Within the week.....

Another quick update!

"Within the week" is my doctor's prediction at my appointment today. I am now close to four centimeters dilated and 100% effaced! He actually thinks it will be soon, as he says I have "a look" about me. So we shall see......

After my appointment the girls and I went over to a friend's store and picked up some more cloth wipes, and a waterproof bag for the cloth diapers. The two women that own this natural store are part of our learning community, and both happen to be there rearranging the store around, so we had a nice time hanging out with them and their children. It's only been a week since we had seen them and it felt like much longer then that. Analese found a princess nightgown that she liked in their consignment pile, and Mara picked out some puppy dog leg warmers. Analese is in love with her nightgown, and actually put it on over her dress and wore it home :) Anyway-it was so nice to connect with them. One of the owners is also the owner of the farm where the girl's school is at, and has offered to come watch the girls if we need someone there quickly, and has also offered to come get the girls once the baby comes and let them play in the loft for a few hours. I will probably take her up on it, as the girls really miss being out there and just being surrounded by so many people who lavish them with attention and affection.

So that's my update for now. I am having lots of lower pressure but nothing more then that. I am getting excited to meet this baby soon, see exactly who has been kicking me so much! I am hoping for a few more days, as we ordered the girls' digital cameras as their "gift from the baby" and they probably won't be here for a few more days :)

Until then, we just plan on spending time with the girls, as they have been needing us more these days. Last night we took them outside in their pjs to catch fireflies. It was just so amazing, as Analese has been waiting all month for the fireflies to show up! We ran around in the dark, played hide-n-seek-with the highlight being when Greg hid up in the tree :) Such precious moments....of course then this morning Mara used a marker and put dots ALL over her legs...."they fireflies Mommy".

Sooner or Later....

That appears to be my motto with most things in life......

It comes across in much of my parenting. I don't believe my girls should do something or stop doing something because they reach this "magic age" where the experts tell you they should. I would rather just "go with the flow" as my children are individuals who set their own pace in life. This isn't always as easy thing to do. Mara started sleeping through the night around the age of two, much later then many thought she should. But, I knew, sooner or later, it would happen. And it did. She still has her moments of getting up in the middle of the night and wanting us to just be there, and she often comes into our bed around 5-6 in the morning and sleeps another hour or so. But again, I know that sooner or later this too will pass, and I know that I will miss it when it's gone.

Now, with potty training Mara, again I don't believe in actual "potty training". With Analese, I waited until she showed that she was ready, and it was one of the easiest process we went through. With Mara, I honestly was hoping to wait until after the baby was born. BUT...she decided sooner was better then later, and decided a few weeks ago that the time was now. She was ready. We still have our good and not-so-good days with it, as she seems to have trouble with anything on below the waist (like tonight, when she pulled her underwear down and threw it across the room...just as surprised as we were to see a large clump of poop fall out!) but overall, she is doing great and we are so proud!

Yet another example...Analese still sleeps with a paci at night. Yes, she is almost four years old. I often feel like this is our "dirty little secret", and yes, it's embarrassing to me at times. But, we have decided to let her take control of when to give it up, and I am determined to stick with it. Sooner or later, she will be ready and I have to trust this. I do not see her going off to college with this paci!

Anyway, now I find myself again using this motto when it comes to the baby. Sooner or later, he or she will be ready to come! This past week my body has been going through lots of changes, and the reality of meeting him or her soon is quickly hitting me. Last Thursday was an especially busy day, as I lost my mucous plug (I'll spare you the details, but this time was especially shocking to me) and I have had cramping on and off since. Saturday night the contractions started to become a bit regular-every 17 minutes or so and Sunday they were every 11 minutes. We decided to go to our niece's graduation party that afternoon, which is an hour away, and on the way down there the contractions became very uncomfortable and about 4 minutes apart (I guess there is something to a bumpy car ride!) But once there, they slowed down again. Everyone was shocked that I was there, but I kept saying that how I refused to just sit around and wait for it to happen. I would go insane! My mother-in-law was ready to come up Thursday, but I said absolutely not, it would only cause me stress (last time she came, she refused to leave and lived with us for a week) I don't think she is happy about it, but I explained how she has a houseful of people (Greg's sister from Italy is living there for 6 weeks) and I know how much she has looked forward to them coming home. She hasn't called since Friday so I don't think she's happy.

