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.

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!

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 :)

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.

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.

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!!!

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

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 :)

A little update

It's been a bit since I blogged about how I'm doing, so I thought I'd take a minute to do that. I read a lot of other mom blogs and many of us are pregnant right now. They seem to be really being in the moment of being a mom to one about to be a mom of two and I think that feeling or idea has only really recently hit me. I was rocking Maddie in the rocking chair the other night because she was having a tough time with teething and the whole time I was holding her, Grace was kicking us both from the inside. That's a crazy feeling. By crazy, I mean special. Holding someone you love so much and know so well, while a little stranger that you love equally is kicking your bellybutton from the other side is a pretty neat experience. It's strange because it feels like both a long time until we meet her and also it feels like it's right around the corner. I'm 30 weeks pregnant this week and I have a check up tomorrow morning. Basically, at the most, I have 10 weeks until Grace gets here, but she could really come any time in the next 7-8 weeks. That's exciting, but because it's going to be my last pregnancy (I'm pretty sure) it's also a little sad. Don't get me wrong; I'm uncomfortable for sure, but I always looked forward to having kids and it's kind of crazy to think of that part of my life as done. On the other hand, it will be nice to have my body back to myself and to get out of dealing with diapers, bottles, sleep deprivation (I know it will return when I have 2 teenage girls), etc. In the here and now I'm definitely in baby mode; going through all of Maddie's newborn sized clothes, buying some new things, finding the little hats and mittens they wear in the beginning (to not scratch their face), painting and hanging her name, putting the crib together, putting the double stroller together (it's HUGE), etc. It's busy stuff, but it's so fun and over and over I'm reminded how happy I am to be having another girl. I always wanted Maddie to have a sister and I'm so happy they will be so close in age. Maddie has such a loving nature to her that I feel like she's going to be a really good older sister. I'm not expecting there to not be jealousies in the beginning, but I think deep down she's going to do a great job. So, that's what we're up to. Maddie is still using her potty every day (mostly for pee, but today she's decided to use it 2x to poop :) She's getting the hang of it because with each drop, she gets jellybeans and hey, what wouldn't you do for a couple of JellyBellys?

Baby Grace

Went and had a 3D ultrasound today and of course, Baby Gracie was only sort of cooperating. Much like Maddie did when I had her 3D scan done. So, here's the best shot. It looks a little alarming, but don't they all. If you look close ( on the left of the pic) you can see her eye, cheek, nose and her mouth is open to yawn :) Enjoy!

Father's Day & Potty Day

So, as many of you have read and commented, yesterday Maddie went potty in her little Elmo potty for the first time. It was VERY exciting around here :) There was an update last night that I didn't post and that's the fact that later after she did her "pee-pee" in her potty she told me "poo-poo." I thought she meant she had already done it so I was brining her upstairs to her potty to sort of show her where it should go. Well, we got up there and she hadn't gone, so I asked her to sit on the potty again and a few minutes later, she pooped! I could not believe it. I yelled for Gabe to get upstairs and we made a huge fuss and told her how proud we were. This was followed by 2 jelly beans (which she hasn't ever had before and now cannot get enough of :) This morning, I thought I should start the day with giving her the option of sitting on the potty again, and when she woke up, I put her on it and she peed again. She got 2 more jellybeans and is feeling very proud. We had Gymboree today and she's obviously still wearing diapers, but it was barely wet by the time we got home. So, I think maybe it isn't a fluke. We'll keep working on it and I'll spare you every detail other than the really exciting ones :) The pictures are from Father's Day morning when Gabe got his presents from Maddie and I. Some shirts, shorts and this craft I made by tracing her hand and writing 5 things she loves to do with him or about it this year. We added Sesame Street stickers because that's her favorite thing and the idea is to do it every year as her hand get's bigger. The bottom 2 pic's are Maddie last night after she used her potty :)

Potty time

I know I need to post about Father's Day and about Lizzy and Justin's visit last week, but since I only have a minute, I have to tell you that a few minutes ago before I gave Maddie her bath, I asked her if she wanted to sit on her potty. She got on it, with her diaper on and I took it off and told her to try.

And, she did it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I cannot believe it. She was so proud and she kept trying to go more even when she was done. It was so cute. So, maybe potty training is upon us. It could also be a fluke, but I'll go with it for now. Yeah for Maddie :)

