30 Weeks

Well, it seems like it's been forever since I've posted a decent blog... but I swear I have a good excuse. I'm pregnant! Ha ha ha, ok so I'm in my third trimester, I'm chasing a two year old around, and we've been busy with tons of other stuff.

Remember last time how I was talking about not being scared for labor, HA jokes on me! Our precious niece gave her mama a run for her money and after just hearing the stories that that little family went through I'm back to being scared again. I know it'll be fine, but I am not ready!! Although getting to hold Cypress has been so much fun. She's just so soft and warm and it just makes me want to hold Lydia. I can't believe in two months it'll be our turn. Two down one more to go! =) Those three girls will be the best of buddies, it's going to be so neat to see them all together. They not only share that special bond, but we also noticed that all three girls will have a "Y" in their name.

Ok, so onto the 30 week update... I had a doctor's appointment last week at 29 weeks 2 days. According to the measurements though I was already measuring at 30 weeks. Hoping that means Lydia graces us with her presence just a couple of days early. At 30 weeks according to Babycenter she is 15.7in and about 3lbs, which could be off if she's measuring big. Her eyesight is developing and after she's born she'll have about 20/400 vision, only being able to make out objects right in front of her face. She will be able to react to changes in light around her though. She has about a pint and a half of amniotic fluid surrounding her but as she gets bigger that amount will decrease. I found out that there is a name for my freakish belly button. It's herniated, which is why it's sticking out so much and looks so weird. It doesn't hurt or bother me, which I guess it can do when it's herniated, but oh well. More then anything it just freaks Charlie out. ;) I'm pretty sure Lydia is head down, her kicks feel differently then Natalia's did... since Natalia was breech it was always her head poking out by my ribs he he he. Lately she's been more powerful with her kicks and movements and they sometimes hurt or are uncomfortable... I just remind myself that I'll miss these movements later on. I've also started to notice her hiccups! She gets them a few times a day and it's pretty funny.

I've been busy sewing away here at home. I finished the canopy and nursing cover for myself (photos in baby hodgepodge album). Then I went to the store with a girlfriend so she could pick out fabric so I could make some for her too. She's due in December with her second boy. The first being Natalia's boyfriend Jude. he he he. BTW she's #14 due this year and the last one, so that's 4 boys, 11 girls (twins) for the final count this year. I know of 3 women already pregnant and due next year, but I'm not including them in my count. Anyway, I've started sewing her stuff too. I painted the wooden letters and flowers for Lydia's room, and they turned out pretty darn cute. I'm not 100% satisfied on how the ribbon looks to hang the letters, so once I figure that out I'll get after photos of those up too. I've gotten most of the stuff out of the shed for Lydia and will start laundry here soon. Next is buying a couple more big ticket items like the double stroller and the mattress for the crib. The rest I think I'll wait until after our celebrations to see what we need. I can't believe those will be here soon too.

I also joined a book club! It's just a bunch of alum from my sorority that we decided to get together and form one, but it's so much fun. We've met a few times now and we've been picking books that have movies to go along so that after our discussion, which usually includes frozen yogurt, we go see the movie and have a small chat afterwards as well. Yesterday we saw The Help. I read the book last year already, and reread it for our club this month. The movie was good, but it left out soo much from the book. It's also because of this book club that I've decided I want an Ereader after all. I always thought they seemed like a waste, and I love just having the physical book. But, the new features are just too cool. Plus whenever I go anywhere I have to take 4-5 books with me because I read too fast and run out of books easily. With an Ereader I wouldn't have that problem. I've decided on the color Nook, not only because of it's features but because you can do kids books on them too. Which would be nice for when we travel with Natalia... usually have to pack a stack of books for her too. Also, you can check out books from the library onto it too! I usually get most of my books from the library now anyway, but this way I wouldn't have as long of a wait to get a hold of them. I told Charlie I wanted it as my Christmas gift, but hint hint nudge nudge would gladly accept it early. =) It would be nice to have for those late night feedings with Lydia. Right before I had Natalia I hit up Hastings and bought like 10 books on clearance and within a couple of weeks of feedings and pumping I had gone through all of them. I know it'll be more hectic during the day with Natalia and trying to feed/pump, but I'll still be able to read at night I'm thinking.