Anyway, things are moving along. My next appt is tomorrow so I'll update you on any changes. No contractions lately, just a lot of really low pressure. This baby is still pretty active, a little less active today, but we also had a playdate so I have been moving around a lot.
I'll keep you posted....sooner or later, he or she will come.........

3 centimeters

Just a quick update......sorry it's been so long since I have posted! The girls and I have been busy with their school, and lots of play dates. I really pushed myself to take them to as many places as I could, knowing it won't be long now before we will be homebound for awhile.

Last week was their last week of school, which honestly ended at a good time for me. My energy level just dropped last week, and it was difficult just getting them out the door. I was hoping the tiredness was just a temporary thing, but it has continued into this week so I am afraid it may be here to stay!

The baby is as active as ever. I cannot remember the girls ever being this active! My stomach is constantly changing and moving-you can constantly see some body part rolling across my stomach! I am still feeling lots of lower pressure, even more so the past few days. My appointment today showed that I was 3 centimeters dilated and about 85% effaced. Knowing me, this could go on for a few more weeks! We'll just have to see......

We have been making progress in getting the house together. We moved our room around to make room for the baby's dresser/changing pad. Greg and I both went through our closet and got rid of a ton of clothes we haven't worn. I also bought 5 under the bed storage bins for all of our sweaters, and my shoes. I also bought some bins for our closet shelves to hold the baby's clothes. Yesterday I went through all of our cloth diapers and got them organized and ready to go. We are slowly getting things together! Of course, we still have bins in our hallway that need to go back into the attic, we still do not have the car seat down, nor do I have a bag packed.....sigh. So much to do! Tomorrow I hope to gather a list of snack ideas safe for Mara-just to make it easier on whoever gets to watch them. I also hope to throw some dinners together as well. Tomorrow will be one busy day!

I will post some photos soon of the girls and all their activities. I also want to post an update on them as well-they are both changing so much!

We had a very busy weekend. Greg celebrated his birthday last Friday. We bought him an apple tree, which he loved. Mara actually came up with the tree idea, and Analese decided it had to be an apple tree (the girl is addicted to apples). Then Saturday Greg and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. Hard to believe it's been five years already! Friends of ours watched the girls for us while we went out to dinner, which was really nice. Their son is around Mara's age, and they were in the same class together so we see them often. The girls had a blast! Then Sunday we welcomed home Greg's sister and her family. They moved to Italy two years ago, and now are home to stay. It was so nice to see them all again.

Happy anniversary sweetheart!
Looking forward to many more............

34 weeks and check-up news

It's odd to think I will be 34 weeks tomorrow. I still haven't quite accepted the fact that there will be another baby in the house soon...I feel like I need to mentally prepare but then just do not have the time to do it!

I had my check-up today. When I mentioned how much lower pressure I have been feeling off and on, she offered to check me in order to see if my body was actually doing anything. Well, it seems that it is! I am 1 centimeter dilated and 70% effaced. She told me how they would like the baby to hold off until at least 37 weeks, and warned that they may want to put me on meds to slow things down. Right now she wants me on a "modified bedrest" taking it extra easy and calling if I continue to feel this pressure.

So we will see....right now I am not too concerned, as I have always been at least 1-2 centimeters dilated the first time they check me at 36 weeks. With Mara they still had to break my water at 39 weeks, as I was 6 centimeters dilated, 100% effaced and no labor in sight. They started to become concerned I wouldn't make it to the hospital in time (I have had fast labors with both). The only concern I have right now is that I never had this pressure before, nor has the baby ever been this low.

She wants to now see me weekly, so we'll see how next Monday's appt goes!

Of course, rest is the last thing on my mind right now....as we have SO much to do beforehand!

How low can you go....

The baby has officially dropped a few days ago.

