Aunt Annie's Alligator

Our gym has amazing childcare. The women who work there love Luke and he always seems to have a great time playing while we are working out. I feel like they actually know and like and take great care of my child, which gives me so much peace of mind in leaving him.

After today I know that they are also wonderfully creative people.

Nate took Luke to the gym so that I could get some cooking done. When he came home, he was wearing the above get up ~ in case you can't tell from the picture, that's some strangers t shirt he is wearing on his legs. Apparently my son had a blowout diaper (something that we have not seen in months and months) while at the gym. He had no pants, so they came up with the tshirt idea. Nice! He seemed perfectly happy, but now that I look at the pic that I took I think that he actually looks a little worried ~ I sometimes wonder how much long term damage I am doing posting pictures of my post blowout t-shirt pants-ed son. Someday I imagine that he will read this, and I can only say that I hope he does not mind the graphic details.

The other item in the pic is the Dr Seuss ABC book. I can now proudly say that I know every single word to every single page and can recite them verbatim. I always hoped to raise a child who loved to read as much as I do. I firmly believe that reading to kids fosters a love of reading. I just didn't know that I would have a son who, at least at this point, only wants to read TWO books over and over and over. I read the DR Seuss book to Luke 7 times today. I can only guess that Nate read it to him about the same number of times. I wake up with

"Big A, little a, What begins with A? Aunt Annie's Alligator, A.....A.....A"

racing through my head over and over. The other book that he loves is called "100 Words". In case you can't guess from the title, the plot isn't real thick.....its 100 little pictures of scintillating things like "Purple Tricycle", "Pink Flower" and "Highchair". It's mind numbing and painful and I sometimes start to drool and lose focus while "reading" it to Luke, but he loves it. He turns the big cardboard pages indiscriminately, saying "ah dat?" at every single picture. He can identify the dog, kitty cat, duck, and baby.......but that leaves an awful lot of "ah dat-ing" considering that there are 96 other words and pictures.

In other news, I am now 7 days from my due date. Going strong. I would love to have a little St. Patties day baby....but there is no real reason to believe that the baby has any plans to arrive tomorrow. In the baby pool I have the 19th......I think that should I go past that day I will start to really get impatient. With a brief 18 week reprieve (during which I provided the sole sustenance for my exclusively breastfed son), I have been pregnant since May of 06. Its now March of 08. When I think of it like that its easier to give myself a little leeway for the impatience that is creeping up on me. I just cant wait to hold this baby.....to know if its my son or daughter who I have been growing all these long months. I want to ensure that all of its parts are in the appropriate part places, and that it is a healthy baby safely arrived. Sigh. Patience is not one of my strong suits (in fact, its not even one of my medium~strong suits....I am one of the most impatient people on Earth) ....but I'm trying to temper it with my gratitude for another easy pregnancy and a wonderful supportive husband and a really easy, happy, healthy son who provides me with endless delight while I wait. I had a great massage on Saturday ~ my Massage therapist said that she was getting Tuesday night vibes for babies birth. I'm game if baby is.

In other news, Villanova made the Tournament, much to our surprise. And I officially skeeve the word "bracketology" and think that anyone who uses it is a dork. I love the tourney and I love college basketball, but jeez this "bracketology" stuff is so trendy and annoying.

Playin around

Here is my little water baby in the shower. He loves it. I have never seen a child like the water as much as Luke. I have to be careful now to keep the door to his bathroom closed.....he runs to and climbs into the bathtub if left unsupervised for all of two seconds in the upstairs hallway.

Last night produced copious amounts of heartburn. No baby. It was actually awful. If anyone would like a small glimpse of hell first stuff an entire fully grown baby inside of you. Then have a huge serving of thai ribs and an extra spicy curried rice. Then (like a genius) have a giant glass of water and straight unsweetened cranberry juice while already in bed.

Then cry.

I actually went downstairs and slept on the couch so that I could sleep virtually upright for the first time this pregnancy. Oy.

Luke is entering into a new era of likability. His little personality is just coming out loud and clear. The kid is such a funny little bugger. He simply loves to laugh, and his flirting is off the charts. He is so the little mayor.
His newest game involves mimicking whatever noises Nate and I make while in the car. We say Da Da, he says Da Da. We say Blah blah blah, so does he. We cough, he coughs (this one makes me laugh the hardest) We laugh, he laughs. Just today, after having a real case of the hiccups, he added a fake hiccup to his verbal parrot repertoire. He is still rear facing ~ so we sit in the front seat making noises like idiots and then cracking up when Luke makes them back. I'm totally hooked on the kid.

