What a difference!!

What a difference NOT having undiagnosed Gestational Diabetes makes:

32 week comparison

The left picture is me 32 weeks pregnant with Danny (this was about two weeks before my doctor told me "oops, it looks like you DO have Gestational Diabetes), the picture on the right is me 32 weeks pregnant with baby girl. I am wearing the same shirt in both pictures (if you couldn't tell).

What a difference being healthy makes in my physical appearance!!

About a week ago I started to think "weren't my boobs sitting on my belly by this time in my last pregnancy?" I LOL at that questions, but I was really thinking it. And I noticed that my husband kept making comments about how much smaller my belly is now. At first I thought maybe we were both just remembering the very end of the pregnancy. I finally dug out this old picture from my cell phone at 32 weeks. I noticed that I looked pretty puffy, then I had my sister take a picture of me in the same shirt to compare. I certainly see a difference. I feel like I look much much more tired in the current picture, but the rest of me is smaller. I feel so much better during this pregnancy (other than the back issues I am having), it feels good to know I beat the diabetes this time. My midwives keep reminding me how rare it is to do that.

Here is to hoping I continue to feel good (and can keep wearing my wedding rings!).

Just when I think I am going to lose it. . .

My little boy shows me that he wasn't put on this earth to gray my hair and make me a crazy person.

Today while Danny was have a very irrational meltdown at my Grandparent's house (are they ever rational??) I took him out to the woodshed (literally) to give him a good talking to. I thought he was going to climb up a tree and start chittering like Curious George because he was freaking so much. As I sat him down on the steps leading up to the woodshed he suddenly calmed down and listened to his little toddle lecture. He typically flips a bit longer as I try to give him a good talking to. He also typically wont apologize for whatever he did wrong, even when I ask him to. Well today he not only listened to me, but he gave me a hug and a kiss and said he was sorry. When I asked him if he would try to be a good boy for the rest of the day (he usually says no), he said yes and gave me another kiss.

He stayed true to his word and was a sweetheart the rest of the day.

Sometimes I really don't know how to get through the day, but today he reminded me just how sweet, innocent and amazing he is. I am lucky to be his mom, and even more lucky to spend every day taking care of him.

My heart and soul, right here.

Haircut

Yesterday we took Danny to have a haircut. It was his fifth haircut to date, and they have gotten more traumatizing each time. This time we decided to skip going to Pigtails and Crew cuts, a haircut place near us that specializes in kids cuts. Not only do they have a million fun things going on to distract kids, but they have police cars and firetruck chairs for the kids to sit in. P&Cc is a fun place, but after the last two cuts with Danny flipping out we decided it might be too overwhelming for him.

We took him to a real barber shop, where he got to watch his dad get a cut first, he got to play while he waited, and he got to sit in a cool (?) horse chair. Well, as soon as the lady barber came near Danny all hell broke loose. He went nuts, so nuts that we had to move him to an adult chair where he sat on his dads lap for the whole cut. He screamed the whole time, and by the end of it we were all covered in Danny's hair.

Danny's haircut. July 27th, 2012

It was totally worth it, I hate to say that, but his hair looks so cute, he isn't as hot when we play outside, and he looks like a big boy.

Danny is growing up so fast, I know it is going to be all too soon where he doesn't want to be around me because moms aren't cool, so I will cherish the time I have with him as my little boy, even if that means he is crying out my name in terror during a haircut!

Preparing for baby girl

Diaper prepping

The most tedious part of preparing for the arrival of my baby girl is getting the cloth diapers ready. To get the diapers ready they need to be washed several times to ensure they will be absorbent enough for use. It isn't hard work, it is just a big pain in the you-know-what. The first load of laundry was fun, I got to look at all the cute diapers again, but now that I am on the third load it is less fun.

Still, I love knowing that I am almost ready for this girl to make her appearance. The crib and pack and play are both set up. Clothes are washed, the swing, exersaucer and bouncy chair are all clean and ready to go. I still have some odds and ends (I need to make my homemade moby wrap, among other things).

