Batteries Required

Most of NAs toys were inherited from his oh so generous big brother.  Big Brother was kind enough to leave the batteries in the toys he gave to little bro. These batteries were, in most cases, the original batteries.  When I was kid as the batteries went out in your toys, your toys just stopped working.  Which is what I'm hoping for ...  sneaky mommy.  However, these toys now don't just stop working they just come on whenever they feel like it.  Right now there is a dog that says, "I love you" and a cow that says, "moooooo".  Can I just tell you they are freaky as h-e-double hockey sticks.  Maybe because I grew up with Chucky, but I think these toys are up to something.  I have removed the batteries from the dog, but the cow, I can't get to the batteries, so he just sits over in the corner and lets out a little moo from time to time. NA will just look like it, like "I know I didn't tell you to moo, but I'm going to act like I did so this doesn't get weird."  That freakin cow JUST moo'd at me.  :/

Go to Sleep

As a first time mom, I wanted to cuddle and snuggle my new baby every single chance I got.  Which meant every night I rocked him to sleep and ever so gently laid my sweet sleeping baby down to sleep.  When he would wake, he woke up crying - not all out screaming, but that I'm-awake-come-get-me cry.  Every now and again EM would wake up laughing or giggling.  It was the sweetest thing, but not all the time.  I read all these books that tell you to put the babe in their bed while they were still awake.  Reason being is that when you rock them to sleep that's the last place they remember being.  When they wake up in the morning in bed, they are all confused and a little frightened.  While the babe is in a familiar place, it's not where they last remembered being.  Imagine falling asleep in your hubby's arms on the sofa only to wake up the next day in your old auntie's bed.  How are you going to feel when you wake up?  Dazed and confused?  Babes, I think, feel the same when they wake up in a crib haven fallen asleep in someone's arms. 

Now, baby #2 comes along and I, of course, do not remember all this great wisdom I gleaned from baby #1.  I'm just tired and I have to put this one to bed, go read the other one a story, fix lunch, straighten up a bit.  I don't have time or energy to rock the baby to sleep, if I do I'm going to be asleep too.  So I put #2 in the bed, he's no totally happy, but I tell myself I'll go back in there after I've read the first babe a good night story.  Only when I finish the story #2 is sleep!  Huh!  Ok!  Everyday #2's unhappiness when he's put in the bed is less and less until finally you put him in the bed and he just lays his head down and goes to sleep (we're not to this milestone yet, but I know it's coming - have faith people.)  Now!  Here's the best part, when #2 wakes up in the morning.  He wakes up laughing and "talking" to his little glow in the dark seahorse, Seabert.  It can be 30 minutes before I go in his room.  He and Seabert will just carry on a conversation like that's what folks do at 6:30AM.  :)  It is straight up awesomeness.  This morning NA wakes up, talking about some craziness.  I go in his room to get him up for the day (after about 5 minutes of his talking) only to discover his little legs sticking through the slats in the crib.  He's not crying, not freaking out.  Just talking to Seabert about how he got his legs stuck in the slats.  I'm all panicy like, "NA!  What are your legs doing sticking out the crib."  He's like, "Hmm, dunno.  Good Morning, Mommy!  You bring me a snack?"

Motherhood Karma

You know when you were little your momma used to say, she couldn't wait til you had kids of your own so you'd get a dose of your own medicine.   Well, my turn is now.  All those wonderful things I put my mom through when I was a kid, I am now having the joy of going through on the other side as a mama.  OY!  Craziness is I remember doing all these stuff, so I know it's Karma.  I know it! 

