Small Miracles

Today when we were leaving my midwife appointment, Eli ate a carrot. That's right folks, a real, raw, damp baby carrot! I was scheduling next week's appointment when he started begging to "Eat!" I let him look in the lunch box and he actually bypassed the granola bar and pointed to the bag of carrots. I didn't believe him, but I gave him one anyway. And he ate it. The whole thing. I think I'm still in shock!

And there's more.

I let him sit in the front seat of the car with me in the parking lot while we finished our picnic lunch. And he wanted to eat my banana. A BANANA, people! That has texture galore! I broke off bits for him and he actually touched them, put them in his mouth and ate them - the whole banana! And this after his 2 1/2 week strike of real food. I guess you just never know with kids! Brad gave him a blessing on Sunday and we've been praying that he will loosen up a little bit. Even though it's only one day, I will take any small miracle I can get! Wootwoot!

Haircut and Belly Shot

I went ahead and chopped my hair again. It actually wasn't supposed to be this short, but it is so easy to fix (just wet, gel, and let airdry) that I don't regret it! And this is my ever expanding belly at 35 weeks (I'm almost 37 weeks now). That fantastically LONG fitted t-shirt is from www.downeastbasics.com and they are ON-SALE. So friends, if you are preggo or expect to be, stock up! These are great for going under things that tend to ride up when you have a big belly, and they cover the pants that tend to slide down, lol. They have non-maternity ones too. But these are so stretchy I'll be able to use them post-partum too. I'm using them now with all my non-maternity sweaters so I won't have to buy a whole fall maternity wardrobe for a month of use!

Baby Preparations

Well the newborn clothes are washed and folded in drawers, the carseat and bouncer covers cleaned, the co-sleeper set up, the going-home outfit laid out, and the cloth diaper collection accumulated. We are close to having things ready! Just thought I'd share a few pics of the preparations. This poor little guy doesn't have the glorious nursery all to himself like Eli did, but then again Eli never slept in his nursery! Our room was his room until we moved. So, pretty much our room is going to be this baby's room. We're not even setting up the crib for now - we'll see how long the co-sleeper lasts!


The Co-Sleeper (one side drops down and it attaches to the bed so you have easy access to the baby at night, but he's still in his own space):



The glider-rocker I scored off of Craig's List before we moved:


The dresser and wall art the boys will share in Eli's room (sorry about the flash - that's a picture of a giraffe mom and baby):


And who could resist these adorable newborn cloth diapers??? The ones on the left are called "fitted" style - they snap on. There is even a snap in the front that creates the dip for the belly button before the cord comes off. The top left is made of velour (sooooo velvety soft) and the bottom left is made of sherpa (fluffy soft). On the right is a tiny newborn "prefold" style diaper. Below it is how it looks when folded up and fastened on with the "snappi" instead of pins.



Some examples of covers for the diapers. The bottom left is made of PUL (a laminate - new version of the old plastic pants) and velcros on. I have several of these (because they will get pooped on of course). The other covers are made of very SOFT wool (seriously!) which is naturally antibacterial and waterproof... and oh so soft and cuddly!


Are you feeling the excitement??! Now I just need to get my MIND ready for the reality of birthing again, and of having TWO kids to wrangle with instead of one =).

Independence

Eli is all about asserting his independence lately. Mostly this is taking the shape of food battles. In general, he has always been a very picky eater. Now when he has his toddler mood swings, it becomes an impossible guessing game to feed him. One week he loves cheese and yogurt raisins, the next week they make him gag and he spits them everywhere. Right now he is on a "real food" strike and will only eat breakfast bars, tortillas "tillas," dried fruit bars (like roll ups but real fruit) and dry cereal. Forget apples, avocado, nuts or anything that might actually nourish his growing body. Apparently anything remotely moist, warm OR cool is evil - he will sign and scream "HOT," start crying, and throw it as far as he can. It makes a lot of stress for mom! I have a hard time finding the balance of supporting his need for autonomy and letting him choose things to eat, and trying to force feed him something with nutrients! Lol. Forcefeeding doesn't actually work around here, or "waiting it out" by letting him starve/cry in his high chair etc. So breakfast bars it is... hopefully next week he will be on to something else. Does anyone else feel like pulling out their hair over their toddlers' assertions???

Anyway, I know that developing his independence and testing his world is a good thing.
For instance, he can now sweep my floors .....


Completely disassemble small appliances when
I'm not looking ......

