Ticking Timebomb!

Well, it seems that both Bethany and I can be described as a ticking timebomb lately. Let me explain...

Timebomb Bethany: It turns out that our fevery, whiny Bethany was a victim of another ear infection (pretty bad, according to the doctor) AND she has bronchitis. Poor Bethany. So why is she a ticking timebomb...well, it turns out that she is human after all and may turn slightly whiny, impatient and fussy when she is not feeling well. She's been home 3.5 days last week (good thing I was off work). Boy, I am not sure what wears me out more a sickly Bethany or 120 7th graders. It's a toss up! Good news is that she's on her 2nd full day of antibiotics & is acting much better now!

Timebomb Mommy: Well, as I enter my 39th week...of course I feel like a ticking timebomb. Each day I wonder...is this the day. So far the answer has been a big, fat NO! After my latest appointment, we've given Baby2 an eviction notice. If he or she doesn't come out on his/her own free-will by May 5th...we are going to force the poor thing out to this harsh, cruel world! We could very well have a Cinco de Mayo baby!

We are almost 100% ready for the baby...Cory just needs to figure out the boy name. I've officially decided that he can choose 1 of the 3 names we have been throwing around. After all, we were all good and decided on a boy and girl name until he mentioned the 2 other boy names recently. Kinda funny that we did this last time with our girl's name when Bethany was born. We officially decided her name 2 hours before she was born. Now, I couldn't imagine calling her anything else.

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!

Making me Smile!

Bethany surely has a way to make me smile.

Here are a few examples of Bethanyisms that I just love!

Example 1:
I always giggle at the fact that the official count of Bethany using her potty is: 0. However, the official count her baby has used the potty is: 47,348 times!

She loves to place her baby on the potty, then get a wipe to clean her baby, then the baby washes her hands. Bethany always comments on how "yucky" the toliet paper is after she wipes the baby. She really has it down. I am sure if I worked at home, then she would be well on her way to be potty trained. She already tells us when she needs a new diaper & when she is in the bath tub, she'll tell us when she needs to get out to put a diaper on. Potty training is on the "to do" list this summer after Baby2 arrives! :) If you have any suggestions, we are all ears!
Example 2:
Other things that make me smile is how literal our little Bethany can be. I've got to remember she is only 1, after all. It is hard to be very literal with her (especially if you know Cory's and my personalities!).

Anyway here are two cute Bethanyisms for the past couple days:

1) She was asking her daddy for a sippy the other day. Cory didn't hear Bethany. I told her to say it louder. Next thing she says is "Louder". (Although, really, it wasn't any louder than her request!)

2) Today we were at Bob Evan's and Bethany needed a refill of her water. She asked the waitress for a refill, however, the waitress was a good 20 feet away behind the counter. I told her she'll have to ask the waitress nicely when she comes back to the table. Well, low and behold, as soon as the waitress comes by our table Bethany exclaims, "NICELY!" This, of course, makes us laugh. Poor Girl, she follows the directions given to her and repeats her request, "Nicely!" We eventually translate her request to more water & she soon has more drink to go with her yummy eggs and toast!



Example 3:
Bethany loves to call us "Bad Boys." She has figured this out to be teasing and is always so sweet when she calls Cory and I bad boys. As soon as we look sad about being bad, she'll lean over and quickly reassure us that we are both "good girls". Then she'll grab our faces with a hand on each cheek and pull us in a nice comforting kiss. She is just so sweet!

Ice Cream!

Bethany and I have a new routine in the evenings. Before bedtime, we get to sit down, relax and eat ice cream. For the first several months of this pregnancy, I didn't really like the taste of ice cream. Lately, I have had a craving for gallons of ice cream at a time. However, I do a good job controlling the amount and limit ourselves to one bowl. Bethany gets to benefit from this change in taste buds! Bethany loves climbing up on my lap and sharing the ice cream & she especially loves having her own "poon" to serve herself with. She has also taken a liking to using my belly as her own personal armrest....at least this belly has another purpose other than creating a life!

Isn't she adorable. I love that chocolate-face!

Not Pretty!

As a mother of a little girl, I would never have imagined how difficult it is to buy new shoes for my princess. We have been on a shoe-buying mission for a couple of weeks now. Along our journey for new shoes, we have tried many stores and many attempts of trying the shoes prior to the purchase. Bethany, however, has had a different agenda whenever we tried to buy her shoes. She hates having her old shoes taken off in the store. She has a little melt down when we try to remove them in the middle of the aisle. Don't even ask what happens when I try to take off her socks to try on sandals. Goodness Gracious...it isn't fun sight--especially me being 8 months pregnant trying to console and manage a worked-up toddler.

The last few times we tried on shoes amidst Bethany's meltdown she'll exclaim, "NOT PRETTY, NOT PRETTY!" How dare she tell us they aren't pretty...doesn't she know that she is referring to the cutest shoes in the store...clearly she is just not a fan of the whole shoe-shopping process.

