Drawing with Daddy

Daddy had to get some work done on the computer the other day, so he decided to keep Harper occupied with some washable markers under his close supervision. Very close, as you can see.

Happy Birthday Mimi!!!

We love you!

Can't wait to see you again soon!!!!

The Cup

Harper is in school 3 days a week. On an average of 2 out of those 3 days, she comes home in her spare set of clothes. The clothes she went to school in are sent home in a plastic bag, usually soaking wet.

I knew we needed to be working on her drinking out of a regular cup, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. School doesn't allow her age group to use sippy cups, and we have not been commited to working with her at home, finding it so much easier to just hand her a sippy and avoid the mess. I know fully well that she tends to throw her head back, pouring the entire contents of the cup all over her self, and I wasn't sure I was going to have the patience to really sit and practice with her without both of us getting super frustrated. But something in me told me to face my fears and go for it.

I went and bought the same plastic cups the school uses from Walmart and poured the tiniest amount of milk in the bottom to start with. I was determined to sit with her and really practice at dinner one particular night. She dunked, but at least it didn't make a huge mess. I reminded her "two hands, drink slowly" about a dozen times. She did pretty well, but as soon as she set the cup down, she flicked her hand and knocked it over, almost drenching me. ::big deep breath:: I was about to give up, when I literally told myself "don't cry over spilled milk". I sucked it up and tried again. I again repeated my mantra of "two hands, drink slowly" a few dozen more times, until Harper got so sick of hearing it that she kept setting the cup down every time I said it. I finally stopped repeating it and let her just drink. And she did great!!

Ever since then, at almost every meal we've eaten at the table, we've given her a cup with milk, and it's been SO much less stressful than that first night. She occasionally still turns her head while drinking, causing it to spill, or she only uses one hand and it falls out of her grip, or she gets daring and throws her head back. But in the two weeks since we've been practicing at home, she's only been sent home in her spare clothes once. I call that definite progress!!

Here's a video I took. She's coughing from an earlier moment when she thought it was funny to pretend she was choking.

Cheesin'

Here's Harper's favorite cheesy smile. She flashes it as often as she can.

What's in a Name?

Have I neglected to mention we have a name for the baby??

Well, WE DO!

We've had a name in mind for a couple of weeks and had decided to keep it a secret until we knew that was the name we were definitely going with. We're certain it's what his name is, and as hard as it is for me to do so, we're probably going to keep it a secret until he's born.

Trust me. It's killing me not to tell you.

What we don't yet have is a middle name. The first name was tough, and the middle name is not any easier unfortunately. We've got a few in mind, but are having trouble narrowing it down.

Hopefully we've got about 9 more weeks to narrow it down.

30 Weeks

I'm going every two weeks to the doctor now, so Monday was our latest appointment. 30 weeks! Wow, time has really flown.

Everything looks great with the baby. Plenty of fluid. In fact, I'm measuring at the high end of normal at a 24. The baby had been relatively quiet all day, which I mentioned to the doctor, but he said he was probably just sleepy because he was showing good breathing practice which we could see from his chest moving up and down. Babies in utero obviously don't breathe yet - they receive all they need through the umbilical cord - but they begin to practice for life on the outside. Another example of this is hiccups. So amazing!

He measured right at 32/33 weeks, which isn't much of a growth since last week. Thank goodness! Hopefully he'll slow up a bit and even out. He is currently still breech, too.

We go back again in 2 weeks, and soon after that we begin our weekly appointments. My third trimester ultrasound with Harper was at 34 weeks, so that's kind of the marker we're looking at with this one, should anything decide to take a different turn. Knowing I have so much fluid, he hesitated at having me come back in 2 weeks, but decided to go ahead and have me come in so we could get a good gauge to base my 34-week measurements on.

Oh! And we know his birthday! I was given a couple dates to choose from for the repeat c-section. I was hoping to get it scheduled for a Friday so that he and Harper would both be born on the same weekday. My brother, sister and I were all born on a Tuesday, and I've always liked that symmetry. Of course the choices I was given were a Monday or a Tuesday. hmph. So, it looks like his birthday will be on 3/22! Surreal being able to choose a date.

We got other fantastic news today in relation to my job. What a relief to have our conversion date moved back a couple of weeks. It brings us even closer to c-section date, which helps in me keeping all my benefits for the delivery and maternity leave. Praise God!!!

The Ugly Side of Pregnancy

Pregnancy is (mostly) a beautiful experience for (most) women. It's truly the only time in life when you can partner with God in a miracle.

Carrying and nurturing that miracle is not always a beautiful and joyful time. This pregnancy has been almost 100% different than when I was pregnant with Harper, so I have been blessed to experience a whole slew of new "ugliness".