And operate the computer (ie. adjust the monitor settings) all by himself .....


What a smart, independent boy I have on my hands! I love you Eli!

How are you feeling?

I've gotten this question a few times lately so I thought I'd give a little pregnancy update. Really, for the most part, "I'm feeling fine" is the response. I definitely have the aches and pains of an 8 month pregnant lady - it's hard to get comfortable in bed or to roll over, it's hard to bend down to pick up toys and my toddler, it's hard to reach the sink to do dishes, I get tired going up and down our stairs, I have contractions all day long that are not painful but can be annoying - but REALLY, overall pretty good. I have my cranky days but for the most part am still feeling positive. I am nearly 35 weeks (I can't believe I will be "full term" in two weeks) and all is going well and healthy with the baby. I'm Due Oct 30th but I think Nov 2nd would be the perfect birthday, lol. I'm just hoping my Mommy can get out here because my biggest worry is what to do with Eli while I'm at the hospital!

As for "complications" I was recently diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes. If you don't know much about it - it's a condition in pregnancy where your body becomes sensitive to glucose (ie. sugar and carbs) and your blood sugar can get too high very easily. It can cause problems for the baby if left uncontrolled. People who have it bad have to take insulin shots etc. It usually goes away after you give birth and does not mean that you are doomed to have diabetes later in life, and it does NOT mean that you were eating badly during your pregnancy and caused it. As for me, mine is pretty mild/borderline but I do have to follow the specific diabetes diet which outlines a specific number of carbs I'm allowed to eat at each meal or snack. It took some getting used to, but for the most part I can still eat the foods I was eating, I just have to make sure the carb part is spread throughout the day (and really just avoid sugar if possible). The biggest change was breakfast - I love having a hot cereal with fruit but I'm only allowed ONE serving of carb for breakfast (ie. one piece of toast OR 1/3 cup oatmeal - no fruit, no milk). I cheat on the milk because I just can't do breakfast without it! Anyway, I could bore you with menu details. I have a little glucose meter and have to prick my finger and test my blood sugar 3-4 times a day. The good news is that after the first few days of funky sugar readings I've pretty much got the diet down and have been testing completely normal. So other than inconvenience, it's not too big of a deal. I'm hoping with another week of normal readings, I can stop the frequent testing and just keep on the diet. It also means I don't have to go on insulin, and I can refuse the recommended weekly Non-Stress Tests on the baby (the less unnecessary monitoring and interference the better in my opinion!). What's funny is that with this baby I have gained a lot less weight (50 pounds with Eli, probably around 35 when all is said and done for this one) and have eaten healthier and exercised more, and yet I didn't get GD with Eli (or wasn't diagnosed anyway - he had low blood sugar at birth so it's possible I ended up with it late in pregnancy).

Aaaand just a warm-fuzzy. I saw the other midwife at the practice today and really liked her too. She did some palpating of the baby and found him to be head down, nicely imbedded in the pelvis. And she predicts an 8.5 pounder - which for me would be SMALL! LOL. I was pretty much expecting a 10+ pounder since second babies are generally bigger and generally GD babies tend to be bigger. I guess we'll see how he turns out!

Hobbies

Everyone should have a hobby or two. It helps keep your mind sharp and your spirit happy. Eli is discovering some of his hobbies. Drawing with chalk, for instance. Crayons he could take or leave, but chalk - now that's magical. He can even wield the eraser like a pro. I have discovered that it is safer to let him use sidewalk chalk, because he kept throwing his little chalk pieces and breaking them all over. After our chalk adventures, there is colored dust everywhere, so cleaning it up gets to be my hobby.


Now for Eli's newest and most daring hobby - hanging upside down. He and Daddy were playing around one day when Eli realized that he really enjoys hanging upside down. He demands to be held that way, and can enjoy the position for long periods of time. In this case, he hung there for about a half an hour while watching football with Brad. I'm waiting for the day when this hobby will cause his head to explode, but in the meantime, it really seems to relax him. It's a little inconvenient though when he wants to do it, say, in the middle of sacrament meeting. We're working on understanding appropriate time and place for hobbies, lol =).

