Lilly Says

Often times, when Dan goes to get Lilly first thing in the morning after she wakes up, I will hear him say, "Wow Lilly, your hair is pretty."  What he really means is, "Wow Lilly, it looks like a tornado took over your hair."  Serious rats nest.  I'll have to try to remember to get photo evidence.  Anyway, for about the past week, every time Lilly has woken up in the morning or from nap, immediately after she tells us that she had a good sleep, Lilly will say,

"Lilly's hair is SO pretty.  Lilly's hair is beautiful!"

She is so matter-of-fact about it, too.  Hilarious, this kid!  She keeps us laughing for sure.

BB2.0: 37 Weeks

Hard to believe, yes?  If this were last pregnancy, I would be considered full-term as of today, but they recently changed the guidelines so that now you're not considered full-term until 39 weeks.  Also, during my last pregnancy, 37 weeks was the last update I wrote and tomorrow we would be meeting sweet Lillian Grace (who was at that time still unnamed).  It's all so hard to believe - I have mentioned in the past several posts that we have been busting our tails to get organized for this baby and it is making it all seem so real.  I have some thank-yous to write tonight, so I'll go ahead and get to the stats.

Size of Baby Boy:  6 1/3 lbs (wrong) and a little over 19 inches (maybe), aka the size of a whale/elephant hybrid (otherwise known as a whalephant) bunch of swiss chard:

via

I guess there's not much going on development-wise this week (except the continual weight gain) because the only thing my pregnancy e-mail discussed related to development is that many babies have a head full of hair at birth.  I actually am excited to see whether this is true, or whether baby boy will be bald forever like his big sister.

Weight Gain So Far:  +33lbs.  My girl scout cookies arrived this week so I don't expect that to last for longer than a day.  :-)

Cravings:  Do girl scout cookies count?  

Aversions:  Not a thing.

Symptoms:  Frequent urination, insomnia is back, a LOT of lower back pain and just general discomfort.  For some reason my chair at work hurts my back SO MUCH, I can barely walk when I get up to go to the bathroom 80 times/day.  Sign from God to stay home?  Maybe.  Also inconsistent contractions and heartburn, which is funny since I haven't experienced too much of it this time around.

Movement:  Still moving around, although I'm not sure how he has room to move.  And he gets the hiccups a lot!

What I Miss:  A repeat here: sleeping.  I so wish that I could rest up before baby gets here and I lose even more sleep!

Signs of a Bump:  Is that even a question at this point?

Baby Boy: 37 Weeks + a weird back fat-looking pants indention???

Lilly: 37 weeks

What I'm Thankful For:  My sweet husband. He has been busting his tail and working tirelessly alongside me to help me feel more prepared for this baby (and it has paid off because I'm finally to the point where I feel like if this baby came today, I'd be ok with it).  He painted the nursery and assembled all furniture all by himself over the weekend and has been helping me organize all of our clothes and baby items.  He has also been running bottle parts, breast pump parts and anything else that needs to be steamed through the dishwasher (and he even cleaned out a cabinet to make room for them all without me asking!).  He is beyond wonderful, and I don't know what I'd do without him.

First load that was run through the dishwasher.  I forgot how much of this stuff we have!!!

First load put away in the newly cleaned out cabinet.  Eeek!  Can't believe I'll be using this stuff again soon!

I am also grateful for sweet Carney, who not only takes excellent care of Lilly every day (and to say that Lilly adores her would be the biggest understatement I could ever even fathom), but today surprised me by finishing all of the laundry I was working on for baby boy (including folding and organizing by size!).  She is amazing - I truly believe the Lord was looking out for us when he put her in our lives, and we are so grateful.  I don't know what we'd do without her!  Now to find a place to put everything in our closet-sized(without an actual closet) nursery...

What I'm Looking Forward To:  The end of the week and the upcoming weekend!  Lilly's second birthday is on Friday.  I know, I can't believe my baby will be two!  We have a small celebration planned at school, and lots of friends and family are coming to celebrate our sweet girl on Saturday at her gymnastics party.  We can't wait!

Doctor Appointment Update:  All is well in pregnancy-land.  My blood pressure is still perfect - 118/70 this morning.  No protein in my urine, my strep b came back negative, and my platelets, while on the low side, are fine (hooray epidurals for ginormous-headed whalephant babies!).  Doctor said that I look great and so does baby, and I was in and out pretty quickly.  I told her I felt like a first-timer - since I was induced last time around I'm not really sure what to expect, so she went over signs of labor, when to call, etc.  Eek!  I also asked when they'd check me - mainly so I know how much work I have to do next week to evacuate this baby - and she said it's up to me.  I mean who really WANTS to be checked, it is severely unpleasant.  BUT sometimes it starts the labor process...so bring it on, doc.

