As the pregnancy chapter closes, a new one opens...

So as you can imagine, the last few weeks have been a bit crazy. My nesting instincts really kicked in about two weeks ago, in the anticipation of the arrival of my parents from New Orleans. I started cleaning the house from top to bottom and finally attacked those little projects we all put off (like dusting the door frames and baseboards). I must admit that I was pretty darn anxious about having everything perfect before the baby arrives, as I know life will be chaos once he joins the family (at least at first!). So I spent this past week scrubbing, grocery shopping, organizing and everything else in between. My parents arrived late Fri night (6/20) and we have been spending quality time together ever since. They will stay with us for a little over 2 1/2 weeks which is such a huge help and Matt has taken this week off from work.

Baby update: it seems like this little guy is way too comfortable in my tummy and has no plans of coming out anytime soon....so when I went to the doctor's for my last appointment this past Thursday, we made a plan. Even though I had been feeling some pressure, not much progress on the contraction forefront had been made. So we decided to schedule the c-section date for today (Tues. 6/24) but we were all secretly hoping I would go into labor before then. Well no such luck; so I went to the hospital yesterday morning for my pre-admission bloodwork and even came home wearing my hospital tag in preparation for the big day! My mom & I went shopping this morning since I knew it'd be a while before I'd get out of the house. When we told my Grandma Meynier the details of the day, she couldn't believe I was out and about less than 24 hours before the little man was due! She said: "Melanie better watch out or that poor baby is going to be born on the sidewalk!" And incidentally, my Grandma Paulhus told my Dad that she "can't wait for it to be over." We tried to spend the remainder of yesterday resting and tying up any lose ends. For dinner we took my parents out to eat at Le Bistro Montage, a yummy Cajun restaurant in Portland. We were celebrating Benz's last day as an only child. And it also just happened to be his half birthday, making him 4 1/2 years old as of yesterday.

A Few Inside Jokes from Benz...after Returning Home!

I could tell Benz had a wonderful time in New Orleans. It was hard for us to leave but we were anxious to see Matt after being apart from him for three weeks plus Benz was ready to get back to school. Lots of mixed emotions but here are a few cute things that he said after being home for a few days:

I had to go into work one morning and Benz was in the child care for a few hours and the gal watching him made it a point to tell me how well behaved Benz was. So on the way home I decided to stop and get him an Icee. I asked him what color he wanted and he said "No Mama, I want snowball." I said we don't have those here. And he said "Oh, New Orleans has those but no Vancouver."

While we were still in the car, a maroon Nissan Sentra pulled up right beside us and Benz started yelling "Look, Grandma P.'s car...same!" And sure enough it was identical! He sometimes surprises me with how observant and smart he is!

And this evening we were playing with his blocks and out of the blue he said "Paw Paw P. party pooper....no go bingo" and then he started laughing. He has quite an amazing memory!

The simple things were what this trip was all about!

We managed to hit quite a lot of cool places on our recent trip to New Orleans. Benz got to ride on another streetcar, we saw a white alligator at the Aquarium and he rode the historical "flying horses" at City Park. And even though I was quite under the weather most of the time, we still made it to some delicious restaurants. But the highlights of this trip were really about spending time together as a family. My mom and I went on quite a few shopping excursions for baby clothes and we cooked several family recipes for the first time together (and the potato salad, deviled eggs & baked macaroni were all HUGE hits, even with my Grandpa, the #1 critic). My parents got to spend some real quality time with Benz, for which I am so thankful for. This will be the last time he is the only grandchild and has their full attention so we made the most of every second! He seemed to be content doing the everyday simple things, which included waking up singing "Grandma, PawPaw," eating mini powdered donuts for breakfast and feeding the neighborhood rooster, Doo. He would look forward to playing for hours on my Grandpa's lawn, whether it be baseball or riding around on the scooter throwing beads to us, pretending he was in a parade!

My mom pulled all of her creative juices together and worked on building a house/barn for Benz to play in. It took her several weeks and Benz knew about it ahead of time and was so amazed when he saw it in person! It was made out of a large cardboard box from a recliner they had bought but she added the cutest touches, which included a peephole, a flag, a mailbox and even windows! Benz helped to convert it to a barn by adding red roof shingles and coloring pictures of farm animals for the sides. He loved it when his Grandma and Grandpa and him would all climb inside and just hang out together!! They were planning on this being for one time use but we convinced them to store it away in the garage for our next trip!

Anyone that knows my Dad just a little bit knows he's a HUGE Red Sox fan. But mainly he just loves the game of baseball and has enjoyed playing it since he was just a wee little lad. He took Benz out to the playground and taught him where to stand at home plate, how to properly hold the bat, and how to run around the bases. Benz finally got it and even hit a few that were pitched to him! His most favorite part was tackling my Dad when he would try to slide into home plate! They were so cute together and I think Benz will be a natural baseball player and my Dad will love each and every minute of it!

