34 Weeks

We have been checking things off our giant list of things to do this week. The crib is all ready. Newborn and 0-3 month clothes are cleaned and put away. Pre-admission stuff at the hospital is taken care of. We still have a lot more to do before we are really ready for Josie to get here, but we are making progress.

How far along? 34 weeks
Maternity clothes? Yes
Stretch marks? Yeah - see comments from previous weeks
Sleep: I can't get enough of it. I feel so cranky due to being tired. Now that I am on winter break I can nap with Sophie at least. I have no idea what I am going to do when break is over.
Best moment this week: Christmas! I can't wait until next year so that we can celebrate Christmas as a family of 4!
Miss Anything? sleep
Movement: Always
Food cravings: Sweets. My students gave me a ton of chocolate for Christmas, so I am covered in this area.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Just this stupid cold that I came down with. I am pathetic when I am sick, so add that to my already exhausted state and you will get meltdown city! Poor Joe and Sophie for having to put up with me this week.
Any pregnancy complications?: My sciatic nerve has been working overtime this week. It has also decided to get my right knee in on the action. I've broken down and taken pain meds (safe ones for pregnancy) a few different days. They really help, but I hate taking medicine. Besides that, my hormones and exhaustion have been taking over lately. I become grouchy and easily annoyed at least twice a week, which then leads into a crying spell. I have no control over it, which frustrates me even more.
Have you started to show yet: Yes
Gender: Girl!
Looking forward to: January 30th - 5 more weeks!

Sophie was so tired, much like me in last week's picture.

Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone!
This is Sophie's 3rd Christmas. Each one is better than the last. This year she was even more excited about opening her presents. She would open each one, exclaim what it was and hug it. Then she would take her wrapping paper and throw it away in the box of trash. How polite and helpful of her! She loved getting to see all of her family and spending time with each of them.
I can't wait until next Christmas to see both of my girls open their gifts!

28 Months

This month has sped by, though they all have been lately so I shouldn't be surprised.



•  Sophie continues to grow which makes me so happy. Today after getting dirty, I changed her into a pair of 9 month comfy pants and a 6-9 month shirt. Both fit her well last month. Today though, the pants were just a smidgen too short and the shirt was both too short and tight. Great problems to have! Storing away her too small clothes are on my list of things to do over Christmas break. (Her pants in the above picture need to be pulled down some. They actually fit length wise much better than how they look. That is how a lot of the 'too small' pants look on her now though.)
• Potty training is coming along. After the fiasco with potty training a few months ago, we decided to let Sophie take charge of potty time. At least once every day she lets us know that she wants to go potty. Sometimes she takes matters into her own hands by taking off her pants and diaper before informing us that it is time to go potty. It is pretty comical. One day after she took off her pants and diaper, I decided to try her in underwear to see how she would do. She lasted about 5 minutes before peeing her pants. She didn't seem bothered by it at all, so I know we still have a lot of work ahead of us. I am fine with taking it at her pace though. She has always done things on her own time line (eating, crawling, walking, etc), so I don't expect this to be any different. I'm just proud of the progress she has made so far.
• We aren't having much luck getting rid of Sophie's pacifiers. She just isn't ready to give them up. I tried cutting a small piece off of one in hopes that she would be dissatisfied and just want rid of it. Instead she went on about how it was broken and cried a bunch when we tried to put her to sleep. We broke down and gave her a different one so she would actually go to sleep. Things keep happening to her pacifiers though (lost, purposely broken again, etc) and now she is down to her last two. We will see how long they last. Once they are gone, they are gone. We won't buy her anymore. 
• Sophie is now sleeping in her toddler bed. We realized that changing her bed and room was probably too much of a change for her. So, we switched the toddler bed into her room, and put the crib in the spare room (now officially Josie's room). She has slept in it each night and for naps each time. When she wakes up, she doesn't get out of bed (thank goodness!). Instead she calls for me and waits for me to come into her room. She usually announces, "I awake!" or "I wake up!" before climbing out of bed. When she has slept at my parents house, she chooses to sleep in the toddler bed there instead of in the crib. This makes me so happy! My little girl is growing up.

