Welcome...

...Our Sophia Marie Elise. She showed up last night at 7 PM on the dot. How punctual!

38 Weeks

...still waiting.

I hope there is no 40 week picture to post.

Two weeks, nine stickers, and three elmo shows...

I'm so proud. But this seems to be a very constant, up and down struggle. Well worth it. But very exhausting.

Good work, Maya-bear.

It's official...

I'm glue-ing the fabric to the wood today. Then we'll just have to decide where to hang it.

When I asked the ultrasound tech if she was really sure, she just looked at me. And then added, 'honey, it isn't going to change at this point.'

We had one more ultrasound today...to check for growth. I was worried when the doctor ordered another one to check the baby's size after asking me questions like, "Do you remember being this small with Maya?" and "How much did Maya weigh when she was born?"
But according to her measurements today, she already weighs 6.2 pounds. Not bad for still having three more weeks to grow! :)


Maybe it was silly to find out now...only weeks (or maybe days??) away from her arrival. But I'm so happy to finally allow my mind to daydream about Maya and her sister...to imagine what SHE will look like, act like. To talk to HER and about HER....rather than always using the cumbersome 'he or she', 'the baby', and even worse... 'it.'

"love you, baby"

One of my favorite sounds lately. Maya's sweet words to her baby brother or sister.

36 weeks

I don't want to forget what today was like.

Maya and I always love Friday. It's one of our special days of 'just us' together. I'm starting to realize that there probably aren't going to be many more days of just Maya and me...at least not very often. So I'm trying to hold on somehow to these incredible moments. Trying to fully enjoy sleeping until 7:30 or 8:00 and waking to happy chatter upstairs, all the extra long messy meals, the 400 stories before nap time, the very funny conversations we have about everyone and everything...especially while Maya sits on the potty.

But today...we got to see a lot of other special people too.
After breakfast with Daddy at our kitchen table, we got all ready to visit Grandma 'Go-Go' and hear Kayla play her violin (rehearsing her recital piece with her accompanist), then we took 'Go-Go' to Russ' for lunch, and rushed to meet Daddy at the office of our beloved 'Dot-ter Tarnes' (Dr. Karnes) where we were very happy to see 'Joyce too!!! Oh! Yay!' (she's our favorite nurse at the office). We found out that Sophie...or Ian is probably just a little smaller than her big sister was, and is 'very low'...(my wishful interpretation= 'almost ready to come out').

On our way home, we stopped at the 'lie-libe' to return our books, play with the kitchen, meet a new friend (Collin), and get some new books to bring home. After naptime, and some extra long cuddle time in the rocking chair, we got to go to the big blue house to eat a delicious pasta dinner with Isaac, Will, Willow, Ginger, Katie, Daniel, Great-Nanna, and Aunt Jen.

One special song, 2 prayers, a cup of milk, and 400 more stories later...(actually just 3 long ones) Maya is finally asleep in the room next to me. Sometimes, in the hours leading up to bedtime, I start longing for it's arrival...just to rest. But now, I kind of miss her.

the things that make me really happy...

Maya's been really working on using the potty. She talks about it all the time. She knows what it's for....she knows when she needs to use it. She talks about her "big" friends and cousins who don't wear diapers any more and use the potty instead. In fact, up until last Sunday, she'd had success about 4 times...



...since last November!
I know this is great...she's not even two yet, but really....once a month????
I am a rather patient person. I don't have enough patience for this.

If I didn't have such great company....so many funny conversations, songs, and silly faces to make me laugh...I think I'd go crazy from sitting in the bathroom for hours each week. With so little encouragement to keep me motivated. We just never seem to get the timing right.

But...since the creation of "Maya's Potty Chart" this week. She's already earned three stickers (that's better than all of November, December, and January!) in just five days. Hope.


She really knows how to make her Mom happy.

contractions

I was a little frightened Saturday morning around 1 AM, when a surprisingly strong contraction woke me. I was even more afraid as I nudged Ryan ten minutes later to 'calmly' informed him that I was writhing in pain with another, even stronger one.

This continued for two and a half hours...with me whining about the pain, but whining even more about the bad timing. I just kept saying, I can't do this yet. The baby isn't ready, the lungs aren't strong enough. Our insurance is switching this weekend. The room isn't painted, my students aren't ready, my sub plans aren't ready...I don't even know for sure who the sub is going to be!! My recital isn't for two more weeks. The baby clothes aren't even washed or packed. I'm not packed. The dirty laundry is piled up in our hamper and the clean laundry is still in baskets waiting to be folded. I haven't even shaved my legs! And my mom is out of town tonight!

And as the contractions continued to come, stronger and closer together...I realized the futility of my wishing. And I started to truly understand that I have absolutely no control over this.

Maya's birth sort-of set me up for some high expectations about how this will happen. The day before she came, I obsessively cleaned my house. When I went to bed, I had just showered, lotioned my legs, and painted my toe nails, put clean sheets on our bed. The laundry was all done, everything was spotless. Her bag and mine had been packed for weeks. My substitute was already scheduled to start the next day. And that night...she came, quickly, easily, perfectly. I even had make-up on...and my hair curled!

I think I may need to rethink my expectations for how baby #2 may arrive. But while I wait, I've started remedying some of the things I can control.

The laundry is done.
The baby's clothes are washed.
My bag is packed.
Baby's bag is packed.
The room is about half painted.
And my sub plans are almost completely written.