More belly shots

Well, I seem to have either lost a few weeks of pictures or never took them in the first place.  I'm missing 24 to 28 weeks.  But here's what I have from 19 to 33 weeks.

19 weeks

22 weeks

23 weeks

29 weeks

30 weeks

32 weeks

33 weeks

And finally, a comparison of all 3 pregnancies.  34 weeks with Claire and Ellie and 33 weeks pregnant with Daniel.

Pregnancy #3, part 2

At St George Island in September (28 weeks)

Life was so busy for us in July, August, and September that I hardly made any notes about what was going on with the pregnancy.  We had our Disney trip and Ellie's first birthday at the end of July.  In August we squeezed in a trip to Maine before Claire started school and started soccer.  Then we had our trip to St George Island in September.  I didn't have the luxury to sit around and contemplate being pregnant and blog about it every week like I did with Claire.  I guess Daniel's just getting used to be dragged along for the ride already!

How I've been feeling physically:
I hit the halfway mark of 20 weeks on Sunday, July 20th.  Being in the middle of the second trimester, I was feeling pretty good.  Had a little more energy, food aversions mostly gone, mood much more stable.  Shortly thereafter Ellie gave up her morning nap so the return of some energy was much appreciated.  Physically I did pretty well on our Disney trip at the end of July, especially considering the heat and all the walking.  I made sure to take breaks to rest and cool off more often than I normally would.  Our trip to Maine wasn't too strenuous so I did well then too.  Fortunately we were all able to sit together in a row on the plane, so I could make Jeff bend over to retrieve dropped toys or items from the diaper bag.  By the time our St George trip rolled around in mid September I was definitely feeling uncomfortably pregnant.  I was 28 weeks by then, so just into the 3rd trimester. I napped or rested in bed each day of our trip but still felt so stiff and uncomfortable.  It definitely cut into my enjoyment of the trip.  The car ride down and back probably didn't help much either.

By the end of September I was feeling pretty rough.  My back and hips hurt all the time and every step was uncomfortable.  I couldn't imagine how I was going to make it two more months!  And Ellie was in a clingy, must-be-on-mommy phase where I couldn't sit down without her wanting to be on top of me.  And not just sitting with me, but climbing all over me and the couch.  (This also coincided with a peak in my please-don't-touch-me phase. Fun times!)   But I was able to get some relief thanks to a few tricks.  First, I adjusted my sleeping position so my legs weren't so bent up and made good use of my pregnancy pillow.  Second, I used a birthday gift certificate from my mom for a prenatal massage.  I had been saving it for when I felt really uncomfortable.  This seemed like the moment!  After the massage I walked out thinking "It's a miracle, I can walk!"

And third, that same evening Jeff and I left for a weekend getaway in Charleston.  The car ride stiffened me back up a little bit.  But a weekend of relaxation combined with some moderate amounts of walking worked some more magic.  I returned home feeling much more normal.  It was so nice to be able to move around without pain.  (Our trip was October 3rd-5th so I was 30/31 weeks along).

How I've been feeling emotionally:
As I mentioned, my normally high need for personal space got even bigger.  If Claire was sitting next to me on the couch (as happens most mornings), I didn't want any of her body parts to touch me.  I could tolerate snuggles for Ellie but I couldn't handle her climbing all over me.  And this past summer, climbing was her main interest!  So I had a lot of frustration with that.

Fortunately, Jeff's schedule has felt pretty light so he has been around more often to intervene when my patience is gone.  And to allow me to nap.  Oh how beneficial that is!  Even if I'm dragging in the morning when he's sleeping, knowing that I will be able to nap in the afternoon when he is up helps me to power through.  And of course sleep helps keep the emotions in check and the physical discomfort down.

Beyond the day-to-day frustrations from pregnancy discomforts and from parenting young children, I've mostly just felt grateful.  We had a busy but amazing summer.  We were able to fit in so many wonderful experiences before a new baby keeps us close to home for a while.  I feel so fortunate that we were financially able to do it all. And so blessed to have such wonderful family members to vacation with or to take care of our girls so we could take trips without a kid or two.  And after an experiencing a few weeks of significant pregnancy discomfort, I'm even more grateful for relief from that and for each moment that I feel good.

And although I shudder at the thought of sleep-deprived, crying newborn days, I so look forward to meeting our little guy.  I am excited to see what his little face looks like.  And I'm praying he is the easygoing baby that Ellie was!  But if he isn't, I know this time I will have much more help than when Claire was little.  Jeff will be taking the month of December off and we have lots of family ready to offer a helping hand.

How Claire is reacting:
Claire continues to do well with the thought of a new sibling.  She likes to give Daniel a hug and kiss. I called her over one day when I could feel him moving and put her hand on my belly.  She seemed a little shocked when she felt him.  So now she will occasionally ask if he is moving and try to feel him.  But she will only leave her hand there for a moment before pulling away and saying she felt him, even though I know there are times when she couldn't have felt anything.

