Sunday, October 18, 2015

18 Week Bumpdate



How far along: 18 weeks as of Friday 

Baby Size: Over 5 inches! 

Weight gain: Ugh. 10 lbs at the last doctor visit, where he reminded me I should probably only gain 15. Yeah, unless this baby is only going to be like 3 lbs that's not happening. I had no sweet tooth with Felicity and such a sweet tooth with this one, but I'm trying to reign it in. Sort of.

Maternity clothes: I've been in maternity pants since about 11 weeks but I'm just starting to add in some maternity shirts, though I still have a few regular ones that work well.

Stretch marks: No new ones yet. 
 
Sleep: The pregnancy insomnia has hit! It's pretty much like last time- I'm up for about an hour in the middle of the night (usually 2-3 or 3-4). Luckily not every night, though! 

Gender: It will be a surprise again!

Movement: Started feeling movement on October 6th at 16.5 weeks. Thank God! It eases my anxiety so much. With Felicity, I was 17 weeks, I think, and only felt her once a week for the first few weeks. I've felt this baby at least once a day almost every day (except 2 in a row) for a week and a half now! Go baby! 

Best moment this week: Seeing Felicity love on my stomach without any prompting. This week she's been obsessed with the idea that the baby is playing with cars (lol!). She loves to lift my shirt and check my belly, then will kiss, hug, and offer her appy (paci) to the baby. It makes my heart so mushy.

Looking forward to: Our 20 week ultrasound. Can't wait to see the little one again!
 
  Anything making you queasy or sick: Still fighting nausea but it's at least slowed some.
 
Labor Signs: No, thank God.
 
What I miss: Right now nothing. I'm on a 2 week trial break from morning progesterone and I am so happy and feel so good! I've gotten tons of stuff done around the house and Felicity has her mom back. I almost feel like my old self! Hoping my numbers are decent enough that I can continue. Edit: I wrote this earlier in the week and never posted. Back on morning progesterone, womp womp.
 
Symptoms: Nausea, tiredness though that's much improved, heartburn, insomnia
 
Nursery: Sorry 2nd baby. You'll get a nursery when big sister moves rooms a few months after you're born ;).
 
Belly Button in or out? In.

Wedding rings on or off? On.

Mood: Steven says I'm more emotional. I guess so ;). 


Tuesday, October 13, 2015

From Baby to Toddler

My sister inspired this post because she has written some about things she'll miss about her baby as she gets older and, now that the baby book is down to one page to summarize a whole year (sniff, sniff), I keep thinking about all the cute things she does and wondering if I'll even remember them! So I figured I might as well write a few of them down :). And also Jellybean has kind of taken the blogging spotlight lately so this one's for you, my sweet first born.

19 Month Old Cuteness

  • She's already lost this but I have to say it! For months, Felicity called kitties "tih tih" with sort of a lisp on the front end (almost a "th" sound). It was one of our favorite things ever and we were so sad when she learned the word kitty!
  • Speaking of the word kitty, she has trouble with double consonants in the middle so kitty is actually pronounced "kih-eee" and cuddle is pronounced "cuh-uhl". Ahhh so cute.
  • She is very into helping, but mostly with vacuuming. When I vacuum, Felicity pushes her stroller around the house the way I do with the vacuum. Then she insists on handing me the cord as I wind it up and says "Hepping!". 
  • Felicity is the cutest copycat. If we are on a play date and the other mom sits on a bench, Felicity goes and sits beside her. If I sit on the ground against a wall, she comes and sits beside me with her back pressed against it. If I stand with my hands behind my back, she scurries over beside me and puts her hands behind her back. And if the neighbor toddler lays on the ground to examine a bug, she lays on the ground and giggles. 
  • When she wants to eat and I tell her it's not time (for example, in gymnastics class) she goes through every word she has, hoping I'll say yes to one of them. "Eat. Nack. Suppuh. Mook. Eat. Nack."
  • Felicity just started getting into her play kitchen and now makes me 'soup' daily. She brings a cup or bowl with a spoon and feeds me, making a slurping sound. 
  • When I give her a hug, kiss or cuddle, she starts a "my" war with "my huggie! my cuddle! my kissy"! I know I shouldn't encourage it but I do because it's the cutest thing ever! She is also gaining bodily autonomy which I'm super proud of and will say "my arm!" or _____ insert other body part here if someone touches or grabs her. 
  • She can put her number puzzle together and name the numbers, which blew me away the first time she did it. She confuses 9 and 6 of course, but otherwise does stunningly well. She's so little that I can't believe she sits there and says her numbers! Love that little muffin! 
  • When I sneeze (or cough lol), she stops what she's doing (even if she's watching "kitty!" Daniel Tiger) to say either "bless you mama" or "bless you mommy". My heart melts every time! 