Apple Picking

This past weekend we had a chance to go to apple picking at Green River Farms in Williamstown. It's in a beautiful location, though it seems like everything to do there is pricey - for instance we would have loved a wagon ride but opted out at $15 a person! The orchards are up on a hill so we had to do a little hiking to get up there and get our apples. I'll admit, I was definitely the slow one this trip!
And for whatever reason, Eli decided he hated apple picking after helping me get a few off the tree. You can see his displeasure in the picture with Brad. He spent the rest of the time screaming so we picked as fast as we could and booked it back down the hill. The apples are sure tasty though! We've decided our favorites are Macintosh - nice and crisp and tart! Luckily Eli cheered up after a little snack, and then enjoyed the little petting zoo where he got to look at goats, chickens and bunnies. He won't go near enough to touch any of the creatures, much less feed them the little food pellets, but he sure enjoys wandering around looking at them, pointing, and babbling and about them. He also had a good time peeking at the cows through the fence - any kind of farm animal is an "E-I," short for "E-I-O" from the Old MacDonald song.



















And here's a belly pic at 34 weeks. Yes I realize my pants are kind of sagging in this picture, but there is not much I can really do about it at this stage =). This is in front of the cornfield they have out there. Corn. Yum.....

Missing Daddy

I think it's safe to say that Eli sure has missed his Daddy this month! Really with Brad on call every third night, it's like we only see him every third day. The first day of the rotation he leaves at 630am and gets home the next day around 1pm, then sleeps the rest of the afternoon. So we get a glimpse of him when he gets up just before Eli's bedtime, then it's the next day that we get to see him home for dinner (see, every third day).

Eli has really gotten into wrestling Daddy and will just lay on the ground whenever he sees Brad and point to himself and say "Dada, Dada!" meaning for Brad to come tackle him. The other day when Brad was on call, at least three times during the day Eli went to the bottom of the stairs and laid there, pointing to himself and calling up the stairs for "Dada!" Brad even called during one of the episodes and it broke his heart to hear Eli calling for him. I tried to explain that Dada was at work, but he was pretty persistent. Then yesterday, I took him to the post office and the dr's office, and every man he saw he would call "Dada!" Or "There's a dada, bye bye dada."

Needless to say we love Dada and miss him and can't wait for this shift to be over =).

Farmer's Market

I sure wish I had a picture of this. We headed over to one of the local farmer's markets last weekend and it was awesome! There really is a difference between produce that has been picked that morning and the stuff you find at the grocery store. I cannot describe adequately the sweet smell of the carrots and celery (yes, even the celery smelled good) as well as the corn and tomatoes etc. It made me want to start growing all of my own food, lol. The market is held outdoors in the mall parking lot under tents. Eli thought it was so great that he refused to stay in his stroller. It took us both just to keep track of him and to buy all of our goods. I got all the produce I needed from my grocery list, so my trip to the store was a breeze later that day. Yum, Yum, Yum. I really wish I could bottle up that carrot smell and send it to you all! Our neighbor has also been giving us zuchinni, beets, green beans and summer squash from his garden. So we've had zuchinni bread, chicken noodle soup with carrots and celery, zuchinni pasta, zuchinni and tomato salad, etc. We put the corn in the freezer so I have yet to try that - as well as the locally grown portobello mushrooms. Ah, nature's bounty. I can't wait to go apple and pumpkin picking!

La Leche League

So I'm fessing up to another "hippy mama" activity, lol. I mentioned there were not many young mothers in my ward out here, and I really need to socialize with other moms for my sanity. So I started attending La Leche League meetings and I have to say, they are COOL! Do not be afraid to attend one if you are curious, just want to meet some interesting people, or have a problem you need help/support with. Here is the website if you want to find a group near you. I wish I had gone when Eli was a baby (you can go even before your baby is born). It is really helpful to meet with a whole group of like-minded moms and share stories and support. We talk about all kinds of things too (not just breastfeeding all night) like nutrition and toddlers etc. It's funny, today at the library I recognized the librarian in the children's section from the meeting, and another young mother there with her newborn - so we all chatted for a bit. From LLL I also found out about a "Birth Circle" group that meets and have started attending that as well. It's pregnant mamas, and other women who support natural birthing and the midwifery model of care who get together and talk about birth stories, answer questions, discuss birth stuff, and maybe even watch some natural birth films. Totally cool, totally up my ally, and actually really helpful! If you are a pregnant mama, I HIGHLY suggest the book Ina May's Guide to Childbirth no matter where/how you intend to birth. A much more positive, empowering, and natural approach to pregnancy and birth than the What to Expect books. Oh that and Hypnobirthing (which I'm trying to read right now). I also found out about some playgroups in the area from the other moms, so we'll have to check those out. Anyway, that's my blurb for the day! =)