Have you ever fed a zebra or pet a camel?

Benz has! We took a trip to the Global Wildlife Center when we were in New Orleans (http://www.globalwildlife.com) . It was about a 90 minute drive from my parent's house across Lake Ponchartrain, but well worth the trip. I had gone with my grandparents when I was about 7 but don't remember it much at all. Basically, there are thousands of free roaming animals on over 400 acres of land. You ride in a covered wagon caravan and are able to feed the vast variety of animals up close and personal! There were even three giraffes but they never came close enough for us to get a good look at them:( But we did get to feed and touch gazelles, bison, zebras, camels, deer and lots of other interesting animals! I was afraid he might have his panties in a bunch when the animals got so close (like Matt who freaks out at goats in any petting zoo) but Benz was in his glory. And after having one of the gazelles steal his feed cup he realized to hold it with a death grip! He really got a kick out of the fact that the camel's name was Sally, the same as his preschool teacher! It was windy but quite a fun family day trip!

The Best St. Patty's Day ever!!

On Sun. 3/16 we attended the best parade I've ever been too! Each year, my hometown of Metairie, LA throws a big parade to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Now any of you that are familiar with New Orleans know that is is quite the party town, a city that never sleeps. Every year NOLA hosts Mardi Gras (AKA carnival). There are about two weeks of smaller parades that lead up to the big day of Fat Tuesday itself, which is always held 40 days before Easter and the day before Ash Wednesday. So in short, there are probably 60+ parades that roll before the Carnival season has come to a close. But for St. Patty's day there is only one held on one day and it just happens to be held on a different route that's within walking distance of my parents' house; how convenient can you get??!! We used to go to it pretty often growing up, but I had forgotten how much family fun there was to be had! So we got out the old ladder seat that my Dad & Grandpa had made for Benz when we visited a few years back for Mardi Gras. Benz helped decorate it with shamrocks and then we got there a bit early to save ourselves a good viewing spot. Perched high above us on his ladder seat, Benz was THRILLED with everything the parade had to offer, from the marching bands to the floats to the crazy people in the streets. But most of all, he was entranced by all of the things that the people on the floats threw to him! We were ready to go home after about 3 hours but he insisted that we stay until the very last float had come and gone:)

It is tradition that not only do folks throw the expected beads and trinkets but at this parade only, they throw vegetables, yes vegetables! The idea is for each person in the crowd to go home with enough free food to make their own Irish stew! When all was said and done we ended up with 18 heads of cabbage, a ton of potatoes, carrots, onions, oranges, limes, lemons, a sweet potato a banana and even 5 packages of Ramen noodles!! We caught chips, cookies, pretzels, peanuts, Airheads, gum, tootsie rolls...the list goes on. And bags and bags of beads; there were so many to go around that people finally stopped bothering to pick them off of the ground and just left them for the cleanup crew to sweep up. Benz caught 10 footballs, pirate swords, cups, whistles, and everything else in between, not to mention over 20 stuffed animals!!! He was so proud when someone would throw something directly to him from the float and he was able to catch it for himself! This was by far the most loot we have ever taken home from the 18+ Mardi Gras seasons I have ever attended. I hope it is something Benz will always remember but at least we have the pictures to prove it!

New Orleans here we come-- for better or for worse!

With a few delays we FINALLY made it into New Orleans on 3/4/08 after midnight. It was probably the longest day of my life (so far, that is). We all went to bed early the night before so we'd be well rested. I had a horrible 24 hour stomach flu last week and was fighting a nasty cold now. Well getting extra shuteye was the plan, but we all know things don't always go as planned. Benz woke me up in the middle of the night banging on his door and screaming. He had thrown up all over his bed and all over the carpet. He was crying and screaming; he seemed to be scared since this is the very first time in his four years that he's experienced that:( I finally got him calmed down and took him into my bed to rest. Sure enough, he christened our bed too. He finally collapsed in his bed around mid-morning and slept right up until we left for the airport; lucky for me it was an afternoon flight. I must have done 6 loads of dirty bedding before we left so it would not be sitting here waiting for me when I got back. Benz seemed to have gotten it all out of his system before we flew the friendly skies but refused to eat anything for the next 48 hours. I was feeling terrible by the time we touched down in NOLA, but little did I know what I was in for! After being there for 3 days, I developed the worst headache I've ever had (imagine someone cranking your brain with a vice and it oozing out of your ears). And another terrible side effect was that I could not taste ANYTHING! And anyone that knows an ounce about New Orleans knows that one of the major draws is the food and that I wait for months to fulfill my cravings; I had to take everyone else's word on how good all of the things were that we were eating:( So we went to an urgent clinic hoping for some relief but the doctor just said it was a viral cold. And being pregnant, I was sent home to rest and use steam to clear everything out.

