Holiday Wrap Up

I hope your Christmas was a wonderful time spent with everyone most important to you.  Our day was filled with tears (even a few of joy), whine (and wine), coffee, love and friends.  After opening gifts with Papa watching via Skype, we spent some time playing with the new toys and then cleaning up the aftermath.  By mid-afternoon we had a half-dozen people over to play games and eat yummy foods. 

The hit game of the night was a new (to us) game called Munchkin, specifically the Zombie version of the game.  We had a good time playing.  Kendra suckered Kai into playing a few games of Uno with her.  That kid is vicious!  She is a take no prisoners player.  We are in trouble when she learns poker!

Santa was good to both kids this year, bringing Kendra a guitar and game and Darian some toy cars and a dragon pillow pet.   Dan gave me wonderful electronic keyboard.  With luck, I'll find time to practice and regain some skills I used to have.

All in all it was a good Christmas, and I'm thankful I was able to celebrate the blessed holiday with my wonderful family.

Less and Less

A few weeks ago I joined a private exercise class with a fellow preschool mom.  We had our halfway check, and although I gained a bit of weight, my waist, hip, BMI and body fat percentage were all down.  I wasn't too disappointed with the weight gain either, because I'm still less than I have been since I moved here!

I gave Dan a juicer for his birthday, and I plan on making use of it to get a bit of weight off.  This morning my breakfast was fresh juice and half a bagel.  The juice was a mixture of a granny smith apple, fuji apple, pear, orange, bok choy, spinach and kale.  It was fantastic! I felt fabulous all morning, and may be on to something. 

Space Needle Lunch

Today dawned sunny and clear, so I decided it was the perfect day for a special treat - lunch at the top of the Space Needle!  I asked Kendra if she wanted it just us or would she like a friend to go as well.  She wanted her friend Ian to go, so I called his mom and off we all went. 

It started off a bit rocky as Kendra lost her shoe in a giant sploosh of mud, but it was found after a bit of searching (and almost loosing my own shoes!).  A run through the washer and they are good as new.  Kendra was so excited about being there with Ian she didn't even mind the fact that her socks were too soaked to wear.

The kids had a ball and the view was spectacular.  I enjoyed having lunch with Jana and getting to know her better.  What a great day.

 

Where Does The Time Go?

I'm not sure how two months has flown by without me realizing it, but somehow it has.  Without further delay, here is all the news!

Kendra:  We back to preschool on September 13.  She is enrolled three days a week, and loves it.  I kept her in the twos and threes class so she has the opportunity to be the big kid at school.  Our school mixes all the ages on every day but one, and that one is for the younger kids.  It was the right call.  She shows so much empathy and sweetness to the younger kids...it is amazing.  Despite the rotten attitude we see all too often at home, apparently our lessons are sinking in.

Halloween was a total hit this year.   Kendra dressed up as a little cowgirl riding her pink pony, while Darian was the cutest tiger ever.  Dan's office offered trick or treating to the employee's kids, so we headed there first.  We quit after a scant 3 floors (out of 21) when Kendra couldn't carry her candy bucket because it was so full.  She was even given a really cute stuffed dolphin by one employee.  

Darian:  Little Man continues to grow like a weed.  We had his 4 month check-up on October 8.  He weighed in at 14lbs, 15oz (50%) and was 26" long (90%).  He had his second round of shots and seemed to tolerate them very well.  Since Kendra attends a co-op preschool, I work roughly one day a week in the school.  Darian gets to go to preschool with me on those days, and he is a hit.  The kids adore babies, and Darian is so good natured he tolerates everything without much (if any) protest.

We started Darian on solid foods October 26.  Our pediatrician said he was big enough at his 4 month check up that we could start him at any time.  By the end of the October, it was obvious he was completely ready to move into solids.  Between then and now (a scant week!), he's gone from a few bites of rice cereal to downing entire jars of baby food at every sitting.  He loves Gerber Puffs as well, and we generally stuff a few of them in him to keep him happy while we get the rest of the food together.  He still nurses regularly, but the regular feedings of food have made things easier on me.  He absolutely loves food, and squawks loudly if we don't shovel it in fast enough.  Scamp.

Dan:  Dan continues to enjoy his new job.  I like it as well - he is much more relaxed and has a more regular schedule. I've encouraged him to start a guys night out, but so far no luck.  He keeps pretty busy working around the house, and hanging out with us.  Roughly once a week Dan and Kendra have dinner together.  I either go to school meetings or out to coffee with friends.  Kendra loves her daddy, and really enjoys their time together.  He's such a great dad. 

