Random William Moments...

Finger Painting in the lovely 74 degree weather... Just a few days later, bundled up against the cold!

Making Glitter Glue Worms...

Exploring the Bamboo at the Zoo...

Looking Cute!

William and I have been cooped up in the house far too much lately. I braved the weather and contractions and went to the zoo for a couple of hours with him yesterday. It was fun, and not crowded. We spent a lot of time with the invertebrates and the reptiles, including seeing a Boa Constrictor eat a rabbit. Thankfully, the rabbit had already been put out of it's misery before being given to the snake. Or maybe it was put in the cage alive, took one look at the snake and died from the shock! It was too much for me, so we didn't stay long. After that we ran over to Sam's Club because we needed a new battery for the car. Thankfully, I brought out the old receipt for the previous one (3 years ago) and they replaced it for FREE! Whoo hoo! They have a 3 year warranty and we were just in under the wire. It took about 2 hours to replace the dumb thing though, so by the end William and I were getting a little nuts. I am glad we have a new, trustworthy battery though, before the baby comes. I would hate to go out to the car in labor and it won't turn over!

Check In With Charlie...

Another Biophysical profile this morning. Only 5 more to go at most! Charlie is just like William and ALWAYS has his hands up by his face. William did that at almost every ultrasound and continued to do that after he was born. The second picture shows his hand pretty clearly in front of his face. The top picture shows him grimacing a bit after the ultrasound tech was encouraging him to move it so she could see a good shot of the umbilical cord. The cord is what is just to the right of his face. Everything looked good today except for my fluid level was down a bit. I need to drink more fluids, but I feel like I am in the bathroom every 20 minutes already! They want me to get at least 3 liters in every day at minimum. Yikes! 37 days left...hopefully not too many more than that!

Sleeping Beauty...

William has not napped for almost a year now. Sure he drops off occasionally in the car, but even that is really rare. All of a sudden, the last 3 days he has napped. The only problem is that he is falling asleep at 4pm, and sleeping for about 1 and a 1/2 hours. This is REALLY messing up bedtime. Last night he didn't fall asleep till 10:30! I can't figure out if he is growing, or still recovering from his virus, or what. I am loving having a little quiet time again, but I would enjoy sticking with our old bedtime of 8pm. I guess I will have to find a solution if it continues.
As for baby, I am feeling that nesting urge something awful! I want to get all my loose ends tied up and hunker down to welcome this little boy. I met with my midwife yesterday and she gave me all sorts of homework for the next 6 weeks. I am feeling very confident about the VBAC and I am feeling more and more ready to be a mom of 2 little boys. I have all his little clothes washed and ready and his little bed made and ready to go. I realized though that this is certainly not going to be the same as it was the first time around. I brought home this lovely cream colored bouncer, took off the cover and washed it, then lovingly put it all back together. About 2 minutes later, after William came over to check it out, it was covered with Goldfish Cracker dust. Do I take it apart again and redo all that? Nah. I just chalked it up to the way it will be for baby number 2. Poor Charlie....

Weekly Update...

My weekly trips for "Biophysical Profiles" have begun. I am not thrilled that I am at an increased risk for problems, but I must say I LOVE seeing Charlie every week! Everything continues to look good, and I got to see him open and close his hand today and breathe in and out. It was very cool. I ended up going on my own today and I must say I got a lot more out of it that I do when William is there. I will bring him to the rest of the visits though, I like him to see the baby on the screen, and he gets a big kick out of it. Charlie was estimated at 5 pounds today which is exactly what I expected to hear. That still puts him on track for an 8 pound birth weight. More pictures next Monday!

On the Road to Recovery...

William has been quite sick for the last few days, but today he seemed peppy enough to get out and about. The weather was PERFECT, so we took full advantage and went to the Nature Center. We took a hike and turned over many logs, but were only rewarded with some grubs and worms. It seems like all the creepy crawlies were still hibernating deeper underground. I promised William we will come back in a few weeks and look again. We finished the day with Corned Beef and Cabbage like all good Irish/Jewish Americans. Happy St Patricks Day!

A Shower for Charlie...

They told me to look surprised...
You have to love outfits with animal faces on the butt...

They understand my love for Gymboree...

We all loved this chocolate cake...it was SO yummy!

My boss gave me this, which is like a small pack n play. I love it, it fits perfectly in the corner by my bed and it has 3 levels for the mattress so you can move it lower as the baby grows. Such a cute print too!

Yesterday was my baby shower for Charlie at work. It was a lot of fun and I got so many nice, useful things. He got a lot of clothes and diapers, and even some formula. I also got some gift cards to Target, which will come in very handy for those odd, last minute things. It was nice to feel so loved by all my friends at work, we have a great time together on the weekends and I can't wait to show the baby to them when he arrives!