The first few nights of sleeping in the toddler bed were interesting. She is so used to sleeping all over her crib, that I found in some interesting positions. This was the first night in her room. (Don't mind the millions of blankets. She wants them all with her apparently).

This was the second night in the bed. Originally her head was hanging off the side, but when I came back after getting my camera, she curled up like this.

Sleeping tonight - more normal than other nights. 

• Speaking of Sophie's toddler bed, her whole room is starting to undergo a makeover. Yesterday Joe and I went to Ikea and picked up a new dresser for her. Joe put it together last night and we moved it into her room today, moving the old one into Josie's room. I also moved her changing table out today so that it can get painted and then moved into Josie's room. Sophie hasn't been wanting to get her diapers changed on it anymore (minus those poopy ones), so she didn't seem to mind. We put her changing pad on her dresser for now (until Josie gets here) and she seems fine with that. The big brown glider will be the last thing to go, but we will save that until right before my due date. So far, she seems to be doing okay with the changes.
• Our basement is finished now, so we have been able to move the majority of Sophie's toys down there. They are scattered about at the moment, but we bought some bookcases at Ikea to help with storing them. Sophie loves being in the basement. I can't wait until we have things set up so we can actually spend more time down there.
• Sophie's favorite shows are still Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Doc McStuffins, and Yo Gabba Gabba. She constantly asks to watch them and often sings songs from the shows. Mickey is still her all-time favorite show. I love when she interacts with it and shows off what she is learning. I can't hate on the show when I can tell that it is teaching her new things.

She is fascinated by this old stethoscope we found. She kept going around listening to our heartbeats. Too darn cute. She either wants to be like her dad (a PA) or Doc McStuffins.

• We've had some terrible 2 tantrums this month, but not as much as before. I think that picking our battles and letting her do her thing has helped a lot. In fact, I think I've had more tantrums that Sophie this month (good old pregnancy hormones + sheer exhaustion = a crying mess of a momma).
• Funny/gross story of the month. One weekend after getting up at 7am, Sophie and I were downstairs watching cartoons. I fell back asleep on the couch, which happens often. I think Sophie likes having some alone time to play and watch tv without me bothering her. When she gets bored, she will come over, shake me and say, "Mommy, wake up!" It is a pretty good system we have (and it won't last much longer - Josie will 'ruin' that!). Anyway, as I was sleeping I heard Sophie start panicking and crying about something. I sat straight up and she ran over to me, holding up her right hand. It was covered in brown and I thought for sure it was her chocolate Cheerios that she ate for breakfast. It wasn't until her panicked little voice stated, "It poop. Pooooop!" that I realized what happened. She had pooped and reached into her diaper to feel it. She has never done that before and I doubt she will do it again. She seemed a little traumatized by it. I couldn't help but laugh at her reaction.
• Sophie has been extremely good about not touching the presents under the Christmas tree. The night after we put the tree up, there were a few gifts under there. She opened two of them before Joe caught her. After that we kept our presents stacked on the dining room table. A week or so later, I started to put them under the tree. She didn't pay a bit of attention to them and never even asked about them. Tonight we let her open one gift up (the Elmo and Count figurines in one of the toddler bed pictures). She unwrapped it and didn't even ask to open any others. I'm impressed with her self control. I can't wait to see her rip into her gifts on Christmas though.

Lounging with her daddy

Really fuzzy picture from the Festival of Lights

Weekend mornings with my girl are the best.

