Oh no!

Well, we've made our decision, and it looks like I'll be staying in the US with Liara for September and October (and maybe a few days of November too). I'm looking forward to getting some serious work done, helping our family fix some financial instabilities, and seeing some people that I haven't seen in a while. There are a few major events that I'll get to take part in as well, so I'm pretty excited (such as a cousin's bridal shower and the possible birth of my sister-in-law's first baby). Awesome.

However... I've fallen behind in my house cleaning, partly due to Liara catching a cold. Yep, just a few days before a 15 hour plane ride. Boo. My poor baby has itchy/watery eyes, a super runny nose, and sneezes every two minutes. She looks miserable, but she's a trooper. She only gets fussy if I'm more than 3 feet away from her (or doing something other than paying attention to her... hmm). I understand that, there's nothing better than a Momma's love when you don't feel well. My only problem with that is that those dishes in my kitchen aren't going to do themselves, the floor isn't self cleaning, the laundry pile is trying to make a comeback and those suitcases I packed for us, well, aren't going to cut it for three months. Oh dear, it looks like it'll be a late night for me tonight...

If anyone wants to be my maid for a couple days, I'd really appreciate it! This house needs to be spic and span by the time we leave so that Nic doesn't completely destroy it when he's by himself for two months. Oh geez, am I sure about this?!

Opportunities come knocking...

Look at me, I've become a fairly regular (or at least more frequent) blogger lately. Go me.

I just needed to get some thoughts out of my head and try to make up my mind about some things that will drastically change our living situation for a while.

We've been struggling with money lately... we've been able to pay our bills, but there isn't anything left over at the end of the month which is a little nerve wracking when you've got a baby on the way and taxes due at the end of the year (5k worth of taxes... eek!). It's been something that has weighed heavily on my (and Nic's) mind and we've had many a discussion about it. We've thought about me going back to work, but with childcare costs and whatnot, it really isn't that great of an option (especially since I can't teach here unless it's at an international school). We've thought about him going offshore for a while, but that isn't a fantastic option either. We were running out of ideas.

That's when I got a heads up about a possibility from a past employer regarding testing (again... something I am very interested in and enjoy doing). It has super flexible hours (so I could stay home with Liara still) and is fantastic money. Plus, it's in my field of study and gives me more experience in a career I'm interested in following. Win-win right? Well...

There is a slight downside. By slight, I would mean that I'd have to stay in the US without Nicolas for a while. Yes, while pregnant and with an 18-21 month old. Basically, I'd stay in Houston instead of returning back at the end of the month, and stay until the beginning of November. Then Liara and I would come back to the UK for November and December, then head back for more work in January. I'd stay there until the work was done (it's calibrating and standardizing a test) and then return with Nic... unless he's able to convince his work that he can work from home in the US and travel back and forth to the UK as needed. He's already talked to his boss about it, but no decision has been made. It wouldn't have any effect on his schooling since it's distance education and he would be able to take his exams at any university.

That's a lot to have happen just 5 days before you leave for a trip. I'm not sure whether to pack for three weeks or three months... I'm sure I'll figure it out though. I'll have more info from my former boss tonight, so hopefully that'll help us make up our minds. Either way, we're looking forward to being back in the US, however long it may be for. Keep us in your thoughts/prayers please... we could use some good vibes to figure out what the heck we're doing!

Wordless Wednesday!

I don't normally do Wordless Wednesdays, but I had some cute pictures of Li that I just have to share. Perhaps I should do it more often :)

Liara as she says "cheese" for the camera (yes, there is a bruise on her forehead... one of the many bruises she's been sporting lately)

Another picture of my beautiful little girl. Man, we're going to be in trouble when she starts liking boys.

A smiling picture with her Dink :) I love that you can see the smile even with it in her mouth.

Playing in the suitcase is so much fun...

Liara playing Peek-a-boo in one of our suitcases.

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Look!

Two posts in the same week! Aren't you lucky!

I just had to share a few more cute things that Liara is doing lately, things I forgot to mention last post.

