Posted by: beautifulheritage | April 3, 2008

Deep, cleansing breath

Oh my stars and garters. I have to take a break from the birth stories or I think I shall run mad. Instead of making the time go faster, it is making it crawl. Crawl, people!

When it isn’t crawling, it’s sitting on the curb picking its toenails, smirking wickedly in my direction and taunting you’re not the boss of me!

I am determined to ignore it, just as I urge my children to ignore their pesky siblings.

(They never do it, by the way. They usually just yell “I’m ‘noring you!” over and over again)

So for the next few minutes, I’m just going to pretend that I’m not pregnant at all, not anxiously anticipating the arrival of my twelfth child, not so bloated and uncomfortable that I would actually ask my OB to check my cervix to see if it was going to get its game on any time soon.

You know you’re nine months pregnant when you would actually request a probing. 

So what’s new with you? Anyone have any news they want to share with the rest of the class? Ooh! Ooh! Pick me!

I…I…I’m due in 8 days!

Oops. I wasn’t supposed to remember that.

The trouble is it’s just so damn hard to forget the fact. It’s downright impossible to think about anything else for longer than 2.6 seconds. I can’t concentrate on schooling. I can’t focus on making grocery lists. I don’t know how to plan the next couple of weeks because there’s this massive, looming EVENT crouching around the corner somewhere, ready to pounce upon me when I least expect it.

And so I am boring myself to death.

Seriously, let’s talk about something else, anything! I need a topic…lessee….***casting mine eyes about the room for conversation fodder***

How about Webkinz?

They are taking over my house. I have five children who love them. One daughter just celebrated a birthday and that was all that was on her list. She got nine Webkinz for her birthday. Who will stop the insanity?

Not that I can’t understand it. I do. If Webkinz had been around when I was a kid (as well as computers and internet connections, come to think of it), I would have been in a plush, fuzzy haze of euphoria. My stuffed animals all had personalities and names and they all came alive at night (duh!) but they didn’t have anything compared to the Wonder That Is Webkinz.

At the Webkinz website, you can “adopt” a pet via a special code that is around the neck of the stuffed version, whereupon you will be “given” a cartoon version of the same critter. Along with the critter you are given “money” and a “house” and some “gifts.” The “house” is pretty bare at first, but with time you can play little arcade-type games and make more “money” with which you can then “buy” “furniture” and “food”and “clothing” for your little cyber “pet.”

I’m tired of typing quotes. From this point on, just imagine quotes around every other word.

You can buy a television for your pet. Then you can watch the television! Yes! They even have a cooking show! Your pet can watch the cooking show and be shown how to make a recipe. Then you can go to the store, buy the ingredients that you were shown on the show, bring them home and cook them up on the stove that you bought at an earlier time after playing arcade games ad nauseum. Then you can feed the finished product to your virtual pet and his little happiness meter will soar.

The two youngest Webkinz-addicts are not very good at the arcade games, sadly. They don’t make much money. For a while they lacked the big-screen televisions and swimming pools that their siblings’ Webkinz were enjoying. Such things were simply beyond their means.

Eventually, someone came to their aid, however. A good-hearted soul decided that she could play just a few games, just for a few minutes a day, and earn them some spending money. Just so their little pets didn’t waste away for lack of cyber-sustenance, you understand. It’s not like the little games are easy, after all. Some of them are downright challenging. Maybe even educational!

Okay, not educational. But very, very addictive.

Not that the kind benefactor in question would ever be addicted to a silly bunch of internet games. She’s far too mature for that.  Not to mention entirely too busy. Much, much too busy. Busy NOT THINKING ABOUT GOING INTO LABOR IN THE NEXT WEEK OR SO.

Gotta go now. There are all-time-high-scores to beat, after all.

Responses

LOL i know the webkinz feeling…… my daughter hs like a few billion around here…

i used to help her and my two nieces out…. but now my daughter has like 20,000 kc piled up (again) from new adoptions….

so i have my own pet. that i originally got just to be able to play against her in the tournament arena and buy items and send to her. but now, she can beat me more frequently than i care to admit.

so its getting harder to explain my motives…. as my single cat now has like 5 rooms and 3 gardens…

Thank you for explaining the world of Webkinz. Seriously. I had no idea what they were, though I had heard of them, and I had no idea how the whole “buy the toy in the store and then go online” scenario worked.

I’m thinking I will keep my prone-to-obsessing-autistic children far, far away from this little phenomenon! Thank you for saving my sanity!

Now, go enjoy your games and don’t spend time calculating how many hours, minutes & seconds until your due date. LOL

((( hugs ))) and hang in there… you’ll get to the finish line yet!

It’s Webkinz on the brain today! I posted about them, too, if you’d like to read it. That is if you aren’t too busy playing Cash Cow 2. If you’re really lucky, I’ll invite you over to my “house” and let you see my Goober’s Lab trophy :-)

http://valerie.thestranathans.com/2008/04/taking-quick-break-from-homeschool_02.html

8 days! I can’t believe that. And, yes, those last days seem to last forever. But soon you’ll have that precious bundle in your arms.