Mmmm, lima beans

33 Weeks

How far along? 33 weeks
Maternity clothes? Yup. I can still mix in pre-pregnancy comfy pants and shirts, though the shirts are generally too short now. If I don't have a long enough tank top on underneath, my belly hangs out. Gross!
Stretch marks? Yeah. I am more veiny this time around though.
Sleep: I have started taking naps again. I'm always so tired!
Best moment this week: Seeing Josie again! The growth scan ultrasound went great! Josie is measuring in the 44th percentile and she is an estimated 4 lb 3 oz already! (just 4 oz away from Sophie's birth weight at 37 weeks). Her heart beat was strong, there was fluid in her stomach and kidneys which means that she has been practicing breathing (her daily hiccups already let me know this), and everything else looked as it should. Phew! She also appears to already have a ton of hair. The technician kept commenting on it. "Oh, my that is a lot of hair!" (while pointing to a bunch of white stuff around Josie's head.) I guess this means I won't have to glue bows in her hair like I did for Sophie. We might just have another goofball on our hands, too. At one point during the ultrasound, Josie looked straight at us (you know what I mean) and stuck her tongue out. It makes me smile just thinking about it!
Miss Anything? sleep
Movement: I love watching my stomach move underneath my shirts. I'm pretty sure it freaked some of my friends out earlier this week though. ha!
Food cravings: sweets
Anything making you queasy or sick: Earlier this week I had to leave my math class because my orange juice wasn't sitting well with me. I haven't puked in months, so it threw me for a loop. My sweet students were concerned about me. I love my other kids!
Any pregnancy complications?: At the start of the week my left cheekbone was killing me (as if I was getting a sinus infection). That isn't really pregnancy related, but when you combine it with sciatic nerve problems, back aches, breathlessness, leg cramps, and exhaustion you get one unhappy preggo. Luckily that symptom went away after a few days and now I am just left with all the other ones (I've been dealing with those, so no biggie). I think I am about to get a cold though, so that should be fun.
Have you started to show yet: of course
Gender: Girl!
Looking forward to: Finishing Josie's room. I have changed my mind again and decided that Sophie should keep her old room. We tried having her sleep in her new bed in the other room, but it only lasted one night. After that she wanted to go back to her old room with her crib. So, this past weekend my dad helped me move the crib over to Josie's new room and Sophie's toddler bed to her room. (Sophie is sleeping much better now and hasn't asked for her crib). We still have a ton to do in Josie's room, but I love that it is starting to come together.

Don't mind how awful I look here. I am beyond exhausted here and starting to feel sick! Only one more day until Winter Break at school. It can't come soon enough.

Our Family

32 Weeks

I had to bribe Sophie with candy to pose with me. She wanted to watch Mickey Mouse instead.

How far along? 32 weeks
Maternity clothes? Yes
Stretch marks? I looks like there are small additions to two other old stretch marks. Sophie was only a 4lb 7oz baby at 37 weeks, so I'm sure that more additions are in my future.
Sleep: I am still very tired each day. I'm still getting up multiple times a night. However, when I sleep on the couch with a cushion right behind my back I don't get up (or only get up once). The couch might be my new bed here very soon.
Best moment this week: I had a good (and quick) doctor's appointment yesterday. Things were looking good with me, which is always good to hear. The doctor predicted that Josie will be in the 40-50th percentile. We have a growth scan next Tuesday, so we will see if he is correct.
Miss Anything? Walking without my sciatic nerve acting up and sleep.
Movement: Lots. Her new favorite thing is pushing on and kicking my bladder. Not so nice.
Food cravings: Ice cold water
Anything making you queasy or sick: No
Any pregnancy complications?: I've been overly emotional the past two weeks, mostly on the weekends. My sciatic nerve has been acting up again as well.
Have you started to show yet: obviously
Gender: Girl!
Looking forward to: Seeing Josie on Tuesday! Less than a week!

Big Girl Bed

We bought Sophie a 'big girl bed'. She has been playing on it the past few days and likes that she can climb in and out of it. Since she seemed fine with it, we decided to try having her sleep in there. She seemed to sleep pretty well in it. She woke up once, but fell right back asleep. In the morning, she called out for us to come get her. When I went in there, I told her to climb out of bed and she gave me a look that said, "Oh yeah, I can do that with this one." Before her nap today, we asked if she wanted to sleep in her crib or her big bed. She chose the crib. She also chose the crib to sleep in at night. Oh well. We will just ease her into the new bed. Maybe putting it in her room instead of the new room will make a difference. Regardless, she is going to be booted from the crib in two months. I hope she gets used to her new bed before then.

