A Big Ol' Brain Dump aka Pregnancy Dreams and Natalie-isms

Women talk about having some off-the-wall dreams during pregnancy and this time around, I have been no exception. At first, I had all nightmares, but lately my dreams just seem to be unbelievably random and well, kind of funny. I thought it might be nice to document them just so I could look back someday and remember what it was like to be pregnant with baby #2.

Two nights ago, I dreamed I married Daniel Boone. As in, the famous wilderness explorer/pioneer, Daniel Boone. Yeah. I hadn't watched any documentaries or anything that would have triggered that in my subconscious, so it must be those wacky pregnancy hormones! ;)

Before that, I had a dream that Tina Fey came to my house for my birthday along with a bunch of friends and their dogs. One friend has a HUGE Great Dane, by the way. It was a crazy party!

I started to write about the nightmare dreams, but I just can't do it. I don't think I'll ever want to remember those down the road. Lots of tragedy and sadness. No fun. So, on to a happier subject!

Natalie has been full of hilarious and/or cute anecdotes lately. Even though we are in the full-fledged tantrum-throwing phase, she can still be quite charming most of the time. Yesterday, after wearing out my nerves with incessant crying and whining for over an hour after waking from her nap, I heard her in the kitchen behind me as I was making dinner, saying all of her grandparents' names and the word "cousins". I turned around and she had her hands clasped together in front of her and then she said, "Night night. Amen." My sweet girl was praying for her family! It was the most precious thing ever!

Earlier this week, I dug out some books that I'd put away for when Natalie was old enough for them. I introduced her to Clifford, the Big Red Dog and well, she loved him. I read one book through and then she proceeded to "read" it herself, saying "Cifford" (no 'l') about every other word. She babbled on and on for a good long time.

Natalie repeats every. single. thing. she hears and sometimes it's just too darn cute. A couple of weeks ago I exclaimed in exasperation, "You are driving me nuts!" and Natalie said, "Nuts!" and ran to the pantry. I had to laugh and then deal with the mom guilt from saying that to her. She has discovered cashews and loves them. And she has an insatiable appetite these days, so it is like a constant feeding fest over here.

Baby girl wants to be held. A LOT. So she holds out her hands as if she expects you to hand her something, not like she wants to be picked up, if that makes sense, and then says, "Hole-jer?" I think she's saying "Hold her?" It's funny how she doesn't know to refer to herself as "I" and "me" yet, although I am in no hurry for her speech to develop to that point. We understand most of what she says and it's just sad when toddlers start speaking in full sentences, sounding like big kids!

I know there are more cute things that have happened lately, but my memory fails me. Natalie is in bed for the night and this mama needs to get busy sewing Christmas presents! My sewing machine awaits...

The Long Overdue Baby #2 Update

It's amazing how my blog post titles continue to get more and more un-creative...

It's also amazing what a poor job of documenting this pregnancy I've done...

But, alas, I finally took a belly pic and am posting it here for the world to see!

It's true what they say about showing earlier with your second baby. I feel like my belly has been noticeable since the middle of my first trimester. Maternity pants have been a must for at least a month and a half now, if not longer, but I'm still trying to make some non-maternity shirts work (see belly pic above, lol).

I've been taking fewer naps these days, although it's more out of stubbornness to enjoy some peace, quiet, and "me" time while Natalie naps and not because my energy has completely returned. It's getting there though. I started taking an iron tonic earlier in the week since I have always been borderline anemic and wanted to hopefully get a good report on my iron screening at my next doctor's appointment. The reviews of the tonic said it also gave lots of people energy, so here's hoping that the same will ring true for me!

Baby girl move around quite a bit, but is still wreaking havoc on my sciatic nerve on my right side. Chiropractic and prenatal massage haven't entirely helped the discomfort, but this too shall pass. I'm so grateful for my doula, Mattie and her beyond wonderful massages.

I'm craving sweets even more than usual, so bring on the Moose Tracks ice cream and apple pie!!! I made 2 pies this month - one for my birthday and one for company. Can't get enough apple pie! It's my favorite! I really do want to get the sweet cravings under control, so I stocked up on fruit at the grocery store yesterday and am going to try to make myself snack on that instead of the aforementioned Moose Tracks decadence.

