38 Weeks Update

After this week's doctor's appointment, I'm deciding to do away with the March 20 due date (I had been given two due dates based on the baby's size), so we'll just go with the later one, March 26. More on this below.  So that makes me 38 weeks today!

How big is baby? At my doctor's appointment today, the doctor guessed that the baby is currently seven pounds even! With at least two weeks to go, sounds like this could be a bigger baby than Ford, who was 7 lbs, 7 ounces at his birth. Babies at this stage of pregnancy gain about half a pound a week, so it's looking like she'll be in the neighborhood of 8 pounds. Yikes! I know that's nothing for many of you, but I'm nervous about having a big baby, since my kiddos' heads seem to be on the LARGE side anyway... Ummm... And I know she could be smaller than he thinks, but that doesn't help to put my mind at ease right now. 

Weight gain/loss: No gain since last week! So in total I have gained 22 pounds.

Sleep: Good! I have had a couple of rough nights in the last week, but that's due to Ford's night-waking, not the pregnancy. If he starts crying, I can't help but hear it and wake up. Nine times out of 10, I'll check the video monitor, see that he's okay, and stay in bed awake until he stops crying. But he's had some mystery medical issues since Saturday afternoon (all is well, no worries - just random toddler rashes and whatnot), so Saturday night I ended up going in his room twice and rocking him until he fell back to sleep. Sweet boy. 

Movement: Moving, though less dramatically than when she had more room. This morning my doctor asked me if I was having any contractions, and I said "no," which seemed to concern him. He followed that up, worriedly, with, "She is moving, right?" And I just about wanted to smack him. Like, because I am not having contractions, you make me think there could be something wrong with baby girl or me? I assured him she was still moving plenty (even had a few cases of the hiccups in the last few weeks!). Overall my doctor's appointment ANNOYED me and scared me! Dr. N was in a bad mood... My appointment was supposed to be at 10:20, and after I waited until 11, they came in and told me he was still doing a difficult birth and that they would have to move my appointment to 1 p.m. at his other office. I was actually okay with that, and I understood, even though I could have seen it as an inconvenience. Brad was working from home and watching Ford, so while it was a bit of an inconvenience for him, it was kind of a nice "mom's day out" for me. So I went to the downtown office at 1 p.m. and Dr. N proceeds to tell me about the hellish birth... It was a "second time mom, so it was supposed to go fast," but she was an "ineffective pusher" so they tried forceps, then the baby's heart rate dropped so they did an emergency C-section, then as he was pulling the baby out, the baby threw his shoulder... I started to tune him out at this point because it sounded awful, and it also sounded like something that could totally happen to me, based on my last go-around. I just thought it was insensitive (and kind of inappropriate to be sharing all of that, right?). Then he was shocked that the baby's head was still SUPER high. I asked him what station the baby was at, and he said, "Oh she's not even at a station, she's WAY up there, you could go on a cruise and come back and still be pregnant." I asked if there was anything I could or should be doing, in addition to my regular routine of exercising, taking Red Raspberry Leaf and Evening Primrose Oil, doing stretches, etc. to get the baby into position. And he just said, "Nope, there's really nothing you can do," so I said I was a little nervous since this feels like a repeat of last time, where the baby didn't want to drop and I avoided a C-section by the skin of my teeth, and he just sort of brushed me off (or at least that's how I felt). I know he can't tell me I won't have to be induced or won't need a C-section, but I do think he could be more helpful. Sure, he had a rough, frustrating morning, but I left his office feeling really discouraged. All of that, plus his guess that the baby is already seven pounds... Just not encouraging. Heart rate was good (141 bpm) and my belly is measuring right on track. But like I said above, I'm throwing March 20 out the window and going with the later date of March 26 (Gee's birthday!), just for my sanity's sake.  

Symptoms: Nothing new! I stepped up one of my workouts last week and ended up having a sore lower back, but that only lasted a day or so. At this point with Ford I was having pain in my hips and joints, so I'm glad to be avoiding that, even though if the baby would drop I'm sure the discomfort would be worth it... 

Belly button: Out! I went for a walk this afternoon after my appointment and was wearing a tight-ish tank top, and you could totally see my belly button sticking out through the shirt. Was kind of gross-looking, but whatever. 

Food cravings: Nothing in particular! Cold fruit, maybe? Strawberries and stone fruits are favorites around here right now. Brad could sense I was discouraged and frustrated after I got home from my doctor's appointment, then the chicken I was going to roast for dinner still hadn't thawed out, so he suggested we go out for pizza (a REAL treat around here, since we don't eat a lot of grains!). We headed gleefully to our favorite pizza place in Deep Ellum, Serious Pizza. We got Ford to start chanting "Pizza!" with us to distract him from how hungry he was. Then we find a meter, walk up to the restaurant, and... they're closed because the interior is being repainted. So we went to El Fenix for Mexican food instead, which was fine and still a nice treat, but not pizza... wah wah.

Gender: Sweet Baby Girl! 

What I miss? Nothing much! Grateful to be where I am. Praying for God to ease my anxiety about the birth and about everyone's transition to having a newborn in the house. Join me in prayer that baby and I will avoid any complications during birth, and that I'll be able/allowed to go into labor on my own!

What I'm looking forward to? Knowing how this is all going to go down. :) Waiting is hard. It was easier and sweeter last time when I was blissfully unaware of how difficult Ford's birth would be. Now, especially after my appointment, I just have this sense of nervousness. I know that's not from God, so I'm asking him to give me a peace that passes understanding and can only come from the Spirit of Christ ruling in my heart!

Big Brother: Still totally in love with mama. I have a bunch of cute stories from the last week, but I'll just share a couple of them here. It's a really fun age and stage. He says a Bible verse now, with hand motions: "God made the heavens (hebbens) and the earth (earf)." He usually repeats after me, but he came up spontaneously last week while Brad and I were sitting at the kitchen table and said, "God (pointing to the sky)... maaaaade (motioning like he's molding something in his hands)... BELLYBUTTONS! (lifting up his shirt)" So funny! Guess he got a little distracted along the way. ;) I also realized today that he has been telling me "I love you," but I have been thinking he is saying "Where are you." Kind of comes out "Whyyy wuhhh youuuu." His favorite activity at the moment is pouring water from one measuring cup to another, and he would choose prunes over candy. I have caught him doing a lot of pretend play with his stuffed animals, and he's still OBSESSED with doing his ABCs. He knows all of the letters now and no longer confuses V with Y. This morning he was trying to bite his boiled eggs into the shapes of letters. I also heard him count to six while he was playing with his blocks. I KNOW I'M TOTALLY BRAGGING right now, and I feel a LITTLE bad about it because I'm sure it's annoying, but I also want to chronicle this stuff because it blows my mind. Of course, he's not perfect... Still lots of temper tantrums and boundary-testing, but he is responding to discipline well. I thank God daily for what a sweet gift he is to me and Brad!

37-38 Week Update!

In case you haven't seen it, I posted photos of the nursery last night! Check them out below or click here.  