Today, I am feeding NA trying my best to get everyone dressed and out the house so we could go to church.  Em was dressed, we just had to get NA fed and dressed and we'd be on our way.   EM is playing on the floor in front of me while I'm feeding his brother.  He's doing magic.  :)  I won't tell you his magician secrets, but he was making a coin disappear.  All of a sudden he gets real still and starts whimpering.  I'm thinking he's bit his tongue because he was concentrating so hard on his magic trick.  "What's wrong, EM?"  "Did you bite your tongue."  EM shakes his head, then starts crying.  Well what happened?  "I swallowed it."  Ummm, what?  you swallowed what, your tongue?  Please tell me you didn't swallow that coin.  "Did you swallow the coin?"  EM nods his head, then the waterworks really start like in the cartoons with his head tilted back and the tears shooting out the sides.  Oh boy.  Old me would have said "Eh, what goes in comes out. No worries."  But since becoming a mother, other mothers like to tell me about the trauma their kids go though when it's a normally benign situation.  So I've got all these stories from other mamas floating in my head.  I calmly pack up the kid (and the ipad - incase there's  a long wait, mama's gotta be prepared) and head off to the hospital, to "get some pictures made."  I'm a nervous wreck.  EM is just skipping along asking if there is wi-fi so he can watch a movie.  LOL  That should have been my first sign.  We get in, the Dr. "takes the pictures" and we discover that the coin has made it's way to his tummy.  Whoop!  No we just wait for him to make change on the toilet and we're good to go.  Karma is a - - - - -!

Babywise

Finally!  He's sleeping through the night!  Whoop!  I took advantage of the Eid break and put NA on a schedule.  I did the same thing I did with EM many moons ago.  I loosely followed Babywise.  Eat, Wake, Sleep, Repeat.  I still have him on an every 3 hour schedule because I like being able to sneak in an extra feeding (so does NA.) We may move to every 4 hours at 7 months.  We put him down for his naps and bedtime while he is awake.  The first few times he fussed.  Started out with 30 minutes of fussing (and me going in there every 10 minutes to reassure him that he was capable of falling asleep while he wasn't eating.)  Each day the fussing got less and less.  Now he fusses for 1 minute (just one) before he falls off to sleep.  Oh!  and I play a music - I didn't do that with EM.  Its a recording of a rain storm.  Play it every time he gets put in the bed and I play it very loud - like you're sitting on the front porch during a rain storm.  My thought was that it would be like Pavlov and his his doggie.   On top of him sleeping through the night when he wakes up in the morning he rarely cries.  He just chills in his crib talking to Seabert the seahorse until I come in to get him up for the day.  I'm happy that NA responded well to it. 

EM is starting to show signs of being in the middle east too long.  He has a love for fast and/or expensive cars.  I don't know how he knows which ones are the expensive ones and which ones are not, but he knows.  While he was picking out the car that will take him to work - a McLaren mind you - he comments, "I like expensive cars, huh Mommy?"  Well, yes son.  That's affirmative.  Bless his heart.  At least he has a generous heart and won't be all stingy with his expensive cars, because he offers to buy me one of whatever he's getting.  :)  Must get this in writing ... and signed. 

Eating and Sleeping

I few weeks back I posted about NA sleeping through the night and how excited I was.  I know I’m going to come back to this blog when he’s 5 years old and think, oh he slept through the night from 5 months.   Ummmmm, not quite.  He’s not consistently sleeping through the night, but he’s getting there.  Maybe by 7 months?!?  I can hope.  He had a cold for a while that I think was contributing to him waking up.   He wake up sounding like Darth Vader and I’d go in there to help the kids breathe, he smells me when I come in and starts rubbing those eyes.  Next thing I know those beautiful peepers are staring back at me in the moonlite room.  :/  I try to give him my angry face or my I’m-not-in-the- mood-for-this face, he shoots me one of those toothless grins and it’s all over.  Mommy melts.  When he was extra congested I kept him in the room with me, so I could keep an eye on him.  Again, he knew I was there and would just be talking up a storm.  I’m like “Dude!  The lights are off, mommy is snoring, it’s time for you to be sleep.”  He’s all like, “goo goo gagaga gooooooo.” :/

Feeding solid foods in an adventure.  I tried to feed him green beans the other night and he was spitting them back out and me and yelling at me.  Just like those babies you see on TV.  NA will take the spoon and drop it in his seat like, “There!  Spoon is gone.  No more green beans.”  It wasn’t until I added apples to the mix that he took some.  Looks like we’re going to have a food adventure on our hands.  I’m going to have to come up with all sorts of crazy combinations to get NA to eat.  I need to figure out how to break him of this.  I don’t want him to refuse to eat something because it’s not sweet.  Any suggestions?