On Monday, I felt fine. Then Tuesday morning came, and as soon as I woke up, I felt that the baby had dropped. Looking in the mirror, I thought I looked lower but wasn't too sure. But then getting the girls to school became quite painful-the lower pressure felt like the baby's head was in-between my legs (nice visual, isn't it?) Climbing up the stairs to get to class-holding Mara, a diaper bag, purse and another bag full of paperwork was excruciating. As soon as I walked in, a friend of mine said "oh my, look at you! You are carrying much lower now, aren't you?" and the girl's teacher looked up and told that I looked "very pregnant" today.











So at least it's not just me.....I'll have Greg take new photos tonight and you can tell me what you think!

Tuesday was a tough day, and we have a ton of activities planned this week. Yesterday I canceled our park playdate, thinking I would take it easy instead. WRONG! The girls and I ended up doing some major cleaning and I ended up moving the furniture around in the living room and dining room....I think the nesting has begun!

But overall I felt fine, and last night the girls and I spent 2+ hours outside, just playing on their playset and hanging out. I didn't do too much activity, mostly just watching them play. We came in for dinner and after eating, I went to get up and the pressure I felt was unbelievable! I made it to the couch and just had to lay there for awhile....Greg had to get the girls to bed, I just couldn't move.

Today we had art class. It is absolutely beautiful outside so we had class outside, under a big cherry tree. So nice. The class was using shaving cream, so I had brought in some of Mara's soap and we blended it in the blender for her. It worked out great and she loved it. I think she preferred being on her own separate mat, away from everyone else.

We are still having issues with Mara's cough and breathing. Over the weekend, it was horrible, to the point where she was gasping for air. Even just her breathing in general seemed off. But then by Tuesday she seemed to be getting better, so we didn't take her in. Then yesterday, they were playing tag and Mara began coughing again and had to sit for 10-15 minutes in order to calm it down. Now today her breathing seems off again and she's in there snoring....

Analese has been breaking out all around her mouth, which we believe is from drinking milk. We have cut out all dairy except a 1/2 glass in the morning and the occasional yogurt. Yesterday she had an extra glass of milk in the afternoon and her eczema-like rash spread all over her cheeks. We want to cut dairy out completely to see if their improvement-we just have to talk her into it! She doesn't like Mara's hempmilk, so I may see if she prefers rice milk instead.

As you can see, there is always something going on with the girls and these allergies! Although Mara might just have a respiratory thing going on, one can only hope!

I have a ton of photos from our week, I'll try and post them today. We went to a Sustainability Fair over the weekend and helped out in the children's tent, which the girl's school was sponsoring. It was so fun! The girls got to do some weaving of yarn through sticks, and paint a mural. The best part about the fair was that we knew so many people who were there working in different booths. It was so fun to take a walk and stop in to visit everyone :)

So another busy week for us! I have been working hard at getting the bookkeeping set up for school, as well as getting the website together. I am really starting to feel that "need" to get things in order so that I will have some time just to relax when this little one decides to come. Time is going by so quickly! This was supposed to be the girl's last week of classes, but their teachers decided to offer another 3 weeks of classes free because the children were enjoying it so much! Have I mentioned how much I love their school? I do worry that the girls will go through some type of withdrawal once the baby comes and we won't be getting out for awhile. A friend of mine just reassured me that she plans on bringing her son over to help out, and keep the girls entertained, which they'll love.

Tomorrow we are going to the petting farm-the girls are so excited! Then tomorrow night, their school is having a "chicken sculpture making party" with a potluck. I am excited to see what we can come up with :) This weekend should be a busy one, as my hope is that our room will be done and closer to being ready for this baby...wish me luck!

32 weeks, and oh so tired....

Sorry it's been awhile once again. I can't seem to find the time to write anymore, nor do I have much desire to be on the computer lately. Still a little burned out from school, I suppose!

The girls and I have been busy-very busy these days. In a way, I feel like I need to do all of these things with them since I will need some recovery time when the baby comes. The girls have been loving all the activities, which then pushes me to do even more. It's been great, but today we stayed home and that was even greater! Even the girls seemed to enjoy it, as I was talking to a friend of mine on the phone and Analese said "today is a stay home day-we are NOT going anywhere!".

