I can

For some reason, the theme of this pregnancy has been people telling me I can't. I can't go to nursing school pregnant/with a newborn (thanks for the deferral at least, UCF). I can't participate in the class at the community gym, apparently because the instructor thinks the baby would fall out if I squat too low (thanks, I'll be working out elsewhere from now on). And the final injustice, I "can't" VBAC if I gain additional weight. I won't go into all the details here since most of my friends and family already know all of the gory details. The end result was that I switched care providers a few weeks ago to a midwife who delivers at Winnie, something I never imagined myself doing (the switching care providers part, not the midwife part). It's going to be costly, but it will be the best thing for my health and the baby's health. It has also made me think a lot about the state of women's health around here and how limited options are, particularly for VBAC. Particularly for female care providers who offer a hospital-based VBAC. So now I'm seriously considering the CNM route, though I've got years to decide.

We've been very busy, with playdates or out of town travel almost every weekend. I also just took the GREs last weekend, in preparation for either NP or PA (if I go the PA route I need my scores much sooner and I didn't want to have to study for the GREs at the same time as taking classes). Somehow I managed to score within 10 points of my last scores, in 2001, and also somehow did better on the math than verbal. Makes absolutely no sense, but whatever, the scores are decent.

We are also in the midst of a massive backyard reno. We made the decision to stay in this house for a while, based on the fact that the location rocks, the school is great (and in the community and less than half a mile away and a K-8), and the mortgage is cheap. When I say in the midst, what I really mean is that my backyard is a mid pit and I refuse to mop the floors because more dirt just keeps tracking in. Next week we should have our paver patio and new white fence in, and then we are getting new sod. The yard here has been trashed since I lived here with Jason before we got married, in 2005. So, needless to say, I am looking forward to having some usable outside space. The house is a little on the cozy side, so hopefully the yard will be an additional "room" where we'll want to spend time and- imagine this- even sit down and eat meals together.

Nathan continues to crack us up with the things that come out of his mouth. On Easter, we were at my in-laws' and he asked both my SIL and MIL for more marshmallow. They both told him he needed to ask me. He walked over and asked me, and I told him no, he'd had enough for the night. He went back to my MIL and asked her again... When she told him that I'd said no, he said: "I ask YOU!" I have my hands full with this one. As Jason says, that's thinking outside the box problem solving. Right now I am sitting here listening to him give me a running narrative of his current favorite movie, Finding Nemo :)