Countdowns to due date, birthday, and Christmas!

I logged onto a website that I used to frequent when I was pregnant with Lily.  It has great information about pregnancy and parenthood as well as some forums so you can talk to other people that are going through the same things you are.  This was great for me with Lily as it was my first pregnancy and I didn't have any friends that had kids that I could turn to.  This time I have only been to the website a handful of times, possibly because I don't have time chasing a toddler or because I just don't feel I need as much support this time with the pregnancy.

Anyway, when I logged in it told me there are 78 days till Lily's 2nd Birthday!  I know I am going to either have a newborn or be hugely pregnant at that time, but I really want to make sure we don't skipped over her birthday.  It would be easy to since she will only be 2 and won't remember it or really understand what is going on, but I feel since her world is going to be thrown upside down with getting a new sister that it will be great to have a day for her.  I am not sure what we are going to do yet for her, but I know I have to make it special.  I think this is going to be a challenge I will have every year, making sure both girls have a special day since their birthdays will be close to each other and close to Christmas.

After I read that there were 78 days till her birthday I realized that meant there are only 83 days till Christmas, and 68 until my due date!  This year has gone by WAY too fast.  There were so many things that I wanted to get done around the house and such before the baby is born but now I'm not sure if they will as I am starting to get to the part of my pregnancy where it is hard for me to do a lot of things because I'm getting bigger and more tired. 

One of the things that has to happen soon is getting Lily into a "big-girl" bed.  She has been sleeping in regular beds for naps at my mom's and at the baby-sitter's, but we still haven't made the transition.  One of the reasons we had been holding off was because we couldn't decide if we were going to convert her crib to the toddler bed and buy a new crib for the baby, or just get a toddler bed and give the crib to the baby.  I think we are just going to get her a new bed so she has something new and all hers.  We need to do this soon though so she doesn't feel like she is being pushed out of her crib by her sister.  I think she will be excited to get a big bed though.  I asked her yesterday if she wanted a big-girl bed in her room and she said yes.  I then asked if she wanted a crib and she said no. 

Speaking of Lily, she just woke up for the morning so now my day starts.

Pregnancy update

Wow, updating the blog is a lot harder this pregnancy than last since I have a toddler to chase around.  

Things are going well here.  I am about to start the third trimester.  I can't believe how fast it is going this time.  My energy level has been great the last few weeks, but I know that is probably going to change here soon.  I am enjoying getting to feel this little girl move all the time.  She is much better at not moving at night than her sister was though so that helps me get lots of sleep.  I can't believe how different this pregnancy has been than the first was.  One of the main differences is that I am a lot smaller this time.  I started showing a lot sooner and got big quickly, and then I seemed to stop.  The doctor says I am doing great though (last time I gained a lot more weight than recommended).  Also, I'm not swelling as much yet so that is helping me be smaller (although some swelling did start the end of last week).  I decided to take a picture at 26 weeks (2 Saturdays ago) in the same outfit I was wearing for the 26 week shot with Lily.  The differences are amazing!

26 weeks first pregnancy

 26 weeks second pregnancy!

 Lily decided she wanted her picture taken too.

Important Lesson Learned

I have learned why I let my child go to sleep at 6pm and wake up at 6am. 

Last night Lily and I had our neighbor and her two kids over for dinner and to play.  Lily was a little tired, but having a blast playing so I just let her stay up.  She stayed up until 9pm!  That is 2-3 hours past her normal bedtime.  I then realized that meant I had 2-3 less hours to myself that evening.  Don't get me wrong, I love my daughter and being a mom and wouldn't do anything to change that.  But I have been spoiled by her going to bed so early and get to have my evenings to either myself or with Sean.  Last night I sat on the couch for a bit to read and watch tv like I normally do.  I then did a few dishes and before I knew it, it was almost 11:30!  I figured since Lily went to bed so late that would mean she would sleep in late so I stayed up another hour reading in bed.  When I finally decided to turn out the light and get some sleep, the thunderstorm started and kept me awake even longer (Lily slept right through it like she always does).  By the time I finally fell asleep it was almost 2:30.