Also, I saw my doctor this morning for my weekly check-up. All is well in babyland. I am fully expecting this baby to go past her due date, since I haven't been having any contractions (real or false). Brad is going on a business trip to Nebraska at the end of next week (only four days before baby's earliest due date), so I asked Dr. N what my chances of going into labor before or during that time were. He pressed on my belly and had me do the same, showing me how HIGH the baby's head is. I could float the head up almost to my belly button when I pushed it upward! As Dr. Norwood put it, Brad could go to Antarctica next week and he still wouldn't risk missing the baby's birth. Ha! I would be discouraged if I weren't already so convinced that the baby is not coming early. It's just been a part of my mentality all along. I told Dr. N that I want an Easter baby, and he told me he is on call that weekend, even though he doesn't normally work weekends. So that may be a good thing, assuming he lets my labor go as long as it needs to and doesn't insist on a C-section at any point (unless there's a legitimate medical necessity). I also shared with him that I am starting to get nervous about labor the second time around, since I was one push away from C-section last time. He assured me that second births are much, much easier, which I have heard, but I figure I am very likely the exception to the rule. (Okay, I know I'm being negative, but my theory is that I'm good at pregnancy and bad at birth. And yes, I base this on one birth.) I asked if there was any way to find out if this baby is OP/sunny-side up like Ford was, and he said all babies start out transverse and rotate during labor. I don't know if that's true... not to act like I'm smarter than him (I'm not!!!), but I know there are a ton of resources on how to spin a transverse baby before labor... blah blah blah. If anyone knows more about this than me, please weigh in. 

Now on to the weekly update!

How big is baby? Somewhere in the neighborhood of 6.5 - 7 pounds and almost 20 inches long! Ford was 7 lbs, 7 oz and 20 inches when he was born about a week after his due date. I'm thinking this baby will be about that size, depending on when she decides to grace us with her presence.

Weight gain/loss: As of this morning, I have gained 22 pounds.

Sleep: It's okay! I had a week or 10 days when I didn't take any Benadryl before bed but slept through the whole night without waking. But I've had three rough nights in a row, waking up to use the restroom or just waking up with insatiable thirst! I think tonight I'm going to cave and take a Benadryl. Worth it.

Movement: I can tell it's cramped in there. Lots of rolls and jabs, but limited in their range of motion. I love feeling her move though, and I know I'll miss it when she's here (even though I'll be happy to have her here!).

Symptoms: Nothing new! I actually feel pretty good. I still have what I call my "Horsehead Nebula tattoo" on my right calf, the gnarly spider vein that appeared during this pregnancy, but it doesn't seem to hurt anymore, so I guess there's not much pressure anymore on whatever vein is supplying blood to that area.

Belly button: Top part is still out!And I'm not even trying to tape it down anymore. Haha.

Food cravings: I have noticed I am eating a ton of carbs! Probably not good. I've never really craved carbs, like breadsticks or donuts or whatever. I don't even eat cereal for breakfast. But now I want cereal for breakfast, a bagel for lunch, and garlic bread for dinner. Weird! Maybe it's because I'm sort of low-energy but not napping, so I feel like I need to fuel myself with carbs... :-/ I also really am wanting seafood. Brad and I tried out a new seafood place close to our neighborhood (relatively speaking), and I got fish & chips. It was okay but didn't live up to expectations. Still need to scratch that itch!

Gender: Sweet Baby Girl! I think we finally have a name. Not 100 percent sure, but sure enough that I bought two infant caps and got one of them monogrammed. I'm saving the other one in case we change our minds. :)
What I miss? This may sound terrible, but I have actually been thinking about what I will miss when baby girl is here. I have it pretty good. I can get a lot done while Ford naps (projects for work, stuff around the house, baking/cooking/crafting, even just sitting and reading and eating a Honey Bun, ha), and I have a feeling those leisurely naptimes are coming to an end, once there are two kids on different schedules. That probably sounds a hundred different shades of selfish, but it's really been on my mind, thinking of how I'll deal with the change. I know our lives will be so much richer with another child, but the reality of newborn craziness is coming back to me. I had such a hard time when Ford was new. He was a tough, tough baby. So cute but OH so hungry all the time, not a great sleeper, not a happy boy. Nothing anyone could have said would have prepared me for how much he cried, and nothing I did seemed to help. I think Ford just had a spunky, determined personality from the start; he still gets easily frustrated, though I love how determined he is. I'm praying that baby girl has a peaceful, gentle demeanor from the start to help me transition into being a mom two times over. But to answer the question more directly, I do miss having more than a few outfits that fit and make me feel good!

What I'm looking forward to? Lots! For all of my anxiety that I mentioned above, I really am looking forward to having a tiny baby. It will be nice to have family up here, and I'm also excited for Ford to do an Easter egg hunt where he actually knows what's going on. Here's a video of his first "hunt" for puffs-filled Easter eggs. He was about eight months old and a fairly new crawler. The smiles at the beginning just melt me! And watch around 4 min, 15 sec for a "mama bear attack."

Big Brother: At 19 months, such a mama's boy right now! We are fortunate that Brad gets to be home a lot during the day when he's not out visiting customers, but if I disappear for even 30 seconds, even if Brad is right next to him, it's "Mama? Mama? MAMA!" He has also started calling me "mom" some of the time, which I'm not a big fan of, but it's kind of funny. He walks around the house chanting rhythmically, "Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom..." He is obsessed with "Finding Nemo" and asks for it several times a day (we let him watch it maybe once a week, tops). He also likes to entertain us by "speaking whale," like Dory does in the movie. His favorite activity is swinging in the backyard, and he takes great pride and doing things on his own. If he climbs on the couch by himself or finishes his entire dinner or puts his toys away without assistance, I'll hear a cheer of "DID IT!" from Ford. He has been calling animals by their sounds since he was about a year old (dog was "woof woof," cat was "meow," monkey was "oooh oooh ah ah"), but now he says the animal names. Monkey is a favorite, but it comes out munt-nee. He also tells me when he thinks things are delicious by saying "nishuss." So much cuteness, I can hardly stand it. He'll start mother's day out in June one day a week, then two days a week in September. Hard to believe how fast he's growing! 

As you may remember from my last post, I've had some nervousness over how Ford will adapt to sharing the stage with a baby and having less of my focused attention. Brad's cousin Shelly, who is a kindred spirit and SUCH a blessing to me, told me that with her four kids, she has always tried to project what she expects, meaning that she just expects them to love their new brother or sister because that baby is a gift, and their lives will be full of so much more joy because of that sibling. That resonates with me. I'm trying to have a really positive, hopeful attitude about how Ford will adjust. I know some days will be very hard, but in the grand scheme of life, it's a good thing. 

The Nursery Reveal!

Note: I'll be back tomorrow (??? I HOPE!) with an update on my thoughts on Ford bonding with his soon-to-be new sibling, an update from the doctor (appointment in the morning) and a few words about a surprise SHOWER that my incredible play group friends threw for me.

At long last, here are photos of the nursery! I think it will evolve over time, and again, there are things I would do differently if all other things were equal. However, this room still has to have some guest room components (futon) and office storage (closet), and I didn't bother repainting the room or removing the shelves that were already nailed into the studs... but I'm happy with how things have turned out. All of the photos of the nursery were taken on my iPhone, so excuse the funny lighting on a few of them.

Here is a photo of what the room looked like a couple of months ago, when it was a full-fledged office and guest room:

And here's where you can find pictures of Ford's nursery (click here).

Now for baby girl's gray, coral and mint/seafoam nursery, the hardest working room in our house!

Futon. No other place to put it, so we made it work in this room, where it has been for the last few years. It will probably be good for middle-of-the-night feedings, or when/if I want to sleep in her room after she has transitioned out of our room. The bigger art piece on the left was made by one of Brad's relatives on his dad's side. It is super intricately WOVEN onto canvas. Pretty incredible.

Art ledge. This was a "make it work" area... I used only art that we already had. I think it will continue to evolve over time, possibly turning into a gallery wall with more frames hung directly on the wall. The watercolor with the horse was a fun project. I didn't paint it, but I replaced the mat (it was kinda 1980s before -- peach and green double-matted with notches cut out) and painted the frame from speckled brown to white. Happy with the new look!

