35 weeks and counting...

I thought I'd just post a quick update about what has been going on around the house. Eliot is between semesters right now, which means he has time off (GASP!) and is available to help me around the house with James. This is a very good thing because I need a lot more help! I am 35 weeks 3 days today, and this pregnancy seems harder on my body than my first. I can't walk well by the end of the day because my hips hurt so bad, and my back won't tolerate much lifting now (which is hard not to do with a 30lb toddler who runs away from you all the time!). Luckily I am not having the heartburn I had last pregnancy... well, yet at least. We had an ultrasound this past week to check the baby's size. She looked perfectly healthy, 5lbs 2oz! And the thing on her heart we were worried about as being a soft marker for downs syndrome was totally gone, he heart looked great. A HUGE relief. The only bummer was that she was breech and had her face buried in my spine, so we got exactly one picture... of her arm. We could have gotten some really amazing pics of her face in 3D at this point, but I guess God wants us to be surprised! The whole breech thing is not good, it could result with me getting a c-section if we can't get her to turn, but I think she might have turned already as I feel kicks up higher now instead of on my bladder like before (yeah, that was comfy...). To get her to turn, I had to lay with my hips propped up on pillows, creating an incline for her to gravitationally be pulled out of my pelvis and then go head down. I am fairly sure the first time I did it, she turned because it hurt like heck... my lower abdomen burned almost and it felt like she was shoved up in my lungs. I guess we'll see a week from now when I see my midwife again (I am down to an appointment every week! Woohoo!). James is doing well overall. We think he's having a growth spurt because he had some amazing tantrums the other night (while we had dinner guests, of course) and then slept from 7pm to noon the next day. He also just looks taller to us. Tonight was more of the same crazy tantrums all afternoon and evening, so I wonder if it will happen again. He does have tantrums just because of his age, but usually not more than one a day really. So this continuous crankiness has me suspecting something is up. As far as the language goes, he is slowly picking up new words. No more real sentences, though... he saves those to use occasionally I think. His favorite words right now are "Bee," "No," "I bite," "Owie" and "Go." I also think he's said kite, hot dog, up, Yo Ho and a few others, but they weren't terribly clear. It's been an interesting journey in realizing my kids won't always do what others do, or do things in the "normal" way. He still doesn't call me mama ever, but once in awhile he'll call Eliot Daddy. He uses a lot of sign language but has no sign for me (regardless of us trying to teach it for him). He knows who I am and loves me and all, but I guess I always thought Mama would be once of his first words, and that simply just didn't happen. Most of all I'm getting a lesson recently on just how much I can handle. One day near the end of Eliot's 8-week summer courses (where I watched James all day every day) I called him sobbing on his lunch break telling him I just can't do it anymore, that watching James while being so pregnant seemed utterly impossible. It was a day when he had used me as a punching bag and jungle gym, had multiple time-outs, ran away from me at the library (where I couldn't even check out the books I had painstakingly picked out while trying to wrangle James because of some fines I didn't know I had), and then he didn't nap and was running around his room. I was so done with childcare, and I needed a nap myself. I honestly didn't believe I could make it another day. But somehow the Lord gave me strength, and the next day was much better. I'm realizing that adding this new baby will bring all sorts of new stress and challenges. I'm trying to be optimistic about it, that we will adjust and things will get easier over time. But I do have to say I'm a bit scared of the change... It's all the unknowns about how we will cope with the lost sleep while trying to take care of a toddler, how James will handle a new sibling (and if he will try to hurt her), how I will balance my attention between two kiddos and give them each what they need without accidentally ignoring the other one. I keep reminding myself that these things will all work themselves out, as God would not give me two kids if He didn't think I could handle them. And I know He will be with me through it all, my strength when I don't think I have any left. That's what He's done up until this point, and I doubt he will abandon me now! So as I prep for labor and birth and welcoming our new little girl into our lives sometime in the next few weeks, I'm trying to focus on the blessing that is our family, and all the people out there who are supporting us in all kinds of ways (you know who you are). I am so grateful that, no matter what comes, I am not alone.

Bump tracker!

I figured it was time to do a bump tracker again. From the top, here is the bump at 4 weeks, 14 weeks, 20 weeks, 25 weeks, 28 weeks, and 34 weeks!

 

On the farm, in the garden!

James and I have been making several trips out to a local farm to play, see the animals, and buy fresh produce. Oh, and we get some ice cream too while we are there. :-) As I am also less mobile these days (I'm 34 weeks 5 days pregnant currently), we spend a lot of time in the back yard picking veggies and enjoying the outdoors. I thought I'd share a few pics of our outdoor adventures.

Baby shower for our little girl!

This past weekend, my sister-in-law and mom threw me a French Countryside baby shower for our little girl. It was beautiful and thoughtful and I'm so glad we took some time to focus on celebrating her when most of my days are filled with chasing James. Eliot took James down to see his cousins and uncle Nathan in the meantime, and Grandpa even showed up to play as well. So we had a girls day at one house and a boys day at the other!

The party was small but I actually liked that. It was just me, Lindy, mom, Grandma, and my old friend Nicky who was visiting from North Dakota. We made onesies at the onesie-making station, drank sparking pink lemonade out of mason jars, tried to translate baby sentences from French to English, sought out safety pins in rice (without looking!), and played a "mother" word game. Lindy made a delicious and beautiful pink cake, and our little girl got some adorable new clothes and accessories. It was a lovely shower and I am so grateful we celebrated together!

Here are a few pics of the highlights...

Scandinavian Festival

We traveled to Junction City tonight to enjoy the Scandinavian Festival they have there each year. Though we didn't stay long since it was near James's bed time, we enjoyed seeing the dancers, hearing the music, and eating some venison sausage and aebelskiever (a type of round pancakes and donut-esq food served with Norse berry jam). James even got to watch a real train go by for the first time, which he loved!

Here us a link to a short video if the dancers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-cYEmcEyMA&feature=youtube_gdata_player

And here are some pics from our adventure!

Big boy bed!

James made the transition to Big Boy Bed last night (really just his crib
made into a day bed with rails). I bought him a Jake and the Neverland Pirates bed set yesterday at the store and he was soooo excited about it, he kept wanting to lay down in the covers and saying "night night" over and over. Since he was so excited about it, I decided to try to transition him (which I wasn't planning on yet).

He did SO well last night! He got out of bed initially about 3 times and climbed back in, then curled up and went to sleep without a fuss. Same thing at nap time today. He loves turning out the light and then running to get in his bed and saying "night" while pretending to go to sleep.
I am so proud of my little boy, he is growing up so fast!

Here are a few pics of the process. :-)