The waiting game

What a couple of days it has been!
Tuesday morning I woke up to go the bathroom as par the course these days.......Deuce didn't wake up with me as usual. I got back in bed and gave the baby some jiggles trying to get it to say hello to me. Nothing. Jiggled harder. Got back up, bounced around a little. Had some smoothie. Nothing. Chugged a diet coke. Made Nate talk to my belly in hopes of waking the little one up. Nothing! I took a shower, then when we still had no movement after almost 45 min I called the Dr. While we waited for the Dr to call us back Nate finally got one little begrudging nudge out of the baby by talking to it. The Dr called us right after that, and wanted us to come in to get monitored just to make sure that everything was okay. We called Mom and went down to the hospital. Of course by the time that we got there baby was bouncing away ~ But it was well worth the hour of our time to make sure that everything was okay. You get very "comfortable" when you have an easy time with conception and pregnancy. In that dark hour where we could not get the little one to move (a first in my last pregnancy and this pregnancy) I became very acutely aware of how very cavalier one can be about pregnancy ~ just floating along assuming that everything is perfect, and suddenly WHAM something so unforeseen can happen. I cant dwell on it as could take my breath away and paralyze me with fear if I allowed myself to think too long on it ~ but every now and again a little reminder of the miracle and blessing of a healthy pregnancy and birth isn't such a bad thing. I thank God for every healthy and drama free moment of this and my last pregnancy.
Speaking of drama, there was more. On Wednesday morning Luke and I went to the moon bounce place with our playgroup. It was a blast, but I may have done a little too much "moon bouncing" for a woman as pregnant as I am. Around 2.30 that afternoon I was laying down as Luke napped and I noticed that I was having contractions. I started glancing at the clock, and was surprised to see that I was having them every 3 minutes or so. I layed there until about 4 when Luke woke up, just relaxing and wondering if they were going to keep up or not. They did. I cancelled my evening plans with Jeannie, and let Nate know what was going on. I was definitely shocked, it seemed just so early still that I was in disbelief that this could possibly be the start of labor. Long story short, I called the DR around 5 or 5.30 from the store (We had run out to stock up on a couple of things in case this was the real deal). It was after my Dr's office hours, so some on call Dr from the hospital called me back. I told her that I was in very early labor but my contrax, while not terribly painful yet, were 3 minutes apart and had been going on for several hours. When she heard that I was trying to have a VBAC she told me that I needed to come in immediately to be monitored. I told her that I really didn't want to, that they weren't really painful yet, and that my plan really was to labor at home as long as I could possibly stand it in order to increase my chances of having a successful VBAC. She immediately played the DEAD BABY AND A HYSTERECTOMY card. Tears leapt to my eyes. Not because I feared a dead baby OR a hysterectomy, but because this was NOT what I wanted and I knew that going into the hospital so early went against every logical thought in my body about what was best for Deuce and what was best for me.
This post could get very long at this point. I'm going to have to start summarizing.
We waited until 9 or 9.30 to leave for the hospital. [Nate and I are such a good match ~ He the responsible, level headed (;)) Eagle Scout, and me the rebellious one with an authority problem......Nate wanted to go in right away since the DR told us to, and I didn't want to go in until "I" wanted to go in. We compromised by waiting 4 r so hours.]
Anyway. We got to the hospital. Got on the fetal monitor. Sure enough was having lovely consistent contrax every 2 min or so. Was barely dilated at all though, as I had thought, and the baby was still up high. Long story short, my contrax lasted all night but never picked up in intensity. They DID manage to dilate me to 2-3 cm and to get the baby to descend to -1 station ~ But by morning they tapered off to nothing. I was initially so disappointed. After being awake all night and poked and prodded by a cadre of people I felt so let down by my body. I breathed, I walked, I visualized......WHY didn't labor progress. I can also confess that for a few moments I got so disheartened by what I (in my exhaustion) perceived as my body's "failure" to dilate that I took my eyes off of the big picture, declared myself a failure, and wanted a CS to just have it all over and done with. Thank GOD for Nate. He reminded me that my body wasn't failing, but I was just in early, not active labor. He reminded me that I WANTED a VBAC. He reminded me that if not for that stupid on call DR telling us that we had to go in, we would have been safely and snugly at home, and it would have simply been some early labor. He reminded me that I was only 37.5 weeks and that I was hoping for a round, fat, closer to term baby. That was all I needed to hear to remember that he was exactly right.
We came home. It was about 10 AM when we got here. I took an ambien that the DR had given me a RX for and slept till 6 PM. Nate took care of Luke all day for me. I awoke so happy and refreshed. I am already way way more dilated than I was with Luke without heavy pitocin, and not even in labor yet! I feel rested, and confident. The very best news was the OUR Dr said (to both of us) that we could stay at home as long as we wanted to. He said that that DR never should have told us to come in that early. That was SUCH a relief. Nate and I can be on the same page without feeling as though anyone is holding the "dead baby" card over our head pressuring us about going in to the hospital.
Today I feel achy and sore. I lurch around. My waddle is pronounced. My belly is huge. And the grin on my face is too. Our little one is welcome to come today, or in two weeks. While I am dying with excitement to meet this little one who is already stirring up so much drama, I feel pretty good physically and extremely good mentally. I'm savoring this sweet time with Luke, and with Nate, and I am overwhelmed with gratitude to have a husband who is my biggest ally and my best friend.

I went shopping for a baby outfit today. The options are above. I will bring both to the hospital and just return the gender inappropriate one.

If you got through this long and incredibly boring blog, I applaud you.

Easy labor vibes from all are very appreciated.

A year ago

This was my little man a year ago today. It's mind blowing to look at the KID that he is today ~ running around the house, climbing up everything, talking, eating etc ~ and then to remember this immobile constantly sleeping or nursing little critter of a year ago. Luke had a great week ~ he is officially not allergic to peanuts and my little food hound had his first of many peanut butter and jelly sandwiches this week. I have pics, they will follow. It was a hit.

I can't believe that its March 2 2008 already! Spring is in the air. I feel as though we never really had winter this year ~ we have yet to have a decent snow, which makes me a little sad. I love snow, big, silent, billowy snow. Everything just screeches to a cozy halt for a day or two. Daylight savings is this Friday already (???) and I am starting to really look forward to longer sunshiney evenings, grilling, eating outside on our deck, playing with Luke outside etc etc.... I can't wait to walk Luke and Deuce down to the park behind our house, and to start planting flowers (and GRASS!!!) in our barren new yard.

