Friday Night Left Overs

It's Friday and this one sucks, only because it's the first one I've worked in 4 weeks!  What's gonna suck even  more is not having a 3 day weekend.

• I miss my grandparents so much already and they haven't even been back home a week.  I miss breakfast and playing dominoes and just BSing about nothing at all.
• For the last 3 weeks Lillian has spent at least one night at T's.  This week was the first time I really missed her.  Like to the point I wanted to stop over before heading to work just to give her a hug.  *I'm pretty sure T was glad I didn't come wake them up at 6:30 am*
• Delaney's stomach is going to drive me insane!  She is miserable for a few days, finally poops, has gas that makes her miserable for another day and then has a great day.  Then we get gassy again and repeat.
• I'm getting irritated with our sleeping arrangements.  B is sleeping in Lillian's room with her because she pretty much refuses to be in there alone.  Delaney sleeps with me because she is still waking at night to eat.  I've tried putting her to sleep in her room, but all she does is look around at things.  Maybe I need to take her in there more during the day.  Or maybe it's the gas, I don't know.  I just know that I want my bed back with my husband in it.
• I think breaking Lillian of the sleeping habits is going to be harder than Delaney.
• I had the assessment done on the car.  Now lets hope I can get the hood fixed for under $1200!

And lastly, here's my little model showing off a huge pair of underwear held up with clothes pins because she was too busy riding her bike to go in to the bathroom.  Well, she regretted it because she didn't get to ride any more.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.  We are headed to my mom's camp, I hope I can relax some!

38 Weeks and Then Some

So I've tried to write this post a few times, but apparently blogger no long supports the version of Internet.Explorer I have on my work computer and I can't very well call the IT people and say "Hey, I need to blog so you need to update my internet.  One thing about working for a fortune 500 company is that you pretty much have no control over anything you use and can't download anything.  I've been using google.chrome at home for quite some time now and I love it so I decided to try and download it at work this morning fully expecting to get an error, but guess what, it worked!!!  Yay!

So anyway, here I am at 38 weeks and 3 days.  This little girl has officially baked longer than her big sister did who was born at 38 weeks 2 days.  I'm feeling it, I'm feeling very over due even though technically I can still go 2 weeks and then some before my midwife will do anything forceful.

After my 37 week appointment I had a break down, but this week I wasn't so bad.  I have accepted the fact that it's now just a sit and wait game.  She will come when she is ready to come and hopefully like her big sister, it will be once I'm completely convinced she won't be here until after her due date.

At this weeks appointment my mw did check me and I'm barely dilated a fingertip.  Not that it really means anything.  I'm just hoping that by next Wednesday I'm dilated enough for her to strip my membranes and hopefully get this show on the road.  I'm starting to have the fear that the saying "If I had my second one first, there wouldn't be a second" is going to hold true for me.  I was blessed with an easy pregnancy, delivery and baby with Lillian and I'm just thinking things aren't going to be so great this time.

Speaking of Big Sister Lillian, she really is getting so big.  I'd like to believe that she is fully potty trained.  At home anyway.  The only time she wears a diaper with me is bed time and when we are in the car at bed time and she may fall asleep.  She doesn't even wear one for naps at home anymore, although she doesn't take many naps at home anymore either.  The only thing close to an accident we've had in a long time is the little dampness she got when I couldn't get her to the bathroom quick enough at the store.  I haven't even had a change a poopy diaper in a long time!  And this week she's even pooped on the potty at the sitters all week!  This is a great accomplishment since she was waiting for her diaper at nap time to go.  I'm so very proud of her!  She also does lots of things by herself now like wash her hands and button her shirt and all those "Big Girl" things!

And the one that kills me...

Buzz in her new Booster Car Seat

She's big enough to sit in a booster seat in the car now.  While this is great for extra room now that we have an infant seat in there again, it wasn't something I was totally prepared for.  She loves it though and it makes her feel like such a big kid.


For now I will leave you with this, my 38 week belly picture.

These were my last two pictures with Lilian.  I don't think I look quite so big this time and although my thighs feel huge, I don't feel as big this time.

35 Weeks

I can't wait for this little girl to get here! I feel like she's eating my brain and I'm eating everything else!

My brain function level is on low, I'm tired, no matter how much or little sleep I get and even when I'm tired I have a hard time sleeping, some times I can't get comfortable, some times my head is whirling with thoughts and other times I have a toddler who doesn't think sleeping is a good idea. And then of course there's going to the bathroom constantly or having a chance to sleep, but it's my only time to get something done without my "little helper".

