Baby # 3: 30 Weeks

This past Saturday marked 30 weeks into the pregnancy.  Everything at the 28 week check up came back a-ok, so far as we can tell, everything is progressing normally and both of us are healthy.  I have put on more weight this time around, but I'm still within the "healthy weight gain" zone.  Since this is my third baby, I've been getting bigger, faster right from the beginning.  Brandon took these pictures on Saturday, at exactly 30 weeks, and I'm bigger here than I was at 39 weeks with Elora.

 I'm not yet as big as I was at the end with Kaylie, but it won't be long, I'm thinking.  I am into the third trimester, but not I'm not really getting tired so much as I'm easily fatigued.  Toting around this big ol' belly is naturally rough on my back, but it's also pulling painfully on the muscles across the top of my belly.  I'm fine in the mornings, but by late afternoon (or sooner, if I've been active) it hurts badly enough that I have to lay down for a while to rest those upper abdominal muscles.
I've also been swelling quite a bit already.  As with most everything else, it's not quite as bad earlier in the day, but my hands and feet are puffy 24/7 these days.  The swelling and the extra weight together have landed me with prenatal carpal tunnel this time around.  Apparently, it occurs in about 50% of pregnancies, but this is my first encounter with it.  It's not too bad, and as of now, is really only an issue in my right hand.  I've been sleeping with a wrist brace at night, and it's helping.

We still haven't chosen a name for our little boy, and I'm thinking we probably won't make up our minds until he actually gets here.  Since we'll probably be moving late in the spring or early in the summer, we decided not to convert the guest room into a nursery, but to make room in the girls room for a third occupant.  I've been haunting Craigslist, and managed to find another toddler bed exactly like the one we already had at a steal.  Once we had the second toddler bed, I was able to go ahead and convert the day bed back into a crib and, with Rebekah's help, get the room rearranged to accommodate all 3 beds.  Since there isn't room in the girls' dresser for more clothing, and there isn't room in their room for another dresser, my goal now is to replace the regular changing table with a cherry-colored changer-dresser to match the crib, so that I'll have a place to store his clothes and such.  I have put together a registry, for the things we expect to need (or hope to have).
Otherwise, I've just been working on finding new homes for all of the baby girl stuff that I've been hoarding saving in case we had another girl, so that we have a place for all of the boy things we're acquiring.  I've already received one box of clothes from a friend of mine here, and I've been told to expect more from other parties.  Seriously, I love baby hand-me-downs.  :)

An Overdue Announcement

We're expecting baby number 3 in January!  This pregnancy has been very different from the first two, which were pretty mellow.  This time around, I spent the first trimester feeling perpetually car sick, I've been craving salty snacks as well as the sweet stuff, and I've been a psychopath noticeably hormonal.  Since the first two were both girls, I was convinced from early on that I had to be having a boy this time. We went in on the 9th for the anatomy scan, and found out that I'd been right!  

He seems to be doing perfectly well.  He's developing normally, and I haven't had any complications.  After the scare we had with Kaylie, this has been an incredible relief.  As a matter of fact, we didn't even tell the immediate family about the pregnancy until we were out of the first trimester, just in case.  And, obviously, we held off on a "public" announcement until now--partly so that we could share the gender at the same time, and partly just to be extra safe.  I'm at about 19 weeks now, so we're almost to the halfway point.  I can already feel him  moving around.  :)

As you can imagine, being pregnant has made Brandon's Selectee training a bit more difficult for us than it would have been otherwise.  Brandon, bless him, took the time out today to take these pictures, even though today was his only day off and he had a lot of other things he needed to be doing.

