New Year's Eve

Well, it seems that every other NYE we are having a quiet one b/c we know that it might be a long night...meaning not up having fun and toasting the new year, but up nursing, rocking, bouncing, and praying that everyone else in the house also sleeps when we want to. :) Although after she FINALLY went down last night, Hadley had a great one and only got up once to nurse, really, since 6:45am doesn't count as a nighttime feeding to me.

The stars have aligned and both girls went down for naps within 10 minutes of each other at Morgan's usual nap time. I am so excited I don't know what to do with myself even though I should be showering and then working on a nap. Meh...procrastination at its best. I swear after this post I'm doing the whole shower/nap thing. I swear.

So...I've noticed on Facebook that many people are posting that they're not sad to see 2011 go and are looking forward to a better year in 2012. I'm so thankful that our family really doesn't have to post that this year as 2011 has been pretty good to us. We've been blessed with our second daughter (just in time for a tax deduction, woo! - although that's totally not the point), God pointed us to staying in our home for now, and we have only 5 more months until we're financially at a point where we can feel less tied down with bills and are not able to consider ourselves debt free by any means, but definitely able to start really making some headway with some investments we've been putting off until other things have been covered. That, and when this change in finances take place, I've been promised a cleaning lady. I can totally do this for 5 more months if it means I get a cleaning lady in the end. ::seriously almost salivating at the idea:: And for the record, I made sure it was the WEEKLY kind of cleaning lady too. Not just the every other. Less for me to worry about? I think so.

Other things to think about...I'm sort of sad to see 2011 go. It was such a year of anticipation with the arrival of Hadley...and not knowing if we were going to be selling our house...and watching Morgan grow into an even bigger big girl it's not even funny. Don't get me wrong - there were definitely some downers to 2011, but I'm going to leave those for 2011 to worry about and look forward to this coming year. Some of the things I'm REALLY looking forward to in 2011...

1. Summer 2011. Twogirls. 
2. Significantly less summer hours at work. As in working 6-8 days/month to 1/2 DAY/month. Well, I suppose that just means July. June is a close second and August we start back at least half way through if not earlier, so let's just leave it at "significantly less work."
3. Tommy & Carrie's wedding! I get my last SIL and I couldn't be more excited. She's a wonderful addition to the family and a perfect match for Tom. And Morgan gets to be a flower girl again and hopefully she won't cry down the aisle the whole time like she did for the last one (disclaimer - she was 9 months old) :)
4. Another niece/nephew to arrive end of July/beginning of August! Yay Trav & Tab!
5. Watching my girls grow. I can't tell you how much joy this brings me. My heart bursts every time they do something new. (ie. Morgan serenading the entire post office this morning with ABCs and Twinkle Twinkle...Hadley now tracking things in her line of sight...Hadley being THREE WEEKS OLD today...when did this happen!?)
6. Working on the Adam and I side of things and being more open to the idea of babysitters (not family) and spending more time with him. Especially on the golf course. I truly miss that time with him. 

So, thank you, 2011, for all the wonderful gifts that were bestowed upon me and my family. 2012, you have a lot to live up to and I'm not worried for a bit that it's going to be another bang up year for the Schmidt clan here in Iowa. xo

Hadley and the Great Birth Weight Achievement

So....after 1,000 weight checks in the past almost 2 1/2 weeks, Hadley has FINALLY met her goal and reached her birth weight of 8lbs.7oz. as of this morning!! Yeah!! Here's a quick chronicle of how that all went down...

Tuesday after she was born (3 days old), weight check
8lbs 0oz. (fine, come back that Friday to check again for gain)

Friday after she was born (6 days old)
8lbs 0oz. (dr starts to get mildly concerned, come back and check again on Tues)

Second Tuesday (10 days old)
8lbs 1oz (dr is now getting concerned more...Hadley should be at birth weight any time now)

Second Friday (13 days old)
8lbs 2oz (concern. We're at 2 weeks old the next day and dr is concerned. Bloodwork and u/s next week without appropriate increase in weight)

This Tuesday (17 days old)
8lbs 4oz (Dr. still concerned and orders labs (gah). I'm feeling better and am no longer worried about anything other than taking her to get blood drawn by myself...thankfully she was a champ!)

Today (Friday, 20 days old)
8lbs 7oz!!

Yippee!! We are at her goal weight in just under three weeks. Dr. Mueller gave us a new goal of 6 more oz gained by next Friday but I don't care! Woo hoo! She's at birth weight!! :-D

Christmas 2011

I'm planning a double post here in the next hour but we'll see if that actually happens...Adam should be home from hunting soon and with him, Morgan, who is an attention whore and likes to spend time with me. Please don't be alarmed - I've read that description of toddlers before and it cracks me up every time so obviously I don't mean that to sound bad...which means I should likely delete it and start over but I'm going to leave it b/c that would take precious time to think of something else to say instead of just getting to it. :)

So...Christmas this year...it was quiet. It was anticlimactic. It was wonderful. So here's what we did...

My brother, Ross, and my SIL Kristen, came to visit from the 23rd-25th. They actually came in late late late on the 22nd and then we had extra time with them on the 23rd which was nice. That was Friday (clearly thinking while writing) and Hadley had yet another weight check before I had my "sanity" check with my midwife at 11am. I'm so thankful I had this appointment with Kim this time and while I feel 1000x better this time than I did postpartum with Morgan (I really should have had that appointment after Morgan...), I was still glad I went even if it was just to see and chat with Kim again. Oddly enough, I already miss seeing her weekly and am considering getting pregnant again so I can see her on a regular basis. ;-) Totally kidding.

We hung out much of the rest of the day and while I can't remember exactly what we did (dang, waited too long to do this post), I know we had a good time WAIT. Kristen and I left Hadley and Morgan with Adam and Ross and went to get super pedicures at ProHair complete with paraffin wax dips. Sigh. It was glorious and the new gray/purple color I have surely beats the half red toes I had prior. :)  That night we watched a movie after the girls went to bed (Bridesmaids! Hilarity at its best!) (actually, Morgan went to bed, Adam hung out with Miss Fussypants Hadley for some of the movie) and cashed in.

Christmas Eve day was filled with more fun as we made spritzer cookies (note - wheat flour is NOT meant for these cookies, gross) that afternoon and Ross learned how to play Angry Birds with Morgan. They had a great time. :) That night we watched another movie that Adam was the closest to being able to follow while I did laundry and the like. We then got everything just perfect for Santa's arrival and went to bed with visions of a very excited toddler dancing in our my heads.

Morgan woke up around 7am on Christmas Day and we worked on getting her all hyped up for opening stockings and presents...and she bombed it. :-/ She almost immediately didn't want to open her stocking gifts and needed help. She wanted her normal morning routine of coming downstairs, waking up to the day and checking out what's on the Disney Channel. No! No! Santa came, you silly girl!! Let's go see! Ripping paper, crazy gifts, fun times, looking "splendid" in pictures with jammies and crazy hair...but alas, it took us 30 hours to open all of Morgan's gifts. Keep in mind many of these gifts were from family back home too, and not just Santa even though he went a little overboard on her this year. (oops, I almost feel bad)

Some of the things Morgan received included a fishing game (the one that turns around and you have to catch them with a pole) which she LOVES, books, clothes, and a ton of other things I can't remember off the top of my head. Santa brought Adam and I a MacBook Pro computer that I am using to publish this post at the moment (PS. I LOVE it and can't wait to learn all it can do when my bff Steph comes down to visit in a few weeks as she is a Mac Pro herself. I'm hilarious.

The rest of the day included a big send off ham dinner for the family and then Ross and Kristen headed back to WI. The rest of us Iowans stayed in our PJs all day, worked on opening more presents, napped, and generally took it easy. It was great. And I was even able to relax despite the tornado that had hit the house with extreme force. That was saved for the next day and day after.

All in all we had a nice Christmas with our little family (and R&K!! They were great) in Iowa this year. We were both sad that we missed so much family time back home and it broke my heart to see Morgan (and us) Skyping with family back home and the first thing out of her mouth was "Grandma Grandpa I miss you sooooo really really much!!" and become sad into Adam's chest. I've always wondered what it would be like to have Christmas here instead of WI and I've always thought having our own family time might be something I'd like to consider in the future...but it wasn't the same. It wasn't quite right. I'm glad we stayed this year for a million reasons...but our hearts are in WI at Christmas time and that's where we belong. Next year, bring it on!

Now we prepare for the new year and I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am for what's to come. Morgan's at an incredible age right now and the thought of watching Hadley grow into her first year excites and saddens me at the same time (I don't like my babies growing into big girls). It's hard to believe she's already 3 weeks old tomorrow. We have infant pictures for her late next week and I'm excited to have these done - Morgan was WAYYY too fussy for infant pictures and with Hadley being significantly more mild-tempered (although her fuss has been somewhat increased the past few days), I'm eager to see beautiful baby pictures of her. (biased mother statement coming) She's just such a pretty baby that I can't imagine they won't be great if she's even a little cooperative.

Ok, off to the next post. Diego is keeping one busy, a nap (finally) is keeping another one busy, and Adam's doing something for work on his computer. Bring on the weekend!

He's here!

My cousin Jenny just had her baby this afternoon at 4:20pm! He was a big boy...

Gavin Matthew
9lbs. 11oz.
21.5" long

Congrats, Jenny and Kirk! Too bad they live all the way in Texas and I won't get to see him for a long time. Pictures soon hopefully. :) Wait...maybe I should have posted pictures sooner too...I'm working on it!

slowly....slowly

Slowly but surely Hadley is putting on the weight she's supposed to. And after I typed that I realized I haven't posted since Christmas so I'll have to post about that later. It was the quietest Christmas on record which was not the worst thing ever, but we sure did miss our families back home. More about that later.

