29 weeks pregnant

little miss squishy...we have made it 29 weeks plus a few days now. that means we are officially in the 3rd trimester and I am feeling it. I could sleep and sleep and sleep and sleep some more and still want to sleep and on the weekends I feel like I do much to the disappointment of your big brother. he is starting to seem unsure about this whole adding a baby to the house situation. my belly has gotten too big for him to sit on my lap or give a good hug or carry him around. Its a big adjustment for both of us.  I passed my gestational diabeties screening and was not anemic at 28 weeks so that was good. I had not gained any weight in a month so now I have to start seeing the midwives every 2 weeks already but you were measuring well and my belly keeps growing so that is not an issue. I just don't feel hungry very often and when I do I can only eat small amounts at a time. you are about 15 inches and 2 1/2 to 3 lbs right now so I know my tummy muscles have a lot of stretching to do still. my body is pretty sore by the end of the day and especially the end of the week. right now you are kicking around quite a bit. We have cleaned out the guest room to be yours and have put the crib in it. We painted it robins egg blue and gray and you have a new set of crib sheets and changing pad cover. My hope is that over winter break I will paint aspen trees on one of your walls and do a floppy bunny theme. We are thinking you will be named Margrett and go by Margo. I am staring to get worried about taking care of a little newborn and keeping your brother happy. I know it will be a big adjustment for all of us. I have been working hard to take at least one bag of stuff to the goodwill each week to make sure there is ample of room for you and your stuff and just less junk around the house. We have been collecting a small amount of clothes for you. I wish I had noted how long drew was in newborn clothes before we switched to 0-3 months. you will be wearing way more pink that I would have planed because that is all I seem to be able to find...pink pink pink. nothing wrong with pink. I just am working hard to get some variety. I've also tried to find bunny and westie related clothing and have found a few things. basicly i"m not getting much beyond 0-3 months becuase we don't know when the seasons will change here in strange weather oregon and what size you will be in then.  I do have four, yes, four diffrent types of baby carriers ready to go and try out this time.
I also have a hand pump ready this time. We have two strollers, the car seat, the car seat bases, the rock and play, the amby in the rafters, two diffrent types of  nursing pillows, a boppy that can go on the bed, lots of swadling blankets (thought I am trying to find more swaddles with velcro) I need sew a car seat cover so that people keep their hands off you and we keep the rain and cold weather from you the first few months. as sore and tired as I already am I hope you keep cookin inside of me for as long as you can (but not past your due date ok)

21 weeks and 2 or 3 days

hey there! you are the size of a carrot and much to our surprise and delight at the ultrasound this monday we discovered you are a girl! wow! we are still in a bit of shock although your brother and I have got you two little newborn girl outfits and I took a bunch of hand me down boy clothes I had gathered but were not your brothers too the goodwill.  your poor brother has a tummy bug today and is napping right now. I'm worried about him, worried I will get it, worried it will make you having problems inside of me. worry worry worry...its what I do really well. it would help if you dad was not in bend today at a science teacher conference but that is the way it worked out.
its funny...I can't really start thinking about names for you yet aside from Margaret nickname Margo. Maybe when I have adjusted to the idea of you being a girl and not a boy for a few more days I will be able to come up with some names.
I am thinking of painting your room teal and bright gray and doing a floppy rabbit and aspen tree theme with some pops of yellow. first we have to get your brother healthy though! we should go to the pumpkin patch very soon as halloween is a few weeks away. your brother is going to be a dino/dragon and I am a "princess" and your dad is going to be godizillia I think? I guess we will see how it all works out.

I can feel you move around every day now. You are head down with your bum to my right hip and I feel your feet and hands kicking. You seem to consistantly be awake from about 8pm to 11pm....let's not make that a habbit when you are outside me ok? It is reassurign to feel you move each day...we are a little past the half way point but your arrival still seems pretty far off although I know it will be here before we know it.

