Sunday, October 17, 2010

Molly Madeline

Our little lady arrived last Sunday, Oct 10 at 1:17pm.  She is wonderful!  So far she just sleeps almost all the time; I guess that will change before too long.  Today she's probably been awake for a total of about 1.5 hours (which I may pay for tonight.....but it is really hard to keep her awake!).  She usually only eats for a few minutes before drifting back to sleep.  But when she's awake and looking around, I love holding her and talking to her. She gets the hiccups (very loud and squeaky!) multiple times per day, which she also did in the womb.  And she's just so tiny.  It's been fun having a cuddly little newborn in the house again.

Her big brothers both adore her, especially Drew.  He gives her kisses all the time and wants to hold her quite a bit too.  The other day Grant was holding her and said, "I love my baby sister.  I love Molly."  They also like pushing her in the swing.  It's totally different from the way Grant reacted when Drew came home.  He mostly ignored him, and definitely was never interested in kissing or holding him!

Nana and Papa have been here for this entire week, and Aunt Corie came for a long weekend.  We had so much fun with them and it was a huge help!  Dean's going back to work tomorrow, and my mom is coming to help for a few days.  I had a much easier labor and delivery this time (not nearly as much healing to do as I had with the boys), but I still want to take it easy for a few weeks.  And.....this is a long story, but Grant's foot is in a cast for at least three weeks.  Early last week he just stopped walking on it entirely....it hurt him so badly to walk that he'd crawl everywhere.  It turns out that there's a bone in his left foot that hasn't developed properly, so they have to immobilize the foot to allow it to grow.  I was counting on him to be my little helper, so this is really bad timing (considering he can't walk anywhere!).  So it will obviously be very helpful having my mom here.

Here are some pictures from this past week.....
 
















Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Waiting game....

38 weeks!

First, happy birthday, Papa!

Now we're definitely expecting labor to start at any time. Every time I call Dean at work, I have to start by saying, "I'm not in labor!" And I'll feel a contraction and wonder if this could be the beginning. I'm just always aware of all of the little symptoms I feel, wondering if they might be a sign that the baby is coming.

I have actually been feeling fine for the most part over the past week. These past couple of days I've felt maybe a few more contractions than normal, and a little bit of lower back pain. But only for short times. The weirdest thing is the stretching feeling way down low when the baby moves. I guess because I'm already partly dilated, sometimes when the baby shifts around it takes my breath away and it feels like she's on the verge of popping out! It doesn't really hurt, though.....just a weird stretching feeling. I don't really remember that with the boys.....

I've been so neglectful of the blog....I've been using the boys' nap times to do some last minute things. Our camera lens went out a couple of weeks ago, so I had to research new lenses and order one so we'd have it in time for the baby. It came last week....it has twice the zoom of our old one and so far I love it!

I also ordered some of these little swaddling blankets that are all the rage (at least in our area) right now. They're stretchy and breathable and huge (much bigger than the standard receiving blankets from Carter's or Gerber), and all of my friends with new babies love them. The brand is called Aden and Anais....look it up if you're needing a baby gift!

Of the 15 or 17 things on my to-do list before the baby comes, I've actually made my way through most of them. I still haven't caught up on photo albums and scrapbooks like I wanted, but I don't think I will EVER be fully caught up on pictures. So I might as well not be disappointed about that!

And I've also been spending WAY too much time on this baby name website called Nameberry. It's so much fun.....it's my new little addiction. I posted a topic on their message boards a few days ago (asking for name advice) and it's been fun seeing how people react to the names we like. Molly is the funniest one.....some people think it's adorable, and that Molly Madeline is just perfect, especially with the boys' names. Then others say that Molly Sloan sounds like an Irish pub! Caroline seems to be the other favorite....and I think I agree. I just don't know.....I can't seem to make a final decision about any of them. I'm pretty sure we're going to go to the hospital with a running list, and we'll just have to wait until we see her.

I'm still not completely done with the nursery.....I went up into town yesterday while the boys were in school, and I bought some cute oversized papers at the Paper Source. I'm planning on framing them or wrapping them around cardboard and hanging them on the walls for artwork. When we decide on a name, I want to incorporate her name (or initials) into them somehow too. I feel a little overwhelmed with so many options.....and I know I have to get it done in the next few days or I'll never do it after she's born.

That just about sums things up right now! We'll try to post something as soon as we can after the baby's born, if I don't get around to another post before it happens. I still haven't packed anything for the hospital.....maybe I need to get busy and do that while the boys are still sleeping....