Back to Miss "I only eat and gain weight when I want to" Hadley. We went in for another weight check yesterday and were hoping for a 3-4oz gain (or a gain of 1oz/day) and just barely got a 2oz gain. That's 0.5oz/day which is only half of what we were looking for. We chose not to supplement as the doctor had asked us to (1oz of formula after each nursing) for several reasons: 1. Hadley choked like crazy on a bottle I tried to feed her of breast milk when I pumped Friday to make sure I was getting enough for her, 2. The syringe of milk didn't go much better, and 3. We felt like she wasn't in dire straights in terms of weight and it was labor intensive for all involved with the supplementing.

That said, the doctor was rather confident in the fact that we should get labs done for Hadley and make sure her liver/kidneys are functioning appropriately. I looked at her with pleading eyes and she sent me to the lab. Without Adam. And fully prepared to cry my eyes out b/c Hadley would be hurting. So off we went and low and behold, Hadley again pulls out front for being my favorite baby/infant and didn't cry a peep when her foot was poked. She finally got mad about half way through her foot being squeezed like crazy and then started crying but by then I was fine b/c I knew she wasn't in pain, but was just mad. Score.

At 5:30pm, the doctor called to report that the labs came back fine. Woo! We are going back on Friday again (what ELSE is there to do on Ts/Fs?) for another weight check and are looking for another 3oz gain (1oz/day) by Friday. I'm going to put my guess in at 2. If it went by tenths, I'd be looking at 1.5oz. Either way, I'm no doctor but I'm almost positive she's fine. Off we go...time to wake her up for another feeding. Poor kid. She'd hate me if she could remember that I had to wake her up all the time. ;-)

One other thing real quick...last night Morgan and I were trying out her new bike from Santa AND the helmet (Morgan - "Don't 'get my helmet!!") and I told Adam if he was free (he had Hadley) he should come see Morgan b/c she looked so grown up on her bike...and on their way down the stairs I heard the terrifying sound of falling. I screamed and found Adam and Hadley on the stairs seeming like Adam had just sat down, but in fact had fallen down I don't know how many stairs. Hadley did some silent screaming, Adam was rather sore, but after everyone calmed down (meaning me and Hadley), we figured out that Adam was amazing and had cushioned her just the right way and paid for it with a sore elbow and heel. Lots of thankful prayers were said that the fall went the way it did and wasn't a forward fall. Terrifying nonetheless. Yikes.

Ok, off to wake her up for real this time...sorry baby...

Hadley's Birth Story

Finally...I'm forgoing sleep/nap to post this because I'm scared I'm going to forget and that's something I don't want to do in the least especially since this was such a pleasant experience. (yes it's possible! but only thanks to an epidural, I swear. I'm no hero, folks.) (ps. it's a long one)

And here we go, Hadley's birth story...

Before Friday, Dec. 9th, I was starting to seriously doubt my midwife's (Kim) firm belief that I would go by the weekend. Nothing had changed, I was still at 1cm dilated and 80% effaced - I'd been at this stage since 36 weeks (so roughly 2-2.5 weeks). Then, Friday morning came. I was at school working my tail off to try to get last minute things done "just in case" Kim was on to something and around 10am I discovered that some "things" had changed a bit. (let's just say it was a little sign that something's about to change. I'll leave it at that.) By around noon, I was pretty sure I was slowly losing my plug and some of my normal braxton hicks contractions were starting to get a little stronger. Nothing that made me stop in my tracks by any means, but they'd changed.

I started timing them just to see if there was a pattern and b/c it helped keep me focused on work and not sitting around waiting for the next one (b/c what if this was it?!). They ranged from 4-13 minutes apart and were by no means regular although I'm not going to lie, the 4 minute ones made me jump a little...I went to my afternoon meeting and was able to get through it fine without letting on my excitement that maybe things were changing. I went home to get Morgan and wait for Adam to get home from work.

Once Adam was home, I told him a bit about it (although I'd kept him posted all day) and that the contractions were getting a bit stronger. We decided to go out to Applebee's and make the night special for Morgan again, "just in case," and right when we sat down, I had a long, hard contraction that had me unable to talk much and breathing through it a bit. We got through dinner with a few more that weren't quite that intense and had lots of fun with Morgan before bed. I gave her a bath, Adam did bedtime, and then around 8pm, we started timing the contractions again b/c they were getting more regular and strong every time. I was pretty sure we might be going in later but wanted to wait.

I called Kim shortly before 9pm and just told her what was going on - all contractions were somewhere under 10 minutes apart (varied) and hurt enough to make me breathe through them to some degree. I continued to maintain that I didn't know if "this was it" or not and she said if it turned out I couldn't sleep through them, I should come in to be monitored. However, she was pretty sure I was in labor and would see me later. I was to call her before we left so she could meet us at the hospital. (ps. I LOVE Kim. I'm so lucky to have had two amazing medical professionals to have my babies with...but Kim was exceptional.)

My dad was planning to come visit this very weekend and got in around 9pm. I managed to be able to walk and breathe through contractions and he had no idea about them until right before we all cashed in for the night at 10:30pm and I told him, "Ok, Dad, things have been a little "squeezy" today so if, by chance, we have to go in to get checked and see if I'm actually in labor, this is what's going to happen (Morgan to Mary's, told him about feeding the dogs, etc). By about 12:30am I gave in and had been unable to sleep and breathing through each contraction while resting in bed. Walking around helped but they weren't going away so I told Adam it was time. We finished packing bags, I woke and told my dad (who was quite shocked - he didn't really realize/know that I was that close!), and brought Morgan to Mary's on our way to the hospital.

We got there and they hooked me up to the monitors. Hadley was a stinker and liked to dodge the heart monitoring machine but was doing well once they found her regularly. We were there about 1-1.5 hours before I was checked and Kim announced I was 5cm. I did all but hoot and holler b/c I couldn't believe I'd made it that far on my own and was still rather alert/coherent during contractions. Don't get me wrong, there were a few that tested me but I really concentrated on breathing through it and Adam my monitor watchman was amazing at letting me know when they were coming back down so I could focus better.

I was VERY eager to try the tub and see how that made my contractions feel. Turns out Kim was right - cut the pain in HALF. Well, for a while. Then when she said that if I started feeling "pushy" to let her know so we could head back to the room, I immediately told her to call the epidural people. :) I did NOT plan to push this baby out without one, as I stated before - I'm no hero. I stayed in until the Epi lady got there and then got out and back to my room. Contractions were getting pretty intense by this point and I had to stop and really concentrate to breathe through them. When I got to my room was when the contractions really got to the point of almost being bad like when I had Pitocin with Morgan. PS. The epidural hurt a lot more this time b/c I could concentrate and be aware of my surroundings. Totally worth it.

Once the epidural was in, Adam and I worked on trying to sleep. I took some serious prayer time first to thank God it worked. I've heard horror stories of epis not working or only working on one side...whew. Hurdle cleared. We rested until about 5-6am when I started to worry that my epidural was wearing off on my left side. I could feel this odd pain, like a muscle pull in my hip flexor, that extended from my hip to the top of my knee. I debated on having the anesthesiologist come back but finally decided to just in case it "got too late" and it wore off right before pushing. I was glad I made this call as shortly before she came back, I started feeling more pain in my lower left belly. By 7am, I was super-epiduraled and resting nicely again. Somewhere before all this I'd managed to progress a bit more to about 7cm which to me was taking too long. ;)

I would say around 7:15am on Dec. 10th (Sat. morning), the nurse (Jennie - she was GREAT and I was sad she was only there for that night and then off for the duration of my stay) checked me and said I was at a 9cm. I was so excited...we were getting really close to meeting Hadley! She went to tell Kim who came in and checked me at 7:25am (yes, I remember this all clearly, hold on...) and announced I was at a 9.5/10cm and we could get everything ready to push. I then quickly asked if I could push now b/c my first daughter was born at 7:29(pm, not am) and it would be so neat if they were born at the same time...but alas, I had to wait. :) Hard to "catch a baby" when the proper equipment wasn't in place. We were all set shortly thereafter and my nurse, Jennie, decided to come back and wait for Hadley to be born instead of leaving at the end of her shift at 7:30am. Again, she was so great.

I started pushing at 7:34am. It was harder to push this time b/c my epidural was more intense(?), effective(??) and I couldn't feel as well as I had with Morgan. Not painful, just not as much sensation. Either way, I worked as hard as I could and sure enough, 6 minutes later at 7:40am, this beautiful little baby girl came into the world. Hadley. Our Hadley was here! They immediately put her on my chest, she immediately grabbed my index finger, and Adam said I kept saying, "She here! She's finally here!" and we both cried. It was so great. I was a little worried b/c she didn't cry as crazy as Morgan did (for hours, mind you) but really she just gave a few cries to ease our minds and started quietly taking in the world around her. (this shocked us - we only know how to deal with screaming constantly babies)

Her Apgar scores ranged from 8-10 although I have no idea why she was at an 8 for any time. She was perfect. And beautiful. She cried while getting cleaned up and checked out, but for the most part, she didn't cry much at all. We worked on nursing as soon as possible and by about 10-15 minutes later, she was latched on and getting it (again, foreign, since the great Morgan sassy pants was NOT a good feeder at first). They finally took her (with Adam) to get the rest of what needed to be done done. We had a LOT more time with her at first before they took her to the nursery and I wish we could have had that with Morgan. She was just such a beautiful baby (Morgan was beautiful too, please don't mistake that one) and I was so proud to have brought her into the world and into our family.

Hadley was 8lbs, 7oz and 20" long. She was born at 7:40am on Saturday, Dec. 10th, 2011 which just so happened to be a full moon (a friend of mine from high school totally called this, btw). I only felt lightheaded for a brief time and did not become sick like I had with Morgan's delivery. The placenta took a bit to come but Kim was great and it wasn't a big deal.

We were so tired but so happy. My dad came later that morning and when Adam's parents got into town, they brought Morgan around lunch time. I already felt 1,000x better than I had after Morgan's delivery - still slow going for sure, but better. I'm so thankful my body knew what was going on this time and wasn't all "wth!? what just happened here?!?" as that was not fun the first time around.

