Mini Birthday Ten

I had a cute little blog post going when I accidentally deleted it. Here are the bullet points:

* It’s almost spring!
* WEF is crawling…forward
* Favorite words are cat and dada
* Big sis is gearing up for kindergarten
* Time is speeding by!


Stephanie

Mini Birthday Nine

Time is flying…another month closer to turning one!
Stephanie

Sleep Training, or Not

I have a confession. William isn’t sleeping through the night yet, and I kind of don’t mind. Don’t get me wrong. I do mind the forgetful mushy brain that creeps into my workday, but I don’t mind these quiet moments.

He was sleeping pretty well until he started teething. There are some other factors involved. I have spent too much time getting Estelle to sleep all night for almost 5 years, and the results are mediocre. STILL. Why bother? I might just ride the wave, and see where William ends up. I have resources and know-how if I want to course correct. Also, soothing a baby without picking him up is kind of hard to do when the kids share a room. Seemingly endless crying is involved, and nobody wants both kids up at the same time. Has anyone had much luck with shared rooms and getting babies to sleep for longer stretches?

While we are on the subject of sleep, I might just skip folding laundry in favor of an early bedtime.

Stephanie

Mini Birthday Eight

The photo was only 1 day late, but this post is a whopping 12 days late! I have resorted to blogging on my phone/iPad because our laptop is full and needs some TLC.

Why fiddle with technology when we have these two hams to entertain us constantly?!

Let’s see, Willie is full of tricks these days…clapping, waving, bumping his head and sprouting teeth. He remains a sweet smiley boy, and Estelle remains a great big sister. We are lucky in so many ways, and I never take that for granted.

Happy Early Groundhog Day,

Stephanie

Mini Birthday Seven

It’s that time again, folks. Baby boy is seven months old today. We just found his first tooth yesterday. That, along with his first ear infection, would explain the poor sleeping! He is sitting by himself with fewer topples, and his legs go so fast when he’s on his tummy. Mobility is imminent.

Christmas is 10 days away, how did that happen?! Enjoy the season with your nearest and dearest.

Stephanie

Mini Birthday Six

6 months?! Time flies. The other man of the house has a birthday this week too. Happy Birthday, David!

Mom Badge

Here I am procrastinating the inevitable, an uncomfortable night of sleep. Between acid reflux, swelling, tingling in my arms and hands, and general hugeness, I just don’t want to lay down! A Lazy Boy recliner would be nice right about now. In fact, I did not want to get out of my dentist’s chair the other day, it was the perfect cradle.

While it’s easy for me to dwell on my discomfort right now, I am finding joy in having my belly no longer hidden behind coats. Being pregnant is like wearing the most socially recognized mom badge. We can wear rings to signify we are engaged or married, but there’s nothing quite comparable to tell the world you are a parent. I guess ugly bumper stickers can do the job, but that doesn’t work if you don’t have a car! Having your kids by your side is a good indicator too, but I spend a good chunk of my days without kids.

Right now, my big belly tells the world I am a mom. Luckily, no sane city person will dare to touch your belly, but they gladly engage you in conversation. Men, women, old or young…they all ask, when are you due? Is this your first? Boy or girl? A woman on the bus told me I was glowing today. People are just nicer to you, and for that, I am thankful.

My coworkers surprised me with a gift basket today. I had requested no shower since we have almost everything we need. Instead, they gave me chocolate covered figs, ginger treats, a gift card for a massage, and this very appropriate card that made my eyes a bit misty.

 

Here is David’s latest Portuguese beer cap bump photo. I promise to put the whole series (plus some) in one big post after baby!

I’m seriously craving beer these days. I also came across a drink called the Tallulah. It’s a Coke, peanut and whiskey drink that I must have ASAP. Coke and peanuts, a blast from my southern past! I might have to enjoy that pair without whiskey for the time being. What better time than when you can afford the extra calories?