- Any time a helicopter flies overhead (which is often... we're right on the direct path of the choppers picking up/dropping off guys to and from the rigs in the North Sea for their shift changes) Liara points to the sky (or the windows if we're inside) and says "OOH Copter!" She then waves like a mad woman until she can't hear or see it anymore. It's adorable, even when she wakes up from a nap to do it (yes, she's done that several times...).

-One of her favorite games/hobbies is running. She will shout that she's "running!" and then run from one end of the house to the other. Then shout "running!" again and run back. Over and over again.

-She's very self-sustaining. When she wants a snack, she'll go get one (most likely cereal or a pretzel from the tub on the table, which means she gets to climb onto one of the chairs) or if she's thirsty, she'll get a bottle of water from the cupboard and bring it to you to open. Oh, she's making my life so much easier!

-She still LOVES to dance. Anytime there's music on (and there aren't strangers around), she's dancing to it. She then looks around the room and points at you until you're dancing with her. Everyone has to dance.

- Did I say she loves to read... because I really meant it. Today we have read 84 books so far (it's 3:45)... I decided to keep track, just to see. It's no wonder she gets bored with our books and loves when we go to the library! I love that she's a bookworm and can just see her absorbing all those glorious words!

-She is very aware when the phone rings and will shout "phone" and get it and bring it to you if it is nearby. If not, she continues to shout "oh no! Phone!" until you get it.

-She's a great helper. If you are doing laundry she will empty the washing machine for you, put the dirty clothes in, and then wait for you to add the soap. When you're done, she'll push the start button and then clap. What really gets me is that she loves to smell the clothes to see if they're clean and will let you know the results (either "YUCK" or "mmmm"). Lol. She also helps to pick up her toys and will fetch anything you ask for (as long as she can carry/reach it).

-She always wakes up happy. She gives the best morning hugs and kisses, and will always wave at you. My favorite part though, is if Daddy's still sleeping, she'll imitate him (making a snoring sound) and then giggle. :) Too funny.

-She loves to tickle people. Although it's more of her saying "tickle tickle" and almost scratching you... it's still cute.

-She loves baths. She doesn't ever want to get out (but will if you say it's time) and just plays and plays and plays in there. Her favorite bath time toy is her tea set, and she'll pour you a mean cup of bath water tea.

-She gives love pats when she hugs. I love this!

-She used to make this face (we never caught it on camera and she hasn't made it in over a week now... bummer) that cracked us up. She would tilt her head down and look out of the top of her eyes (like she was rolling her eyes at you...) and keep a super serious face, then she'd look up and laugh. Oh, it was cute. I'm hoping it'll come back and I can catch it. She just never wanted to do it on film.

-She gets on the scale every morning before breakfast... I'm pretty sure she's seen me do it to check my weight gain for this pregnancy. Perhaps not the best habit for a child, but it's still pretty cute.

Ok... my little girl is tired of "running" now, so I'll go.

All My Children

Ok, so I figured I'd start with the baby. We had our 20 week ultrasound on Monday (our third and final ultrasound, that we know of). The baby looked beautiful and was perfectly formed as it should be. We got to fully inspect the heart ventricles and cavities, brain, spine, legs, kidneys, arms... etc. Pretty much everything except the genitalia. If you missed it when we were pregnant with Liara, they don't tell you the sex of the baby here. If you ask, they tend to get really grumpy about it and point out the numerous signs on the wall saying that they don't determine the sex of the baby and they'd prefer if you didn't ask about it (we found this out when we asked WHERE we could go to find out the sex if we so desired with Liara. We didn't even ask her specifically if she would tell us, just where we could go to find out). There are private clinics here that you can go to, they normally charge around 60 pounds (100 dollars) for a 2D sexing scan, or around 120 pounds for a 3D one. We decided not to with Liara since it didn't really matter and we aren't sure whether we'll find out with this one either. Again, it doesn't really matter what sex the baby is (and we have a feeling it's a girl anyway) and we'll find out in 20 weeks anyway! The tech this time was pretty nice and gave us 6 pictures to take home (usually it's 3-4) including these two which were my favorites. I have all of them on facebook if you're interested in seeing the others.