My little helper is doing great though besides bed time.  She's using the potty ALL the time, even to poop!  And if you've never potty trained before you just don't know how awesome that is!

The binkies are now a thing of the past!  She has mentioned them once, while just waking up, since only a few days after getting rid of them.

She sings songs constantly!  And I just love when she combines a bunch of them.  She even gets up on her stool and uses one of her blocks as a microphone.

She pretty much knows all her colors and when she says one wrong she'll say "silly me, that's not..."

She knows most of the basic shapes, she gets a little confused with square and diamond some times, but considering most of the ones on her toys are the same, just rotated, it's not surprising.

Now we need to work on learning her letters and tracing.  She just does not get the concept of tracing.

Oh and her throwing fits/whining and bed time routine.  Both have me at my whits end, I have ideas on how to correct our issues, it's getting the other parental unit to realize how important consistency is and getting him to be consistent and not give in that the big problem is.

I was going to leave you with an adorable picture, but I don't have any I haven't posted right now, so instead you can tell me if you think I've dropped.  It's a question I've been getting a lot lately and I don't really think so, but I do think she may be starting.

33 Weeks

35 Weeks

30 Days of Thankful - Day 9

I am thankful for those little moments that make you smile.

This morning on the way to the sitter I asked Lillian what she wanted for Christmas.  This is the conversation that followed:

Lillian: I'm getting a car!
Me: Mommy can't even get a car.
Lillian: I want a motorcycle then!

I hate to think about what she's going to ask for when she's 16!

It's these little moments though that you can't help buy smile and be reminded of the innocence in the world.  Lillian has little conversations all the time that just amaze me!

And more with Lillian is that her potty training is going pretty well.  I know it sounds like the same thing over and over and it feels like it is most the time, but I take the little victories when I can.  This weekend she went to the bathroom and pooped all by herself, on the big potty, while I was switching wash!  Any potty training parent knows that then doing something like that WITHOUT HELP is a huge step!

And because I haven't posted a pic of my belly in a while, here's this weeks and a comparison...

19 Weeks

23 weeks

23 Weeks w Lillian

  I have to say that although to me my ass currently feels huge, I don't think it's as huge as it was with Lillian at this point.





 

Borrowing an Idea

Well I guess really it's more like stealing since I can't really give it back.  Ashley over at More Than Dog Children is doing a 30 Days of Thankful and I think it's a great idea and just what I need right now. 

Today I'm thankful for my little girl, who isn't so little any more!  She had her 2.5 year well child visit last week and when the receptionist said "we won't need to see her again until she's 3" it hit me that it's only 6 months away!  For so long 3 has seemed like this number way off in the distance and now it seems like it's speeding at me like a bullet.  But my big girl is healthy and very smart according to the Doctor.  And she amazed the crap out of me when she came to me with her sweatshirt zipped the other day.  Yes, my 2.5 year old started the zipper herself for the first time!  Potty training is going fairly well.  It's taking a lot longer than I thought it would, but I appreciate the good days and try to forget the bad days.

Not much in the way of a pregnancy update.  I'm 22 weeks now, so hopefully on 16 or so more to go, but I'll figure on 19 and try not to get my hopes up too high.  I'm getting very frustrated with my weight gain and I'm considering giving up trying to watch what I eat.  What's the point of depriving myself of comforts when it's not doing me much good anyway?  Hopefully this last week of trying will give me confidence.

I'm feeling baby girl move more and more and that's comforting.  I can't wait for Lillian to be able to feel it.  I love that she rubs and kisses my belly.  And it's just too cute when she looks in my belly button and says "yup, she's still in there."



OPKs and Other Useless Things

OK, maybe it's really just the OPKs on my mind right now....

I got a + OPK on Tuesday. According to how OPKs and the woman's body is supposed to work, I should have O'd yesterday at the latest. And I really think I did, but there wasn't much of a temp rise this morning. It went up some, but not like the smack in the face you O'd kind of rise. So guess what, hubby and I are going on 4 days in a row of trying to make a baby! Yeah I know some people think "Oh you lucky girl." Don't get me wrong I enjoy it, but it's just so unromantic and frustrating. Anyway, I really hope I get a rise tomorrow because I don't think things can get any more perfect than they are this month, well assuming the fluid is gone from my tubes.