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Dear Baby #2, Letter 4

Jellybean,                                                                                                  10/6/2015

You really deserve so many more letters than this! But I wanted to make sure I wrote to you today because you are finally kicking me!!! I can't even tell you how excited I am. I panic so much in that time where nausea and exhuastion have left but movement hasn't started yet. Thankfully (trying to be positive here), nausea isn't all the way gone and exhaustion is just starting to improve since I got to stop morning progesterone as a trial, so I've been less panicky than I was with your sister, but I still thought I'd feel you before now. If you google (why do I ever google?), it appears that most 2nd time moms feel their baby super early. I felt Felicity around 18 or 19 weeks so I thought I'd feel you maybe around 14. But I'm 16 weeks and 4 days today and I know it's normal that I am just now feeling you. I'm just super excited that it's happening. You may really like activity because this is the most active day I've had in a long time (especially since it's our first day of sun in two weeks!!!). Felicity had her first mommy and me gymnastics class today which was an insane workout, plus we went on a long walk, plus we played at the playground. I felt you as I rested after gymnastics and as I rested after putting Felicity to bed tonight. I know it could be days until I feel you again, but I'm glad I have this to hang onto :). We have our "big" ultrasound in just over 2 weeks and I can't wait to see you again! I know most people prefer less ultrasounds, but since I have to have them anyway, they really help my anxiety. I cannot believe I'm almost 17 weeks pregnant. This pregnancy is FLYING. I'm definitely in maternity pants full time but still in most of my normal shirts, but for some reason I often still don't feel pregnant. It still hits me over and over again that you're in there! Daddy talks to you every night just like he did with your sister and I love that special time you two share. We love you so much and can't wait to meet you and see who you are. We both kind of have a feeling you're a boy, which is bizarre since neither of us really had a feeling with Felicity. At the very end I had an inkling she might be a girl but it was so fleeting that I doubted myself. But this is a strong feeling and I don't know where it comes from! Felicity has a LOT of clothing that you will fit perfectly into if you're a girl, but if you're a boy that just gives us all an excuse to go shopping ;). Love you so much and can't wait to see you again in a few weeks!

Love,
Mommy

Saturday, October 3, 2015

Lessons and Teams and Practices, Oh My

On Tuesday, Felicity starts a 3 week career in gymnastics. By 3 weeks, I mean 30 minutes one time a week for 3 weeks. And by gymnastics, I mean likely running amok with other children of similar age. I'm really excited because she is such a physical kid, so having equipment to climb on (instead of the cushions on the back of my couch or on my kitchen table) will be a perfect outlet for her.

I have to say though, I had some trepidation in signing her up. I actually was so wary that I missed the first sign up/session and had to wait for the next one to roll around. I feel like we live in a world that is totally overscheduled. Kids are on too many teams, in too many activities, doing just plain too much. I can see that there is a lot of benefit to some activities, but not at the cost of the two things I find most important for childhood for our kids: 1) family life and 2) independent/free play. The main reason why we are aiming to homeschool is for those 2 reasons right there. Our kids will be able to see Daddy on his days off (since they are primarily week days) and if they need to stay up a little later and sleep in a little later to see him on weekdays, that won't matter because we can adjust our schedule. They won't be in school for 8 hours a day so they will have more chances to play outside, play inside using their imagination, and go to parks. With Steven's work schedule and my desire to be home, it just makes sense for us.

Hands down our favorite place to play! The local children's museum is $100 for a family membership, regardless of family size. We go a LOT! The entire place is based on learning through play.

So back to extra-curriculars. I think that homeschooling also will lend itself nicely to that as we'll have more free hours in a day, so hopefully plenty of time to be with each other, play, and diversify the kids a bit depending on their interests and abilities. However, from what I've seen activities can snowball pretty quickly, especially when you have multiple children. So my fear in signing Felicity up for lessons in something at a year and a half of age was that it might get that ball rolling. I'm aware that I'm responsible for choosing or not choosing activities, but I find them fun, too! I enjoy seeing her do new things, seeing her play with other kids, and being out of the house. But that doesn't mean I want her in lessons from now until she goes off to college. And I was kind of afraid that, if gymnastics went well, that might be where I take it!

However, after I found out I was pregnant, my gears changed a little. I really want to up our chances to bond together before the baby comes, especially since Felicity doesn't really "get it" and her whole life will be upside down for a bit. I want to make sure I fill that love tank as much as I can. And, people, she has a BIG one! She requests "huggies" probably upward of 50 times a day and that's on a slow day. So things like this- because, oh, did I not mention that it's mommy and me gymnastics???- give us an opportunity to bond in a way that won't be possible even as I near the end of the pregnancy and especially when I have a brand new baby to care for. I realized that lessons and scheduled activities just won't be practical for a bit as we all adjust, and that actually made me feel better. I think the longer we can delay that type of thing, the better- especially while she's so little. When she's 5 or so I would have no qualms about putting her in (limited) lessons if she wants. But as a toddler I want to make sure she's spending the majority of her time playing, "reading", doing crafts, and snuggling mommy and daddy! So while this type of thing will be fun, I'm glad it's short lived for now!