honest.  I hate running in general.  If that’s your thing, they have plenty of treadmills and ellipticals with fancy TVs.) What I really love is that they have specialty prenatal exercise classes.

No.  I’m not pregnant.  Thanks for asking, though.

Now that we have that cleared up, I have an explanation for my attendance to this class.  Rapid Fitness’ prenatal class was being featured on NBC 17’s local morning newscast.  As part of my Public Relations job, I do Media Training to prepare clients for interviews.  After helping Brandy, a Personal Trainer for Rapid Fitness, they asked me to use my baby blogging skills to tell all my darling readers more about what they offer.  I was there to observe and tell you all about the prenatal class.

Disclaimer: Rapid Fitness gives me free classes that I don’t attend like I should.  My opinions, however, come up more than they should.  They are totally free and totally honest.

Being with the TV news crew gave me flashbacks to all my early morning hours as a news reporter.  I was all busy and harried, maybe a little stressed too.  Ah!  Here she is… (Really cold and miserable on this day, apparently.)

FLASHBACK!  No joke. EXACTLY 3 years ago today January 29, 2010 (Found it on Facebook.)

This morning Brandy discussed the importance of prenatal fitness.  As a personal trainer and mother of a 2 1/2 year old, she works with moms-to-be to stay fit before pregnancy.  She explained to Page Crawford from NBC 17 that exercise while you’re pregnant can help with the following…

• More energy
• Less moody
• Better sleep
• Easier labor and delivery
• Decreased chance of Gestational Diabetes

Yeah, I know what you’re thinking.  “Ha!  Sounds good Amy, let’s go workout when I’m already more tired then I have ever been in my entire life.  Did someone poison my food?  Seriously.”  I hear you.  These recommendations come with a caveat.  Do what your doctor says is okay.  Don’t push it.  That is something they really stress at Rapid Fitness.  Let me tell you, these were some seriously dedicated pregnant chicks.

You see the blond on the left?  That’s Jennifer.  She is my sweet, adorable coworker whom I love working with.  You want to talk about a tough cookie?  This poor girl has had an awful pregnancy!  She has been sick EVERY DAY.  If you have questions about Zofram and extreme exhaustion, Jennifer can answer them.  She is expecting a boy in May, and I think she will be glad to not be pregnant.  Yet here she was this morning, toning muscles and keeping her body strong.  She is my new hero.

All the exercises they offer in the class are modified and lower impact to make them safe for pregnancy.  They did lunges and squats to prepare your legs and booty for the big pushes of labor.  The class then used small free weights to tone arms.  I know I’m not the only one whose arms were seriously sore after labor. It’s hard work to pull yourself up by your legs like that.  Bouncing and sitting on the exercise ball while lifting the weights was encouraged.  Of course breathing, stretching, and water breaks were a huge priority.  (Wait, not those kind of water breaks!)  

I’m making it a personal goal to do more low-impact exercise the next time I get pregnant. (Whenever that is. Again, I’m not pregnant.)  I did a lot of walking the first go-around, but I want more overall tone this time.

Were you/are you able to exercise during pregnancy? What kind of exercise did you do/are you doing while pregnant?  Did you take a class?  Did it help you feel better during pregnancy or labor and delivery?  

Watch the NBC 17 segments and here so you can see some of the exercises.  (The second link is longer and you can hear more interviews!)

 

I was 2 1/2 when my sister was born. We were always 3 years apart by grades in school. She was a freshman when I was a senior. As kids it worked perfectly because we were close enough in age to share similar interests, but still have our own friends. Occasionally my friends and I would let her tag along or I would play with her friends when the older kids in the neighborhood weren’t around. It was wonderful. We have always been very close and to this day have a great network of old friends we grew up with.

It dawned on me the other day that a year from now my daughter will be 2 1/2. Well, okay it didn’t dawn on me as much as it hit me like “Oh s&*#! Really!?”

When is the best time to plan for Baby #2?

I understand that oftentimes planning is not the case as much as you just move forward with a little oopsy-daisy surprise after a weekend getaway. Maybe you played the odds after forgetting to get your pills filled and won big in the game of marital roulette? These are just some scenarios of friends of ours with darling little siblings.

I would like to plan if I could. We did for our first and I love the thought of her having a sister or brother about 3 years younger than her. (See reasons above.) I’m a firm believer that people need siblings. Not that there is anything wrong with being an only child, but imagine what kind of attention whore I would be WITHOUT my sister to knock me down a few pegs. Let’s face it, I’m bad enough already.

Assuming it only takes me 3 months to get knocked up like it did the first time, could I plan it out to the month? Is that even possible? Am I acting presumptive and selfish to think it’s going to be that easy again?

Let me state for the record, however, this is is just a blog post and no way an announcement. I’ve been in a new job for just six months and we’re trying to sell our house. Plus, I’m probably not going to talk about “trying”. It makes me feel icky. I’m starting to think kids 3 1/2 to 4 years apart is sufficient.

Thoughts?