Last week we did a craft with my mom's group: tie-dyed shirts! It was easy and fun (especially since someone else did most of the work!) and I think it turned out great! Now Joseph can be psychedelic.
Blind as a bat? Let's hope not. He sure looked like he was in one of those weird optical illusion paintings while walking with T.J.'s glasses on, so I'm thinking his eye sight is not as bad as Daddy's (lucky for him!)
Now that he can put the glasses on, I guess we need to stop letting him play with them, but it was too cute not to take pictures this time!
He really does look *just* like T.J. 
Joseph is learning about emotions, and it's pretty hilarious. This weekend he started to say "I cry" when he's sad or hurt. It's usually pretend (I think) from his ability to actually tell me that he's crying, and the fact that he usually is not.
Coinciding with this little bit is that mom-hugs and mom-kisses fix things now! It's pretty awesome.
He also randomly will say "I happy". It makes us happy, too!
Note to self: stop making tiny things! They are just so tempting in their cuteness and quickness, though! I've done this pattern twice before and loved it, so I did it with another yarn but it knit up much smaller. My fault for not doing a gauge swatch. Hopefully it'll fit Baby Girl for a day or two!
I think next up is a sweater for Joseph.
According to my ticker, my daughter is now supplied with all of the eggs she'll have for her lifetime. That means that my potential grandchildren are INSIDE ME right now.
How is that for a legacy?
That is super cool. And makes me appreciate my mom's obsession with Joseph a bit more. Haha!
OK, so I'm being lazy and copying a bunch of it from our 3yr anniversary post, but I'm adding on, so that counts, right???
Happy Anniversary to my love. I wouldn't want to have done this with anyone else!
Alaska - August 2004
Engaged
Notre Dame - August 2005
Wedding
Wedding Reception
Pittsburgh
Hawaii - January 2008
Alaska - May 2008
Atlanta - March 2009
Notre Dame, September 2009
Christmas - 2010
Oh yes I did. I went to Gymboree today and bought 21 (TWENTY ONE) items for the baby girl.
Joseph got some stuff, too.
Everyone else is gonna have to go easy on shopping, because this Mama is having fun.
I'm happy to say that only about 1/4 was pink! Bwahahaha!
My splurge of the day:
My favorite time to photograph Joseph is during dinner. Our kitchen is on the northwest corner, so we get great afternoon light and his eyes always look gorgeous! That's why he's always got food on or in his mouth.
I'm feeling much better this week, emotionally! Sunday was rough physically, but that seems to have passed and we're back to my normal headache/sciatic nerve complaints. Which honestly I don't even want to complain about anymore after Sunday! Ha! Guess it's all relative.
T.J. is traveling for work this week, so Joseph and I have been making an extra effort to stay busy and have fun. Today we went swimming with friends and took a walk to get ice cream! Who doesn't love a day like that?
One of the things I enjoy the most about this part of pregnancy is that I can reliably lie down at night or roll over in the morning and Baby Girl will greet me with a little kick! It's hard to focus too much on the pregnancy during the day (besides the negative physical aspects) while attending to Joseph, so I'm enjoying out special little time together when all is quiet. I can't wait until T.J. can share it with us, but with my placenta in front, it might be a while longer.
Meanwhile, Joseph has become more pleasant most mornings, too! He would always cry to alert us that he was awake, which I started to really resent when we were traveling and were in the SAME ROOM as him and he could just say "Mama, Daddy, I'm awake". Luckily my most excellent mom's group suggested that I actually *tell* him to say that when he woke up. Duh, Jen. At first I didn't think it'd work or that he'd remember, but it did - very quickly and most of the time. I wonder what other good works I can use this method for? Potty training? Play date meltdown prevention? Hmm...
He also often wakes up talking about rhinos and elephants and meercats - all of his favorite animals that the zoo! I'm not sure if he dreams about them, or is telling his stuffed animals how he went to see them, or if he just likes to talk to himself! But it's ridiculously cute to wake up to in the morning!
I'm learning (albeit very slowly) that the more work I put into something, and the more I think Joseph will like it, the less he will care.
Breakfast? I know, let's make pancakes! Sure it dirties every measuring cup in the house, take 30 minutes, and happens at the precise time of the day that I hate doing anything but lying on the couch, but Joseph loves to help cook, loves to eat pancakes. He will LOVE it!
Queue meltdown as I begin preparing (after making the mistake of telling him we'd make pancakes - if I say we're going to eat something, he wants it NOW). Then more meltdowns as I won't make a puzzle, do stickers, or anything else fun with him while I'm trying not to burn a million pancakes. Finally, the pancakes are done. But he decides to throw his fork. I'm starting to hardline on this behavior, so now he's fork-less. He won't eat with his fingers (I know, right?) and doesn't care to be fed by me when his fork is on the floor (only when he has his own utinsels - in which case he's incapable of using them himself), so he gets about 1/2 a pancake down between bouts of whining. Gee, that was worth it.
But hey, it's only 8:30am! There is a WHOLE day of fun to be had! Why don't we go to the Botanical Garden and run around?
"Stroller, stroller, stroller, stroller, stroller" (Imagine this said about 10,000 more times in a row, because I'm trying to get him to walk instead of sit through an entire morning. I guess I should be grateful that he doesn't want to run away from me, but half the point is to get out and get exercise, right? Aren't toddlers supposed to have an independent streak?
No matter, now he should take a great nap after lunch, since he's been well fed and had lots of fresh air.