Love this corner with the crib! I made the canopy and pom poms. The blankies in the crib were mine when I was a baby. The print I already owned ("Choose Joy" in French), and the colors match the room perfectly. The sheet is mint-colored (hard to tell in photo), and the crib skirt was a cheap one I purchased and added the coral trim. The canopy tie-backs are from Urban Outfitters (detail photo below), one of the few purchased items for this room.

 

Ahhh the big pillow looks wonky in this photo, but it looks great in person! I made covers for two pillows we already owned. They're just a little smaller than Euro shams. I found a pinky-coral heavy duck cloth at Joann's in the remnant section for super cheap. I sewed them into pocket pillow covers and added grosgrain ruffle trim. Probably the girliest items in the room! The "hare" pillow was found at IKEA a long time ago, and the kind of ikat long pillow was a West Elm purchase from many moons ago. I sewed the peach polka dot pillow (not very well, but whatever), as well as the funky little felt heart pillow. 

Just another corner of the room. The deep nightstands hold baby clothes, swaddles and diapers. The closet is full of office supplies, including our printer and scanner! Baby girl is sharing a closet with Ford (his room).

This was really hard to photograph on the iPhone (haha), so the photo looks weird, but it may give you an idea of how the room is oriented. The nightstand under the window will be a changing table for middle-of-the-night diapers while she's tiny. Otherwise, we'll use the table in Ford's room.

Also hard to photograph since it is so backlit, but I made this wreath out of a styrofoam floral ring and the leftover scraps from the pom poms over the crib. I want to put baby's monogram in the middle once we are sure of the name. I purchased the window shade from IKEA (Emmy roller shade) and removed the roller to give it a swoop shape, added coral trim to the seams and made coral trim ties.

Maximizing every inch of storage space! Under the futon I'm using (already owned) IKEA storage boxes to hold hats, shoes, hair accessories and other accessories, while under her crib you'd find pretty baskets filled with baby blankets and burp cloths, as well as a nursing pillow. Sheepskin throw was purchased from IKEA a couple of years ago.

Weird coloring in these two photos! The dresses hang right next to each other. My mom made these* for me when I was a baby! I have so many pretty smocked treasures because she sewed/smocked her fingers off when I was little, with the goal of making one new dress or outfit a week! Insane. The hooks will eventually hold more practical items, like a diaper bag and play clothes, but I love the way these look on the pretty hooks for now (purchased from Urban Outfitters).
*UPDATE 03/05/13: Mom has informed me that while she did indeed "smock her fingers off" when I was a tot, these dresses were not actually made by her. My dad's mom, known to us grandkids as "Gee," made the blue-green dress, and Gee's friend Lil made the pink dress. How fortunate am I to have so many creative women in my life?!  

A couple of detail shots. You can see a little bit of the pouf I sewed on the left, and the two shelves on the right have been in the room from the time it was an office. I added coral chevron washi tape to the facing edge of the shelves. The ballet slippers hanging there were my wedding shoes!

Just some random pretties on the top shelf. The bottom shelf holds practical stuff, like wipes and a noisemaker, but the top one has a Madame Alexander doll (slightly creepy, but baby's only doll!) from when I was a baby, some shells and coral, a butterfly vase I made and painted in middle school, a vase from Anthropologie, and an amber glass jewelry holder (purchased from Urban Outfitters). And also, apparently, a Sharpie.

More detail shots. On the left, I'm obsessed with the knobs on the refinished dressers/nightstands. They don't photograph well, but in person they are the prettiest mother of pearl or capiz! Detail of the canopy tie backs and the amber glass closet door knobs (purchased from, you guessed it, Urban Outfitters!).

I love the way the room looks in the dark with just the "Chinese lantern" string lights illuminating the room! So soft and peaceful.

Thanks for taking a tour with me! Can't wait to add the finishing touch to the nursery: a little baby girl!

Full term?! Random Updates

As a reminder, I have gotten a handful of due dates, since we have to go off the baby's size, which varies from practitioner to practitioner and ultrasound machine to ultrasound machine. The earliest I have gotten is March 20, and the latest is March 26. If you go toward the earlier end of that spectrum, I am FULL TERM! Thirty seven weeks and a few days! If you go by the later date, I think I'll be full term on Tuesday. I have been hoping all along for an Easter baby (March 31), but I know she'll come when she's ready. I'm just hoping it's not April 1, since I'm afraid people will think I'm pulling an April Fools joke!

I went to the doctor last Tuesday (going weekly now!) and had gained like a pound and a half since my previous appointment. Looks like I'm on track to gain less than 30, which was the goal! My belly is measuring exactly on schedule and baby's heartbeat is consistently between 120 and 160 bpm. I've gotten a little bit of my nesting mojo back since I last posted, so I've been getting some of the practical stuff together for baby's arrival... Buying extra toilet paper and paper towels, diapers and wipes, cleaning and organizing closets (I have done every single closet in our house in the span of just a couple of days!), and putting some finishing touches on the nursery.

I will do a separate post with pictures of the nursery soon. I was really fortunate to have a totally blank slate when "designing" Ford's room... I was able to think of how to make it function as the best NURSERY ever, putting furniture wherever I wanted, leaving lots of room for playing, having TWO WHOLE CLOSETS for one tiny baby... and this room has posed some challenges. For one thing, I have had less time to focus on it. I can't even really get in there to work while Ford's sleeping, since his room is adjacent and he's a pretty light sleeper. So I don't really even know how things are getting done. Mostly it's just when Brad's home to distract the man-cub and I can sneak in 30 minutes to hang pictures or fold blankets or what have you. But the room also still has to function as an office storage space and guest room, in addition to baby room. I'm not willing to spend much money at all on the space, since it may be a full-on office again in a few months, or we may move... so I'm pretty much just using what I have and repurposing it, or making things (crib skirt, canopy, pom poms, art, etc.). Here are a few sneak peeks:

Some hand-me-down dressers to hold baby's clothes. I have two of them. Left: before, Right: after. The after is a high gloss elephant gray with capiz shell knobs. They are pretty deep drawers, so they offer a surprising amount of storage for their petite size!

Outtake from my photo shoot... :) He is such a little muskrat. Love him!

Can't remember if I have posted this here. This is from six weeks ago or so... I made the canopy and the pom poms. I've since added two pom poms to help fill it out.

I think I have posted this before? A big pouf I sewed before I even really knew what I wanted the nursery to look like.

Bad lighting, but here's a window shade I modified (it's just a straight roller shade from IKEA, and I added coral trim and took out the roller so it would have a scallop shape). In the middle is a "wreath" I made from the pom pom fabric scraps. I want to put baby's monogram in the middle once we're sure about the name.

I've also been really focused on preparing activities for Ford when the baby comes. It's funny, I'll be driving somewhere and I have a thought like, "THERE SHOULD BE BALLOONS IN THE HOSPITAL ROOM WHEN FORD MEETS HIS SISTER. THEN HE WON'T BE SCARED." Or, "WE SHOULD GET FORD SOME MATCHBOX CARS AND TELL THEM THEY'RE FROM HIS SISTER. HE WOULD LIKE THAT." I'm just trying to think of things to help with the transition, plus ways to keep him occupied while we're having to care for a newborn. I did a busy bag swap with some fellow moms at church and went home with six great activities, like stringing yarn through foam shapes, fishing with a magnetized rod and play fish, velcro sticks, and the like. Below is my contribution, a laminated color wheel with clothespins. I drew a number wheel on the back of ours, where you match up wedges with dots and their numerals. I also created some separate activities for Ford, like sorting colored beads into a small, six-cup muffin tin, sticker books, a couple of DVDs (Curious George and Happy Feet), some new books about being a new brother, as well as some Sesame Street books, watercolors, finger paints, little wooden puzzles... We'll pull out one new activity every few days and rotate them.