With this new eating plan, NA seems to have added 5 pounds to his little frame.  I love those chubby thighs and arms.  I hate how I get cramps in my arms from toting him from point A to B.  The only way I can comfortably carry him without a carrier is football and reverse football. LOL

Swimmingly

When E was a babe he loved the pool.  Loved it!  When he hit about 15 months (right about the time we moved to the land of sand) he grew more fearful of the water.  He had gotten so fearful of being in the water that he didn't even want to leave the steps of the pool (though he'd happy play on the steps for more than an hour.) 

One of his weekly activities at school is swimming.  You should have heard the pleas to not go when he knew that swimming was coming up.  Fast forward to the end of the day.  "Mommy, mommy guess what!"  Me, "What?  E loves me?"  E, "Yes, but guess what else!"  "I put my face in the water!  I was a big boy and I didn't cry."  To reward him, I put my post partum momminess into a swimming suit (that part wasn't the reward) and took him to the pool(this part was the reward. :)).  He loved it.  I got over the post partum momminess and enjoyed my kiddo having a blast in the pool. 

"Look!  I'm like Auntie D!"

Feed Me

NA has started eating solids. A few weeks back EM was noshing on a banana while playing with NA.  EM went to give NA a zerbert on his belly and NA took a nose dive for the banana.  He didn't get a bite, but he licked and gummed the life outta that banana.  After that I went on the hunt for rice cereal.  I wanted to start him with plain rice cereal, but couldn't find any PLAIN rice cereal.  It all had flavors like corn and sweet potato and apple.  I found a mesh feeder that I could take a piece of fruit and lock it in. I freeze banana pieces and plop those frozen bits in, NA loves it!  Plus he's teething so the mesh soothes his little gums.  (Oh how I love those little gums that he's always flashing at me inside a toothless grin.) 

Fast forward and I find some plain rice cereal.  I put NA in his high chair and start the camera (cuz I gotta capture this moment for daddy).  He's a little tentative at first.  I think he's more concerned with the vehicle I'm using to get the food in his mouth than the actual food.  He finished that bowl and wanted more.  Now he takes the bowl after he's finished eating to lick it ... he licks the outside fo the bowl; he'll also take great pleasure in gumming it.

I wish I'd gotten his legs in the shot.  He was, of course, kicking up a storm.  He was so excited.

Dancing Machine

Since the first day of school EM has been a dancing machine.  He's always been into cutting a rug, but it had been that jumping up and down with your hands flailing kind of dancing.  The night after his first day of school, EM asks if we can Zumba.  Can we what?  Did you just ask me if we can Zumba?  Zumba?  Seriously?  What do you know about Zumba?  We find some Zumba on You Tube and get busy.  It was fun.  But at the end of the day I must admit I was a bit confused and curious about what they are teaching him at school.  The next day he comes home channeling his inner MadTV Stuart, "Look what I can do!"  "Betcha never seen this before." and he gets down on the floor and starts dancing.  Looked a lot like break dancing.  Now, my break dancing days ended when I hit puberty - never to been looked back upon.  So you know he's not getting the moves from me.  EM and his dancing keeps NA entertained long enough for me to get dinner on the table. So I'm not complaining.  I actually kinda like it.  Plus it's a reason for me to get off my tail and gets some exercise and dance with my favorite 4 year old.

Here's a little taste of these funky moves.

 

And because I cannot pass up the opportunity to share a little of Stuart with you...

Sleep Baby Sleep

We are getting soooooo close!  Last night N slept from 7PM to 5AM, woke at 5AM for a snack and went back to sleep!  Woot!  I went in there at 5AM with sincere apologies.  I thought I was so sleep depreived that I slept through his 3:00AM wake-up call.  But he just grunted and said, "I didn't try to wake you up, lady.  Believe me, if I tried to wake you up, you'd be up."  So I sat there with my Happy Meal Smile on my face gave him his snack and we both went back to sleep.  So funny that I am happy to be able to sleep until 5AM?

I've been trying to get a picture of him sleeping in his bed.  But he knows when I come in the room, even if I'm in stealth mode.  He rolls over and give me one of those big toothless smiles.  So since I can't get a good shot of him sleeping in his bed, I'll do the next best thing.  Him sleeping in his swing.

