to do list, the second time around

we are getting ready to leave for Oglebay. We're a few days late because of our unexpected arrival, but also thrilled that we can all go as a family instead of someone (me) being either left alone waiting for the baby or here with a newborn on my own (and bored out of my mind). i'm particularly glad that i won't be sending sam off on his own. not because i don't think he can handle it (i heard about what happened with gramma and grampa while we were at the hospital—he saw gramma when he came down in the morning and said, "where's grampa?" not "where's mommy?" or "where's daddy?" but "where's grampa?" apparently he waited until after breakfast to wonder where his parents were. way to knock mom down a few pegs kiddo) but because i'm not sure i can. it was hard enough to be in the hospital without my favorite sidekick.

anywho, so i've got lists and lists going on—what to pack (we're packing for two kids now!), what needs to be done before we leave (the trash needs to be OUT, we learned that the hard way one year. oh, the fruit flies!). but a lot of my thinking has had to do with what i want to remember about this tiny, new sibling we've got in the house. how there are things i didn't do when sam was born, and now i'm wishing i had.

first on the list—take pictures of the WHOLE baby. with sam i was totally focused on that adorable little face and barely took any photos of his whole body. no tiny feet were saved for posterity in those first few days, and i still regret it. so yesterday i set up a spot on the couch and took lots of photos of little lucy. she's even tinier than i could've imagined, and though my photography skills are utterly limited, i think i got enough good ones that i will be satiated later on.

second—write down her "birth story". i didn't do this with sam, but this time around everything went about as well as i could've hoped for and i want to remember that, if only to feel better about how unhappy i was the first time. i sat down earlier and typed out what i can remember of those few hours pre-lucy. i already feel like it was time well spent.

third—enjoy that baby! though i'm already missing being pregnant (it was nice to have a reason to move slowly, to eat an extra helping of melon knowing i was growing a baby, to have people wanting to help me with this and that, plus i didn't have to worry about sucking in my gut—there's no sucking in a bump that big!) i know now that everyone is right when they say "they grow up so fast!" sam now seems huge in comparison (though still my adorable baby boy, i gotta say). so i'm doing my best to enjoy this tiny little person who's little bottom is barely holding up her premie pants (goodness help us if she was any earlier!)

now off to finish that packing. we've got a car to load up and a doctor's visit scheduled for right after lunch. we need to be on our way to get to oglebay by dinner, and we're looking forward to it!

i love lucy

me at 39 weeks

and introducing our precious little miss, lucille (lucy) rose

born—8/8/12 at 7:08am • weight—5lbs 15oz • height—18 inches

we're so glad that she made her way here safely and are enjoying every bit of her teeny, tininess.

another little update

bedtime stories • sam making good progress with his training chopsticks • the painting i did for little sister's room (not sure if i like the end result all that much) • 37 weeks (we're "full-term" now people!)

speaking of full-term, we had a good doctor visit last thursday. the midwife said that little girl is in "perfect birth position" which was good news, and though she thought my bump looked small, everything was measuring right on track. according to the scale i've gained about 17 pounds (though it feels more like 70), and her heartbeat was great. to celebrate this new milestone, i actually washed some of the 0–3 month clothes and put them in the dresser so they'd be ready for little sister when she shows up. i'm still not convinced she's going to be small enough to fit in any of those things, but i suppose sam wore some outfits that were equally tiny, so it's possible.

cordelia @ 32 weeks

we had our 32 week appointment this morning, and all seems well. cordelia was in fine form, pushing back at the doppler and basically moving around so that it was difficult for the doctor to get a reading on her heartbeat. this girl is definitely not one to sit still, and i'm hoping she'll decide to make her own entrance (preferably soon after july 22nd—37 weeks) and not wait around for someone to grab her and yank her out the way they had to with sam. one can only hope.
in the meantime, she's a busy gal. making sure that i know she's there most of the day and doing her best to let me know that it would be fine with her if there was a bit more leg-room. sorry, kid. there's only so much i can do.

hello again, third trimester

here i am at 27 weeks (and still with the wacky hair. i really should do something about that.) the jumping bean proceeds to jump, kick, and dance often (as does sam, who makes sure she's getting a constant soundtrack of beatles, disney songs, and music from the star wars movies to dance to).
and speaking of sam, he is developing quite the penchant for interesting headgear. here he is wearing mike's black shorts on his head (his "darth vadar mask"):

and here is a photo that was taken after i asked him to put on his pull-up for naptime:

my favorite anecdote from this week is from monday morning. on our way to the train stop sam said, "my heart is broken. it has spicy things in it." it sounded like he had heartburn (though i doubt he could get heartburn from the mini-wheats he ate with mike). there were no more reports of broken hearts since.
i know i say it often, but if sam's little sister is even half as amusing as her big brother, we are in for LOTS of entertainment.

bits and pieces

a couple little updates:
- as if to exemplify his obsession with star wars, sam has started referring to mike as master. which of course means that mike is referring to sam as young padawan. sam also said that i'm like qui-gon jinn (because of my hair, not my beard or my awesomeness).


- painting has begun, and "grandma's room" is slowly being converted to "sam's room". i'll miss that cheerful yellow-y color, but i'm willing to sacrifice it so that sam can have his beloved blue walls. sam's comment on seeing his room in progress was, "wow. wow." when mike said that there really wasn't much to see yet, sam replied, "i know. but i like it."


