On the Town

My mom has been in town since Tuesday, waiting for this baby to get here. Unfortunately she has to leave on Wednesday to get back to work :(  So we hope this baby comes this weekend. It would be perfect, because then Russ wouldn't have to miss class. I thought I should fill you in on all the fun we've been having - Little Sister is totally missing out!

On Wednesday night my mom took us out to dinner on the town. She wanted to experience some of the local eats (and we did too! We haven't been to many local places since we got here!) so we headed down to Cannery Row. Luckily we had a dining guide from the hotel we stayed at back in November over Thanksgiving, so we had a starting point. We looked over a bunch of nice restaurants and finally decided on one - The Fish Hopper - that advertised having a kids menu. That means they don't mind if we bring our unruly toddler into their nice restaurant.

I decided that I wanted to try a crab. For some reason I was craving crab - an interesting craving for someone who has never really had crab before. I've had crab dips, but that's not exactly the same. 

So they brought me my bib and my half a dungerness crab. I pulled off one of the legs and started enjoying the buttery, savory meat. Then I tried to figure out how to open up the rest of the leg to get to the tender, juicy meat inside. I've never eaten crab or lobster or anything before, so I was sure there just had to be some trick to it, but try as I might, I could not get inside that stupid crab leg. Finally we asked a waiter if he could help me, and he took a look at my plate and was like "Oh, they didn't bring you a cracker." I was like, duh - that would help. So anyway, when I finally got my little crab leg eating tool and a cocktail fork, I went to town on that crab. It was de-lish. They even brought me a little bowl of hot water and a lemon after I was all done so I could get the crabby smell off my fingers. It was super cool. And yummy. I am definitely a fan of crab.

Another amusing part of our evening - My mom decided she wanted to try swordfish. None of us have ever eaten swordfish, so we were excited to try it. Well, the waiter brings our food, and we're checking out mom's "swordfish." It looks very pink, like salmon. We all try a bite. Wow, that's really good - tastes just like salmon! So my mom is 1/4 way through her "swordfish" when the waiter comes by with a panicky look on his face "I'm so sorry, ma'am, I just realized we gave you salmon instead of swordfish!" No wonder it tasted just like salmon! So they switched out her "swordfish" for REAL swordfish, which was pretty tasty. I have to say I prefer salmon, but at least I can say I've tasted swordfish, and it most definitely does NOT taste like salmon! (and it's not pink, either)

Vincente ate some chicken strips and french fries. The fact that he ate at all was very very exciting for us. Then he played with the seagulls that perched on this little walk way outside our window. Every time they would walk away from his window, he would say "Come back, passaro." (passaro = bird) Then he played with the little citronella candles on the empty tables. I figured as long as he wasn't touching the dishes laid out, he was fine playing with the candles :) Ha ha. My kid has an obsession with flames, but he knows they are hot, so he won't touch the actual flame. He just likes looking at them.

After dinner we tried to get a shot of us by the bay with the moon all shining and stuff. Our cameras weren't quite good enough (we needed a tripod or something to keep them still enough), but we did get some cool shots of the moon - even if Russ looks all weird and fuzzy.

Around the corner from our restaraunt was a family bar and grill place with live music and dancing. Vincente heard the music and just had to dance! It was adorable. He loves dancing. 

Our night on the town was great - and the best part? Vince went right to bed without any trouble.

Now Showing - Vincente and His Many Talents

Vincente dancing to some Portuguese jazz music

Breakfast conversation with Mamãe

I tried to translate this video for the sake of all you who don't speak "Vincente" ... but to be honest, I hardly knew what he was saying. I know that at the beginning the first word he says is "peixe" - or, fish. Then he mentioned a flower. He was talking about stuff that he saw out the window... or perhaps things that you may see out a window. Like a truck. And a bus. At the very end he says "Riding fast. Fast!" (the word that sounds like "pass" actually means "fast"). To be honest, I couldn't even understand him very well. Usually he's really clear when he's communicating - the hilarious thing about that morning was that he spend 15 minutes speaking random stuff, 3/4 of which I couldn't understand. I don't think he's ever done that before.

The next American Idol

oh what a beautiful day

Saturday turned out to be quite sunny, although still a little chilly. It wasn't too bad in the sun, so we decided to make the most of the beautiful early spring day and go to the park for a picnic. We packed PB&J's, veggies, fruit, and yogurt, footballs and frisbees, and headed out for some family fun in the sun. 

Vincente ran around with some other kids for a while, climbing up the jungle gym, going down the TALLEST slide, BY HIMSELF. He loves climbing and jumping and sliding and running. It usually makes me nervous for him to play on the big jungle gym by himself, but there weren't very many big kids there at the park, which means less chance of him getting knocked over. Also, he's getting pretty good at climbing up and down things - although he still looses his balance sometimes and that makes me worried for him.

After a while, all he wanted to do was swing. So swing we did. I had pushing duty first, but then I decided to sit and swing with Vince. Once Russ started pushing Vince, there was no going back. Russ' pushes were of course cooler than mine. Vincente liked being pushed high - he calls it "super fast." I think he gets that from Little Einsteins when they make Rocket fly super fast.  Anyway, I posted a little video of his reactions to Russ' pushing. 

And this picture that looks like Russ falling off the swing is actually him doing a backflip off the swing, I just caught him at a weird moment. Anyway, it was super cool. Vincente just didn't know what to think!

After our swinging, we played catch for a while, which means that Russ and I played catch with our football, and Vincente threw his little football around and ducked whenever we tried to throw the ball back. So catching is definitely something that needs work.

And of course, with my horrible catching skills, I ended up with a jammed finger by the end of the day. The swelling is going down, but it's still bruised and hurts a little. Not as bad as it did that first day - I could barely make a fist, it hurt so bad. It's my left hand ring finger, so my wedding band won't come off, but that's okay, it's not like I ever take it off anyway. Poor little finger.

It felt good to make the most of a sunny day. This week is supposed to be clear and sunny, so hopefully we'll get to spend more time outside, unless Little Sister comes. But it will be nice to be able to take her outside for some fresh air when she's tiny. Living in Utah, it was so cold still when Vince was  born. I hope it gets to be in the 70s this week. I love the warm sunny days here. 

