Baby Grey 29 wks. 2 days

Someone is off visiting her Nana and giving me lots of time to catch up on the things that have been camped out on my "to-do" list...like scanning and posting pictures from Grey's latest ultrasound! Keep in mind that the pictures are kind of crummy due to his position at the time...

This is his profile (at a strange angle) with his arm resting above his head...

His arm and wee hand stretched out like he's about to catch something...

I'm just going to go ahead and assume that unless you are DeAnna (or maybe Kyle with DeAnna's help) you're not going to be able to discriminate that this is his mouth and nose hiding behind who knows what...

...and some confirmation that he is, indeed, still a boy!

Fancy Feet

Sponge's Spot 31 Weeks

My "photographer" with his wacky sense of humor suggested that I post this one too. The pair of us are about the most unamused photographer/subject you'll find. I basically stand around like a bump on a log while he randomly snaps pictures with no concern for composition. So we get a lot of mid-sentence treasures like this one... Sort of looks like I'm having a contraction or something doesn't it :)

I am officially 31 weeks pregnant today. I am hovering close to +38 pounds and I was really feeling like a heifer until I went back through the archives and read that I had gained about 38.5 pounds at 32 weeks pregnant with Sofie. So, although I still feel like a heifer and my 50 pound weight-gain with Sofie is certainly not something to be striving towards, at least I'm not any heavier than I was the first time around! My body has a strange way of distributing the weight and I can only explain it by saying that I'm pretty sure my bottom half hasn't yet received the memo that I'm pregnant. This past week I was shopping for an outfit to wear for some portraits we're going to have taken soon and I bought a size medium pants but needed an XL top. Go figure...

I've been feeling pretty good these past few weeks after enduring a pretty miserable second trimester and I'm hoping that the rest of this pregnancy continues on the upswing. I know that the second trimester is supposed to be when most women feel their best, but maybe I'll get lucky and feel best in my third. So far, at least, it's been much better. In my dream world, I'd go into labor naturally two weeks before my due date (that would be a whole month less of pregnancy for me!) I suppose it's more realistic for me to assume I'll be induced 2 weeks late once again, but a girl can hope right?

A couple of weeks ago we had another ultrasound done to check on the location of my placenta. As expected it has moved up and out of the way and Mr. Grey was in perfect position for birth, head down and facing my back, so there's no good reason that I shouldn't go into labor on my own this time. We have a couple of pictures from that appointment that I'll get around to scanning in eventually, but they're not really that great. I guess it's hard to take a picture of a kid who's upside down and not looking at you :) Grey moved and jiggled and stretched out his wee legs during the ultrasound and generally made the tech work hard to get all the information she was looking for during the scan. What can I say? I make wiggly babies! This go around I've been able to really feel a lot of the finer motor movements like little arms, hands and feet pressing taut against my belly. When I was pregnant with Sofie I was confused when other pregnant women would comment indicating that they knew where their baby's bum or feet or arms were resting in their abdomen. I could really only feel gross motor type movements and hiccups with her. I have no idea why it's been different this time around.

We've been reading a lot of There's a New Baby at Your House books to Sofie lately and I would love to know what she thinks of all this pregnancy stuff. She's taken to blowing raspberries on my belly which she, of course, thinks is hilariously funny. A couple of our friends have had newborns in the recent weeks and we were able to visit one to share a meal last week. Sofie was, as always, fascinated with the baby. She couldn't get close enough and kept asking for, "My baby!" I think she thought it was like some really fancy baby doll. If you've seen her handle her baby dolls that thought is just a little frightening! I'm glad that she's so interested in babies, but hopefully the novelty will wear off relatively quickly. I can't imagine it would be very fun trying to lovingly fend off an overly doting big sister 24 hours a day long-term!

Ben has (mostly) agreed that we can name the baby just plain Grey if we use the EY spelling. I'm not really clear on why exactly that makes a difference, but I'm happy with the outcome so I'm not questioning it!

We're pretty much ready for this little guy to make his appearance. We've been steadily checking off needed items from our list and have been so fortunate to receive many wonderful hand-me-down items. I've been diligently washing and organizing baby clothes as we receive them and Sofie and Grey's room has been rearranged to accommodate them both. We really only need to collect a few stored baby items from Nana's basement (baby swing, tub, misc.) and put the co-sleeper back together. As far as I'm concerned those are things that can be done while I'm at the hospital! So kiddo...spend a few more weeks fattening yourself up in there and then come on out and join us. We're ready!

