35 weeks!

I am officially uncomfortable. It seems this little princess has decided to settle down further in my hips and back and all of a sudden POW! I feel like a legit pregnant woman. The whole “I’m really truly pregnant” feeling came on so suddenly this week but I can’t get comfortable, my hips and pelvis feel so ache-y and sore all of the time now.  I’m also having regular contractions and overall I can just feel my body really starting to prepare for the fact that this little girl will be making her entrance into the world soon.

I had a fantastic midwife appointment last week- everytime I leave I have the biggest smile plastered across my face. The midwives at my practice are so informed, so encouraging, so patient – I feel like it’s a medical appointment and a therapy session all in one. As of yesterday, I’ve actually LOST a pound – that makes my total weight gain 19 pounds. Because her head is now what they call “Fully Engaged” and sitting directly on my pubic bone, they made another appointment for me to go in for an internal exam to check her progress on Monday.  And, I’ve got weekly appointments from here until my due date so that we can monitor things closely. I’ve been told to be ready for her at any time!

We love you, Baby Girl!  And we cannot wait to meet you!!

2 years, 3 months old:

Grae’s speech has exploded in the past few months. I used to keep a list on my phone of all of his new words, but it’s grown so quickly that I’ve lost count. He’s also begun to talk to us in a series of simple sentences!  It is so awesome! We are working with him on his pronunciations. There are a lot of words that only Ian and I can understand because we’ve learned to know what he means. Most folks don’t know that when Grae says “da da” he actually means thank you.

Some of our favorite Grae-isms so far:

• Night-Night Wall (his bed)
• He re-names anyone he wishes- he renamed RJ “Waldo” (we believe he is calling him “Brother”), where as Jay Jay is now known as “Guys.”  (When addressing both Grae and Jaydon, I must refer to them as Guys, and he just assumed that must be the other little dude’s name.)  Grandpa is Choo and/or Papa, and both grandmothers are called Nanny.
• Me: How old are  you, Grae?  Grae:  Eyes.  (I think we’ve talked about him having two eyes a few too many times)
• Apple Dis (Juice) is by far the most requested beverage
• When asked if he would like to use a spoon or fork to eat his dinner, he always chooses the “Poke”

We’ve waited anxiously to hear him speak over the last year and his gentle voice is the sweetest music to my ears.

I can’t help but hunger to learn more about my son… To hear him, in his own words, express his wants and joys, objections and frustrations. Just recently he has started to announce (in his little sing-song voice) “happy, happy!” when he is sitting between his Mommy and Daddy. (Talk about heart melting!) There will be plenty more for him to tell us one day, but for now, he’s already said everything I need to know.

🙂 

Two toddlers and a six year old don’t leave much time for blogging… I’m hoping to get back into the habit of sitting down and writing a couple times a week- we’ll call it a New Year’s Resolution… although I’ve never been very good at sticking with those.

I’m now 34 weeks pregnant with our baby girl! I just can’t get over how fast time is flying!  In just 3 short weeks, I’ll be considered full term?! Wow!  I’ve always heard people say how each pregnancy is different, but I never imagined it to be this drastic.  While carrying Grae, I felt wonderful up until the last few days, but this time around, it has been rough.  I’m still having bouts of “morning” sickness and have been having multiple contractions a day for the last ten weeks- some more powerful than when I was in actual labor.

She is very active and kicks so much harder than her Big Brother- I am still absolutely mesmerized by this… each kick is just as cool as the last.

RJ’s adoption is getting SO CLOSE to being finalized… (I’m aware I’ve been saying this for over a year, don’t remind me! ;))  However, now we are just waiting on paperwork and The Superior Court to set our date! We are still hoping for this to be over by the beginning of summer at the latest.

Grae is talking up a storm, still loves sports of any kind (although baseball is his favorite), and is taking a toddler art class at Gymboree.  We are about to try swimming lessons with him again- he did not enjoy it the first time around- but he LOVES to swim in our hot tub and in the bath.  He is starting to feel very comfortable voicing his opinion (read: he pretty much rules the roost around this place) and we are beginning to understand the term “terrible twos.”

We have been building the boys a new “bunk bed set” which has transformed into a whole new room- complete with secret forts, lookout towers and a slide.  We have moved Grae out of our room… finally… into this room with his big brother and it has been a fairly smooth transition!  He calls his new bed his ‘Night-Night Wall’ and asks to go to it when he is tired.  He sleeps there until about 5:00am, then makes an appearance in our room and goes back to sleep until about 8 or 9 in our bed. This frees up the nursery and I cannot wait to start making it a little more girlie for our princess!

Little JayJay is still with us- its been about four and a half months now.  He is almost fully recovered from his injury and is really coming out of his shell… Let’s just say the honeymoon period is over. 😉  We think he will be returning to his relatives at the end of the week.