Friday, September 24, 2010

Drew at two years old....and baby update

My little two-year-old!


First, I went to my doctor yesterday for my 36 week checkup.  I'm 3cm dilated now.  I wasn't counting on having this baby any earlier than 38 weeks, so hopefully I can still make it another ten days (I'll be 37 weeks this coming Monday).  I'm definitely in hurry-up mode now, though.....I still have a lot of things I want to do before the baby's born.  And I know I'm not mentally ready; we've been so busy and having a new baby seems like something that should still be months away. 
 
Drew had his two year checkup today.   He wasn't happy with the nurse for pricking his finger (to test his blood count), so it made him nervous when the doctor came in.  It's funny......I always refer to him as my "little guy" and it is definitely true!  Grant's always been near the top of the percentile charts in height (not necessarily weight).  Drew is the opposite; he's 34 inches tall, which puts him at the 44th percentile.  And he weighs 26.5 pounds (28th percentile).  He's around the 90th percentile for his head!  Our doctor told us that, according to statistics, he'll most likely be shorter than Grant as an adult, probably more of an average height.  He got his Hep A vaccine and flu shot, and they also gave Grant his flu shot (I wasn't expecting this, but with a baby coming she said it's better to do it now than to wait for his 4-year checkup in November).  Grant wasn't excited when he found out this piece of news; and he cried as I set him on the table, but of course it really wasn't too bad when it was over.  We got Frostys at Wendy's on our way home, so I think the shots were worth the treat for them.

Some notable things about Drew at 2 years:

- Has just learned how to turn the knob to open his bedroom door.  He sleeps in a twin bed now, so he'll sometimes come out of his room after we put him to bed (usually we hear him and put him back).  But last night Dean went upstairs to get ready for bed and Drew was sprawled out asleep right in the middle of our bedroom floor, with Kitty and Brownie laying beside him. 

- Eats cereal from a bowl, and does pretty well drinking from cups.  If Grant is drinking from a real cup, don't even think about trying to hand Drew a sippy cup. They both love drinking from straws too.

- He's putting a few two-word phrases together.  He's always said "ba" for "up" and "ah-yah" for Brownie, but now he actually says "up" correctly.   And the other day, he said "brownie" and it sounded basically right.  But then he got embarrassed and said "ah-yah" immediately afterwards.  I guess that feels more comfortable to him!

- Likes putting Kitty down for "night-night" (at all times of the day), and will put Brownie on top of him while he "sleeps."

- Some of his favorite characters: Elmo (even though we hardly ever watch Sesame Street), Buzz and Woody,  and Ariel (both boys love Ariel, and Grant will always point her out to Drew when we see pictures of her at stores).

- Hops like a frog on the floor and says "hop, hop, hop" as he goes.

- He's doing a little better at school, but he's still having a hard time.  He's the lone crier in his class now (as of yesterday).   He and another little boy named Will were the holdouts, and they seemed to feed off of each other.  But Will had a good day yesterday, so their teachers are hoping that Drew will stop crying next week.  Poor thing.....when I'm getting the boys dressed in the morning, Drew can tell that we're about to go to school and he'll just stand there and cry.  It's so pitiful.  He doesn't cry in the car on the way to school, but then he'll start crying after we've dropped Grant off and we're on our way to his room.  Poor thing....I hope he starts having fun soon.

- He calls us Mommy and Daddy now instead of Mama and Dada.

- The boys love those Progressive Insurance commercials on TV.  They hardly ever understand the humor (especially Drew), but they throw their heads back and laugh hysterically every time (just because they know it's supposed to be funny.....apparently.  Dean and I think they are mostly stupid!).

- He understands the concept of "two" now.  If he has two objects in his hand, he'll hold them out and say "two."  He also knows that he's two years old now.  Good thing he happens to be two and not three, because two is the only number he knows!

- He tries to be a carbon copy of his big brother.  He throws fits just the way he sees Grant do it (great!), and he'll immediately repeat funny things that Grant says (in his own way).  He laughs at Grant and loves when they run around and chase each other.....for a few minutes, at least (until a fight inevitably starts).  Grant takes on the role of big brother very well; he likes to tell Drew what to do as if he's in charge.  Then he'll say, "okay?" or "do you understand me?" and Drew will say, "yeah" or "okay."  It's always really funny to me when they have these little "conversations" with each other.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

36 Weeks

 A couple of pictures from Drew's and my birthday yesterday:




Only two or three more weeks to go!  Last Friday I was dilated 2cm at my 35 week checkup, and I'm going later today to see if there's been any more progress.  As of Friday I've gained 35 pounds (but I have a feeling I'll add a couple to that today).  