But noooooo, today is the day where he falls asleep the last 3 minutes him in the car, and thus refuses to nap. Which is fine and dandy, until about 5:30pm. Then not only is he exhausted, but he is HUNGRY, and the short order cook (that'd be me) apparently didn't get his explicit request for food. That explicit request, by the way, is running around like a banshee and basically acting like a normal toddler. So all of a sudden we go from smiles to demon-child and I have approximately 3 minutes to figure out what he'll eat (because it changes hourly) and get it on the table before I *really* start regretting life.
Finally, bedtime. He's had a rough day, and I feel bad for him. He loves to read books, and always pushes to read more than the his quota of 3. So tonight, I read him a collection of FOUR Thomas books, in addition to the regular three, because hey, he'd appreciate it, right? Nooooooo. Apparently I'm supposed to read 4,000 extra books or my efforts mean nothing. Should've just stuck with the same 3 boring books we always read.
The only sweet relief I get is my reliable hug and kiss before bedtime, and the knowledge that tomorrow is a completely boring, normal day, without anything but cheerios for breakfast, a playdate, a regular nap, and playing trains around the house while mom cooks and cleans.
Thank goodness for boring days.
We had 2 prenatals this week plus the ultrasound (I know, I still owe you pictures from that), so it was a very baby-centered week. Maybe that's why I've been feeling like I already have two kids in terms of workload?
I forgot to mention from the ultrasound that my placenta is anterior and to my left side - safe for delivery, but a PITA for trying to get a heartbeat using a fetoscope rather than a doppler, as that is where you generally find baby, and it's like getting a heartbeat through a pillow. I'll have to decide later what to do about that if they still have trouble with the fetoscope. I guess if they can't get it on the fetoscope I'll just have to use the doppler, but I hate to be using it twice a month. I'd still prefer to avoid excessive use of the doppler, but it's important to get good heart rates to make sure the baby is safe in there.
Here's a belly picture... I was not really in a great mood yesterday (or all this week, frankly), and I think the picture reflects that. I'm trying to smile more today - fake it till I make it. Hopefully this little bout of blues goes away quickly, otherwise I guess that's just another thing we'll have to address at my next prenatal.
Girl!
66% of my voters were right. Wow, you guys should play the lottery!
Of course we're thrilled (we would have been either way). I thought it was a girl, so it didn't really feel like a "surprise". I do have to say that having done it both ways, it was much more exciting to wait till the end. However, now perhaps DB2 will get some nice hand knits to wear made by Mama. :)
And no, we don't have a name picked out. We probably won't decide for sure until she's born and we get to see her. Can't get set on Neveah and then wish we'd picked Gertrude, right? ;)
We go in for our ultrasound tomorrow, and we're planning to find out if it's a boy or girl (hopefully DomerBaby2 is cooperative)!
Do you think it's a boy or a girl? Vote now on the blog!
Quick Rundown of this Pregnancy:
1) I don't feel different this time than I did last time
2) I didn't have nausea (again - didn't w/ Joseph either)
3) Heart rate was very high at first appointment
4) No heartburn
5) Skin is about the same as normal
6) I've gained less weight so far than last time
Way back in April when Auntie Debbie came to visit, she taught Joseph to tell me that he pooped (I think so she could get his smelly self away from her). Ever since then, he's been doing his thing in his pants and then (usually) coming to tell us that he pooped almost immediately. It's been great - much less mess when he's not sitting down and squishing it in his pants.
Today, he started to grunt and then said "Mama, poop" so I asked if he wanted to go put his poop in the potty. He ran toward the bathroom and when I checked (I fully expected a full diaper) he hadn't gone yet! So I put him on the toilet and told him to push it out, AND HE DID! Then he promptly asked to read a book. Just like a man - why can't they read AFTER the get off the toilet?
I hope this is the start of a beautiful friendship between him and the toilet. It'd really rock my world.
Well, I'm 19w4d, but let's not split hairs, shall we?
I had my appointment with the midwife at the doctor's office today. She's very friendly and kind to Joseph. I don't have any desire to deliver with her, but she is good about listening to my concerns and doesn't make me feel like a weird-o like the doctors there do, so that's something.
I gained 5 pounds this month, bringing the grand total to only 11! I guess that's the benefit of starting this pregnancy at a higher weight? I thought for sure that I was going to have gained 10lb this time to make up for my slow early gains.
My blood pressure is zombie-low, so she said just to make sure that I eat frequently. OK, since you said so. ;) Guess they don't know about my appetite! Joseph and I went and had Chick-Fil-A for lunch to be on the safe side.
The baby's heart rate looked fine and I'm measuring right on, so looks like DomerBaby2 is right on track! We have our 20 week anatomy scan on Wednesday - we ARE planning to find out if it's a boy or a girl, so I guess I'll have a big update in a couple of days!
I think I'm getting my knitting mojo back! Woo hoo!
I started whipping up this newborn cocoon last night and finished it this afternoon during Joseph's nap. These are all the rage in photography right now, and I'm thinking we can use it for DomerBaby2's [diy] newborn photo shoot.
Hopefully this is the beginning of lots more baby stuff!
Joseph and I went to the Botanical Garden today - we spent most of the time in the Children's area, and hit the fountain on the way out - it's hot out today! Joseph didn't get very wet, but he loved being a part of the the fray with the other kids, and did enjoy running through the puddles.
I realized I got some rare candid GRINS, too! What's better than that?
His newest expression: tongue-in-cheek
Getting feet wet with the other little kids
Checking in with Mama
Fun in the sun
"Did you see me, Mama?"
ET Phone Home! (anyone else think the same thing???)
Watching the other kids
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