Pregnancy Update- 31 Weeks

I figured it was time to update again. My dad was here this afternoon so I asked him to take a picture of me. The Belly has grown quite a lot in these last few weeks. Some say I look bigger than last time, others say smaller. I think I'm just carrying a little differently. I'm carrying more similarly to when I had Frannie. I've gained 25lbs so far which is normal for me. I gained 40+ lbs in both pregnancies. With Frannie I gained 40 exactly and with Adam I just stopped weighing myself after I got to 40 :P. Because I began this pregnancy 10lbs heavier I hoped to only gain 30lbs but it doesn't look like that's going to happen. It feels like every week I'm gaining at least 2lbs so I'm on track to gain 40 again. How I do I feel about this? Well, I have mixed feelings about it. I have had very straightforward deliveries, so if this is what my body wants to do to grow a baby then I don't care how big the bootie gets. But I'm definitely feeling like a "big girl" right about now. Even my maternity jeans feel too small, so I'm spending more time in workout pants.

As far as the health of me and baby, we are both doing well. My blood work is good. Blood pressure good. Baby moves a lot as he/she should. I pray for a healthy baby. I have my request in for one of those painless deliveries. We'll see how that pans out :P.

I have two more months to go. I'm enjoying this time, and I'm not feeling guilty about letting the kids watch TV in the morning so I can sleep in, or when I take an afternoon nap instead of do the laundry.

Adam's Vocabulary

From time to time, I like to post the things the kids are saying, because soon enough they drop certain habits and I'll forget they ever did things this way in the first place!

Adam will be 2 in June, so that makes him...what? 21 months? I start forgetting and stop really counting after 18 months. Then it becomes "uh...he'll be two in June."

Doody= thirsty
Manan= vitamin and M&M (It started out as his way of saying vitamin, and then one day I ran out and gave him an M&M as a pretend vitamin, so now the word is interchangeable).
Go! WAY!= Go away!
Sissy= sister
Ball= anything round and globular. Grapes, oranges, seeds from plants, and of course, balls!
Boon= balloon
Ah fawet= I farted
Gi go= Here you go
Giyup= Get up

A word about balls and balloons. He can play with a ball all day long. It's really the only toy he needs. I was at my Grandma Lois' home in Lancaster last weekend and she didn't have any toys AND she has a home that invites lots of exploring little hands (I let her know when we arrived that I'd probably be doing some redecorating aka child-proofing). Anyways, I asked her for some aluminum foil because it crunches into a quick ball. Don't you know he threw that thing around the entire visit.

Now balloons are a different matter. He LOVES them, but they kind of make him manic. If we are at a grocery store that has balloons as decoration the child gets all agitated in the cart. Sometimes it takes me awhile to figure out what in the world he keeps "uh! uh! uh! uh!" over. When we pass car lots on the freeway he shouts from the backseat BOOON!! See a balloon is always surprising in the way it moves, but it never really does what you want it to do. So it both delights and frustrates him. The best balloon is a day-old balloon that still floats a bit, but will eventually come back down.
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A little update on his behaviour since my last post. All four of "said teeth" have popped through his gums so he isn't acting like the terror he was before. I'm not sure why it took me so long to connect teeth=behavior. Probably because the kids typically do quite well with teething, however I don't think I've ever had to deal with so many teeth making their debut at once. Anyways, I'm sure that was part of it, because he is now back to his normal self.

Now, "normal self" still isn't always such a great thing and there are some things I'm working on with him. He is VERY quick to throw temper tantrums when he doesn't get just his way. The week that I was going nuts (and wrote my post) I chose the "just ignore it" method. Well, I found that the "just ignore it" method means that he will just keep screaming and screaming and screaming, and then at the next slight he will continue to scream and scream some more. This just isn't acceptable. And it wasn't working. So I decided to try time outs as soon as he started one up, and that seems to be very helpful. For example, if I'm putting him into the carseat and he starts up with the arching and screaming and flailing, then I take him out of the car and sit him down in the garage right next to the car. Then I give him a stern talking to where I tell him "no cry in car" and "that's not right". The boy does seem to understand English and he quiets down quickly with that. After awhile I sound a little "beep beep" like time's up and then I can pick him up and put him back into the car and we're good. I've been doing this with lots of tantrum things and it seems to be really helping. I can even do it at a moment's notice in a store. Now remember this is a Work in Progress! He isn't perfect all of the time, nor am I. We're working on it.

My hope of course is that by the time Baby comes he'll be a little more minding because I can't be chasing him all over creation and I can't have him flipping out over everything.

Adam throwing a tantrum for Daddy. He had been at this for awhile by the time he got the camera. Listen to Jason's explanation for WHY he's crying.

Bradley Reunion Day!

Today we had our Bradley Reunion for the latest batch of sweet babies born.