Wow. I’d never even heard about Webkinz.

Guess this isn’t the part where you want to hear about people having babies late. 12 days late. Yup. I was so ready. One of the hardest things (besides the SIZE I was) was not being able to plan anything. Oh well.

Guess I’m not too worried about it as I just discovered today that #3 is on the way… I just called family to tell them. Wishing the general response was more–happy. I know I caught everyone by surprise as #2 is just 7 months old tomorrow, but still. I can’t even imagine the responses you’ve received.

Isn’t it dumb? It’s not as if we have any control whatsoever over when labor starts, but we think about it constantly anyway. What’s up with that? My 5th was due on my 9-year-old daughter’s birthday, but she didn’t show up that day; but I couldn’t bake that poor child a cake, because I had to sit and focus on whether the baby was coming. I still feel bad about that. I simply couldn’t focus on that cake.

My friend and I were just talking about Webkinz. Her two year old son got a puppy WK and she admits she only bought it because she wanted on the website. She is totally addicted to the games. We haven’t entered the world of Webkinz yet, but I’m sure our time is coming.

Oh Jenni! Please promise me that in December, when I’m singing the same song (”Please, dear midwife…..just check my cervix and then ‘happen’ to strip my membranes……lalalalala, dededededeeeeee….”), you’ll lend me your humor and candor!

*sigh* Picking it’s toenails, eh? Clever….clever……

We’ve never done Webkinz. Lego’s … those I could talk about for days and days and days.

Lots of hugs to you … those last days drag on forever.

Hello, my name is Susan and I am a Cash Cow-aholic.

Look! Over there! It’s something shiny! Maybe it’s a UFO!

(Did that help? Or do we need to start forwarding YouTube videos of the day to you?)

Nooooo not Webkinz! Ohhohohohoho…. puhleeheeheeeze , anything but the Webkinz!

I can’t count them. I think they’re secretly breeding under the cushions.

i was LOL the other day when jim told me not to message you, because it would mess up your game! … LOL … but dangit! i’m gonna have to go buy a webkinz now, just so i can log on and see what all the fuss is about! :oP

no plans for M & E’s birthdays yet, then? when is the spring dance? what else can you *not* plan yet?! LOL poor jenni. i’m prayin’ for baby to come soooooooon!

Oh Anne, they definitely are breeding. I’ve lost count of how many we have between the 4 kidlets. I think we’re to 30?? And they don’t even play with them online anymore except occasionally. It’s all TOONTOWN now.

Jenni, hoping your day comes soon just so you can stop thinking of it. I remember it all too well (all of mine having come past their due dates). And I only had 4.

Like Kimberly I was 12 days late. I SO relate to wanting it to just.be.over.already! I think that if I hadn’t broken down in tears at 10 days my Dr. may have let me go for 12 more.

That baby was 11 lb. Really good thing he didn’t let me go 12 more, don’t you think?

I’ve been enjoying your birth stories. We had two babies(now 17 years and 15 years) and then were pregnant three other times that ended sadly before those blessings were born. Thank you for sharing. Praying for you in your final days before your next one arrives.

I’ve only seen vague references to this thing called webkinz. I guess where my kids had beanie babies when they were younger, webkinz entertain today. The whole idea that you can buy the toy and come home and have a code to play games takes the whole stuffed animal thing to another level. Interesting.

Webkinz is educational. Just think. they are learning money managment at the least. I’ve neverr been on webkinz (don’t own one of the pets) but I read this book - Don’t Bother Me Mom, I’m Learning by Marc Prensky - all about how gaming is actually very educational, and teaches skills needed for the 21st century and beyond. pretty awesome stuff. I blogged a review on my home school blog - http://aprendemos.yuriar.com/blog/ - but… apparently my host is doing maintenance on the databases. Ugh

From personal experience I can truly sympathise with you - both with the never ending last days of a pregnancy and also with those toys that seem to breed in dark corners of the house.

my first born was five days late but the rest have been early, still, “get out of my belly” is all that’s going through my head the last two weeks. we’re trying to buy our first house and the waiting is similar to the waiting feeling i had with my babies.

distractions…hmmm. ok, how do you clean yellow paint from carpet? i thought i got it out but it’s peeking out again.

First of all, Webkinz are the devil in plush form. That’s all I’m sayin’ about that.

Secondly, if it will make you feel any better I just found out I’m expecting my 6th. I haven’t even announced it on my blog yet! Eegads! So comfort yourself in the fact you only have 8 days left. Me?
8 long months. But it’s all good in the end. :)

I was beginning to think you were super-human to be able to restlessly write those stories. Have you gone for a pedicure? Aren’t pretty toes such a good thing? You go into new-baby land with feet you won’t pamper for a while. You should set up a pay-pal thingy and let your online girlfriends give you a shower. The pedicure could be on me.

I am with Susan, I also am a Cash Cowaholic! I spend nap times “earning” kinz cash for my little ones. One game leads to another, and another, and another…….

How does one baby, so small, loom so very large over everything???

Susan, ROTFL!