This one is our sweet baby waving it's hand at us. We told Liara that the baby was waving at her and she seemed to like that. She didn't really understand what was going on while we were there (and was a little more impatient this time than the other two, but they were shorter than this one was so I guess that was expected). I love how you can see each little finger so well... such a nice little hand print to keep :)
This one (pardon the huge spaces... Nic scanned the pictures in at work and I haven't taken the time to crop off the extra space around the edges) is our baby's face. The baby kept sucking it's thumb and then for this picture pulled it out and yelled a little. I think it was tired of the tech trying to get it to move around so that she could see all the valves in the heart. I like how it looks like it's smiling though... even if it isn't.

Ok. Onto our first sweet baby, or toddler that is. I can't believe she's already 18 months! She's growing like a weed and it seems like every day she's saying more and more (because she is... she's learning about 10 new words a day I swear) and doing more and more (again... she is). She's such a joy and I can't even express in words how much I love that girl! We loved her name because it meant "my light" in Hebrew and to be honest, I think it's perfect for her. She definitely lights up my life and I'm not sure how I faced the world without her. She has made me so unbelievably happy. Anyway, enough about how she makes me feel... on to the good stuff: what's been going on for her.

Height: 31.5"

Weight: According to our scale (which is probably wrong) 23 lbs

Likes: Playing with Mommy, building towers with blocks, climbing on any chairs or object that will get her higher than she's supposed to be, playing with playdoh, doing puzzles, re-organizing our movie drawers, reading (Li LOVES to read), bath time, playing with her sand table, playing with the kitties across the street, visiting the ponies/horses, helping Mommy with laundry, swinging, playing with her friends, jumping on the couch/trampoline/floor... dancing, singing and painting.

Dislikes: Being away from Mommy...

Favorite Foods: Shepard's pie, carrots, peas, potatoes, candy, cookies, pizza, cheese, milk, water (this girl LOVES water... especially if it's flavored), blueberries, strawberries, plums, nectarines. She likes pretty much anything though.

Foods she doesn't care for: Raspberries

Animal Sounds: Cow (moo), Cat (meow), Dog (woof and aoooo for howling), Donkey (hee-haw), Owl (who who), Sheep (baa), Goat (maa), Horse (she whinnies, SO cute), Goose (honk), Bee (bzz), Snake (ssss), Duck (quack)

Words she says (this isn't a complete list, as I can't remember them all... but I figure ~150 will give you a general idea): Mommy/Mama, Daddy, Book, More, Oh no, Uh oh, Bike, Shoes, Cheese, Banana, Belly Button, Nose, Black, Red, Green, Purple, Go, Sock, Out, Shirt, Dink (pacifier), Teeth, Booby, Milk, Bob (Godfather), Grandpa, Mick (Mickey Mouse), Yeah, Cat, Tea, Bye, No, Good, Girl, Hello, Hi, Ball, Wow, Drink, Juice, Broke, Cow, Pringle, Please, Rock, Up, Weee!, Awww!, Man, Back (both for the back of the body and coming back from somewhere), Toes, Come, Night, Pee, Phone, Cookie, Help, At, Paint, Work, Bath, One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Snack, Duck, House, Kite, Dog, Nap, Big, Sorry, Hot, Pretty, Ring, In, Minnie, Water, Mat, Bug, Birdie, Bum, Car, Money, Home, Horse, Manny, Plum, Candy, Poky, Puppy, Giggle, Tickle, Best, Sister, Friend, Bottle, Walk, Carry, Ella (her friend), Brush, Bite, Bus, Bee, Shower, Potty, What's That, Clothes, Bed, Morning, Trash, TV, Chair, Cold, Lotion, Airplane, Pizza, Dinner, Eye, Ear, Mouth, Read, Honey, Movie, Wet, Baby, Sleeping, Windy, Heavy, Booger, Mess, Dressed, Running, Bag, Play, Swing, Slide, Park, Ride, Moon, Tay Tay (her cousin), Dax (her cousin), Cup, Tower, Swim, Hair, Boots, Puzzle, Glasses, Build, Ta (Scottish way of saying thank you), Toys... you get the idea.

