Toddler Tales Week 60: And Now, We Wait

With the baby just weeks away, and most things in order and ready for his/her arrival, Eric and are trying to just enjoy as much down-time as possible and the rest of our time with Asher as a family of three.

As I've said in a few previous posts, Asher is growing up quickly these days.  As I write this, he is now (today) 26 months old and changes every day.  His vocabulary is constantly growing and although he babbles some times (I think just for fun), we can understand most of what he says.  He is speaking in simple sentence and is becoming a very polite and lovable young man, saying please, thank you, bless you, excuse me, etc even more frequently than Eric and I do and giving us hugs and kisses all the time.  One day this week he even saw a picture of a friend's baby on my phone and asked, "Is that Hudson (his baby cousin)?" as he bent down to give my phone a kiss.  

While he is a very good boy most of the time, and one that I am happy to call mine, he also has a sassy side (which he must get from his father!) : )  He enjoys yelling at Emma with "Emma No!" and "Emmaaaaaa!" and "Emma git down".  He also likes to answer "No" or a simple "Nope" to pretty much every question we ask him and throw little fits when he does not get his way...in true toddler fashion.  This week he even said what I would count as his first lie.  I caught him walking through the hallway, looking like something was in his mouth.  I asked, "Asher, do you have a button in your mouth?"  Knowing full well that he is not allowed to put his buttons in his mouth, or I will take them away, he immediately spit a button into his hand and replied, "No."  It is a bit shocking to think he can already lie at two years old, but Eric said that since he technically didn't have the button in his mouth when he responded, he didn't lie...I'm not sure that counts.  

Not only is Asher now our little liar, he is also a thief.  This week as I was getting something out of the fridge to get ready for dinner, Asher ran inside as he typically does asking for things to eat. I told him no and that we were going to eat dinner in a few minutes.  I then proceeded to shut the door (gently squeezing him, to force him out), and as he moved to escape the closing door he quickly grabbed two grapes out of the fridge and made a break for it!

Besides being sweet and sassy, Asher is also quite funny.  He loves his daddy dearly and is becoming a mini-Eric.  It is pretty cute to observe, because Eric thoroughly enjoys playing with him these days as well.  They make a good team and a cute pair.  They love to wrestle and be silly together, and Asher loves to say or do goofy things that will make us laugh.  One night, while getting ready for bed, he did just that.  He had just gotten a bath and the reindeer towel that his Auntie Erika had made for him was in a pile on the floor.  You couldn't really see any of the towel's face, other than a part of the brown antler sticking out on the floor.  Asher bent down and pointed at it asking, "Is this poop?", which made us bust out laughing, surprised by the comment.  Then, before we responded to the question, he proceeded to pick it up and put it in his mouth, and all I could think was that I hope he was pretty sure it wasn't poop before he decided to eat it!

This week, he continued to do great in his new bedroom and big boy bed.  It is funny, because he stays in bed until we come to get him in the morning.  It wasn't until this past Sunday that he actually got out of bed on his own (because he was very upset that it was nap time), but once he realized that he couldn't open the door and we weren't coming to get him, he went back into his bed and took a three hour nap.

So all that to say, that we are truly enjoying the little boy that Asher is becoming and trying to relish every moment we have with him before our focus/attention is split for him AND 'M'.  Here's how we enjoyed him this week...

Eric played with him and his best buddy Theo at church...

Video: Ring Around the Rosie

We introduced him to another new IBC baby (our friends' daughter Catie) and let him play with his friend William and his toys for a bit...

Picture courtesy of Jen Wohlers (Catie & Williams Mom)

Asher & I went to the park on my day off so that he could play more with his buddy Theo, and we topped it off by an all-you-can-eat Pizza Hut lunch together!

We enjoyed his silly dancing'.

Video: Asher dancing to Cotton Eye Joe

We enjoyed a family trip to Dairy Queen and Asher enjoyed his first cone!

We enjoyed played outside.  Asher loves to "cower" in the driveway and is now a big fan of being traced or tracing us.

We enjoyed a walk around the marina to check out the Harbor Market, the boats and the duckies.

As you can see, it was a pretty good week of family time.  Unfortunately one of the members of our family wasn't as happy as the other three.  On Thursday night I walked into the house to find this...

It seems that Emma was either was highly perturbed by something or someone in our back yard during the day, or she just decided to terrorize our Kitchen and Dining room to get some attention from us.  She had shredded some paper, threw the pillows off our bench, almost knocked a picture of the wall, puked on the floor, peed on the floor and pulled a bunch of dirt out of a potted plant!  Since she has never done anything like this before, we have given her the benefit of the doubt that something must have gotten her really riled up during the day, but if it happens again any time soon she will be spending time in her crate when we're not home!