I can tell her mind is trying make sense of having a baby around and being a mom.  One day in late September we had this conversation:
Claire: Mama I have a baby in my tummy!
Me: Oh yeah?
C: Yeah! But he's little because my tummy is little. But he's the same age as Daniel. 
Me: What are you going to name your baby?
C: (brief pause) Dada!
(Tangential discussion about whether Jeff is working or sleeping)
C: No! I'm just teasing. He's going to be Daniel like the baby in your tummy.

And another day she told me that she was going to be a mommy and Ellie was going to be a mommy and I was a mommy.  So we would have three mommies and would I like having 3 mommies around?  I told her 3 mommies sounded like a pretty good idea to me!

In the summer I broached the idea of Ellie sharing her room so that Daniel could have what is currently Ellie's room.  She considered it seriously for a moment then said "Sure!"

And how about Ellie?
Well, being just one, Ellie has no idea what is coming.  And it does break my heart a little bit to think about how her world is going to be rocked come December.  She's still so little.  And I'm going to make her change rooms, move in with her sister, and often have my arms full of a new baby when she just wants me.  I know the frustration that I'll feel when she is trying mess with Daniel or explore all the baby stuff that will be coming out.  Or when she wants me and I'm in the middle of feeding a baby or trying to make dinner or any of the dozens of other things that need to be done.  I'm already trying to channel all the peace and patience I can.  And reminding myself that the baby won't remember being ignored for a minutes as much as my preschooler and toddler will.

And what's going on with Daniel?
After giving me some grief with uncomfortable transverse positioning, he finally flipped and went head down.  I think that was around 33 weeks.

Like his sisters, he favors my right side.  Claire used to shove her foot into my ribs on the right.  I was often sitting with a hand in that spot trying to push her down.  Daniel is similar but his spot is a little lower. I usually have a hard lump on my right side, midway between the top and bottom of my belly.  His little bottom or foot just loves to push out on that spot!

His activity pattern is also like his sisters.  He's most active when I finally lay down at night.  He also gets going around 7 or 8 in the evening when I sit on the couch to relax for a bit.  Throughout the day it's more unpredictable.  Although meals and sugary snacks tend to get him going.

My mom kindly mentioned that I looked bigger this time around.  So we will see how his size compares.  I think it's pretty normal to look bigger each pregnancy.  I'll have to pull some pictures from all 3 to compare!

13 months old

13 months: August 26-September 25

Language:

She has a lot to say but few identifiable words, especially early in the month.  The few words I can recognize are moo (ooo), tweet tweet (doot doot), and maybe whoa (voah or boah).  With tweet tweet, she will bring over a little finger puppet bird and give it to me.  Then when I say, bird, tweet tweet tweet and make it flap and fly, she will laugh, say doot doot doot and then grab the bird and run off.

She has lots of d sounds in her language.

Da da 

Dai dai (not sure if this might be all done, bye bye, or night night)

A few language samples:

Dukka dukka dukka

Tikka tikka

Gligga Gligga

A ziz zih. Doh doh 

Jah Jah boh.  Joh!

Dah boh. (This was a frequent one).

Other developments:

She is clapping really well these days.  She also enjoys this little piggy and itsy bitsy spider.

Eating:
She is eating most anything these days.  Even chomping on raw carrots with her 4 little teeth.  She has transitioned off bottles.  We held off on the bottle transition until after our Maine trip in early August.  She was getting whole milk in her bottles by then.  She transitioned from the bottle to a sippy cup pretty easily.  

Sleeping:

We are pretty solidified in the one nap schedule.  She goes down around 1 and sleeps for 2-2.5 hours most days.  Night time is the same, going down around 7:30 and up between 7 and 8.

Big enough to navigate the slide on her own

Nakey, rashy baby

Help!  I've fallen and I can't get up!

Bath time!

Am I too big for this playmat?

Definitely too big for this bouncy seat!

Bang on the tupperware? Nah.
I'd rather use it to climb!

Playing while at Claire's soccer game

Grammi and Paaps keeping me entertained at the game

Looking out at the ocean at St George Island

Nibbling raw carrots with my 4 little teeth!

Claire starts school, age 3

Claire started back to preschool on August 19th.  Hard to believe it's my 3 year old's third year heading off to school.  But she loves it!  And I certainly won't complain about the break!  She's going 3 days from 9-1.  This year we chose a Tues/Wed/Thurs schedule.  We'll see how we like it.

Ready to head out

Putting away her bag

Ready to color!
(And obviously heartbroken for me to leave! Not!)

3 years of first days: 18 months, 2.5, and 3.5 years old

1 year photos!

We had some one year pictures done for Ellie by a professional photographer, Rebecca Rood Photography.  Rebecca did our family photos back in March too.  Love her stuff!  I had won a gift certificate from her this summer so it was a little easier to splurge on a photo shoot for just Ellie.