 

[Image from Garden and Gun, recipe by Ollie Irene]

How’s that for a late night tangent? Bottoms up!

Stephanie

It’s a…

…HEALTHY BABY!

 

Hopefully, you weren’t betting on us finding out the gender at our anatomy ultrasound this morning. We are keeping the gender a surprise, which is kind of  a big deal for this gal. I cannot sit through a movie without looking up the plot on my phone. I looked up the general story line of the rest of the Hunger Game books because I knew I wouldn’t have much time to finish the series in the near future. I don’t like surprises or anticipation, but things are different with this baby. We’re kind of ready for either girl or boy, purple wall and all. There is still much to do, but we mostly have everything we need, except boy clothes. We have enough white onesies hanging around to make do until we get loaner clothes from friends or family, if we end up having a boy!

The baby is doing well, and measuring about one pound. Everything looks healthy, which is all we hoped for. Estelle came with us to the ultrasound. It was fun watching her reaction, although she was fairly stoic. That seems to be her normal demeanor in the doctor’s office, her pediatrician used to call her baby Buddha. I think the thing she remembers most is the blue jelly they used on my belly and seeing the baby’s heart “beep.”

How do things look on the outside? Round. I finally took a photo of myself, which is royally awkward. I decided not to look at the camera to avoid further weirdness. I weighed in at 144 lbs. today, 19 pounds shy of my maximum 163 lbs. on the day I delivered Estelle. I’m doing all I can not to go past my old record! No shame about weight here, it’s just a number. We don’t even have a scale at home, so it tends to be a non-issue with me.

So yeah, that’s the latest. We’re finally taking down our Christmas decorations this weekend. We’re very much over them, the twinkly lights no longer get turned on…it’s sad. We just needed a free weekend to get everything safely stowed away! I hope you all have a great weekend!

Stephanie the Round

 

Eleven Reasons for a Room Switch

Estelle and I left Philly on Saturday. We are currently stuck in sunny Florida with a cute newborn and great family. Darn! Lola and Estelle’s stuffed animals are “helping” David weather the storm. All is well in Philly, or so I am told. Our block still has power, which is not surprising given the density of buildings and lack of trees. Our original flight home was supposed to be on Tuesday, but I changed it to Thursday to give Philly some time to get back on track, literally because we need to take the train home from the airport!

David has been busy switching rooms, hanging out, watching football, working from home, texting me photos of our beach haunts under water, and clearing out the fridge. I think he misses us crazy girls…maybe?

So yeah, what’s that about switching rooms? Even though we had not even completed the finishing touches on Estelle’s room, we decided to move her to the back room. Why?!?

You saw that right! We are adding a tiny and loud human to the mix in May, and the semi-shared room set up will temporarily work much better this way. Best to do it now, so Estelle doesn’t feel like she’s getting the boot to a smaller, less purple room. Don’t worry, we plan to lavish her with a cool bed tent/canopy and a dream light!

Here is what we have so far…photos by David. Tweaks will probably be made over the next 7 months!

Are we finding out the gender this time? No! David has convinced me to be surprised. Will we possibly put a boy in a purple room? Yes! I think we can make it work until we are settled and ready to tackle house projects again…in 2015.

Baby Feaster’s due date is May 20, 2013. I am nearly out of the first trimester, at 11 weeks. The ultrasound is of the baby around 9 weeks. I started showing almost right away, so this is old news for the people we see most often. It took me entirely too long to come up with a way to make a digital announcement! Oh, and I’m too tired to blog most nights.

What does queenie think? Estelle insists the baby is a girl, and her name is Elizabeth. We will see how long that lasts, tonight she wanted to name it Trash Can.

It looks like we will be trick or treating in Florida. We will attempt to take a good cousins-in-costume photo! Expect another blog post this week…because that’s what happens when I don’t work most of the week.

Happy Halloween! My thoughts are most definitely with my friends and family dealing with this Frankenstorm!

Stephanie