I snapped this one while I was trying to get the camera and tripod set up.  I think it's such a sweet picture.  :)

We're all excited about the new addition, especially Elora.  She is completely over the moon that she'll be getting a baby brother.  When we first told her that there'd be a new baby, before we knew the gender, she told us that she "picked a boy", because she already has a little sister.  I'm not sure whether Kaylie understands what's going on, or not.  She still can't articulate much, so it's hard to tell what she thinks.  I keep telling her that there's a baby in my tummy, but she always just looks at me like I'm crazy.  I think Brandon was hoping for a boy this time around, and I'm happy to be able to give him a son.  For my part, I'm a bit intimidated to be having a boy because it will be new and different.  Not to mention the fact that our children will soon out number us!!  So exciting/scary/wonderful.  :)

Stay-Cation: Sleep Over

Rebekah came for a slumber party on Friday.  We watched movies, ordered pizza, and just generally had fun.

Rebekah is planning a trip to visit family, so the slumber party was a good trial run to see how James would do away from home.  She kept to his normal routine as much as possible, and he did great!

I was glad to see how much he likes his hoodie towel.  :)

After his bath, it was story time, and then bed time for little James.  The girls enjoyed the story, then finished their movie and went off to bed themselves.  :)

All Good Things...

...Must come to an end.

My Kaylie girl is no longer nursing.  It wasn't my decision.  It was hers.  She just up and decided that she was done, about 2 weeks ago.  I thought at first that it was only a nursing strike, so I continued to offer, but she continued to refuse.  I've accepted it now.

Mostly.

Kaylie Walking!

Kaylie can walk.  She just doesn't want to.  She'd rather get around by walking on her knees.  When playing outside, though, she doesn't like the feel of the grass, so she's found walking on her feet preferable to walking on her knees... and I got it on video!  

James David

Rebekah had her baby!  I took a few photos for her, just for fun.  These are a few of the best:

We picked one and I made her birth announcements:

 I made a name plaque to match the nursery set that she chose.

Nautica's Zachary crib set

And I made a bath towel hoodie for the little guy.  He hates to be cold, and it's super cozy and plush. It also coordinates with the nursery.

I used cotton towels--one bath towel and one hand towel-- from Target for the hoodie itself, scraps of cotton fabric for the sail boat, and ribbon from JoAnn's to trim across the bottom of the hood, and all the way across the bottom of the cape.  Quilter's cotton worked so much better for doing the applique than scraps of towel, because the cotton doesn't warp as bad.  (Kaylie's "K" was not supposed to be nearly so big!)  I'll have to ask Rebekah for feedback on functionality.  :)

Congratulations, Josh & Rebekah!  Welcome to the world, James!

Because I'm Probably The Only One Who Found That Last One Interesting.

I snapped these pictures of Elora on one of our last mornings in our apartment.  

I went to brush her teeth for her like I always do, but she pushed her lips together and shook her head "no."  When I asked if she wanted to do it herself, she shook her head "yes".  

So I switched from the finger brush to her little white toothbrush, and put some of her safe-if-swallowed toothpaste on it for her, and let her go.  

Ok, well, maybe I did help her a little at first, to make sure she actually got her teeth clean, instead of just sucking off the toothpaste which is what she would have done if I'd let her.

The good news is that I have a kid who likes to brush her teeth--yay!

Last Weekend

We went for a walk.  These are some of the flowers still hanging in there.

Double click that second picture, the one with the yellow flowers, and take a look at it bigger.  See the spider?  I took a ton of pictures of those flowers, and never knew he was there until I got home and put the pictures on my computer.  

It was quite a warm day, so while I was taking pictures of flowers, Brandon and Elora found a shady spot at the edge of a field.  We took a few pics there, and kept going.

The sun was really intense.  Elora and I were both slathered in sunscreen, of course, but I could still feel my skin cooking.  We kept to the shade as much as possible.

We stopped several times along the way, to let Elora explore, and to snap pictures.  We walked to the top of the hill overlooking our town, and then turned back.  That's our little town in the background behind Elora.  It was a good afternoon, why don't we do that more often?