Diaper Nightmares

I have to blog about this because I'm doing so much laundry and I can't stand it! Maddie has gotten quite good at taking her pants on and off. She practices this all day, many times a day. I thought it was cute and that she was such a "girl" for wanting to play with clothes. Well, the game has progressed and now she is taking off her pants so that she can get to the diaper. She's taking the diaper off as much as possible, but almost always when waking from a nap or in the morning. I've been running to get to her as soon as I hear her talking and making noise, but EVERY time, I've been too late. She's sitting in her crib, diaper tossed overboard and she's saying "Uh-oh." I try to have patience and tell her that it's not "Uh-oh" when you do something on purpose. She doesn't care. It's like she knows it's bad, she knows it's uncomfortable to sit there next to a tiny pee spot, but she does it anyway-all the time and every day for the past week. I'm struggling here. The laundry isn't as much of a problem as is the fact that often she sort of pees on her "nigh-nigh" (her blankie if you don't know) and then that has to go in the washer and she loses her mind because she can't have it for a half an hour. So then I'm sort of in the middle of trying to calm her from missing the nigh-nigh, cleaning the crib for the millionth time and all the while keep my patience because she's 20 months old and she thinks her new found ability to get out of her clothes is charming. I talked to Siobhan about this today because she went through the exact same thing with Aibha and from what I've read online, many kids do this. It's not necessarily a sign that they're ready to potty-train because even though she has a potty, she will not sit on it. No matter what. Not even for fun or to pretend. So, that tells me she's not ready. I don't think the taking the diaper off is because it's wet and uncomfortable, I really think it's the novelty of being able to take her cl0thes off. So, tomorrow is another day and we shall see what it brings. Just pray it doesn't bring me the Urinating Fairy again; I need a break :)

28 weeks pregnant and the hottest day of the year

So, summer has arrived. Today it was 95 degrees and like 80% humidity which means that it felt like it was over 100! Nightmare for the person who turned 7 months pregnant today :) Maddie and I stayed indoors as much as we could and we only took 1 walk around the neighborhood only to return to our house sweating buckets. Not my idea of fun. So, I thought I'd include some pic's of the growing tummy for those of you far away. Definitely getting bigger. Gracie kicks just as much as Maddie ever did and funny enough, she does it at the same times Maddie did; for example, every night at 10pm, she's definitely awake. This week I have a dr.'s appt. on Tuesday and they will do the routine to test they do to check if I have gestational diabetes. Didn't have it with Maddie and hopefully I don't have it this time. I'll keep you posted. Hopefully you're enjoying your weekend somewhere a bit cooler than here :)

7 months and a Hospital visit!

So, today was interesting. And by interesting, it was no fun :( Maddie and I were having a normal day. We went to the bank, Target and then to Gymboree. After Gymboree, I was walking through the mall and I wouldn't stop getting Braxton-Hick's contractions. Like, one after another and my stomach was getting rock hard and I was so uncomfortable. For the past 3 days, I've been feeling like this, so I decided to call my midwife. Well, she told me to rest and call her in a couple of hours. Which I did and I was still having the contractions, so she sent me to the hospital. I was feeling upset. I didn't want to go to the hospital and make people worry, plus, I carried Maddie to full term no problem; so why was this happening? Basically, after being there and monitored and tests being run, I was found to be fine. I'm just over doing it. I need to take it easy and make sure to drink a lot more water. So, as Gabe and I left the hospital, I said "see you in 12 weeks." There really is a reason that pregnancy is so long. Because today I was scared there and not prepared. When you're 40 weeks pregnant and in real labor, you're happy to be at the hospital because you're dying to meet your baby and have your body back to yourself :) So, that's it. Lizzy and Justin will be here tomorrow and I'm excited.
Also, for all who know her, my good friend Siobhan had her baby yesterday. Her name is Aisling (pronounced Ashling; Irish spelling) and she was 7 lbs. 15 oz. A perfect size. I cannot wait to meet her!

A Cold and a Cleaning Frenzy

Well, Maddie has a cold that she got from Gabe and I'm lucky because I don't have it. She's been a little under the weather for about 3 days now and I'm hoping (finger's crossed) that today is the last day of it. We had to miss Gymboree this morning because they don't want you to come and make all the other kids sick. So, instead we headed out for a nice walk before it gets too warm today. Plus, we have more thunder showers coming, so we needed to get it out of the way. Then we went and donated more things that we don't need from the basement. That's the best feeling. I think I'm finally done with all of the de-cluttering-making-room-for-another-baby work I've been doing for about a month. Everything feels purged and that feels great. The basement is really coming along as a play room for the girls. Grace's crib is ordered and on it's way as I blog; probably be here tomorrow. So, it's all coming together and that feels like a mission accomplished. Yesterday I took it upon myself to move a few pieces of furniture to see if it gave me more space. It did and I think I'll leave it this way until I don't need as much baby stuff (swing, exersaucer, bouncy chair, etc.) out. It's not out yet, but I made room in anticipation. I have 89 days til' my due date, according to the pregnancy calendar. In line at the grocery store, we met a little girl named Grace and her mom told me that she had her August 23rd. A sign that my Grace is coming a little early? Who knows. I know that Alexa thinks she'll be born in August :) We shall see.
Elisabeth and Justin are coming here this weekend. Well, Justin is already here and actually coming over tonight to hang out and have pizza. But, Lizzy gets here Friday and then next week we have some fun plans to do with them. I love having visitors (hint, hint to all you Californian's). A funny thing I wanted to blog about since last week, but couldn't find the time. I'm really thinking about Christmas all the time. Isn't that the strangest thing you've heard? Why it's on my mind, I have no idea. Maybe it's because last years was so terrible, or because this year I'll have two little girls at Christmas time. But, whatever it is, it's funny. I just keep thinking about what we'll do this year (since we won't be traveling) and what kind of traditions I want to start and always do. I figure that Maddie will possibly start remembering them now, so I want to make good memories for her and for us.
So, that's what's going on here. Gabe's busy with work and meetings, but we've also been finding a good balance at being together. He's doing great and just celebrated 60 days on Sunday. I'm doing good too.