18 weeks and 2 or 3 days

Hey #2...you don't have the relaxed womb life of your big brother do you...mom working full time, trying to keep up with your brother who is almost 4 years old. You must really dislike junk food...particularly sugar as i just still don't want any and I mean any fast food and basically anything with sugar makes me feel icky. Sometimes I want to eat..most days I just force myself too. Sometimes you want soup, or shrimp or lentil based things or fruit. lots and lots of fruit. I don't want meat...sometimes I don't even want cheese. I only throw up about once a week at this point and go back and forth between 138 and 140 pounds. My tummy with you looks about as big as it did at 6 months with your brother but they say that is normal. I think I feel your butt moving sometimes but other times you seem very quite compared to your big brother and that freaks me out. We are done with our blood gentic tests and you were low risk for birth defects so good for you:) We will have your gender ultrasound in two or three weeks and double check you look all put together correctly. At the last midwife app you "felt" the right size and place and your heartbeat was easy to find. I have boy clothes stock piled up...there is no way your are girl right? Oh well...what would I do with a girl anyway.you just keep growing...see if you could get a little more intrested in food ok? oh this week you are the size of a bell pepper

can't have just one... baby blueberry

hey baby blueberry,
that's what your big brother has been calling you. I'm 8 ish (give or take) weeks pregnant with you. Much like your brother you make the task of eating awful. Each pregnancy is different they say...but this sickness thing remains the same as with Drew. I throw up about once a day...although at totally random times. I learned the hard way with your bother that I HAVE to keep eating or I will loose a ton of weight and just get sicker and sicker. Therefore, when I am not paying attention to your brother my sole task in life is forcing myself to eat and then keeping that food in my tummy.  80% of the time I feel like I have punched in the stomach. You better be a cute kid! I had a feeling it was going to be like this again so I may have indulged every food whim I had before getting pregnant with you. needless to say I have more weigh on me to burn this time around. I think I have only lost about two pounds in the last two months although not having a reliable scale it's hard to know. I could list the many food I don't want to eat right now...but that would make me ill. I can say I am able to eat cherries and almonds and watermelon ok. All food that end up being high in B6...so I went and got some b6 pills to see if that helps. I'll feel so sick for a few days, then have a day when I feel just fine and then it's back to ick again. The midwives won't see us for another 3 weeks, I think you'll be 11 weeks on the day we see them based on my guesses. I know they till listen for your heart beat but seeing that they don't like doing unnecessary ultrasounds I'm not sure if I will get one telling me just how far long you are...although I feel like they will need to figure out how big you are somehow!
Since we are on summer vacation, and I force your brother to nap...na he still likes napping thank god, we are getting way more sleep then I did with your brother. this has left me less exhausted than last time which is good...but frankly I would be willing to feel more tired in exchange for feeling less sick. not trying to guilt you...just saying how it is.  Got to figure you are most likley a boy...i'll have a hard time beliving it it if at some point they say you are a girl.
Let me know if you have ideas for a good name for you

16 months

tomorrow Drew is 16 months old
over the winter we have had our ups and downs with him being sick and healthy just like any toddler, right now he seems to have a sour stomach but wants to eat and is in a good mood.

Drew loves to:
dance around
listen to music
play with anything that makes music
wave scarves around as he dances

he is very good at pressing the individual buttons or keys on his toys that make music to get unique sounds...it seems like he is being delibrate about what he pushes

Drew is very active and loves to run run run and walk and play everywhere. he spins in circles till he falls down, stomps his feet and claps his hands, he loves to play chase where you pretend to chase him around the house or he likes to pretend the dogs are chasing him. He can walk backwards he almost never crawls...only when pushing his toy cars and trucks around

he loves anything with wheels
he loves balls
he loves going to swim class
he loves swinging at the park and exploring the playground
sometimes he likes going down the slide

he loves his dogs and all dogs for that matter

he is friendly and goodnatured and kind and is happy to share his toys....he isn't into the "mine" phase yet