31 Weeks

I'm so excited! Our basement is finally finished! It has been a work in progress since this summer and the end date kept getting pushed back farther and farther. I cried for about two hours lost my cool this weekend when Joe told me that it was going to take more time. I was just so frustrated. While my rational side knows that the people who were working on it have other lives, jobs, and things to do, my crazy pregnancy side took over and I just lost it. Let's see if you can follow my preggo train of thought...
Josie's room was Sophie's playroom. In order to start fixing up Josie's room, all of the toys (including some big ones) had to come out. Instead of them going to the living room or Sophie's room, they would go in the new playroom in the basement, whenever that was ready. So until the basement was finished, Josie's room would have to wait. That also meant that a bunch of other projects would have to wait, since it is kinda domino effect (one can't start until the other is finished). Doesn't seem like such a big deal, except that we have a deadline coming up. Josie will be here in 8 weeks. That is still enough time to get everything done. However, I have a lot of fears (very valid ones, in my opinion). When I was pregnant with Sophie, I was put on bed rest around 34 or 35 weeks and was induced at 37 weeks. There were many things, both at home and school, that I wasn't able to get finished. I don't want that to happen again this time. So far I haven't had any issues with this pregnancy that would suggest history will repeat itself. However, I can't help but worry (I'm a natural worrier, too, so pregnancy has just increased my fretting). We had so many different issues with Sophie, and there was the miscarriage of baby #2, so I can't help but wonder what is going to happen this time. When is the other shoe going to drop? Hopefully it won't and the only issue will be that I have driven myself crazy waiting for something to happen. Still, I want to get everything done as soon as possible just in case.
Anyway, the basement is finished now (minus some painting)! Thank goodness! The old playroom has also been painted and the crib is put together. However, crazy preggo me isn't in love with the crib. It was passed on to my mom, and she said we could have it for the baby. I thought it was white, but it is instead an antique cream color (which doesn't go with the grey paint in the room). It also has a drop side, which is a big no-no in cribs nowadays. Normal people would just go with the flow, be appreciative of what they have, and get on with decorating the nursery. I am not one of those normal people though and apparently like to make everything more difficult than it has to be (yes, I sound like an ungrateful brat). Joe and I talked about what to do and tossed around ideas. We decided that instead of moving the changing table and recliner into the new bedroom and using a possibly unsafe crib, we are going to have Josie take over Sophie's room. The room is basically ready for a baby, and she can just use Sophie's crib. Sophie will move into the old playroom. We discussed taking the drop side off of the crib so that it is a toddler bed (it is a crib that can do that), but decided against that (due to my crazy 'the colors don't match' thought). Instead we are ordering a (cheap) white toddler bed for her. I hope that Sophie does okay with the change of rooms. It is my goal to have her new room finished very soon so she has time to get used to that change before the even bigger change of having a new baby in the house happens.



I am one tired momma

How far along? 31 weeks
Maternity clothes? Yes
Stretch marks? Just the one small addition
Sleep: I am always beat when I get home from work, especially on Wednesdays (the day I do this blog) because I tutor kids in math after school. Even though I am tired, I never get a 'good night's sleep' - I'm still getting up multiple times in the night to use the restroom. So frustrating!
Best moment this week: Seeing our finished basement! Let the nesting begin!
Miss Anything? wine and beer - they would have come in handy this weekend
Movement: Absolutely
Food cravings: oreos and orange juice
Anything making you queasy or sick: No
Any pregnancy complications?: Not this week. My body has been nice to me after it rebelled on me last week.
Have you started to show yet: yup
Gender: Girl!
Looking forward to: My doctor's appointment next Tuesday. We should be able to schedule my growth scan. I can't wait to see Josie again!

Christmas Time

Sophie helped us decorate our Christmas tree. Of course her favorite thing to do was to take the ornaments off. Still, I am glad that she was able to join in on the tradition of tree decoration. I bet she is an even better helper next year.