How I'm feeling: I still feel comfortable, for the most part.  I wake up a lot at night to flip from one side to another, but overall I'm sleeping fine.  My belly is feeling BIG, though!  You can always tell when you're getting close when you feel the baby kicking at the top, bottom and side of your belly all at the same time.  My doctor told me last week that her head is down, but sometimes it feels like she's laying sideways in there.....I'm always feeling feet or knees (or elbows, maybe?) poking out on the sides.  Sometimes it hurts quite a bit.   I wish so badly that I knew what all of those body parts are.....I love pushing on my belly, trying to figure it out. 



Drew has a hard time sitting on my lap when I'm reading to him before bed.  And it's hard to bend down to pick things up off the floor (I'm constantly doing this because toys end up everywhere and it drives me crazy!).  And it's funny......our cat Scooter loves to come lay on our laps after the boys go to bed at night.  She'll climb up and lay right on top of my belly.....it's a perfect little shelf for her! 


What people say:  It totally depends on what I'm wearing.  Some of my shirts are very minimizing, and people can't believe I'm so close to the end.  But last week after dropping the boys off at school, I made a mad dash to get a ton of errands done.  I was wearing a t-shirt that I normally don't wear, and all of these strangers kept asking when I was due, assuming I was about to have the baby any day.


Are we ready?  I came home on Tuesday while the boys were at school and did a lot of organizing in the baby's room.  So yes, I feel like I'm getting there.  I still don't have anything hung up on the walls, but on Tuesday I filled a few frames with some cute scrapbook paper.  Now we just need to hang them.  I'm making progress on my photo albums (although I probably won't completely finish before she's here) and I've been sorting through the boys' clothes, trying to box up things for goodwill (although I think I'll wait to give them away until the baby's born, just in case it happens to be a boy!). 


I still need to find some kind of swing (anyone in our area who's reading this and has one you're not using and wouldn't mind loaning, let me know!!) and I probably need to pick up a few newborn-sized clothes (both of my boys were over 8 lbs but they wore newborn clothes for a few weeks).  And I'm sure there are a bunch of other things I haven't even thought about yet.


Names??  I've narrowed down my list, and I think I'm back to my original favorites of Lauren and Molly, plus maybe one or two more.  I feel like I'm kind of stuck, though.....I don't think I'll be able to fully agree on one until I see the baby (hopefully that will help sway us one way or another).


Celebrations: I am so blessed with so many sweet friends.  Two weekends ago, I had plans to meet my friend Kristin for lunch up in town (she lives in Dallas but said she'd be in Houston that weekend).  So I got to the restaurant to meet her, and six of my blogger girl friends (a bunch of us Bryan High girls who all happen to have blogs and have reconnected through them over the past couple of years) were there to surprise me!!  It was so much fun.....I was totally shocked.  They pampered me so generously with a spa gift card, a Gimme a Break gift card (since they read my blog and know that I'm about to go crazy with my boys!), plus a lot of adorable baby stuff.  None of them live in Houston, so they all drove into town just for that.  I couldn't believe it.

Then last weekend, I met with some of my close friends down here at for lunch at LaMadeleine.  I didn't want any kind of formal shower at all, but a couple of friends insisted on at least a few of us getting together to celebrate the baby before she comes.  It was perfect because it was very low-key and informal.....and again, they gave me some super cute girly things. 

Whew!  This was long!  Check in hopefully later this week for a 2-year update on Drew.....

Friday, September 17, 2010

Drew and his ah-yahs

 Well, Brownie #1 ("ah-yah," as Drew has always called it) has seen better days.  We love those Little Giraffe blankets, and Drew couldn't live without his.....but at $30 a piece they don't seem to hold up very well.  He's only been using Brownie #1 since January.  And about a month ago I ordered Brownie #2, as a replacement in case we ever lose #1.

Well, the original Brownie had a terrible accident at school last week.....it somehow ripped straight across the middle (it had started tearing and falling apart anyway), so now it has a huge hole right in the middle of it.  Drew really has no preference between the two, but he'll gladly take both of them if he sees them.  The other day, he picked up Brownie #1 and put it around his head like a necklace.  Then he grabbed #2 and put it on top of his head (like he often does).  He looked like a poor little homeless boy in rags!