Maddie & Daddy

This is what "bed time" looks like. She gets a little wild :)

Memorial Day

We had a great day and I hope you did too! Here's the pic's of Maddie and Ella today. They really played together, got into things together and had a blast. They're getting soooo big!

Holiday Weekend & Baby's Got a New Name :)

I hope that everyone is having a nice holiday weekend. We definitely are. Today we got up early, Gabe went to a meeting then to work and Maddie and I headed to the Farmer's Market for round 2 of the strawberries :) They were even better today than last week, but alas, I took no pictures. We went to dog school to drop Tucker off for grooming first and when Maddie saw her Grammy and her Poppi, she took them by the hands and lead them to her favorite restaurant to dine at while in Olde Towne. She's a girl who knows what she wants :) They took her to breakfast and then Gabe and I got to take each other to breakfast at a different restaurant :) Very fun. Over breakfast, I started talking to Gabe about the name of this baby. I started this conversation with him a few days ago, and to be honest, it's a conversation I've been having in my head for probably a month or more now. Here's the truth: I'm not "sold" on the name Sophia. It's a beautiful name, and I keep telling myself that it'll grow on me. But, when I think about how we chose Maddie's name and just knew it was perfect, well, this feels different. Then I've been telling myself that since I really knew I wanted to name Maddie, Maddie, that maybe this time around it's Gabe's turn to name her and he was the one who really loved the name Sophia. So, I started getting used to it. In fact, I bought the letters to hang on the wall just like Maddie's. But, let's face it. She's still in utero which means, her name isn't binding and ever since I made the announcement that her name was Sophia Grace, I've been thinking about what might suit her just a little more. So, here I am. Over breakfast, I brought it up to Gabe again. I'd been reading my bible the night before and a theme kept coming up in what I read. And, that theme was Grace. Grace is the freely given salvation from God and based on some really recent things in our lives, it just keeps coming back to me; maybe her first name is supposed to be Grace. At breakfast, I made this known to Gabe and he totally agreed. Like, he didn't need to think it over and I didn't need to convince him. He just agreed; just like when we named Madeline. So, then we were on to middle names. That's where it got tough. Gabe named a few ideas he had and again, to be honest, there was no way some of those names were going to work. But then, out of nowhere, he asked, "What about Celeste?" I asked him where he heard that name and he didn't know, he just thought of it. Then, I told him that my Grandma Nardi's middle name is Celeste. It just seemed to fit. So, here we are, with a new name to call the baby and it's one that I feel much better about. It seems to mean more and it came about organically instead of manufactured. So, her name will be Grace Celeste and we'll call her "Gracie." For those of you that loved and supported her name being Sophia, I appreciate that. But, as the mom, I have to love the name completely and not be just luke-warm. So, I'm excited to share that with you. I have this pregnancy calendar on my Google page and today it told me that I have 99 days til' my due date! Time is flying by :)

Farmer's Market Pic's & Teething

Today has been a bit of a long day. Maddie is growing like 3 new teeth (all molars) and she's pretty miserable. She has a total routine to it though, so at least I know what to expect. Tylenol helps her a lot, but when it's wearing off and it's not time to give her any more yet; that's a hard time. We shared a Popsicle a while ago because I thought that would help and it definitely did. Either that or the sugar rush gave her something else to think about! So, we're good. I'm tired (that's my mantra) and we're enjoying the fact that it's still not summer yet. Summer here is sooooooo hot and I'm not really looking forward to it. The pic's here are from Saturday morning when Maddie and I got home from the Farmer's Market. We had a nice morning walk, stopped at Starbucks, and bought some produce at the market. When we got home, I was cleaning the strawberries and she likes to sit on the counter to see what I'm doing. I turned around and she had stolen a berry and was taking bites :) So cute. Gabe and I went to the dog show on Sunday and it was a muddy mess. It had totally poured rain and he had to show anyways and we were caked in mud when we got back to the car. Nightmare. We had fun just the two of us though. This weekend, we are going to keep working on the basement. It's on ongoing project that we started a few weeks ago and it's making progress, but with Lizzy and Justin coming soon, I want to get it done. Can we say "nesting?" Happy Tuesday night.