So Lily normally gets up around 6 after 12 hours of sleep, so one would assume that since she went to bed at 9 that she would sleep 12 hours and get up around 9am right? Not the case.  Evidently going to bed 3 hours later only equates to 30 extra minutes in the morning.  Plus she is super cranky today.  She has had several meltdowns over little things (like the cat not wanting to sit on her lap while she watched her morning cartoons).  She has been rubbing her eyes which is normally a sign she is tired so I laid her down for a morning nap about 20 minutes ago.  While she isn't crying in her crib, she definitely isn't sleeping.  She is singing and playing with her stuffed animals.  At least she is content in there. 

I am probably extra cranky today too since I only got about 4 hours of sleep.  Good thing there is coffee.

So from now on I am going to let my child go to bed around 6 or 7 and enjoy my evenings so that we can enjoy the next day a little more too.

My daughter the Flower Child

Yesterday Lily and I were playing in her room when she got her headbands and flower berets out.  She put on the headbands as necklaces and then kept handing me berets and pointing to different spots on her head.  This is the finished look!

  

 Once she saw I was taking her picture she insisted she put her sunglasses on.  She is just a cute little diva!

Mine

So unfortunately the word "mine" has entered Lily's vocabulary.  She will say it when she wants something (particularly something she knows she shouldn't have), when she doesn't want us to have something, or when she really doesn't want to do what we are asking like putting her dolly back in the crib (dolly stays in her crib for the most part because she is very important to sleep with and we don't want to lose her).  Each of the different reason she says "mine" also have different intonations so you know just how important it is to her. 

She has also learned the color blue.  I am not sure if it is because she is just at the point of starting to learn colors, or because she absolutely loves the show Blues Clues.  Right now we have it on Netflix instant queue and she gets to watch it every now and then.

The pregnancy is going well.  Lily is still too young to understand what is happening.  Although I have asked her several times if she wants to share her old clothes with her little sister and she always says yes, if she wants to share her toys with her little sister and she always says yes, and if she wants to share her bedroom with her little sister and she typically says no.  Only once has she actually said yes.  She definitely loves being an only child right now and getting all the attention.  It is going to be a shock for her when her little sister comes.

I am 24 weeks pregnant today.  That is a big number to pregnant women.  That is the week in development where they say the baby starts having a chance to survive outside her mom if she would need to be delivered.  She would obviously still require lots of medical attention, but her chances have increased greatly.  There is no reason for me to believe that she is going to be delivered early, especially this early, but it is still a nice feeling to get to this milestone.

The sad news in our house is that we had to make the difficult decision to get rid of our dog, Selene, this week.  She never fully got used to Lily and never liked her being within a few feet of her.  She also started showing signs of food aggressions (something she had when we first got her, but Sean worked with her on) and we didn't want something to happen to our very curious toddler that always wanted to be around Selene when she was eating.  I was also afraid of having another child and not being able to monitor Lily and Selene as closely as I can now.  It is definitely hard to deal with but we know it is for the best for our family and for Selene.  She needs a home that she can be comfortable in and not always having to worry about little kids sneaking up on her.  She also needs someone that can provide her with lots of exercise to help her get rid of some of her energy.

Its a...

GIRL!

That is right, we are having another girl.  I'm so excited.  She was being shy during the ultrasound today though and kept covering her face so we didn't get all that many great pictures, but we did get the one that matters :)

It will be great to have another little "doll" so I can dress her up and play with her hair, especially since Lily has become very opinionated about her outfits and how her hair is done.

Hopefully by the end of the weekend we will be able to scan the ultrasound pictures into the computer so that I can get some up on the blog.

Off to bed now to dream about what it will be like with two little girls!

Park

Lily and I found a cute little park close by on Monday with my mom.  There were a lot of things that she was still too little to do there so we will be able to go there for many years to come.  It isn't within walking distance, but is only like a 5 minute drive.  There are baseball and soccer fields, an open grassy area, pond, walking trails, and a fun playground.  We went in the morning since it has been so hot and I am glad we did because the playground was completely shaded by some trees.  Unfortunately the playground is mostly metal so I'm not sure how hot it would get in the afternoon sun.  Here are a few of her favorite things to do there.

She also learned how to make a cool sound on the merry-go-round