Where you been?

OKAY! OKAY!  I get it.  I should be doing better at this whole blogging thing.  Especially since I have things cuter than my baby bump to post about these days.  :)  I'll do better.  Promise.  I'll start today! No Really, I'll start today.

He's here! Birth story

On Saturday, April 21st, I had a doctor’s appointment at the hospital where I was planning to birth the baby.  It was a regular routine appointment.  Hubby and I showed up for our appointment in good spirits.  We had been practicing for a Hypnobabies birth and were feeling good about our ability to have a birth the way we wanted.  They take us to the back and take my vitals and then hook me up for fetal monitoring.  (After 37 weeks you have fetal monitoring at every appointment.)  However, at 38 weeks this was the first time I had the procedure done as part of a routine appointment.   So I lay down, get hooked up and prepare to relax for 20 minutes.  20 minutes go by and they weren’t getting a good reading.  The baby’s heart rate should have been going up and down, but it was staying steady.  They unhooked me, rehooked me and ran the test again, still the same.  So they told me it’s probably because I hadn’t eaten within the past hour.  So hubby and I go get a sandwich and a piece of cake.  Surely, that would get little man up and moving.  Alas, after another round of fetal monitoring ... nothing.   This thoroughly freaked the doctor.

Doctor: I’m admitting you right now.  We have to get that baby out now.  

Me: HUH?  What?  He’s fine.  

Doctor: No!  We have to get the baby out now!  He’s suffering from fetal distress. 

Me: Um, OK (I'm in shock) 

Doctor: We’re sending you up to labor and delivery for an emergency csection.

While in labor and delivery, I was hooked up again, just to be sure, while in there I had one monster contraction, that I didn't feel (I never felt contractions with EM either, though I was having them), the baby's heart rate didn't budge. I lost it at that point.  I did not want to have a csection.  I wanted to go through labor and birth my baby naturally.  My baby, my body, my decision, right?  That is what I wanted.  I had spent every day for the past 5 months preparing for this moment. Now I felt like it was being taking from me.   On the flip side, hubby and I had to make a decision about what to do to based on the information we had been given that would be in the best interest for the baby (not for me and my own agenda).  We decided to follow the doctor’s advice.  

The csection and the recovery were/are very hard.  The  anesthesia during the surgery made feel like a couldn’t breath (but I could), made me feel like I couldn’t swallow (I could), made my face itchy.  I also felt absolutely nothing that was going on with the surgery.  Right as the baby was being born it took several attendant pushing on my belly from the top to get the baby out.  But he came out!  And then he yelled at every one in the room.  :)  After the surgery, I got the shakes.  I felt like a druggie.  The pain after the anesthesia wore off was amazing.  AMAZING!  The day after the surgery I got a cough!  I thought was going to die.  The nurses just gave me Ibuprofen, but the doctor gave me some tips on how to hold my incision to reduce the pain when I coughed.  It worked well. Everyday the pain gets a little less.  After a week, I was able to tackle the stairs.  Which meant I could get a real shower in my my own bathroom.  It was lovely!  I’m now up to two trips on the stairs. :) It still hurts when I do certain things, but I am sure now there is a light at the end of the tunnel. 

EM came to visit a couple times while were in the hospital.  He is so in love with his brother.  If he came by while the baby was out for a procedure, he’d ask, “Where’s my baby.”  At home he loves to kiss and love on the baby.  He’s constantly doing poopy diaper checks.  LOL.  He’s being a great help and such a loving big brother. 

38 Weeks

Ok ya'll I'm so ready to be done!  My due date is April 30th, but I really thought Babylove #2 would come early like Big Brother did. Big brother was 3 weeks and 5 days early.  Everything I've read says the second and subsequent babies follow the same pattern as the first.  So I counted back 3 weeks and 5 days from my due date and waited patiently for Little brother to make an appearance.  Nothing.  Every day since then, I'm like "OK this is it, it's happening today" and days come and go and no baby!  I'm ready to meet my Babylove#2.  Everyone thought he'd be here by now.  People at work are taking bets as to when I'll pop.  LOL.  But, I know he'll come when he's ready, so I'll wait. 