Well by Sunday night I was crying non-stop and begged my mom to take me in to get this fixed. We ended up at an ear nose and throat doctor who diagnosed me with one of the worst sinus infections he had seen in a long time. He thinks the decompression of the airplane made it 200% worse. So I was started on a 7 day round of antibiotics and slept in a recliner my entire stay. Lucky for me, it got a little better with each new day of medicine and I finally was able to reclaim my tastebuds towards the middle of the trip, but this was no picnic. It is the pits to be that ill on vacation (this ranks up there in the top three illnesses of my life, next to mono when I was 16 and my c-section with Benz). But my saving grace was my parents; don't know what I would have done if I'd have come down with this back home. They would take Benz out for a day at the park so I could stay home and get some extra peace and quiet. It was glorious and I am forever grateful to them. My doctor highly recommended that I postpone my trip back home for a few days until we were sure my infection had fully healed. So we ended up staying an entire extra week, 3 weeks total. We were able to share Easter with my family as well as celebrate my grandparents' 64th wedding anniversary. Great memories can still conspire under even the crappiest of conditions!

It's over but it's only just begun!

So to catch you up....I've been on a rampage to get our life organized. I've reorganized the kitchen, sorted our pics & mementos, and donated over 10 garbage bags full of STUFF to Goodwill last week. I was like a maniac on a mission, probably working harder than I should have and overexerting myself, all for the hopes of less worry and better sleep at night. But no such luck...I've still barely been sleeping averaging 5.5-6 hours per night (as compared to my normal 8 hours). Could it be the anxiety of being pregnant or raging hormones? Not to mention the fact that I had to get everything packed and ready to go for our trip to Rhode Island. Other than the above sleeping issues and some dizzy spells here and there, I've been feeling well and enjoying my pregnancy thus far.

And perhaps my anxiety was in part due to the fact that I was keeping this new addition a secret from my parents for almost two weeks! Every time I talk to them on the phone I nearly spill the beans. Some topic comes up that makes me carefully screen every answer. So I was glad and relieved to finally tell them EVERYTHING and congratulate them on becoming grandparents....again! [On a side note: Benz and I headed out early this morning for our trip to Providence, RI via Detroit. On our last leg, we told the flight attendant that Benz was dressing up as an airplane pilot for Halloween and she was tickled to death. She gave us a seat-belt to take home? and also arranged for Benz to meet the captain at the end of our flight. So I'm proud to say that Benz got to do what most kids only dream about....climb into the captain's chair and play with all of the buttons in the cockpit. He was in his glory!] Benz was wearing his new "I'm gonna be a big brother" shirt when my mom first saw him at the airport. It took her a minute to read the shirt and when she did, she looked at me and said: "is this for real??!!!" We told her yes and Benz said he was a "big brudder" and she was smiling and hugging us! My dad came in a few minutes later and he read the shirt (upon being prompted) and was very happy as well. As he walked away to the bathroom, we heard him say "Holy Cripe!" My mom and I stayed up tonight talking about how I was feeling, when & how we found out, and lots of other things baby related. I think we were all on cloud 9 and beyond exhausted! And don't tell Matt, but we stopped by Papa John's tonight to pick up pineapple pizza, giving in to one of my main cravings! It's not allowed at our house since it's a direct competitor of Papa Murphy's...but man was it DELICIOUS!

New Orleans....proud to call it home!

You can find New Orleans on a map bordered by the 17th Street Canal, Lake Ponchartrain, the mighty Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico.

You will also find New Orleans in the hearts of the Louisiana people and those around the world who have experienced it....Jazz, Mardi Gras, the French Quarter, Creole and Cajun cuisine.

But my New Orleans is more. It is bigger. The Big Easy goes beyond the borderlines of this great city. It is always a part of me wherever I go.

My New Orleans goes north up the Mississippi River to Natchez, strung together by mighty oak trees, Spanish Moss and a path of majestic plantation homes from an era gone by.

My New Orleans goes east where my family vacationed on the sandy beaches of Waveland, Gulfport & Biloxi.

My New Orleans goes south through the bayous and swamps, where as a young girl my father took me fishing, down the Mississippi Delta.

My New Orleans gets its spice from the west through Baton Rouge and to the heart of Acadiana.

My New Orleans is like a good gumbo with all of the necessary ingredients to make a recipe ric in culture. A gumbo that is stirred by people whose Southern hospitality welcomes each ingredient to melt into the other, to give it the flavor of something you will always take with you wherever you go. Our bloodline flows beyond the borders of this great city. Once you taste it...ya'll will know what it means to love New Orleans.

an excerpt from Ann Dale, www.iknowwhatitmeans.com