I am full term at this point, so Deuce is officially invited to join us whenever s/he likes. We have decided on names, FINALLY! This is the most thrilling part of pregnancy to me....waking up each morning with the realization that today could be the day that our baby arrives. I don't feel impatient yet, in fact, I was at the gym 4 or 5 times this week and am feeling really great physically. I'm still sleeping pretty well, I had a wonderful massage and yoga class yesterday, and I feel as though this baby is welcome to come whenever it is good and ready. I'm ready, yet strangely patient. I love the thought of our baby all cozy inside of me, just getting chubby and round and ready. I have even calmed down mentally, and I am finally feeling emotionally ready to welcome this baby into our family. I am so excited to introduce Luke to his little brother or sister. I can't wait to see who it is in there ~ Boy? Girl? Big? Little? Hair? Baldy? Blond? Dark? Ahhhhhh! The excitement and anticipation is tangible, these last few weeks. Its still surreal to me that we are going to be a family of four (5 if you count el stinkador, who has had more baths in the past 4 days than ever in his life, and still has a not so subtle eau de skunk about him). Today we set up the cosleeper in our room and the pack n play as our downstairs baby changing station ~ barring the packing of my hospital bag we are pretty much ready to go (I have some unexplained aversion to the "packing of the hospital bag"....I really need to get over it and just pack the blessed thing) . I have started making lists of Luke's food and schedule for Mom and Dad so that while we are at the hospital having the baby they can be all prepared to take care of Luke. We are absolutely playing with fire as Nate is flying to Denver this Thursday-Friday........but with me feeling so good we are willing to risk it. That will be his last trip until late April. I'm rambling, but will be sure to update everything after my OB appointment on Tuesday.

Party at our house

Life is good around here. Luke has learned to pick his nose, and I am GBS NEGATIVE. I just got my test results back today, and I feel as though a huge weight has been lifted off of my shoulders.

I did not quite have the birth that I had always hoped for with Luke. I got a RESULT better than I had ever dreamed (My amazing, healthy, happy son..... and that part is for life, thank God) but the actual day of his birth was much different and intervention laden than I had always hoped for. It took several weeks before I could talk about his birth without crying. That said, I can now say with utter confidence that it was the best day of my life. With a year of motherhood under my belt I know that the beauty of the mother/child relationship is forged not in the actual day of the birth, but in the falling in love process that happens when you meet and as you grow to know, love, and cherish one another. I could go all into the steps that ultimately led up to the C Section, but that is neither here nor there at this point. Let's just say that I feel that testing positive for GBS and having my water break before labor had begun started a long line of interventions and "rules" that did not go well with me.

That said, I have another birth approaching. I have been a mess the past week as I awaited the results of my GBS culture. (And for anyone who is not familiar with GBS, Google it, it would take too long and be too boring for me to explain). I have the option to schedule a C Section as I am now a CS Mama. I don't want to have another C Section. I would like to say that my motives are totally altruistic and pure......but truth be told I don't want another CS for a few (mainly selfish) reasons.
1. I am admittedly an excitement junky. Knowing and planning the day of my child's birth is too anti climatic for me. One of the penultimate moments of my life was the early morning hours of Feb 13 when I woke up to my water breaking. I have never known such excitement and anticipation, (nor have I ever seen Nate run up and down the steps frantically so many times :)
2. I want to experience a vaginal birth. I don't want to hear my baby cry for the first time again while strapped down to a table behind a drape.
3. I don't want to have to spend 4 days in the hospital again. While those 4 days were absolutely magical and wonderful after Luke's birth ~ staying in the hospital with Nate and Luke while all of our friends and family came to visit us and meet our sweet son.....this time it will be different as Luke will be at home. I will miss him terribly, and would much prefer to go home after just 24 or 48 hours this go round.
4. I worry about healing from a CS while taking care of our new baby AND the 13 month old Luke. My heart breaks to think of not being able to pick up Luke for a week or two after the birth, so anything that I can do to avoid that would benefit our whole family.

Anyway. I could go on and on. I am just thrilled that I feel like I am at least going into this birth on a level playing field, rather than fighting from behind due to my GBS status to have the birth that I hope for.

Suddenly I just have a new found peace and excitement about the upcoming birth. It still may not go the way that I hope, but at least I don't feel like its history repeating itself before we even begin.

Oh, and Luke learned to pick his nose. It's charming. Ugh. Judging from the joy that he seems to glean from it, you will be seeing a picture soon.

More nudity

I just can't resist bringing my camera into the bathroom with this little guy lately. All of that delightful roly poly pink cheeked baby~flesh all in one place.

I need a name for my unborn child. We are still very undecided on boys names and its killing me. Should we have a daughter, her name will be Julia. Should we have a son, we are in trouble. Input?

The short list includes :

Brody
Ryan
Jake (does this sound way too much like Luke or is it just me???)
Chase
?
??
and
???.

Argh.

Good doctors appointment today. On the cusp of 36 weeks and going strong.

Love and stuff.

So. I don't even know where to start. Bullet points are always good.

* Please refer to my previous post about Luke eating eggs, and my prior post about all those hippy years. Combine the two into me now having a microwave, deciding to cook Luke's egg in it, and creating an egg explosion. Literally. IN. MY. FACE. Burnt my forehead. Me a screamin, (then a cryin), Nate a runnin, Luke a laughin, egg everywhere. I have a lot to catch up on.... that decade or so without a microwave while the rest of you all were getting good at it really put me behind. No one told me about the explosion phenomina associated with microwaves. I now distrust it and am punishing it by not using it for a while.

* Our anniversary was Fabu. Being married to my best friend is pretty fantastic.

* Luke had his first "serious" fever. (No, thats not a medical term, thats a Mom term....but when I took his temp at 2 am and it read 104.2 I wanted to scream "are you SERIOUS?" and run him directly to the emergency room....but of course better logic prevailed and instead we brought the little critter into our room to sleep on Daddy's chest ~ first thing in the AM we took him to the Dr's where they proclaimed him the proud owner of TWO infected, bulging ears. Ugh, bulging. Armed with antibiotics, we left him in Dr. Mom Mom's care as we left for our first overnight without the baby since his birth 363 days ago.

*Luke gave us a FANTASTIC anniversary present by sleeping from 8 pm to 8 am for Mom Mom despite the wretched ears. I was so relieved, having been fearing the worst.