More soon! I have the house to myself for about 20 more minutes (Ford's asleep and Brad's working out), so I may watch the end of Project Runway and eat a sweet treat (I still have a few leftover honey buns from Sam's! Ha!). Thanks for reading.

(ALMOST!) 36 week update

Just under 36 weeks in this photo. Apparently I wear this sweater a lot!

How big is baby? Y'all! Baby is only about a week away from being FULL TERM! As my doctor reminded me at my 34-week appointment, if I go into labor now, they aren't going to try to stop it. Whhaaaat? BabyCenter says baby is about 6 lbs and more than 18.5 inches long. Cra-to-the-zy. I do not know how the weeks have flown by like this!

Weight gain/loss: At my last doctor's appointment, I had put on a little over two pounds in two weeks, which I know is right on track for this stage of pregnancy. So I believe I'm JUST under 20 pounds total gained during this pregnancy. My goal at the outset was to keep it below 30, so with just four to six weeks left, I think (?!?!) I should be okay!  

Sleep: Oh, goodness. Well. In short, it's fine. I am taking a sleeping pill (just Benadryl) every night now, otherwise I wake up at 3 a.m. and am unable to go back to sleep. Even though Benadryl is supposed to be harmless and non-habit-forming, I don't like having to to take medicine while pregnant, especially not nightly. And Benadryl can decrease milk supply after the baby is here, so I made sure with my doctor that it wouldn't affect anything now, even though I'm taking it in late pregnancy. So I'm sleeping without waking from about 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. every day, which is soooo nice. But since we're on the topic of sleep, I have to share a Ford story. I was able to find a reasonably priced hotel room less than 24 hours before Brad's big marathon in Austin last weekend... Brad had planned to stay with my brother since hotel rooms had been $400+ per night, due to the long weekend, Valentine's Day and the marathon... but we lucked out, and Ford and I packed and piled into the car with only about an hour to go before Brad was leaving! SUPER last-minute. I was conscious of Brad having to get a really good night of sleep before his race, and Ford is a very noisy sleeper. I asked the front desk when we checked in if they had any suites available. The answer, predictably, was "no," so we resigned ourselves to a night of sleeping in the same room as Ford. He does fine sleeping in new places, but he's just noisy! The hotel put a real crib in our room, not a pack n play, and Ford was NOT a fan. He saw it and just started saying, "No. No no. No no no." That was our first clue that this was going to be an interesting night. We all went to bed at the same time, about 8:30 p.m., and Ford just kept popping his head up in the dark room and saying "Mama! Dada!" very gleefully and playfully. He knew we were there even though we were completely silent! After about 30 minutes of that, we heard a giant "THUD!" then wailing. We scrambled to flip on the lights and saw Ford splayed out on his belly, about four feet away from the crib (which was on the lowest-to-the-floor setting!!!), narrowly missing a couch and a coffee table. I can only assume that he somehow perched himself atop the rail and flying-squirreled his little body out of the crib. Wild man. He was totally fine and happy once I picked him up off the floor, thank God. So he slept in our bed the rest of the night, which hasn't happened since he was probably four weeks old (and even then, he was in a co-sleeper attached to our bed, not in the bed itself). Somehow he managed to kick me and Brad BOTH all night long. I must have slept a couple of hours, but I don't know when or how. Poor Brad hardly slept at all, yet he still managed to get a super fast time in his half marathon, placing in about the top 8 percent of runners! But ohhhh my Fordly. Such a wildebeest. 

Movement: Feeling like it's late in the game... Movements are less dramatic. Rather than kicks and punches, it's lots of nudges and little tiny squirms. She likes to push downward really hard... Yeeowch!

Symptoms: Nothing very interesting or new. Feeling pretty good for ~36 weeks.

Belly button: Top part is still out!And I'm not even trying to tape it down anymore. Haha.

Food cravings: Oh goodness, no real cravings, but I have lost my nesting urge to the point where I would eat out for every meal if I could, rather than fix something myself. And when I do make food, which is actually fairly often since I've been helping Brad eat well for his race, I just don't want it for some reason. I'd rather eat Chicken McNuggets than homemade beef brisket or flounder in Cajun veggie sauce. Maybe it's a weird aversion because I've seen the protein raw? I really can't put my finger on it. I am just eating a lot of fruit, crackers and cheese, almond butter and jelly sandwiches, and frozen packaged food. 

Gender: Sweet Baby Girl! Still no name. Honest.
What I miss? I feel like I have definitely reached the HUGE stage of pregnancy. I am getting a little self conscious about how big I am. Mostly it's frustrating to have to squeeze when walking between a chair and a wall at a restaurant, for example, and picking toys up off the floor has become more cumbersome. Not much longer before I start to shrink, though. Yay!   

What I'm looking forward to? So much! I mentioned I have lost the nesting urge, which is unfortunate since the nursery is only about halfway done, and the half that is done is purely aesthetic. Closet still needs to get in order, which will be interesting. I'm looking forward to having all of that stuff ready. I mentioned in my last update that I'm looking forward to the wedding of my BFF, Michelle. She is officially married off now! I had so much fun at her wedding... it was such a joyful, Spirit-filled night. Here are a few photos from the reception.

Big Brother: My sweet boy, so entertaining and curious. He's turning into a really big ham. He loves to smile for pictures, dance in public whenever he hears music, wave and say "hi" to everyone he sees... He's also struggling with processing frustration well. Lots of screaming and throwing toys or flailing limbs when something doesn't go as he wishes. We've also had a handful of very public meltdowns over the last couple of weeks. I'm wrestling with how to discipline him well and keep my pride in check. That is, not getting frustrated because he's embarrassing me, but instead working on training him because God demands that he obeys his parents, and that the state of his heart is more important than the raised eyebrow of the grandmother down the grocery aisle from us. One little mom-brag, if you'll indulge me: today he "read" most of Hop on Pop to me! Not the whole thing (he didn't say stuff like "Will is up hill still" or "I sent him out of the tent"), but he would say "Pup Cup," "House Mouse," "Wet Get" and everything on the right pages! Yay for literacy! ;)

(Almost) 33 week update

How big is baby? According to BabyCenter.com, a little over 4 pounds and more than 17 inches long!

Weight gain/loss: Had a doctor's appointment this morning! I have managed to gain 5.4 pounds in the last four weeks. Yeeps! Considering I had gained 12 pounds total at my last appointment, that 5+ pound gain is a 45 percent increase in my total weight gain, now that I'm up to 17+ pounds. Double yeeps! My doctor was standing right next to the scale when the nurse weighed me, and like a child, the first words out of my mouth when I saw the number on the scale were, "I don't like that!" (P.S. What is wrong with me??) So he laughed and said I was right on track. I said, "It doesn't bother you that I've increased my total weight gain almost 50 percent in the span of four weeks?" to which he replied that I was due for a growth spurt. Then I joked, "Maybe I need to give up my daily whole milk yogurt indulgence," and he sort of balked and said, "Oh yeah! There's a lot of butterfat in that!" Ha. So I guess it's back to reduced fat for me. Whoops. 

Sleep: All over the place! Some nights are fine, other nights are inexplicably restless. I had my worst night of this pregnancy on Saturday. No barfing or sickness or anything, I just could not get to sleep. I finally took a sleeping pill at 3 a.m. and fell asleep a little after 6 a.m. Brad took over Ford duty in the morning, and I slept until 9:30 a.m., which was nice, but still only about three hours of sleep. 