Grandma Arrival in 12 hours

My mom is going to be here tonight! I am stoked. 

And I want to get the house clean.

And I have to wash Russ' PT uniform before he gets home for lunch in an hour... so I should probably get started on that.

Ladies Night Out, and Boys Night In

So I was running late Friday night and forgot a million and one things going to the Ladies' Night Out party (butter for my rolls, the actual address of the place, and my camera!) so no pictures. 

But I did get some fun pictures of the party that was still happening when we got back home. Russ did a great job getting Vince fed and put down to bed, and then the boys were having a blast jamming on rock band when we got home. 

Here's the proof:

Look at those faces - nothing but happiness right there! These guys are such goofballs.

The star singer of the evening

Amazing Omar and his rad guitar - look at that face - don't mess with this guitarist. He means business

Dan the man and his mad drummer skillz - is he smiling because he enjoys the drums so much, or because he thinks it hilarious that he's missing every other note?

When the drummer and the singer finally realized that they weren't cut out for their repective jobs - and switched - oh yes, and finally completed a song without failing at all. Heh.

In reality, it was the singer that was causing the most problems before the switch, as can be witnessed in this next video:

Of course, we wives couldn't be left out for too long. Eventually, the addiction that is rock band sucked us in as well, and we rocked it hard -

I really wish I would have taken pictures at Ladies' Night Out. We played musical chairs - it was hilarious. Mostly we just sat around and had fun, like girls do. Without our kids. It was awesome - no one was being interupted by "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" or kids wailing because your kid hit them with a toy or took a toy from them or whatever. There was no need to referee, no booboos to kiss. Much as we all LOVE and cherish doing those things for our kids, it's REALLY nice to have a break and just enjoy the company of your fellow sisters - especially here at the DLI where everything is so high transition and high stress and sometimes you just want to chill. We had a great time. I even learned how to play a new game about killer bunnies. That game was great. Unfortunately, I didn't win, but it was sure fun to play. 

And after all that musical chairs, I still didn't go into labor. Oh well. 

Hopefully I'll be posting news of a new baby soon!

let's go fly a kite

Let's go fly a kite

Up to the highest height

Let's go fly a kite

And send it soaring

Up through the atmosphere

Up where the air is clear

Oh, let's go fly a kite!

On Thursday evening, Russ called on his way home from the post and asked if we wanted to go to the beach! Now, it doesn't sound as sunny and warm as it should ... since it's been raining for the past week or so, and the weather has been pretty chilly (okay, in the 50s-60s - a little cool). The last time we went to the beach we took our kite, but we weren't able to get it up - not enough wind. Yesterday was pretty breezey, so we took the kite, the camera, and the family and drove out to the beach!

Oh yeah, and don't forget the coats! It was freeeeezing. But beautiful. Unfortunately there was a big cloud front coming in from the ocean that crowded out the sunset. It would have been a gorgeous sunset if the clouds had just gone away. Oh well. It was still gorgeous. And the sound of the waves crashing on the shore is just sooo peaceful and relaxing.

Russ got the kite up almost as soon as he had it put together - you couldn't have kept that kite on the ground yesterday! Vincente thought it was the best thing he'd ever seen, as you can see from his face in some of these pictures. Russ made me take the "reigns" for a while, of course - so he could shoot some darling pictures of me and Vince flying the kite :)

Vince was estatic when it was his turn to fly the kite. He ended up deciding that it was "mine" - meaning, it was Vincente's kite. He loved holding on to it and got a kick out of watching the birds fly really close to the kite. The moon was also out, just by the kite, and he thought it was funny that the kite was up by the moon. 

I tried to show Vincente how to pull on the kite string to make it move around, but after I had so willingly given up my rights to the kite, he would have nothing to do with my hands on the string. "Mine." "My kite." At least he was enjoying himself. He probably held on to the kite for a good 15 or 20 minutes. 

It was nice to have the distraction of the kite to keep Vince from wanting to run into the ocean. On a warm day, sure I'll sacrifice dryness and warmth for running into the ocean to save my kid. But on an evening like yesterday? He might be left to his own devices because there is no way you could make me run into the cold surf with my feet fully shod. That water is freezing, even on a "hot" day. I can't imagine what it would have felt like last night. 

The most adorable pictures we got last night were when Vince accidently let go of the kite. Russ rescued the kite, but poor Vince was incredibly distraught. Poor guy. He was sooo sad. His face was the best. Fat bottom lip all puckered out, tears welling up. Oh man, it almost broke my heart!

Russ also got some pretty good shots of my ever-rounding belly. It looks like I'm going to make it to my Relief Society party tonight after all!! Super excited. I joked with my friend Trisha that maybe I would go into labor at the end of the party. How perfect - to go into labor surrounded by all your RS sisters to help you get to the hospital! It would be awesome!! Well, no more contractions yet. I've been trying to take it easy all week (contrast that to last week when I was trying to be as active as possible) so I wouldn't go into labor before the party. I just realized that I only posted one good belly shot. Well, we'll make sure to take a lot more good belly shots before this baby comes out. I'll have my camera at the RS party tonight, so hopefully I'll get a few good photo ops there for my huge, round belly. 

I'll post belly shots later! Hope you enjoy Vincente's first kite flying adventure! We sure did.

labor hormone addiction

So - in the course of the past few weeks as I've been having contractions, I've learned how to tell the difference between Braxton-Hicks contractions and the real ones that are actually doing something (no matter how small). Well, at least this is the difference for me -

Braxton-Hicks - my belly gets hard

Real, cervix-dilating, baby moving contractions - my belly gets hard and sends all sorts of crazy hormones through my entire body making me feel like I'm having Morphine shots again. Ooh, Morphine.

