32 weeks!

Where does the time go?

32 weeks

Poor second child, getting the short end of the stick before she is even born.  With Claire, the whole blog was about her.  This baby gets just a few posts of her own.  She does have ways to get her revenge though.  She is sucking up all my energy and motivation so that Claire is left with a tired Mommy who doesn't feel like doing much.

Let's review what's going on with this pregnancy:

1.  How am I feeling?
Pretty good.  A little more discomfort than I remember at this point with Claire.  But that is probably because I'm trying to entertain and care for a toddler rather than sitting at work.  And said toddler likes to climb on me and elbow my belly.  My sleep is starting to go down hill a little bit in the past week or two.  It's harder to fall asleep and stay asleep, especially starting around 5 or 6 in the morning.  Summer is just getting started but I can tell the hot weather is going to be a challenge.  But overall, I'm pretty happy with how my body manages a pregnancy.  I am getting mild episodes of heartburn again, especially with too much food or with chocolate, which is very unfair!

2.  What's baby up to?
It's hard to tell what she's up to in there.  I have less time to pay attention to her movements so I haven't gotten a pattern figured out.  And Claire was head down pretty early but I think this one is still flipping and flopping around.  At my last appointment 2 weeks ago, the midwife wasn't really sure what position baby was in.  But just like Claire, this one likes to get moving in the evening once I relax on the couch and again when I lay down for the night.  Claire was usually pretty quiet overnight, even if I was up in the middle of the night.  This one makes her presence known.  It's not anything so crazy that it's keeping me up, just more of a "hey, is it time to be up?" kind of thing.

3.  How about preparations for the new baby?
We've gotten Claire out of the crib, into her own bed, and into a new room.  So that's the biggest hurdle out of the way.  That's leaves the crib and nursery open for baby girl #2.  We are keeping the furniture and wall color the same.  I've picked up some new bedding pieces and some new artwork that are waiting to be put up.  I'm currently in the process of organizing and packing away Claire's wardrobe from the past year, so the room is occupied with all of that debris.  Once that is cleared up, I'll work on getting the room cleaned and redecorated.  I did get the closet emptied out and a few new clothing acquisitions just for baby girl hung up.  I also need to drag out the bin of newborn clothes and see what we have that is appropriate for July weather.  I need to make a list of all the small things we might need, but there's nothing big except maybe a double stroller.

4. Does baby have a name?
The short answer is not yet. The long answer is that Jeff has chosen a first name that he wants to use.  I'm still deciding if I'm ready to commit to it.  Some days I'm ready to say yes, other days I'm in love with a completely different name, and some day I don't love anything at all.  We do not have a middle name yet.

Early 2's and language

What a crazy time for a kid's development!  I love this age for that reason.  (I could do without the tantrums though).  The biggest change is in Claire's language.  So this post will contains lots of snippets of her language because I find it so cute and interesting and want to have a record for the future.  At her two-year check up, she had 2 word sentences and just a few 3 word sentences.  Now less than 3 months later we regularly have 5 word sentences.

Here's a sampling of her phrases and new words over the past few months

Happy to you!  (Happy Birthday to you)
Bobbidy boo (magic wand)
Jump jump
I jumping
I dotcha. ( I gotcha)
Mama in chair too
Day go (There you go)
Dis way
Lets go (iss go)
Fix (fik - Mama fik it.)
Reach (mama reach it - meaning, mama pick up the toy I just dropped from my car seat)
Lotion (otion)
Are you eekay?  (Are you ok? - really a request for you to ask her is SHE is ok)
Aus cweam - (ice cream)
ookie (cookie)
Iss good
Dis ah fun!  (this is fun!)   I LOVE this one!
Scwub scwub (Scrub scrub)
I mayme mess.  (I made a mess)
I scary (I'm scared)
Uh oh, what happened mine sock? (4/24)
Two ones  (when she has 2 of something)
Ho pepo (home depot)
Beautiful (boo-ful)
Dis amazing (This is amazing)


Hearing our words come right back to us:
Oh dear
Oh goodness
Stop it
Knock it off (nah it off)
Enough of that
No screaming (said to herself right after she screamed in the car)
Oh sh$t! (fortunately Jeff and I aren't to blame for this since we don't swear much.  But some friends and family do :)

Belly pictures

Total slacker this time around on posting belly pictures.  I've been taking them, just haven't been getting them up on the blog.  So here's 6 weeks to 30 weeks.  Plus some comparisons at the end between pregnancy 1 and 2.

Nov 2013

6 weeks

 Dec 2013

8 weeks

Jan 2013

12 weeks

14 weeks

 February 2013

16 weeks

18 weeks

 March 2013

20 weeks

22 weeks

 April 2013

24 weeks

26 weeks

 May 2013

28 weeks (not a figure flattering outfit!)

30 weeks

Belly Comparisons:
I felt bigger this time around, but the bump sizes are closer than I expected.  The belly showed up earlier with #2 and is a little bigger, but that's pretty normal.