Movement: Getting really predictable in her movement patterns. Busy during the wee hours of the morning, for a few hours in the middle of the day, and again around 7 - 10 p.m. I'm guessing she's sleeping the rest of the time.

Symptoms: Nothing new! No more contractions since my last update, thank goodness. I'm hungrier in the mornings now, if that's a symptom!

Belly button: Top part is still out! No stretch marks or linea nigra this go around. I still have seven (or more!) weeks though! 

Food cravings: Nothing in particular! Brad's training for a race in mid-February, so we've been eating pretty healthy, including a lot of high protein meals. The Gaultneys are big-time carnivores these days.

Gender: Sweet Baby Girl! No progress on the name front. My doctor asked me this morning if we had one yet (he asks me that at every appointment), and I told him no. He suggested, very seriously, Maxine, saying we could call her Maxi. Now, no offense to those of you with loved ones named Maxine, but Maxi is not on my shortlist of names. So I laughed and told him to keep thinking, and he said it's a great Latin name, not too common, sounds good with our last name... Then he checked the baby's heartrate, which was at 120 and on the low end of normal, which the old wives say means the baby is a boy. Dr. N said, "Nevermind, sounds more like a Maximus than a Maxine!"
What I miss? Not much! Again, just trying to exercise a lot of gratitude for our blessings, and remembering that all we have is just on loan from the Lord. Many friends are going through hardships, including illness and loss, and it's pretty-perspective changing to see those around you dealing with those kinds of valleys.  

What I'm looking forward to? Picking a name?? No, there's lots to look forward to! Getting the nursery together, the wedding of my best friend in less than two weeks (!!!), Tuesday date nights... All good things.

Big Brother: Just a love! He's really into ABCs right now... flash cards, foam bath letters, ABC books, his Sesame Street "Letter of the Month Club" video, but most of all his Leap Frog Fridge Phonics toy. I swear, he is teaching himself the letters and sounds of the alphabet through it. And he's 17 months old! So far he has nailed M, B, O, X, and J, and he gets other letters right occasionally (A, C, I...). I'm not pushing this at all, by the way. He'll point excitedly to signs and say the letter, run up to me with one of the letter fridge magnets and say, "M!" or whatever... It's just so sweet to see his enthusiasm for learning! He is still definitely testing boundaries... for example, one of the "no nos" in our house is climbing on the fireplace. So he'll put one foot up on the fireplace, check to see if we're watching, smile and say, "No no!" It's hard to know how to respond to that. I usually say, "That's right, Ford, climbing on the fireplace is a no no. Take your foot off the fireplace, please." And 60 percent of the time, he'll obey. But then there's about 40 percent of the time that he either keeps his foot there, or adds a hand to the fireplace as well, which necessitates parental intervention (most often, a hand spanking). I know these are very small "battles," but it's all part of the process of shepherding his heart toward a God-orientation! Just so much fun to be able to interact with him right now and know he's engaged and understanding what I'm saying.

Forgot to mention!

I forgot to share some news in my last post! Not really news, but an update worth sharing, I guess. I am an official "ultrasound volunteer" at a community college downtown, and I've gone in a couple of times to get scanned by ultrasound techs-in-training. So I went when I was 30 weeks + 5 days and got a peek at the sweetest little baby! When I say peek, I really mean peek... She was covering her face with BOTH HANDS, as if she were playing peek-a-boo. It was frustrating for all of us, because we were using the 4D technology, and everyone wanted to see her face, but she was being COMPLETELY camera shy! Ford was born with a sucking blister on his wrist... He had literally sucked on his wrist so often and furiously in utero that he gave himself a blister. I wonder if baby girl will end up sucking on her hands or wrist too, since she clearly likes them in front of her face!

So the two pieces of info that I gleaned from the last ultrasound were this:

• She has hair! I could clearly see wisps of hair on the back of her head. Hooray! 
• She is measuring more or less right on track, but her head is about a week ahead of her body. Ha! This should be no surprise, as anyone who followed my pregnancy with Ford may remember he has had a giant head from the start. And he still has a bulbous (95th percentile +) head. And Brad and I have huge heads.

That's it for tonight! Guess we'll know what she looks like soon enough... Less than two months, if she decides to come on/before her due date. Ahhh! 

32 Week Update

How big is baby? According to BabyCenter.com, almost 4 pounds and 17 inches! That is probably more than half her birth weight, and just 2 or 3 inches to go until she's at her likely length. Crazytown.

Weight gain/loss: My next doctor's appointment is a week from tomorrow, but I'm guessing I'm up a couple of pounds since I last weighed. So maybe 14 or 15 total pounds gained?  

Sleep: As with the last time I updated, sleep is still unpredictable! I've been taking diphenhydramine HCl (Benadryl) if I can tell it's going to be a rough night. I've had a few nights recently when I'll wake up at 3 a.m. and just not be able to turn my brain off and go back to sleep (miserable). I should be grateful that it's not discomfort that's keeping me up, but I still chalk it up to pregnancy, because my mind is racing with things I need/want to do, projects I want to take on, thinking of meals I should make/freeze, etc. Then I'll have a random night like last night, where I fell asleep at 10:30 and slept like a ROCK until 6:30, no Benadryl required. That was nice! 

Movement: Still kicking and punching often. Earlier I think I had written that she was just as busy as Ford in utero, but I take that back. She's chilled out a ton. Ford was like a wildcat in a potato sack the whole time he was incubating. This one has strong, frequent movements, but not constant. 

Symptoms: Oh, you know. Still leg discomfort due to the weird circulation issues. Then here's something weird. I don't think I have ever felt a Braxton Hicks contraction (lucky me!), but I'm pretty sure I had some REAL contractions yesterday. I was one contraction away from calling my doctor on the way to the hospital! We go on family walks as often as we can -- daily when the weather is nice. We were taking advantage of the gorgeous weekend weather, walking around our neighborhood with Ford in the stroller. Then in an uncanny series of events, we found ourselves with a runaway stroller, and Ford (who was tightly strapped in, praise the Lord!), ended up hitting the curb HARD with his forehead, with the weight of the stroller crashing down on him. It was just a wild accident, and HORRIFYING to watch. He is fine now, but has a little goose egg on his forehead. About 10 minutes after the accident, back at the house, I felt a really strong, super painful (couldn't talk through it) contraction that lasted at least a minute. It was enough to really worry Brad, though in the moment I was thinking it must just be my first BH contraction. Google, however, assured me that BH contractions aren't supposed to be that painful, so I went to lie down just in case. Then, about 10 minutes later, another REALLY strong and painful contraction. And then another one 10 minutes after that! Brad was trying to convince me to go to Baylor to get checked out, so I told him if I had one more contraction before 5:30, I'd at least call my doctor's office. Fortunately, I haven't had another contraction. I think it ended up being just triggered by the stress of seeing Ford fall like that. I'm honestly not worried about it at this point and just planning to take it easy and low-stress until Baby Girl is fully baked!

Belly button: Top part is out, bottom part is in. Such a weird little belly button. I realized this week that I don't have linea nigra like I did with Ford. Wonder why?? Pregnancy is so weird and random.

Food cravings: Nothing to speak of this week. I am trying to stay away from diet soda after the Diet Pepsi Wild Cherry bender, so I'm drinking lots of sparkling water with lemon or a splash of orange juice. In one sitting, I ate a bunch of Texas Trash that my grandmother made for me. I think I'm preferring salty stuff lately, though a recent visit by MeeMee (my mom) means I have lots of delicious sweets to enjoy! And enjoying them I am! 