The nice thing about the real contractions - the fact that they feel like pain killers. Hopefully that means my body knows what it's doing this time, and when it gets time for more painful contractions, the natural pain killers my body is producing right now will do their job. Other than the fact that I get really distracted when I have a nice, good contraction (mostly due to the hormones clouding my thought processes), I actually really enjoy the feeling. Heh, I like the feel-good hormones. And at least it's natural. It's not like I'm addicted to Morphine or anything... just addicted to labor hormones. Is that a good thing? Hmm...

tick, tick, tick

3 Centimeters and counting! I think my OB has been stripping my membranes when he does the exam. Odd of him not to say anything about it, but since it's one of those things that may or may not do anything for you, I guess it's probably just something he does without even thinking.

I still want to go to the Relief Society thing on Friday... we'll see if I make it until then. I really REALLY want to go. Enough that I don't mind being pregnant for another week! It's not all that bad. Just uncomfortable and I can't eat as much as I want to, and I can't sleep as well as I'd like to (not that THAT will change after the baby is born... that part will probably be worse), and moving around is a pain - not painful, just ... awkward. 

My Adorable Kid

I just got an email from our friend Emily who used to watch Vince while I was at school. She spoke Portuguese with him, and he loved her SOO much! She sent a couple pictures of Vince, and the most ADORABLE video of him!! So, here they are:

Wishy Washy

First I want the baby to come ASAP, then I want the baby to hold off for a while. Okay, to be honest, this is the first I've wanted the baby to hold off. Our ward is having a fun little ladies' night out this weekend, and I've been meaning to go to RS stuff to meet some of the sisters and get to know people better (I feel like I've been hiding from my ward... mostly because I've felt like I have too much on my plate - first it was moving in, then it was being sick, now it's the fact that I could pop any day now). So anyway, I want Little Sister to wait until next week. My mom is flying in on Monday anyway, so it would be perfect timing! 

Too bad there's no way to really know. 

Well, so don't get all excited, because I'm trying to keep baby INSIDE now... I know, I know, just a few days ago I was doing jumping jacks and riding Russ' motorcycle over large bumps (just kidding... I actually wasn't doing either of those... jumping jacks are too incredibly uncomfortable, and I haven't been on Russ' bike for a few weeks... though that one isn't a bad idea!) 

Waiting for Baby

We're just waiting for baby. Still waiting.  I have a Dr's appointment tomorrow, so we'll see if I've progressed AT ALL. Hoping something's different (besides my weight... I feel much much bigger than last week... mostly just in my belly. I'm afraid if she doesn't come out soon she's going to get too big. I want a small baby... a little tiny one).

Anyway, in the mean time, Vince and I are hanging out, and I'm getting over this sinus infection. Last night I took Tylenol BEFORE I went to bed, and I only woke up once. Not sure what time it was, but somehow in the middle of trying to get out of the bed (it's a little more difficult when you're belly is so large and protruding and your ab muscles are virtually useless), Russ beat me to the bathroom, so I had to stand there and wait for him to pee. And I just realized why he turns the light on in the middle of the night just to go pee. Ha - to aim. I never turn the light on when I get up in the middle of the night to go pee - light when I'm sleepy makes me cranky. 

Back to the point - here is Vincente rearranging my tupperware cupboard. It will probably stay the way it is until I have baby - mostly because I don't like getting down low... it's kind of hard to get back up.

And this is what happened when he realized I had the camera. He really really likes the camera, and was coming after me. He threw a huge two year old tantrum when I told him he couldn't play with the camera. 

This is actually an older picture from when I was really really sick - Vincente stole my apple, and here he is eating it. He's actually really really good with an apple. And he loves them. I won't complain.

Me and Vince - me sick as a dog, drinking some Red Zinger tea, and Vince chillin next to me, chowing on his apple.

And the Bomb Keeps Ticking

On Sunday evening I started feeling some major intense contractions. They weren't painful at all. Mostly felt like I was flexing my stomach as hard as I could, except I wasn't doing anything. They weren't regular by any means, but it was exciting anyway! So on Tuesday I went to my OB appt and he said I was almost dilated to a 2. I went home excited that I had gotten so far without feeling anything (if anyone remembers, I felt every contraction from a 0 to a 10 with Vincente. Mostly I was feeling back labor... very very painful). Anyway, Tuesday after my OB appt, I kept having the irregular, very intense contractions all day. They got so intense that I would kind of space out during some of them. Heh, at one point we got home from WalMart and Russ asked me where the house keys were and it took me over a minute to think about it and tell him where they were. Then about 20 minutes later, in between contractions, he asked where is backpack was, and since I was fully functional, I told him right away where it was. The loopiness is a weird feeling.

Anyway, so that went on until Tuesday evening (last night) when we started playing Wii Bowling. I had a few contractions, but eventually they went away, and I didn't feel any contractions at all, all night (and I know because I woke up two or three times to go pee and once to take some Tylenol for my sinus headache). So I haven't been feeling any more contractions, which is kind of sad, but whatever. None of these contractions have been painful, so that has been nice. Well, some have been a little uncomfortable, but nothing like my labor with Vince. 

Now I am back to waiting. Oh, and I lied about not have any more contractions, when I got up this morning and started moving around I had a few, and just now I had one. Not as intense as they were yesterday, but at least they are coming again. Yay contractions! I never thought I would be sooooo excited to have contractions :D 

I'm pretty sure this baby is going to come by the end of the week. It only took me about 6 days to get from a 2 to a 10 with Vincente. I'm expecting this baby will come just as fast, if not faster. But we'll see. Maybe I'll just keep having these crazy contractions for two more weeks. Alas. 

Wish me luck!

Ticking

I feel like a time bomb, except I WANT this one to go off. Yesterday I had this sudden burst of energy and started feeling GREAT (I think it was mostly the pseudophedrine and acetametaphine, but I think part of it is because baby dropped - at least, I'm pretty sure she did).

Yesterday after I napped, I started feeling really anxious and nervous. And I was having really strong Braxton Hicks contractions pretty frequently. If I hadn't already convinced myself that I'm going to completely ignore contractions and anything else labor related until I feel like I need to push, I would have thought I was going into labor. The nice thing about it - the fact that I'm having contractions that aren't painful at all. I think it's because she's facing the opposite way than Vincente was. I know that Vincente was facing forward when I went into labor (causing oodles and oodles of back labor, and probably part of the reason my labor was so looooong). I think Little Sister is facing toward my back, which supposedly means less back labor, so I'm thinking that may be why the contractions aren't painful. I just hope I'm dilating some with these contractions. With Vince, each contraction on the road to a 10 was painful. I'm hoping I'm at least getting close to a 2 or 3 with these contractions... so when real labor starts, I won't have so far to go.... *shudder* I don't know what I'd do if labor is like it was with Vince. 