She can combine those words in strings... usually up to three words (like "mommy build tower", or "daddy at work?" "more pringles please" etc...). I'm certainly proud of her and am so pleased that we're communicating enough now to actually really understand each other. It's so nice!

She's growing so fast and becoming such a big girl. She's polite and helpful and wonderful in every way. Yes, she throws a mean fit every now and then, but it's very few and far between them, so that's understandable. Most of the time it's when she's overly hungry or tired anyway...

She's more beautiful than I ever imagined. I think she looks so much like her Daddy, but every now and then I see myself in her (or more often, my father... which makes me happy). She's very funny too, I'm glad she has a sense of humor! Oh, I am so in love with this girl it hurts sometimes.

Anyway, here are a few pictures for you. This first one is one of my favorites, despite the bit of cereal still on her face from breakfast :)

She's very inquisitive... here, she's looking for the cats at the neighbor's house. She knows they live in that barn and was checking to see if they were home (yep!).
Here's Li playing in one of the ball pits/bouncy castles at Fugro's family bbq from the 3rd of July. She had a lot of fun.
I think that about wraps it up... I can't think of anything else (but that's not to say there isn't more!). I'm off to bed now! Goodnight :)

Raincheck...

I DO have a post for you guys about my sweet 18 month old and all of her accomplishments. I even have a word list going of all the things she can say (it's quite long and I know I'm still missing tons!). I also have an update on baby dos, since we had an ultrasound yesterday.

However... my house is a mess and Liara is a busy girl making it even more of a disaster zone. For some reason she's quite clumsy today as well (perhaps because she's tripping over some of her toys every two seconds because I haven't had a second to pick them all up...) so I'm trying to watch her like a hawk.

I WILL get to it, I promise... just maybe not until bedtime. :) I haven't forgotten though, and I can't wait to share just how proud I am of my children (yep... both of them!).

Things that make me smile :)

Yep, you get two posts today... one not so happy, and then this one! To be honest, I prefer the smiling faces of my sweet girl and amazing husband. This is the way life should be, always.

Here's Nic and my adorable kitty cat, Liara. Yes, the lady did a pretty awful job and Liara cried while she painted it on (and while she tried to rub it off completely)... but we got a few smiles in the middle.
Here's Liara and I going down a massive slide at one of the nearby parks.
My girl L.O.V.E.S. to swing. She's just like I was as a kid (who am I kidding... I'm still a massive swing lover). I love how happy she is as soon as she's in one :)
This next picture was taken at a friend's wedding... and it makes my heart burst every time I see it. How in the world can anyone love someone more than I love these two people? Oh, they make me happy.
And, lastly... my sweet smiling girl. Overwhelming, I tell you. Love, love, love.

Conflicted

I know it's been a while since I've last posted... it isn't because there isn't anything going on or that there is an especially large amount to write about either. We've just been living life as it comes and trying to prepare ourselves for the massive change ahead. I'll be 18 weeks along in this pregnancy on Monday (it's late Saturday night) and our precious little girl is going to be 18 months on the 23rd. I can't even begin to tell you how overjoyed/sad that makes me. I don't know how I should be feeling really. My baby girl is growing up so very fast. On one hand I am unbelievably proud and happy with her, on the other, I wonder about the baby in my belly, and if I'll feel this way about them as well. I know I'll love them unconditionally and that I'll be proud of him/her in the same way... but will I have the time to really appreciate all that I do now? Or will I be so frantic trying to keep up with the both of them that their childhoods simply pass me by? I feel like if I blink for too long that I'll miss something with Liara... something I would have liked to have seen and treasured. So far, I've caught every momentous occasion (first step, first word, first hug, first kiss, first time to stack blocks into a tower, first pretty much everything). Will I be so blessed with our second child? Who knew that you could be so completely happy and yet so fearful at the same time?