*We had a wonderful romantic getaway downtown ~ From the moment that we were greeted with the house's finest "sparkeling ginger ale" for the pregnant Mama at check in, to the goodbye of delicious hot chocolate handed to us as the valet brought our car, it was all perfect. I literally got the single best massage of my life, thanks to Dan at the spa at the Ritz. If anyone is pregnant, or gets pregnant, or just wants one hell of a great massage, go see Dan. He was uber gay and sweetly flaky (i.e, he told me all about the "male energy" he was getting from the baby, whose favorite color is green, who likes cheese and onions (!?!?!?!) and who thinks that Travis is an okay name but he really likes EVAN. I could go on and on, and, really , that alone deserves its whole own post, but I simply don't have time). Anyway, this reminds me of a public service announcement that I have meant to make for a long time now. If you are pregnant, if you know anyone who is pregnant, get (or get them via gift certificate) PRENATAL MASSAGES! I am so lucky to have a sweet thoughtful and generous husband who buys me gift certificates for a mad amount of prenatal massages at the beginning of my pregnanty, and I 100% credit them with keeping me happy, sane, and relatively comfortable throughout my pregnancy. They are entirely worth every penny. Guys, they also mean that your wife will both love you more, and bug you less for back rubs.

* Beyond just knowing who and where Mom, Dad, and the dog are, Luke has also ascertained the location of some "Parts". He can find with a starteling degree of accuracy where my Nose and Mouth are. He isn't quite as confident with locating his own, but hey, one has to start somewhere.

* He has also learned where "the baby" is. I can ask him to "give the baby a kiss" and he will come running over, lift up my shirt, and start kissing my belly. Pics above. This is now suddenly accompanied by a war whoop, he "sings" while putting his mouth on and off of my belly, and sometimes while hitting my belly. He is either a very old soul and doing some sort of Native American blessing ritual over his new sib, or he is using fierce jedi mind tricks to intimidate this baby into staying put in utero so as to not disturb the pretty sweet set up Luke has as "only child". Whether pure and spiritual, cunning and shrewd, or simply exuberant, it's all pretty freakin cute. I have to get it on video as it is quite a spectacle.

* I am so emotional and nostalgic. I can't stop thinking about "this time last year" ~ Those very last few days of pregnancy before my little joy came into the world. I can't believe that it has been a year. I can't believe that we are about to experience life's greatest blessing again, in so few weeks. Much to be thankful for!

Showers and Baths

Its been crazy busy lately. I was surprised not once, but TWICE with baby showers this past week. Wednesday the wonderful and amazing and sweet and generous girls from playgroup SHOCKED me with a baby shower. The above pic is of me cutting the cake (and Luke plotting how he can EAT the cake). It was such a sweet and thoughtful gesture and immediately made me cry (more on the crying in a moment). Then on Saturday I went to a "tea" that Deb throws "every year" (wink wink) ~ but instead of it being a tea for her neighbors and a bunch of people that I have never met it was a baby shower with my family and friends! I was S.H.O.C.K.E.D. I was so "showered" with love and gifts just a year ago that the thought of having another baby shower this go round simply never entered my mind. That said, it was wonderful to take some time amidst the people that I love to get to celebrate and anticipate this new little life who is about to join us. Huge thank yous to all who participated (and to all of you sneaky little liars out there ~ I had no idea about either shower!) ~ I simply feel so loved and so happy that we are bringing this new little life into such a supportive and loving environment.

Thank you.

In other news, I seem to have entered into the emotional end weeks of pregnancy. I cried at shower #1. I cried at shower #2. I cried because I was sad that we were moving Luke into his new furniture. I cried when I thought I left my wallet at Starbucks (I didn't). I cried when Nate ate the pizza that I wanted for lunch. I cried when Luke spilled my coffee all over his stuffed animals and rug this morning. Lots of crying. Don't let it fool you ~ I'm very very happy. Simply very very big and very very emotional. We got the nursery (Deuce's) set up yesterday and got all of Luke's new big guy furniture and crib into his room. I am thrilled to say that I love the way that it looks! I went and bought more little tiny hangers today and washed the first load of newborn clothes.....they are now clean and tiny and incredibly sweet hanging in the closet just waiting for a little boy or girl to fill them. I literally started laughing out loud when I pulled out the newborn diapers to fill the drawer today ~ are you KIDDING me? Those things are TINY! I just cant believe how little Luke was. He's over 26 lbs these days and although he is SOOOO my 'baby' I know that one day in a few short weeks he is going to seem like some giant KID in comparison to the wee one we are going to bring home. I'm not sure that I'm really ready for the little guy to become the big guy, if you know what I mean.

Luke has a new trick in the bathtub. He is obsessed with laying down on his belly and sticking his whole face into the water. He sits up laughing and sputtering and wiping the water out of his eyes. He also officially loves the shower ~ Our new shower is inanely huge ~ Nate takes Luke in the shower with him and lets the little guy run around in the water under the spray ~ Luke runs back and forth cracking up. No fear of water in this little one.

The 4th Quarter

Everyone always talks about pregnancy in terms of trimesters, but lately I have been thinking that its really more like a basketball game, with 4 quarters. Your first 10 weeks have the initial excitement of the tip off, and then not much happens (From the fan's perspective, anyway). The huge point swings mirror the Mom to be's huge emotional swings, but don't really matter much, things tend to even out over time. The second quarter (weeks 10-20)things start to heat up a little, and just like that last important momentum shift before halftime, you generally have the excitement of your 20 week ultrasound to keep you horribly anxious and excited. Then comes the third quarter, weeks 20-30, the action is heating up, baby is moving all over, and you start to feel (and look!) big. People tune in more.