Anyway, so I started getting all "nesty" today - put up the co-sleeper, pulled out all the baby girl clothes, trying to find something suitable for a coming-home-from-the-hospital outift. I actually didn't find anything, so we'll probably go shopping tomorrow for something cute. I cleaned up, did laundry. Basically wore myself out. So, tomorrow I'm going to take it easy. I have a Dr's appt (and I'm probably going to ask about an anitbiotic, just to be sure that this sinus infection will go away before baby is born). 

Yesterday when I started thinking about going into labor, I felt very NOT ready for this baby. Now I feel mostly ready. Except I've got to make arrangements for Vince and for someone to drive me to the hospital, because I'm pretty sure she's going to come before my mom's planning on being here. So yeah. Not getting my hopes up, but starting to realize that we are actually going to add another member to our household in the next few weeks. WEE!

The Anti-Anti-inflammatory

A fetus. Yes. Because I'm pregnant, I can't take an anti-inflammatory, and you know what I want right now more than anything else? Ibuprofen. Like I would kill for it. My sinuses are killing me, and there is no way I'm going to be able to sleep EVER if the swelling doesn't stop. They're draining pretty well, and I don't feel nearly as congested as I did. I mostly feel swollen.

Oh yeah, so let me tell you what's been happening.

Ever since about the end of my first trimester, I've been congested. It happens. My sinuses get overproductive, and I get congested. It's usually not too uncomfortable, I just have to make sure I sleep with extra pillows at night.

Well, on Friday a week ago, I started feeling a sore throat coming on. I didn't think too much of it, because a sore throat isn't too inconvenient, and usually goes away after a few days. Well, then that night, I couldn't sleep. By the next morning, my congestion had turned to sinus infection, and something was going on in my lungs. By Saturday evening, I felt like I had been hit by a train, but no fever. Weird. It was like having the flu without really having the flu.

So I rested up over the weekend, Russ took care of things around the house for me (much MUCH appreciated) and I started feeling a lot better. By the time Russ went back to school/work on Tuesday, I felt like I was on the mend. My sinuses were still congested, but I felt like they were getting better. Wednesday night rolled around, and Vincente started crying in his sleep that night. Only a few times, so we thought maybe it was just a nightmare or something, but then he started coughing. And it sounded just like me. 

Last night was hell at our house. I am not trying to exaggerate either. We had humidifiers going in my room and in Vince's room, but still, Vince woke up crying around 11:30pm. Just as we were getting ready to go to bed. So we let him lay in our bed for a while, but he wiggles too much, so eventually, around 12:15, we put him back in his own bed. Well, that worked for a little while, in fact, just long enough for me to stop tossing and turning because of MY congestion. So around 2am, I got up with Vince. Russ came in after a few minutes when it was obvious that Vince wasn't going to be calmed down. So we put on Finding Nemo, and Vince settled down. We gave him some Tylenol, and Russ went back to bed while I watched "Memo" with Vince. Around 4am, I tried to get Vince to fall asleep in the rocking chair with me to the very last 30 minutes or so of Nemo. Needless to say, by then he wasn't very interested in sleeping. Finally, after the show was over, I just put him in his bed and let him fall asleep. I thought about going back to bed, but I couldn't breath, and I couldn't get my sinuses to clear up, so I just stayed up, knowing that Vince would be crying again in an hour or so. I watched this week's episode of House, and then just as it was over, heard Vince crying. So I took care of Vince for another hour. Finally, around 5:50, he went back to sleep, and I decided to lay down and attempt to go to sleep for a little bit. By the time Russ got up half an hour later, I decided sleep was not for me, and got up with Russ. 

And I was hysterical. Lack of sleep is not good for a sick, pregnant woman. Especially one who is emotional anyway. It was bad. I ate breakfast with Russ, then got in the shower around 6:45, hoping to stand in the nice hot water until it was all gone. No such luck. Vince woke up not more than 10 minutes after I started enjoying my hot shower. I got him to lay on my bed with me for about 15 minutes, but then, just as I was getting comfortable (i.e. being able to breathe through my nose again) he woke up, crying. 

So... yeah...

I'm running on absolutely no sleep.

The one friend that I would feel like I could call to watch Vince so I could sleep has two sick kids of her own, so I can't call her. 

My visiting teacher is in the middle of leaving her husband, so I can't call her.

I'm alone, sick, tired, and I have a sick kid to take care of... 

Help me...

Flying By

The past week has flown by... mostly because I developed a disgusting sinus infection that has been taking over my entire upper respiratory system. Yeah. It sucks. Major. Then I thought it was turning into the flu, because I felt like I had the flu, but no fever. Where's the major germ killing heater when you need it? I feel like I get over stuff better when I have a fever to go along with the nastiness.

Anyway, rather than go into the morbid details of my sick week... well, the being sick part of it... I will post a few pictures. 

Oh yes, and the blessing of my sick week? Well, I was only congested until Friday night - that's when things got ugly (couldn't sleep at night because I could breath, coughing my lungs out with every breath, blowing all sorts of nasty mucus out of... well, you get the picture) so the whole weekend (from Friday night until Monday evening) was just miserable. Sick and miserable. I got a blessing Sunday morning, went to Church (which I wasn't really planning on doing), started feeling worse after Church, anyway, you get the idea. So Russ had a four day weekend (for President's Day) which means he was home all weekend to take care of me. We discovered that I have a hard time taking it easy, and so Russ had to force me to take naps and take it easy - but I did it, and I'm recovering (sort of). The best part of me being sick was that it happened when Russ was home to take care of me. I don't know what I would have done being sick in the middle of the week... I don't want to think about it.  

