Things That Keep This Pregnant Lady Up at Night...

Sleep is a vain effort these days. Here are a list of things that keep me awake at night:

1. My tiny bladder which is being further compressed by a ~7 pound baby. (I usually have somewhere between 4-8 bathroom breaks a night...usually one an hour).
2. Braxton Hicks which lately are seeming more and more like the real deal.
3. Heartburn.
4. Mackenzie's acrobatics in between aforementioned Braxton Hicks.
5. The Cicadas in my backyard.
6. The tiny little frogs that chirp all night long.
7. My husband snoring...it's gotten worse in the last week. I slept on the couch Tuesday night.
8. The little, yappy dogs that live in the house behind ours and like to bark at our fence line. --Not gonna lie. I've had some pretty terrible thoughts on how to resolve this problem. I wouldn't actually follow through with any of them, but a girl can dream...if she could actually fall asleep over the barking.-- 

Things that will keep me up in the coming weeks:

1. Numbers 5 through 8 in the above list.
2. A sweet, little baby girl who will be adjusting to life outside my tummy. 
3. Possibly a big sister who can't sleep through her new sister adjusting. 

I'm so excited! I have about 18 days to go...

I'm going to go take a nap now. 

Happy Third Birthday, Chloe!

Chloe,

It's May 28, 2013 and you are three years old today! See how much you've changed from one year ago? You are no longer a toddler and are now a pre-schooler. (You don't go to pre-school yet.)

 

 

You have turned into such an entertainer. You sing all the time and have several songs memorized. You even try and sing along with my music when we go on walks with the jogging stroller. If we laugh at anything you do, you will try and repeat whatever it was to keep your dad and I laughing. You also love to get your 'electric guitar' and play for us while you dance. You prefer it if we dance along.

Some of your favorite things are: bubbles, Pepper, flowers (you like to pick dandelions), the next door neighbor boys (Luke and Davis) and riding your tricycle or scooter. You are pretty girly, but you keep your shins bruised from adventures.

 

You know your full name and will tell people, but sometimes you get confused. Occasionally you say, "My name is two." You never confuse where you live. If I ask where you live, you always tell me which city. (If you can't tell, we are working on safety information in case you ever get lost.) You have never met a stranger and are so friendly. While I think that is one of your greatest strengths thus far, it's also potentially problematic at this age. Sometimes, we have to keep a pretty close eye one you.

 

We are working on letters now. You know all the letters and their sounds, so we have moved onto writing them. You don't really have the fine motor skills required to write well yet. But, you can write a few letters (sometimes they are backwards). C, A, X, T, U and O...random letters, I know.

 

You are just now starting to really test your own will-power. There was no doubt since the day you were born that you had a stubborn streak. For the most part, you listen as well as any child your age. Recently though, we've been hearing the word 'no' from you a lot! It's hard not to laugh because the face you make when you tell us 'no' is hilarious. (You scrunch up your nose and furrow your brow.) I think our saving grace for this "miss independent' stage that you are embarking upon will be the fact that you 'just want to make us happy.' You ask us 'Are you mad?" when you do something wrong. If we say 'yes' you get pretty upset.

 

 

We are really enjoying watching you turn into your own person. There are so many things about you that we've learned. In retrospect, many of your qualities were evident early on...I think most of your little personality is the way you were born. We love you and the laughter that you brought into our lives.

You have doctor appointment on Thursday so we will get a weight and height then...

37 Weeks & Full Term

Baby could come safely at any point and my doctor would no longer try to stop labor if it started on its own. Hooray! Of course, I am in no way anticipating that this little lady will come early. Her sister was late and was forcefully evicted for health reasons. The doctor said I'm 30% effaced...I could stay that way for weeks and I DID with Chloe! So I don't put a whole lot of stock in that information. Long story short? G2 is still cooking.

37 weeks w/ G2

37 weeks with G2

I had a final ultrasound last Friday. She is taking her practice breaths which is a good sign her lungs are ready and she is happy. We are walking 3 miles a day to try and get things moving. At best? It might encourage G2 to make her grand entrance a few days sooner. At worst? I'll be in great shape for another 17 hour labor (let's hope it's not that long). I may or may not have mowed the yard last week and I may or may not be dancing with Chloe in the living room on a daily basis. haha. 

Squishy Face...looks a lot like Chloe did. Curious to see how it plays out.

Chloe had a door hanger similar to this one when she was born. It was made by my brother's best friend's wife. (Is that confusing?) I made this one so G2 will have one because I love it so much. Do you see that we have a name now? Finally! 

hospital door announcement

Mark had narrowed his list down to about 3 that he liked (Avery, Harper & Mackenzie). He told me to pick and this is my favorite. We used the traditional spelling. I like that we will have somebody else in the house that has a long name that can be shortened. Mark doesn't understand that reasoning, but his name is only four letters long. Ha. Chloe is already calling her Kenzie and Mark prefers the nickname, MJ.

The middle name, Jewel, is so special to us. I feel compelled to share. My Grandpa was one of my favorite people (really one of everybody's favorite) and his mom (my great grandma, 'PA') had Jewel for a middle name. But wait, there's more!...Mark's Granddad was adopted and his birth surname was Jewell. When he was adopted, an 'L' was removed and 'Jewel' became his middle name. Mark's dad is a 'junior' and carries the same name. So little miss is going to share a middle name with not one, but 3 family members. For such an unusual name, I'm surprised it shows up in both of our families. I would have made it her first name, but Mark wasn't too sure about that and we couldn't really find a middle name that supported Jewel as a first name.