M: The Third Trimester Part 1

August 29, 2014:  It is almost Labor Day, and I am not just talking about this coming Monday!  As of today, I am 37 weeks along, which the means the baby is full-term and can come any day!  The time for guessing if 'M' is a boy or girl is almost done, and soon we will know the answer.  Take a second to give us your vote (at the right), and soon the world will know!

Will Asher have a baby sister or a baby brother?

July 22, 2014:

So it is now week 31, and I've gotten a bit behind in my journaling of M's life before meeting the rest of the world.  I'll do my best to update the past few weeks.  Here goes...

Week 28 (June 27-July 3): This week we had another doctor's appointment and I did my 1 hour glucose test.  Everything went well at the doctor's appointment.  My belly was measuring at exactly 28 weeks and baby is doing well also.  Surprisingly the heart rate was only 135, but I think that had a lot to do with the fact that I had done my glucose test a bit before my appointment (with the test, the baby was going CRAZY after I drank the nasty flat-orange-pop-tasting-elixer, so I have to assume it was pretty tuckered out and sleeping later at my appointment).  I talked to the doctor about some pain that I have been having under my right ribs and in my back.  She thought it might be acid reflux and to try Zantac (I did...it didn't help).  She also told me that unfortunately I failed my 1 hour test.  Apparently the cut off level is 140 and I came in at 153.  Thus, the 3 hour glucose test was in my future.  Finally, the dr. also asked that I schedule another ultrasound.  I was afraid that she wanted me to do that because she had concerns, but she assured me that it was routine (these days, not when I had Asher) and that she just wanted to make sure everything was still going well.

28 Weeks

Week 29 (July 4-July 10): Eric, Asher and I enjoyed a family vacation this week spending time at the cottage in Michigan and also traveling around Kentucky.  It was a fun (although somewhat stressful) week, but meant that I never got around to a Week 29 photo.  I wasn't sure how the traveling would go with being so pregnant, but other than trying to schedule much needed potty breaks around when Asher was awake in the care it went pretty well.  My back still continued to hurt though and sleeping at night started to become a thing of the past.  I also was told this week by a stranger that I was no-doubt having a boy.  It was on my birthday, and although it shouldn't have bothered me, it did.  I think it bothered me, because I am starting to agree with her.  My feelings of having a girl are much less confident these days and although I will surely love and adore another little boy, I have always had a dream of having one of each.  Only God knows though, and thankfully He knows best! :)

Week 30 (July 11-July 17): The level of discomfort continued to rise this week.  My back is killing me and feels as though I have a constant knife stabbing me.  The only relief I can get is laying down with ice or heat at night and praying that something will distract me from the constant irritation.  On Wednesday of this week, I had a busy day off filled with appointments.  First, we had our 30 week ultrasound.  The baby's heart rate was back up at 155 and it was fun to watch it wiggle around.  Asher got to join us this time to see the baby, but really didn't have much interest in what was going on.

After the ultrasound, we left the hospital and headed across the street to Asher's pediatrician for his 2 year check-up.  Then it was back in the direction of home to get Asher to daycare so that I could take a quick nap and head back to the hospital for my next appointment.  Before doing so though, I did make a detour at Target to return some items and also start a baby registry.  Although I know I won't be getting many (if any) gifts this time around and there will be no baby showers, I figured I might as well make a registry to keep track of what we need to get and take advantage of the freebies they give you in addition to the 10% off completion coupon they send and the $20 target gift card (which I had gotten a coupon for in the mail).  At my appointment, I was not able to see a doctor as mine was out of town and the one I was going to see had an emergency surgery.  Instead I saw a nurse.  Again, everything is going well.  The baby's heart rate had slowed to 140, and my belly is still measuring right-on despite the fact that we learned at the ultrasound earlier that day that the baby is measuring 2 weeks ahead of schedule!!  ...so...we may have a tall or chubby baby, or maybe an early arrival... who knows?

30 Weeks

Week 31 (July 18-July 24): Finally, Week 31.  The week started out tired, and seems to be continuing that way.  I have been experiencing horrible restless legs during the evenings, making it almost impossible to fall asleep at night.  When the exhaustion finally does kick in, I am able to get a little bit of rest here and there between needing to get up to use the bathroom, repositioning to find a "comfortable" place to lay and trying to ignore my back pain which continues.  The other night, I totally broke down out of shear exhaustion and frustration.  I do not remember being nearly this uncomfortable with Asher and don't know if I am just a bigger wimp these days or if this pregnancy is harder on my body.  Either way, I am becoming convinced that this will be our last child and pray that it is a girl so that we can happily stop with one of each.  If it is another boy, I may just be happy to be done, or consider adopting a little girl.  I have no desire to be pregnant ever again, and have asked Eric to remind me of this two years from now when I think that we should have another baby! ;) 

This week I also endured my 3 hour glucose test (on Saturday morning).  I haven't heard the results yet, but am hoping that like Asher I passed and do not have gestational diabetes.  At this point, I am assuming that no news is good news.