The only problem is that all of the baby-1st year toys we have are total boy toys. There are teething toys and rattle type things that can go either way, but I can't imagine she is going to want to play with a musical and light tool bench, or a basketball hoop. If she does, she is SOL, I am giving them away to Danny's cousin, and going to give the three-month-old baby that I will have at Christmas time girly toys to replace them. Typically would think to just give a tiny baby like that diapers for Christmas, but that doesn't really work when you cloth diaper!

All and all I am feeling pretty good about my accomplishments this week.

We moved

I haven't blogged in forever!! It was for a good reason, though. We have moved, not far away from our condo in beautiful Annapolis, but we moved just the same.

After going and going like the energizer bunny like an idiot (I am 30+weeks pregnant), for four days, I finally took a chill pill and forced myself to take it easy. Taking it easy for me pretty much meant 30 minutes of running around, unpacking, hanging pictures etc, then 60 minutes of sitting, with my feet up. It was nice to finally take it easy, something I never do. But now I am looking around, after being in the new house for a week and a half, and I am slightly amazed that it took me this long to get things settled. I finally hung the last few pictures today, I am done!

Now the fun things begin! I get to get my baby girls room ready, wash clothes, prep diapers and prepare for her arrival. We have already set up the pack and play in our room, and put the swing in the living room. Danny is a mess, he wants to sit in the swing and sleep in the pack and play. I am really hoping that the poor kid gets it out of his system before his sister arrives!

Packing

We haven't even moved yet, but the verdict is in.

We moved from Arizona to Maryland when Danny was five-weeks-old. It was kind of a big deal, it was very stressful, and it made it impossible for me to give myself six weeks to recover. I mentioned recently (several times, actually), that I wonder what would be worse, moving across country with a newborn, or moving about 20 minutes away while 30 weeks pregnant, with a two year old.

This is so much worse than the cross country move!!

Not only are we just coming off a heat wave which damn near took everything out of me. I have a crazy two-year-old running around, and a husband who is not able to help much because of his work schedule. I really had no idea how much Stephen was around to help me while he was in the Marines. He was either in a different country, or available to help me with anything. It is an odd adjustment, having him here, but not available.

It does NOT look like this in my home right now

I am so exhausted, and anxious. I just want to be moved in and settled. I want to work on the baby's room, I never did that with Danny because we were moving around so much when he was an infant. What I really want to do is not feel like a ticking time bomb, with a thousand things left on my to do list.

Just a few more days and I get to do one of my favorite things--set up my home and make it all, well, homey.

Lets just hope I make it till Sunday!

Rock out, baby.

When I was pregnant with Danny, I loved feeling him move around, it is something that I REALLY missed after he was born. He moved a lot, but not constantly, but man he was a big kicker! Especially during hockey playoffs, he would go nuts, probably because my heart rate would speed up, but man, that kid was routing for the Caps right along with me.

(It is worth noting that Danny was born during a Detroit Redwings playoff game. I would update my husband on the score between pushing, and they ended up coming back to win the game 7-4 or something).

Anyway, baby girl is not nearly as strong of a kicker as Danny was, but she is constantly moving! I love it. She even has certain times of day where she is always super active, the same time every day. She is my little rock and roller, I think. Although I am secretly hoping that she is a little more calm when she is on the outside than Danny (he hasn't fallen asleep in my arms since he was two months old, kid is always on the move), at least I know if she is as hyper as her brother they will keep each other in line.

Cloth Wipes

Why spend a ton of money on fancy cloth wipes when you can spend a little bit of money on this:

Washcloths from Target

Instead of spending over $10.00 for a pack of cloth wipes I took the advice of another tree hugging mom friend and decided to try "cheap washcloths instead." Not only did I get six for less than $5, but they are cute and not white, which will hopefully mean they wont look yucky very fast. There are lots of sites that give recipes for cloth wipe solutions, but yet another mom friend told me that she simply wets the wipes before use and boom they work like a charm.

I am so excited to try these, and the cloth diapers I have bought. I love that I am sparing my baby from all the chemicals in disposable diapers and saving money at the same time. The fact that cloth diapers are so stinking cute is just icing on the cake!

Happy 4th!!

Other than the fact that we couldn't see fireworks today (the worst thing that has happened since becoming a one car family), it was a perfect, and super fun 4th of July for the Rice family.