EM is having a great time spending one on one time with daddy.  Glad that they are able to have this time together.  Em is also enjoying teaching our help to read.  Which I think is precious.  He's so sweet and encouraging.  Plus it's funny that he thinks he KNOWS how to read well enough to teach someone else.

Baby center.com says:
Your baby has really plumped up. He weighs about 6.8 pounds and he's over 19 1/2 inches long (like a leek). He has a firm grasp, which you'll soon be able to test when you hold his hand for the first time! His organs have matured and are ready for life outside the womb.
Wondering what color your baby's eyes will be? You may not be able to tell right away. If he's born with brown eyes, they'll likely stay brown. If he's born with steel gray or dark blue eyes, they may stay gray or blue or turn green, hazel, or brown by the time he's 9 months old. That's because a child's irises (the colored part of the eye) may gain more pigment in the months after she's born, but they usually won't get "lighter" or more blue. (Green, hazel, and brown eyes have more pigment than gray or blue eyes.)

*Maternity clothes?: My wardrobe doesn't really fit all that well anymore, but I'm not buying any more.  We're just going to have to make due. :)  I have a few pieces that are still able to hang in there, but most of my pants won't stay up, my belly pushes everything down.

*Sleep?: I'm up frequently to go to the bathroom.  Very frequently

*Best moment this week?: Lunch with my bosses and coworker.  Salmon!

*Movement?: Babylove#2 has a lot to say when he doesn't like the position I'm in.  He pushes and kicks until I get into a position that he approves. 

*Food cravings?: Ice!  Sno Cones!  Popcicles!  Orange Juice

*Labor signs?: Not really, though I have had a few prelabor signs

*Belly button in or out?: Out

*What I miss: I miss wine and beer, though I don't really drink much in Qatar.

*What I'm looking forward to: meeting babylove#2

*Milestone: I've made it this far and I'm still working full time.

37 weeks minus 1 day

Today is Easter.  Happy Easter!  Hope you all remember that today really isn't about a Bunny or Cadbury Creme Eggs. 

Tomorrow I'll be 37 weeks!  YAY!  A full cooked baby!  Went to the doctor last night, he's still in there and he's getting his bags packed ready to make an entrance into the world.  Can't wait to meet our new little man!  If he followed the footsteps of his brother he would have been here 3 days ago.  Thankful, that he's decided to hang tight for a minute.  He's getting big and measuring a little ahead of where he should be, but he doesn't seem to be gargantuan or anything.  At this point I'll requests preayers and vibes for a smooth delivery that brings forth a healthy baby.  :)

EM keeps eyeing my belly button asking when his brov-er is coming out. "In da minute?"  The other day he told brother to make sure his head was down and that he needed to be getting ready. LOL, he's just as excited as I. 

It's funny that in a house full of women, EM and myself are the only ones that know how to change a diaper. HA!  EM has been honing his skills on a stuffed bear and a stuffed puppy.  I thought diaper changing was a skill all little girls developed when they were like 5.  But I hear that's not so. I know when I was a kiddie I was putting a diaper on anything that had legs (this included the house cat - I wonder if that has anything to do with why that cat was so crazy?).  Do ya'll remember the dolls with the little eyes that would close when you layed her down and that would "pee" after you gave her a bottle?  Ahhhh memories.  That little chic' is what started it all for me.   I love that doll.  I even learned how to use cloth diapers (the old school kind that you had to use a pin with) because my mom wasn't about to be spending her paycheck on babydoll diapers when the mortgage was due.  :)

According to babycenter.com: Your baby is now considered "full term," even though your due date is three weeks away. If you go into labor now, his lungs will likely be mature enough to fully adjust to life outside the womb. (Some babies need a bit more time, though. So if you're planning to have a repeat c-section, for example, your practitioner will schedule it for no earlier than 39 weeks unless there's a medical reason to intervene earlier.)
Your baby weighs 6 1/3 pounds and measures a bit over 19 inches, head to heel (like a stalk of Swiss chard). Many babies have a full head of hair at birth, with locks from 1/2 inch to 1 1/2 inches long. But don't be surprised if your baby's hair isn't the same color as yours. Dark-haired couples are sometimes thrown for a loop when their children come out as blonds or redheads, and fair-haired couples have been surprised by Elvis look-alikes. And then, of course, some babies sport only peach fuzz.