Week 32 (July 25-July 31): This week, my discomfort continued, but has gotten slightly better.  I am still experiencing restless legs, but have found that laying on a heat pad when I go to sleep helps some (often enough to be able to fall asleep).  Unfortunately, I am still getting up several times a night and have resolved to sleeping on the couch.  With my parent's anniversary party behind us, Eric and I have enjoyed a week with little to do, and we have pushed aside everything else.  It has been nice to have a few nights to just relax with my husband, rather than working on one thing or another from the time I get up to the time I go to bed.  I also got my results back from my glucose test this week and found out that I passed, so that was good news.

32 Weeks

This is the result of me (a very preggo woman) grocery shopping alone...a delicious (albeit unhealthy) snack at work!

Week 33 (August 1-August 7): Right now, I am about half way through week 33.  Everything is about the same discomfort-wise, but I am trying to manage it to the best of my abilities and distract myself as much as possible.

On Wednesday this week, I had another appointment and met one of the male doctors in the group, Dr. Ambro.  He was nice, although very quiet.  After waking up on Monday night in excruciating (I could barely move) pain, I asked him (like I've asked a couple of nurses and both female doctors) about the pain that I am experiencing below my ribs and in my back.  Although I do think it is some sort of muscle strain or tear, and he agrees, he ordered me to get another ultrasound to check for gallstones.  I don't think that they will find anything, but since we've met our deductible already for the year, it can't hurt to get it checked out.

33 Weeks

Week 34 (August 8-August 14): On Wednesday this week, I got another ultrasound to check my gallbladder.  As I write this (one week later) I still haven't heard anything about it from the doctor, so I assume that everything was normal.  Eric and I also celebrated our 12th anniversary this week with a getaway night in Chicago to serve as both an anniversary celebration and a babymoon.  Although I was sore and exhausted by the end of the weekend from all of our walks around the downtown area, it was still an amazing time that I am thankful we could spend together before 'M's arrival.

34 Weeks

Week 35 (August 15-August 21): This week I realized that the my due date is one month away!  Although I cannot believe how quickly the last 8 months have passed, I also can't believe that I still have a month to go (it seems like forever away still).

These days, I am sleeping slightly better and was excited that I spent an entire night in our bed a couple of days ago (for the first time in weeks).  I am still suffering from restless legs, but have found some remedies which seem to help: While the ivory bar of soap under my sheet did nothing for me, I have found that a heat pad on my lower back helps, as does lavender baby lotion (an idea I got in the middle of the night after noticing that several restless leg oils had lavender in them-and we happened to already have the lotion at home), and also baths before bed with some magnesium bath salts that I received from my sister-in-law who got them from her sister.  As I said, none of these remedies fix the problem, but I have slept quite a bit better lately because of them.  

In the growth department, baby and I continue to put on weight.  Several people keep saying things like "any day now" and "wow, you are ready to pop" and are surprised when I tell them I still have a month to go.  I probably can't blame everything on the baby though, as I have been craving ice cream (specifically Target's Strawberry Cheesecake, which my freezer is currently lacking) and chocolate milk lately, along with other sweet snacks at work.  I am trying (but not my best) to keep it as healthy as possible, but often the fruit snacks overrule the fruit.

Also, at this point, every girl at church that was due before me has had her baby (with the most recent this afternoon) even though two of those girls were not due until September like me.  It is exciting to know that I am next and although I still have a ton of work to accomplish before 'M' comes, I would be thrilled to go into labor soon (well at least once I am "full term" in just over a week).  At the same time, it is a little scary, I will admit.  With Asher, I didn't know what I was in for, this time is different.  I still don't know what it would be like to naturally go into labor (since we induced with Asher), but I do know the pain that is ahead of me and I also know that with Asher the epidural did not work at all even though I got to have it twice (after the first time held much drama and the doctor hit a nerve injecting it).  I question if I want to even bother with the epidural this time.  If only I knew for sure that it wouldn't work again, I'd rather do without.  However, the chance that it might work this time is still tempting.

35 Weeks

August 29, 2014:  

Week 36 (August 22-August 28): This week started off with a doctor's appointment that gave us a bit of a scare.  It wasn't anything major, but we found out that 'M' was currently breach and not head down as she (a "she week") should be.  Immediately, my doctor started talking about C-sections and inducing, two things I am REALLY hoping to avoid!  Eric and I (along with several friends and family) spent the week praying that the baby would turn, along with shining a flashlight on my belly for her to follow and Eric talking to her low on my belly.  On Wednesday, I had another appointment and found that God answered our prayers.  The baby is now in the correct position, although not fully locked in place.  Now we are just praying that she stays there until delivery!