he loves bathtime and his duck toys and says quack quack
he says ba for bottle
can sign for milk
can sign for water
can sign for more and all done
mama and dada
occasionaly says something that sounds like ball
says bye and waves good bye

he loves bubbles and hugs and being swung upside down....sometimes he wants me to carry him but often he wants to walk and is not big on holding our hands but we make him
loves to pull things out of the cabinets and empty his bookshelf...sometimes will put stuff away on his own

can stack rings and cups...although better at the rings, can minpulate all the bottons and levers on the pop up toy, not into the shape sorter yet

at last check up he was 32.5 inches and 21 + pounds and I think he has gained for in the last month. sometimes he is a good eater and sometimes it is a real battle
he likes these foods:
fruit and oatmeal
fruit and veggie pouches
black olives
anything with cheese
mac and cheese
grilled cheese sandwiches
yogurt
fried eggs
goldfish crackers
fruit: canned apples, pears, peach, mandrin orange, raspberries blue berries
not big on veggies if not mixed with fruit
french fries
pita chips
rice and soy sauce
noodles with and without spaggitti sacue
perogies
likes to eat bits of our barritos
talipia
smoke salmon (but I'm going to stop giving it to him till he is older)
sometimes waffles and pancakes sometimes not

does not like:
real bannana
food that are not very soft aside from a few cracker items

he drinks about 20 oz of lactose free milk a day...he still drinks from a bottle, will drink water from a spippy or straw cup but rather have milk in the bottle

takes one nap a day for about 2 hours to 2 1/2 hours
has to sleep with sound machine, loves his blanket like thing/zippy...not really attached to any stuffed animals  tends to go to bed around 8:30pm and sleep till about 7 to 7:30am. Some times sleeps through the night and sometimes still wakes in the night  will NOT sleep in bed with us, not that we try or let him except when he is really sick or we are having a really bad night

Has all his molars though although the top ones need to move down some still, has bottom two eye teeth through one all the way pushed up and one half pushed up...both of the top eye teeth are cutting right now... don't seem to hurt him but do seem to make him stuffy and give him a cough. his top teeth move way slower than his bottom teeth but don't seem to hurt as much

overall he is just a happy outgoing loving boy that loves adventure and doing things. I love him work that I can even comprehend

new tricks

this is not your official ten month post....we both have had a tummy bug over the last week so I'm a bit behind but I wanted to write that two weeks ago you learned how to clap, yesterday you started doing something like a wave, a few days ago you figured out how to throw things on purpose and thorw a ball for yoruself and all the toys off your high chair. You can find a toy I hide under a cup or washcloth you crawl so fast, and pull up everywhere and do a little crusing and are doing this cute funny bear crawl where you crawl on your hands and feet like a bear walk! you are also kind of clingy the last week and some nights fuss every hour or so and other nights go an four hours between fussing.I guess the nights you fuss a lot your brain is working hard on your new skills. I love you so much, you are growing and changing and learning so much so fast!

Your 8th and 9th month

Hi baby bear,
I must have gotten off track in counting months somewhere along the line... in 7 days you will be 9 months old! Your such a big boy!  We have had a fun and busy summer and mostly have a month left of summer vacation.
On the 2nd of July we went to Denver, just you and me without your dad to see your grandma. We had a nice visit but of course you got a bad cold while we were there! But we still had fun, we saw Linda and Haliey and Katie and Heather and Jamie on the fourth and had a little picnic... then twice your grandma and I took you swimming for the first time, you did not like areas were the water was cold but you loved part of the pools where it was warmer and really loved the lazy river. you were kicking your legs and splashing your hands like you were going to be a champion swimmer as I floated you down the river.

During July we have hung out with Rebecca and Mac a lot and Kori and Swayer and Nikki and Moe. We also see Michelle and Anja sometimes. We went to the zoo three times, went berry picking twice, go swinging at the park have picnics with Nikki and Moe, went to mommy mattine and play play play.  It has been fun but also pretty tiring some days!

