Mama, Maaammmaaa!

For a while now, Z has been saying a name at the end of a statement or command, like, “I want milk, mama” or “I go to park, Baba.” Well now, he has figured out how to call out for us. He says “Mama! Maaahmmma, I need some milk” or “Mama Maaaahmaaaa, I need sunglasses.” Sometimes it’s just “Mama! Maaaammmmaaaa!” just for fun. I think it’s pretty funny.

He knows that “baby sisterr” is in Mama’s belly, but sometimes when I ask him where’s baby sister, he’ll raise up his own shirt and point to his belly button, so I’m still not sure he gets it, and even if he does, I’m fairly confident he doesn’t think she’ll ever come out! Yesterday when I picked him up from school, they said he was playing with the babies, and he even showed me how he had to cover the little baby doll up with a blanket so she could “sleep.” I tried to tell him, “that’s like your baby sister” to which he responded “yah!” (one of his favorite words).

I think my favorite new word is “sleebes.” When he was wearing a lot of long-sleeve shirts, he didn’t want to sleeves to be pulled up, now that he’s wearing short sleeves we had to explain that to him, so whenever we put on a short sleeve shirt, he says “I got sleebes.”

He has these whole conversations with himself sometimes when he’s feeling really chatty, and I just love it. I’ve been meaning to try and video it one day. Most of it is incomprehensible, but usually mixed in with a few familiar words and he does it a lot in the car.

He knows so many songs, it’s surprising sometimes. A couple of examples of songs he has busted out with are Frere Jacques and Ring Around the Rosies. He busted that one out when he saw a picture of stick figures holding hands in his cereal bowl.

One thing we’ve been doing in the evenings is laying on the couch under a blanket together, usually watching Barney. He insists on having a blanket. I think he’s so busy at school that he likes to wind down after dinner, plus he sees me doing that all the time. Last night, we watched Barney and ate grapes, his new favorite snack, much to my shock and amazement!

I adore that time with him and fully realize those moments are going to be harder to come by pretty soon.

I wish I had more pics of Z, but I do have an official 32 week picture of myself:

32 Weeks and Such

Well, I am almost 8 weeks away from my due date and officially in get ready for baby mode. It’s about time! We went to the Hinman Dental Meeting in Atlanta last week and Nana and Tata came to stay with Z. Tata graciously painted Z’s new room and the baby’s room, which was a massive accomplishment and step in the right direction towards preparation for baby. We are so grateful to him for that. Z had the best time with them! He learned how to play soccer and tee ball. By the time we got back he could even hit a ball that was pitched to him! Z also went to iJump, which he called “kangaroo jump place.” He had a ball there and was wanting to go back when we got home.

We had a very relaxing trip. I went to some classes and hubs hung out and read/waited on me. Then we went to dinner in the evenings and managed to see 2 movies (one of which was the highly anticipated Hunger Games, which was good, but hard to beat the book!).

We were so happy to meet up with our friends Forrest and Ed. Forrest is expecting a girl too and only 9 weeks behind me! I kinda regret that we didn’t take a picture together, but I was so excited to have time with her when we are both preggos, plus we got a lot of attention and got asked several times if we were sisters, so that was fun.

Nana worked on potty with Z while we were gone, but alas, no progress. I’m sure it’s like anything else, and once it clicks it clicks, so until then we’ll keep trying.

I’m definitely getting bigger and the main symptom I am noticing is reflux, which is not happening often, but when it does, it’s bad! I really thought I was going to be sick the other day in the car after I ate a yogurt of all things. Weird, I know! Other than that and getting really hot at night, thankfully I am feeling pretty good. I definitely think it’s harder the second time around, partially because the newness of everything is no longer there and mostly because there is another child to take care of. I am so very thankful for this blessing and am taking nothing for granted!
This was taken around 31 weeks. I’m definitely bigger now!