With my pregnancy being more than 90% complete, we are both getting a little anxious.  Most things are ready at this point, but there are still some necessities that we have yet to pick up (diapers, etc) and things around the house that need to be done (cleaning the nursery, getting the crib ready for a newborn and getting out/cleaning the other baby-related items from storage (car seat, clothes, travel bassinet, etc).  There is much to do, and little time to do it.  Work has been busy and we are both trying to get things in order (as much as possible) before 'M' arrives.  Lately, my allergies have also been kicking my butt, which means that all I want to do when I get home from work is close my eyes and rest.

Despite the anxiousness, the excitement is also kicking in.  I am ready to meet this little guy or girl...ready to snuggle him up in my arms...Ready to introduce her to her big brother...Ready to find out if 'M' is actually a baby boy or girl (although at this point, I have gone from strongly believing that M is a girl to thinking it has to be a boy)!  I have been so busy with Asher during this pregnancy that I really haven't had the time to bond with the baby yet, like I did with him, but lately the little kicks and the first hiccups that I've noticed the other day have made me smile (as long as it isn't kicks in the ribs!).  I also went out to Kohl's the other day and bought a few items for 'M' and I couldn't help but smile as I held the itty bitty clothes in my hands.  I don't know what it will be like to be a family of four, I am afraid of how exhausted I will likely be caring for a newborn while caring for a toddler, but I also can't wait for it all to begin.  I trust that God will give us the strength to do what needs to be done as He did the first time around, and that He will grow our love for our family exponentially with this addition!

36 Weeks

36 Weeks Comparison (With Asher)

Toddler Tales Week 59: Slow Down!

This week began with the end of our getaway weekend.  Although we both had a wonderful time together in Chicago, we could not wait to get home to our little man.  I would be lying though if I did not admit that as much as I missed him, I was happy he was sleeping when we got home so that we could get a little rest ourselves before normal (toddler) life continued.

As I said, while we were gone I had a great time with Eric, but also missed my little boy bit terribly, and a (big) part of me hoped that he missed us too.  I was happy that he had a great time hanging out with Grandma and Papa for the weekend, but a little heartbroken that he seemed to barely notice that we were gone.  That heartbreak continued when Asher woke up from his nap and only wanted to give Daddy some love!  :(

Playing with Daddy (a new thing he learned from Papa...hanging things from your ears)

Giving Daddy some Love

Even though I felt a bit slighted by Asher's affections for Daddy, I did eventually get some love myself and then normal life was back up and running.

On Wednesday this week, Asher and I headed to the park for a fun Mommy-Son morning together.  Asher exercised his big-boy nature by wanting to climb everything in sight.  At the same time, however, he kept a very close eye on me and didn't want to ever be more than an arms reach away...especially after some bigger kids arrived at the park who, although were doing nothing wrong, seemed to greatly antimidate Asher.

Video: The Proper Way to Eat Corn

That evening we had corn-on-the-cob with our dinner again.  A couple of weeks ago Grandpa Migrin sent Asher a video showing him the proper way to eat corn (typewriter style, "ding").  Asher thinks the video is hilarious and so Eric made a video of Asher to send back to Grandpa.

One Friday all I could think was "Slow Down" as we culminated the week with another Big Boy Milestone...Asher slept in his big boy bed for the first time!!  As excited as Eric and I were to make the transition, and wanting to make sure it happened before 'M' arrives, it did put a bit of a lump in both of our throats, as we realized that our little boy is growing VERY QUICKLY.  Just two years ago, he was just starting to sleep in his crib, and now he is sleeping in a twin bed all by himself!  Where did the time go?

Anyway...when work was done that evening, Eric picked him up and they headed to Walmart to get some necessary supplies (bed rail, door locks and a pool noodle), while I headed home to finish touching up our paint job and cleaning up the room for Asher to move in.

Asher trying on a life jacket at Walmart.  he looks like one of the employees.

It took some work to get everything ready, and Asher went to bed quite a bit later than normal, but Operation Big Boy Bed was a complete success!  He didn't cry at all and stayed in his bed all night long until we came to get him the next morning! Eric and I were shocked how well it went, but also thrilled!

Asher & I getting ready to say goodnight before his first night in his new bed.

Our little boy sleeping in his bed.

Rise and shine.  Asher played in his bed until we came to get him.

The next morning was Saturday and the end of Toddler Tales Week 59.  We enjoyed a lazy family day including time at home, the Sweet Corn Festival at Jerry Smith's Farm, and a pizza lunch at Sam's club...a great way to round out the week.

Asher & I enjoying our corn.

Asher really liked the bubbles at the festival.

Asher & I on the hayride around the farm grounds.

Asher & Daddy at the Farm's playground