Then. The 4th quarter. I am in week 31 now, and things are starting to move fast. This baby is coming really soon. The action starts to really matter. You move to biweekly, then weekly appointments, much like the frequent time outs. No one is changing the channel anymore. This lasts until about 37/8 weeks or so, then it becomes EXACTLY like the last two minutes of a basketball game. Waking up each day thinking "gosh, today could be the day"....getting calls from the anxious "fans" as to whether or not anything is happening, enjoying those last few moments when your baby is truly still all "yours" tucked away in there in your belly, but really really feeling ready to meet them on the other side. Like the last 2 min of the game, with all of its fouls and timeouts and TV breaks, those last two weeks can seemingly last forever.

I have to say, I have noticed that the average person really WANTS pregnant women to complain. I cant even believe how socially accepted, even ENCOURAGED it is for a pregnant woman to moan her way through her pregnancy. Yes, your hips hurt. Yes, you have heartburn, and the baby moves a lot, and those little hiccups that used to be so endearing are suddenly not so when its 3 am and your belly is hiccuping with all the weight of a several pound baby. And YES! you are huge and your self confidence is shaky as you look in the mirror and think "who is that beast?" ~ But you know what? Theres a PERSON in there! Of COURSE its a little uncomfortable! You are experiencing literally the greatest miracle of life, in my opinion.

Consider this my vent about the fact that I feel great, and even when I tell people that, its almost like they don't want to hear it. "just you wait".....is something I hear a lot. Well, I have been there, and done that, and I know whats coming. And you know what, I still feel great. And to anyone else out there who is able to enjoy your pregnancy ~ MORE POWER TO YOU MAMA!

Playgroup today ~ cant wait :)

Drinking the Kool Aid

Here is Luke flexing for the camera. I know, I know, he's a total stud. I try not to brag ;).

I took this the other night during our nightly Naked~time/Pajama Mama/Spaz hour between dinner and pajamas/bed (I'm editing this to add that Luke is the Naked one ~ Not the Mama.....) . Luke gets into an absolute frenzy, squealing with delight as the clothes come off and he gets to wreak havoc amongst the toys and random delights of his room. I felt about the same way tonight as I stuffed myself into my uber sexy maternity bathing suit for a "water workout" class at the gym.

Sidebar ~ Our gym is a cult. Before we joined I used to call it "the cult", as it seemed that everyone who was a member there was drinking the Gym Kool Aid a la Jim Jones. Now I see why. Any gym that has its own spa, water park, restaurant, and children's programs out the yin yang absolutely positively becomes a sort of mecca to Mom's like me. Speaking of Mom's like me, in the event that I am ever feeling even slightly creative in my decision to get married, make babies, and dare to try to retain my girlish figure (chuckle) all I need do is walk in the door of the "cult" to remind me that I am a dime a dozen. Trite. Common. The Mom's of my gym are legendary. Skinny little things. The bigger I get the smaller they seem. That goes for anyone, by the way......I swear all of my friends at playgroup today appeared waif like and frail.....but I know that its just that they are healthy and normal and to even see a waistline inspires some sort of weird nostalgic wistfulness in me at the moment. I used to have one of those, you know.

Anyhow. Sidebar over. I had an awesome time swimming and jumping around for an hour. I miss the very act of jumping. With the move and the holidays I had not been to the gym in about 4 weeks and I didn't even realize how much I missed it until tonight. I'm now proudly back on track. With only 11 or so weeks left of this pregnancy I figure its now or never.

We also had playgroup this morning, where Luke got to lavish his walking skills amongst his friends. (again, with the move it had been a few weeks since I had been able to go to playgroup, and was missing the interaction with my friends madly). While I stuffed my face Luke lurched around the room like a drunken Frankenstein with beer goggles lavishing wet kisses on the other kids. My kid, the lurching lover.

First Steps?!

So, what does a milestone make?

Luke has been taking one step for a couple of weeks now. He is fully comfortable standing around on his own not holding onto anything, and that one step would come occasionally before a dramatic happy dive into Mom or Dads waiting arms. As of yesterday, he is now taking two steps at a time. So I guess Luke has officially crossed the 'first steps' threshold. I really think of the milestone being more "walking", but when I was talking to my Mom about it today she said "how incredible, have you put it in his baby book yet?" to which I had to sheepishly reply no. (Although I have a baby book for Luke, I really think of this blog as more of his baby book.) So hear ye, hear ye. A new milestone under the belt. First steps. Wah~hoo little Luke! I can't even believe that you have gone from the pink screaming little newt that you were on your birthday (above, moments after birth) to a funny little critter who walks upright in 9 short months!

I also experienced a milestone lately. It's officially my "SECOND PREGNANCY" as I totally spaced out on an OB appointment last week and was a no show. Last go round I could have told you to the day how far along I was, how many days were left until my due date, and the date and time of every upcoming doctors appointment. Nothing about the awe pregnancy gives me is different this go round ~ those moments laying on the couch after dinner when Deuce is kicking around for Nate to feel and being in bed in the middle of the night feeling kicks and rolls are just as magical and awe inspiring to me, getting to watch my belly grow and change still produces the same fascination in me.....but some of the day to day pregnancy obsession/fixation is gone. Sometimes I forget I am pregnant. In the same way someone who uses a cane or wears glasses forgets that they have them with them, after being pregnant two years in a row I sometimes forget about my protruding belly.....

Ultrasound News

Well, I wanted to post about the Halloween party/parade, but something is wrong with blogger at the moment and I can't upload pics.


I am thrilled to say that we had a wonderful 20 week ultrasound today. Deuce looked fab ~ Right on track for our due date and kicking and squirming away. Everything checked out just right. Thank God.

