Friday, July 25, 2008

Dreams

I know they say in pregnancy, women have crazy dreams. Well, mine are certifiable! I woke up really upset today because my dream included someone dying, infidelity, and someone getting waxed. It was BIZARRE. So, no more Milano cookies for me before bed :) I forgot to blog the other day about my doctor's appointment. Maybe that's because it was such a non-event. I went in (Maddie came with me) and we saw one of the doctors and not a midwife because that was just the luck of the draw. He's a really nice doctor. We listened to Grace's heartbeat (very strong) and we measured my tummy (34 weeks and right on track). Blood pressure was great and I'm feeling fine. Oh, if by fine I mean aching feet, back, and small cramps between the Braxton-Hicks contractions I'm getting every once in a while. Yeah, I know... the end of pregnancy is supposed to be like this because then you're not so scared of labor because you have such a desire to not be pregnant anymore. It's funny though. Gabe and I are taking this childbirth class (the last one is this Wed.) and I realize that I don't feel scared about labor like last time, I feel more interested in how it will be different. Like, I really hope the anesthesiologist can put my epidural in the right way the first time so that I don't have to have it done a second time and then get a spinal. And, if this baby is jaundice, I won't be so quick to cry and worry that she's going to die like I did when Maddie was one day old. Don't get me wrong. We watched 3 birth videos in class this week and it's not a walk in the park just because it's the second time I'm doing this, but I have faith in God, the medical staff and myself to do just fine. My baby books say that I should get the car seat for the baby situated in the car and pack the labor bags because from this point on, it could happen at any time. Given my history, it will probably happen closer to the actual due date, but regardless, I'm preparing. Gabe and I are going on a date tonight :) Movie and dinner in Bethesda because he says that's where we're going to get some great sushi! I've been craving sushi since last weekend. Don't worry; I don't eat the raw stuff.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Some pictures of the past few days...

Friday 7:30ish pm
That's my belly she's resting on and Tucker is resting on her leg :)


The Girls' Room: 1 GIANT crib and one tiny crib :)

Gracie's crib

This is where I decided to hang her name. I love the
way it turned out :)

I have a doctor's appointment in the morning, so I figured I'd blog about that tomorrow and tell you all how things are going. In the meantime, here are some pictures of our Friday night (not like they used to be :) and of Maddie and Gracie's room. It's ready for the baby!

Friday, July 18, 2008

She's her mothers' daughter

Yesterday Maddie went over to her Grammy and Poppi's house to try and swim again. It was 95 degrees here and miserable and Sandy had offered to give me a break by taking Maddie for a while. Gabe and I bought Maddie a new bikini at Sesame Place with Elmo on it and she hadn't seen it yet. I sent that with her to maybe entice her to get in the pool. Well, she LOVED the bikini, but still HATES the pool! She's definitely my daughter. When I was young, I signed up to do both track & field and indoor soccer as sports I'd like to try. The truth was that I wanted the shoes and apparel that went with each sport, more than I wanted to play the actual sport. That's what Maddie's doing! She doesn't want to swim, but she wants to wear the apparel and lounge on the chaise :) I don't have any pictures of this, but I'll get some to post so that we can tease her about how much she's like me when she gets older. Sandy said that when it was time to take the suit off for a bath, Maddie really protested. That must be an almost 2 year old thing. Suddenly she takes notice of what she's wearing. She hasn't argued or protested about anything I dress her in, but from what I hear from moms of kids a little bit older than Maddie, it's just around the corner :)

Monday, July 14, 2008

The countdown begins...

33 weeks (between 4-7 weeks left to go!)

Bed-head but beautiful
So, I've been thinking about this baby a lot lately mostly because she's kicking me all the time and also because of all the ways being pregnant changes me. For example, yesterday I felt like the most irritable person EVER! No matter what I did, I felt irritated and I've come to know that's just part of being 8 months pregnant in July in 90 degree weather. Then, I ate some pizza yesterday, only to be followed by a bowl of cereal an hour later and then I seriously considered eating an avocado that Gabe brought me, but changed my mind and ate an Almond-Roca instead. So, yeah, I'm hungry and none of what I eat seems to really "go" together. Plus, as I'm blogging, I've just heated up a leftover piece of pizza and it's only 10:30 in the morning. Something I normally don't do is eat pizza in the am, but it was all I could think about. I'm eating lots of fruit and drinking lots of water, but I'm hungry all the time. I'm tired too, but it's survivable :) So, we don't have a lot going on this week. Just the normal stuff. Our internet has been on the fritz along with our home phone, so if time passes and I don't blog or email, you'll know why. They're sending someone to fix it Friday between 8am-7pm. Nice window, eh? I was ready to really complain about the 11 hour window of time when the guy on the phone told me that they'll actually call me Thursday and tell me a more definite time. So that's good. Have a good week.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

We're Back!