Well, our shoe-drama ends today when we spot our Shoe Savior....Winnie-the-Pooh! Finally, we find shoes that our Feet-Princess would allow to try on! Thank Goodness. I thought we would be squeezing her feet into those size 5 for the next 16 years! I just hope this is an isolated shopping fiasco...can you imagine what would she look like if she keeps this up for prom dress shopping! Yikes!

Rest of the Break

Spring Break is coming to a close, which is sad for us all. We had such a good time hanging out at home. We debated whether or not to hit the road and travel to some not-too-far exotic place. However, we decided to chill at the house and do mini-trips around STL. Man, am I glad it was such a fun, relaxing week to be hanging and playing with Bethany all week long!

Here of the things we did the rest of the break:

Messes. A lot of messes were made throughout the week. Bethany played in the Kitchen a whole bunch, dump all the toy food on the floor and cooked about 17465938 pancakes for all to eat! The best part of making messes is that as one mess was being cleaned, another mess was being created!!!!

OSide! We played a whole bunch outside. We played at the park a few times and down the street. We went for a quite a bit of walks in the stroller and wagon & even a couple to the library. Bethany really started to take a liking to her new bike Big Grandpa (aka great grandpa) got her. She doesn't reach the peddles, but she is a Master of the Pushing-Off-With-the-Feet technique!

Cuddle time! Plenty of cuddle time was had by all! We read countless books, watched a few Elmo dvd's and just plain ole cuddled whenever it deemed fit. It is amazing how much Bethany has seemed to change even over this past week.

Talking up a storm: She has become quite a little comic with some of her new phrases.

Some of her new phrases include: "I doon tink soo" (I don't think so!); "Bit up" (Get up...usually accompanied with tugging of clothing); "Bad Boy" (even if you are a girl...and a good one at that! Often comes when you are teasing her); "Top It" (Stop it! Usually directed toward Cory for some of his crazy antics and songs. However...could something innocent like us 2 adults talking); and one of my favorites "Oh, man"!

It seems she has started saying a whole bunch of new words this week including a bunch of animal names, truck, the word "umm" (when she is thinking of a response), stroller, picture, names of her cousins and aunt/uncle, play (when it is time to press play on the dvd player), lay down, and I am sure there are others...but this is what pops into my mind at the moment.

You just gotta love the barrettes. She requested all 4 that day!

Playing in her Bedroom: I realized that I never put pictures up of her new bedroom. It is pretty slick. Cory did a great job with the pictures on the wall. She loves the Elmo and Cookie Monster a bunch. She especially loves having the bookshelf Grandpa M. got her. She always goes towards it and grabs a handful of books to read!

Overall, I would say this week was a great success. I am so grateful we are able to having a week off just to hang and chill as a family. It was a great last hoorah until Baby2 comes and throws a wrench into our nice routines. However, as much of a blast Bethany is, I am sure Baby2 will be just as fun..after all she/he is coming from a pretty nice set of chromosomes!

Spring Break?

I am not sure how much of a "break" we are getting this Spring Break....but I do know we are having tons o' fun & that's all that matters to me! Here are some snippets of what the goings-on for the Milles house this week!

Monday:

We enjoyed playing outside for most of the day. We walked to the library, played in the newly-rediscovered wagon & hung out in the backyard while dinner was on the BBQ! Daddy even took her on a bike ride with our cool pull-along wagon-thingy!

Tuesday:

We went to the zoo. Bethany loves the "Nanimals." She did such a good job at the zoo. She walked most of the time (while holding hands of course!) She even got to ride the carousel again! She loved it. She got to ride the "Siger." She was so good & so engrossed in everything around her! After the zoo, we even got to go up to Grandma M's work & have lunch with her! Bethany loves to visit her Grandma!

Wednesday:

Baby2's 2nd set of ultrasounds were done today! That was exciting.

Here is what is in the pictures above: Picture 1: Baby2's head & a hand; Picture 2: foot and something??; Picture 3: A great face shot; Picture 4: fingers & maybe a foot?; Picture 5: a 2-D image of the face.

Bethany got to watch the ultrasound take place. She was a little uneasy being in a darkened room with a stranger rubbing a bunch of goo and a probe all over her Mommy's belly....but she got to see Baby2. I am wondering if any of it made much sense to her at all...she seemed to get it even more that there is a baby inside.

Anyhow...here is what we learned about Baby2. Baby2 weighs about 4lbs and 11oz. This puts the little booger in the 93rd percentile! YIKES! That is big! No wonder I feel it whenever he/she blinks...he/she is so big I am feeling every minuscule movement. However, all of Baby2's body parts look to be in the right places, so that is always a high relief! We will have to just wait and see a few more weeks exactly how big this baby plans on getting!

Frosting my Cake!

A couple of days ago Bethany climbed in a chair at the kitchen table & requested some cake. We explained to her we don't have a cake made and that it was time for bed, anyway. She replied, "CAKE." I tried to explain to her that although, she did vocalize her request a bit louder, it doesn't mean that the cake will all of the sudden appear out of thin air. Cakes take time, you know! Anyhow, it was time for bed...so that was that.

