Shane and Savannah

On Saturday our friends Adrian and Casie invited Shane and I over for linner (that's lunch/dinner for those of you who aren't hip to my vocab ;) since Nathan was working. They have a sweet 2 1/2 month old little girl named Savannah and Shane seems pretty taken with her. Adrian was holding her and Shane kept putting his arms out to try to carry her so Adrian helped him "hold" her. It was so sweet!

 Later that evening Shane was giving Casie the "mup" dance so she put him up on the couch next to Savannah. He was rubbing her hair and patting her and then leaned over and kissed her voluntarily several times. My heart just melted, especially since he's very sparing with his kisses!

 Shane kept trying to pick Savannah up so Casie helped him hold her. As Shane was holding her Savannah twisted around and gave us a HELP ME look and I got a picture but unfortunately it was crazy blurry. Very sweet though! I was really touched by how much Shane liked her and I think he'll be a good big brother. He didn't ask for a sibling and we are giving him one anyway, so hopefully they will love each other a lot!

See this huge plastic box? On Saturday morning I stopped at the Farmer's Market store next to the bowling alley where I have my class and bought this big box stuffed with blueberries for only $1.99! And boy were they good; big, sweet, juicy, and perfect. We had a few with our yogurt at breakfast on Sunday morning and Shane really loved them. All day I fantasized about making blueberry muffins.

 After supper Sunday evening I put Shane in his high chair while I did dishes and kitchen chores and I gave him blueberries for his dessert since he liked them so much. Before I knew it that entire big box of blueberries was nearly gone!

 I quickly snatched up the cup and a half I needed for my muffins, reserved one for my 7 week post, and gave Shane the few that were left. I couldn't believe how much he liked them and how fast he ate them!

My muffins were scrumdiliumptous by the way--I made them with sifted whole wheat flour and applesauce so they are fairly healthy and very moist and fluffy. We have been having them for our breakfasts this week and we both love them! I plan to stop again this weekend and buy several boxes--I'll freeze whatever we can't eat.

This is going to be TMI so feel free to skip but I think it's funny: Since Shane ate nearly the entire box of blueberries in one day his #2 has been black and his bum is stained dark blue. Ok, I'm done being disgusting now--at least for this post!

7 Weeks

You can find Shane's seven week pregnant post here.

See this poor, lonely blueberry? I snatched this blueberry from the jaws of death (literally, Shane was about to eat it) and it was the very last one. Why did I have to save this blueberry? To show you the size of Baby this week! This week Baby is the size of a blueberry, or about half an inch. 

This week Baby is growing its hands and feet, and will double in size. My uterus has also doubled in size in the past seven weeks!

Pretty neat, huh?! With this pregnancy I started the nausea at about 5 1/2 weeks and it was pretty extreme. The past few days I have not had much nausea at all, although the thought of food is still not appealing.  With Shane my nausea didn't start until about week seven so I was a little earlier this time, and week eight with Shane was when I started the fainting business so I'm wondering when that will happen! As with Shane, I eat a few bites of my meal and feel stuffed to the gills full but am starved, stomach growling, just a short time later. I'm trying to keep my eating really healthy to avoid gestational diabetes or excessive weight gain, but sometimes the only thing that sounds edible is chicken noodle soup! Or fruit. I find myself wanting fruit a lot, and I excuse eating it by telling myself "it's not processed sugar!"  I haven't had any heartburn yet and I had that with Shane before I even knew I was pregnant. The other symptom I had with Shane before I got a positive HPT was an extremely sore chest which only got worse throughout the first tri and this time around I'm just a little tender. I attribute the lack of pain to breastfeeding!

Exhaustion is definitely the hardest thing I'm dealing with at the moment. I have a very energetic toddler and quite a bit of schoolwork plus a house and laundry and cooking and dishes and and and.... Needless to say, I'm very tired pretty much always. I'm gone 4 days a week minimum for school and so I feel like it's really hard to keep on top of everything. I will admit, the house cleaning is sliding, but my priorities are Shane and schoolwork so anything I accomplish beyond that is a bonus. As I was doing the dishes this afternoon I was thinking, "You know you're in the first trimester when: You feel like its a huge accomplishment that everyone is fed, bathed, and wearing clean clothes." Sometimes I nap with Shane during the day but most often that's when I do homework so I'm not up all night doing it. Obviously that didn't work today! I'm not griping, I promise. I'm just keeping a record because I like to look back on it! I knew that it would be hard to be pregnant with a toddler, although I didn't bargain for how much stress school would add and I'm kind of regretting enrolling this semester. Nathan is also working nights and only has Sunday off every other week so EVERYTHING falls to me. It's not that I'm not accustomed to that since Nathan works out of town for a large part of the year but I honestly prefer when he is working out of town because at least then he's home some weekends.It's also a lot easier to resent him for not helping out when he's sleeping down the hallway! Single parents, I truly empathize with you!