Some Like It Hot

I am loving this weather.  Hot?  Humid?  Who cares?  I'm not freezing, and I've actually been able to wear my tank tops and flip flops without eliciting those odd looks or raised eyebrows.  It actually reminds me a bit of  home, this weather.  And besides, I love what the humidity does to Elora's hair.

The more humidity in the air, the more her hair curls.  I love it.

We broke out the floor fans to keep the air moving in the house.  Elora was terribly interested in investigating the fan.  I took a ton of pictures; this one is my favorite.

She kept pushing the buttons on it, turning it on and off and changing the speed.  I had it stationary at first, but then she pulled the knob to let it turn.  After that she kept following the fan as it swung slowly back and forth, grabbing it and trying to hold it still.  Don't worry, I don't think she can get her hands through the cage, and anyway I stayed with her to make sure she didn't try anything dangerous.

Smileys and Pottys and Snails

Brandon's nephew has begun a new business venture making incense, and I volunteered to make a smiley face logo for him.  It's really simple, and nothing like what Jess can do, but he's really happy with it and so I am too.  I think I am going to go back and put "Chef" across the front of the hat, since that's his nickname.  Heck, that's the reason for the hat in the first place.

Last night, I ordered a potty for Elora, so we can start on the road to potty training.  I looked at a couple, but in the end it came down to the BabyBjorn Potty Chair, or the Fisher Price Pink Princess Potty Chair.  The first takes a simple, minimalist approach, while the second tries to make it fun.  I went for the fun one.

photo from fisher-price.com

It has 4 different little songs that it can play when she does her business, the seat comes off and can be used on the big toilet when she gets older, the bowl is removable for easy cleaning, and the back folds down to make it a step stool so she can reach to wash her hands.  Seriously, how cute is that?? 

We had a nice thunderstorm early this evening.  Thunderstorms are one of those things that I took for granted in Florida, and that I've missed terribly since coming here.  I wish I could have been at home to sit and enjoy it, butI was thankful that the angry looking sky didn't open up on me as I was running around Patch trying to get dinner, get cash for the babysitter, and get Elora.  I got to hear a bit of thunder, see a bit of lightening, and felt a few cool sprinkles before I drove out from under it one the way home.  

When I got there, I saw this guy cruising around the drive in front of my house.  I thought he was cool, so I ran upstairs and deposited Elora with her dad so I could run back down with the camera.  These are straight out of the camera, I didn't even crop them.

He obliged me by continuing to cruise,and I even caught him sticking out his tongue (I assume it's a tongue, I'm not really sure) to sample the tastes/textures/smells around him.  I always feel so special when I get to see things like this.  Maybe I would get to see these things more if I paid more attention, but then, perhaps they wouldn't be so special to me?  He's really neat, and I sincerely hope that some oblivious person didn't step on him before he could make his way back to the (relative) safety of the garden.

So, about that toilet paper...

Remember the other day, when Kara posted about Silas playing with toilet paper?  And remember how I said in my comment that when Elora tries to play with the TP, that "I take it away from her before she can make a mess with it"?  Well, within 30 minutes of typing that comment, this is what I found in my hallway.

I still haven't done any sewing, but I did finish another LO.  Slow but sure, I'm catching up!

I've also got  tri-strand black and gold necklace in the works, and I've been commissioned to do another bridal set! I so love doing wedding jewelry, and I love it even more when the bride wants something interesting.  The supplies for that are on order, I'm really excited about getting my hands on the stuff and getting to work. I'll post pictures when it's done.

Recently...

Elora loves it when I brush her teeth.

She likes to "help" me with the laundry.  She actually managed to restart the washer before I could get the clean clothes out and into the dryer.  Since it locks itself once a cycle starts, all I could do was change it to "rinse and spin" and let it go.

Pictures from playing outside on Tuesday, when the weather was still being agreeable.

My newest Elora Book spread.  I went really simple this time.  I'm trying to escape the patterns I keep going to in my LO's.