Fast forward it one more day, I decided to bake a cake for us all to enjoy. So during nap time I baked a cake & it was ready to be frosted when Bethany got up. Out came two spatulas and one tub of delicious chocolate frosting. Bethany had a blast spreading the icing. She was so cute as she narrated what she was doing, "Spreeaaaddd, spreeaaaddd."

All was good....until...

she tasted the icing.

It reminded me of dogs...once they taste blood, that is all they want. Well, the same rule-of-thumb can apply to children. Once they taste the frosting...all is lost! :o)

Independence!

Independence! There has certainly been a lot of asserting of independence in our household with both of the kiddos.

Kiddo #1:

Bethany somehow has gotten through her mind that she is a big girl and doesn't need to do things like a "baby" anymore.

Example 1: The store. She loves to "walk" in the store. This is an feasible request if we have an in-and-out mission like our typical Target trips. However, if we are doing some serious grocery shopping, walking is certainly not an option. Trying to convince her that this is not an option is challenging at times & usually results in tears. However, with persistence and a few Sesame Street songs later, she is a happy little cart-riding shopping fool!

Example 2: I've already mentioned she likes to eat in a big chair and not a high chair. This has worked out pretty well. However, at restaurants we do feel the need to keep her corralled. So the high chair is the only option & since she usually desires food at meal times...she doesn't put up a fuss.

Example 3: She has really just been asserting her thoughts, desires & opinions more often lately. When she wants something, she isn't too shy to let us know. If her desire is reasonable, then it is usually granted. Well, that does depend on how she asks for it. We don't go for that whiny voice "Elllmoooooo" nor for the yelling "ELMO!!!" All request must be submitted in a polite manner in order to be taken in for consideration. She is getting pretty good at stating her desires. Today she told Cory that I needed a napkin. This is how it went down in her Bethanese, "Daddy, Na-Kin pleas...Mommy." For a 21 month old, I was pretty impressed with this sentence. If she is looking for something it will usually go like this-- "Baby...where it is?" After searching and finding her baby-- "Oh, Baby...here is."

Here is one of her latest requests, as we were organizing Baby2's room: Baby2's pacifier.

Doesn't it look ridiculous in there?

Showing off to Daddy that she stole the Baby's pacifier!

Baby2:

Well, I've been bad at keeping Baby2 updates in the blog. I've seen the doctor twice since the last time I mentioned him/her. Things have been going good in terms of development of Baby2. My size is "perfect" according to the doctor. I am glad that I am able to get a fat belly perfectly...that is such an acquired skill! My blood levels have dropped even more the last time I heard. They were at the level 2...which means they divided my blood once and the antibodies were present. At the second division...they antibodies weren't detectable. So that is fantastic news!

Now you are asking...how exactly does this mean that Baby2 is asserting his/her independence....after all, it is still very much dependent on me for food, oxygen, waste removal, etc. Oh...don't let that the fact that this baby is still in utero fool you. This baby is fully asserting his/her independence by making sure I know he/she is in there by using my various organs as his/her private punching bags. I am sure Baby2 is going to come out with the biggest baby muscles you will ever have seen. I should get the Guinness Records people lined up now, to measure this little kick-monster! I really am afraid for him/her to come out. Judging about the amount of abuse movement, I don't think he/she sleeps that much. We are going to be up all the time!

Good news...we do get to see the Baby2 Wednesday during our next Ultrasound! That will be pretty exciting see how much fatter and rounder the baby has gotten since December! Hopefully all will still look good. I'll be sure to put them up here as soon as I can, until then we will be dealing with our Independence-seeking children the best we can! :)

Playing & Eating

Sorry for the short vacation with the posts. I've been sleepy in the evenings & just couldn't find the time to post any sooner! Give me a break...I have a active 1-year-old and I am 7 1/2 months pregnant & working full time in a job that loves to have after-school-meetings! What more can I say?

Anyway...here is what we've been up to anyhow the past week!

Playing "Downst"

"Downst" can easily be translated from the native Bethanese to the English word "downstairs." Bethany has really taken a liking to playing downstairs with the plethora of toys that are waiting for her down there. Since this weekend was a nice stay-at-home weekend, we had plenty of time to play downstairs (as well as outside!). You can notice in that sliver of the wall that is showing the new color that we (err...Cory) painted it recently. It is such a pretty, playful blue, it really cheers up the place. Plus, the cleanable, satin finish is a huge perk with the 1.5 kids we have. After all, they have half my chromosomes, which dooms them to a life of miserably-pathetic klutziness!

In Mommy's Chair
Bethany has upgraded herself to a big-girl chair during meal times. Correction...to at-home-meal-times. She really doesn't want to be in the high chair and eats really well in a big chair. So no harm, no foul, right!?!? For every meal now, she automatically goes to my chair to eat. In the picture she is eating her Sunday breakfast of "ravits" (aka raviolis). Yes, spinach and cheese raviolis were her breakfast of choice today. For the record, I did make and offer her some cinnamon rolls. But she insisted on her "ravits." Who am I to judge, my food cravings are just as crazy!