Methinks our own little chapter of “webkinz, anonymous” may be in order? Hm?

Amber, your idea is so thoughtful; thank you for making me smile! However, there really isn’t anything that I need at this point so…

as far as a pedicure goes, I could certainly USE one, but I’m far too disgusted at the sight of my own feet to expose them to anyone else, LOL!

Joanna, I’m sorry I have no advice about the paint! I’m impressed that you seem to have gotten as much out as you have.

Headless, Oy! Eleven pounds! Can’t even fathom.

Becca Lou, only the most flitting and vague of thoughts about M and E’s birthdays, but I better get my act together because if I don’t do it now I certainly won’t be doing it later! Arrrgh!

Joanne, you said it, m’dear…you summed it up.

Thank you to all of your for the sympathy and support…it really helps. MWAH! again!

My daughter loves webkinz and my son is begging for one of his own. And I’m so glad to hear of another anonymous party who earns webkinz money for their children! :) Not that I know anything about that either!

I’m expecting #4 in a few weeks and I’m already obsessed and SO ready…I can’t imagine #12. Up until this pregnancy, they’ve been no big deal, but this one has given me SO much respect for those of you whose bodies have endured so much! Hang in there!

I can’t even fathom the kind of toys that are on the market. My mother saved most of my toys, bless her heart, so Anja will probably get lots of hand-me-downs (from her own MOTHER…weird…). If I can just keep her away from things like Bratz, I will consider my job done. :)

Webkinz do sound pretty addictive!

Webkinz?
Oh my stars and garters! (I’m going to have to use that as my own)

I’ll join the club… my little gal’s name is TessiTurtle - and around our house bonding time consists of four computers in tournament land playing games… *help I think we need intervention!*

Have you ever earned over 100 KC playing “Home Before Dark”? I have. I rock at that game. ROCK! I have a huge strategy/theory worked out regarding how to maximize points.

We have four Webkinz in our family.

LOL Great post, would you mind if I printed it out and stapled it to my December calendar page? I feel so much more free now that I know that I’m not the only grown woman who plays arcade games on Webkinz. Our kids are so lucky that we make such sacrifices for them and their Webkinz.

My friend Gina was just sharing the other night at our homeschool moms night out that she actually gets her daughter to play all the arcade games at Barbie Girls and then SHE spends all her daughter’s money decorating her Barbie townhome.

What lows will we moms stoop to next, I ask you??

And we are caught up in the Webkinz mania around here too. Even my son is in on it now after receiving his first in his Easter basket.

Umm… I have a little bit o’ news! All the while that I have been reading your birthing stories and weeping (or at least the last two weeks or so) I WAS PREGNANT! Wheeee! Due on Dec 10th, and so thrilled!

Oh I feel your pain! That last week is the worst because you really know it could come at any time. And trying to prepair your self for the baby coming late…wow. Yea…I did eveything i could to get it going….hot foods, walking, sex and actually my baby came 3 days early..who knows if it actually worked or not. But hey I was happy

Oh man, I know you are really anticipating this delivery, but I missed your next delivery story. That and I’m trying to distract myself from strangling my one and only daughter who’s been home from third grade entirely too long. She’s now chasing and yelling at the dog with a very annoying, high-pitch voice.

Ah well, Webkinz are great — she’s up to 15, I think. We’ve lost count.

Bon, huge congratulations!! December will be extra-happy for you guys this year.

Well…hopefully it will be soon, and another beautiful story! :-)

I had resigned myself to being pregnant forever with this child, but last Saturday (the day after my due date), my water broke, and by Sunday morning we had a baby boy! :-)

(Unfortunately, trying to convince oneself mentally that you are content with being pregnant forever and never actually having the baby does not, apparently, bring on labor. Although I tried that. Along with spicy food and folk dancing.)

My older 2 girls (7 and 5) each have 2 Webkinz. My 2-year-old got one for Christmas, and her daddy promptly snatched up her code and “takes care” of it for her “until she’s older.” Ha.

I think they’re fab.

I couldn’t believe it was only 8 days, but then I can’t believe Bronwyn is already 6 weeks. I’m so looking forward to your news!

(And, uh… congrats on your other news.) ;)

I’ve never heard of Webkinz, we don’t seem to have them here in the Netherlands.
I wish you strength for next few days!

I wondered what was up with those toys. We hadn’t really been exposed to them thanks to my refusal to pay for television. As I was checking out the site, my two “consumer-minded” kids (9 & 4) decided that they just have to get in on this stuff! Abby(4) wants “every horse they have!” Ben(9) is a bit more pratical minded, a true gamer if you will… “Don’t they have a free 10 day trial?! Even World of Warcraft let’s you try it before you buy it!”

He’s not interested in the actual stuffie. She’s not old enough to do the online part of it. I suggested they choose one that they can share. We’ll see how negotiations progress.

I knew I shouldn’t click that link while they were awake!

As I was reading through the parents section of the site I ran across a FAQ stating that the account only lasts one year from the day you activate it, so you have to go buy another toy to keep playing? This seems a bit scammish to me…

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