I've been watching Mildred Pierce on TV (although I'm not sure exactly why... I end up feeling a little depressed after every part, I only have two left and I'm pretty glad about it). In the second episode/part (spoiler if you haven't seen it...) her youngest daughter dies and she deals with it by crawling into bed with her oldest. A friend of mine was recently discussing what she would do if she lost one of her children and how she'd be grateful that she at least still had one and could still be considered a Mom. Both of these instances (Mildred climbing into bed and my friends' discussion) have left me a little heartbroken. I am pretty certain that if I lost either child, I'd fall apart. Yes, I'd try to hold myself together so that I could still be there to support the other child... but I'm not sure how successful I'd be. I certainly wouldn't feel like one was enough of a replacement for another. I can't even begin to explain the love I have for Liara and I don't think anyone could ever take her place or fill a void should she somehow be gone (God forbid, I'd lose it). Yet, at the same time... I would never ever consider this second child to be a "back up" either and I can't even imagine losing him/her, despite not ever really meeting them yet.

I'm not sure where all the morbid thoughts are coming from, but they scare me. Maybe because I'm a little scared about having two children. Not the actual act of raising them or labor even, but the part about where you are supposed to treat them equally. I've always felt that my sister was my mother's favorite. It bothered me a little as a kid, but I felt like my sister needed that love a little more than I did, so it was ok. I played more of a supporting role in the family (in more ways than one) and to be honest, it's helped me turn out into who I am today. I'm perfectly fine with that. However... I don't want my children to feel that way. I want them to both feel like they are the center of my universe and that I just absolutely adore them (as I hope Liara feels now). I'm just not sure how to go about doing that. I guess it will probably just happen naturally when the time comes. Or, at least, that's what I'm hoping.

I tend to get very introspective when Nic is away... he's on a business trip at the moment so I guess you get to hear my ramblings instead of him (perhaps that's why I don't blog often, because he's my sounding board). Poor you. Haha. I'm a little jealous of him this time. He's flying to Houston for a meeting on Monday, then flying back on Tuesday afternoon. We have already booked our flights for our family vacation in August (we'll be in Houston for about 3 weeks!) and I'm super excited about it. I can't wait to be back on American soil. I'm jealous that he gets to go now, even if it is a stressful time for him professionally (he's trying to win an important contract) and it is a super short turn around time. I am just so unbelievably homesick. I feel like we are stuck over here. When we moved over here I thought it was going to be this grand adventure, and that we would travel all of Europe and do exciting things... and then after that, we'd go back home. I figured we'd be here for about two years, just long enough.

We'll have lived here four years in October, and yet we've only seen the UK. Well, Nic has been to Paris and Norway and a few other places on business... but I didn't get to tag along for various reasons. And four is definitely more than two. I didn't picture us having two kids while living across the ocean from all our family and close friends. I didn't know just how much I loved my own country (I did, but didn't fully appreciate it). I didn't know just how much of an outsider I would feel like over here. Yes, we have friends over here, and they are wonderful. However, I can't help but feel like I'm missing out at home. I can't help but feel like we've put our lives on hold a little while we are over here. I can't help but want, no scratch that, NEED to go home. I will have to deal with just looking forward to our visit in August and then the baby coming in December. After that, it will be Liara's 2nd birthday, and then I'll have to come up with something else to look forward to, I'm sure I'll think of something.

Anyway, I'm off to bed to start a new book (I might actually have time to read since there aren't as many people to cook/clean for or clothes to iron, etc.). Hopefully Nic will call to say he's arrived safely and then I'll get a good nights sleep alone in my big ol' bed. I think one of Liara's books has a recording of someone snoring... maybe I'll have to pull that out just so I can trick myself into thinking Nic is there. Pathetic I know. Goodnight!

Week 11... AGAIN!