I wouldn't have changed a THING with Hadley's birth if I were to do it over again. I was so thankful that I went on my own and didn't have to have another Pitocin labor. It was a beautiful thing to feel my body going through it that way and (with the help of the epidural) have such a fantastic labor/delivery. In the days and week/week and a half after, I've been amazed at how my body has reacted and "known" that I had more going on at home (with Morgan) and bounced back so much faster this time. I was +30lbs for this pregnancy (so much better than +40 with Morgan) and two days ago I only had 12.6lbs left to lose. I've since eaten tons of carbs (argh) so I'm sure that's slowed a bit, but maybe the increase in nursing will surprise me. I'm not checking super regularly but that's where I was at for last check.

Welcome to the world and our family, Miss Hadley Elizabeth. We are so lucky to have you and couldn't be prouder of the new little sister we've added to our family. xoxo Love, Mommy

Morgan's update

There's been so much updating about Hadley and our family in general, I wanted to take a minute to update on Morgan. She's so amazing and last night was especially hard for me when I had both girls (awake - makes a difference!) alone for an hour and a half while Adam went to volleyball. I realized in real time that I can't give Morgan the attention we are all used to and between the no's, be carefuls, can't do thats, I felt horrible. I want to tell her positive things but am finding myself doing much of the opposite as she learns how to "be" around her little sister. Anywho, on to the fun stuff...I like that more. :)

Morgan is using more Spanish words lately. Obviously she's getting them from her Dora/Diego shows, but avesante*, arreba*, abajo*, amigos, auda me*, etc. are quickly coming into her vocabulary while she's playing and rescuing anyone she can from the couch/recliner while on her tummy to do so.

Like I mentioned earlier, Morgan is still working hard to learn new rules regarding Hadley. It's tough sometimes but she's working on it. Such rules she is working hardest on are:
1. No, we can't go wake up Hadley with the "Wake up, Hadley" song any time we feel the need.
2. We can't push off/on Hadley when moving our own body.
3. We have to share the boppy pillow. When Hadley and Mama are using it, it's for a reason and not just to keep it away from Morgan.
4. When big sisters are holding little sisters, hands need to stay still and not fly out from under the little sister even if there are pillows around.
5. And of course there are others...those are just a few of the "fun" ones. :)

Now, after I post about all those rules Morgan has to follow, she simply loves Hadley. Loves her. Morgan wants to wake her up whenever she's sleeping. She blew her kisses goodbye this morning before leaving for Mary's while Hadley was sleeping. She enjoys holding her and talking to us about what Hadley can and cannot eat/do/play/etc. Morgan is a great big sister although she's totally figured out diaper duty (throwing in the trash) is NOT as cool as mom and dad make it out to be...but she'll run get anything we need, especially Hadley's nuks.

I mentioned earlier that we have a "Wake up, Hadley" song which really is just a high note, low note, high note, low note. Morgan's rendition - "Wate up, Howdie!" which she sings nice and loud and is cute until she's on verse 54.

Morgan is really starting to show an artistic side. She sings and makes up her own songs all the time. She continues to love to play instruments and asks to paint all the time. Adam would rather her be playing with balls of all kinds, but I'm glad to see her being well-rounded and loving all that life has to offer.

Overall, Morgan is adjusting well to being a big sister. We are all adjusting to what it's like to be 25% of a family instead of a 33% piece. I've told Adam that I really love having Hadley in our family b/c it feels like our family is more complete. We always knew we wanted more than one child and having Hadley here makes me feel like we're there (unless we go for 3, but that's for another day long long looonnggg down the road). We are so blessed to have twogirls in our house but we really thank our blessings that Morgan is adjusting so well and is the best big sister we could have hoped for.

*I do not know how to spell well in Spanish and do not have the time to go back somewhere and get the correct spellings.

Our Peanut is trying to stay little!

Hadley failed went to her weight check today and was hopefully going to be going up significantly from her 8.0lb weigh in last Friday...and had only gained 1oz (8lbs 1oz). Her goal is her birth weight (8lbs 7oz) by this Saturday but we're not on track for that at all. Thankfully, Dr. Mueller didn't seem too concerned but would like me to up her feedings to every 2-2.5 hours during the day and no longer than 4 hours b/w feedings at night until we get her back on track.

If this would have been Morgan's weigh in, I would have been so upset (and was, actually - she failed her first weigh in and had to come back for another b/c of two tiny ounces...nothing like the 6-7oz Hadley is missing!). Since I'm very confident in our nursing skills this time around (Hadley is a much better latcher than Morgan was), I didn't take it personally (so weird for me). Her diapers are good, she's eating when she's hungry (save for the "wake up wake up!" things we need to do sometimes), so I know it's not that.

Hadley had jaundice and is getting over it right now. It's not too bad, a mild/moderate case, I suppose, and she didn't/won't need any real treatments for it. I wonder if that's partly to blame for her slow weight gain.

That all said, I'm confident that she's going to be on the other end soon and I won't be surprised if I have to do a "this kid won't stop eating!" post in the future. I can honestly say that I'm going to miss my 5 hours of sleep straight Hadley's given us the past 3 nights in a row (blissssss) but I also want her to gain weight and be healthy.

Off to shower and get ready for a trip to the Quad Cities with Adam when he gets home just after noon. I am really in love with his schedule right now (off 3 days last week, half days all week this week, off next Monday, half days all week next week, and I think another Monday off for New Year's? Woo!). I have some things to return and purchases to make for fun...and Adam wants to check out Jos.A.Banks since he's never been there and they are having a ridiculous sale.

I want to post more, especially about Hadley's birth story, but alas, it will have to wait. Adios, amigos!

One more item of note (and then I swear I'm done) - Stepped on the scale this morning and went from 14lbs left to lose on Sunday to 12.6lbs left to lose this morning. I'm hoping that upping Hadley's feedings will continue to help this out...again - LOVING second pregnancy recovery so much more!!

Nursing

Nursing with Hadley is a night/day difference than it was with Morgan. (note - any readers out there that don't want to hear ins/outs about nursing, cease reading post and/or wait for the next one). Thankfully it's night/day different in the best possible way and I am so very thankful for that.

Items of note that are different:

1. No tears. That is, no tears of pain, no tears of "Why won't she just latch?!", no tears of "am I doing this right and why isn't it more natural?!" Don't get me wrong - it still hurts when she latches and I'm sore and the like, but NOTHING like with Morgan. And I know what I'm doing and when to have her relatch so that helps.
2. If I need her to relatch, she does. Almost right away unless she's dog tired, which is the case often times too.
3. I have to WAKE her to feed her at least half of the time for feedings. She usually goes at least 3 hours (with a random two in there sometimes) and up to 4 hours. I've let her go past 4 hours a few times for sleep's sake (see previous post about going 6 hours last night) but that said, I'm likely going to have to go wake her in about 20 minutes for her next feeding. Which is only the second one today since us "normal" people (who sleep during the night, wake during the day, Hadley, ahem, Hadley, take note). Morgan was a cluster feeder on the DOT every two hours. And it was excruciating in more ways than one. Thank you for this, Hadley.
4. I'm almost positive my supply is greater than it was with Morgan. I realize this could be for a few reasons I know and don't know - she's going further between feedings, hence the actual chance to build something up for her and the fact that this is now "old hat" to my body who knows what to do. Again - super thankful for this.
5. Morgan's not asked too many questions about nursing. She's stated a few facts during nursing times (I'll leave these out...serious facts about what she sees, that's all) but she's not broadcasting it (yet) to anyone who will listen. For now. I realize this could change... ;-)
6. It actually hurt this time when my milk came in. I thought I was going to pop and almost gave in to pumping. I made it, however, and am good to go.
7. Speaking of pumping, I will likely start doing so to build up a freezer stash (what?! a freezer stash?! what's that?!) for later after Hadley's done with her feedings. Yippee. I so missed pumping. ::super sarcastic font here::

I think that's all I have for nursing for now. All I know is it's way better than last time and I am very thankful. Birth story to come soon and pictures...must. get. pictures. downloaded...

Baby Mama Stats

Clearly I have lots of updating to do that's just not happening in lieu of sleep, but here's a quick one...then it's time to wake Hadley for feeding and understanding that it's now DAYtime. :)

Hadley Stats from birth to Friday:

Birth
8lbs, 7oz
20" long
Born at 7:40am 12/10/11 (Morgan was born at 7:29pm...almost the same time but they wouldn't let me push yet) ;-)

Mon/Tues after birth
8.0lbs

Friday after birth (6 days old) 
8.0lbs (the doctor thinks she had her valley of weight b/w her Mon/Friday weigh-ins and isn't concerned (whew!)

Mama Stats
Total weight gain for Hadley's pregnancy - 30lbs
Total weight left to lose as of this morning to be happy, realistic me - 14lbs*

*I can't believe how different the whole weight thing is the second time around. And not even just the weight - my body is changing and going back to "normal after two kids" significantly faster than with Morgan. Clearly that's b/c your body remembers (thank God) what to do and can do so more quickly. Even my MIL noticed during the week they were here that my stomach was going down noticeably day to day. Trust me - I'm not doing ANYthing out of the ordinary besides probably being up and around a little more than I should be(?) but that's how I roll. I don't sit well if I'm feeling well, which I am. I'm also drinking less/almost no milk b/c I wondered if two of our really bad nights were somewhat contributed to my intake of dairy? TOTAL guess but we'll see. That said, I'm really pleased with how things are going. PS. On Friday afternoon, I tried on my normal (not maternity) fat jeans and they FIT. I don't think I even considered real jeans after Morgan until she was at least 6 weeks old and then it was a sob fest b/c I couldn't get them even close to fitting a little.