One thing that has kept us pretty busy is the girls' new learning classes. It's hard to explain just how perfect and exciting these classes are, but I'll try. The learning approach is based on the reggio emilia approach, which believes in a child-directed approach to learning. On our first day of class, the teachers sat with me and asked me what my goals were for each child in the program (learning to cooperate/interact with peers and other adults) what each girl likes, dislikes, etc. Parents are encouraged to participate in every aspect of the program, and most stay during their child's class time. Right now I have the girls in the learning class on Tuesdays for 2 1/2 hours and an art class for an hour on Thursdays. I do try to kind of hang back during their Tuesday class, as my goal is for them to become more comfortable around their classmates and their teachers. It seems to work out well. Mara will play and participate for awhile and then she wants me to "hold you" and kind of shut downs and just watches. Analese has been loving all the attention and has become quite the ham! It's so funny to see, and I can't help but think about how no one else could hold her or even look at her for the first 13 months of her life!

Anyway, the class is amazing and the space is amazing! Our meeting place is in the loft of a barn on a working farm, where they are worked hard at fixing it up into this magical place that gives such a feeling of warmth. You cannot help but feel right at home as soon as you walk in there. They even have a huge tree branch hanging above the circle area-covered in different lights and mobiles. Downstairs, we have baby chicks growing, and outside...wow, where to begin? They have a larger chicken coop (where we buy fresh eggs!) a pond stocked full of fish and tadpoles, a huge garden with a space for us to plant. It's just exciting, and the girls learn so much just from the experience of being there.

Just some examples of how the whole "child-directed approach" has worked:

• Analese found a patch of violets outside and was sitting there, picking them. Her teachers helped her bring them back upstairs, where they helped her pick out a ribbon to tie them up and got them in water. Afterwards, they sat down in circle and made up a poem about the flowers she had picked. They then wrote down the poem, saying each letter as they wrote it. Analese then colored below it, as well as adding a few letters of her own :)
• Analese has an interest in measuring, and the children were given their own ruler with their name on it. They take the rulers with them when they go to see the baby chicks, and have been "measuring" them each week and charting it onto a graph.
  
• Because of the children's love for music, they were each given their own recorder, which they play for the baby chicks and the fish in the pond. I love to hear them play-especially Mara, who hums quite loudly while she blows :)

Anyway-I could go on and on....as I feel very passionate about this! It has also been nice to become involved with so many families who are so like-minded. We had a "block-making party" last Friday, where one parent had cut out pieces of wood and we (OK, the husbands mostly) sanded them and got them ready for the children to play with. We had a potluck dinner, just talking while our children all played around us...we had such a good time that we plan to do this once a month from now on! What's amazing to me is seeing the girls become so comfortable around so many people! I watched Analese tackle another father, Mara trying to tell another mom a story....it just warms my heart and reassures me that they are getting so much out of it.

Of course, the cost of the program is always a consideration for us, and our original plan was to only enroll Analese in the Fall. But now I am not so sure, as Mara is gaining so much as well. They do allow bartering with services, which we are doing our best to take part in. I am currently designing their website, which allowed me to enroll the girls in art class for free, and I just became their bookkeeper, which will hopefully help with this Fall's tuition. I do worry, though, about overextending myself-as Greg predicted I would, especially with the baby coming soon. I do find myself becoming so much more tired these days, and I haven't been able to get much done after the girls are in bed, as I am ready for bed myself! I am still having lots of hip problems and have spent the past 2+ weeks sleeping on a recliner out in the living room. I keep attempting to find a position in bed but just can't without pain. Ugh, I miss my bed!

It's shocking to think I am 32 weeks already! Only one more appointment before I start going weekly and my internal exams begin. That just seems so close! We still have so much to do, and hoping this weekend will provide us more opportunities to actually get some things done!