Another useless thing is the dog collars I've bought for our "puppy". He's a year old and part Bullmastif and has gone through 3 collars this week! I just picked up another new one today, if this doesn't work he may have to become a neighborhood dog.

In some good news, Lilli is pretty much potty trained!!! Only 2 weeks!!! I'm so proud of her. The only hard part now is when she's in new places and feels like she might miss something. She still goes, but doesn't give quite as much notice that she needs to go.

Hope everyone has a good weekend, I'm spending mine on some major house cleaning.

Hopeful

That's how I've decided to look at things for now. I may regret this decision in the next 3 weeks, but honestly, I don't know how else to get through the next few weeks. If you read the comments to previous posts though, you know that I have some wonderful women supporting me. And my husband isn't too bad either.

I am definitely hopeful that I will have a potty trained little girl very soon! Since Last Tuesday we have had 4 accidents I believe. Considering last Monday there was 5 in one day I don't think that's bad at all. I'm so proud of my baby girl. I mean, my BIG girl. She reminds me that she is a big girl all the time. Even last night when she had her diaper on while we watched a movie before bed she asked to potty. I couldn't believe it!

One thing that I am not feeling so hopeful about right now is getting my house back in order. It has been several weekends since I've been home to do any amount of cleaning and it's driving me nuts. Closes are getting washed and folded but I'm sick of having to dig through laundry baskets to find thing. And I'm not even going to get started on the clutter from all the bags that are either half unpacked, or not even touched after being brought back in the house. My exhaustion has been getting the better of me at night lately. I feel lucky to even make it through the work day, let alone get anything extra done at night! I hope things turn around soon!

A New Day A New Hope

Preface: I have an OB and a midwife. They work in the same office. My midwife handles my pregnancy and yearly check ups and such. The OB handles any abnormal findings, infertility diagnostics, c-sections and the like. The OB is actually the one who delivered Lillian as she was on call that night. I won't lie, I was very glad she delivered her because I think she did an AMAZING job, but my midwife's bedside manners are a little better.

So I had an appointment with my midwife, ML, yesterday for a fallow up from Dec. Everything looks good now, which I expected. I had almost canceled the appointment, but decided I wanted to see her and ask her some questions now that I've had a chance to let this whole hydrosalpinx news sink in. So when she asked how I was doing I told her "Good besides the news I got here last week." She said "That's right, I remember seeing the hydrosalpinx in your report now. Don't stress over it, the last two patients I had with it, it resolved itself." Then we went on and talked about other things for a few minutes. Before I left she gave me a hug and said "I'm glad you came in and I got to see you. It's a great sign that we were able to get the dye pushed through and I'm confident it will resolve itself. You are coming back next month for and ultrasound right?" I told her yes and we said our good-byes, with her adding she hopes to see me soon (my ultrasound is with the OB, not her). ML is one of those people who just makes you feel like she's on your side. And she told me to call immediately if I get a positive pregnancy test before my ultrasound.

All in all I'm feeling a little more hopeful today that things will clear up this month and we will be pregnant soon.

I'm also hopeful that Lillian is making good progress on the potty training. She only had 2 accidents yesterday, and for the way things were going, that's great. She even freaked out last night while we were laying in bed watching a movie and she had to pee and started going in her diaper. (she had a diaper on cause she was exhausted and I thought she may fall asleep).

I've been feeling pretty fat lately. Although my weight is pretty much only fluctuating about 5lbs, I've been feeling huge. For some reason I decided to try on a skirt I bought myself last year as a goal gift, but I haven't been able to fit into it yet. Well it fit this morning. I was able to pull it over my hips and button it! It's still a little tight in the thighs for sitting in it all day, but it fits! Hopefully it will give me the motivation to get back into my exercise routine. I've still been exercising, but not with the energy and effort I should be.

I guess that's enough rambling today...

Dare I Say...

I think we are starting to turn the corner in potty training! I'm so proud of my (not so) little girl. Yesterday she only had one accident at the sitters and when we got home the only accident she had was when she didn't get her dress out from under her butt. And the best part, she told me when she had to go potty and just walked right over and sat down!

Riding a "dirt bike"

In other exciting news, my niece Maddilynn Fayth was born yesterday!

I also thought I'd share some pictures of my garden. It is the first garden I have been able to actually have grow! In the past I've planted flowers, but have had no luck. This year I decided to try my hand at some veggies and I'm very excited. I wish I had more time to plant more!