For some reason I felt more anxious coming up to this ultrasound than I remember feeling with Luke. Perhaps just a feeling of "how on earth can I be so greedy as to expect or hope to have TWO healthy babies??". But God is good and it was nothing short of a total thrill to see the pics of my sweet baby groovin around inside of me. We got some pretty good 4-D pics which I will upload as soon as we get around to taking them off of the fridge and scanning them. Pretty cute little kiddo, if I do say so myself.

Get yourselves prepared for another "baby pool" from us ~ last go round Jen won $640 for getting the date and sex right.......

(By the way, I have to note that after thinking "boy" my entire pregnancy, somehow and against all logic, for some reason that grainy little black and white alien skeletor baby of mine seemed, well, more like a girl to me. So now I am totally confused and have absolutely no 'intuition' as to what gender of baby I am carting around in this round little bally of mine. And if someday you read this, oh child of mine, and you turn out to be a boy ~ Please forgive me for saying that you looked girlish at 20 weeks gestation. )

As soon as blogger is working again, I will post some pics of our little parrot dressed up with his pirate parents at his first Halloween Parade ;)

He wakes up running.

I wish that I could wake up as joyful and energetic as Luke does. I am a morning person (unlike a certain person who shares my bed.....) but I still don't hold a candle to the kid. We have a morning routine that consists of Nate going to get Luke after he has been babbling in his crib for a while. Nate changes his diaper, and brings Luke into our bed for some family cuddle time before Luke and I actually get up for the day. This morning Luke awoke at 7, and Nate went to get him as usual. Its a dark and very rainy day in PA, so it was still dark in our room at 7 AM. Luke came into bed and we stuck him in between us as usual, but today, as it was so dark and 7 am is on the early side of Luke's waking up continuum, we tried to keep our eyes closed, instead of playing with him as we usually do. Luke thought this was HILARIOUS! He cackled with delight, while sticking his sticky little baby fingers directly into our eyeballs and nostrils gleefully. He grabbed onto Nate's nose as though it was a handle, and gave us wet slobbery suck-face "kisses" until he had us both cracking up. Then he commenced with his favorite "non grabbing or kissing Mom or Dad" bed activity ~ Scaling Mt. Pillow in his quest for the holy headboard. Luke LOVES our wrought iron headboard. He climbs up the mounds of pillows and can now reach up to the very top of the headboard. Once he has reached his goal he literally screeches with the thrill of the conquest. Luke is being a parrot for Halloween ~ and I swear, standing up way above our heads, cackling and screeching, he sounded exactly like one. I raised one eyelid and looked up at him ~ my little man, arching his back with laughter, wearing his striped pajamas and his polka dot socks, looked EXACTLY like a bald escapee from a mental asylum. The cutest little escaped lunatic you could ever hope to see, let me tell you.

In other news, Luke seems to be phasing out his middle of the night (3 or 4 am) feeding. Last night he went to bed at 7 as usual, and slept till 6, had a bottle, and slept till 7. This is wonderful, and has been the trend this week, with him even sleeping as late as 8. Heaven. The only issue is that he has me very effectively sleep trained......I wake up around 3.30 every morning waiting to hear him. One beautiful side effect ~ this morning as I was laying there I felt Deuce start to move.....and when I put my hand on my belly I felt two distinct kicks from the outside. That was the first time this has happened this pregnancy. I have been worried that this pregnancy would not be as thrilling or special to me now that I have already "been there done that" if you will. But in the still dark of the night, feeling those two distinct little "hello's" from my tiny unborn babe with my hand....tears came to my eyes instantly. I honestly think that it was the first moment that I truly became aware that there is a baby in there. Our baby. And I love that baby already.

Excuse the bad pic, I need to take some new ones.....this Luke and I having a wrestle during dinner the other night....he in his PJ's and me in my gross gym clothes. I won the wrestle with a convincing pin/tickle combo maneuver. Someday Luke will likely tower over me, so I'm taking my wrestling victories while I can still get them. :)

The Rookie

So Luke has learned how to throw. He loves his red ball and can now palm it ~ so our games of catch have evolved quite a bit (more like a traditional game of catch, you know, where one person throws it to the other and then the other person throws it back.....) rather than ball chasing around the house while Luke Whoo hoo's with joy and flaps his arms wildly around. Not that that wasn't a fun version, but still......

Someone also turned on his talking switch. Ma Ma is his favorite. I cant even begin to pretend that it necessarily means me, as I have seen him Ma Ma at the dog, at Nate, at a bottle, and especially at magazines....but it still makes me happy to hear it! Ba Ba Ba and the Ga's are also a part of the daily repertoire. I swear he says "Hi" on occasion, but I'm sure that's probably my overactive Mama imagination.

We would have been in Italy right now, on day three of our trip. Instead we are in WC, with a sale sign in the yard, a baby in the belly, and Luke in his crib napping away. I thought that I would have been more sad about missing out on the trip, but the upside of a new home and a new member of the clan make me happy about the way that its all shaking out. We decided to go to Grand Cayman in Nov instead of our Italy trip ~ taking the baby along for a week of pure R&R. I can't wait. Anyone out there have any 12-18 month baby boy summer clothes that they want to let me borrow?

Love is a choice

I'm trying to remember that I love my Dog. I remember before I got married someone telling me how there are going to be days where you dont feel like you love your husband, but those days you have to CHOOSE to love them anyway. Today I am trying to choose to love my Dog. Thusfar I am failing....but I thought that maybe confessing it to the general public might keep me more accountable to trying harder.

And I'm househunting ad nauseum. And I'm mothering. And I'm gestating. What a gross-ish word gestating is, eh? Gross or not, I'm doing it.

Today Nate is coming with me to look at 3 houses, two brand new construction and one 150 year old totally redone farmhouse. Ahhh the fun of being married to a Gemini.