Anyway, so the fun part of our week - 

Watching Vince run around the house naked (barely hiding his man parts with his Snuggle).

Cooking yummy-licious stuffed mushrooms!

Papai cuddling with Vince on the kitchen floor after Church.

Papai reading Vince bedtime stories (Russ translates Vince's favorite books into Portuguese - so this one is about a 'passarinho' looking for 'minha mãe.'

Vince finally playing nice with other kids! He let them play with ALL of his toys, and didn't even care. These are some friends from Church we had over for dinner on Sunday (against my better judgement... but we had fun anyway!)

Wow, I was Fatter Last Time

So, I've been looking through pictures of me when I was pregnant with Vince... I gained SO much weight with him! It's weird, though, because I am up to 154 lbs (which is only about 12 lbs less than my weight when I delivered with Vince). ButI don't think it's nearly as much fat as it was with Vince. I got sooo huge. I still have a little more than 4 weeks to go, so I don't want to jinx myself, but here are some pictures to compare (granted these two pictures just show my face, but I think that might be a pretty good indicator of my overall weight gain).

The me on the left is pregnancy #2, and the me on the right is pregnancy #1. These pictures were both taken at about the same point in my pregnancy. I think they may be a week or two apart, as far as gestation goes. 

With Vince, my pre-pregnancy weight was about 112 lbs, and my weight just before delivery was 167 lbs (OH MY HECK I WAS HUGE!!). With this baby, my pre-pregnancy weight was probably 120-125 lbs (I never got quite as small as I was before... but then I don't think I was finished growing when I got preggo with Vince). So far I'm up to 154 lbs... I don't think I'll gain 13 lbs in 4 weeks (that would be crazy) so I think I'm doing a lot better this time. I'll probably have a total weight gain of about 30 lbs, which to be honest was my goal.

The pictures are also taken from different angles, so that throws things off, but I can tell they're much different because I've been looking at myself in the mirror, waiting for my face to explode. And I've been waiting for my pants to get tighter, and my thighs to get huge, and my love handles to triple in size... and nothing is happening... yet.

Floors and such

I am looking for a runner rug to put down my extremely long, bare hallway (mostly to catch all the junk that's tracked back and forth down the hallway - so I can just vacuum instead of having to sweep... sweep... sweep)

I don't want to have to put more than one rug down, so I'm looking for one that is about 14' long. The only place I've been able to find runner rugs that long is at Overstock.com. If anyone knows of any other places to find them, let me know.

This is my favorite design so far, but it's also the more expensive rug (closer to $200).

These next ones are mostly too busy and bold for me... I like the more subdued look of the red/tan one above. But these are the more affordable rugs (closer to $100).

These first two are my favorites of the more bold rugs.

These two are just a few other options... not ones I'm particularily fond of...

Dishwasher Juggling

In a normal home, when you ask your husband to empty the dishwasher, you feel pretty safe about his eyes, apendages, and your linoleum floor. Yeah, not so in my house. If I ask my husband to empty the dishwasher, chances are I'm going to get a little juggling act. 

my desk!

I finally got my new desk put together! I am super excited. It is very pretty and holds everything really nicely (except my scanner... it doesn't hold my scanner very well ... the stupid thing is too long for the rolly-out shelf, but I stuck in on there anyway).

It also has doors, but we didn't put them on tonight because we didn't really want to put it together tonight anyway, we were going to wait until the weekend, but the card table that has been holding my computer is borrowed from ACS and is due back tomorrow (along with all the other stuff we borrowed from them when we first got here). So I needed a place to put my compy, and now he has a home, and he is very very happy.

I would take a picture of mine and upload it, but it's not all the way put together, so I'm just going to put the picture from the website :)

So, there is what it looks like - minus the ridiculously out dated CRT. I mean, really, who has a CRT monitor these days? (no offense if you're still using one... it must be a hand-me-down, I completely understand, we went through our days of hand-me-down computers, too) Anyway, I love my desk.

Now it's time to put little Vince to bed. I've let him stay up way too late as it is.

Quickie

I haven't written in a while, and I always hate that. Sorry, no pictures to go along with this post - although my camera is holding a few pics of Vince reading on the potty (adorable, let me tell you). I'll post those when I have enough time to sit down and let the pictures upload.

Potty Training - it's going well, we're mostly just putting him in pull-ups and telling him to "have a potty break" every 30 min. or so, and asking him if he needs to go potty. Usually, the answer to that is "NO!" although I think he's starting to say "No, thank you" since I've been redirecting that one. Earlier today when I asked if he wanted to eat lunch he said "NO! Thank you." Hee hee, self correcting is hilarious in little kids.

Baby #2 - I have my first OB appointment today in about an hour and a half. I'm going to go take a shower and get ready, since Vince fell asleep on the way home from the Presidio (we had to drop Russ off because it's a little rainy today). I'm really excited, but kind of anxious to find out how this little chickie is doing. I keep having Braxton-Hicks contractions. Mostly they happen in the morning, but any time is good for them. They are particularily uncomfortable, but as long as I just ignore them, they are bearable. It's a new experience for me, because I never really had Braxton-Hicks contractions with Vincente. The midwives would ask me every time and I would be like "My uterus does what?" Yeah... so I'm already feeling better about this baby's delivery. If I'm having Braxton-Hicks contractions, that means my body knows what the heck it's doing this time. Last time I think my body had no clue what was going on. So, we'll see.

Russ and school - he's doing pretty well. I'm trying to be supportive and let him study as much as he needs to. Some days are better than others, because some days I just want him to hang out with me and not study, which is completely selfish. Oh well. It'll be all good.

The mama - I am exhausted. Worn out. I wish I could sleep more. I don't sleep well at night (congestion from being preggo - starts at about 12 weeks for me and lasts the whole time), and having to pee. If Russ gets out of bed at ALL, I wake up, and then because I have to pee so badly, I can't go back to sleep unless I pull my achy, stiff body out of bed and go pee. So I do, and then I go back to bed, only to be awoken again when he gets up to go to work. Which is early. This morning, though, I completely slept through him getting up and getting ready! It was amazing. And then I had the fan on in my room, so I didn't hear Vincente at all until I got out of bed at 8 and went in to check on him. Of course he was just playing in his room. Sweet kid. I'm trying to keep the house clean, you know, do all the stay-at-home-mom stuff. Playgroup with the other RS sisters is a beautiful thing. Naps are wonderful... too bad those don't happen very often... in fact, I can't remember the last time I had a nap. *sigh* some day.

