Belly

35 Weeks

36 Weeks

You read that right folks, 36 weeks, 9 months. Wait! What? Okay when did I get 9 months pregnant? I have so much to do!

Parties and Potties

We had an eventful weekend. In fact, we were down right social butterflies compared to our usual weekends of doing not much of anything outside of ourselves. Thursday night, Nick’s group at work hosted a dinner/shower for us and the 2 other couples in his group who are expecting. They are both due around the same time as us, so the bellies were in full force. I loved it! We had an awesome time, everyone was very generous, and it was great to get out even though we stayed up way too late.

Then, on Friday, one of my dear friends from college was in town and came to visit me and Z. Z decided that day that he was going to go potty for me. He walked up to me in the morning and said “I want tin-tane hearts.” Which translates to candy hearts (from Valentine’s Day) and more importantly the treat he usually gets when he goes in the potty. So, I said “Do you want to go tee tee in the potty?” and he said “yes.” At this point I am not getting my hopes up that anything is going to happen because he has only gone a few times and always at night after dinner. But we went anyway, and within a few seconds he started going. Long story short, he went in the potty for the rest of the day including at the Lebanese Food Festival! And, he was dry most of the day too! I was in awe/ecstasy. Is it possible? Could he have potty trained in one day? The kid had so many treats on Friday, he was probably on a constant sugar high, but I didn’t care. Side note, I was so emotionally and mentally invested in this that I had dreams about the potty Friday  night. That is sad!

The next day he continued his potty journey, although he had had one big traumatic poop on Friday that had him totally freaked out to poop again. He kept saying “no poo poo right now” “poo poo tomorrow.” And there it is. So before we even got started we’ve suffered a little set-back. So now, just because he went for one day I’m expecting it to be done, when 2 days ago I would have been happy with him going 2 times in one day instead of once. We went a lot of places this weekend and he didn’t get nearly the amount of sleep he needs, so in that sense it was not the best weekend for potty progress.

We got to celebrate sweet Henry’s first birthday on Saturday, and it was a beautiful day for it! Z had so much fun! We loved catching up with H’s parents and we were honored to share his special day with them!

Z had a blast opening H’s presents and sweet Henry didn’t mind at all! I wasn’t sure he was going to let this one go!

The automatic bubble blower was a huge hit!

Sunday we went to the Day out with Thomas in Calera. I gotta tell you, I was star struck by the life size Thomas engine myself! It was so cool! Z loved riding the train and equally the bounce house, train tables and mini golf!

I can’t reach it!

Not too excited about leaving

Belly Update

I just thought I'd update belly pics. I'm pretty happy my weight gain has slowed a bit. I'm just trying to eat normal and avoid swollen ankles, although I had to have some hearty lunches after I recovered from sick-mania 2012. I NEVER want to go through that again, and I am just praying that my sweet baby stayed protected in her little bubble. I go to the doctor tomorrow, so hopefully she'll give me some reassurance.

Here is 33 weeks


34 Weeks

Names Names Names

Well, I have tried to protect the innocent as much as possible on this blog by referring to him as Z, and I’m sure I will do the same for numba 2, but I thought I would at least officially announce her name and the evolution to it. After much discussion, we have decided on Lujayn Pacha Gaxiola.

The Pacha Gaxiola part was pretty much set from the beginning the rest has been an evolution. We began discussing names from the day we learned of her gender. We went round and round looking for an Arabic name with a nice meaning that would be easy to pronounce and not too common. I love L’s in girls names and thought about many of those including Layla and Lyla, then Nick reminded me of the song Liza Jane and we thought about Lyla Jane, which ultimately led us to Lujayn, which my brother’s wife had mentioned once but we had never really heard it much before that. Nick loved it from the start and already thinks of her as his little Lou, and I realized it met all the criteria we were looking for, and it’s a sweet sounding name. I have a hard time really loving a name until I see the baby with the name, so I have been less enthusiastic and would have been no matter what name we chose. We researched and found out that it means “silver,” which Nick appreciated as he referred to it as a “non-pretentious” metal.

So, that is it, little Lujayn. She’s been on my brain non-stop these days. I think I am making up for all those months when it didn’t register that she would be coming!

Potty Time

Z has made very little progress in the potty department, but what I think is interesting is that when he does go, he totally knows what he’s doing. The other day, he sat for a bit, then all of a sudden he got a focused look on his face and exclaimed “I did it! I did it, Mama!” I thought it was some major breakthrough. Then the next few times, he just sat there staring at me, like what do you want me to do here woman? He’s definitely had the highest success rate after dinner, so we are trying every night after dinner and rewarding with much praise and a Dora popsicle. He also sits at school, but has really not gone there much. Here is an example of one of my new tactics.

I realize that this could get messy, but figured it was worth a try. 

Spring Nesting

Well folks, I am officially in full out nesting mode. I have been feeling this way for about a month or so, but now my booty is getting in gear. We have a lot of preparations to make for Baby G’s arrival and no more denial, this baby’s coming!