Gender: Sweet Baby Girl! Still stumped on the name. I actually thought we had one nailed, but Brad told me yesterday he's rethinking it. Ahhh. She will eventually have a name! Sidenote, there are a LOT of initials that are pretty horrible with the last initial G. I was liking one name and realized the initials would spell VAG! Nooooooooooo.
What I miss? Not much! Just focusing on being grateful. 

What I'm looking forward to? Knowing what will happen with our house. We've had a TON of showings over the last nine weeks that it's been on the market, but still no contracts. We've even had lots of second showings, and a couple of people say our house is at the top of their list, but they want to keep looking. I want to be able to start organizing Ford and Baby Girl's shared closet, really getting going on the nursery (sewing some bedding, moving the printer, scanner and router into the closet, and the like), and even rearranging or replacing some of the furniture in our den. There's just no point until I know if the house is selling or not. Listing ends Jan. 31, so we'll see!

Big Brother: Such a sweetheart these days. He definitely has his dramatic toddler moments, but ohhh, how I am just cherishing him at this sweet, brief stage of his childhood. He is loving playing with his cars and stuffed animals (really using his imagination!!!), reading books, ABC-related activities (ABC magnets, bath toys, books, flash cards, the ABC song) and he's fanatical over anything Elmo. He is crazy friendly, waving and saying "hi" to every other person we see in the grocery store. He's showing lots of signs of being ready for potty training, but at 17 months, I think he's just too young. And his world is about to change with a new sibling, so I don't want to rock the boat. I love how verbal he's becoming, so I can start to understand how he sees the world. One morning last week, he was following me around the house as I was getting ready for the day, and he stopped cold in his tracks right outside our hall bath. He held his hands up and started clutching at the air, saying his word for "stars," which sounds a lot like "taws." I was stumped for a minute, trying to figure out what he was doing... then I realized that the light streaming through the bathroom window was illuminating the multitude of little dust particles floating in the air. My sweet baby boy was looking at the dust and thinking they were little stars! OH, how I wanted to scoop that precious little life up and hold him tight! Still don't think he has any idea that we're going to add to our family in a couple of months, but he is starting to respond a little more when we talk to him about it. If we say, "Ford, do you want a little sister?" he'll say, "Baby?" and if Brad says, "Mommy has a baby in her tummy!" Ford will squeal, "Belly button!" and try to lift up my shirt (ha).

Doctor's appointment a week from tomorrow. Every two weeks from now on!!!!

Random Updates

Me at 29 weeks and some change. Now I think I'm 30 weeks.

Random updates tonight! Thanks to friends like SIL Brittney and Alicia for reminding me to blog! I need you guys to keep the encouragement coming or it will never happen. 

Health
I wasn't able to update after my doctor's appointment last Thursday! Baby seems to be doing great, based on the measurements and her heartbeat. Just a very quick appointment. My weight gain for this pregnancy is 12 pounds (a gain of four pounds since my previous appointment in November), which is SO much less than it was with Ford at this point, but somehow I still feel bigger. And slower. I think Baby Girl must be lying funny inside. At church tonight, whatever she was doing was HURTING me! My legs are really killing me these days too. Well, most days, anyway. Besides the big spider vein on my right calf, I now have what I think are the beginnings of a tiny varicose vein on the back of my left knee. BOOOO. Ugly and painful. And this is despite wearing compression stockings every single day.

I hope I don't sound too negative! I'm grateful to be in very good health, and especially grateful that baby seems to be growing well. There's just some weird circulation things going on, with ugly and painful results that will keep me out of skirts and dresses for longer than I want. But in the scheme of things, if that's what it takes to grow a healthy girl, then so be it! 

Nursery
When we found out we were expecting, the nursery thing all seemed so simple. We'd transition Ford to a bed, use his crib for new baby, then have new baby and Ford share a room. Then it became abundantly clear that Ford's crib is as much a necessary cage as it is a place to sleep. Homeboy would never sleep if we didn't have a crib. He literally piles all of his blankets and lovies into a corner of his crib and tries to MacGuyver his way out. And I just can't handle him getting out of bed 10 times a night when we have a newborn. Plus, 19 months (the age he will be when baby is due) is on the young side for sleeping in a "big boy bed," although it has certainly been done!

So then I thought, "Okay, two cribs in one nursery. That will actually be really cute." Then Brad reminded me of how Ford was up literally every hour for the first couple of months of his life, then every two or three hours, and finally sleep trained by seven months. And despite the occasional night terrors, Ford is actually a pretty amazing night sleeper now. We don't really want to rock the boat by making him share a room with a screaming newbie. Soooo... I'm converting our guest room/office/craft room into a nursery. While I hate to lose such a multipurpose space, there are only so many rooms in our house, and she will need her own space -- at least for a while.

I'm approaching this so much differently than I did with Ford -- for whom I did moodboards, went furniture shopping, tested paint colors, brought home fabric swatches -- I want it to be a nice room for her, and something I can love and be proud of, but I don't want to spend much money or time (refinishing furniture, etc.) on a space that may be an office/craft room again in six to 12 months. So I'm not painting (although I think a large-scale wallpapered or stenciled wall would be amazeballs), and I'm not even really changing around the stuff on the walls. I am changing out the curtain, moving the desk out (we have a built-in in the living room that will work for a laptop desk), moving the printer, scanner, router, etc. into the closet, and adding a crib with some cute/sweet linens. But that's more or less all I'm going to do. I'm even leaving our futon in there, since I figure it may actually come in handy for me. She and Ford will have to share a closet (since the current office closet is full of necessary office supplies and linens), but fortunately the closets in this house are HUGE, so I'm not tooooo worried about it (famous last words??).

Weirdly lit picture of Baby Girl's curtain, a jury-rigged IKEA Emmie roll shade with coral ribbon trim added and new ties.

Full disclosure, our house is actually on the market now -- since mid-November -- but our listing only goes until January 31 (exactly 2.5 months). We have had a TON of showings, and 100% of the feedback we are getting is enormously positive and along the lines of, "Buyers loved the home!" "This is currently our #1 choice," and "Clients are very interested," yet we haven't had a single offer. My guess is that we're just priced out of the neighborhood. It's easily the most updated home in our neighborhood, so most people have the option of buying our updated, move-in-ready home, or spending $30k less and buying one that has 1960s shag carpet and wallpaper, then updating it as they choose (if they wish). Brad and I are completely at peace with the house NOT selling, if it goes that way. We've just been praying that God will give us confidence in whatever happens. There are a ton of reasons to love staying here, and this house has been a tremendous blessing to us!

Nesting
I don't want to go on and on about how superwomany I feel right now, but I am on a "creating" bender right now. Sewing, cooking, cleaning, baking... Pregnancy turns me CRAZY when it comes to Martha Stewart-esque enterprises. In just the last week I have made a large pouf from scratch, a baby girl headband, hemmed and patched clothes that have been waiting for hems and patches for a good year, made homemade yogurt and granola, made coconut cream pie "Lara balls," made freezer meals and paleo/primal-friendly meals almost every night, made a curtain for baby girl's room, cooked homemade play dough, cleaned and organized closets, boxed up more toys and books for our toy rotation, cleaned the house every single day (part of that has to do with the house being on the market), taken Ford on lots of fun outings... and that's not even all of it. And I'm still working part-time, albeit not a ton. When I'm in my third trimester, I'm basically the person I WANT to be every single day of my life, productivity-wise.

Pouf in Baby Girl's nursery colors, gray and coral

Milestones
I put on my first maternity jeans of this pregnancy yesterday! I just reached a point where I was getting tired of all my low-rise jeans and thought I was starting to look dumpy. I was getting ready and realized, "You know what? You will look more put-together in your maternity jeans." And so I put them on and there was much rejoicing. But the belly band thing keeps rolling down and causing my pants to drop, so that's an unfortunate look. I just have to keep hiking them up. I will say this: American Apparel leggings have become my best friend.