That about sums up our May so far! We have had a few unfortunate episodes with Mara-she reacted to ham that she had at Greg's sister's house and suffered from diarrhea and poor appetite for over 2 weeks. She has now developed a very "croupy cough" which only appears at night, but its scary to hear her coughing and gasping for air. Last night she slept in our bed so that I could keep an eye on her.
Analese is still suffering from allergies, and we are doing what we can for her. We started her on raw, local honey, as research has shown that could help minimize allergy symptoms. So we shall see! It's been rainy here, which has helped her (not me, as molds are my worst allergen).
Hope your all enjoying some warm weather!

Finals, Date Night, and Allergies...

OK, so I thought I would have more time once school was over with! It's been a crazy week, but hopefully this week will go better. Finals are done and over with-yeah! I am still waiting on grades and such, but I really don't care at this point. Whatever will be, will be!

My date night with Greg went well. I feel like I should explain why we haven't been out in so long, as we are not complete losers :) It's just been difficult-for one, we couldn't go out to eat due to all the restrictions I have been on while nursing Mara. Movies are out, as my husband cannot stay awake if he isn't moving. Going out for drinks is out because of the being pregnant/nursing thing again. Plus...it's hard to find a babysitter! We live at least an hour away from all family members, and most would rather us drop the kids off with them then drive all the way out here. This honestly makes me a bit nervous with Mara-I would rather have someone here so that only her food is here. Our close friends all have kids younger then ours, so its hard for them to come to the house (although a few friends and I have been working on a babysitting coop among the three of us)Plus-there's the added bonus that the girls bedtime routine is very fixed, so having someone else put them to bed would subject them to too much stress (for the babysitter AND the girls).

So that's why we haven't been out. But I will say that we have had many "dates" at home after the girls go to bed. We play games, eat a late dinner, watch a movie (OK-I watch, Greg sleeps). The connection is there, and that's the most important thing. We both know that this is only one short moment in our lives-we have plenty of time for dates out when the girls get older.

OK-so anyway....the wedding was beautiful. Has anyone watched "Ace of Cakes" on Food Network? They are the one's that made the wedding cake, and it was beautiful! They filmed the bride and groom seeing it for the first time, but that was before any guests were there (so no tv appearance from us!) I was so tired, and ready to leave around 9. My feet were so swollen-I had no ankles and my shoes suddenly looked so tiny as my feet were pouring out of them. People were shocked to see them, I just had to laugh. As much as I had wanted to leave, I hung in there a bit longer as the groom was a childhood friend of Greg's and so there were many people there that he hadn't seen in awhile. We began to leave around 10:15 and actually got out the door around 11. We got to Greg's parent's house around 11:30 to pick up the girls and they both greeted us at the door :) We told Katie not to worry about sleep-if they do great, but if they didn't, that was fine too (did I mention the fixed bedtime routine?)

Last Sunday I took the girls outside and we played for several hours. The pollen count in our area is crazy high right now-I think NPR said it was 2000% higher then normal right now! I was brushing the pollen off the swings just so the girls could sit down and not be covered in yellow. Anyway- after we went inside, Analese and I started having lots of sinus pressure, nose and eyes watering, etc. Analese developed a yucky cough-I felt like her lungs were filled with pollen. We were miserable most of the week-I kept the girls home from school and everything Tuesday just to give Analese a break. Every time we went outside, she started coughing again. I hate that everything goes right to her lungs. Anyone with some natural ways to minimize outdoor allergies, please give them to me! I hate the thought of medicating her, but we cannot stay inside all summer!

So that was our week! For Mother's Day we took the girls down to the D.C. Zoo-even though the weather was supposed to be rainy and highs were only in the 60s. We lasted almost 4 hours before the rain turned into a downpour and we had to leave. The girls got to get right up close to the Giant Panda-it was literally on the other side of the plexi-glass eating bamboo ("making a mess" as Analese has been telling everyone)

Here are some photos of our week! We were busy-playdates, a trip to the Aquarium, art class, and some free time outside (the highlights were puddle jumping and playing with clay) Enjoy-and I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day!

I will update again soon, as I have "new and improved" belly shots to post :)