Side note - we had another (what I call) "fluke" night last night - for whatever reason Hadley was pretty screamy until 10:30pm when it was "acceptable" for another feeding (more about feeding later) and she then went down fairly well. I woke up when the timer said it had been 4.5 hours since her last feeding, considered waking her (doc wants her fed every 4 hrs until she's back to birth weight) but then decided I'd do us all a favor and let her sleep until she was actually hungry enough to wake herself up...and we slept until 6 hours had gone by since her last feeding. Bliss. And even then she was only half awake and Adam had to rouse her completely. To top it all off, I laid her down only half asleep and she put herself the rest of the way to sleep. Adam didn't have to get up at all last night except to hand her to me once. LOVED last night. :)

Hadley Elizabeth Schmidt

Clearly lots has happened since my last post, thus making it a "little" busy for a post. I'll try to catch up in the next week or two, but no promises. :)

Our Hadley, Hadley Elizabeth, decided to grant her mommy's wishes and come early and naturally into this world on the morning of Saturday, December 10th, 2011. Clearly most if not all of you already know this, but I'm going to work on putting as much as I can remember here b/c I don't want to forget anything about Hadley's birth. It's almost weird to say this but I enjoyed her birth. I'll do a birth post, but for now I'd like to focus on right now back to our time coming home.

Hadley is 5 days old today and it's been such a blessing to add her to our family. She is a much better nurser than Morgan was at this point even though some of it I will chalk up to my experience and knowledge of nursing with Morgan. We still have to relatch sometimes and I'm still sore but it's a temporary thing and I'm very confident that Hadley and I are going to get along well in this area.

Adam is Hadley's baby whisperer. She is not a fussy baby thus far by any means but she still has moments as we would expect. Adam, however, can calm her within 5 minutes (at least after our first night home...that was a special sort of hellish time) and have her back in bed ready to go. Ok ok, that was one night last night (which was amazing - she was the best baby ever).

Morgan loves her sister. So very much (reference picture post to be coming soon). She enjoys playing with her, gently touching her face/head/hand/anything, really. Morgan's the diaper duty queen, by the way. She loves playing under the jungle gym mat with Hadley and takes the best sister pictures with her. When she's not sure where Hadley is (sleeping, for example), she scrunches her face up and asks where her baby sister is. One of our favorites - she can't quite say "Hadley" but it sounds a bit like "Howdie" with a tiny /l/ sound in there somewhere. It's adorable.

And lastly, I cannot say enough about my little Hadley. She's simply beautiful and I'm starting to see teeny bits of "infant Morgan" in her. She doesn't look like Adam's twin infant but I'm not sure I see a ton of me in her either. I love how alert she is when she's awake. I love how she turns towards Adam's voice when he comes home from work or hasn't talked to her in a while b/c he's busy with Morgan and the like. Hadley amazes me/us already with how well she holds up her head and looks around to see what's going on before resting back on our chests and snuggles in. Oh, my Hadley...

To all of you who told me it would happen, it's true. Having a second child does not mean my heart had to split or make room for another person and take away some love from someone else. My heart has grown and easily accommodated her into our family.

For now that's enough b/c it's time for a "last chance feeding" before we go through another night that looks/acts/feels just like last night. I had to wake her for each feeding (doctor says every 4 hours max) and she then slept until 8:25am after a normal bedtime. Note - I realize this was likely a fluke but a mommy can hope, right?

I'll work on the birth story in the next few days. As I said earlier, it was one of the best things I've been through in my whole life. Clearly the birth of a child will have a person feeling that way usually, but, well, I'll go into it later. A tiny person is going to be so excited for me to wake her up...so her mommy and daddy can go to sleep and stay that way a majority of the night unlike our first night home...

We're so glad you're in our family, Hadley. It's right where you're supposed to be.

38 weeks

Today marks 38 weeks with monkey #2 in my belleh. I had a long day at work and then went to my doctor appointment at 5pm while Adam and Morgan were in charge of dinner. :)

Get this - almost NO change since 2 weeks ago. :-/ Still 1cm but am now 80% effaced instead of "just 70%." That said, my midwife was very sure that I'd go by this weekend. SO very sure. I was polite about it but told her I'd likely be seeing her on Monday at my next appointment. Not a huge deal as I still have work things to do, but at the very same time if I went tomorrow, I don't think I'd be freaking out about it like I was last week. Maybe after report cards are done though...2 IEP meetings today and one every day this week except Friday. Then 4 more next week...sigh.

I hope I don't go all the way to my due date but for several reasons. I'm terribly curious to find out what it would be like to go into labor naturally and also b/c I just don't feel like working sometimes when all I can think about is my family and how the baby's arrival is going to change things - for the better.

We finished up the Baby's room tonight. Adam hung the curtain rods and valances, and I hung the three animals above her dresser. It totally topped off the room and all that's left are the decals that Grandma Susie will put up when she gets here after the baby's born.

I clearly have baby on the brain. I should really pack and just can't bring myself to go downstairs and get the things I would like. I know we brought wayyy too much stuff last time so we're going minimal this time...

Annnddd....attention is lacking so I'll stop. At the most, two weeks from today, we should have twogirls in the Schmidt household. Love.

92%

Click on this link!!

Baby #2's Room Pictures

The Baby's room is officially 92% done. I cannot tell you how relieved I feel and the weight that has been lifted from my shoulders knowing that if she comes tomorrow, we are 100% prepared at home (well, stuff-wise...we have NO idea how to parent two at once. I heard you just learn as you go... ;-). I was glad to find so many things of Morgan's (including a stash of teeny tiny diapers!) things that I loved seeing her in and seemed like she wore 2x before getting huge.

And did I mention how much I LOVELOVELOVE the Baby's room and how it turned out? I remember a few months ago not knowing how to make a room that I felt was as cute as Morgan's is for another little girl. We have done it and done it well. Morgan likes it and thankfully hasn't asked for stripes in her room (yet). I think we'd have to wait a while on that one even though I'm totally game for it in the future. It's so pretty...and we have two very lucky girls with two very gigantic bedrooms. :)

That said, tomorrow I'm 38 weeks (out of 40 for you "not sure how long pregnancy is in weeks" people). Two weeks to go. I am hoping to pound away at work this week and really finalize everything. If/When that happens, I cannot tell you how relaxed I'll be and ready for Baby to come. It's going to be awesome ... especially since there is some degree of ... well, completion? of paperwork before I go. I get it...doesn't mean I agree with all of it. So...may my typing fingers be swift, all internet connections work, and printers be ready b/c I'm going to be a worker BEE this week and get it all done.

Yesterday Adam and I took Morgan to Disney on Ice with my two work friends, Abbie & Sarah, and their families (minus one tiny tot). She really liked it and was obsessed with the "bid totadile!" that ate Captain Hook (big crocodile) and told us over and over again throughout the performance that that had happened. :) She must have had a great time b/c she fell asleep in the car on the way home at 2:30 and didn't wake up until we woke her around 5pm. Sleepy sweetheart...we're very glad we had that time with her since we're about to turn her world upside down in a few weeks...or days?

Speaking of, this morning, Morgan walked into Baby Sister's room and started talking about how "Daddy got done...just in time!" - meaning he's done some serious and awesome work in that room and just in time for Baby Sister to come...which made me wonder - does she know something I don't know??? :) She should share that information if she does, indeed, have it.

I'm currently reading "The Help" and had to take a small break to work on the baby's room...but now I'm back at it and since I've promised myself I'm not doing anything else tonight, it's time to pick it up and go to town. It's really very good and I still have a hard time sometimes believing this was the norm such a short time ago. Hope you enjoyed the pictures and I'll post more when it's completely all the way finished!!

Get low, get low, get low...

For reals, Baby Sister, if you get much lower you might fall out. Just sayin'...

Life has been VERY busy at home and work for baby prep this week and I've found that I haven't sat down until after 9:30 almost every night this week. That said, I'm a little exhausted. But I'm also feeling rather accomplished so it's a good give/take.

I'm feeling ok and find that some days are better than others in terms of comfort. Today I'm finding that I think I sat too much (thank you, paperwork) so I'm a little less comfortable. Every few days I also feel that she's getting lower and lower. That said, I'm actually going to pack my bags for the hospital tonight b/c she's pushing down hard, I'm feeling twingy, and I don't know how much longer I should tempt fate. I cannot pick up Morgan for more than a minute at best or I'm instantly sore (that darn ligament) for the rest of the day. I hate that part, as I love holding her and snuggling and playing. I am getting checked on Monday again so we'll see if I've moved off the 1cm dilation and 70% effaced. I would be shocked if I'm over a 3 (or even there, really) but she's sure been giving me some downward pressure so at the same time, it could be very possible...

Since I'm feeling all exhausted, I'm not going to post Baby room pictures like I want to. I'm not going to go into great depth about the phase Morgan is currently going through with hitting that makes me so sad (and sometimes really mad) that she feels that's ok. (However, last night when she was sitting in time out and started saying, "Daddy, I be dood dirl (good girl) now, I be dood dirl," we both had to work really hard to keep smiles to ourselves. I'm also not going to post how I'm feeling better about work but have a ways to go. I am going to say that it's time to go get my bag started to be packed and then have high intentions of falling asleep on the couch.

Disney on Ice tomorrow for us! Morgan's going to love it...I sure hope.

37 weeks - FULL term!

Ok, Baby #2 has officially made it to full term (even though she's trying to crawl out of my body as I type this). It's late, I'm really really tired, but we painted pink stripes tonight and life is feeling a step closer to the right direction with the nursery back under way.

However, it's time I get us to bed to try to fight the horrendous cold I managed to find and pick up, so off we go. More soon...but it's seriously going to be a whirlwind the next week or two trying to get everything ready...work and home.

We think Morgan is getting ready...she's VERY into reading her I'm a Big Sister Now book before bed and knows many of the words. As soon as work is ready and we have our Christmas lights/decorations up, She can come any time. :-D More tomorrow (or the next day?), friends.

Putting aside my inner Monica to bring you...

The monstrous mess Morgan and I created when creating our project tonight! I stopped at the store for some shampoo so I didn't have to dip into the travel stash in the morning and on my way to the register, I passed the Christmas candy ingredients...and decided we were making our last daddy-free night a project night. Enjoy. We sure did (but like I (and my bff Steph mentioned on FB) said, I had to put aside my inner Monica which went much better than I thought it could without Adam there to referee)!