Well, we went for our first ultrasound with baby number 2 today (aka Baby Dos) and everything went wonderfully. The baby was super active and waving/kicking everywhere, making good use of the space while they have it! :) Liara slept through her first scan, so it was nice to see a very active teeny tiny baby in there. We got to see the heartbeat as well, although she had the sound off so we didn't get to actually hear it, which is a bummer. Maybe that's why I didn't cry this time and was all smiles... who knows. Perhaps it was that there was only one baby in there (I've been having dreams non stop that there were twins... whew!). Regardless, we were supposed to get our down's screening today as well, but it turns out that we're only 11 weeks along (as opposed to 12), so it's still to early. That means that we'll be getting three ultrasounds this time instead of two, so that's exciting. We'll get our next one in two weeks :)

Liara has been a stinker today, throwing fits left and right. It's to the point where I've asked her where my good girl is and she responds with "good girl gone". :( NOOOO!!!! I love my good girl and am looking forward to her return. Perhaps it's the lack of nap, we'll try that.

Nic took the scan pictures with him to work to scan in for me since our printer/scanner is being a loser. I'll post the pictures from this afternoon when I get them :)

Always Trust Your Gut!

So I had my second midwife appointment on Tuesday and all was well, or at least until the end when she asked me if I'd phoned in to get my results for my urinalysis from the previous week (um, no... you always give me the results so why would I call?). She said the tech had seen some bacteria in my urine suggesting that I had an urinary tract infection and that I was prescribed amoxicillin. I said ok, kind of shocked, and went on my way. Once I actually was at the pharmacy filling the prescription, it dawned on me that I can't take it... Liara is allergic to penicillin and amoxicillin IS passed on through breast milk. I phoned the doctor's office back that afternoon while Li was taking her nap and spoke to one of the doctors on duty. To be honest... I was really disappointed in the care for the first time since living here. The doctor (we'll call her Dr.W) said that I'd have to take it anyway and suggested that I just stop breastfeeding for the week I had to take it. Um, wrong answer. I hung up and mulled it over for a while. I kept thinking that there has to be some other option. I decided I'd use the tube intended for collecting an urine sample for my next midwife appointment to give them another urine sample to test. I peed in my little cup and dropped it off that afternoon. In the meantime, I began pumping so that I would have some breast milk to give her while I took it if that's what I had to do. I was getting frustrated because my supply is JUST what Liara needs and I was only getting about two ounces after each feed since she was getting her full first. :/ So today, after two days of fretting and thinking... it dawned on me. What do pregnant women who are allergic to amoxicillin take? Why can't I have that? I called the doctors' office again and didn't get an answer, so I phoned the midwife center and spoke to a REALLY helpful midwife. She looked at my file, said it was strange, and asked me if I had any other symptoms. Foul smelling pee? Nope. Pain during urination? Nope. Cloudy urine? Nope. Blood? Nope. Hmm... she said it'd be best to give another sample to double check, but if there was an infection that there were TWO other drugs they could give me instead that would be ok. Booya. I told her about dropping off the urine sample on Tuesday afternoon on a whim and she said she'd see that they rushed it and to call back this afternoon. So, I called. Completely clean.

What a pain in the ass for nothing! I'm so glad I trusted my gut, but at least now I know that if I DID have an urine infection there WOULD be something I could take that wouldn't cause Liara to have a reaction. Shame on Dr.W for just giving the "easy" answer to quit breastfeeding. I hate it when doctors do that. You obviously aren't doing your job and you don't have our best interests in mind. Maybe you should find another profession. :P

Woah Baby...

Ok, I know I was showing fairly soon last time (as in 12 weeks...), but I'm already busting out the rubber band tricks to get the last little bit of wear out of my jeans before I have to pack them away for a while. What's that you say? 'But you're only 10 weeks?' Yeah... tell me about it. Come on body! I was really enjoying those size 6's thank you very much. I guess my challenge now is to see if I can fit in my size 8 dress that I have been planning on wearing to a friends wedding on the 1st of June. Please, oh please don't make me buy a new dress... I'd rather spend the money on other things.

My mother-in-law has just bought me a bunch (as in 3 pairs of pants, 2 sweaters, two dresses, and a shawl thing... sweet!) of new maternity clothes since I sent all of mine to my sister in law (who is also expecting... she's a month ahead of me with her first! YAY) before we found out we were having baby number 2. I'm excited for that... to be honest, I wasn't really looking forward to wearing the same stuff over again.