Me:  Raising the kids and keeping the house in some semblance of order is plenty to keep me busy.  I am on the school board for the preschool, which requires more time than my job last year.  I do enjoy it, though, and I love being involved in her school life.  I've met some wonderful moms there, and I'm becoming better friends with them as time goes on.  I even started a girls night out so we can get together one night a month without the kids.  This week several of us met to work on various craft projects we are donating to the school's fundraiser in December.  We had ball! 

As part of trying to teach my kids empathy, we have begun volunteering at a food bank.  Once a week I pick up bags from the food bank, pick up Kendra from school, and the three of us deliver bags of groceries to the home bound.  I wear Darian in a baby carrier and he naps, while Kendra helps me knock on the doors.  I enjoy it, and hopefully she does too.

I've also volunteered at my church to be a Eucharistic minister.  I'll start at the new liturgical year, and continue for one year.  I'll serve every three weeks and if it goes well, I hope to continue.  The downside is I can't take the kids with me to church on the days I serve (unless I can convince Dan to come with me and watch them!)

(We have stickers on our noses from a birthday party gift bag.  It's cake-induced silliness at it's best.)

Clean Bill of Health

Darian went to the pediatric urologist last week. After another ultrasound he was given a clean bill of health!! There is a small (20%) chance he has a blockage, but there is no easy way to test for it. We were advised (and I agree) to keep the possibility in the back of our head in case anything ever comes up. If he starts running a high fever that can't be explained, or begins to get a series of kidney/UTI/bladder infections we may want to get him tested at that point.

One thing I learned I didn't know was regarding his circumcision. The urologist said by having him circumcised we reduced his chance of having any complications 10 fold.

What a relief!

Two Months Already

If you can believe it, Darian is two months old already. Yesterday was his check-up and the beginning of his inoculations. He weighed in at a whopping 12 pounds and was 24" long. That put him squarely in the 50-75% percentile across the board. (Kendra was 8lbs, 11oz and 21" at 2 months). I knew he was heavier than I remembered her being!

After screaming bloody murder at the doctor's office, he absolutely refused to let me put him down. I ended up spending the entire night holding him to keep him calm. Today, he seems fine. I got lots of smiles this morning and even a few coos. I love the smiles!

Today we went to the park, and had a great lunch courtesy of Katie. She made a great picnic lunch for all of us. The kids ran around and played, eventually ending up in the water feature. I hadn't brought Kendra's swimsuit because I didn't care if her clothes got wet. She however, had another idea. I looked up to see a trail of clothes leading to the spray feature, and my kid buck naked running through the water. Oh well.

A Camping We Will Go

We spent the weekend camping with Kendra's preschool class in beautiful Scenic Beach State Park. There were 10 families - roughly 20 kids - in a primitive group camp setting. (And yes, we took Darian along. He did great!) It was amazing! Lots of room for everyone to spread out, and yet we were separated from the rest of the campground so we had the whole area to ourselves. The kids could run free range between tents, ride bikes, play games and still be safe. Down a short path there was a playground, a day use area and access to the beach with spectacular views of the Olympic Mountains.

The beach was mostly rock, so there was a ton of sea life to study. At low tide we saw starfish, oysters, clams, baby eels, crabs, various fish, and seaweed. At high tide the water was crystal clear, blue and inviting. There were even divers going out. The water was chilly, but not so cold that people weren't swimming in it. The hot day probably helped too.

We planned on a group dinner Saturday night, so everyone brought an assigned ingredient to make paella. One of the dad's cooked it up over an open fire, and it was DELICIOUS!! We finished it up with Dan's Dutch oven peach cobbler, and Jean's "kick it" lemonade ice cream (made in one of those ice cream balls you kick around.)

After a sunset walk (or swim in a couple of the kids cases) the little ones went to bed and the adults sat around the fire chatting until the wee hours of the morning. It was pure heaven.

Sunday we had a great breakfast and cleaned up the camp before heading to the beach for one last time. It was drizzle raining and much cooler, so there was no swimming this time. We caught the ferry home, and all hopped in the shower to de-grime ourselves. It was an early night for everyone, but we are ready for another go-round!

Fun Days

It's rainy and chilly here...still. This is not the summer I was promised and I want a refund.

That said, we had a fun weekend despite the weather. Yesterday we headed to the Seafair Milk Jug Derby at Greenlake Park. One of the local dairies donates somewhere around 10,000 milk jugs to teams who built boats they sail through a course on Greenlake. It's as hysterical as it sounds. Many of the teams go all out in their boats. There was an Angry Bird boat, one that looked like a turtle, and a Ferris wheel.