 First we had to taste the pretzels "ring style."

Then she started "free reign" sprinkling. Notice how much is all in one clump!?! And I didn't say ANYthing. Proud.

I think this is how I was able to allow the mess - the adorable little girl creating it. ox

 

and....mess. This doesn't do the actual mess justice. :-D

 

We were so into our project we needed a reminder that it was time to Skype with Daddy!

*Note - Morgan talking to Daddy while Mommy's on hands and knees at 35w3d pregnant cleaning up 1 million red/green sprinkles.

And it was the best day...

First, I have to say that I am so lucky and blessed to have friends that I do. Morgan shed not a tear outside of my presence (which I can't say for when she was IN my presence, stinker) and I was able to go to work with about 10,000lbs lifted off my shoulders. On our way back from the store today, we saw Mary with our own two eyes and she confirmed that we'd see her in the morning. We gave her flowers already and I'm still considering hugging her. :)

Today was great - a minor blip in the radar but I think I was able to wear my Professional Liss hat just so and was hopefully able to show others that how I practice my profession is the correct way. Let's just say that sometimes it's hard for people to let go (of speech).

Then it was a quick stop at home to let the dogs out since I'd be home really late and off to pick up a very happy, well-rested Morgan. She slept for THREE hours today unlike the 1 and 1.25 hours she slept the past two days. She was great at the doctor's office for my appointment and again helped with the goop and wand on the heartbeat monitor. This might have to be put on the list of things I'm going to miss after pregnancy. Speaking of  lists...

Since I'm a lucky lucky girl and have relatively easy pregnancies...

• I'm going to miss having Baby Sister right under my heart. Sometimes I'm uncomfortable, sure, but I've always loved having my babies within me. 
• I'm going to miss watching Morgan take such an interest in my belly button, which is where she thinks Baby Sister really is. That would include, as mentioned, watching Morgan "help" at the doctor's office as well as lifting my shirt at home to tell her about her day.
• I'm going to miss feeling her move within me. 
• I'm going to miss the anticipation of her arrival and wondering what our family is going to be like to be just a little more complete. 

That said, once she's full term, of course, I can't wait to meet her.

It's been a great day and we're less than 48 hours from Adam being home for likely at least 2 months. ::happy sigh::

Heartstrings = pulled. Morgan wins.

I have no idea how people can routinely drop their child(ren) off at daycare when, before they even take their coat off, they're saying I wanna go home...and then screaming. And then clinging. And then REALLY screaming when you have to go to work before you scoop them up and take them home anyway. ::sigh::

Today was my turn to drop Morgan off at her temporary daycare. It was horrendous. All of those things listed above? That was today. Add into it incredible thumb sucking sadness when not screaming and then super serious screaming when she realized her one and only buddy from Mary's wasn't there yet like he was the day before when Adam dropped her off.

Add into that the fact that she had an accident during her nap today which hasn't happened in months and months. Add to that that her clothes were VERY wet when I took them out of the bag to wash them and after only an hour nap at the most, I wonder if she even went before she went down. Another kicker - she was bawling when I picked her up b/c she couldn't find her bunny. Now, I realize she was SUPER tired after having two days of 3 hour naps over the weekend to maybe 1hr naps the past two days, but no one (there were school-aged kids there) was even thinking about helping her (not that she's the only kid alive, but seriously, someone couldn't just point to the dollhouse and say look, there's your bunny?)

Am I worried Morgan was mistreated while she was at this daycare? Absolutely not. Are we very spoiled (or just lucky?) to have an amazing regular daycare provider with a great home who makes us feel like we're walking into Morgan's second house every day we drop her off? Yes Yes Yes. Did Morgan have fun while at the temporary daycare? Yes. Did she cry more the past two days than she has in the past month? Possibly.

Top it off that Morgan's stomach clearly isn't feeling as it should*, she's asked to eat immediately upon arriving home every day b/c she's hungry**, and again, the horrendous feeling of leaving and picking her up with tears and boogers streaming down her face? And today was her last day at the new temporary third back up daycare. We are blessed to have a last minute wonderful option while Adam is on travel and I'm without any extra leave time as the baby will need it more than my sad sad big girl so thankfully, I will be able to sleep tonight knowing that Morgan might cry in the morning but will be comfortable from there on after until I pick her up to go listen to her sister's heartbeat for my 35 week appointment.

*A trip to the bathroom let me know this one
**She's asked for a banana, food, anything when she gets home b/c she's SOOO hungry - this almost never happens from Mary's house

Ok - I need to be done so I can get some sleep. Thankfully tomorrow will be good, the rest of the week will be good, and then Adam will be home Friday and all will be great. It's just so hard when you love them so much...

I don't want to forget this...

This morning when my first alarm went off, I hit the snooze button and rolled (laboriously) back over for my next 8 minutes of peace. About 20 seconds later over the monitor, I hear a sleepy "twinkle twinkle lih tahhh, how I wonuh what ahhh" snore. She totally sang it in her sleep! Oh what a great wake up to my day!

Oh so much to say...

So if you haven't grabbed ice cream like I'm going to after writing this, you might want to before you start reading this. :) My apologies for the book in advance.

Let's start from today and work backwards, shall we? Glad you agree. Today marks the first day of Adam's last travel week (Toronto) before the Baby gets here. I am 35 weeks today (5 weeks to go!) so after this week, he's not going ANYwhere without me/us. That said, I am going to try to savor this week a bit b/c every travel after this should be about 1,000x more difficult because, as my friend Abbie says, there will be twogirls.

Morgan had to go to a sitter who is 3rd on our list today through Wednesday as our regular sitter, Mary, is out of town for a funeral and our back up sitter was full. Morgan went to our normal back up sitter Friday with only a few tears after I left. Today, however, when Adam dropped her off, it was a different story. The poor thing did everything but crawl up the door after him while crying the whole time...I got a voicemail from him shortly after he dropped her off and I almost left work and decided to be a SAHM for the next three days and tell poor Baby Sister sorry, but there goes over a week of my maternity leave with you b/c I was so sad for Morgan. Thankfully, my logic kicked in, I waited an hour, called, and she was fine and playing easily. I guess she asked, "Where my daddy go? Daddy go to work." often throughout the morning to get herself through but overall, had a great day. She didn't come racing to me like she was upset or dying to leave when I got there which was good, I suppose. Seeing as how I was almost in tears before pulling in the driveway imagining her so eager to come home, I was a little surprised but equally happy. Then we were about 1/3 of our way into the drive home when I remembered to check for bunny (which I thought she could bring b/c she would be sleeping on a tiny person cot for the first time) and of course, we had to turn around to go get him with some tears in the backseat. No worries. Two more days. Then she can see her Mary.

35 weeks today. Sigh. So excited but work is starting to scare the bugeezus out of me with all that I'm remembering I have to do/get done/ready for my subs. Thankfully I have awesome subs who will go with what I have without difficulty, I'm sure. I had a meeting Friday to discuss specifics of my leave and it looks like I will be off until Feb. 22nd which feels incredibly short to me in comparison to my 11 week leave with Morgan. This time, Christmas did not fall in our favor but I'm going to take what I have and run with it. When I get back, I'll only have three months left of school so hopefully that time will be a good break before it's a twogirls summer. xo

This past weekend (see? I promise I'll work my way back...plus it's getting later and later and I really want some stinkin' ice cream!), Adam's parents came down to visit and help us get Baby Sister's room painted the base green. We'd primed one coat Wednesday night and easily got two coats of green on Friday and Saturday nights. When Adam gets home Friday, I imagine we'll do some taping that evening, maybe paint, but definitely paint Saturday and Sunday (woo! pink stripes!). This makes me feel like a million bucks b/c then we can get everything else in place and ready for her arrival. If all I have to worry about after next weekend is getting Baby's clothes in her dresser and work (well, let's be real - there will be other things but major is what I mean), I'm going to be ok. As long as she doesn't come super early or anything.

Adam's parents had such a good time with Morgan and while she was a little shy in the mornings and after naps for about 2 seconds, she had a great time with them, too. It was so weird on Sunday - Adam needed a few things from Menards, Morgan wanted to keep playing outside, so Adam and I went by ourselves. It was a glorious thing to not have to take a tiny person to the bathroom and I got to browse the entire toy section twice before finding Adam and being done on my end. Craziness. :) We were very thankful for their help and company across the weekend.

Last week, last week....uh oh, did I really forget what happened last week? Or is it my body's way of saying

1. You need to pee or the Baby's going to make you do it involuntarily.
2. You are hungry and want ice cream 45 minutes ago. 

Huh. Maybe I did. I do know that I'm starting to get a handle on what's going on for Christmas gifts which also makes me feel better ::adds Christmas shopping to list of things to make me a little crazier::

Alright then. Bathroom and ice cream trump more post. I win.

And she ate so much that her poor tummy ached...

Well, I wish that was what was wrong with Morgan's tummy. She's not overly fussy, she's not throwing up or anything, but her tummy has been off since this weekend. Today Mary stopped giving her milk after breakfast and she's been eating chicken, noodles, and other bland boring things since yesterday. Poor kid. I wouldn't call her all-out sick or anything by any means, but she's had an accident or two which we don't make a big deal about b/c she's sick. Ish. Because when Adam dropped her off this morning she was bonkers and you'd never know. :)

Today we took the Highlander in for some routine maintenance since we're suddenly in the 80Ks for miles (we got it at 26K miles just over two years ago...miles, anyone?) so it was time for some fluid changes. I could tell a huge difference when I drove it back to school at lunch and am really pleased we had it all done. Bonus - we thought we'd have to replace my tires before winter and the mechanic seemed very sure that I'd easily make it through winter without new tires. Score. :)

Poor Baby Sister has hiccups all.the.time. Sometimes she gets them and then gets really mad/kicky b/c they must bug her so much. I also think she might be trying to go back to transverse sometimes as I was not very comfortable at work today. Oh well, not much I can do about it and another 8 days to go until my next appointment...then it's weekly from there on out!

