Baby? What baby?

It's official (and it has been for awhile, but I'm just finally admitting it). We no longer have a baby. We have a "big girl"... a toddler... an almost 3 foot tall person with her own, very distinct personality.

A troublemaker. A diva. A child who in no way takes after her mother (haha).

As evidence I give you these:











See? Not a baby anymore.

But speaking of baby, my delivery date is fast approaching. I've been having a lot of contractions and cramping, a lot more than with Penelope. It makes me feel as though I won't make it to 40 weeks (although I certainly hope I at least make it to 37) but who knows. I could still go up to or past my EDD... I have an appointment Thursday evening and I may ask them to check me just to see what's going on in there. The cramping and contractions would seem to indicate that my cervix is ripening and getting ready, but it's not certain. Luckily I haven't lost my mucous plug or have any other signs of impending labor. I'm not ready to give birth yet! There's still so much left to do and I'm in the middle of a Graduate level class... it would be incredibly inconvenient to have the baby before this class ends. I'm trying to get my stuff done a little early, but that's easier said than done.

I'm finally getting around to doing our taxes - hopefully they'll be done today so at least that chore is off of our list. Now we just have a thousand other things to do.

So I should get to that.

I have new video of Penelope, I'll try and get around to uploading it sometime this week.

The Diva

Tonight Penny was more than a little uncooperative at bedtime. All she wanted to do was play with the Princess camera we got from my Aunt (it's pink and says things like "you look as pretty as a princess!" when you click the button).

She LOVES that damn camera.

Anyway, the only way to get her to sit still during post-bath diapering and dressing was for Bryan to madly click the camera button, pretending to take her picture over and over again like on a professional fashion shoot. She just sat there and GRINNED. It was like she had been transported into baby heaven - someone was taking her picture!

In fact, it was the only way I've been able to brush her teeth this week without a fight. She's getting the last of her canine teeth and she no longer enjoys teeth brushing... so at least it was easy to brush her teeth.

But man... we birthed a diva baby.

She MUST get that from her Daddy. ;)

Oh, and can I say - our dog is GASSY tonight and it's DISGUSTING.

Ok.

So this afternoon I started having pretty regular contractions. They weren't as intense as labor contractions, but were very similar to the contractions I had in the day leading up to Penelope's birth. So I spent the evening on the couch, drank a lot of water, and called my midwives. They said dehydration is a likely culprit, and also the full moon - the full moon will intensify contractions so if I'm already a little dehydrated and having Braxton Hicks contractions then the moon will only make them worse. They also want me to take cranberry on a regular basis to make sure I don't develop a bladder infection.

After about an hour on the couch and a lot of water a tea, I feel better. The contractions aren't regular or as intense... in fact, I think they've stopped for the night. The baby is moving around a lot more, and he/she wasn't moving when I was having the contractions. So I'm taking that as a good sign.

I attempted to send my contractions to my friend Bobbi whose due in 2-ish weeks but is full term, uncomfortable, and already 3cm dilated. So hopefully they made it to her and she goes into labor tonight so we can all meet baby Evan soon!

I'm sure I have more to update - there's always more. But How It's Made is on and I love that show.

Today, January 6th

So today was productive - for the most part. It started off with a trip to the mall (see previous picture blog post) and ended with a very rare dinner out in which Penelope boycotted everything but broccoli and milk.

I started a new class this week - it's a Health Education class and while there's going to be a lot of work involved, none of it seems particularly difficult (at least so far). I'm going to try and get a little ahead on the assignments so that I'm not scrambling the last week to get everything done. We'll see how that goes.

I was able to get some homework done today, in addition to applying for 4 different teaching/tutoring/mentoring jobs, meeting with my attorney (I can say "my" attorney now that we signed an agreement), reading Marvin K Mooney Will You Please Go Now 14 dozen times, and cleaning the kitchen (ok, so I just did dishes and washed bottles - the kitchen could still use a real cleaning, but I'm counting it). There were a few more things on the To-Do list, but they'll just have to wait. I'm tired.

Yesterday was busy as well and I started having some contractions while we were out and about (had some today too). Nothing painful, regular, or particularly worrisome - but it does mean that I need to take it easy. I forget that I'm 26 weeks pregnant sometimes and do things that I probably shouldn't. The added stress of being unemployed and the accompanying financial woes doesn't help and is probably a significant factor... although it's not abnormal to have these kind of Braxton Hicks contractions at this point in the pregnancy. I didn't get them with Penelope until I was much farther along, but second babies tend to speed things up (from what I've been told) so I'm not worried.

And just for fun, here's what Penelope ate today:
8 strawberries
almost 1/4 cup oatmeal
3/4 banana
1/2 string cheese
4 flax crackers
4 apple wagon wheels (they're a Gerber toddler snack)
nearly a cup of macaroni
a bite of avocado
1/4 head of broccoli
1 bite of grilled cheese
12 oz of milk
at least 14 oz of water
and a dozen or so sweet potato Puffs (another Gerber toddler snack)

I won't recount what I had :)

Tomorrow is homework, homework, and more homework while my Dad babysits. Friday is Art Beast. Hope everyone has a wonderful end of the week!