There are tons of freebie things, kids games and a few food vendors. We walked around the lake, stopped for lunch/dinner at a great Greek restaurant, and headed home with two exhausted kids.

Today it was really rainy so we decided to go to the Science Center. That lasted right up until we tried to park and realized the Taste of Seattle was going on and there was no where to park, or it was crazy expensive. We turned around and went to the Museum of Flight instead. We wandered around that for a few hours, including finally touring Air Force One from the Nixon years and the final Concord jet to ever fly. There's also a new B-17 there for the summer that Dan wants to tour. We'll have to head back the next rainy Saturday we have.

We cashed in our free pizza coupon we won yesterday and got a yummy pizza from our favorite pizza place. Home and Wii are on tap for the evening. And maybe some hot chocolate.

One Month Already

Yesterday was Darian's one month birthday. I can't believe an entire month has gone by already! He continues to grow like crazy, which involves a tremendous amount of eating. Nursing is going so much better with him than it did with Kendra. I still don't like it, but at least I'm not miserable and hating every moment of it.

Kendra is adjusting beautifully. She has turned into my wonderful little helper. She makes sure that Darian always has a binki, and she usually gives it a few test sucks as well. :) I try to make sure she has plenty of playdates, park visits and general fun for three year olds so she doesn't feel usurped by her brother. I can't imagine why I thought dealing with one newborn was hard. Newborns are frustrating and exhausting, but it's the preschool set that is a true challenge. Combined? They are hell on wheels.

Dan and I are in real trouble if these two decide to gang up on us as they get older.

Five Hours

Before becoming a mom I took sleeping for granted. Now, a solid 5 hours (in a row!!) seems like absolute heaven. My short term memory is shot, as evidenced by the fact that I seem to forget more than I remember. I've forgotten to bring clothes for Kendra, dates when friends said they were coming over, appointments... Hopefully sleep with help with that :)

I will say that Darian is the calmest baby ever. He literally never cries unless there is a reason - hunger, cold or discomfort. He's quite content to watch the world go around. It is really interesting to watch him; he is so different from Kendra. I don't know if it's because he's a boy, because he was full term or just a different kid, but he is so much more physically advanced than Kendra was at this age. He has a remarkable (to me) amount of head control, and last night he surprised us (and himself) by reaching out and grabbing a toy that was swinging over his head.

It would appear we are starting on another interesting journey :)

Brother and Sister Get Aquainted

Kendra loves holding and feeding her little brother - as long as he isn't crying. :) Her bad attitude is slowly resolving and she's turning back into her pleasant and fun self.

2 Week Check-Up

On Friday Darian had his 2 week check up. He's doing very well! He's gained almost a pound, and weighed 7 pounds on the nose (he was 6lbs, 9oz at birth, and just over 6lbs when we left the hospital).

We also had his kidney ultrasound. The pyelectasis has not resolved, although it is better than it was in utero. I thought his case was mild, but his pediatrician said it was actually measuring at moderate, and she'd like us to see a urologist as a precaution. Darian will also have to have a follow-up ultrasound in about a month.

Kendra is slowly adjusting to not being the only child, although she still acts up more than not. She's a good kid, but I'm pretty sure she's aiming to win the Oscar for a dramatic performance before the age of 3. She spent last night with a friend of ours, and it was a much needed break for us all. Dan got an (almost) uninterrupted night's sleep, I got to sleep in, and Kendra got doted on by our friend's daughters. Everyone was much happier as a result.

I'm mostly tired. I don't handle interrupted sleep well, and I've got a cold. Hopefully we'll all find our balance soon.

Family of Four = New Wheels

Dan swore he would never own a mini-van, and then we realized what a pain it is to deal with two car seats. The next thing I know we are researching the top ranked family vans and Dan is test driving cars after work.

Last Thursday we ran to the Honda dealer and came home with a 2008 Odyssey mini-van. It is fully loaded with grey leather interior (with heated seats!!), power doors, power lift gate, integrated navigation system, back up camera, DVD/rear entertainment system, sun roof...and other things I'm still figuring out. So far we all really like it.

Dan's parents have been in town this week, so we gave the car a new work out on Friday. We loaded up the rear storage area with a picnic basket and beach toys and headed out to enjoy some sunshine. It was a gorgeous day to be on the beach, and Kendra loved showing off for grandma and grandpa. I loved having space to toss everything (which was also coated in sand) in the back and not worry about it.