Natalie is starting to catch on to the idea of there being a baby in my belly. Today, she patted my belly and said, "Baby!" out of the blue. I'm so looking forward to her being a big sister! I've been praying this whole time that my girls will be best friends from day one. Despite the fact that Natalie is a light sleeper, in my heart, I want her to share a room with the new baby, so we've rearranged the furniture a little to better accommodate the toddler bed being in the nursery. We'll see how it goes! Alex and I just started working on turning my office/craft room (the 3rd bedroom) into a combined office for the two of us, so that's even more motivation to make the kids' bedroom sharing work since it will allow us to keep our office set up until the day we (possibly) have a 3rd baby.

We have pretty much resigned ourselves to the idea of waiting until the baby is born to give her a name. We have a short list of contenders, and I'm sure hoping that one of them is THE ONE, otherwise, well, we're sunk. We have had SUCH a hard time agreeing on possibilities. It seems strange not having a name for her yet since Natalie had a name from day one. But, whoever she is, I'm excited to meet her and snuggle her close! Personalizing anything for her will just have to wait...

And speaking of that, a friend just gave birth to her third baby girl yesterday morning and she and her husband are still in the process of choosing the perfect name for her. I finally learned how to crochet edging on a receiving blanket, so I made one for the new baby.

My best friend's mom made two of these blankets for Natalie and they are now both mine and her favorite blankets. They are so generously sized that they can swaddle a newborn securely and still cover up a sleeping toddler. She gave me some pointers and after reading a few tutorials and ripping out a lot of mistakes, I finally figured it out. I have a blanket in progress for our new baby, too. Only 15 more weeks, give or take, and she'll be here! Man, that doesn't sound like much time. Eek! Have so much to do between now and then!

21 Months on the 21st

Last week, Natalie turned 21 months old. I really wish that time would slow down already!Last Wednesday (9/18), we moved Natalie to her toddler bed. (I made her sheet and pillow case out of fabric from JoAnn's. Sheets are surprisingly easy!)

The first two nights, she shocked me by not getting up even one time to test her new boundaries (or lack thereof, since she isn't contained like in her crib). On the third night, our air conditioning went out, so her bedroom was too warm for her to be comfortable to fall asleep. We opened her window and let her sleep in just a diaper, but she was quite restless well past bedtime. Then she woke up at 5 am Saturday, wide awake and asking to eat. Not a good way to start the weekend.

She has shown a lot of interest in the potty recently, so I tried to start potty training her today. All along, I have been eager to be done with diapers, but after today, I'm in no hurry. Apparently Natalie is not as ready as I thought. We had NO success. It was ridiculous. Like, 3 accidents in 30 minutes ridiculous. So, I'm backing off and waiting, probably until Spring sometime once we're hopefully in a routine with the new baby. Part of me feels like a dope for thinking she could possibly be ready at this age and another part of me also feels like a loser for giving up after one day. But you know what? It's not the end of the world and life with cloth diaper laundry will go on and my child WILL be potty trained eventually, and that's what matters. Who cares if it doesn't happen right now. Just pray that I have enough energy to tackle the potty training when she's truly ready and am not just utterly exhausted from adjusting to life with 2 kids. I'm pretty scared about all that!

These days, Natalie thinks she is too big to sit in her high chair and will only eat while sitting in a chair or next to us on the couch. She hates wearing a bib and is getting picky about sippy cups. Um...mommy hates cleaning up unnecessary messes, so just wear the bib and use the no-spill cup, please, child!!! She is obsessed with apples and asks to eat them all.the.time. We took her to an apple farm and Alex let her mooch off an apple with him, so now she prefers to bite right into the whole thing instead of having me cut it up for her. I made an apple pie last week and Natalie kept asking for "Ah-pie". She can say "apple" clear as day, but for some reason, she hasn't figured out how to say it with "pie".

We take a lot of walks around our neighborhood, and recently, we've been leaving the stroller at home. In some ways, it's nice not having to push a 30 pound stroller with a 26-pound toddler in it, but our walks last twice as long since we're constantly having to tell Natalie to keep moving. She likes to watch for animals and airplanes, pick up rocks, mystery berries, acorns, and flowers along the way. At least she's observant, enjoying nature, and getting some energy out! She asks to take a walk pretty much every day and even goes into the laundry room where we keep Layla's leashes to make sure her puppy gets to come along, too. Speaking of Layla...it is now Natalie's regular job to feed the dog in the morning and evening. She gets right into it, too! Sometimes she even tries to sneak a 3rd feeding in there in the afternoon...