Weekend Woes

I suffered from "Panera's Revenge" all weekend. Lost 5 lbs the not fun way. Ate at Panera for the first (and last) time in my life on Friday with Maryanne and Jen, and spent the rest of the weekend very sick. Ugh. Saturday was spent on the couch entertaining the baby and trying to keep down toast while Nate slaved away painting the house in the 100 degree heat. Luke is a great companion while sick, he is such an easy going little guy who vacillates between playing by himself on the floor, crawling everywhere, standing up and falling over, and then coming over for cuddles on the couch. His weigh in last Thursday at my nursing group showed that he gained a pound and a half in less than two weeks, so my guy is getting big. He had stayed at the same weight for about a month, so it was nice to see him gain. 18 and 1/2 lbs now. Wow.

We have been listening to the new baby's heartbeat with a Doppler, it's so amazing to hear that little heart thumping away in there. It makes it start to feel more real to me that we are having another baby. (One would have thought that the fact that I am already having to wear maternity clothes might have done the trick....but no, hearing the heartbeat is making it hit home) As I was so sick I was a little panicked on Friday night about it harming the baby, so its great to hear that heartbeat, very reassuring. For those that put any stock in the old wives tales, this baby's heartbeat is way higher than Luke's always was in utero. (Luke was always 145-150, this baby is in the 165-170 range.) We also listened to Luke's heartbeat with it, much easier to find now that he is sitting on the couch instead of in utero :). We were cracking up to hear it, then us laughing got Luke laughing, and his heart rate went up. We are easily entertained in this household.

I need some help. I am sick of referring to the baby that I am pregnant with as "the new baby", "The baby that I am pregnant with" "the coming arrival" etc etc.....
Please help me give this little peanut some sort of reference name. Something relatively genderless. That way I can specify if I am talking about Luke, or this baby. Anyone can play. I know lots of my friends and family read this, so please, add a comment! Please? There is a place to add your comment right at the bottom of this post. Thanks in advance :)

Gifts from my Boys

Yes, this is a picture of Nate teasing the baby with fatty pork products.

But that isn't what this entry is about. This is about the gift that my guys gave me in the past 24 hours.

Yesterday I had a Dr's appointment. At this stage of pregnancy that consists of sitting in the waiting room for one hour, experiencing the indignity of handing a nurse a cup filled with your own urine, and then seeing the Dr for about 3 min (after the 65 min wait), long enough for him to tell me that my blood work looks great, and send me on my way with a pat on the ass. Just kidding, no pat on the ass. But it feels like a verbal pat on the head ~ great job! keep it up! see you in four weeks! DING. Next patient. Baaaaaaa....the assembly line of pregnant sheep continues to wind through the office. Anyway, that isn't what this post is about either.

We went to King of Prussia mall to meet Becca for some lunch. As I was driving home, Brooke called me and cancelled. She was supposed to babysit Luke last night so that Jenny and I could take advantage of the awesome right-behind-home-plate diamond club Phillies tickets that Dad had given me. Nate was in DC and planning on being home later that night, so I was relying solely on Brooke so that Jenny and I could go. As it was about 60 degrees and raining, it was NOT a night that I wanted to take Luke to the game with us. I was so disappointed.

I texted Nate the bad news and he said that he would take care of it. Turns out my sweet husband left DC early to come home and take care of Luke so that Jenny and I could go to the game! The depth and breadth of notes that I left was a little embarrassing (This is Luke's food, this is his bib, remember to change his diaper, his pajamas are laid out etc etc etc.....) Anyway. Nate got home right at 5.30, we performed the "hand off the baby" routine, and Jenny and I got to the game well before the start. It was a great game, and the Phils won 5-4, Ryan Howard stole his first base ever, and Nate took Luke to watch his first ever football practice down the street at Henderson. It made me so happy to think of my boys hanging out together at home, and it was just so great to have several uninterrupted hours with Jenny without one kid or another pulling at our leg.

I got home and Luke was safely tucked into bed (still breathing too, I checked) and appeared to be in one piece, as did Nate. How proud was I? It was great.

Anyway. I haven't really gone into it here as I have been away so much, but we have been having some sleep issues around this house lately. In the wake of two weeks of Luke sleeping with me most nights on our vacations, the little critter seems to have taken a liking to having a warm food source nestled up directly against his little face all night long. Imagine his dismay when we got home and aforementioned food source and nurturer extraordinaire was nestled away next to Dad in another bedroom. Agony. Luke was up several times a night lately. So we started the whole "sleep training" thing on Sunday night to get us back to the happy place of Luke sleeping through the night.

Cutting to the chase here, Luke slept from 8 PM till 7 AM! I was THRILLED (although I admit I woke up in a panic and rushed into his room when I woke up and saw that it was light outside........he was sitting up happily looking around his crib when I entered his room....it's funny to think of him having this little 'secret life' of alone time in his room, looking around at his stuff and thinking whatever little thoughts babys think)

So. A night out alone with a girlfriend, and a FULL night of sleep for this pregnant Mama. I am over the moon with happiness. I love my boys.

We have playgroup today so I need to get it into gear, we had to miss last time as we were recovering from the "blood in diaper" incident, so I am so excited to see everyone, chow down and have our kiddos play (I have to brag that our playgroup has the best potluck lunches in town ~ we know how to eat!!!). Now that Luke is crawling playgroup is going to be a whole new world of exploration. I cant wait.

Dawg Days

Well, its officially August "down the shore". The corn is sweet, the days are so hot, and the shoobies have migrated en masse to the sandy beach.

The water has hit 75, so Luke was fully submerged in the Atlantic Ocean for the first time in his little life today. He delighted in it. This child, like his Mama, is destined to be a beach baby. He went for a long walk on the boardwalk to start his day, took a nap on the beach, swam in the ocean, and now rests, weary and smelling like sunshine downstairs in his crib. I left the beach early today, claiming that the baby could really use a nap in the sanctity of his crib......but in reality this is my chance for some quiet downtime and to watch the finale of the PGA Championship. The guys are out on the boat trolling for Tuna, so hopefully they will bring us home dinner......