We traded in my Escape, and Dan's RX8. Yes, the 8 is gone and we are (essentially) a one car family. We still have the Jeep, but it won't hold an infant seat. We kept it as Dan's toy car since it costs very little in terms of insurance and gas. (We'd have to drive it more than once a month for it to actually use any gas!)

New Family

Catch Up

It's been a crazy few weeks!

On June 6 we welcomed our son into the world. Darian was three weeks early and came via a c-section. He weighed in at 6lbs, 9oz and 18 inches long. He did beautifully right off the bat!

It was such a different experience from Kendra's c-section. I wasn't on all the heavy duty drugs, so I was much more conscious and aware of what was going on. Since he didn't need to go to the NICU both he and Dan stayed in the OR with me. They walked back to recovery with me, and Darian stayed in the room the whole time I was in recovery. The only time he left was when I sent him to the nursery at night so I could sleep.

I was sent home on Thursday, and spent the next few days in our guest room with Darian in the playpen next to me. (The guest room is on the ground floor so I didn't have to walk stairs.) I'm still on pain pills, but feeling better. I'm now sleeping upstairs again, and we are all slowly finding our way as a family of four.

On Tuesday Kendra had her last day of preschool for the year. She and her class "crossed the bridge" into summer as the parents watched proudly with tears in their eyes.

Each child walked across a small bridge when their name was called. They were given a small backpack they had decorated earlier in the week, and inside was the notebook they colored in all year long, and the class yearbook.

More catch ups to come soon....

New Room

We finally have the bedroom for the kids done! It turned out really cute.

Diapers are washed, baby clothes are hung in the closet and Kendra is settled in. I think we are ready for this little guy!

Kendra's new dresser and shelf above her bed:








Baby changing table, complete with Eric Carle decals:
















New toy basket above her bed for Kendra's infinite supply of magically appearing small size stuffed animals:






The alphabet wall:

Easter Recap

Easter was so much fun! Kendra really got into the whole egg hunting idea, and had a wonderful time with it. The Easter Bunny brought her a basket full of stuff - a kit to make pressed flowers, some new workbooks to work on learning to make letters, a cute summer outfit and socks with chickens and Easter eggs.

We invited our friends Katie and Brandon, with their son Donovan, to celebrate with us. We did the traditional dinner - ham, green beans, scalloped potatoes and a lemon raspberry cake for dessert. The food was divine and the company the even better.

After dinner we turned the kids loose in the backyard to hunt for eggs that the dads had hidden. Some were filled with candy and some with stickers. It was hard to tell if Kendra liked the stickers or candy better. She is such a sticker nut. There were probably 70 eggs for the two kids to find. (We may have gone a tad overboard...)

The weather was cloudy and chilly, but Kendra loved her sundress, so that's what she wore. Paired with a sweater, baby legs and boots she was very stylish :)

30 Weeks

30 weeks into this pregnancy and everything is going wonderfully! I have a crazy number of doctor appointments, but that's par for having a preemie last go round. I currently meet with my OB weekly, have ultrasounds every other week, and now have non-stress tests weekly. I passed my glucola test with flying colors, although I failed my vitamin D and iron levels test, so more supplements. I'm now taking 10 pills a day, plus all the Tums I can stand for heartburn.

This little guy is so much bigger than Kendra was. I have a lot of heartburn, and his kicks are much more painful. I'm actually being woken up at night from them! Little stinker.

We are still working on finalizing the room switch. As is par for the course of home improvement projects, Dan ran ethernet cable down the inside of the wall for the new office and it has since vanished. It has to be in the wall somewhere, but despite three new holes, the wires have not appeared. Back to the attic tonight to try to find them.

Uncooperative weather has made finishing the bookshelves we built tough as well. I need to take the actual shelves outside to paint, but we haven't had a decent day to do it. I was also hoping to strip the new (to us) furniture we bought for Kendra and restore it to natural wood. With all the rain and cold weather though, it doesn't look like it will be finished before the baby is born.

One bright spot is Dan's parents have finalized their plans to come visit and Kendra is already pretty excited. They'll be here in the middle of June. Chances are they'll meet their new grandson, but we just have to wait and see!

New Digs

We spent the day getting Kendra moved into her new room. Actually, she will be sharing a room with her brother, so they need the bigger of the two rooms. The biggest problem has been books. We had four bookshelves in our office, and they were all full. We have space in the new office for two bookshelves, so lots and lots of paring down. We've gotten it down to about 2 1/3 bookshelves...now we just have to figure out that last 1/3.