Any time you ask Natalie a question, she answers with the cutest little "yes". My mom asked her something like, "Does Mommy have a melon in her belly?" and Natalie said, "Yes". Thanks, kiddo! Needless to say, she's pretty agreeable these days! She says well over 100 words and has finally started saying Grandma ("Damma". She has been saying her other grandparents' names for quite a while). She came up to me the other day with her hands clasped together and said "pray". So we did, and then at the end she said, "Amen!" It was precious!

I'm loving the age that she's at right now. Everyday is full of new things she has learned and figured out. It's amazing how quickly kids pick up on things! She loves to give kisses and asks to cuddle. She is definitely both a mama and a daddy's girl (just what we prayed for!). We're working on tantrums and how to not be upset when she doesn't get her way (like when mean old mommy doesn't choose the grocery cart with the car on the front for her to ride in). It's strange to actually be able to almost carry on a conversation with her now. She seems so grown up and yet still so much like a baby at the same time. I think she is going to be a great big sister! We had lunch at my parents' house after church yesterday and Natalie cuddled up next to me and started rubbing my belly. It was the most precious, sweet thing ever. She's never done anything like that. My mom tried to take a picture, but, as usual, Natalie's 6th sense for when the camera is out kicked in and she stopped being all cute.

So, that's life with a 21-month old Natalie! Never a dull moment around here and we wouldn't have it any other way! 

A Funny Bacon Story

I'm back from oblivion just for a quick little story so that I don't forget it. Today is my 27th birthday. I woke up and popped some cinnamon rolls and bacon in the oven for a quick birthday treat/breakfast. Natalie has become quite the little fan of bacon and kept asking for more. We thought she'd had enough because she reached up and put a small piece on the counter like she didn't want it anymore, so Alex took it and fed it to Layla. Well, Natalie didn't like that at all. She ran over to Layla yelling, "No! Bacon!" and tried to pry the dog's mouth open to retrieve her bacon. I.love.my.child. Bless her heart! Hahaha!

Before I Forget These Moments

In the eyes of a 20-month old, every day is full of possibility. Opportunities to learn something new, to find new trouble to get into, maybe convince Mommy to give you a treat or two. Natalie is literally growing up before my very eyes and it is exciting and heart-wrenching at the same time. Her vocabulary has exploded to include approximately 80 words (I counted it up yesterday and today) and she's even started putting a couple phrases together like "shoes on", "want this", and "here, mama".

I wanted to remember a few moments and details that have stuck in my mind lately before I forget them. Yesterday, Natalie handed me a half-chewed piece of green pepper, so I told her to go throw it away in the trash and she ran to the kitchen to throw it away and then ran back to me yelling "Throw in trash!", all proud of herself. I was proud, too! Maybe it seems strange that I am proud of something like that, but she is just becoming so independent, plus that was only one of a handful of times that she has said two or three words together.

The grandparents have all gotten a kick out of Natalie's latest antic: checking mommy for a dirty diaper. Yeah. I guess she figured that since I pull her diaper back to check if she's clean or not that she should check mommy, too...

Natalie loves playing chase. She gets Layla to run after her in the backyard and just giggles and cackles and squeals in delight. When we're inside, she says, " 'Mon! 'Mon!" (c'mon) so that we will chase her around.

My independent toddler loves trying to buckle the chest clip on her car seat, the buckle in shopping carts and the buckle on baby swing on her swing set. She is starting to dislike eating in her highchair and prefers siting in a regular chair. Don't even think about trying to hold silverware for her or she will probably refuse to eat. Yogurt used to end up all over her face, hair, and bib, but now she manages to get the majority in her mouth. The first thing she has been asking for in the morning is to put on her shoes and a bow for her hair. I walked into her room to get her out of bed the other day and she immediately said, "Mommy! Hi!". Melt. My. Heart.

She might be growing up much faster than I'd like, but I'm going to do my best to remember as much about these busy days as I can and be a better mom tomorrow than I was today so that when my daughter looks back on her childhood, she will have fond memories, too.