Well, it was a great trip to PA for the past couple of days. Sesame Place was a lot of fun (even though it was 90 degrees) and Maddie did have the best time. She wasn't scared of Elmo or any of his friends whatsoever. When we first got to the park, there was Oscar in his trash can. He was hiding inside and she didn't notice him. We walked over and he came out and the look of recognition and awe in her eyes was priceless. It was like she couldn't believe he was right in front of her. A slow smile crept across her face and she looked at me like "is this real?" It was so cute. We had breakfast with Elmo, Bert, Ernie, Big Bird and Zoe. Maddie visited each of them and mostly leaned in to love them (as you can see in some of the pic's). Sesame Place has a lot of water activities and as you can see from my previous post, she's not that into water right now. So, we skipped water activities and figure that she may enjoy them more next year. Maddie went on one ride with Gabe, they climbed on the ropes course for a few seconds, she played in Big Bird's nest, went through a maze, watched a live taping of "Elmo's World" the show (that was really fun even for adults to see), and she ate an Elmo cupcake. We had a blast and it was a great memory to make with her. I'm 32 weeks pregnant now and that means that I'm definitely slowing down. This was the best time to take a trip and now we're back and just going to take it easy. On the drive home yesterday, Maddie couldn't stop coughing. The cough has been progressively getting worse and yesterday it was bad. So, I took her to the dr. and sure enough, she has an ear infection! Only her 2nd one and even with an ear infection she was a great traveler and hotel sleeper! What a trooper. So, now she's on antibiotics and sort of tired today. Last night Gabe and I went to our first refresher of our prepared childbirth class. We hired a babysitter that I found and she did great with Maddie. What a relief. The class was good; shocking, I know but Gabe and I are the only couple who is having our 2nd baby. Everyone else is first timers. Also, we had to say our due dates and we're committing to September 1st at this point and of course, I'm due first out of the whole group. We're just going to remember all the breathing we learned because it did come in handy during Maddie's birth (especially when the epidural didn't work). So, that's what's going on here. Hope you enjoy the pictures! Click here to see them.

Monday, July 7, 2008

Maddie Swims (sort of :)

So mad!

Getting more comfortable (kind of)

Eating dinner and happy that the "swimming" part is over

She's saying "Cheeeeeeeeeeese!"

Well, we took the plunge. Literally. We decided that it was time to get Maddie back in the pool at her grandparents house the other day. We asked if she wanted a swimsuit, "no." We offered her a new boat to ride around in and she said "no." So, we decided to just carry her in, naked. She was upset, but to be honest, she calmed quickly once I held her and we just sat on the stairs and relaxed. She's been teething, with a fever, for the past few days, so I'm sure that played a role in her mood that afternoon. Here's the pic's that will haunt her when she's a teen :) We're off to Sesame Place tonight and I'll blog with pic's when we get back. Have a good few days!!!

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Holiday Weekend

Happy 4th of July weekend! We're staying put for the weekend and hopefully we'll be doing some swimming tomorrow over at Sandy and Carlos' house. We've tried to help Maddie be interested in swimming a couple of times so far, but it's been a no-go for her. Maybe tomorrow will be the day. Just got home from having my hair trimmed and that's always a good feeling. How come the hairdresser people can blowdry your hair so perfectly and as the client you know that it will never look this way again until the next haircut? Funny. Another funny thing that keeps happening to me (and especially with Latina women) is people ask me how far along I am and then they say "boy?" Why does everyone think it's a boy based on how I look? It's so strange. I've had 3 ultrasounds and each time I've been reassured it's a girl. So take that :) Gabe and I are having a date night tonight. Going to dinner, a meeting and then to see a reggae band that Alexa and I used to love in our early 20's. The band is from Northern CA (local for us) and it should be fun to relive our youth for one night. I'll post about how it goes. Happy 4th a day early!!!

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Tuesday

Sorry I've been slacking on the blog, but here I am. It's been a busy week since I last blogged. I've painted the letters for Grace (still need to hang them) and we put the crib together. It's really cute but definitely smaller than Maddie's. I was saying to my mom that it looks like Maddie's crib is for a queen and Grace's is for a peasant! It's really nice and cute, but it's much smaller so that it could fit in the room! This morning we have Gymboree and last week when we went, Maddie didn't have that great of a time. I'm going to test those waters again this am and hope she has a better time. There was a little girl there who grabbed (pretty rudely) a toy from Maddie and it really hurt her feelings. She normally lets things like that blow off her, but she was upset and kept saying "bye-bye." Then we left. So, hopefully today is better. That other little girl just got a new sister a month or so ago and I think she's probably just out of sorts because she's normally really nice and sweet. So, we shall see. 4th of July this week. Not much going on here. I mean, yes, it's the Nation's capital and there's tons of fireworks and events, but to be honest, that means major traffic in DC and for all 4 years that I've lived here it has rained and thunderstormed on the 4th. I don't really want to be stuck on the mall in a down pour. Gabe and I haven't really talked about what our plans will be, but probably just mellow. We leave on Monday evening next week for Sesame Place! It's like Disneyland for 2 year olds in Pennsylvania. We're taking Maddie there for a couple of days and we're considering it our vacation as well as her "I'm about to be a big sister" trip. To be honest, Gabe and I have watched so much Sesame Street and Elmo that we are excited to see what it's like too. I'm sure I'll take a zillion pic's so be prepared for that. That's pretty much our news at the moment. Oh, and Maddie is getting at least one new tooth that I can feel/see. It's the tooth next to her left front tooth. It's about time :)