Progress

I had been planning to write an update on Z’s progress on potty training for a while now, but I figured there was no rush, because there was really  nothing to tell, with the exception of one alleged incident at school (which I still don’t believe). Until Saturday he had had NO potty action of the number 1 or number 2 variety. We have been having him sit on the potty for a while, it just never really seemed to register why he was there. Then on Saturday night before bed, I was changing his diaper and he said something about tee tee (a word I’m not really fond of, but what’s the alternative?) on the potty, so we went and sat. He tried to do what he usually does which is sit for 1.5 seconds then get up and say “I’m done,” but because we had a little time, Nick and I sat in there with him and encouraged him. I told him he could have a popsicle if he tee tee’d and out of nowhere he started going (albeit all over his hands, because if you know Z, you know where his hands stay when he’s naked, and we are gonna work on that, just taking one thing at a time). We flipped out and gave him a popsicle and a sticker, and I’m actually still a little bit in shock. Then, on Sunday he pooped on the potty. He hasn’t done anything since, so I hope he doesn’t think it’s something he just has to do once then he doesn’t have to worry about it again. We shall see, but for now, we are encouraged.

As for the big boy room, I am much more encouraged by the progression in this category. The first night he slept without making a peep and we had to wake him up in the morning. The next morning he woke up early (when it was still dark) crying “What happened???” but still in his bed. The following morning we found him standing in the middle of the room crying “What happened???” Then on Thursday morning, he walked out of the room to the gate and yelled. So, on Friday I went and bought a childproofing mechanism for the doorknob, just in time for nap, which I figured would be a challenge. I put him down and he got back up after about 10 minutes or so and was whining (I think because he couldn’t get the door open). So, I went up there and explained that we have to go night night, then we can wake up and go outside, see Jido and Nunna, and do all the fun stuff you would ever want, but first YOU HAVE TO SLEEP. He must have gotten it, because I didn’t hear from him for about 2 hours. And, Saturday morning something truly glorious happened. We heard no crying or whining just the noises from the train table and sweet mumblings to self that we were accustomed to hearing on Saturday mornings when he would lay in the crib and wait on us to get him. Victory, at  last! So, we have survived our first week of life in the big boy room and I’m happy to report it has been a success…. so far.

First Night as a Big Boy!

We finally bit the bullet and got Z’s big boy room set up and ready for him to spend his first night in. We have been talking about it since before Christmas, and we’ve actually had the toddler bed, a gift from Nana and Tata, since Christmas. It was one of those things that we knew had to be done, but were not in a big hurry because he was still doing relatively well in his crib. I say relatively because he wasn’t climbing out or anything but there were nights when he would wake up crying for no reason, which we took as an indication that he was getting tired of the crib. But the clock is ticking on baby girl and one thing we knew for sure was that he had to be out of that room well before her arrival!

We had bought The Very Hungry Caterpillar bedding a while back from Pottery Barn. So, I got it out and washed it, made the bed, and we topped it off by bringing up the train table along with his long time pals, Winnie(s) and Elmo and his “green light” night light.

We talked to him all day about his “big boy room” and how he was going to go night night upstairs tonight. After his bath, he even walked to the stairs went straight up. When he saw it, he was in shock, mostly because of the train table.

After we played with the trains for a bit, we got him to crawl into bed, read a book, sang, and that was it. I  mean, that was it until 7:30 this morning! I couldn’t believe it.

Seeing his sweet little self bundled up underneath that little comforter probably not knowing whether to be excited or scared, but not fighting this new big change, it was almost too much for this hormonal Mama. I kept it together though. I even told Nick that I wasn’t about to turn this into an emotional crisis. I had convinced myself of how good this was for all of us. But, y’all it was hard! This was definitely a he’s-not-a-baby-anymore moment, and it was all I could do not to lose it!
I’m so proud of him, and so relieved. I know every night won’t be that easy, but at least we have (finally) done it. Honestly, it couldn’t wait much longer!

This morning: Still in shock that the trains are in his room!

