Madelyn's 16th Month

Madelyn and I fought for a good 15 minutes trying to get her picture this month. Finally, I gave up and realized - this is just Madelyn at this stage in life. She is WAY too busy to sit for any of my photo shoots so I'm just going to have to take what I can get.

I can sum up the month in 3 words - Walking and Talking.

Madelyn's favorite things to do include walking around the house (she can go in circles now and is really proud of herself) and chatting to whoever will listen. Most of the talking is Da Da Da Da but she uses inflection which is pretty funny.

Since the weather is unseasonably warm, we've been able to head outside and I now understand the whole nice clothes/play clothes thing. This kid gets trashed!

Sitting in the mud I am trying to hose out of our driveway



She struggled for a day or so with the uneven terrain of the grass and rough texture of the cement (when she falls) not to mention that sidewalks around here are not level, but she has mastered it and loves walking back and forth on the sidewalk in front of our house.

She has also been working on stairs a lot this month and is getting pretty good.

My poor girl battled another tooth in early March complete with a runny nose, fever and rosy cheeks. She wanted to cuddle and we ended up kicking Nick to the couch for a couple nights since she turned into a mama's girl those few days.

She loves to read and her favorites include The Very Hungry Caterpiller, Goodnight Moon and Where's Spot. If we read in her room the first book off the shelf is The Very Hungry Caterpiller. I have even tried hiding it in a different spot on the shelf a few times (you can only read the same book so many times before you get a little tired of it) and she still manages to find it first. Next up is always Goodnight Moon. Her favorite part is the "old lady whispering hush". Everytime she hands me the book she starts hussssshing and does it the entire time I'm reading. We keep some books in the livingroom and this is where Spot lives. She likes this one because of the snake that says Sssssss - I guess she's liking the S sound these days.

The other day she saw a poster of a dog at Target and said "woof woof" - genius baby, I know! Cats aren't called cats around here - they are rowwww's. This makes sense if you realize none of our cats actually meow, they rowwww.





Oh and she can sing row row row your boat - because she's brilliant!

31 weeks

Ummm....what the bleep!!?!?!?!

We are 11 weeks from meeting this baby - how did that happen?

Here are some thoughts on second pregnancies, VBACing, childbirth class, and a nursery preview.

Second pregnancies are no joke! The good thing is that time flies because you are so busy running after your older child. The bad thing is you are tiiiirreeeddd and there is no rest for the weary because you are running after your older child. Now that I'm getting to the tougher parts of pregnancy, I am realizing how hard my body is working at keeping these kids happy and healthy. I told Nick that I am carrying an extra 50lbs around most of the day - no wonder my back hurts!

I also can't get over how different this pregnancy is from Madelyn's. I am hoping I can say the same about the birth! Anyway, with Madelyn I expanded sideways and this baby is all out in front and way lower than she ever was. My boobs literally sat on my belly the entire time I was pregnant with her. The good part about carrying lower is it is a lot easier to breathe this time around which I will take. The bummer is there seems to be a lot more stretching an expanding going on down below that never happened last time. Another major difference - braxton hicks. I never had one with Madelyn. I also never had a "normal" contraction. ie: starts in back and spreads to the front and tightening in your belly. She was all back labor, all the time. I would say I am having braxton hicks at least 1-2 times every couple of hours. Feeling my belly tighten like that is just crazy. I am hopeful that it is just things lining up to a successful VBAC.

This time around, I knew going in how long a pregnancy lasts. Obviously, I knew before but you just can't help yourself with preparing and I was ready to go 2 months before my due date with Madelyn. This time, HA! I have purchased a rug, hangers and a mattress. Seriously. Random purchases, I know but I got deals on all of them which is why I have bought anything at all. Not a onesie. No crib. Dresser, what? I told Nick, my goal is to buy one bigger item each week until showtime. With 11 weeks to go, we should be good, right?

Oh and can I just say there is not enough chocolate in the world to satisfy me these days! Weird, considering I normally don't have a sweet tooth.

Alright - onto a nursery preview! I am in love!!
Here is a reminder of what it looked like as Ben's room (which I will post a reveal of his new room later)

And the work in progress -

We (nick) tore out the desk and are installing shelving

Paint - after

I am in love with the colors! In.Love.

We tore the carpet out and replaced the window when Ben was still in the room. As a result, the work for this project was pretty minimal and Nick knocked it out in a week. I don't have any pictures of the rug or the shelving so that will come later. We also found fabric for bedding and my mom is going to make that.

Prenatal appointment went well. Heartrate was in the 140's - the baby actually punched the doppler off of my belly while we were trying to get a read. Blood pressure was 114/60 which I guess is good. Next appointment is in 3 weeks.

First night of childbirth class went well also. There are only 4 other couples in the class so that is nice. And we get to sit on comfy couches - yay! The closest due date to mine is July 7 so I don't know if that means we are way behind (surprise surprise) or everyone else is head of schedule but whatev's. We went over nutrition during pregnancy and the instructor gave us some pregnancy tea which was pretty good. I've got an iced tea obsession going on right now anyway so I might as well use her recipe and make it work to my advantage. We also went over some yoga stretches that can help with the aches and pains of pregnancy. All in all, pretty good class so far.

I also found a 1 day VBAC specific class in Ann Arbor that Nick and I plan on attending so I am excited about that.