Stroller Success

Excited to share that I just bit the bullet and ordered this Graco Quattro Tour Duo in Soho. Although I was really leaning towards a side-by-side, Ben and I agreed that it would probably be wise to buy a stroller that Grey's carseat will snap into, at least for the beginning months. Once the kiddos are a little bit older I have every intention of buying another, lightweight, easy to fold, side-by-side stroller.

Anyhow, I'm feeling quite pleased with myself for finding this gem for around $70 below retail ($30 less than I've seen it anywhere during all of my Internet scouring). Also, did you notice that it just happens to match my new diaper bag (which arrived in the mail last week and is PERFECT!)

Ok...I think you'll be happy to hear that this pretty much wraps up my baby product PSAs and we will be back to our regularly scheduled cute kid pictures and anecdotes shortly :)

Isms

Tonight Ben and Sofie were watching videos of little kids riding dirt bikes on YouTube together when she pointed to the TV with her stubby index finger and exclaimed, "Das a bebe's bikel!" Translation: That's a baby's motorcycle (cross between bike and motorcycle)! She cracks me up.

A few other notes I'll jot down for posterity's sake: Sofie has become a lovely singer. She spends much of her time humming or singing one of the many songs she knows. She's getting good enough at it that I can often recognize what she's singing and chime in along with her. We are also encouraging her to practice taking her clothes off (for potty training purposes) and, with much grunting and some frustrated squawks, she can remove her pajamas, pants, and diaper without assistance. She can't quite get the hang of taking off her shirt yet but that's not really essential for going potty anyway!

Some favorite phrases:

"I luhfoo!" (I love you!)
"Iss a muss." (It's a mess.")

Score!

It looks like this week in Wormville is going to be some sort of baby product extravaganza since today I decided to set aside my stroller scrutiny and instead finally make a decision about a new diaper bag...

I've been carrying this well worn bag around since it mysteriously showed up on my mother-in-law's doorstep shortly after Sofie was born.


The package was not addressed to me and didn't come with a card or any sort of identifying information, but she assumed it was for me since it has Sofie's initials embroidered on it. I quickly adopted it for full time use since it is the perfect size and is curiously insulated, which is convenient when you carry around sippy cups full of milk! Lately I've been thinking that I should be looking for a new bag since two babies require a mama to carry around twice as much stuff (especially during the newborn phase) and since it just doesn't seem quite right to be carrying around a bag that only has one of my kid's initials on it, not to mention that the bag has seen better days!

So I've been doing some leisurely browsing...

I'm not a huge fan of the "diaper bag" but check out this little number...

...I bet you wouldn't have even known that it is a diaper bag if I hadn't told you. This is the Cake Cosmopolitan Carryall in Midnight Blackberry. Cake is a line of Petunia Picklebottom's bags and I must admit that I'm maybe just a little bit infatuated with this bag. Alas, it was not meant to be. Not only is this bag retired, but even if I could find it somewhere it carried a hefty price tag of (are you sitting down?!) $349. That price doesn't even live in the same galaxy as any that might fall into my budget :)

Anyway, I've been looking at a lot of big purses trying to find something versatile that could be used as a diaper bag. Today, for some reason, I thought maybe I should try browsing the Vera Bradley website. Their bags, though I've never actually owned one, sort of scream diaper bag to me...lots of pockets, easy to wash, etc. etc...but for some reason I hadn't thought to check them out until now.

I was thrilled to find this bag on major clearance...

...originally $90, marked down to $25!!! I ordered it post haste, and threw in one of these...

...originally $38 marked down to $15, for good measure! Having never seen this actual style in person, I'm slightly concerned that it might be a bit larger than I'm expecting, but I'm mostly really excited to have ticked off one more thing from my "to buy" list. I'm also finding myself wishing that Vera Bradley would get with the program and offer a coordinating changing pad and diaper wipe cover! At any rate, I would recommend taking a moment to browse their website, http://www.verabradley.com/, if you are a fan. There are some excellent buys on a couple of styles of bags that appear to be being discontinued as well as many of their popular items in fabrics that are retiring. I had a hard time limiting myself to these two items!

Stroller Struggles

Good grief would someone just tell me which double stroller is the perfect one for me!!! I have never felt so wishy washy in all my life.

Issues:

#1 Do I even need a double stroller? I carried Sofie around in a sling for several months after she was born AND as she gets older she wants to sit in her stroller less and less (granted sometimes I need her to and she doesn't have a choice). If I carry Grey around in a sling for four months and Sofie is 27 months old might I be able to switch to a single stroller and a walking kid?