Pregnancy is helping me really slow down and enjoy each moment. These days pass too quickly, and this pregnancy is a great reminder to take it easy, sit back, and soak them in.

I love the beach. I love the summer. And I love this town.

I scream, You scream

We all scream for Ice Cream.

Now we know that Luke screams FROM ice cream too.

Bad parents. Lesson learned. No matter how cute that wide open pleading "I want a bite of that" face is, no matter how fervent and insistent the "feed me that" cues, we must resist feeding the baby ice cream at all times.

Its been a long couple of days. On Monday night Luke had a few bites of Rita's ~ some of the vanilla custard part of a Gelotti. Didn't think twice about it. My adventurous little eater is flat out fascinated with all things food and has not balked at a single thing we have fed him. So, a few small harmless bites of soft serve from Dad...great idea....right? Cute and funny how delighted he was at the taste, right? Wrong. That night I was up about 3 or 4 times with a crying baby ~ very unlike Luke. That morning as I was changing his third poopy diaper of the day (again, not like Luke to go so often) I noticed some snotty like mucousy blood in the diaper. Ugh. Not normal, not good. Luckily Jenny was about 2 minutes away from our house as we were getting together that day, so I greeted her at the door with an "I need you to look at something gross". Luckily Jenny is not just a pediatric nurse, she is also one of my best friends and shares my penchant for OCD~like worrying. She confirmed that it did appear to be blood, and told me to call the DR but not panic, it was likely absolutely nothing. I wracked my brain to come up with some potential cause, something new in his diet. I had let him suck on a pickle when Dee and I were out to lunch the day before, could that be it? When Dad was over for dinner that night we had handed Luke a roll to gum away at, could that be it? Never thought of the ice cream.
Anyway. Long story short, Luke is fine. It appears that the blood in the stool (ew, and sorry for the explicit grossness that telling this story mandates) was caused by what will likely turn out to be a dairy allergy. Babies are not supposed to have dairy before at least 9 months of age. Add to that the fact that I had a dairy allergy as a child, and it is likely that this is the culprit. I did take Luke to the DR......sheepishly confessed what we had inadvertently done to our innocent child, and she made me feel a lot better with an admission that her husband fed their son ice cream with nuts in it at 7 months! Doh. The part that was stressful was that the DR said that I should eliminate all dairy from my diet as I am nursing and this is likely a dairy allergy. This was like a bomb going off for me. I am pregnant, and nursing, and love me some milk.
After much soul searching, talking to Nate, and Jenny, and Leanne, I have decided to keep a close watch on Luke and continue to follow my normal diet. Luke pooped a whole lot of times yesterday, all of them normal. I feel as though the ice cream was a jolt to his little system, and that it worked its way through, and things are (hopefully) back to normal. I will continue to keep a close eye on things and hopefully all will be normal from here out.

I find it ironic that a post or two ago I was complaining about changing diapers with morning sickness, and then mere days later I was literally examining each and every part of gross dirty diapers to ascertain what exactly what was, or wasn't, in them. Nothing so stomach clenching as sifting through baby poop with your heart in your throat hoping not to find any blood.

It was really scary. I take it for granted that Luke is healthy, strong and thriving. The moment that something caused me to question that, it hit me full force how fragile and tenuous that presumption of perfect health is.

It was so much fun to have Jenny over as Maggie and Luke are almost exactly the same age spread as Luke and our new addition will be. This new baby is also due on the exact same day as Maggie was! I can only hope for a little one as sweet, beautiful, and easy going as little Maggs is. It was just a surreal feeling to watch Maggie walking around like a little Frankenstein as Luke sat around and watched her ~ its like fast forwarding a year.

Nate and I have been driving around and looking at areas that we would want to live in, the DC condo is on the market now, and we are getting ready to get this house ready to list, although we are in no huge rush to get this house on the market. It will likely sell quickly as the borough is very desirable. Maybe by the end of September or early October. Anyone interested in a Mclean VA Condo?

I almost forgot.......

Look carefully at the above picture and see if you can catch what's going on.

Luke is barefoot.........

And I am PREGNANT!

We are thrilled to announce that Version 2.0 of the Melis/Nate collaboration is on its way. We had an ultrasound yesterday and were introduced to the little grey blob that we cant wait to welcome into our family. I have to add that it is simply the strangest way to meet someone that you already love more than life itself. "This is the brain, and the heartbeat is that flicker there......" Can you imagine if you had met your husband that way? Or even your family pet? Its so otherworldly to look at that grainy picture and imagine all of the joy that it encompasses.
We are due March 23rd, which we just realized is Easter Sunday. We have a thing for holidays, I suppose. We are just festive like that. Although it is still early, seeing that little heart flickering away made us feel great, and we would appreciate all of the good thoughts and prayers you can muster for a healthy pregnancy and baby.

The maternity clothes that I just packed away a couple of months ago are on their way back out (That whole "you show sooner the second time around" thing is no joke, by the way)......

I have been more nauseous this go round....and inadvertently created the perfect storm of disgustingness by introducing solids into Luke's diet at the same time as I am dealing with morning sickness......something about those diapers and my stomach ~ Oh my. Its ugly. I am still nursing Luke full time so you all may want to be careful not to get any of your body parts near me when you see me ~ I may eat them. Sorry and consider yourself forewarned. Growing a baby while nourishing another is hard work and creates QUITE the appetite.

Anyway, we are thrilled, and we are going to be VERY busy with two babies only 13 or so months apart. We also have a lot on our plate with two houses to sell, buying a new house, and moving while pregnant......But we are up to the challenge and thrilled to see our family grow. Thank you all for the love, and support, and prayers that you send our way! We feel so very blessed to have such wonderful family and friends.