Carbs...carbs...CARBS. Ok. So two appointments ago, I had the epic SEVEN pound weight gain and I was a little (lot) freaked out. I had been doing very well with no more than a pound-a-week gains this entire pregnancy. My doctor reassured me (tried to, anyway) that it's common to have a big gain in the 2nd trimester and since I "missed it" I was just catching up. Well...really it was just part pregnancy part food choices. She suggested replacing some of my carbs with protein. That said...now all I can think about is eating carbs. I could spend 4 hours a day stuffing my face full of bread, cereal (huge downfall - best nighttime snack ever), ice cream (this is not new, however), and any other thing that reads "large amount of carbs" in the ingredients.

That said, I only gained 1lb at my last appointment which puts me (I think) at roughly +23? +25? something like that. I also know that I'm roughly -5lbs from where I was at this same point in my pregnancy last time. My goal is to gain no more than 30 which is 10lbs under my last pregnancy. The thought of having 10lbs LESS to lose this time around makes me almost giddy.

Now THAT said, I'm pretty sure I'm still having a bowl of cereal tonight as soon as I'm done writing this instead of one of the giant, yummy, healthy grapefruits sitting for me in the fridge. :-D I heart you, carbs. Dang it.

Last Doctor Appointment

I realized late last night that I forgot to post about my last doctor's appointment on Thursday late afternoon. All is going well. I was 33w4d that day and measuring at 34 weeks which is right where I'm supposed to be. We really didn't have any questions but since my midwife was super eager to chat, we were there a little longer than usual. Not a big deal, as we love her and she's SUPER great with Morgan.

Baby's heartbeat was right at 130, which is still lower than Morgan's usually was but I like to think of this meaning that she's going to be more laid back than Morgan and I and take after her Daddy. ;-) She's still in the right position as far as we know (Kim didn't say otherwise) so that's good - plus I can tell - I'm much more comfortable in general compared to when she was transverse.

Morgan came along and when she does, she usually gets to "help." So Kim hoists her up on my lap and gives her the bottle of goo. I pretended not to be worried that she'd get excited and squeeze goo all over my lap (see me walking out all preggo with a wet lap...people might suspect I shouldn't be leaving...) while Morgan held the bottom of the tape measure and Kim measured my belly. Then she had Morgan freely squirt goo on the heartbeat monitor (another heart attack by me ensues, thinking of goop all over) and then we listened to Baby's heartbeat. Morgan now excitedly announces "Baby Sister beat (heartbeat) go WOO WOO WOO!" all the time and had before this appointment. She then got a chance to put the monitor all over my belly all by herself which she thought was the bee's knees. She was super proud of herself and we were very proud of her good behavior and extremely sweet interest in her sister.

So far so good! Next appointment is the last week Adam is gone which starts the 14th. I swear, by the way, if I go into labor while he's gone I might kill him a little when he gets back even if he is well within normal timelines and the like. ;-) I'm really not too worried. Especially since her room should be mostly painted by then. :)

PS. Halloween pictures have been added to the Halloween post below. :)

It begins...

I may officially be nesting. Well, not in the traditional "we're three weeks or less away from a birth," but more like "it's getting to be winter soon I want all presents for WI-ites purchased and left in WI when we leave to come back after Thanksgiving there's a baby on the way with a room that is not even CLOSE to ready (although it IS one or two steps closer) the house is getting less clean now that it's off the market" kind of nesting. If that kind really even exists.

Thursday night Adam finally obliged and let me help move the queen sized guest bed out of the Baby's room and into the office which is now officially the office/guest bedroom (and doesn't look too bad, if I do say so myself). I'd post pictures but that would mean getting off the couch, going up and down a flight of stairs, and looking through pictures on the camera. Not happening, folks. Anyway, this allowed me to reorganize a little, vacuum and get things ready, and get an overall picture of where we want to be by Friday when Adam's parents come down to help us get two coats of green on the walls. Pink stripes to come shortly thereafter. OMG I CAN'T WAIT.

Let's see, I accomplished a lot today but what was it all...breakfast, made banana chocolate chip muffins/bread, vacuumed upstairs, played with Morgan, ran to two stores while Adam put his deer stand out in the woods somewhere, made lunch, ordered some things online, made 4 lasagnas (3 to freeze, one for tomorrow), dishes like crazy, played again, dinner (mmm...homemade chicken pot pie), played more, and had a great night with my family after Adam got home from hunting (during which time he saw every midwestern forest animal but a deer). Day = productive with promises of clean bathrooms, a taped off baby's room, and clean floors by the end of the day tomorrow.

Morgan is no longer asking why, but also "why not?!" Super. :) She's also been complaining that specific items on her body hurt (My tooth hurts, my piggie toe hurts, my belly hurts...). We don't know if she's actually hurting half the time but we just acknowledge and move on and if it actually does hurt, it comes up again shortly thereafter.

I think we've prepped her for daylight savings' time. That said, we'll be seeing y'all at 5:45am tomorrow morning when she doesn't *quite* remember that she got to go to bed at a ridiculous hour the past three nights in prep for a not-5:30am-wake up call. :)

Last night we decided to take a trip to the Quad Cities since we were both home from work at a decent hour and went to Old Chicago for pizza (yum), Sam's for a few things (at which place I finally found the kind of play doh fun accessories set I've been looking for for months), and then Toys 'R Us b/c the bike I (I say I b/c it is a Pinkalicious bike - best ever b/c it has a baby seat on the back) have been wanting to buy her for Christmas was on ridiculous sale and I had another coupon where if you spend $100 you got $10 off and I knew I could do it. (whew. longest sentence ever.) I'm also excited for the doctor kit we found, her new iXL game (which was on unexpected sale), and a few other things I can't remember at the moment. I swear I'm not going to overspend on her this year. I swear. Baby Sister will be fine with such functional things as a monitor, swaddle (which will be opened early), and the like.

That said, Adam's got the wood stove cranked up like a crazy person and I'm about to break out my bikini to make up for how warm it is in our basement living room. And it's making me tired. So after I mention that I had a taste of Pinterest last night and am going to avoid it for the time being b/c I'm on the computer too much already, I'm going to lie down and promptly fall asleep early on daylight savings' time night after having the best turtle sundae I've had in a while. Thankyouverymuch. :-D

Happy Halloween 2011!

Well, it's a day late but Happy Halloween 2011! Our little ladybug was the best and we had so much fun. Unfortunately, Adam had to live it through pictures as he's in Toronto (which is fun to hear Morgan say) M-W this week. Either way, it was busy and fun and she love love LOVED her "wady bud" costume.

Enjoy the pictures!! (click the link below)

Halloween 2011

We started out the evening going to her sitter's, Mary's for dinner and visiting. Then she was whisked off the the Calvary Church here in town as they were having a big Halloween party (this is the church we went to a few weeks ago to see our friend, Melanie, sing). I knew the place was huge but OMGoodness. Even I wasn't prepared for the outdoor rides, fun house, campfires, (then inside) at least 4 bounce houses of various sizes, food galore, games at every turn and in every room, and the HANDFULS of candy each kid was getting for participating in anything. We didn't do tons of games as Morgan was fully content to be in the smallest bounce house while I held her wings, pumpkin bucket, and shoes. We had a great time with great friends (mainly the Martins, but we saw other friends there too) and it's something we'll consider again next year.

If I may say so, Morgan and I had yet another GREAT couple of nights even though Adam is gone. Especially tonight. I put a whole chicken in the crock pot before leaving for work so dinner prep was almost nil. That said, the weather cooperated and it was 75 degrees out when we got home. We played outside until I just couldn't stand how hungry we were getting and went inside for dinner. After dinner, Morgan played and "helped" me make chicken noodle soup to freeze with some of the leftover chicken. (help = eat thinly sliced carrots, wash hands for 10 minutes, eat chicken pieces, play with babies, almost put them in the chicken soup after hauling them up on the chair, letting the dogs in/out (omg this is awesome, btw), and asking to stir). Then we spent the rest of the night on the floor playing with her train set, princess carriage/lego thing, and bowling set. It was just such a refreshing night and felt really good to have that time with her.

Speaking of, that reminds me yet again that there are only mere weeks until it is no longer just Morgan and I when Adam travels. That scares me just for the sheer logistics of NOT spontaneously growing 4 extra arms to accommodate for 2 tiny people, but also (and maybe more so?) the fact that we won't have the same kind of time with her anymore after Dec. 19th. Don't get me wrong - I'm so unbelievably excited for Baby Sister to get here (gah, I can't wait to call/write her by her name...it's so pretty) ... but there's something to be said for the time we've had with Morgan all to ourselves/herself. It's sort of like we don't want to share her at all. That said, I am so very honored to give her the gift of a sister and she's going to make the very BEST big sister ever (besides myself, of course, ha - no screaming, siblings). Also, that makes me think that I'm a bit sad that we won't ever have that kind of 2:1 time with Baby Sister as we've had with Morgan for the past 2 years.

Ok, ok. I'm speculating, getting myself worked up (surprisingly, no tears), and need to stop. Here's what I know - life as we know it is about to change drastically and it's not something we can change at this point (dear belly, poof be gone please - yeah, I didn't think so). Life as we know it is about to change for the BETTER. We're going to be a more complete family which is something we always knew we wanted. There is no way I ever imagined having an only child. I would have been bored out of my mind without my siblings growing up (even if I swore I would have been better off without them some days - and I'm sure it's been vice versa). So get ready get set here she comes - and it's going to be amazing.

Photo Shoot = Success!