You like being with other people and epically older babies and toddlers and pre-schoolers, you like watching what they can do and I know you dream of being able to run and play.

What you can do is crawl really really well! and sit yourself up and pull yourself up to standing and even scoot a little on pieces of furniture. I can't believe how fast you can crawl...you want to crawl everywhere, on the carpet, on the hardwood floor, in the grass, in the dirt on the beach, everywhere!  I have you wear little kneepads made out of socks you you don't scrape up your knees too bad. you crawl from one end of the house to the other and like to play in the dog's water bowls, you like to play with the broom and bang on the floors or anything else you can to feel the vibrations and here the noise.

you don't seem to like any one toy for long, you rather just explore. I want to find you a push toy to walk along with.  even the bouncer doesn't seem to entertain you for long. You like chasing things that roll around the house and bang bang banging things.

It is so hard to change your diaper cuse you turn over and wiggle and then crawl away!

I'm adding more on 8/25 now...so you are 9 months and two weeks. You are getting much better at eating solids, especially dinner. I need to be better about giving you lunch and I guess also breakfast these are the foods you have tried:
all smooshed
apples
banana
pumpkin
butternut squash
zuchinni
pear
peach
blueberry
carrot
purple carrot
approcot
avacado (although you don't like it anymore)
plums (not a big fan)
a tinny bit of raspberry (you liked it) and a tinny bit of cantaloupe
and egg yolk! you loved that!

you are not so great at eating "finger foods' you gag and throw up...you can do puffs if you haven't had a bunch of liquids for half an hour before. we are going to try some yogurht this weekend  and then maybe some cottage cheese.
You are not eating in the bumbo anymore but in your high chair and you love it when we take it outside and eat al fresco :)

You LOVE watching the chickens and you love love love dogs! They make you laugh and smile

You are getting ticklish and like having raspberries blown on your belly

You have a cookie monster doll that makes you laugh and laugh and you like to chew on power cords

You have EIGHT teeth! and are drooling a ton so maybe those moalrs are on their way....ugg not looking forward to that. I am going to get a amber teething necklace... I hope that helps some

Your sleeping is sometimes good and sometimes bad.
Most nights you wake up two to three times, some nights once, some nights more. When you wake we usally feed you a bottle and rock you or bounce you back to sleep. We are not supposed to feed you during the night more than once says the Dr. but I can't stand the crying and I think you are hungry. I am not going to go into how conflicted I am about sleep training here...that can be a separate letter. So far you are still naping twice a day for anywhere from 40min to two hours. You are able to be awake for about 3 to 3 1/2 hours at a time before you melt down.  You go to bed somewhere between 8:30 and 9pm and wake up somewhere between 6:30 ad 7:30am (typically between 6:45-7:15am)
You are starting to fight going to bed and sometimes scream and then pull yourself up to standing and suffle around your crib instead of going to sleep. Then you get mad that you are stuck standing up and can't settle down. It drives me nuts. I hope by my next entry that will have passed. You seem to have a hard time falling alseep in the car and have to cry for about 20 min now...You rather be alseep in the crib or pack and play. You don't like being in bed with us and haven't sleep in the bed with us for a long time.

You tend to eat 4oz at a time of milk about every two and half hours during the day...about 6 bottles during the day and two at night...so about 32oz a day. I think that is ok/good.

You love to babble and can say dada, mama, baba, nigh nigh something that sounds like dogie and tons of other sounds, you are clicking your tounge this week and sticking it out the sides of your mouth so you look funny. I don't know if you really are using those sounds as words but you can say them.

You are a happy camper most of the time, you are social and active and interested in the world around you. So far you don't mind other people and you are good about being at daycare. I wonder if/when you will get bad separation anxiety.

You still love books, especially Barnyard Dance, Busy Chickens, Chugga Chugga Choo Choo, the going to bed book and good night moon to name a few.
We are finishing up a summer reading program and I hope to get you a liabary onesie!

that is all for now but I'm sure I'll have plenty more to add later on.
Love your mama