I've been super emotional today... I'll chalk that up to baby hormones. I cried watching American Idol (why in the world did James have to go?!), even though I already knew what was going to happen. I cried during a commercial for some beer (I didn't catch the name) just because the guy was being nice to his girlfriend. I've cried today because a friend's child made a sweet comment about her and her husband being in love. What haven't I cried about today?! Ugh.

I know i'm a bit random today, but my head is all over the place right now and to be honest... if I don't write in stream of consciousness this time, I won't write an entry at all so I figured it was better than nothing, right? Welcome to my life at the moment- a bit obscure and hard to understand.

I've been so freaking thirsty lately (maybe it's to make up for the water loss in tears!). I'm seriously on my 6th bottle of water today. I've also been craving KFC, but when we went today it just wasn't what I was hoping for. Probably because I was craving AMERICAN KFC, not Scottish KFC, but I guess it was close enough. At least it's not Taco Bell like with Liara... they don't have a Scottish version of that over here. To be honest, I'm looking forward to Nic taking his GRE on the 25th so we will be in Edinburgh and I know there's a Quizno's there. How sad is that?! I'm also looking forward to our trip to Houston in August so that Nic and I can have a date night and go to this little Mom & Pop Italian place that we used to frequent before movies. They have a buffet and OH, is it good. I have food on the brain... what can I say.

I've been worried a little about this baby's birthday. Not because I'm scared of labor... I'm actually looking forward to doing it again and hoping I can have another natural child birth experience. What I'm worried about is Liara. I want to make the transition from being an only child to being a big sister as easy as possible. I worry about who's going to watch her and how long they'll make me stay in the hospital away from her (last time it was 24 hours since there was meconium in my water), so I'm hoping this baby won't be in distress at all and will wait to poop until he's out so that we can go home in three hours. I'd much rather be at home with my girl and baby than stuck in the hospital like last time. She's never been away from Nic and I for more than 3 hours (and that was only 1 time... and she had two baby sitters- one was her godfather and one was a family friend). I guess we'll have to see if we can work on that some before this one comes so she is prepared for some time away from Mommy and Daddy while I'm in labor. My midwife was trying to push a home labor on me this time, and I'd totally go for it if I thought Nic would be comfortable with it (He's totally 100% not). I want everyone be comfortable and relaxed... it makes a huge difference.

Anyway, I'm going to go spend some time with my sweet husband. 'Night!

Round Two!

So I'm a bad blogger... I think we're all used to this by now and have just come to accept the fact that I don't update enough. Meh.

I have news this time though! We're having another baby (as long as God still thinks it's a good idea). I'm a little over 8 weeks and due on December 5th. I have my next midwife appointment on the 10th of May and we'll start this whole process over again! Crazy!

We're excited about it, and I swear, if one more person asks me if it was an "accident" I'm going to scream. No, we weren't necessarily "trying" like we were last time, but we obviously weren't trying very hard to prevent a pregnancy either. God thought it was time, and that's no accident.

Nic is of course hoping it's a boy, but I'm indifferent this time as well... I'll be happy as long as he/she is happy and healthy. At this point I'm still focusing on Liara and trying to figure out how to get her used to the idea of having a little brother or sister around. I know she'll love being a big sister, I've never met a kid more compassionate or who loves kids as much as she does. It will be so nice to have a built in playmate and friend for her, I'm really looking forward to that! I know it's going to be a little crazy with a two year old and a newborn, but I know we'll make it work!

Anyway, I thought I'd fill you all in... if you're still reading anyway! :)

Oh my Goodness!

Has it really been like 2 1/2 months since I last posted?! Where has the time gone? Perhaps it flew by like the rest of the 13 months since Liara was born. 13 months... yeah, I know. Shocking. Anyway, it has been C R A Z Y around here and with Liara up and running (literally) for the last two months, I don't have a lot of time to sit still and blog. Again, as usual, I apologize. We'll leave it at that and move on.

Let's see... I'll give you a little update about what's happening with each of us.