Anyway, this turned out longer than I thought it would, and I've gotta get ready to go, so yeah... hope you enjoyed the little updates.

Potty Training - Day 4

In some ways, today was much better... in some ways, it was much worse. I think I'm more stressed out about potty training when Vince is in regular underwear (as he was for the whole morning, until lunch) than when he is in pull-ups (as he was practically from lunch time until bed time). He actually stayed dry the whole morning (except once, I think) and then right when Russ got home for lunch, Vince had another accident. 

Getting him to sit on the potty willingly was still an ordeal for most of the day. Finally, just before Russ got home, he started sitting on the potty willingly, and mostly by himself. He kept that up for most of the rest of the evening. He went through about four pull-ups, and while I'm sure him peeing in the pull-up isn't going to be particularily productive, I'm more worried about him willingly sitting on the potty. You win some, you lose some. Right now, I want to win the sitting-on-the-potty war more than I want to win the getting-him-to-ask-to-go-to-the-potty war.

As soon as we start the day with him being willing to sit on the potty, I will graduate him to normal underwear for the whole day (maybe... I might take that back... I just need a break some times - in a pull-up, I can read for a good 15 minutes before I have to put him on the potty again, and he usually stays dry between then). I have a Dr's appt in the morning, so that will kind of thwart our potty training for the day. I'm going to try to get up and get ready for the day before Vince is awake, so as soon as he wakes up, we can do potty training right up until we have to leave for the Dr's office. We should get a good hour and a half in. And then we'll spend most of the afternoon (until he naps) potty training in regular underwear, then after nap, do the pull-up routine again. I would put a pull up on him for our trip to the Dr's office, but I don't think he's ready to try out a big potty, and I don't have one of those convenient fold up potty seat things. 

He did say once to me this evening (around 7pm) "Mamãe, I pee pee in pants." While that's not exactly what I'm waiting for him to say, the fact that he informed me at all about his bodily functions is a HUGE step forward for us. We just change his pull-up and have him try to pee on the potty after a pull-up "accident". 

So, despite being very discouraged this morning (around lunch time... he didn't seem to be improving at all), by the time the evening rolled around, I was much more encouraged. I really think it has something to do with him wearing a pull-up instead of underwear. When he's in underwear, I'm all high strung, and watching him really closely to make sure he doesn't pee all over the house. If he's in a pull-up, I just let him do his thing, asking him every now and then if he needs to go potty, and making him sit on the potty every 30 minutes (or when I see him dancing around).

Oh yeah, that's the other step we've made - I think he's starting to better understand his bladder control, because he's started doing funny things when he needs to pee, like walking like a penguin, and the best one - lifting his leg (like a dog). Both are really hilarious, and I'm glad that he now makes some kind of sign that he needs to pee. I really think he's starting to understand the potty thing. It makes me feel like he will get it down before Little Sister comes. 

There is hope... and there is a light at the end of the tunnel. And I am wearing out my poor pregnant body. I'm starting to regret having started potty training at 7 1/2 months pregnant, but we've made too much progress for me to feel good about stopping now. Heh, so as long as potty training doesn't put me into pre-term labor, he'll be potty trained before I have this baby!

I can't wait.

Potty Training - Day 3 (a Hiatus)

Today we decided that maybe Vince's aversion to sitting in the potty chair has to do with the little splash guard. I think it's been hitting him in his poor little man parts, or at least hit him once or twice, probably really really hard. We took a trip to WalMart to find a better chair. We think we found one. And it plays a little tune when he pees in the potty, so that's a nice plus (we don't have to try to see in the potty to find out when he's going pee. I also think the music will help him want to sit on the potty to try to pee and get the music to start. Heh. 

The other nice thing about the splash guard on the new chair is that instead of just sitting in front of his man parts, it kind of covers them, so they still have room for him to do is business, and protects my legs from getting shot, all at the same time. Also, the splash guard folds down for storage, but that also means that if he doesn't sit down quite right, instead of knocking his package, it folds down, and then we can just flip it back up after he's sat down. That's probably more comfortable than sitting right down on the splash guard.

But it was Saturday, and I had decided that I wasn't going to potty train over the weekend - I need to keep my sanity, and I need a chance to recharge after a loooong two days of potty training. So we didn't even open the potty chair when we got home.

I was sitting on the couch, drinking a glass of water and watching Vince play in the living room, when he started getting curious about the box containing his new potty chair. He wanted to get it out, so I obliged him, thinking he would probably just play with it. I said to myself, whatever he wants to do, at least it will get him more comfortable with his chair.

I set up the chair in the living room (keep in mind that Vince is still clad in a diaper and some pants), and went back to my glass of water and whatever it was I was doing (maybe reading?). I started enjoying watching Vince play with his new potty chair, and all of the sudden, he started pulling at the crotch of his pants saying "I go pee pee, I go pee pee." I was completely taken by surprise, but stripped him as fast as I could. Of course, once he was naked, he would NOT sit on the potty chair, so I picked him up and sat him on the potty chair. He protested while I sat him down, but once he was sitting down he immediately got quiet and peed in the chair! He was completely thrilled by the music, and praised himself with clapping hands and "Yay, Vincente! Good boy, Vincente!" It was adorable. The new potty chair is a little more complicated in emptying, because you have to take the seat off, first, and then take the cup out, but he figured it out fast enough and of course enjoyed dumping his pee in the "big toilet." I thought maybe he would do it again, so I put his Lightening McQueen undies on him, but two minutes later, he was playing with a truck on the floor, and I think he was just distracted because he started peeing. Once he realized he was peeing, he got really sad and started talking about his "wet pants." It was kind of depressing. 

Anyway, the fact that he told me he needed to go pee pee gives me hope for potty training, and maybe it won't be as long as I thought it would be. If we can just get him to sit down on the potty by himself, I think we'll be home free after that!