We still have a lot of little things to move, like Kendra books, stuffed animals and her clothes, but Kendra is sleeping in her new room. She is a little confused about which room is hers now, but she'll catch on. Dan told her to get some thing from her room, and she went to her old room. He explained that was now the office, and she said "Oh. Ok." and went to get what he asked from her new room.

I am tired and sore, but feel much better about us actually being ready for this baby!

A new first!

Today was Kendra's first self-served meal. It was just cereal, but a first is a first! (She also offered me some, but I declined)

Auction

After much work, Kendra's preschool dinner/auction/fundraiser is over. Despite me coming down with a massive cold on Friday, we all had a nice time. The food was surprisingly yummy, the kids were adorable and the band (Recess Monkey) was a total hit!

We ended bidding an many items, and won quite a few. Our most expensive "purchase" was an afternoon with Teacher Aaron. Kendra adores her preschool teacher and he offered to take up to two kids on an afternoon outing of our choosing. We've asked another preschooler friend of Kendra's to go along, and are hoping to schedule it after Little Man comes. It will be something special for Kendra - something to put the focus solely on her.

We also won gift cards to two different coffee shops, a new diaper bag with some fuzzy buns diapers, a really cute selection of baby toys for Little Man, a homemade apron for Kendra that is just adorable, and a really pretty necklace for me. It's metalworking, which is something I don't know how to do.

My jewelry ended up selling pretty well. The vintage necklace sold for $80. I was astounded. Maybe I should open an etsy store :)

Overall the auction took in about $12,500. It was just a smidge more than what they were hoping for, so all in all a success. This money provides a good chunk of the operating budget for the school.

Next year I may be more involved, as I have been asked (and said yes) to run for the school board. With Little Man coming up behind Kendra, we could have another 4-5 years at King Street, so I might as well get involved!

My Daughter's A Genius

I enrolled Kendra and I in a study on play based learning. The study entails an observer come to our house and interview us, do a twenty minute video of Kendra and I interacting, and a vocabulary test. They come back in 9 months to do it all again.

The vocabulary test consisted of four pictures and the tester asked Kendra to point to one specific picture. Some were nouns, some were representations of verbs. She had to miss 6 or more before the test ended. She made it all the way to 7 years old before she missed enough to end it.

That's right, my little chatterbox has the working vocabulary of the average 6 1/2 year old. Of course, I knew she was the smartest kid ever, but it's nice to have it confirmed :) (Actually, I was really surprised at how high she scored. I wasn't expecting that at all.)

Final Auction Piece

Here is the final piece I made for the auction.

We also donated a pizza party, courtesy of Dan's Friday Night Pizzeria. We'll have 2-3 kids over, Dan will make the dough and the kids can top their own pizzas. Depending on the ages of the kids, we'll watch a movie or play games or do a crafty thing.

Almost Done!

It still needs the finishing work to look, well, finished, and a coat of white paint to make it all look deliberate, but we're close to being done! The new wall is a tad over twice as thick as it used to be, and doesn't feel intrusive at all. Our concern with a standard bookcase on that wall was that it would jut out into the hallway too much.

Yay Dan! He's done a great job, and I am very impressed.

And a week later...

Hardly a trace. Seriously. It's as though our allusions to her being Wolverine go beyond just her destructive claws.

Driveway Wins Again

Kendra helped Dan take the garbage out last night, and decided to race Turtle back to the house. Unfortunately, she tripped and slid face first down the driveway. She looks awful, to say the least.

Her nose is possibly broken based on the bruising and swelling; she has a very colorful and large bump on her forehead; she bit almost through her bottom lip, and has some nasty scrapes and cuts on her nose, chin and upper lip.

After cleaning up quite a bit of blood, dosing her with Advil and giving her lots of cuddles, she seemed remarkably ok. Today I bought her some ice pops to suck on, and those, along with some additional Advil, has gone a long way to making her feeling fairly normal. Even her scrapes looked better tonight.

I did call the doctor out of concern for her nose, but like adults, there is nothing to be done for toddler broken noses. I have an appointment with a pediatric dentist next week to have her teeth cleaned, and make sure there is no damage to her teeth or jaw.

Ah the life of a toddler...and her parents!

What Happens...

.

when you leave a toddler alone with a hammer?





Actually, we decided to rip out the half wall at the top of our stairs and rebuild it as a built-in bookshelf. Kendra did help Dan by keeping him entertained with a non-stop parade of stuffed animals and chatter.