Liara:

She's growing like a weed and exceeds our expectations every day. She can say Mama, Dada, Grandma, Hi (sometimes Hiya), Wow, Woah, Up, Bite, Baby, Tickle, and Book. I think that's all, but who knows, I might be missing something. She can walk like a big girl and run like a little kid (arms out like an airplane)! She loves to play with her toys, cuddle with Mommy (and Daddy too), blow raspberries, be read to (and join in too... she points at pictures and tries to say the word and flips flaps/turns pages), do puzzles, and empty and refill the movie drawers. She likes to go outside when it's not too cold and enjoys taking her coat off and on. She tries to climb on the table beside the couches and take everything off that, but that's not usually allowed. She loves to empty the cabinets in the kitchen and help with laundry (she takes the wet clothes out of the washing machine, puts them in the bag, puts a new load in, closes the soap drawer and then pushes the start button for me). Her favorite foods right now are blueberries, bananas, pasta and malt-o-meal. If asked, she can show you where her foot, ear, or bellybutton (beebo) is. She loves her stuffed animals (and dolly's) and gives them hugs and kisses. She is obsessed with shoes and MUST have some on at all times (whether it be shoes during the day or her bunny slippers on at night). We had to remove the front railings for her crib like 2 months ago because she was trying to climb out (even taking her socks off for extra traction... clever girl!) and we didn't want her to fall, so now she's sleeping in her toddler bed and LOVES it. It takes no time at all to get her to bed now, so that's a major bonus. She has 10, almost 12 teeth (front bottom four, front top four, two top molars (one on each side), and two bottom molars that are workin' their way out). She's had a hard time sleeping lately because of those two bottom molars, but the last two nights she's slept through the WHOLE night without waking up- from 8:30 until 7:30. I think that's about her in a nutshell right now.

Nick:

He's been working like a crazy man. He is absolutely swamped at work and has been a little stressed to say the least. He tries to come home for lunch, but doesn't always make it and usually only spends about 15 minutes instead of the hour he's supposed to get. Then he comes home at around 7, and eats dinner and tries to relax a little before the next day. They're supposed to get him some help soon, I hope they do! He could sure use it. When we came back from the US (I'll recap that trip sometime...) he tried to play a game he got as an early birthday present and his Xbox got the red ring of death. Anyway, after about a month of fiddling with it, he got it to work again! WOO HOO! He's super happy with that and has been playing every night while I'm working (after Liara's in bed)... more on that in my section.

Jen:

I've been busy watching/playing/teaching Liara and trying to keep this house in some sort of order. Between Liara and her master mess making skills and everyone else in this house (myself included) it gets messy fast! I was debating going back to work (in an outside location... believe me, I work!) to help Nick with the financial side of things since we're broke as sin, but after figuring out how much childcare costs and stuff it would have been pointless... I wouldn't make anything. So, I've started working with Cris (mother-in-law) again and I'm really excited about it! It feels really good to be productive and actually do something related to education again. It involves testing and has really got me thinking about what I want to do. Last night, Nic and I had a long chat about me getting my masters (something I've ALWAYS wanted to do...). I'm going to have to go back to school anyway to finish off my certification (I graduated with my bachelors in Curriculum & Instruction- emphasis on Early Childhood-4th grade education, and passed all my state tests to become certified, but still need one more semester of student teaching since we moved and I never did that)... I might as well get my masters while I'm at it right?! I've really enjoyed my experiences in testing and thought that it would be great to be able to do what Cris does (she writes tests, trains educators and creates educational materials, among other things... she's a very talented woman!) and follow along in her business. To do that, I'd need some more education and credibility, so maybe that's the road I should take! I'll talk it over with her and see what she thinks about it. :) That's about it for me... other than I'm down to 124 lbs! Woot woot! I haven't weighed that since I quit swimming, my sophomore year in high school!

Ok... I need to get off here before Liara pulls the cord out of the wall socket and uses it as a lasso for her rocking chair. I think it's going to take me longer to clean up the mess she's made while I've been typing than it actually has to post this! She's like a little tornado I swear! :) Oh, I love her!

I'll try and be a better blogger...