Potty Training - Day 2

Today was at least a little better than Day 1.5 - although I've decided to take it a little slower, mostly because Vincente is still very VERY nervous of the potty chair. I haven't been able to determine why he's so nervous of it, but I've decided that the only way we're going to get over this is to practice practice practice. But I don't really have the energy to do it all day every day, so I've decided on a new routine for potty training:

When Vincente wakes up, I'll have him sit on the potty (hopefully pee) and then put on some underwear. All morning, from breakfast until lunchtime, I'll make him sit on the potty every 15 minutes for about 5 minutes (what Azrin and Foxx suggest after they've successfully peed in the potty). If he has an accident, I just have him clean up the mess, sit on the potty, and put on clean underwear. He's so afraid of the potty chair that I think having him do the practice trials that Azrin and Foxx suggest would be more damaging than anything, plus, he cries when he pees his pants anyway. I figure he understands that wet undies are not as desireable as dry undies. 

Just before lunch I am going to have him sit on the potty one last time, and then put a pull up on him for the rest of the day. I'll ask him all the time if he needs to go potty, and make sure he sits on the potty at least once every 30 minutes, and still make a big deal out of having wet undies, but I just don't have the energy to do the potty every 15 minutes ALL day long, especially because it's still a little stressful to get him to actually SIT on the potty. Seriously, once he's there, he doesn't mind being there, and during today's training he peed in the potty almost every single time he sat down, so it seems like he's not damaged by being nervous, he's just nervous. Maybe it's like riding a bike...

Anyway, then I'll diaper him at naptime (because he's still really little and pees a LOT in his sleep - in fact, I'd previously noticed that he pees more in his sleep than he does during any other 2 hour period of time), and then depending on how much energy I have for the afternoon (and if we have to go out - to a Dr's appt, etc) I'll either put a pull up on him, and continue the 30 minute potty time intervals, and keep asking him if he needs to go potty; or I'll just diaper him and give myself a little break from potty training for a few hours. 

I'm going to have him sit on the potty before we change for bed, and then diaper him at night.

Then it will start over again in the morning.

I've decided that it is useless to wear myself out every day, day after day (being 7 1/2 mos pregnant isn't exactly the best shape to be in when you potty train ... emotions run high, your body aches anyway, and you have absolutely NO energy... and you can't move very quickly, so a little toddler in underwear around your rugs and furniture is like a disaster waiting to happen). It's useless because although we're making some progress, Vincente is still nervous of the potty, and since the whole goal of potty training is to have your kid go to the potty on their own and sit down on it, we're not going to make any more progress until he stops fighting the sitting down on the potty chair part. 

The odd part about Vince's discomfort with the potty chair is that he will gladly sit on the chair fully clothed. Bare-bummed, he starts turning around and acting like he's going to sit on it, but keeps changing his mind at the last second. So I decided that instead of trying to get him to sit on the chair every 15 minutes and having to fight his nerves every 15 minutes, we'd do a quick multiple repititions all at once deal. I told Vincente, to prepare him, "Vince, we're going to practice the act of sitting on the potty. You can either do it all by yourself, I will help you, or I will make you sit on the potty chair." So, I removed his undies, and we started. Each time I would ask him if he wanted to do it himself. If he hesitated, I picked him up and sat him on the potty chair. The first time, that's what I did. The second time, he started doing it on his own, but then I tried to help him, and he freaked out on me. So then the next twenty times, I had to pick him up and sit him on the potty. But then, HE DID IT! He sat down on the potty all by himself. It was great progress. After that, he still showed signs of being nervous at our 15 minutes potty trials, but it wasn't nearly as bad, and occaisionally, he sat down on his own (with a little bit of help).

It was an exhausting day 2, and I like my new plan better, especially since we're running into a few obstacles with Vince. He's doing a really good job, though - he is really smart, and he understands everything that is going on (so far). He understands that he pees, he understands HOW to pee (sit down, relax, pee comes out), and he understands how to empty his potty chair.

The next obstacles we face (in order of importance - to me, at least) are being comfortable sitting down on the potty chair on his own, understanding when he has the urge to pee (which includes learning how to hold his pee in until he sits on the potty chair), and then going potty by himself. Oh, and then there's getting him to pull down his undies by himself, but I figure since he's still so little, and he's only recently had the experience of wearing undies, it might take a while for that one to come. He knows how to take his pants off, I know, because he's done it before.

I think we probably have at least a few more weeks of training to go before he starts pottying himself successfully. Hopefully I last that long. Otherwise I might have to hire someone to finish the job. But at least we've made a good start... I just didn't expect it to take this long. I thought maybe a few days. He's just soooo nervous about the potty chair - and that's going to take a little while to get over.

Potty Training - Day 1.5

I say Day 1.5 because we technically started potty training a few weeks ago, but things didn't go very well (we didn't have a potty chair, just a cushion thing that goes on the big toilet) so we gave up and decided to wait until we could buy a potty chair. Then we bought the potty chair, and I've been too tired and too busy to attempt it again. SO! Today was the day -

Realizing that Pee Comes Out

The first obstacle we faced was Vincente needing to understand that pee comes out of him, and that it is wet and icky and he wants to put it in the potty instead of in his underwear. I was having a hard time getting him to sit on the potty, and I figured it was because he didn't really understand what this potty business was all about. So, since I can shut the doors to our kitchen, I turned up the heat in the house (you'll see why in a minute), shut me and Vince in the kitchen, picked all the rugs up off the floor (to minimize clean up afterward), stripped Vince stark naked (except his socks), and let him run around and pee all over the floor. Now, you might thing that I am the craziest person you've ever met, and you're probably right - and I might not have done this under other circumstances, but I had already tried the straight up putting him in undies, setting him on the potty every 15 minutes, etc with absolutely no success, and with Vince not even really understanding why he was sitting on the potty. So I guess I was at my wits end. 