A 3 Year Old Well Child...

Today was William's 3 year well child exam. He woke up last night with Croup again so the timing was perfect. He is back on Prednisone for 3 days and will hopefully feel better quickly. He is meeting or exceeding all the developmental milestones and we talked about his lack of variety in his diet these days. He is so finicky lately with what he will or won't eat. He is definitely growing though, so I don't think it's affecting him at all! At 2 years he was 36.5 inches tall and he is now 39.25 inches! Wow. That puts him in the 84th % for height. He weighed 30 pounds at 2 years and that has become 37 pounds which puts him in the 91st % for weight. I still wonder about the weight a little. At 2 years he sat on the baby scale and now he is standing on the big kid scale so I wonder if one, or both were a little off. He doesn't seem like he has gained 7 pounds this year. Thankfully there were no shots or pokes at all today, and Dr Rahman and I discussed the new baby and what to expect with his birth. All in all a good visit....

Baby Update...

We went for another growth check on Charlie this morning. He is weighing in at approximately 4lbs, this puts him at an estimated 8 pounds at birth. Sounds just about perfect! He looked great, and though these images are a little blurry, you can still see his face. We saw him open and close his mouth and even blink his eyes today! What an amazing sight!

A Day Devoted to Puddin...

Here are a few various scenes from today. His cake was so yummy!

Happy Birthday William!

3 Years...

Disclaimer: This is a long winded post, meant to capture Will at this moment to look back on in the future.

Tomorrow, William will turn 3. In some ways it feels like yesterday that we brought him into this world, but in other ways it feels like he has always been here. He is a complicated little man, very similar to both Jason and I in many ways. He is very sensitive and is very emotional when he disappoints, or upsets you. Today he stuck the darn pennies in the car CD player AGAIN and I ranted at him for once again messing it up. He was so sad and cried so pitifully that you can't help but feel bad for him. He just can't remember he isn't supposed to stick those tantalizing little discs of metal into that slot that seems to perfect for them. Each time I also try and remind myself not to leave coins where he can get them. He has a fantastic memory, and will recall things that were literally months ago mentioned once in passing. He memorizes songs very easily and can recite many, many books by heart. He is working hard on all his letter sounds, and will frequently try and match them up to a new word or object. He has totally come out of his shell socially and will talk to just about anyone. He is very frustrated when someone doesn't respond to him, which I can't blame him for. Some people are so unfriendly to little kids! He is 90 percent potty trained, except at night, but I figure that will come with time. He is becoming an increasingly picky eater, but his favorite foods are very sophisticated. He adores pesto with mushrooms and broccoli, loves curry and naan with cucumber yogurt sauce, and favors asiago bagels over cinnamon raisin. Go figure! He loves Thomas the Tank Engine and will spend hours a day playing with his trains. He does different voices for the characters and will retell the stories he has seen on the movies. His favorite places are the library and Target. He will also ask to go to Barnes and Noble, but he really just wants to play with the trains there. He loves his stuffed animals more than any other kid I have ever seen and drags them around acting out scenarios from different books. His current favorite movie is a nature series called Blue Planet from the BBC. He is fascinated by all the sea creatures, and indeed so are we. I can't tell as of yet if he is excited for baby Charlie or not. At times he seems very interested, but other times he seems downright opposed to him. We will see what happens. I am going to miss having William all to myself during the day. He and I have spent many happy hours reading and playing and it will be hard to divide my attention. But, at the same time, he needs a sibling. It will teach him so many lessons that he will need for living life in the future. It will be interesting to see how the next year goes for him. So many changes are coming down the line, but we will face them together.

Braxton and Hicks Were Evil Men...

Not really. They just named something that Mother Nature already had given us. I have been doing too much. I am trying desperately to continue my life as normal despite hauling around this baby. I hate being debilitated. I hate relying on anyone else. I hate feeling lazy. But. When I actually try and do anything that requires lots of physical effort or stamina I fail big time. The contractions come and come on strong. I had them every 4 minutes on Tuesday night for quite a while. I couldn't decide if I should call the midwives or not. They did go away after a while, but it was scary. Charlie is NOT ready to come out yet. I know that. So I have to do my best to let my body have it's way for a while. I just wish I could be one of these women that just breeze through pregnancy and it doesn't seem to slow them down at all. Maybe those women don't really exist and just put on a happy face when we see them out in public. Maybe behind closed doors, they too are making the kids pick stuff up for them and are making grunting noises while getting up off the couch....9 weeks. 9 weeks.