We partially moved Z up to his big boy room recently and have been talking about finishing the job (i.e. moving my clothes out of his closet so we can move his in, moving his bath stuff, toys, etc.). Well this was the weekend. We had to get his old room cleared out and his new room stocked up. Now, when we moved, I put my clothes any and every where that they would fit (I seem to have a lot of clothes, and yet never anything to wear I guess that’s another story). Well, that ain’t cutting it anymore because Z needs his closet to himself, so we we bought a (really great) clothes rack for me for storage and I worked on clearing closets. Y’all, I was probably up and down stairs between Z’s room, my room, and the basement 100 times. That’s a haul for a preggo. Thankfully, Nick had Z outside and doing other stuff so I could work in peace and I took several breaks (I had to be the one to do it too, because I need to know where my junk is!). By the end of the weekend, we had Z’s closet emptied and stocked, the clothes rack filled up, and my clothes confined to about 1/2 of one extra closet. I’m gonna find a way to empty that one completely too.

The baby’s room is stocked with (the teensiest) diapers, bed made and her closet is quickly filling up (especially after I went through the boxes of clothes my sis gave me that belonged to my niece!). It was rather productive, but there is still plenty to be done!

Friday, me and Z ran some errands for him and the baby. He was such a fun little companion. Let me tell you, this is not always the case, but he was so good and cracking me up the whole time we were walking around Home Goods and Target. He was very content in the cart and as long as he was free to ask “What’s that?” When we got home, it was a little late and he had been talking about going to the mall all day, so we rode with my dad to Brookwood Mall, and I pushed him around in his stroller while my parents walked the Lakeshore Trail. I canNOT remember the last time he rode in the stroller, but he loved it! We walked/rode for about an hour, got a cookie and went to the condo, which is his new favorite place. The past couple of nights he has told us before bed, “After I wake up, I go condo, kay?”

We went to the neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt again this year, and it was a beautiful day to be out! I was so happy to get my camera back out, as it had been collecting dust. Z had to have his glasses, which is a regular occurrence. When we’re in the car, he says “I got sunshine, I need glasses.” Then, every once in a while it surprises him and he says “It’s dark! I need sunshine!”

 

He was really excited about hunting eggs and I couldn’t believe he wasn’t scared of the Easter Bunny either. Is it just me, or are they a little creepy??

He gave him five

He was ready to cross the start line!

This is a perfect picture to show how he runs, it’s like a fast stomp

Believe it or not, he was not really interested in accumulating egg wealth. We collected about 10 eggs and he seemed more interested in “what’s inside?” than anything. The other kids snatched them up fast!

Documenting the pregnant-ness…

Mama Sick Day

I have taken a bit of a hiatus from blogging, but I have a pretty good excuse this time. I got wiped out by strep throat last week. It started last Saturday with a sore throat that I thought was just from reflux because I have been waking up with sore throats for a while, but it got progressively worse. I had my tonsils out a few years ago, and it felt just the day after they were removed. On a scale of 1 to 10 it was a hook-me–up-to-a-morphine-drip-now. I started a Z-Pak on Monday and within a few hours of starting it, the fever and chills started, those didn’t go away for a good 2 days. I even had to cancel patients on Tuesday (a first for m). It’s all a blur now, but it was the sickest I’ve been in a long time and a great reminder to be thankful for days when I feel well!! I finally started feeling better on Thursday, and by Saturday I was back to normal.

Nick took such great care of me and Z while I was O-U-T. I had to wake him up several times at night for tylenol or water and he kept me warm/cool (whichever I needed at the time) at all times. He also took complete care of Z, drop off, pick up, bath dinner, everything! I am soooo thankful he was there for us, and I have no idea what I would have done without him there to nurse me back to health!

I missed Z so much during those few days. We kept my contact with him very minimal and I think he could feel it. He kept saying “mama sleepy,” then when I would get out of bed he would say “mama wake up!” When I was around he was checking me out to see what was going on and would periodically climb up on me and get in my face (exactly what he didn’t need to be doing!). He insisted that I come with them at night to put him to bed, and of course I wouldn’t have missed that anyway!

I’m also so thankful for my parents who came to our house Tuesday and Wednesday nights to help us out and nurse me back to heath. It was my dad who insisted I get out of bed and go to work on Wednesday, even though I kinda wanted to just go to the hospital (no kidding, the thought crossed my mind). He was right (of course) and I was feeling better by mid-morning that day, and since I had been on antibiotics for 3 days I wasn’t contagious anymore, so it was probably the best place for me to be.

I couldn’t help but worry about little bean while I was sick, but I was in constant contact with several doctors, including my OB, and they assured me that I was doing everything I could be. She was moving and shaking most of the time, so that was good reassurance too. I started getting a few more B-H contractions toward the end, but I just kept on drinking fluids and they got less frequent, thankfully.

Being sick is no fun, but being sick and pregnant, a whole different ball game! I am so thankful that is behind me and now (God-willing) I can focus on this sweet baby who’s going to join us very soon!