Now, I didn't just let him mess all over the floor and leave it there, every time he peed on the floor, I made him clean it up, and I made sure to tell him that it was his pee pee on the floor, and that we don't like to put pee pee on the floor, that we want to put it in the potty chair. This went on from about 10am until noon when he FINALLY let me set him on the potty chair. He peed a little bit in the chair, and so after much praise and many M&Ms and a cookie, I donned him in brand new whitey tighties and instructed him to empty his potty chair in the big toilet down the hall. He had a blast dumping it in the potty, but was afraid of flushing if the seat and lid were up. So once I figured all that out, we had a routine down, and he (mostly) enjoyed it.

Azrin and Foxx's Toilet Training in Less Than a Day

This is the book that my mother gave me about potty training, and the book I've been reading probably since Vince was walking. I liked the way they approached potty training, especially since they also talked about getting your child to obey. So I've been practicing the Azrin/Foxx method of teaching Vincente to obey for a long time (give the brief instruction, and give "manual guidance" - i.e. put your hands on theirs and make them do it - if they don't respond immediately) This method of instruction had been working really well in other aspects of Vince's life - learning to clean up his toys, learning to take his dishes to the sink, learning to stay close to me in crowded places (although that one is slowly wearing off now that his need for autonomy is increasing). So I decided to start there.

The basic schedule we follow is this - every 5 minutes, I ask Vince if his pants are dry. If he feels them and can feel that they are dry, he gets and M&M. Every 15 minutes, we go through a "prompted pottying" which goes as follows: walk to the potty, pull down your undies, sit on the potty (this requires me mostly to force him to sit on the potty, because he hates that part), sit on the potty for five minutes (or until he pees, which ever comes first). If he hasn't gone pee on the potty, yet, you're supposed to try to get him to sit on the potty until he pees, but since Vince didn't like sitting on the potty anyway, I barely got him on for a few seconds the first couple times. But then I caught him once when he REALLY needed to pee, and ever since then we've been able to do the five minutes. 

If he pees in the potty chair, we praise him, give high fives, kuckles, etc and put on his still dry undies. He is praised for having dry undies, and for going pee pee in the potty chair. Then he gets the pot out of the potty chair and takes it to the "big toilet" as he calls it. He dumps it in by himself (his gross motor skills are still a little crazy, so I make sure to help him if he's about to miss the toilet). Then I close the lid, and he flushes. He puts the pot back in the potty chair (he always says "This way" because there is a certain way you have to put it in so it fits). Then we dance and celebrate how Vince went potty in the potty chair, and I give him a cookie (those bite-sized chips ahoy I found work best). 

If he doesn't pee in the potty chair, after five minutes, he gets back up and I praise him for having dry pants and give him an M&M. 

This goes on... well, so far this is where we are, because he hasn't requested to go to the potty yet.

Although, since we were shut in the kitchen from about 10am-4pm without leaving, other than to empty his pot, when Pai got home, we went in the living room (moved the rug), turned on Finding Nemo, and continued with our schedule. Around 4:30, he sat on the potty, mostly willingly, and PEED BY HIMSELF! Usually he only starts peeing on the potty chair because he's so mad at having to sit on the potty chair, and so he squishes out some pee, then realizes what he's doing and pees by himself after that. Up until 4:30ish I'd never been able to get him to pee on the potty chair when he was CALM on the chair... only if he was emotional, which doesn't seem like it will make much progress. So, this was a big step for us, he got all quiet, relaxed, concentrated really hard, and PEED! It was a great moment. I'm glad Russ was there for it. 

Unfortunately, almost right after that pottying, he fell asleep... on the pottying ... so he was on the potty chair. It was adorable. We sat him down, and he just passed out on the chair. That's what we get for not giving him a nap all day. 

So, here it is - Vincente falling alseep on the potty.

And that's it, our first day of pottying. I hope things go just as well tomorrow. 

Scanning Nostalgia

I have been putting my Christmas presents to good use. The KitchenAid, of course, has been making biscuit dough, whole wheat pancakse, and once I get some yeast, it will be making whole wheat bread - yummy! Oh yeah, it made cookies a few nights ago, too - Jessica's recipe. We took some cookies to a friend's house. The cookies at both houses were gone within a day. Yummy cookies.

Anyway, my other gift was a scanner. I hate paper. It accumulates, and you have to get a big old filing cabinet and file folders and keep track of things, and in order not to accidently throw away something you're going to need later, your files just keep getting bigger and bigger. So, I decided that I would scan all those things into my computer - you know, all the stuff you want to keep, but it's silly to keep paper copies of. All the things that I want to keep permenantly, I will eventually burn to CDs or DVDs, so I dont' have to worry about my harddrive crashing and loosing everything (I'm also going to save up for an external harddrive, so I can save all the documents on an external harddrive and save space on the one in my compy). Anything that is like a time capsule - you know, tax documents, receipts, etc - stuff you only keep for a certain number of years - I'll just leave on the external harddrive - no need to waste permenant storage space with stuff I can delete in the future. So I will only have to have maybe one little accordian style folder with documents that we reference frequently and often have to take places (like our lease, insurance documents, birth certificates, etc). It makes me feel more clutter-free. I hate clutter. With a passion. So, in all of this scanning, I came across two old photos that I had framed in homemade frames - here they are. I actually decided to keep the one of me and Leslie. I'll hang it up inside my computer armoire (once all the parts come and we put it together).

This one from girls' camp - I think my first year as a JC... I can't quite remember. All I remember is really enjoying myself, loving the girls, and learning how to do that stuff where you stamp something and then put this crystally stuff on it and heat it up. I know it has a name, but I can't remember the name. I think that year was one of the best years of camp.

This picture was taken of me and Leslie at a stake conference once upon a time. I seem to remember that she and I were singing in the choir for that stake conference... my memory seems to be going these days. Or I'm just getting older, so all these "younger" moments are kind of fading. That's one reason it's nice to have pictures and scrapbooks. Helps you remember. I think I made this frame at a girls' camp, too. 

Happy Anniversary, Blog!

I just realized that my blog officially turned 1 year old on the 7th! Hooray, blog! I meant to write a nice little post on the actual anniversary of my blog, but I completely forgot, so happy belated anniversary, blog.