Believe it or not, this is step one of getting ready for Gummy Bear's arrival. These will hold children's books and family photo albums. Hopefully we'll then be able to get rid of 2 of our tall bookshelves (actually, one of them is donating it's life to these new shelves). Once the bookshelves are gone we'll start moving Kendra into the new kids room, which is currently our office. Our office will be downsized and move into what is now Kendra's room. Our current office is the larger of the two rooms, and the kids are going to share a room for a few years so they'll need the extra space.

Jewelry and Auctions

Kendra's preschool has a big auction/dinner every year. The parents are required to sell raffle tickets and procure at least 3 donations. I hate procurement. With a passion. To get around it, and still fulfill my obligation to the school, I decided to make jewelry to donate.

So far I've finished 2 bracelet and earring sets, and made one necklace/bracelet set to keep for myself. :) I plan on doing one more necklace/earring set to complete my donation.
I have learned so much, and really enjoyed doing it. My skill level has increased as well because I forced myself to try to make things that were much harder than anything I had done to date.

Daddy's Little Helper

A few weeks ago Dan was making some pizza for dinner. Kendra decided to help him, and they had a great time. She helped roll out the dough, and offered her expert opinion on dough flavor. (She and Dan love raw dough -yuck!)

The pizza turned out wonderful!

Caught In The Act

(Of course, this is one thing I don't mind catching her at!)

And The Verdict Is...

In case the news hasn't made it everywhere, we had our mid-way point ultrasound last Friday. We decided to find out the gender of this baby, and rumor has it...it's a boy! Everything seemed fine, but we won't get the official report until next week at our next OB appointment. We did get some pictures, but unlike Kendra, this little guy is facing my spine so we couldn't get a good profile shot. It vaguely looks like I have a fuzzy alien in there. We did get an adorable foot shot as he pushed against me at one point.

We've been talking to Kendra about how she is getting a little brother, but I'm pretty sure she doesn't have a clue what's coming :)

Our First Harvest

A year or so ago I bought a Meyer lemon tree. After almost killing it last winter, it has come back spectacularly and produced our first lemon!!

St. Louis Wrap Up

We spent last week in St. Louis, enjoying a belated Christmas celebration with the folks there. It was freezing cold, and we got to see a bit of snow, but it was wonderful to see everyone. My family spoiled Kendra rotten with gifts. She had so much fun opening them. She was kind enough to open most of mine as well. She knows that Kendra starts with "K," so naturally, any present with a tag starting with K was hers. I had a hard time figuring out who the presents came from as my darling daughter enthusiastically shredded paper. Being my little OCD girl, she also picked up all the paper and threw it away. It was really cute.

We celebrated my dad's 64th birthday with Dan's famous homemade pizza and some of my (with Alton Brown's help) famous apple pie. Dad really enjoyed having us there. Kendra was happy to make sure all his presents were correctly opened. :)

Seeing all our friends again was fabulous. It was amazing to see how everyone's babies have grown into full fledged toddlers. Their personalities are really coming through, and they are so much fun to play with/watch/listen to. Of course, now we are starting with round two. One friend even had her baby while we were there!

Tomorrow is our big ultrasound - the halfway point! So far, so good. This baby is riding really high, so I look more pregnant now than I did the day I gave birth to Kendra. I also get really winded because my lungs are compressed, and can't eat much at any given time because my stomach is small too.

18 Weeks

And all is well! This little bugger is riding very, very high. S/he's compressing my lungs and stomach something fierce, but is no where near my bladder. It's a nice change, actually :) My blood pressure is perfect, and has remained stable for every check I've had - which is really great news. There was some protein showing today, so I have to run back in on Friday for another check. It could be a bladder infection or a fluke reading. Since high protein is symptomatic of pre-eclampsia it will bear watching, but is of no real concern at this point.

In Kendra news, we have been working on potty training. She did it perfectly this weekend. Not a single accident and really seemed to "get" the whole idea. Until last night. We think she was a bit stuffy in the intestines, and kept saying it hurt. I suspect it scared her and today she wanted NOTHING to do with the potty. We had nothing but accidents :(

I ran to Goodwill and bought half a dozen dresses for her hoping the problem was pants and the up/down issue, but it didn't seem to help. I just now convinced her to try again, and it was met with success. Maybe this will be another breakthrough. (I'm bribing her with M&Ms). In the meantime I've had to scrub the floors, several times, and steam clean the couch.

This growing up thing is rough.