I had an appointment with Emily (my midwife) last week to do the basics: weight, urine, bloodwork, etc but mainly to start nutritional counseling in the hopes of avoiding repeat diabetes. A lot of the things we went over were things I've learned in the past few months but I did learn three things that I thought were pretty neat. First, apple cider vinegar (use Braggs in a glass bottle please) helps lower your blood sugar as well as being a natural heartburn preventative. A few tsp in a glass of water and sip sip sip. I know. Ick. Second, coconut oil is the ONLY oil that doesn't turn carcinogenic at a high temperature, making it best for cooking. Olive oil is another healthy oil but best not to heat. Coconut oil also lowers blood sugar levels. If cooking with it isn't enough you can actually swallow spoonfuls. I hope I don't get there!  Third, TUMS.  I seriously ate five bottles plus when I was pregnant with Shane. I even checked with Dr. H to make sure I could take them. Now I find out they are full of sugar and the kind of calcium they advertise having isn't even good for you--in fact if you are pregnant they can calcify (and kill) large parts of your placenta!!!!! Wow. I'm so thankful Shane turned out healthy, and I wish I'd asked to see my placenta. I had planned to but I got too caught up with Shane. Next time!

If you've made it through to the end of this tome, pat yourself on the back and head to bed. You deserve it!

TIWTRT

Shane is just so FUN to be around. Seriously! Like every toddler he has his stormy moments but mostly he just loves to play and read books and smile and laugh and talk and, of course, give Mommy heart attacks.

This kid always has bruises and bumps, and it's usually from when I'm in the bathroom! He is just so into EVERYTHING. A few days ago, he tried to climb up the side of a counter stool. Of course the stool fell toward him and the corner of the stool gave him a nasty bruise on his cheek. We call him our little mountain goat, because: 

This was the day he learned he could get up on the chair. The next day, he pushed that chair up to the table and climbed from the chair, to the table, to the counter.  I walked in as he was dangling half off the counter telling me "down, down!" He seriously thought he could get down FROM THE COUNTER the "safe way" we taught him to get down from the couch or the bed, where he rolls onto his tummy and slides down feet first. I think it was God that I caught him, because that's a pretty far drop!

 This is his very favorite place in the house. He climbs on the couch, up the back, and stands on the windowsill to look out. It gives Nathan a heart attack but I'm pretty used to it. Yes, he has fallen, but he lands on the couch. Except for once, when he missed the couch and hit the floor. I wasn't even in the room. Yah, mommy fail.

And just check out the mischievous face. I see that face a lot these days with my little daredevil.  Good thing he's cute!

Most of the time with Shane I am pretty laid back. He's a toddler and a boy and a risk taker, and it's not going to do me or him any good if I micromanage him. So I sit back and watch him learn all about the world in that unique way children do and really, it's beautiful and I am learning so much about just taking time to look around, absorb, just BE.  

I love our mornings together. Shane wakes up about 8:16, usually to the minute, and talks for a minute to wake me up. Then he nurses and cuddles with me for a little bit and then its "dow', dow'!" He runs to the bedroom door and tries to pull it open, and rattles it if he can't until I get up and let him out. He does this funny little early morning stiff-muscled waddle/prance/run down the hallway to the living room and heads straight for the toy basket, while I sit on the couch and yawn and wake up a little. He starts signing for food after about five minutes so I drag myself up to make breakfast, which is usually hot oat bran with raisins, yogurt, or occasionally eggs and we like to have a banana too. I was having a cup of coffee a few times a week, but not since I got that positive on the HPT! 

Then we play for a few hours, or I try to study while he climbs all over me and gets more naughty the longer I ignore him, which is difficult. But that is a whole 'nother post that I need to write, all about school and why I am crazy to do it with a toddler!

First Midwife Visit

Today, the day after I got my positive pregnancy test, I went to interview the midwives closest to us. I was really impressed! First they gave me a tour of the birth center, which is lovely. When you first walk into the birth center there is a large open area that contains their office corner, a corner that is set up like a living room, and another corner of the room that is full of toys for the kids. They have a bathroom in this front area also that is mostly for the checkups but also has a big comfy tub so that after the baby is born the mom and baby can take a soothing herbal bath together. Then, down the hallway is the exam room with an extra wide table so that your children can get up there with you to “help” with the exam. Further down the hallway is a kitchen for use during labor, and down the hallway from that are There are two bedrooms equipped to birth in and then there’s the water birth room, which is where I plan to give birth. They have a big, jetted, padded tub that just looks SO perfect! There is also another bathroom at this end of the house. You can see pictures of the birth center here.


The midwives (currently a mother/daughter team) spent SO much time with me just getting to know me, answering questions, and making me feel comfortable. An average appointment at the birth center is an hour. That is not 45 minutes in the waiting room and 10 in the exam room and 5 with the doctor. That is a full hour with your midwife! Talk about personalized care! After talking to Nathan I decided to use Emily, who is graduating in February (I think) but will be under Molly’s supervision. She is super nice and very knowledgeable.

I couldn’t be happier or more excited about this experience. I am VERY excited to get to know these lovely women, to have such special care, and most of all to have a lovely waterbirth! I actually talked to Molly and Emily about having had gestational diabetes with Shane and my concerns about getting it again with this pregnancy. They said that they start off from the very beginning of the pregnancy with nutritional counseling and a lot of attention to nutrition throughout the pregnancy, as well as homeopathic remedies should it come to that and that most of the time their moms who had gestational diabetes in previous pregnancies don’t end up with it again. Yay!

I have my first appointment at on Sept 20th at six weeks. Usually they don’t schedule appointments so early in the pregnancy, as they won’t be able to hear the heartbeat, but we wanted to get started right away on the nutritional counseling. I am so excited! Shane can go with me to every appointment.  He loved the toy area and the midwives and had a lot of fun.