Mama Office and Weekend

We had an exciting weekend this past weekend starting with our 4D ultrasound. My dad is friends with the OB there, so he offered to let us have one there once I hit 28 weeks. Who could turn that down? Since we didn’t get one with Z, we were pretty excited to see what it was about. The ultrasound tech was so nice, she was the same one who did our gender ultrasound. We spent a good 45 minutes looking at her sweet little self and have a ton of pictures and a DVD of the whole thing! It was really great, and I definitely recommend it to anyone who is thinking of doing it.
First, we had to go to Dad’s office, a place where I spent practically half my childhood!

*Note: that pixelated paper is under the glass of dad’s desk and has been there since about 1990. It was a picture that was taken of us 3 and printed at a flea market (which was a huge deal back then). It says ‘3 Amigos’ at the top. We probably paid $7.50 for it. And, it’s not faded, I’m pretty sure it always looked like that.

Funny enough that Z was in my office the day before and I took this picture.

So, now we have Mama office, Baba office, and Jido office. He pretty much loves them all!
On the way home from the ultrasound I made another crucial stop and Sno Biz, a place where I spent a lot of time growing up. I can’t find one anywhere near here and when I saw that it was open, I knew Friday was the day. It was so worth it!

My sister came to town, so we had a great dinner and relaxed in a way you can only do when you’re in your childhood house! We stayed up late talking, slept in (even though the storms got a little crazy), had breakfast on Saturday and headed out to the gym together. Then, I got ready and met my mom and sister out shopping. It was fun, but I have to admit shopping has lost its luster for me due to the extra poundage. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining, but I am kind of enormous right now. Okay, enough about that, I did buy some shoes and a few maternity friendly outfits, so it wasn’t a total bust.

We are looking for a new car for the babes, so when we got through shopping, hubs and I headed to look at the car we want, then after a quick trip to Barnes and Noble, we met the rest of the fam at The Pita Stop. By bedtime, we were all pooped! Sunday, we got up and walked to the park. Everyone was wearing sunglasses so Z insisted we get him some. These were readily available he loved them. He kept them on for the whole wagon ride.

Z had a blast at the park, and even made a new friend. There is one ladder there that is a little advanced for him, so Nick has always told him, “you have to get bigger” to climb it. Well, on Sunday, he went right up it (with Nick standing behind him) and said “I got bigger!” Now, that’s the preferred way of climbing of course. He also loves turning the lights off and on and can barely reach the switch, but every time he succeeds he exclaims “I got bigger!”

His new thing is to exclaim “toooo!” when he’s talking about anything. Like “I got a drink tooooo!” I love it because it’s almost sing-songy the way he says it. 

We have made little progress on moving Z into his big boy room, but we have started planning the nursery a little. The weekends just go by way too fast!

On the pregnancy front, I am now 28 weeks and growing…

She is sprawled out all over. The tech on Friday had the probe all the way over on my side to see her little head, then moved up above my belly button to find her feet. I guess I knew she was spread out, but it was still kind of amazing.

I have been having braxton-hicks contractions now for at least 4 weeks. I get a handful a day depending on what I’m doing. I’m pretty sure I didn’t feel those that early with Z, but who knows? I’m just so thankful that I feel good and everything is looking good so far.

4D

Today (at 28 weeks) we went for Baby G2's 4D ultrasound. It was such a treat! She was very active smacking her lips and trying to suck her fingers. We got some really great pictures like these:

I was amazed at how much we could see her doing. When we tried to get shots of her little feet we saw her hands! She was playing with her toes! I was skeptical about these at first, but I am so glad I got the chance to do it! I can't wait to see her little face (not that we are ready just yet).

The Big Slide

So a big hit at AG’s party 2 weekends ago was the big slide in the bounce house area of the party place. I was slightly nervous when Z took off up the rather steep ladder, so my dad went with him (the sign on the bounce house specifically said, “No Pregnant Women” which made me feel a little discriminated against but it’s not like I was gonna bust up in the thing anyway). Z was none to thrilled to have company down the big slide.

So, we let Dad go down by himself…

No, wait I mean, we let Z go down by himself, yeah, Z, this thing is made for children, got it.

He started strong

Then immediately lost control

Verdict? Love it!

Ah to be a kid again

Oh, and totally understand why preggos should steer clear, not sure why had to post a sign though.