Top left to bottom right: Broccoli, green beans, peas

Top Right - Onions, Top Middle - Peppers, Top Left - Zucchini, Bottom Left - Strawberries, Bottom Right - Tomatoes

The tomato plant was almost died due to all the water it got with 19 straight days of rain, but I think it is going to survive since I saw some new buds on it last night. And I'm very excited about my strawberry plants!

3rd Time's a Charm

Right???

Well it has to be. B told me this morning that if they didn't accept the sample this time, yes they rejected it a second time because I dropped it off too late, that we could forget about having it done.

I don't blame him really. Even I'm getting pissed off and I'm not the one providing the sample. But this morning the guy behind the desk (a different one from both other times) didn't understand why I insisted on staying there until he found the paperwork. I told him "This is my 3rd time trying to drop off this sample, I want to make sure you have all the paperwork and this gets tested." So he finds the lab slip and looks at me and says "I can understand why he's upset about this." Then he looks at the sample that was now a half hour old (you are supposed to have it there within a half hour, which I did, but all the waiting made it longer) and then he says "I will get this right back that and make sure it's tested." That was almost 2 hours ago now and I haven't gotten a phone call so I think we finally got the SA done.

OK, I'm sure you're sick of hearing about B'd woes. On to another topic that I never thought would make me so happy, pee and poop! Lillian did both in her potty yesterday! I was so proud of her. No accidents and she used the potty 3 times! I never thought I would be this excited about it! After she pooped she walked around saying "I pooped in the pot-ee" you know like the conga song, over and over. I love her pride!

A new day

I'm doing a little better today. I'm actually a little anxious for my appointment on Monday. I'm eager to know what she has to say and what suggestions she will make.

I'm also a little nervous that we won't be able to figure out why we can't get pregnant. What will I do if my insurance doesn't cover the testing?

It is strange, I have no problem telling the Internets about my worries and frustrations, but I have yet to tell my mother that I ever even mentioned how long we've been trying to my midwife. And I don't plan on telling her that I've scheduled an appointment to start testing. I just don't want to hear what she has to say. I remember when I was going in to see the OB at the office for a follow up I told my mom "I think I'm going to mention to the OB that we've been trying a year." and her response was something along the lines of, you're just stressing to much, I wouldn't worry about it, a year isn't that long.

I'm pretty sure my mother has never really tried to get pregnant. I've asked her and she just tells me "Both times I just stopped using birth control and eventually I was pregnant." Well my thinking is that her definition of eventually and my are a little different. Because trust me, if you've tried for more than 4 or 5 months you know it.

In other news, last night I was giving Lillian a bath and she had just climbed in and she looks at me and says "Mommy, need to go potty." Obviously I told her ok. So she climbs out, sits on her potty for less than a minute and says "I done." To my surprise when she stood up she had actually gone potty!!! I was so proud of her. I hope these random uses of the potty start to become more frequent.

You Pick

I have thought of so many titles I could use for this post. 1. Can't Type... 2. Nanny 911! 3. Adult Time? 4. Assvice 5. Terrible Twos? I could keep going, but really it doesn't matter. It was a trying weekend again. And in all reality it was most likely just a combination of several things. I have once again realized how dependant I am on my "happy pills" and as much as I hate it I am going to learn to get over it. I forgot to take them for several days due to my routine being off and it culminated yesterday in several out burst of tears, from my own eyes. Saturday Lillian and I went shopping for her birthday party supplies. Considering her independent stage and being surrounded by everything a kid wants, things went considerably well. When we went to Tar.get for some other things, we had a small melt down in the toy section because she wanted the baby doll, and if there is one thing this girl has plenty of, it's baby dolls. Lunch at Frien.dly's involved some mouthing off and whining, but taking everything away from her and telling her she wasn't getting it back until she could be polite and ask nicely seemed to solve things. Over all I would consider it a successful trip to the mall. She's acted better and worse. Sunday was a cluster of yard work, more shopping, house work and toddler fits. We started the day all excited to go out and work in the yard. We quickly realized that Lillian wanted to help with EVERYTHING! Of course her push lawn mower from last year was not satisfying her since we were raking and using the riding lawn mower. So it was off to the store to find Lillian a rake and some gardening supplies for me. This trip only resulted in one tantrum because I wouldn't let her just sit in the kids' recliners at the store while I shopped. Not quite short lived, but I picked her up and went on about my business ignoring her. When we finally made it home she had passed out so I left her sleeping in the car while B and I continued working on the yard. When she woke up she was very excited to help rake. But later when we were in the house and I was trying to do hook up my printer and then work on laundry she was continually throwing fits. Over everything. If something didn't work just right she was throwing things and screaming. I couldn't get her to calm down and it wore on me quickly. Any time I told her no she was mouthy and acting like she was going to hit me (though she doesn't because I ask her if she wants me to hit her). I feel like one of those mom's on a Nanny show that can't control her kid and the kid rules the family. I refuse to be one of those mom's, but I don't know what to do with her. She is constantly telling me "No" and yelling. And she only does this with me and B. None of the grandparents or anyone ever sees it! Is this just the terrible twos??? Any advice is welcome. Oh and on a plus side, Lillian asked to use the potty yesterday and actually peed!!! Well this post is long and boring enough, I'll get to Adult time later...