After a shaky start to the day; Stephen got off early, I thought someone broke in and almost knocked him out via baseball bat we got on with our big 4th of July plans. I, still celebrating the fact that I DON'T have Gestational Diabetes started off our day by making red, white and blue pancakes for Danny. Strawberries and blueberries mixed in the pancake mix. I stand by my belief that dads always make pankcakes better than moms, but they turned out pretty nicely. After breakfast Danny and I played, and then packed a box of stuff from his room. He seemed really confused at first about what I was doing, but once I explained to him that we had to pack his things to take to the new house he was on board. He keeps calling the new house "home," and he brought me things to put in the box and kept saying "home, home." He wanted me to put all of his Mickey Mouse stuffed animals in the box, I think he is afraid we are gong to leave some of his stuff behind.

After giving Stephen several hours of sleep, he is still on midnight shift, we went to a parade in a small town outside of Annapolis. Danny was in heaven, with the fire trucks, horses and old cars, I don't think we could have done anything that would have made him more happy!

It was the first real 4th of July event we've done since having Danny. We haven't yet made fireworks since having Danny around, and it never occurred to me to take him to a parade until this year. We had a great time, then did our usual holiday/Sunday routine, which is a cookout and swimming at my Grandma and Grandpa's house.

We have a certified water rat on our hands. If Stephen and I ever wanted to sit around, snack and chat with the adults, forget it! Danny is in the pool from the time we get there until the time we leave. It takes some coaxing to get him to take a break from swimming to eat, even if we are offering cake! One of us is always in the pool with Danny. Today he experienced his first "pool toe," but that didn't stop him from wanting to swim. I'm not sure what I am going to do with this kid once the weather turns and the pools close. I am screwed. . .

4th of July is always one of my favorite holidays. Not only do I LOVE Summertime, but my husband is a Marine, I come from a big military family, we all consider ourselves patriots. I love the patriotism that comes out around the 4th of July. I love how people talk about how great the US is, instead of fighting about it. I love the American Flag cake that my Grandma makes each year.

I hope everyone had a very happy 4th, and remember, freedom isn't free!!

Baby belly

She sure is growing!

27 Weeks

A few weeks ago I started to really feel pregnant, but I wasn't feeling like a super wide load.

28 Weeks--please forgive the PJs.

Then I started to feel like a wide load, everything is suddenly hard to do, even bending over to pick up something is difficult. Welcome to the 3rd trimester!! I will tell you, anyone in their first pregnancy, enjoy it!! There is nothing harder than being big, pregnant and uncomfortable, while also chasing around a two-year-old!! I can't really complain much, I am feeling good, but some days are definitely a challenge!!

29 Weeks.

Now I am definitely a super wide load! This isn't the most flattering picture taken of me today, but it certainly gives a good, real version of my belly. Every time we get out the camera Danny comes running. He stand there to take the picture, then goes about his own business. It is so funny to see. We went to a wedding about a month ago, when we were leaving we had my dad, baby sitter extraordinaire, to take a picture of just Stephen and I. Danny flipped, he was so sad to not be asked to be in the picture. We haven't excluded him since :).

While I am hoping to go into labor a bit early, we still have many weeks to go before we meet our baby girl. I love being pregnant, after the first trimester I started feeling great, so I am in no hurry to "get this baby out," like many women are, but I am very excited to meet her!

Big Storm

A huge storm came out of nowhere Friday night, here in Maryland we got hit pretty hard. The last I read about 1.8 million people are still without power, that includes my elderly Grandparents. They are troopers, even though they have an older house with a well, meaning they can't get water when the power is out, they are taking care of it all. Between cleaning up their yard and prepping for their week long vacation on Saturday they are non-stop. I sure hope that I can keep up like they do when I am in my 80's!

We are just about the only people in my family, who live close by, who have power. Unfortunately we live in a small condo, so I can't invite the whole brood over for dinner each night, but I have offered showers and AC, and internet access.

Not many people have taken me up on my offer, but I hope they know that if I am ever without electricity, AC and showers in the middle of July, that I will be pounding on their doors looking for them to pay it forward :)