barefoot, pregnant & blessed

Seems like there is always so many things that we can complain & whine about...especially as a nine-month pregnant woman, I think I am entitled to a few extra complaints than the ordinary person. However, Cory and I have been trying to focus on our blessings and not-so-much what could go better!



So what if being 38 weeks pregnant causes me to have aches and pains in multiple places at a time; & that I am uncomfortable if I sit/stand/lay down, whatever; and if Baby2's feet push against my ribs so hard that I've actually wondered if it is possible for my ribs to rip my uterus open under the pressure. We are blessed that I've had a complication-free pregnancy and that as far as we know the baby is as healthy as can be. I just keep reminding myself that the longer that he/she cooks the healthier (s)he'll be. And...it is a blessing itself that God is willing to place two of His children in our care here on Earth! What an honor!

So What if Bethany has had a slight fever and congestion and a cough the pass few days. We are blessed that she is an overall healthy baby, who is jumping leaps and bounds on all of the developmental milestone charts. We are blessed that I was relieved from my work this week and we didn't have to do that dreaded last-minute-get-stuff-ready-for-a-substitute scramble that we've become all too familiar with this year. Plus, it was nice to have some Mommy-Daughter time before Baby2 arrives!

So What if we just learned that our playyard was placed under a total recall. We are blessed that Cory saw the sign at the store before Baby2 started using the playyard on a daily basis. I am glad that Bethany was able to use it without any incidents of it collapsing on her. Now Baby2 has a brand-new playyard to act as a safe-haven from his/her "helpful," yet curious big sister.

So What Cory noticed our only car is leaking inconspicuous fluids this weekend. So what it is the water pump, transmission something-or-another AND a striped oil plug-thingy. We are blessed that we have the money available to fix the car. We are blessed that this is all happening before Baby2 has arrived, before I've gone into labor and before things could've gotten worse for any of those 3 car-troubles could've gotten worse! So what that the dealer is taking 2 days to get the car fixed-up for us; we are blessed that we have family and friends to rely on while the ole' Grand Am gets better!

It seems that lots of things tend to pile up at one time....Bethany's lil' cold, the car leaking stuff, my impending D-date, etc. But we are blessed that these are our only issues right now. We realize that we are blessed in many ways & that there are so many other people out there with far greater issues and needs; but we all need to look beyond our issues in life and find the blessings!

Finiky Babies!

Finicky Bethany:

Bethany is such a finicky dresser. She usually has a preference on a top or pants to wear. She will request specific shirts (Elmo, snowman, cat, etc.) . She also wants to have input as to which pair of pants she is to wear.


Now...as the weather changes she had issues transitioning to short sleeve shirts. "Sleeeevvveeess" she proclaims as she tugs on her miniature sleeves, longing to have them grow all of the sudden. When it is time for transition to shorts, she was very unhappy with the concept of her legs being exposed. I then resort to the line, "Well, Bethany all of the other kids at Jan's will be wearing shorts." Seriously...did I just use that line. Do you think she'll be allowed to use that line on us in 12 years..."But Mom, all my friends get to wear tutus to school." Yeah...not happening. However, the use of the line did work on Bethany to put on shorts the other day. And finally today, she was okay with having a dress on. She has been fighting dress for quite a while. She didn't even wear her Easter dress. She had a gigantic meltdown when I tried to put tights on her instead of her coveted pants. I decided that really is there a major significant meaning behind the Easter dress....I am pretty sure the resurrection of Christ could be equally celebrated with Easter khaki's. I even got her to wear her sandals today without Socks! Imagine that. No socks! That is a major accomplishment!!!! (side note: the sandals did results in a slight owie...but we'll just ignore that fact!)

Since Bethany has been more open to other clothing options, maybe our finicky days are behind us...but I (for one) won't be holding my breath!

Finicky Baby2:

Well, Baby2 is still inside....which earns him/her the title of being finicky. I understand the counter above does say I have 14 days left. However, all the books out there say that a baby 38-42 weeks is full term. And being that this baby wants to be nice to its poor, exhausted, sore mama, I doubt that it would choose the 42. So, he/she is welcome to join this world at any time now. We are finally ready!

At my doctor's appointment this week I learned that I am 1.5 cm dilated already. So that is a welcome change! He also stated that if I make it to next week's appointment, then we will talk about setting a date for induction--yet another bonus! And do you want to hear the greatest thing of all? Well, of course you do! I am officially in possession of a note letting me off work starting Monday. What a huge load lifted off my shoulders. I've been really struggling at being a semi-decent teacher while being as exhausted and sore as I've been the last couple of weeks.