Next Doctor Appointment:  Next Tuesday, the 28th.  

This is another one of those "if you follow me on Instagram, you've already seen this" photos, but it's too cute not to share.  Lilly wanted to love all over Layla tonight, and the following series of photos has made me laugh SO hard all night.  Poor Layla looks terrified!

We are allegedly experiencing snowmageddon over here tonight.  I did actually see snowflakes and it was actually accumulating a little when I was outside a little while ago to let Layla out, so we'll see what happens.  I hope L still has school tomorrow, she hasn't gotten to go in hat seems like forever (knee injury/doctor appointment Friday and Holiday closure Monday) and she's going a little stir crazy from being cooped up!

Tomorrow is hump day, hooray!

Sarah

Lilly Says

I know I say it every time I do a "Lilly says" post, but this kid keeps me on my toes, y'all.  Something that she's been saying consistently for the past week or so, every time we go in to get her up in the morning or from nap, is "Mommy, Lilly had a good sleep."  

This was especially hilarious yesterday when she said it to me that after playing for three hours instead of taking a nap.  And even MORE hilarious from approximately 1:00 am - 5:30 am this morning...NOT.  

L started around 1:00 am calling me.  "Mommy.  Mommy?  MOMMMYYYYY!"  This quite literally NEVER happens, so I went to check on her, thinking that maybe she had a super wet diaper or even a poop (this whole incident also just happened to occur on the first night in probably months that I was exhausted enough from the weekend's activities to actually sleep).  I walked into her room and this sweet little face popped up out of her crib and said, "Mommy, I had a great sleep!"  Ummmmmmm that is awesome L, now go get some more great sleep as it is the middle of the night, ma'am.  I picked her up out of her crib and sat down to rock her for a few minutes before putting her back to bed.  She nuzzled her sweet little head into my chest as I thought to myself, surely this is what Heaven must be like.  I sang a few songs and after every song that little head would pop up and she would start clapping and say, "YAY MOMMY!!!"  How could I possibly be annoyed when she is just so sweet?!  That sentiment only lasted for approximately 30 seconds after I left the room, though, because she was so wound up that she was NOT ready to go back to sleep.  She stayed in her crib playing, talking, singing, clapping, laughing and calling out for Mommy and Daddy (loudly) until almost 5:30 this morning before finally falling back to sleep.  Dan went in to check on her as well, around 4:30, and she was still very happy and not feeling much like sleep.  We could tell she was exhausted but she just couldn't seem to wind down.

Surprisingly, the lack of sleep did not affect her mood as much as I thought it would today (unlike Daddy, who slept until almost 10:30 am on his day off - Mommy was up at 8 to work!).  She was, of course, crankier than she normally is but it wasn't as bad as I was anticipating, and she went down for nap really easily.  Let's hope this is not a new trend (and also that it's not the Lord trying to prepare me for a baby that doesn't sleep...) and that tonight will be much more restful for all of us.

Happy Monday!

Sarah

Accidents Happen

I wasn't sure I wanted to blog this because I have been feeling like the worst mother in the history of the world since it happened, but I feel like it needs to be documented so here we go.  We had gymnastics on Thursday, and L experienced her first "real" injury.  And it was basically my fault.  There, I said it.  Ugh.

There is a huge foam pit at the gym where Lilly goes to gymnastics.  It is a huge hit, definitely the favorite activity for all of the kids, so they get to play in it for 5 or so minutes at the end of each class.  Lilly is pretty good at jumping, but she's not great at jumping out from the edge of the pit - just straight up and down.  Because of that, Dan typically gets in the foam pit and I help L "jump" (read: she jumps and I help by basically throwing her) to him.  On Thursday, she went in a few times and was squealing and so excited.  On the third or fourth jump, Dan wasn't ready to catch her and I didn't know it, and she landed directly on his legs (with her legs still extended).  She was immediately in hysterics, and my heart dropped into my stomach as I fought back tears because I knew she was hurt.  I saw it happen and was praying that she hadn't injured her back or spine or something terrible/irreparable.  Sure enough, Dan handed her to me and I tried to get her to stand up and her legs immediately buckled and she fell over, sobbing.  So of course I cried too.  I have learned that I am definitely not good in a pinch when I'm pregnant...I'm WAY too emotional to be clear-headed.

For the rest of the night, L couldn't put any weight on her right leg without screaming in pain.  She was so pitiful, she just kept saying, "my knee hurts, my knee hurts."  This scared me the most because I'm obviously not a doctor, but it's not like you can break your knee - it's normally something terrible like tearing your ACL.  She didn't have any other symptoms - she could bend it with no problems or crying and it wasn't swollen, so I was hopeful that it would just be sore overnight and she'd be better on Friday.  We made the decision to see how she did on Thursday night/Friday morning instead of taking her to the emergency room since she seemed to be ok as long as she was carried around and staying in one spot (this was actually Dan's clear headed-ness because I was ready to call the ambulance).  