After my next doctor's appointment, I will start going every other week! It's hard to believe. Everything is flying by so fast. And there's a lot to look forward to between now and then, including the wedding of my best friend, visits to Dallas by dear family, a half marathon (BRAD, not me!), Valentine's Day... and then so much to anticipate around Baby Girl's "birthday" too, including my brother Brett's birthday (March 23), my grandmother's birthday (March 26), our "meet-iversary" (March 21) and our "engage-iversary" (March 24).

That's it for tonight! Thanks for hanging on with such a random bunch of updates!

Poor baby Ford unknowingly trying on his sister's homemade headband, which he called "hat."

29 week update

Whoops! Has it really been three weeks since I posted? I expected to have lots of down time in Boerne over the holidays, but with desserts to be made, friends and family to be visited, and babies to be chased -- not to mention a wee one with a stomach bug that delayed our travel plans -- it has been Crazytown over here. Apologies for the delay!

 

How big is baby? My weekly BabyCenter.com email tells me Baby Girl is 15 inches long and 2.5 pounds! I also learned this week that her head is "growing rapidly" at this stage of pregnancy. Super news. We Gaultneys have large-headed babies as it is, so I will thank her to just take her time on that head growth thing! Ford's head circumference has been 95 percentile or above from the start!

Weight gain/loss: Okay, not so fun answering this question this week! I don't know the answer -- it has been more than five weeks since my last doctor visit (doc took a little time off for the holidays) -- but it can't be good. I ate so much over Christmas. The perils of staying at Nancy Thorne's house! I had one day where literally all I ate was chocolate and cheese. My bump is very bumpy lately! I will try to get a pic tonight or tomorrow and post it.  

Sleep: Totally unpredictable. Some nights I sleep like a rock, and other nights Baby Girl's kicking keeps me up for hours and hours. If I take a Benadryl I sleep pretty hard, but I don't want to make a habit of that. I do think I'm getting sleepier now that I'm in the third trimester. Not like "Omigosh, I have to take a nap RIGHT NOW," but like, "I could see myself going to bed at 9:30 tonight." Haha. 

Movement: Busy as can be! She's getting strong. I love feeling her kicks and punches and spazzes, even though sometimes they interfere with my ability to sleep. I remember missing feeling Ford's kicks once he was born. Is that weird? It's just a sweet part of pregnancy, I think.

Symptoms: Still soreness in my ugly, veiny right leg, but compression stockings (hot mom alert!) help. Dry skin for the last couple of weeks, although that may be due as much to the weather as to my hormones. And I'm just moving slower now that the belly is getting LARGE. But overall, I have VERY LITTLE to complain about! 

Belly button: The top little nub part is OUT! It's been an outtie since I was, I don't know, 15 weeks? Before I was even really showing. It popped way early with Ford too. I have had to tape it down a couple of times when I've worn tighter shirts. It's so distracting!

Food cravings: Nothing really strange. I did overindulge in my share of sweets/fatty foods over the holidays (see above re: 24 hours o' chocolate and cheese), so I'm trying to break that cycle. I'm certainly not always successful, but I made my own yogurt (!!!) the other day, and it is DELICIOUS with a little swizzle of honey and some homemade Paleo Apple Pie Granola, so that has become my go-to sweet treat. We did get In-N-Out the other day because the Animal Style fries were calling my name. Not sure I can file that under cravings, since I will never ever ever turn down an Animal Style fry. Just don't talk to me about the calories.

Gender: Sweet Baby Girl! Name TBD, for those of you who were wondering. We were going to name her Kathleen Elizabeth, which is a huge family name on my side (there are four or five women with that name over the last few generations), then come up with a nickname off of Elizabeth, but we are totally stumped. Any time we'd find a nickname we liked, we made the mistake of telling someone who made no attempts to conceal how much they did not care for that name, or knew a person who got teased because of that name, etc. As much as I hate to admit how impressionable I am, those comments made ME like the name less. So we are back to the drawing board. We may end up with Kathleen Elizabeth as her name, or we may choose something totally different. But Brad and I have agreed to keep our cards close to the vest from here on out.
What I miss? Clothes shopping this week. I'm not a big shopper anyway, but ever since my non-maternity clothes got stolen out of our storage unit (did I tell you all about that?), I have wanted to start replenishing my wardrobe. It just doesn't make sense until I'm back to my normal size. I did get a bunch of gift cards for Christmas, and I look forward to shopping in late spring or summer!

What I'm looking forward to? Somehow this week the fact that we are going to be parents to a little GIRL became more real. My friend Katy had her second baby, Khloe, last week, and holding that angel at the hospital just made me so eager to hold my own little sweetheart! I'm also wanting to work on the nursery, although that will have to wait until our house sells and we buy another one, or we take our house off the market (we have a short term listing -- only until the end of this month). 

Big Brother: He has cooled down on the tantrums a bit since the last time I posted. He still has his moments, but he is my Number One Fan these days, which makes us synch up a little better right now. I love running errands with him or taking him on mommy/Ford dates, because he charms the heck out of everyone he sees. Seriously, his toothy, goofy smiles, his giant waves and enthusiastic exclamations of "HI!" to random strangers seem to make him very popular. And of course that makes me SO proud. He is also saying an insane number of words -- I have lost count. All in all, Brad and I are endlessly entertained by the little nugget. We're really trying to help him understand that there's going to be a baby at our house, we're going to get to keep the baby, he's going to be a big brother and that's an important job... We read books about babies, being a big brother, we point out babies when we are running errands and ask if he would like a baby... but I am pretty sure it's all lost on him. He does love babies, but I just don't think that there's a great way to prepare a 17-month-old for this type of gigantic life change. If you have any suggestions, I am open to them!

Doctor's appointment tomorrow... Hopefully I will be able to update then!

26 week update

Belly at 25 weeks, 1 day(ish), photo taken last Thursday

How big is baby? My weekly BabyCenter.com email tells me Baby Girl is 14 inches long and almost two pounds.

Weight gain/loss: My guess is that I'm up about 10 pounds since my pre-pregnancy weight. I've had a rough week with Ford... lots of tantrums and whining on his part... and I swear I've been "emotionally eating" because of it. I told Brad that yesterday, any time I had a moment to myself (during Ford's short nap, or a rare moment of him playing quietly, or after he went to bed), I had the urge to eat a Honey Bun! And the bad thing is, I had a box of Honey Buns from Sam's! So yes, I ate three Honey Buns yesterday. WHAT?! I didn't even really want them, I was just like, "NEED CARBS, NEED PEACE." Maybe I should try memorizing Bible verses in those brief "me" times, unless I want to end up gaining 60 pounds by March. 

Sleep: Not so good in the last week or so. I don't know what's going on... I'm not uncomfortable, and I'm falling asleep pretty easily now that we've overcome the flu and chest congestion. But four nights in a row, like clockwork, I've awoken at 3 a.m. on the dot and not been able to fall asleep till 5 or 6 a.m. I really can't explain it! It's just two or three hours out of my night, but it ends up making me feel like I haven't slept at all. Maybe it's just the busyness of this time of year. My mind starts racing when I wake up and I end up going over my to-do list.

Movement: She's an active little lady, no doubt. I mostly feel kicks, not a lot of punches, but they are so frequent! Ford had this patented move of running his knee cap or fist or foot across the length of the inner front of my belly really slowly and firmly. It made my skin crawl! Such a strange sensation. Baby girl has only done that a couple of times, whereas Ford did it almost daily at this point. She also hasn't hiccuped yet, while Ford would get hiccups a couple of times a day beginning around this time. Just interesting to start noting the differences between their fetal movement. 