Baby #2: Boy or Girl?

Last Thursday, our little family headed to our doctor's office for a gender reveal ultrasound! They didn't offer this option when I was pregnant with Natalie, so we went a little further away to Lexington to find out early (16 weeks) with her. The excitement of a new baby joining the family is just too much for us to contain, apparently :) They quickly took us back to the ultrasound room where we got to take our very first look at Baby Godin #2. Seeing your baby for the first time, even if it's on a tv screen, is just surreal and oh so wonderful. So, after convincing the baby to move it's little foot out the way, the tech froze the frame and said, "Here it is! It's a..." I was honestly surprised at her announcement because the ultrasound looked very different from Natalie's, but we'll take her trained and experienced word for it...it's a girl!!!

Very early on in this pregnancy, I had hoped for a girl because I wanted to Natalie to grow up with a sister. I love my sisters dearly and can't imagine life without them. Getting to raise sisters who are close in age is sure to be an adventure. Disclaimer: After the initial excitement of this pregnancy settled down, I got excited about the possibility of having a boy as well. We had a boy name picked out, which really vamped up my eagerness to find out the gender, so I was going to be really excited either way! We are still working on choosing this baby's name, although we are finally making some progress! Alex and I both agree that choosing boy names is far easier for us as we have very different taste when it comes to girl names.

On the Saturday after our ultrasound, we invited our parents, local siblings, nieces and nephew over for a gender reveal party. I was absolutely exhausted and thus did not put forth as much effort into cute decorations or any party games as I would have liked to, but it still turned out nice. And the main focus is finding out the gender anyway, right? The week of the gender reveal, I learned to crochet baby booties and found a cute pattern for a boy's style bootie and a girl's Mary Jane style shoe and went ahead and made a pair of each. I wrapped each pink bootie in several layers of tissue paper for each set of grandparents to open.

My mom (in the blue shirt) said she had managed to stay neutral on the boy vs. girl debate, so she felt genuinely excited by the news that she would have a 5th granddaughter (there are no grandsons on my side so far!). My mother-in-law said she had anticipated a boy, but she was happy about having her 5th granddaughter as well.

We spend the rest of the party just visiting, noshing, and tossing baby name ideas around. We had a really great time!

NH Vacation Part 2: The Rest of the Trip

 The day after we arrived in New Hampshire, we went to a family reunion on Alex's mom's side of the family. The kids swam in the ice cold water of the swimming pool pretty much the entire time we were there. The adults, however, only endured the water for a few minutes at a time to appease the begging children :) Natalie enjoyed playing with some water toys on dry land:

 Alex's Aunt Kathy had a tire swing in her yard that made for a great photo op:

 Tuesday, we went to a creative playground that reminded me so much of the wooden playground we had where I went to kindergarten. They seriously need to build one of these where we live. The closest one to us is 75 miles away. I wish I'd taken a picture of the whole thing because the little kiddy area where these pics were taken does not do it justice.

 At the same park, there were walking trails that led to this river (we are so not a photogenic family!):

 Friday, we hung out at Alex's Aunt and Uncle's for a few hours. Except for the first few days of the trip, it was around 100 degrees and soooo humid the whole time we were there. Natalie and Alex tried to cool off on a hammock in the shade:

 Natalie looking fly in daddy's sunglasses:

 Before we headed home on Saturday, we stopped to say goodbye to Alex's Grammy, Aunt and Uncle. Natalie was barely awake and hadn't eaten breakfast, hence the look of sheer delight on her face...ha!

 

We drove home separately from our little caravan so that we could stop to visit my lifelong friend, Boo, and her husband, Tim, in Pennsylvania. We have been friends since we were two years old. She was my maid-of-honor and now she's expecting her first child, a little girl, in August. Boo was a good sport and let us get a belly pic at 7 in the morning before we headed back on the road.

So, that about sums up our vacation! Natalie was a great little traveler and didn't get very fussy in the car. We kept her supplied with snacks and she watched a little Elmo, but for the most part, she napped, ate and played with toys and books. When we got home, she was excited to see her puppy, Layla, again and ran around the house doing a dance. I think she was glad to be free from her car seat after two long days of car riding!