#2 If I do decide to go with a double stroller, should I get one that I can snap an infant seat into? Sure I carried Sofie around in a sling and sort of passed up the infant seat stage, but maybe it won't be so easy to carry one child while chasing the other around :)

#3 Should I buy a tandem stroller or a side-by-side? My gut feeling is that I'd rather have a side-by-side but Ben seems to prefer the tandem option. I don't particularly want to choose who gets to sit in the front and I think that side-by-sides are generally lighter and easier to maneuver(have you tried to push a tandem stroller? It's like pushing around a 40 lb. semi truck. It makes me feel like I need to get a "BEEP BEEP BEEP" signal so I don't run into anyone.) Conversely, options for side-by-side strollers that I'd be able to snap an infant seat into are extremely limited, and they are more difficult to fit through cramped aisles (but let's face it, how much actual shopping is going to happen with two small children anyway?!)

#4 Should I wait and make these decisions after the baby is born, when I can maybe gauge what I need better, or should I buy something now while I have more time to scour for a good deal?

#5 Maybe I'll get a used tandem stroller for the first few months, then sell it and buy a side-by-side?!

#6 Anyone have any experience with any of the following (which seem to be coming out at the top of my list so far...)

Tandem Strollers: Graco Quattro Tour Duo or the less solid but also 100 bucks cheaper Graco Duoglider

Side-by-sides: Maclaren Twin Triumph or Techno or Peg Perego Aria Twin 60/40 (which accomodates an infant seat)


If you have any opinions about any of this rambling, please please please weigh in!

(and I think I've grown far too dependent on parentheses lately...)

Mama Mia

A couple of anecdotes on this special Mother's Day from the child who made me a mother...

#1 Sofie has been doing mostly fantastic in her big girl bed. She lays down every night and nods right off to dreamland. Naptime is a little bit more challenging, but I'd say she still goes right to sleep about 75% of the time. About 15% of the time she grumps and complains about her obviously unfair station in life, but when I peek my head in to check on her she is still sitting securely in her bed with a Garbage Pail Kid-ish look on her face and eventually she does drift off to sleep. The other 10% of the time she lays down quietly and fools me into believing that she has every intention of falling asleep, while in reality she is just waiting until I shut the door to secretly have her way with her bedroom. She has done this probably three times, and each time she uses her time to silently pull all her diapers out of their basket, relieve her dresser drawer of her clothes, and quietly try on every pair of shoes that she owns. She is so stealthy that I usually don't have any idea that anything is awry until she grows tired of playing independently and begins calling for me. Today was one of these days. Today, however, was just a smidge different than my previous experiences with her mayhem. Typically, I open the door to a huge mess. A big pile of clothes and shoes and diapers strewn across the floor. Usually I grumpily clean it up, enlisting her help, while chiding her for making the mess instead of napping as she is expected to. Today, I suspect, she was either trying very hard to please me or else sneakily trying to cover her tracks entirely since instead of a giant mess on the floor I found this:


In case the picture isn't entirely obvious to you, that is Sofie's dresser drawer pulled halfway open with all her clothes stuffed precariously back into it after they've obviously been removed and strewn about. I laughed until I cried...the little rascal!

#2 Sofie is obsessed with the letter E. She's convinced herself that every letter in her ABC books is an E, and she frequently requests that we draw E's for her. Her other favorite illustrative requests include balls and tracings of hands. So, today when we were playing with her Doodle Pro I wasn't surprised when she requested that I draw E's and balls. After I'd drawn two of each on the board she stuck out her stubby little finger and, pointing at each E said, "1, 2, E!" grinned up at me and continued, "1, 2, ball!" "What a smart girl!" I encouraged her while thinking to myself, "Oh my gosh! My child is a counting genius!" That thought lasted roughly three seconds and then she requested that I draw one more ball and proudly, jabbing her finger at all three balls, declared, "1, 2, ball!"

Hope all of you mamas out there enjoyed your Mother's Day and that your little imps make you grin as frequently as ours does!

Oh, really?

Last night Ben and Sofie were spending some time together "reading" as they often do after dinner. They were looking through one of Sofie's current favorites, First 100 Words, when I overheard this little snippet...

Ben: "What's this?"

Sofie: "Dis monkey!"

Ben: "What's this?"

Sofie: Dis piggy!"

Ben: "What's this?"

Sofie: "Dis seep (sheep)!"

Ben: "What are you?"

Sofie: "I'm a baby!"

Cake!

Well now, gee whiz, I can't imagine why this child wanted nothing to do with her lunch...

Only a grandma, upon hearing her granddaughter incessantly request cake after seeing one on tv, would conclude that she should just go ahead and whip some cupcakes up from scratch and let said granddaughter devour them as she pleased.

And only a mama, in order to protect her sweet innocent child from cavities and bellyaches, would eat up all those yummy cupcakes all by herself!