Symptoms: The leg soreness I mentioned last time as subsided some. Not sure what symptoms to report... there's not a lot happening! I was at a Christmas party last Thursday and it felt like she was trying to bust through my right side. SO much pressure. But that was kind of a one-off thing.

Belly button: The top little nub part is OUT! It's been an outtie since I was, I don't know, 15 weeks? Before I was even really showing. It popped way early with Ford too. With him I had to tape it down with masking tape so it wasn't a huge distraction through my clothes, and I'm close to that point with baby girl. I guess I have a shallow belly button! 

Food cravings: Okay, last time I waxed philosophical about what a craving really is, blah blah. But over the past two weeks, I think I understand! I was at CVS picking up some medicine for Ford, and I saw a 12-pack of Diet Pepsi Wild Cherry, and it sounded SO GOOD at that moment, so I bought it! Weird! I don't think I had ever had one before, so there's no reason that I should have thought that sounded good. And I was driving around with Ford running errands the other day when I realized I had only had a few apple slices for breakfast, and I thought a Burger King Croissanwich would really hit the spot. How weird is that?! So we found a nearby BK and I ate the sandwich and Ford ate the hash browns. Ha. Obviously between the Wild Cherry Diet Pepsi and the sausage Croissanwich, I have really classy cravings. 

Gender: Sweet Baby Girl!
What I miss? Update on my answer from two weeks ago... I got to have a few sips of cider! We went to Flying Saucer to celebrate Brad running the Spartan Beast race, and our server brought me a tasting glass of cider. It honestly was not that good, but I think it scratched my itch for cider. So there's not much I miss this week. Maybe feeling cute in my clothes? I love cold weather clothes, but it's just not the same when I don't have a waist!

What I'm looking forward to? Seeing friends and family over the holidays. We'll be heading to Austin on Friday to watch my younger brother's band play their last show ever. We've got a packed schedule for the days we'll be in the Hill Country area, but I can't wait! 

Big Brother: There was a nursery rhyme my parents read to me when I was little, and I feel like it applies to Ford (just switch the girl references for boy references): 

There was a little girl.

She had a little curl.

When she was good she was very good, 

But when she was bad she was horrid!

We've had a week of horrid days around these parts. Not totally terrible... he has some truly heart-melting moments that seriously fill me up to my tippy top with joy and warm fuzzies... but oh man. Lots of toddler angst. And I do not know what to do about it, other than continue to give him lots of love, try to help him process through his difficult moments, quote Scripture to him about patience, gentleness, obedience, and say lots of prayers for wisdom and discernment! I have found "quiet time" to be really effective for Ford over the last week. If he's really just beside himself and nothing I do will help, I put him in his crib, turn one lamp on, and turn on some piano music for him, then leave the room. He has a moment with his blankies and puppy, calms down, and after a few minutes starts chirping, "Mama? Mama. Mama!" That's usually enough to reset him for a little while, and we can play peacefully again. For a little while. 

Update: 24 weeks

I stole this weekly questionnaire from my dear friend Katy, due with baby girl Khloe Margaret in January. I love reading hers, so I may start doing these on a weekly basis!

 

How big is baby? My weekly BabyCenter.com email tells me Baby Girl is 12.5 inches long and just over a pound (about a pound and a quarter). Still a scrawny little thing!

Weight gain/loss: Up eight pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight. I'm pretty happy with that number! I was shocked to learn how little I had gained at my doctor's appointment this morning, for several reasons: 1) I weighed less when I started this second pregnancy than I did with my first, so I thought I would gain weight a little faster. 2) I don't feel like I've been taking awesome care of myself. I have been working out regularly, but I end up eating meals on the road more often, and I've been eating more packaged meals at home, just because it's hard to find a solid chunk of time to make a healthy, fresh dinner every day. Ford is a demanding little dude and seems to get very upset when I'm cooking (??). I have wondered if a Learning Tower would help so he could at least see what I'm doing. But then again that seems like a really expensive stepping stool. 3) I just feel bigger in this pregnancy! Maybe it's mental, but I swear baby girl has popped out sooner and more obviously than Ford did. Maybe it's because she's so high, it's just more apparent?

Sleep: Decent! I've been battling the flu and a gnarly upper respiratory infection for the last week or so, which means I sometimes wake up coughing violently. Also Ford's night terrors have picked up again. :-/ But I can't blame any lack of sleep on the pregnancy, so that's certainly something to be grateful for.

Movement: She's just so busy! Ford was a wild man in the womb, and this little one is living up to her brother's legacy! I noticed the other day that I hadn't felt a kick for about an hour and got worried. Then I realized that an hour is no big deal, but I've just become accustomed to CONSTANT movement! This morning at the doctor's office she was making my shirt move with all her kicks.

Symptoms: Y'all. Ugh. LEG VEINS. OMG!!!!!! I knew this could happen, but I was hoping I was just gifted in the vascular department. But alas, I have two nasty looking veins on the backs of both of my knees. Big ones. I asked Dr. Norwood what I could do, and he told me I need to get compression stockings! Ahhhhh! He also said this was super common, and I insisted that I didn't have anything like this with my first pregnancy. He said it's a lot more common with second pregnancies and that it will get worse with every pregnancy after this one. Guess I've got to say goodbye to cute skirts for the next several years until my childbearing days are over. Then I'm getting total reconstructive surgery on my legs. Mark my words (kidding... sort of... but not really).

Belly button: So out. It's been an outtie since I was, I don't know, 15 weeks? Before I was even really showing. It popped way early with Ford too. With him I had to tape it down with masking tape so it wasn't a huge distraction through my clothes, and I'm close to that point with baby girl. I guess I have a shallow belly button! 

Food cravings: I don't know. What makes a craving a craving, anyway? Sometimes certain things sound good, but that's true whether I'm pregnant or not. I haven't had anything that makes me want to stop what I'm doing and procure said food item. Some foods I've been enjoying a lot lately are apples and peanut butter (I LOVE apples this time of year), roasted Brussels sprouts, oatmeal with raisins and honey, boiled eggs (I end up eating a lot to try to get up to the right amount of daily protein I need), avocado toast... I also was really excited to find the LAST pint of Ben & Jerry's Cannoli ice cream at Central Market! This is a limited batch that has been highly hyped but very hard to find. And it did not disappoint. SO GOOD!

Gender: Sweet Baby Girl!
What I miss? Randomly -- and maybe THIS should go under cravings -- but cider! Not like a big gallon of apple cider with cinnamon, but like the 4-5% alcohol kind served in a cold bottle! Kind of embarrassing that I miss an alcoholic beverage, but mmmm, I do. Just keeping it real.

What I'm looking forward to? Spending time with family over the holidays. Looks like we will be spending a good 10+ days in San Antonio/Boerne. I'll enjoy the slower, more leisurely pace, and the help with Ford! 

Big Brother: At almost 16 months, he's just the cutest hot mess I ever saw. From minute to minute he alternates between incessant whining and the biggest belly laughs. A toddler in every way! He has so much personality, saying TONS of words (including please and thank you, unprompted!), and loves running as fast as he can, especially if someone is "chasing" him. He's actually getting hard to keep up with when he's really running! Maybe I'm just getting slower (ha ha). He LOVES babies, often pointing them out while we run errands or read books ("Bay! Beeeee!"), but I don't think he understands that he is going to be a big brother.

I can't believe how quickly the weeks are flying by!