16 weeks with Claire

16 weeks with baby #2

22 weeks with Claire

22 weeks with Baby #2

30 weeks with Claire

30 weeks with baby #2

April 2013

Here's a selection of photos from April.  You'll see some from a trip to the Botanical garden and a walk in the woods at a park near our house.  You'll also see Claire dressed up like a cowgirl for a spirit day at her school.  It was the day I got that first sick kid phone call.  She was running a little fever.  She was also pretty normal, but a little lethargic and wasn't interested in eating her snack.  Her teacher knew something was up then.  Claire not eat??

Lunch date with Mommy.  I got juice...

...amd ice cream!!

Hand painting at the botanical garden

Froggy

Touching a worm!

Screaming for mama with Auntie

Orchid display at the garden

Looking for to the new exhibit featuring these giant plant sculptures!

Auntie Dori and Great Grampa visited for Jamie's graduation party

Claire tore up her pillow and shoved the stuffing behind her bed!

Snuggles with Paaps!

Sick cowgirl

Cowboy hats are a must for TV watching

Feeling well enough for hokey pokey with Daddy

Walking in the woods

Picking "flowers" in the meadow

Toddler bed!

April Fool's!!

April 1st seemed like a good day to finally pull the trigger on converting Claire's crib to a toddler bed. She did pretty well with it the first week.  She did start a new morning ritual upon waking.  She would toss all her stuff over the rail (pillow, sheep, and blanket), climb out, carry all her stuff to the door and rattle the knob while crying.  So when we tried to open the door to get her, she and all her stuff was in the way!

Then after 6 days, she decided she didn't really want to be in her bed anymore.  This was after a stay at my parent's in a pack n play, so maybe she thought this new bed wasn't all it was cracked up to be.  After we put her to bed, she got out repeatedly and would stand at the door crying.  She would ask for more "rock, rock" or a book or a song.  Jeff and I took turns going up there and we each gave in to those requests once or twice.  She would calm down while we rocked her and even drift off, but after we put her in bed, she'd be up again in 10 minutes.  Finally I realized this was just prolonging the issue.  At a previous nap time when she has trouble, I had just stood in her room for a few minutes to get her to calm down and lay down and she quickly drifted off.  I tried that again, but I couldn't stand there long enough for her to fall asleep and I didn't really want to be starting that bad habit anyway.  So after 2.5 hours, I pulled out a "supernanny" technique (like the TV show with a nanny who comes in and fixes dysfunctional families).  I just stood outside her room and kept putting her back in bed.  So I laid her down, closed the door, listened for the thump of her getting out of bed and went back in to lay her down again.  Each time I said something like "It's time for night-night.  Mama loves you.  See you in the morning."  Lather, rinse, repeat 4 times.  And then she was down and out for the night.

I had to do the same technique for a couple nap times and one or two more bedtimes, but with less repetitions.  Some nights her sleep was a little more interrupted and she'd wake up once or twice and need a snuggle and rocking before going right back to sleep.  And some days she was getting up earlier in the morning or at the end of nap.  But overall, the transition was not nearly as bad as I feared, except that one night.

Easter 2013

Easter was March 31st this year, an early year.  Fortunately the rainy weather held off just enough for us to get Easter egg hunts in.

We started the day with Easter baskets and a small egg hunt (6 eggs) in our living room.  Claire loved it!  Her basket was filled with lots of b's - bubble bath, books, bows, and bunny ears!  The Easter bunny also brought a few goodies for mommy and daddy too! 

Easter baskets

Reading a new book with Daddy

Found an egg

Got my ears on!

We headed off for church (where Claire wasn't too terrible).  Then we headed down to Stockbridge for brunch with all the Schulze's.  Mmm, brunch!  We had a great Easter egg hunt and bubble blowing extravaganza outside.  The egg were hidden over a large space, allowing all three granddaughters plenty of opportunity to find eggs without fighting over them.  There was even a bunny spotted hiding in a bush!

Cousins

What's this hiding in the tree?

Still trying to get a good picture of the 3 of them

Love this out take! 

Walking with mama

Sharing??

Bubbles!

Pure childhood joy!

She would NOT let go of her basket

Love this picture of Claire and Grandpa

Balance beam

More swinging fun

After all that fun, we headed over to the Simpson house for even more Easter festivity!  More egg hunting and a delicious dinner.  I think the eggs got hidden a few times since Claire was having such a blast and doing so well at spotting the eggs.

Easter bunny stopped at Grammi's too

Showing Auntie how to find eggs

Got a bucket full already

Ooh, I see one!

Egg hunting with Grammi

Showing Paaps an egg

Exploring the contents of her eggs

Posing with Paaps (and eating!)

Still stuffing her face with Grammi

Claire also had an Easter party at her school.  They hid eggs outside for the kids to find.  They were very smart to keep the eggs empty and allow the kids to turn in their empty eggs for a baggie of candy that would have been in the eggs.  Then the kids chowed down on some food!

Found an egg!

Here's one!

Losing an egg from her basket as she dashes off for more

Food!