Potty Training!

So here we are, 16 Months and 3 Weeks old, and we've officially started potty training!

My beginning thoughts...
I honestly did very little research on this.  I feel that going to the bathroom is an instinct that just needs to be recognized and will probably take a few steps to get there.

I decided it is time to potty train because Lillian knows where her "pee" and "poop" are.  And I believe she tells me she went to the bathroom by pointing and saying "pee" or "poop" although not always the case.

I realized (quite some time ago) that Lillian could really care less if she's wet or has a poopy diaper.  Pretty much since she was born she hasn't really cared.  She never even had a diaper rash until she was over a year old.  I was glad to have those pampers that show a line on them when they are wet cause other wise I was constantly squeezing at her crotch to make sure her diaper wasn't soaked.  It is amazing how "dry" the diapers these days keep a babies bottom.  So back to topic, I realized that she needed to learn what "wet" feels like.  A few months ago I bought her some of those Pull.Ups with the "cool alert".  Yeah well they didn't "alert" her to much except she couldn't take them off and got to stand up to put them on rather than lay down.  This is where I did some research.  Turns out Pull.Ups and Easy.Ups still keep their bottoms pretty dry.  So I went in search of leak proof undies.  And I found some great ones (I think), but there is no way I'm paying $8.95 for a pair of underwear, I don't even pay that for my underwear!!!  They also have ones that aren't "waterproof" and you can get 3 pair for $12.95, but why get them when I can just go to WallyWord and get these.  Yes her pants still get wet when she misses the potty and some times even her socks, but guess what, she tells me when she has to pee!!!

Day 1:
So we started first thing Saturday morning.  We got up and instead of putting a diaper on we put big girl undies on.  She thought it was fun.  Then I had her "help" me move her potty chair from the bathroom (where she would occasionally use it before bath time) out into the main living area where we spend most of our time.  I continually asked her if she had to go potty and she always said no.  Eventually she did have to go and ended up going in her pants.  It was actually quite comical because she looked at me, while she was going and her pants were getting wet, with total confusion.  Like she knew she was going potty, but didn't understand why her legs were wet.  I took her over to her potty chair and said "this is where we pee".  I also let her go around with nothing on for a while after a few trips to the bathroom.  When it got close to nap time we put on a Pull.up.  Throughout the day we never actually made it to the potty in time, be she would tell me "potty" and we'd go over and sit there and talk about the potty and peeing and what not.

Day 2:
Day two was pretty much the same as day 1.  We got up and put underwear on.  We had an accident after breakfast put she said "potty" to daddy (who let's face it is totally clueless) and he picked her up and looked at me horrified and said "she already peed!" We took her to the potty and changed and put a Pull.Up on because it was almost nap time.  As she was running around playing she ran over to the potty and said "poop" and sat on her potty.  By the time I got over there she had pooped in her Pull.Up but I was so proud of her for going over there.  We went to her grandma's to watch football and took a potty with us (along with 3 pairs of pants, underwear and some Pull.Ups.  We went through all the undies and pants, but in the process she made it to the potty in time TWICE!!!

After Thoughts:
I think celebrating the small accomplishments is important.  The first day we really celebrated her just telling us she peed and just sitting on the potty.  The second day we just told her good girl for trying, but really celebrated when she made it in time.  And I think this is how we will continue for a while.

I also think it really helps that we put the potty in a main area where it doesn't seem like a "burden" to go.  I also think her seeing it frequently while playing helps her keep her mind on it.

And she also likes to put her own underwear on!