Pregnancy Mask
One of the few similarities with the two pregnancies is the appearance of a pregnancy mask. I read about it in all my books, but I have yet to meet anyone who it has actually happened to other than myself. It's a darkening of the skin on the face caused by an increase in hormones. It made me incredibly self-conscious with Harper, and was the #1 thing I was anxious to go back to normal after she was born. All I was told and read is that it will fade on its own. It did, but never fully went away. When I became pregnant with this one, it was the very first thing to show up. And what an entrance it made! The darkening was so obvious on my forehead that I was actually asked more than a couple times what the smudge was. I hadn't told anyone yet that I was pregnant, so needless to say I found some better concealer pretty quickly!

While going through my pictures from our trip to California, I came across a few pics that showed it pretty well. Here's one I snapped of Harper and I after my spa day. I hadn't yet put makeup on and wasn't using a flash, so it showed up really well. What you can't see is the darkening that is also apparent on my upper cheekbones under my eyes.

Thankfully it has already faded a significant amount. Either that, or I've just become used to it. Since this is my last (planned) pregnancy, I will be taking steps to help get my skin back to its normal color once I'm able.

Sciatic Pain
I experienced this very intensely with Harper but it has been off and on with this one, and much less intense. Sharp shooting pains down either (or both) sides of my lower back into my rear end making it incredibly difficult to walk. So much fun!

Round Ligament Pain
I didn't have this with Harper until the very end. I won't explain exactly where it happens, but it's not pleasant and I've been experiencing it since about month 4 and it's only gotten more and more intense. So much so that on occasion when I stand up, I have to regroup, then take baby steps to get moving. I've even pondered the situation where if I were faced with having to run for my life, I'm not sure I could at that moment due to the pain.

Numbness
Something else I experienced at a much higher degree with Harper than this one so far. My hands would go numb all night long and I had to find positions to lessen that so I could sleep. Also, my outer left thigh was practically completely numb from my hip to my knee. I even went to the chiropractor for several appointments a few months after giving birth to try to get aligned so I could develop feeling again. That didn't work, but I eventually began to have tingling start and the numbness dissipated somewhat. It still hasn't fully gone away, and it did get slightly worse again with this pregnancy, but nothing like it was before.

Snoring
More than anything, this is the hardest to admit. Jon began to speak of my snoring during my third trimester with Harper. He began to only occasionally mention it, but not giving it too much thought, I blew it off. I had, after all, been living with his snoring for two years at that point, so I chalked it up to payback. That is, until he decided to record it with his phone. The sound I heard the next morning was horrifying. I couldn't even believe it was me!!! I was absolutely mortified and apologized endlessly. He mostly thought it was cute, and was so proud of himself for being able to prove to me that I actually was a freight train. The snoring stopped when I gave birth, which he thought was even more adorable.

Cue pregnancy #2. Having known this was probably inevitable, we started to joke about him gearing up for the third trimester snoring. In some conversation the other night, snoring was brought up, and I mentioned that I was almost in my third trimester, so he'd have to let me know when I started snoring.

He says "oh.. you've BEEN snoring!"

Me - "WHAT?!?! For how long?!?!"

"I first noticed it in California"

"WHAT?!?! That was in October, over two months ago!!!!"

"Yup, that's about right"

I'm not sure if my shock was greater hearing that or first hearing it recorded. He said he didn't want to make me feel bad, so he hadn't brought it up. I again felt the need to apologize profusely, then thanked him for not telling me sooner. I probably wouldn't have been able to sleep had I known I had started it much earlier this time.

Those are just a few examples of the things to look forwad to with pregnancy. Though it truly only scratches the surface. I made no mention of stretch marks, swelling, or other things too personal to put on a public blog. But it's a start.

What about you? What other ugliness do you dread about pregnancy?

Big Girl Bed

Friday night I set up Harper's big girl bed for her to sleep in for the first time. Since the baby will be using all of her furniture, we need to start transitioning her to her new stuff. We have a new (to her) set of furniture to put in her room, but more about that soon. She'll actually be staying in her current room and the baby will have the guest room.

For now, we're starting with a twin mattress on the floor, and Harper was so excited about it. I really didn't build it up too much, but she kept saying "nite nite!" and climbing all over the mattress as I was trying to put the sheets on. In fact, she was so excited about going to sleep that she was mad I made her take a bath first.

I got her all set up with her friends and blankies, we said our prayers, and kissed goodnight. And she went right to sleep! It definitely helped that she was exhausted at the end of 3 days of daycare, at which she still isn't napping very well.

So the start went great.

It's been 4 days so far, and she's done really well. She has mostly stayed in bed in the mornings and cried or talked until we've gotten her, which is what she usually did in her crib. Nap time is a little bit different, and if she is not quite tired yet, she might get up and play. But thank goodness for the video monitor! We go in and put her back in bed, and she usually stays after that.