- we're now into double-digits for the little sister countdown. we'll be 26 weeks as of tomorrow, and one more week until we hit third trimester territory. woot! am already listing things i'm looking forward to (top of the list: sleeping on my stomach.)

re-decorating

i've been thinking about doing some new artwork for the frames that will move to sam's new room. the original stuff i put up was done so long ago that it doesn't really reflect him much, and i was thinking that some trucks might be the perfect thing for my vehicle obsessed child.
i had some doodles in my sketchbook that i thought i could translate into something decent. and now i've got more than a dozen to work with (and about five frames to fill). i'm not precisely sure what i've got in mind, but (as everything in our house) it's a work in progress. and i'm pretty sure he'll be happy with it, for the time being at least.
though perhaps i should incorporate some space ships...


i also think i need to come up with some kind of decoration to make the girl's room special for her. i have some thoughts, but nothing concrete yet.


in other news, i had my 24 week visit to the doctor on friday and the report was that so far, so good with the little bean. i'm always glad to hear that everything is alright, and that i'm not just getting beat up from the inside for nothing. this kid is definitely related to "ninja", and apparently is a bit of a night owl as well.

20 weeks

i know i took about a million belly photos with sam, so i thought it was about time to take one of the girl (if only so she won't feel like she missed the spotlight—so focus on the bump, and not the craziness that is my hair.) here we are, 20 weeks big and halfway there. woot.

ps—here's sam at 20 weeks

oh joy!

we found out today at our ultrasound that it's a 99% certainty that we're having a girl.

i have to admit that i'm a little disappointed that we're not going to get extra mileage out of some of sam's newborn clothes (though, i can probably get away with blue onsies with little footballs on them in the privacy of our own house, right? right? i mean, they're so cute.) but i'm also thinking that little dresses can be just as much fun as truck shirts, tea parties can be as much fun as rocketships, and that it's okay to mix pink legos in with fire engine legos (all kids like legos—at least, they should). i also hear tell that potty training a girl is a lot easier (which i'm hoping is true), and that they're not as rowdy as boys (though having seen my nieces, i'm not sure i believe this one). in any case, even another boy would be a different story than sam, and it will be a whole new adventure finding out what "not sam" is like.

(let's not think about the teenage years yet though. i know what my teenage years were like, and i am not looking forward to it.)

oh yeah...

i almost forgot to mention that we will be making at least one more hospital trip at some point to take care of this little condition:

yes, sam is going to be an older brother. we are excited and/or frightened (depending on the time of day and behavior of the soon-to-be older brother), and are hoping the little bean will arrive just in time to mess up our scheduled trip to oglebay (arrgh!).

by way of an announcement, we gave sam a special t-shirt for his birthday (which he has since worn to daycare and resulted in a rather humorous email from our daycare provider).

sam went to the first ultrasound with me and was convinced that he also had a baby in his belly (he also mentioned one in his head). he has since decided that this is a little brother (we don't actually know yet) and is named missy (sorry aunt missy, but probably not).

perhaps the last

today may be the last day with my big ol' baby belly, and the last day for mike and i to be a two-some. i go to be induced tomorrow and am really hoping for a safe journey for ninja into our family. it's not exactly the situation i was hoping for, as i really wanted him to show up on his own, but i'm considering this my first parenting lesson in flexibility. safe travels, kiddo! we can't wait to see you on the other side.

40 weeks - or 40+

i guess it depends on whose calendar you're following, but this will likely be the last of the belly photos. i'm ready to say goodbye to the belly and greet my feet!

been a while...

sorry about being among the missing this past week. i've had a bad case of ninja-brain. mostly hoping that he would be showing up sometime soon.

alas, it has not been so. he is perfectly content (as far as i can tell) to stay put. i've still got hopes that we won't have to resort to evicting him come monday, but the plans are being set, just in case.

single digits!

are all that's left between me and my due date. woot!
which also means it's only 9 days until ally's birthday. we better get crackin' on that gift shopping!

not so patiently

my mind is overflowing with thoughts of baby. i'm trying to be patient, to enjoy the last few days of kicks and rolls and other combat practice, but it's hard. i feel like we're ever so close to this special birthday, but knowing the when is still out of reach. mike described it perfectly when he said "its like bizzaro christmas. you know what your present is, you just don't know when christmas is."
whatever day it turns out to be will certainly be a day to remember.

(image via martha)

in the midst of week 38

so technically i'm not a full 38 weeks, but i'm posting the belly photo anyway.

lately, as i'm getting ready for bed, i think about the fact that in a few weeks i'll be getting two people ready for bed, and both of us will get our own pajamas. it's exciting and scary all at once, but i think mike and i can fake being grown-ups well enough that ninja won't really know it's all an act. or at least, it will take him a little while to figure it out, especially if i'm distracting him with toys and ticklings and stories and other things. that's my plan anyway. the trick will be getting the nieces and nephews not to give up our secret - i'm pretty sure they're aware of the fact that we're not really all that mature.

one lucky baby

my co-workers threw me a surprise shower at work today. i sorta had a feeling something was up, but didn't want to say anything to ruin their hard work. they're so sweet, and ninja is one lucky little guy to get so much love! i'm going to have to think of something special to do for those who made me feel so loved, and who made my face about as red as can be!

hello month 9

35 weeks and excited to meet the little ninja.

packing for ninja

we tried to find something "go bucks" that was small enough and warm enough for ninja to come home in, but didn't have too much success (the pjs we have are size 6M). so i decided to go ahead and pack this warm little sleeper from aunt angie. i'm also packing a onesie (from aunt tiffany and uncle eric), a hat, socks, and little mittens to layer underneath, depending on how cold it is that day. we also bought a soft, fluffy blanket to put over him in the car on the way home (if i can stop snuggling it myself). i'm basically packed for the hospital now, which should guarantee that ninja will NOT get here early.

32 weeks

getting ready for class tonight - and chipotle after (yay!)