Now we just have to work on sweet talking this baby out of his/her warm, cozy womb and join us her on the outside! I would finally like to have my ribcage to be left alone!!! But more importantly, I am just itching to actually hold this baby in my arms rather than just feel it dancing about. Plus, not knowing if it is a boy or girl is really killing me this time around! Perhaps, I am the finicky one in this situation. After all, I think I've heard that finickiness is genetic!

Weekend & Baby2 Update

So we went a little picture crazy this weekend. I narrowed it down to just a "few" for your viewing pleasure. I doubt I'll hear too many complaints! So sit back, grab your bucket of popcorn & enjoy!


Saturday:

Bethany had her first Easter Egg hunt at Grandma Milles's Church. She loved it!!!! Although, it really wasn't much of a hunt, rather than picking up scattered eggs among a kabillion little 1-2 year olds! She really was sweet about it all though, she gave several of her eggs away to kids that didn't have as many!

Sitting with her loot!

With the daffodil cross at the church. What a gorgeous site!

After her first Easter Egg hunt, she had her first experience at Chuck E. Cheese!
She loved it, as you can see!

This was by far her favorite ride!

Easter Sunday:

Bethany and Daddy opened her Easter basket. She got lots of goodies including several books and a bubble blowing dog!

All I want in my basket is one beautiful baby big girl!

Going through the Easter eggs that the Easter Bunny left her. Nope...she didn't find any candy in them. Instead, all she found were a bunch of stickers and...

Barrettes!

In the afternoon, we went to Grandma C's house and had Easter dinner. Bethany also got to color with her cousins. Here she is showing off her "scrunch face". I can't get enough of that face!!!!

Fast Forward to Wednesday:

Baby2 and I got checked out today by the doctor. We are finally to the point in our lives where we get to go to the doctor every week. The doctor says that things are still going great with my antibody levels...that is a continued blessing!

Now if you are naturally observant, you'd already have noticed that the ticker for Baby2's arrival has jumped 10 days. That is a pretty significant change (not that I am complaining!!!). So it turns out that my due date is really May 9th....NOT May 19th!!!! How amazing is that! This baby has established a-less-than-welcomed nightly routine of causing intense back pain and belly pain. As my nurse reminded me today...it is a Big Baby.

The dr. says there is no dilation yet....but in his words, "the head is WAAAY down there!" I did ask, though, if the head is so far down, then what exactly is being jammed up in my ribs. I don't think he really had an answer for that, he just reassured me that the head is pretty far down

Compromise

As a parent of a toddler, I really have had to learn to outsmart compromise with her. Here is a simple example. Bethany loves our phones. However, she is actually pretty decent at not playing with them. But occasionally she would grab one & sweetly say, "Hiiii, Moommm!" Each of those words would be oozing with tooth-rotting sweetness & just daring me to take a look at her. As soon as I see what she has, she'll give it back. However, I realized we have 2 broken sets of cordless phones hanging around the house *for no good reason, really.* Well, now one of the broken sets is officially Bethany's. Bethany now really doesn’t pay much attention to our phones & plays on the broken real phone more than she does the 3 toy phones she has in her toy box. Now that is a mild example of a compromise we have made recently.


However, a more urgent issue we needed to work out was her all-of-the-sudden, ill-timed dinnertime meltdowns. For about a week, Bethany all of the sudden has had issues sitting down and eating dinner without breaking down into tears. Now keep in mind that we aren’t serving anything out of the ordinary…no we are not extraordinary cooks who like to make up outrageous concoctions. Instead, she’ll just start crying (tears, snot and all) & she’ll then refuse to eat. Occasionally, between sobs we’ll hear Elmo, her way to request her Elmo DVD. However, we have a strict rule in our house---NO TV during dinner! Well, after a few days of our lil' upset dinner guest, we decided to switch out the contemporary Christian cds & movie scores for Bethany’s Sesame Street cds. And you know what…we’ve had 2 meals at home without tears! Talk about a brilliant compromise!

Just goes to show that if you plan on making your life with your toddler to be functional…you always have to be one step ahead!

Getting my Party on!

Jump around!

On the way out!

Bethany got invited to her first party recently. She had a blast. All of her friends from the sitter were there...and even the sitter came! The party even had one of those bouncy things. Bethany was super hesitant to join in the fun. She would watch the other kids bounce, take off her shoes, walk up to it...but then chicken-out right before she got in. Well, eventually she decided to be brave and to try out the bounce house. I think she was glad she did...she was having such a blast bouncing around!

It was so much fun to see her play with her friends and interact with her sitter. When Bethany wanted me to carry her...but I refused as I am just getting too sore; she went over to Jan (her sitter) to get some quality loving! It was just too sweet to see!

Overall, her first party was a complete success! I am glad she had such a good time!