We're hoping to have the rest of her furniture moved in by this weekend.

One more milestone checked off the list!

Hi Dodee

Harper has really increased her vocab since starting school -- it's amazing, actually. And not only in volume but in clarity. Hewwo or Hiiii has now become "hello". Bah Bah is now "Bye Bye". I can't remember the last time she signed milk, but now instead says "mok" or "mo mo". Surprisingly she also has started saying Mommy and Daddy instead of Mama and Dada.

There are, however several things she still says that we cannot understand. One of them I caught on this video twice. Every time she wants to give us something to hold she says "hi dodee". She's done this for months and we have no idea what she's actually trying to say, but we obviously know what it means.

Here's some "Harper Speak" for you. You'll also catch the clear "hello" and "Sarge" too as she pretends to talk on the phone.

Her First Fight

Today I was asked to sign my second accident report at school. The first one happened a few weeks ago when she wound up with a decent bump on her head due to falling while playing in one of the kid's kitchen sets in the classroom. It was no biggie, but the school still documents every incident.

I met the teacher in the hallway as I walked in and she began to show me the newest accident report and tell me what happened. Apparently Harper was sitting next to a little boy. She touched him for some reason, and he responded by scratching her. Now, as to what exactly the incident was over, I have no idea. Whether they were fighting over a toy or he didn't want her touching him... who knows. She cried, and they cleaned up her face and all was fine again.
She has two scratches that broke the skin, including one really long one. Another scratch below one eye, and, as I found tonight at bath time, several smaller scratches on her neck. Apparently this was quite the brawl!

It really doesn't bother me that she was scratched or that she had an incident with a classmate. She's at an age where she's learning to share, to interact with peers, to experience growing with others her own age. Disagreements are a part of life and can be a great time of learning for everyone - not just kids.

However, I can't stop thinking that Daddy's going to have to teach our girl how to fight back. ;)

Here's the long scratch next to her ear, as well as a nice one under her eye.

The second scratch that broke the skin. Also, notice all the red marks on her neck.

28 Weeks

I had my 28 week appointment today to check on the baby and begin the monitoring for the third trimester. I also had my 1-hour glucose test today to test for gestational diabetes. I hate drinking that stuff, and today's experience was only improved an iota over last time with the drink being "fruit punch" flavored instead of "orange soda". Both are terrible if you ask me, but I realize it's a necessary evil. The blood draw was quick and painless, so that was a bonus.
We had to wait a while because apparently the sonogram room was a busy place today. I'd expect our appointments to be a lot like this from here on out. On Mondays the sono room is kind of on a first come, first served basis since the tech is off, which means there are no scheduled appointments, and you kind of have to wait your turn. On the other hand, it means my doctor will be doing all of our sonograms, which is a comfort.

We finally got in, and got a great look at the baby. The doctor asked if we needed to confirm the gender, and I chimed in with "well, you know us pregnant women and our irrational fears... YES PLEASE!!" So confirm he did, as much as doctors will these days. Not wanting to be liable for any mistake, he said he wouldn't offer us 100%, but would give us 99.9999% that he's definitely a boy. Good enough. :)

He did all sorts of measurements again, just to see how the growth is going. Now, keep in mind that I'm 28 weeks along.

Head - currently measuring 32 weeks

Abdomen - currently measuring 33 weeks

Femur - currently measuring 28 weeks

We had a good laugh that the baby will be a bit top heavy once he's born. Of course, we're still expecting things to even out a bit, but knowing I'm still 4 weeks ahead, that hope is dimming a bit. We might have a very big boy on our hands!

Further proof - Dr. White couldn't believe the size of his chubby cheeks! He said it's pretty uncommon to see such roundness this early. Makes me very thankful that I have a c-section in my future. :)

Dr. White confirmed what I've been feeling with the baby being so "high", especially compared to Harper. He's currently in a breach position, and in fact while we were looking at him, he was folded in half with his feet up by his hands! That explains all the action I feel at my ribs all the time. I can tell he occasionally unfolds and kicks/hits me lower in the belly, but for the most part, he's happy hanging out way up high. Such a different experience than with Harper when she was literally all over the place, especially kicking really low.

So far so good on fluid levels. In fact, he said it appeared that I had so much amniotic fluid that he didn't do any active measuring. I go every 2 weeks from here on out, until the final month when I go weekly and as I've mentioned before, I'll have a sonogram at every appointment. It makes for long appointments, but I really wouldn't turn down any opportunity to see this sweet baby.

We got a great picture of his face printed, but I still need to scan it. Once I do, I'll post it here.