Lilly cried out in her sleep all night Thursday night - when I looked at the monitor I could see that every time she moved in her sleep and put any weight on that right leg she cried out.  I spent the whole night not sleeping, wrestling with guilt and worrying about her.  On Friday morning, she couldn't even pull herself up in her crib and definitely still couldn't put any weight on it - forget even trying to walk.  I called the doctor first thing and was able to get an appointment, and then I spent the rest of the morning in hysterics over being a horrible mother.  Dan kept telling me that it wasn't my fault, accidents happen, etc. etc. but I really and truly felt like it was my fault and could have been prevented.  

Luckily, the doctor said that it's just a bad knee sprain and that she should be better in a few days - a week, max.  I will spare you the dramatics, but I was so relieved that it wasn't worse.  On Saturday she still couldn't put weight on her right leg, but by today she was hobbling around on it for most of the day, so I hope that means that she's on the mend and will be better in a few days.  There is nothing more heartbreaking than seeing a 2-year-old with a limp.  I was picturing her with baby crutches or a baby wheel chair or baby cast and cringing.  She walks into crap all of the time when she isn't hurt, so I can only imagine how complicated any of those contraptions would have made things!  I am also not used to L not being able to walk, so it was a big adjustment for all three of us that she had to be carried all weekend - she was very frustrated at not being able to do things for herself.  I am just so relieved that she seems to be feeling better, and we actually got through the whole day without her telling me that her knee hurt.

L was a trooper at the doctor, so I promised her a cupcake.  That little stinker ate the WHOLE thing (a full-sized one!) while I was placing an order for her birthday cupcakes.  Baby and I were not amused but it looks like she enjoyed it.  :-)

If you follow me on Instagram, this photo probably looks familiar, but it is too sweet not to share.  There's nothing better than a snuggle with my best girl!!!

Loving her Christmas present from Uncle Bo, Aunt Meagan and Kins.  A good thing to sit still with for long periods of time when you can't walk.  :-(

In other news, Dan and I both worked our tails off this weekend trying to mark some baby-related things off of our list.  We basically got every baby item we owned out of the attic and I spent the weekend going through everything so that we can better determine what we have vs. what we're lacking.  This included going through all of Lilly's clothes to see how much unisex stuff we had that could be reused and reorganizing her things.  It had to be done, but GOSH was it a lot of work.  I did have a (very small) pile of things to give away at the end of the day, but I mostly just re-organized everything that I have for her to save.  Here are some photos of my progress - I was so overwhelmed when I started but so happy to get it DONE!

Before sorting/reorganizing

Another before pile

 Baby boy stuff to get through

Progress

I somehow didn't manage to get a photo of what it looked like when I was done with the cleanout/reorg before Dan put all of it back up in the attic, but I got a LOT done and have been feeling accomplished all evening.  I borderline over-did it on Saturday and thought for sure I'd put myself into labor, I felt terrible on Saturday night and was having pretty consistent (and painful!) contractions all night until around 3 this morning, but luckily they've subsided some.  I was able to get through and organize ALL of Lilly's stuff, and I pulled out all of the baby stuff we can use and found that we had a surprisingly decent amount of unisex clothing items that can be used for Baby Boy, so I have some laundry to do (I have gotten through 2 loads tonight of just general baby things like nursing covers, boppy and breast friend covers, car seat, swing covers, etc.).  All that's left is to go through the huge pile of boy stuff to see what we need to return/exchange and then start washing that in addition to the unisex stuff I found, and I need to run all of the baby feeding stuff through the dishwasher and get that all put away as well.  The hard part will be figuring out where to put everything when I'm done!

While I was doing all of that, Dan was working in the nursery.  He painted the whole thing by himself, was in and out of the attic taking things down and putting them back up for me, and he assembled the crib and the chair.  I will give you a sneak peak but won't give away too much until it's a little more "done."

I also managed to do all of our laundry from the week and made homemade tomato soup for tomorrow night's dinner.  To say I am exhausted is the understatement of the century, but I am really hoping this baby comes sooner than later so I was trying to get as much done as possible.  In hindsight, perhaps waiting until next weekend when we will have a ton of family in town for Lilly's 2nd birthday party to help would have been a better idea, but there will still be plenty to do I'm sure.  :-)

Playing with all of her jewelry while I was making soup.  Cheeeeeeeeeeese!

Hope your weekend was productive and fantastic as well!

Sarah