Big Sister Natalia is growing like a weed. I was looking at her yesterday and I swear she's grown a couple of inches in the last week or two. She seriously seems so tall to me. Today is our last swimming lesson for the summer session. My little fishy has decided in the last couple of weeks to be freaked out about the water. I don't know what happened, but all the sudden she clings to me for dear life and doesn't want to do anything during class anymore. It's so odd because she was loving it so much and didn't care when the teacher dunked her. She was the only one in class that didn't cry ever and all the sudden she's the instigator in class and now after she cries everyone else does. UGH! We signed up for fall session anyway, I'm hoping it'll help her overcome this sudden fear. We have a month break before it starts up again as well, so maybe that will help too?? **Of course I wrote this this morning before class and then we went to class where she proceeded to prove me wrong and be a little fishy again!** We had a make up swim lesson on Saturday that Charlie went with us and got a ton of good pictures, so I'll be posting those in Natalia's album on Facebook here soon. She's still yet to actually go in her potty, but she loves sitting on it and trying. She's woken up twice now in the mornings with a completely dry diaper, so I know we are oh so close to being ready to train. I'll just keep making it fun to sit on the potty and once she really does go in it I'm going to make a HUGE deal of it so she gets excited about it and wants to do it more hopefully. She talks so much now and surprises me everyday with what words she knows. I'm starting to freak out a little bit about how she will react to a new baby, and not being the only child anymore. We have this special relationship since it's just been the two of us at home all this time and now that's going to change. But, I'm also so excited to see her as a big sister. She loves her baby dolls and taking care of them, I hope that will translate over to her baby sister. She's already so good with wanting to help out around the house, when I unload the washer she loves pushing the wet clothes in the dryer, or filling the soap dispenser in the dishwasher. Her canines are over and done with but of course now her molars are coming in. They haven't cut yet, but I can feel the bumps under her gums. She's been a little cranky and drooling, but not too bad yet. Sleep wise she's still on schedule though so I'm grateful for that! Super funny story about this kiddo... so the other night I went to scrape some chicken scraps from our dinner into Switch's bowl. We make him sit before we do so though, so I said "puppa sit" and when he didn't sit I said much louder "SIT" and instead of that darn dog sitting Natalia sat her tush right down in the middle of the kitchen! What a goofball!! I had tears streaming down my face I was laughing so hard!

One last little thing before I leave you with my belly shots. I went through my Facebook photo albums and instead of having separate albums for the nieces/nephews I combined them into one Cousins album, so that link has now been added to the right with the rest of them. I'll try to be better about getting current pictures of them up. Oliver and Adam are three now and just such big boys. Dexter is 10 months old and loves to crawl around, loves their dog Rilo, and is pulling himself to standing! Jocelyn is three months old and rolling over already, it seriously seems like yesterday she was a brand new baby, but she's growing up just as fast as the rest. Cypress is a week old now! I got to hold her for the first time in the Nicu last Thursday, and then again at home on Saturday. So love that brand new baby smell!!

These pictures crack me up. For one you can see the change in my hair during the day. The one I took my hair is freshly curled (which doesn't happen very often around here btw) and the other two Charlie took and they are the end of the day, my hair is almost stick straight again! The last one I'm laughing at Charlie because he has issues with taking pictures and for some reason doesn't know how to hold a camera. He was perfectly capable of doing it all throughout my pregnancy with Natalia, but this time around he can't seem to do it. We've had this discussion many times but he just has lost his mind! =)

Alrighty so how was that for a super long but updated blog post?!?!? =)