I would send you a picture, but I've packed my camera and I'm afraid if I unpack it, it'll never make it's way back to the hospital bag and then we'll be birthing a baby in the desert with no photographic evidence.  ;)

Week 33

Holy Smokes!  33 Weeks!  We have less than 7 weeks to go!  Babylove #2 will be here before we know it!  ACKKKK!!!!!  Breathe.  In through the nose, out through the mouth.  Slow breaths.  I'm OK now.  :)

I am so excited to welcome another boy into our home.  I love being a mommy to boys.  Boys are so full of energy.  The are so loud.  They are rough and tumble.  They have a pretty crappy shoe selection.  They usually don't wear tutus.  They make messes bigger than they are. But my boy also loves his mama something fierce.  He loves to cuddle.  He's sweet and caring.  And he's promised to by me a Porche, an Aston Martin and Volvo when he gets a job.  Hope he gets a good job or that his brother will at least share the costs. :) Looking forward to adding another to the mix.

Everytime I go to the doctor, I climb up on the exam table and lay down.  The midwife covers me with a sheet and then the doctor checks me over.  The first thing the doctor always does is gives my ankle a little squeeze.  I always thought it was just a kind reassuring gesture.  But I think he's really checking to see if I've developed cankles.  :(  I liked it better when I thought he was just being nice - a cankle check doesn't seem as personal.

Babylove #1, has officially been accepted into big boy school!  Whooo hoooo.  Getting into school here is tough business.  I think it was EM's lovable passport photo that won them over. Whatever it was I'm glad he got in.  Because between you and I, I was banking on him getting into this one particular school.   Now to figure out what to do with Babylove #2.  Wish I could bring him to work with me, but you and I both know that there would be no work getting done.


From BabyCenter:
This week your baby weighs a little over 4 pounds (heft a pineapple) and has passed the 17-inch mark. He's rapidly losing that wrinkled, alien look and his skeleton is hardening. The bones in his skull aren't fused together, which allows them to move and slightly overlap, thus making it easier for him to fit through the birth canal. (The pressure on the head during birth is so intense that many babies are born with a conehead-like appearance.) These bones don't entirely fuse until early adulthood, so they can grow as his brain and other tissue expands during infancy and childhood.

Here he is ...

Here he is at 32 weeks ...

Thirsty

I am so thirsty!  All the time.  From my first pregnancy I remember drinking LOTS of orange juice, but I don't remember the thirst.  LOL.  This time, I'm thirsty all the time for anything.  Mainly water.  I will drink orange juice, but I dilute it with water, everything is diluted with water (except my occasional rootbeer).  Never mind the fact that my bladder is the size of a lemon about now and that lemon isn't holding very much.  :-/  I wake up in the middle of night so thirsty, too.  Which makes me mad, because this means I'm going to have to go downstairs, drink something, and then I'm going to have to wake up AGAIN to got to the bathroom.  At present I'm up 3-4 times a night, sometimes I'm up as often as 6-7 times a night.  I think I might start waking DH up everytime I gotta get up and go so he can share in the magical moments, too.  Would that be mean?

Week 32

Today I am 32 weeks.  It seems a wee bit surreal that I am less than 10 weeks from meeting my new little prince.  Time is just flying by.  I still haven't chosen a hospital.  For some reason I'm not the least bit worried.  Baby boy will come whether I have chosen a hospital or not. :)  The only issue is that home births are illegal here.  So I guess I do need to find a hospital pretty soon.  :)  In my defense I did try to go to the hospitals I am considering, but things didn't go as I planned..  I go to a hospital to see the facilities and one hospital did a very thorough job showing me around and answering my questions, another hospital had a nurse talk to me in-between deliveries (O_o), a third hospital didn't even have a clue what I was talking about when I said I wanted to few the facilities and ask some questions - they told me a doctor would have some arrange that for me.  LOL.  You would think the hands down winner would be the first one right?  Wrong.  The first one has the highest c-section rate (something I'm not going for) and they don't allow doula support.  The third one, I've been to as a patient and like the doctors, but they won't let my honey into the delivery room. The second one I'm still trying to gather information.  So you can see why I'm still undecided.  