We got many great shots.  I'm so happy the photos capture her personality and we have a record for the future of her smile, her curls, and her soon-to-be-gone baby belly!

12 months old

Happy!

Sad!

lHappy again, chatting on her phone

Well our sweet little baby has entered toddlerhood!  She has become more cranky and demanding. She is realizing there are things she wants and she wants them now!  And maybe if she protests to us enough we will get it for her.

Language:
Not too much progress on the language front.  Which is hard because we need to her express what it is she wants but she isn't capable of that.  Still lots of consonant babbling.  She says doo doo or doh doh a lot.  Which makes me think of Gus Gus the mouse from Cinderella.  I had to refrain from calling her that because I didn't want it to stick!  She will do the signs for "more" and "eat" if prompted.

Eating:
She's a good eater, at least volume wise.  She can put away some food!  But  she's pickier than Claire was.  Her food dislikes include tomatoes, pickles, zucchini, broccoli, and pasta.  And she is more hesitant to try new things.  Favorites include fruit, beans, meat, and peas.  She likes to hold utensils while she is eating too.

Sleeping:
She's fluctuating between one and two naps.  Most days she can do one.  But if she wakes up early or is in the car at the right time, she'll want a morning nap.

She's doing well at night.  She generally sleeps through the night unless teeth or illness bothers her. She goes down about 7:30 at night and is up in the morning between 7:15 and 7:45.

Development:
Like her sister, she does not give regular kisses.  I did get her to blow a kiss (8/16).  She put her hand to her mouth, moved it away and then made a mwahh kissing noise.  So cute!

Her newest love is climbing!  She loves climbing on chairs, stools, toys.  Whatever she can hike her little leg up on!  Which definitely keeps us on our toes trying to keep her safe!

Happy girl playing with Claire and wooden cutting food

Climbing on a suitcase

And playing in a bin

Gotta have a spoon while eating

Climbing and sitting on a box with a spoon in hand!

July 2014

Apparently Disney World, Ellie's birthday, and finding out baby number 3 is a boy wasn't enough excitement for a month!  We had a few other things going on in July.  I felt like summer was passing us by so we crammed in a lot of fun activities. Including:
-July 4th festivities
-Uncle Dave's birthday
-Claire's first treasure/scavenger hunt
-Botanical garden
-blueberry picking
-Claire's sleep over with her cousins (more on that in another post)
-birthday dinner for Grandpa
-another zoo trip

Wow!  This would be why I am so behind on blogging!

So let's start at the top.  July 4th.  We went down to my parents' house on July 3rd to celebrate my sister's birthday a few days late.  We spent the morning of the 4th with my parents and then went to Jeff's parents' house that afternoon.  (Jeff was working as usual).  We celebrated the 4th and Uncle Dave's birthday with Jeff's family.

Jamie's cake and awesome candle!

Patriotic cuties

A water balloon is no match for Grandpa!

Bathing beauties

Fun with water balloons

Chilling in a chair just her size

Add caption

The next week I made a treasure hunt for Claire.  I drew picture clues of things in the yard to lead her from one card to the next.  There was a prize hidden at the final location.  I have fond memories of similar things from when I was young so I wanted to pass it along.  And Claire loved it!  She was ready for more "scabbenger" hunts!

What's this one?

That tree over there?

I found it!

The prize at the end! 

Here we mixed up a little sidewalk paint with cornstarch, water, and food coloring.  Claire and I both enjoyed this activity!

I took the girls to the botanical garden one morning.  We walked in and someone asked "Oh, are you here for the treasure hunt?"  Well, we are now!  So Claire got to hunt for some golden eggs and keep one treasure (a pretty rock).

The best I could get of them together

Ready for a scavenger hunt!

Golden eggs!

Counting how many we have

Gorgeous view

Ellie says "I'm free!!"

Playing in the flower shower

Blueberry picking:
I wanted to pick blueberries last year but because Ellie was due in the prime picking month, it didn't happen. So I hoped to make it happen this year.  We tried to squeeze in a trip between the rain and Ellie's naps.  That didn't quite work since she apparently didn't sleep during her morning nap, didn't want to sleep in the car, and even though we were sure she would sleep in the carrier on Jeff, she didn't do that either!  But she was reasonably content to hang out.  She did limit Jeff's ability to pick since the berries were in deep and she just wanted to grab all the branches! The picking wasn't great so we were out for an hour or so and got a pound. But we had a good time  

Girl on a mission

Once a rare occurrence, Claire falling asleep in the
car happens a little more often these days

We rounded out the month of fun with a zoo trip:

Feeding parakeets

Claire loves taking pictures at these things,
but SO doesn't get the concept!

Petting zoo

Fun on the slide

Here are some miscellaneous pictures of the girls from the month:

Both of them love bath time!

Ellie in a box

Claire and Dr. Ellie

And finally, Claire has discovered how to work the camera feature on an iPhone.  Here are a few of her pictures.

The couch

9 pictures that looked exactly like this

Ellie getting a diaper changed