Pictured from left to right are April and Julius with Melody; Armida and Stephen with Armida; James and Alisha with Ariana; Mande and Guy with Boaz; Laurel and her sister Carol with Matthew, there's good ol' me; and at the bottom is Michelle with Julie.

Missing were Deanna and Janay with Janai; Leslie and Robert with Julia; and Autumn and Jason with Emma. And Michelle's hubby Jerome was missing too. Can't forget him!

Edit: And as Laurel rightly mentioned, her hubby is serving our country in Iraq which is why Carol was her coach. He was a great support overseas though! Thank you David!

Limited Time Offer!

My friend Kristy had this on her blog and I thought it would be fun to do it myself. So here goes...The first five people who respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:
1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make! (Though I hope you will!)
2. What I create will be just for you.
3. It'll be done this year. {might be a little while}
4. You have no clue what it's going to be. I don't even have a clue what it's going to be.
5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same thing to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog. The first 5 people to leave a comment will win a homemade gift! It may not be great, but it will be fun!!

***Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it***

Young Love

Frannie has a little admirer in her preschool class. His name is Johnathan and he shows his affection by sitting as close to her as he possibly can, giving her an extra cracker at snack, and mock-burping in her face to get her attention. :)

My Pregnancy Update

It occurred to me last week that I've maybe made one mention on this blog of my pregnancy. I think it was my 2009 in Review post. Other than that, I haven't brought it up, shown pictures, nada!

There is no specific reason for this other than I've been more focused on the kids and other aspects of my life than on my pregnancy. With my first, I have so many pictures of my growing belly from the first little bump when I thought I was "so big!" to the final shot when I really was SO BIG! But this time around no one has taken pictures of me. Not even casual ones. So last week at the park I had Lauren take this shot of me at 26 weeks. So there. It is now documented proof that I am indeed pregnant with an ever-growing abdomen :)

I do think my SIL plans to take nice shots of me and the kids, so when that happens I'll post those.

Overall this pregnancy has been a piece-o-cake. Really. I can't complain. I can still sleep. Almost no heartburn this time. Maybe one week of morning sickness. I'm not far enough along to feel that extreme heaviness deep in my abdomen. Basically, it's all good. I still have three months to go, so I still have time to have something to complain about. But for now, I'm just enjoying this ho-hum time.

I've gained 19lbs so far. 12 of them were in the last month alone! Ack! I guess baby decided to grow or something (and blood volume doubles between 24-28 weeks). Now that I'm getting into my third trimester and "late May" doesn't seem so far away, I'm starting to gear up for having a baby. I have begun to go on brisk 15 min walks after dinner; I'm doing pelvic rocks during tv commercials; I'm squatting more and doing general stretches. There is a song that keeps playing in my mind when I walk. It's this tribal tune that goes "I'm opening up in sweet surrender to this beautiful baby in my womb. I'm ooooopening. I'm oooooopening. I'm oooopening. I'm ooooopening." Then it repeats the same lines over and over again. Something about the rhythm of it and repetition just gets into my head and gives me a good focus.

Prior to all of this new commitment to exercise and stuff I've basically done nothing! I guess going up and down the stairs several times a day must count for something, but I'm not giving myself too much credit there.

I get asked a lot if we're having a boy or girl, but of course I have no idea. For those who don't know this about me, I've actually never had an ultrasound scan. I've never seen my baby in the womb.

Why? Well, it's kind of a complicated answer but I'll try.

With Frannie, I thought you HAD to have an ultrasound. But Lori told me it was actually optional unless there was a medical reason presenting itself (bleeding, possible breech, suspicion of twins, etc..). Since I would have had to pay $175 out of pocket to go get one, my frugal self decided that I didn't want to spend the money for something that wasn't necessary. Jason and I had decided we didn't need to know the sex of the baby anyways, so at that point, what was the point?

With Adam it was the same reason, although by that time I had started to have other reasons why I didn't want an ultrasound. I have met many many mothers who have been told something was wrong with their baby in the womb and it turns out to be nothing. Two people close to me and several other mothers in class have been told their babies showed markers for Downs. The babies were born perfect. Many mothers in class have spent their pregnancies being paranoid about an ultrasound tech telling them their baby is too big. Or the cord is wrapped around the neck or this or that or whatever. And the baby is always fine. And the delivery is always no biggie. But there is all that emotional energy invested into being upset and worried. So I've decided that I'd rather just leave the baby alone to do its growing and I'll meet him or her in time. Perfect or not. I'll take whatever baby I get.

So at this point, I'm just not into ultrasounds anymore. And I'm still frugal and I don't want to pay $175 for it! Occasionally I have bouts of weakness when I reeeeeally want to know if I'm having a son or daughter, and I do think that experience of seeing the baby in there would be really cool. But then the urge passes, and I start having fun again with guessing. An unexpected perk is that having gender-neutral newborn items has been a terrific thing.

We do have two names picked out. We're still ironing out middle names. But that news of course will have to wait :)