Tyler's birthday, chalk drawings, animal behavior

Well, I'm back again, yes, so soon. Last night while Tyler was in class I worked on his "birthday present" and watched the Card's game. He told me a few days ago that he wanted a drawing of a longhorn steer in the house somewhere... and I was like, Gross, Texas. Sorry, Texas people. :):):):):):):):):) But really, it makes no sense. A longhorn steer says "texas" and we aren't a texas family. It just doesn't fit. You get it.

I tried it anyway, five times I tried it. Well, first I painted chalkboard paint onto one of our large white plates that my sister Amanda gave us when we got married. Then I tried to chalk a simple bull, and it looked so dumb. I am an impatient little girl right now, but I didn't give up until my 5th cow. He always asks for the simplest things, like an apple corer or just a birthday party. He asked for a cow and I could not deliver.

So I drew a picture of our window, because I love our home, and I wrote a song lyric by Frightened Rabbit. It's chalk! I'll erase the S word when the baby starts reading. 

I made him a Florentine Omelet and wrote him a love note, like back in high school. 

We have our One-On-One Birth Class tonight, so we're going to get a drink after to celebrate his birthday.

I was in such a good mood all day yesterday because I was feeling better. I did all the stuff I was supposed to before bed, and then I laid down and the contractions hit. Our birth teacher told us about contraction timers, so I downloaded one. 6-8 minutes apart, anywhere from 35 seconds to a minute long, and the farther apart they were the more painful the next one was. I'd drift into sleep in those 6-8 minutes and then be half awake when they hit, dreaming that I was a different animal in labor. I think it's because I did my birth class homework last night and it was about the Primal Brain. 

What I'd love is to be able to get some comfortable sleep, but I know that's being a bit too demanding at this point. All I want is my midwife to say, "Ok, this isn't totally normal this early on, but your body is just preparing you and everything is fine." OK. I will stop complaining and just make a construction paper chain leading to my due date. 

This morning after I made Tyler his birthday breakfast, I had an extra piece of bacon. The dogs had just been given their dog food, Char in the well-lit kitchen and Russ in the unlit sunroom. I gave Char her half of the bacon, and then thought "I should turn the light on, Russ won't be able to see me," and then I didn't do what I said I should do and Russ bit my thumb so hard when I gave him the bacon. He slightly punctured the nail right at the quick. He held on tight. Good heavens. I never want to be eaten by something stronger than me. So frustrating. It bled, but skin is skin. It's the joint that hurts, and he got my index finger too. Poor guy, he had no idea why I yelled.  

So that's that. Ange and I were just texting and I said "I'm eating a zebra cake because I have anger in my heart." After Russ bit me, I cried. It was an angry cry. A frustrated one. 

I can do this.