Click here for the link to almost all the pictures:

Oct. 2011 Family/Morgan/Maternity Pictures

Today we went to the Quad Cities to pay a visit to our favorite portrait people at Portrait Innovations. Again, we were not disappointed. I thought our photographer could have been a little more upbeat with Morgan but she got good pictures (see link above) so I could really have cared less. :)

Let's see, what else is going on in Schmidt Family news...last night the three of us trekked to the Quad Cities after Adam was done with work and after dropping Adam and Morgan off at the Ries residence for daddy/daughter evening (2 daddies on 4 girls 4 and under...what could go wrong? Well, nothing, actually.), I went with two other work friends (although really they're friends I just so happen to get the privilege of working with) for a quick dinner and a movie. We went to see Footloose which was really quite good and I thoroughly enjoyed it.*, **

Adam leaves Monday for a 3-day trip to Toronto - his second last before the baby comes. WOO!! Very much excited for this. By the time he gets back, the house should be off the market and I'm thinking I'll be putting all our family pictures back out tomorrow when he lifts them down from high places/storage for me today. :-D

Last night I had the weirdest dream that we were in the delivery room but it was VERY low-key - like I was having a nonstress test done or something. For some reason an ultrasound was involved and it was VERY obvious that Baby Girl #2 was not so much - she was a BOY. And then within minutes I had delivered her and we had a BOY. Not funny, brain, not funny. I'm all prepared for a girl and the brand new pink paint I have upstairs waiting to be placed on walls and bookshelf is NOT going to waste.

Time to go cut me some pictures. Let me know if you have favorites and I'll set them aside. :) Keep in mind that the ones I've attached are not finished up ones - the ones I have are lightened/cropped/edited and whatnot to look just right.

*PS. I was *almost* the pregnant lady in the aisle at the end of the movie dancing my belly off.
**PPS. Julianne Huff (sp?), who plays the main female character, looks EXACTLY like a very young Jennifer Aniston to me which made me enjoy the movie even more.

So...I'll admit it.

I overdid it. I can't tell you how hard it is for me to admit that. I am a go-getter and I don't stop. It's just me and how I roll. That said, helping Adam (by my choice and his caution) load, unload, and stack wood after our splitting weekend (which I didn't help out with) took its toll after the second load last night. That said, I know now that my limit is one load every few days and only one piece of wood per hand per trip. I think I also had a touch of a slight stomach bug so the one-two punch pretty much sucked. Feeling a bit better and resting. :)

Gah, I hate the thought of not being able to do "stuff." But now I'm starving. Hmm...what to have...

So we really enjoyed our night with Morgan. She was full of giggles and I'm pretty sure we're buying her balloons only for Christmas this year (hellooooo cheap and hours of fun). She was in hysterical giggles almost the whole night between me resting, her and I making chicken noodle soup together before Adam got home (she decided she now likes raw thin sliced carrots, celery, cold chicken, but NOT plain parsley even though she insisted on trying it), and whatnot. We just had FUN. Sakes alive how did we ever have fun before her?? (oh yes, that's right - wine and beer)

(ps. jumping topics like a crazy person tonight)

I think we're ready to commit to painting the baby's room! We are officially taking our house off the market Nov. 1st and I couldn't be happier. I was all for selling, really I was, but now that we're at the end of when we said we'd list and go for it, I'm ready to hunker down and prepare for this baby, Christmas, and winter in general.

Wait, I said I was starving....why am I still blogging?

AH ha ha ha ha...my stomach just hard core gurgled on the left side and Baby Sister just about flew out of my right side...poor kid!

Rambling = time to stop. I might just have to lie down and fall asleep by 8:45 like I did last night...that. was. awesome. :)

One more thing - uncomfortable but done whining. For the next 10 minutes. :)

2 Year Old Stats

Morgan had her 2 y/o well-check on Thursday and here's where she's at (ps...she slowed down a little since her 18 month check up):

• Height: 35.5" (82nd percentile)
• Weight: 29lbs (79th percentile)

The doctor seemed pleased that she was proportionate and we didn't really care either way so long as she's healthy. Some people haven't heard of this that I talked to, but I was always told that if you double a 2 y/o's height, that's how tall they're going to be when they reach adulthood. That said, Morgan should be between 5'10"-5'11". Adam. Is. Thrilled. :) For me, it's just weird to think of looking her in the eye without the help of mommy's bent knees or a bed for her to stand on.

As for the appointment itself, Morgan was fine. She didn't need any shots but a flu shot and while she had tears and some crying for that, I don't think any of those tears actually left her eyes (thank you promise of a sticker). On the way to the doctor's, I explained that we were going to the doctor's office to make sure she was healthy and listed the major body parts the doctor would be checking. The entire rest of the way there and home, Morgan said over and over that the doctor was going to "make sure teef (teeth) heffy (healthy), bedee (belly) heffy," etc etc. I got a call at work an hour later that they forgot to send us to the lab for a finger poke for Morgan to test for something else I couldn't remember (anemia was one). So after work we went back and waited a HALF hour with one person ahead of us. I grabbed fruit snacks (a HUGE favorite) before picking her up from daycare knowing she would likely cry from the poke so as we sat down for the poke, I gave them to her and said that she could open them after we were done. (PS. To prep her for this one, I told her the lab tech was going to make sure her finger was healthy. She was all for it.) While she was holding the highly coveted fruit snacks, the lady poked her finger...and not even. a. tear. She didn't even jump! If I knew fruit snacks had that much power...wow. Mental note for all unpleasant things in the future...

Another fun note - our friends, Kevin & Coralie, had their twins (I believe) around midnight Thurs/Friday!! A boy and a girl...but no official names yet. We're so excited they've been blessed with their babies and can't WAIT to meet them.

On another note...shopping and running all over the place with me this morning must have really tuckered Morgan out...she's been down for almost 2.5 hours now which is HIGHLY uncharacteristic of her especially since she slept until around 7am this morning (bliss especially since we were the coolest couple on the planet and crawled in bed at 9pm last night after forcing ourselves to wait that long b/c we were both exhausted). Score. Off to go do more things...I'm making lasagna for friends who are coming over to split wood A) b/c it's a big job and B) I can't help this year. :-( Fun times ahead!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Morgan Addison!

Our "baby" turns TWO today. How is that possible? She's still our BABY. As in we still cuddle her like she's small. We still love her like a tiny person (although she's very much the opposite now and lets it be known routinely).

And so after sounding all sad and forlorn that my baby is turning 2 (is she still a toddler?? I think so...), I'll turn on my happy words and say how very EXCITED I am that she's TWO. She can do SO many things and with the pending needytouchmeconstantlyinfant's arrival soon, I'm counting my blessings with all the things she can do, say, and know. I'll make a brief list (or try my best to do so) of where she's at developmentally but we couldn't be more proud of our little Morgan (who's not so little - we'll find out her size/percentiles tomorrow morning at her well check) and she's the world to us (like that's not the most obvious thing...Liss, you have a nose on your face. Liss, Morgan means the world to you and Adam. Catch my drift?).

Motor Skills:

• Morgan LOVES to climb at the park - ladders, climbing walls, anything. She will make sure you're there to watch her (usually) but really loves this. 
• She likes to "long jump" and hop all the time (esp in the store, awesome). 
• Morgan walks up and down steps holding the railing although sometimes she'll crawl (me too...ha) and sometimes she alternates her feet if she's holding someone's hand.
• She runs. And runs. And thinks that's what's supposed to happen when you put shoes on.
• She likes to write/color and has almost the right grasp probably half the time...sorry, I forgot my OT words here. Morgan also holds her silverware (when she chooses to use it) with an overhand posture but is starting to use an adult grip sometimes.

Language Skills (squee!):

• She can talk a blue streak. Morgan uses sentences that are up to 6 words in length sometimes and often Adam will find me with my mouth wide open, fingers counting and being amazed at the words she puts together. One of these days I'm going to have to take a language sample. :) Meh...maybe not.
• Morgan can follow at least 2 step directions (receptively) and sometimes 3. I often wonder how much of that is choice vs. comprehension. ;-)
• She adds plurals, -ing, etc etc and I realize I'm starting to get work report-y here so I'll stop. To sum up, she's a SLP's dream child in terms of her language skills. ::angels singing::

Cognitive Skills (and here's another squee!):

• Morgan knows and can name all her upper and lower case letters. She totally learned lower case letters from the book "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" in the past 3 weeks. 
• Morgan can tell you the corresponding sounds that go with said letters for about 1/3-1/2 of the alphabet. 
• She's into counting and can consistently count to 15, almost up to 20 with consistency. 
• She can figure things out. She thinks while she plays. She likes to read to her babies as well as her baby sister. She remembers TONS of words from her favorite books and will say them while "reading." 
• She uses lots of adjectives. This is fun...

So now that I've put some things out there about where she's at, we're eager to see where the next year goes. It will be a big year, with Morgan getting a baby sister for Christmas and all of the fun things that come with the age of two. I don't mean the "terrible two" stereotype - I mean to watch her grow and learn and be happy. We're so lucky to have her! I will post pictures soon along with this post of all her birthday happenings. If you have Facebook, you've likely seen most of them.

For now, Happy Birthday, my wonderful little girl. We are so proud of you and we love so very much!

too...tired...and huge.

I want to blog about the birthday party that was.
I want to give tons of details about how she glowed when we all sang to her so I don't forget.
I want to eat ice cream.
I want to stay home from work tomorrow and celebrate all day long with my babytoddler.
But alas, I'm so tired I can hardly move and I'll do it soon. Tomorrow, maybe even.
For now, I'm going to rest, watch Parenthood (if I don't fall asleep), and be thankful for my almost 2 y/o. xoxo

Contractions

Contractions contractions for everyone! Mine feel like they've really amped up lately and are getting really annoying. It also doesn't help that she moved somehow today and I can't figure out where she is...however, she's pushing down on ... well, "me" and it's not comfortable. It also makes me feel like I'm going to pee my pants. Joy, let me tell ya. Getting down on all 4s helps - wiggling hips and going back and forth a bit.

Other contractions in the family - Morgan has decided that this is the week she will start using contractions - can't, don't, etc. :) Mostly it's "I can't do it" or "I don't want it!" Fun stuff. :) Just another part of the language boom. Loving it. :)

It's been a crazy week. More next week foh shoh. I must say I'm REALLY looking forward to this weekend as she's been talking nonstop about her party for weeks. It's late now, I'm contracting (shocker) and there are a few tiny things to take care of before I finally get to lie down. SO excited!!