I see EM growing right before my eyes.  He says and does stuff that make me stop in my tracks and look at him.  I am trying my best to take in every minute.  He is so excited for his brother to make an arrival.  He keeps asking if the baby will be here in a minute.  He's starting practicing his brother care routine.  He puts the baby brother in the high chair and feeds him.  He puts baby brother in the swing and gives it a gentle push then sings a little song or two.  Then he takes the baby upstairs and puts the baby in the crib and covers him with his baby blanket.  This boys spirit is so warm and kind.  

Babylove #2 is becoming a little acrobat, he's right side up, upside down, sideways.  Hopefully he'll be working his way into a head down position soon.  Hopefully he's also in there working on his exit strategy.   :)  According to babycenter.com baby love #2 baby weighs 3.75 pounds (pick up a large jicama) and is about 16.7 inches long, taking up a lot of space in your uterus. I’m gaining about a pound a week and roughly half of that goes right to my baby. In fact, he'll gain a third to half of his birth weight during the next 7 weeks as he fattens up for survival outside the womb. He now has toenails, fingernails, and real hair (or at least respectable peach fuzz). His skin is becoming soft and smooth as he plumps up in preparation for birth.

Week 29

Still sleeping with trucks

Week 31

Week 32

Mommy's Cornball

Week 30

I’m 30 freaking weeks. What is happening here?  Time is not standing still?  I’ll be at 40 weeks before I know it.  Ack! BabyCenter reports: How your baby's growing: Your baby's about 15.7 inches long now, and he weighs almost 3 pounds (like a head of cabbage). A pint and a half of amniotic fluid surrounds him, but that volume will decrease as he gets bigger and takes up more room in your uterus. His eyesight continues to develop, though it's not very keen; even after he's born, he'll keep his eyes closed for a good part of the day. When he does open them, he'll respond to changes in light but will have 20/400 vision — which means he can only make out objects a few inches from his face. (Normal adult vision is 20/20.)

I’ve been making a conscience effort to eliminate TV for EM during and limiting it on the weekends.  We received some preschool workbooks from a friend that he LOVES.  We do a Lesson or 2 from that each night.  Then we do some sort of play – puzzles, blocks, play-doh … The other night I was getting in my I’m-going-to-lose-this-baby-weight-soon-as-the-baby-comes-out mode and was watching some exercise videos on Youtube.  Emerson walks by and catches a glimpse of what the lady was doing and wanted to do the exercises.  Sooooo, we get down on the floor and start doing the exercises (I thought my leg was going to fall off and take half my bottom with it – This after doing the exercise for 3 minutes).  I suggested we do some yoga instead and practice deep breathing.  He looked at me like I was crazy, but obliged for like 2 minutes.  J  Then I said, “OK, that’s enough.  Time to get ready for bed.”  EM said, “I want a hug.” – loose translation – “I don’t want to go to bed.”  Which turned into a tickling match, which turned into a jump on mommy any way I can while avoiding the belly. LOL.  I tried for like 10 minutes to get up and he kept tickling me and jumping on me.  I finally won a round of tickling and was able to get up and escape while he was recovering.  Geesh!

Yesterday morning, I was getting ready for work.  I was leaned over looking in the mirror putting on eyeliner.  I subconsciously sucked in my belly and felt it firm up.  In the next minute I was thinking in my head, man that work out from last night (the 3 minutes of leg work with EM) really tightened up my abs.  Then I glanced down to look at my abs of steel.  They were taut and firm, but far flat or washboard-like.  I had to laugh at myself.  J 

Babylove #2 was breech at my last doctor’s appointment.   I’m not worried.  Dude thinks he’s in the circus and is always in there doing flips and jumps.  I think he was head down most of this week, but I’m sure he’ll move into some other position by the time of my next appointment.  ;)  I love watching my belly and seeing undulate and pulse from whatever it is he’s doing in there.   EM felt his brother move for the first time too.  EM looked at me like “what in the world?”  Now most of the time when EM comes around Babylove#2 calms down from acrobatics and gets very mellow.  I can’t wait for the two to meet face to face.   I take that back, I can wait a couple more months, but I am looking forward to the two of them meeting each other.