Family Week

It wasn't planned, per se, but this has been one of the best family weeks we've had in a long time. I think the last time I felt this connected to my family was vacation in June...but it's been really great. Monday night we had to clean and such b/c we had another showing (a family from Utah?!) but by Tuesday, we went to Weed Park after a ride to see a few houses (none of which we put on the list), Wednesday night we went to the park by the river, and tonight we stayed home, Adam mowed, Morgan and I played, and then we had a family campfire per Adam's suggestion. What a PERFECT idea! We had s'mores, Morgan helped pick up sticks to put in the fire, and she showed us she's a champion water bottle user. And marshmallow wearer.

A few funnies and info from Morgan as of late:

• "Holla dooda doo!" (cock-a-doodle-doo when we're pretend sleeping and playing)
• "Because..." after we ask her a Why question; but she's not yet sure where to go from there. I give her two more days (addendum - she did it this morning (next day from post) when she said "Because...it windy!").
• Attitude (arms crossed) and pout lip - seen frequently as of late when she's not happy about something.
• Relating things to what she's watched on TV - Tonight she raised her hand to hit me (rarely happens) b/c she was mad it was bath/bed time. I stopped her and later after we were all calm, I talked to her about it. I asked her what she was doing with her arm up. She said, "hit mommy." While we were thinking/talking, she talked about Rintoo (sp?) from one of her shows and how he had hit Hoho...and how he should have used his words instead. I no longer feel bad about letting her watch TV as much as we do (which really isn't that much). 
• Big/Baby Sister - Morgan has been talking to Baby Sister often. As in telling her about her birthday party...telling her who she played with at daycare. And snuggling up with her when she wants to rest with her. I love the relationship they have already. 
• Morgan is now a rockstar with an open-faced cup. I washed ONE sippy in the dishwasher today...wow. I don't hate them like I hated hand-washing bottles, but cups = easier = my favorite. :) 
• We are still regretting me telling her about her Pinkalicious birthday party..."Guess what, mama/daddy/Mary/anyone with ears?! Pinkalicious birthday party!!!" Except today she added "now" to the end of that one...8 more days, sweetheart...
• "Pivacy!" (privacy) - Morgan now asks for privacy when she needs to go #2. She wants us to close the door and let her to her business. Then she calls for us when she's done...only to tell us she has to go more. "Moh pivacy!" This makes me feel like she's 8 y/o. 

 Tomorrow Morgan tries out a new daycare as her back up daycare since Mary's gone for a three-day weekend. We went to visit today after work and she fell right into place playing with the sitter's daughter, Addison, who's a few months younger than she is. She was sad when we left 15 minutes later and it was perfect - want to come back tomorrow? Yes!! Score.

Ok, Adam got me excited to look up our Halloween costumes for the first annual Davis Halloween bash and I also have to figure out where we're getting Morgan's iXL game from so if she gets any games for her birthday, she doesn't have zero clue what they're for. :)

Wow wow OW

So this morning I sort of felt like junk from not sleeping well the last 2-3 hours of the night b/c of this lovely cold Morgan has entrusted to me (thankfully hers is finally on the tail end). It was manageable though and we all got ready for church.

It was about 20 minutes before we were to leave and I got this incredible pain on the lower left side of my belly. Not quite my hip but just above and then towards the underside of my belly. It wasn't contractions or anything but continuous and more like a pulled muscle. I was thinking it was the baby, but didn't feel any body parts or anything. So finally I conceded that it did, indeed, hurt like hell to go from sitting to standing and vice versa and told Adam he was fully in charge of any movements Morgan needed help with for the duration.

I tried pushing my belly around with the off chance it was the baby sitting funny (never had this with Morgan's pregnancy). I was slowly moving around getting ready when all of a sudden, the pain vanished. No idea. I'm almost positive it was just the baby sitting funny but ow. ow. ow. I hope she doesn't sit that way ever again. And yes, I'm almost positive she's still sitting transverse and still hasn't found her way south. She's got some time...but figure it out, chicita!

We've got one week of Adam home (this week) and then he's gone T-F the following week before Morgan's Pinkalicious birthday party (which she continues to remind us of hourly - "Guess WHAT, mama/daddy? Pinklicious birthday party!!"). Then I think (as of right now) there are only 1-2 more travels before the baby gets here. How. Lovely, Is. That!? I think I might have babies more often b/c it forces him to stay home for a few months. ;-) JK - not a good reason for more babies.

Speaking of babies since I'm on the subject, after our wonderful dinner out, just the two of us, we threw around the idea that this is likely our last baby. It made me sad but it was also sort of a relief to know who our family is going to be. This does not by any means mean that I'm at 100% on this issue...but last night got me a little closer. Don't ask me again in about 3 years when my babies aren't even close to babies anymore.

Ok, it's nap time. I might have an hour if I'm lucky and Morgan gets as much sleep as she was acting like she needed. :)

5th Anniversary

Yesterday marked the 5th Anniversary of the day Adam and I said "I do" and agreed to start our own family. The day entailed Morgan going to daycare, me going to work a little later (due to a long/late all-day work meeting), and Adam flying home successfully (no delays/broken planes) from Barbados (which he said we could go visit sometime, unlike the Dominican Republic where he started his week). Since everything went well and Adam was feeling ok from the 12 hrs of continuous travel, we took Morgan to the Homecoming football game in Muscatine where she was SO VERY EXCITED for the drums (marching band), busses, and crescent moon (she has known this shape for a while already). It was a relatively calm night and just what we needed after a week away from Adam.

Tonight (Sat), Morgan is going to a sitter's and Adam and I are headed to the Quad Cities for a delicious, kid-free dinner at Biaggi's (a lovely Italian place with the best wine I can't have...although I'm not going to lie - I'm going to have a half glass of the one Adam gets) :) to celebrate. We haven't done gifts or anything yet since buying a new house is still in the running for a 5th Anniversary gift to each other. :) Otherwise, I'm not going to lie, I'm hoping for something blingy in a classy sense. :) Adam just informed me that he would have liked tickets to a post-season Brewer game. Glad I know that now that it's in full swing...(no pun intended).

Morgan did well this week while Adam was gone. Thursday at 4:33am she woke up and announced over the monitor, "Mama! Wake up time!" to which I almost ran up the stairs for damage control to find she was ready to get up and get going. I changed her diaper (she's been wet about half the time lately over night) and finally showed her it was still very dark outside. Thankfully she went right back to sleep then. I, however, did not, between the baby kicking, me thinking about how the day was going to go, and having a sore throat (Morgan finally shared her cold with me. Awesome. But expected.).

Thursday evening Morgan and I braved the 35mph winds and met some friends at the Homecoming parade in Muscatine. I totally overdid it and pushed our new double stroller (complete with Morgan and friend, Cooper in it) for the walk there (some uphill) and that was a mistake. I was super sore when we got home and thought I was going to fall over if I didn't lie down soon (contracting, not just being out of shape). Note to self - be less excited about the double stroller use next time and let someone else push it when they ask. The parade itself was cute and short and Morgan nabbed TONS of candy. At first I think she thought it was just to pick up and "collect" until she saw me stealing a tootsie roll...then she was all about eating it immediately. :) No worries - she has a tootsie roll and half a sucker on the way home.

Last night we had a good time at the football game but Morgan didn't get to bed until 9pm, up at 7am this morning, so I'm hoping for a good LONG nap since I wasn't tired when she went down but now am. Here's to hoping for a quiet next hour while Morgan and I nap, Adam watches the Brewer game, and the dogs enjoy their new (gross) cow bone bones outside in the sunshine. :-D

PS. Morgan's party supplies came today. I haven't opened them yet but am DYING to. However, they are upstairs and I'm not getting up unless someone delivers and ice cream sundae to my front door.

3rd Trimester

As of today, I'm 28 weeks pregnant with Monkey #2. That means we only have 84 days left to go. 12 weeks. Not sure if you can tell, but this suddenly seems like a very short amount of time. It's not that I'm feeling unprepared "stuff"-wise, but the whole idea of nursing (and another possible cluster-feeder) and pumping and up all night, and whatever else comes with a helpless little family member is sort of making me nervous. I just remember the very last time I nursed Morgan and being so over the top ok with it...but truly it was also a time that she and I got to spend together, just us, and I'd never give that up.

So hello, 3rd Trimester. I am going to miss you dearly, 2nd trimester, but if the 3rd continues to be as easy as the 1st and 2nd, then I'm in. And besides, it means I'm almost done with the belly (which hasn't been bad either since I'm almost positive I'm much smaller than I was last time). I don't know how much I've gained officially with this one...but it's somewhere between 16-20lbs. I had a 4lb gain at my last appointment but all told, had only 7lbs in 8 weeks which I think is on the side of normal so either way, things are looking up.

I mentioned in my ultrasound post last week that Baby Sister is sitting transverse across my stomach. Well, last night I was all snuggled up with Adam on the couch and when I got up an hour later, she felt different. Like maybe she turned south like she's supposed to be? But as I type this, I recall earlier today when she was fiercely "kicking south" today...but as I type she is trying to crawl out my right front belly area. :) Who knows. As long as she figures it out by her birthday...

PS. Morgan now routinely uses up to 5 word sentences and beyond. Yesterday once or twice, I casually mentioned that Adam was going on an airplane far away today for work without her really thinking twice about it. This morning I woke her up, was getting her clothes out of the dresser and asking if she slept well (she did, in case you were wondering), and then she said, "Daddy far far away!" How on earth does she remember this stuff?! Also, she's starting to recognize lower case letters which I blame on a new favorite book, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (she knows all the upper case letters and has for a while), recognizes quite a few numbers 1-9 in print, and can now almost count to 20. Another kicker - she can tell me what maybe 8-10 letter sounds go with the corresponding letters (ie. "D says duh, S says Ssss"). Seriously. My kid is the bee's knees and that's final. :)