We are slowly getting everything together for Babylove#2.  I saved a lot of stuff from EM, however, all that stuff is in the States.  Moonpie and my friends have been great to go over to our house, riffle through all our mess in the basement and find baby gear and clothes and ship them over.  Now, if I can just get Customs to release my 50 bazillion boxes of baby stuff we’ll be in business.  I love looking at al EM’s old stuff and remembering him when he was that size.  Man, he’s changed so much.  He’s always asking me, “Why you keep watching me?”  I tell him I’m trying to get an image imprinted in my brain of how amazing he is at this very moment.

NATIONAL SPORTS DAY

Tomorrow is February 14th.  I have in my mind visions of what the day should involve.  Flowers.  Hearts. Cookies. Flowers. Chocolate. Flowers. Alas, over here there will be no flowers, no chocolate (I might sneak in some cookies).  In our little country, tomorrow is SPORTS DAY.  Being a health nerdy nut, I love it.  Getting folks up an moving is a great initiative.  So I will trade my chocolate covered hearts for a sand covered football (soccer ball).  Most businesses will be closed tomorrow to encourage people to get outside and get moving.  Nursery is one of the businesses that will be closed tomorrow.  However, they couldn't pass up the opportunity to educate the kiddies on the importance of physical activity.  They celebrated Sports Day today.

28 Weeks

What a week!!!!

Last Thursday EM was very sick.  He had fever (103.7 F) and tummy upset.  :(  I picked him up from school and deposited him on the sofa.  There he stayed.  I watched him non-stop.  I tried to just be near him and read a book or do work online.  But I was too consumed with him mentally.  I couldn't concentrate on anything.  My baby was sick. I didn't want to take him to the doctor (for reasons we won't get into), so I drugged him with a fever reducer ever 6 hours and kept him hydrated.  But by 10:30 he was still holding on to that fever (it had come and gone and come again throughout the day).  I watched him overnight, plotted my route to the hospital, and prayed!  His fever broke over night.  Around 2:30 AM.  By the time he woke he was ready to get into everything.  I'm like, "Hold up, little dude.  Go sit your tail down somewhere."  He wasn't pleased and neither was the rest of the house.  We watched all four versions of Shrek and Cars I & II several times the rest of the weekend.  But I wasn't about to have my little munchkin getting sick again.   I'm so thankful that he doesn't get sick often and when he does, it usually is very short lived.  I think this illness was due to the cool temps, heavy sand storms and very low humidity.  Every one around here has a story about their kids (or them) being sick this month.  
EM has entered into the picky eater phase.  I don't like it one bit.  If he stays with me long enough I can get him to eat good stuff, but most of the time, he'll put the fork to his lips (with the lips closed), put the fork down and report, I don't like it.  He asks me to feed him, which I refuse to do.  He'll feed himself when's hungry.  So I'm not really worried, I just don't like the idea of wasting time that we could be spending together doing something else.

EM is really diggin' this Big Brother roll.  He is constantly hugging and kissing the bump.  :)  Unfortunately a the mood will strike him in the middle of the grocery store and he'll pull up my shirt and declare, "I want to kiss my brover."  Not really the best situation is a conservative country.   LOL  I try to convince him that he's brother gets cold when we leave the house, so we have to make sure to keep him covered when we go out.  Usually, that will work.  :)  I really hope these good feelings last, but I'm not going to be delusional about the whole thing. 

Babylove #2 is doing well.  Lots of kicks and a few jabs.  I'm feeling good and can't complain about a thing.  I'm finally to the point where I can look in the mirror at my fabulous shape and be delighted.  It's amazing what's going on in there.  It's even more amazing to know that everything that was in there before is still in there with the baby. 

From BabyCenter.com
By this week, your baby weighs two and a quarter pounds (like a Chinese cabbage) and measures 14.8 inches from the top of his head to his heels. He can blink his eyes, which now sport lashes. With his eyesight developing, he may be able to see the light that filters in through your womb. He's also developing billions of neurons in her brain and adding more body fat in preparation for life in the outside world.

I keep forgetting my camera - pictures to come soon.  ;)