Thursday, August 29, 2013

Pregnancy Updates: 23 Weeks

How far along? 23 weeks 

Total weight gain/loss:  I think about twelve pounds... 

Maternity Clothes: It's still a mix.  I wore a maternity dress today, but my regular clothing yesterday.  Things are rapidly expanding though.  A pair of pants I tried on last week didn't fit yesterday. 

Sleep: Okay.  My legs hurt at night.  My sore belly makes rolling over hurt.  Also, I woke up several times throughout the night to make sure my alarm was set.  Back to work anxiety...

Best Moments this Week  Sharing the news with people at work.  Someone let me cut in line for pizza, so that was a definite bonus.  A former student rubbed my belly today as she walked by in the hall...awkward.  But, Eric can feel her now, and that's less awkward.    

Movement:  Oh my gosh Sir Kicks-a-lot!  I can't believe how powerful her movements have become.  I could see her foot (or maybe an arm) bulging out of me the other night.  That did not happen when I was pregnant with Madeline until I was at least 30 weeks.  She better not be twerking...    

Food Cravings:  Cake!  With frosting!   

Food Aversions:  No.  I laugh in the face of food aversions.  

Gender:  Female.  

Labor Signs:  Nope.  

Pregnancy Symptoms:  A giant belly.  Lots of peeing.  I'm really sore again in my lower abdomen.  Lifting my legs to put on pants hurts?!  What is going on down there?  

Belly Button In or Out? Flat.   

What I Miss:  When I pick up Madeline from daycare, she's usually in the middle of nap.  I used to be able to just pick her up and strap her in the car without her noticing much, but now I can't do that.  Poor, sleepy peanut...

What I am Looking Forward to:  More kicks and a growing belly.  We think this will be our last pregnancy, so I'm trying to enjoy the experience as much as possible.  

Upcoming Appointments/ Events:  Doctor's appointment next week.  

Current Food Comparison?  Mango!  Those are my favorite smoothies!  

Meanwhile, I'm the size of...

For a comparison of what I looked like at 23 weeks with Madeline, click here.  Spoiler alert, the belly is bigger this time.    

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Back to School

Um, guys? Summer vacation is over. What's that all about?

Madeline and I returned to our regular routines this week.  I went back to work, and Madeline went back to school.  Meanwhile, Eric has another week of vacation, so he's busy working on finishing a growler of Magic Hat and watching drum corps DVDs.  I'm partially jealous...guess of which part.

Madeline woke up ridiculously early on our first day back due to a nightmare about "a pink thing" in her bed.  She usually loves anything pink, so I'm not sure what this "thing" could have been to scare her so much that she couldn't fall back asleep.  She's had nightmares about lobsters in her bed before...maybe pink lobsters?

Instead of snoozing, she busied herself playing with my makeup while I got ready for work.   Finally, I handed her a tube of pink lipstick, plopped a mirror in front of her, and let her go for it.

She was so proud of herself! Sometimes the smallest things make her the happiest.

The day before, Madeline picked out a new back-to-school outfit.  I've never seen her be so interested in clothing.  I had picked out an adorable pair of red corduroy overalls, but when she saw this pink jumper, her eyes lit up and she carried it around the store.  I gave in and put the overalls back.

I must say, she's got pretty good taste.  Hello, adorable!


She was so excited to go back to school that she kept bouncing around.  As a result, every picture I got was blurry.  Oh well...at least she was happy.


I spent my first day of work at meetings and doing battle with the locked desk in my room. (Thanks, Emily. Who knew you had to put the key in backwards?!) Madeline, on the other hand, spent her first day playing with her best buddy, playing in housekeeping, and apparently not getting a turn at the water table.  She had a great day, and was appropriately exhausted by bedtime...as was I.  

Her second day back seemed a little less exciting.  She was bit sad when I picked her up, and at dinner she told us, " (Child's Name) isn't my friend anymore.  She doesnt' want to play with me," and started crying.

It pretty much broke my heart.  We told her that maybe tomorrow the girl would want to play, and if not, play with the other kids instead because there are lots of other friends to have fun with.  Madeline seemed to accept this, and gobbled up the rest of her dinner.  I guess, she wasn't too upset.  School drama is tough, man...even in preschool.

Oh, Madeline, I hope you stay young and innocent as long as possible, and never learn to twerk like Miley Cyrus.  Cause that ish is nasty.  

Monday, August 26, 2013

My Big Girl

Everyone from the grandparents to the mailman has commented on how much bigger Madeline has gotten.  Of course, she's always growing, but it seems like she's sprouted extra fast over the summer.  Her legs are miles long, all traces of her round baby belly are gone, and she went from a size 5 shoe in May to a size 7.5 in August. None of her shoes fit.  My girl is huge!

And since summer vacation is now officially over, (At least for me and Maddie Bear.  Eric has an extra week, that stinker...) I thought I'd show some evidence via photograph.  Compare last summer to this summer... Prepare yourself for some boring family photo magic.

Sitting on a turtle last year...

And this year... (Hey, at least my shoes still fit!)  

Playing in the pool last year...
And this year...

Sleeping in the car last year...
And this year...


Helping Mumma cook last year...
And this year...

Epic meltdown last year...

And this year... (Yes, I'm a horrible parent for taking pictures of her while she's crying.)

On the ferry to New York last year...

And this year...(Now she's the one with the cool sunglasses.)

Listening to Dada's concerts last year...

And this year, we can't get her to sit still....

Dining out in Vermont last year...
And this year...

At the zoo last year...
And this year...

On Pop's boat last year...
And this year, she's driving... 


In the mouth of the Ron Jo last year...

And this year, she's still afraid of him...

Running at the beach last year...
And this year...

Sitting by the lake last year...
 And this year...


Playing shuffle board last year...
And this year...

Arts and crafts last year...

And this year...

Climbing rocks last year...
And this year...

My, oh my, Miss Madeline.  You're just so, so big.











Friday, August 23, 2013

Livin' in a Pink Paradise

One of the perks of having a second girl is that all of our offspring can sleep together in the same room.  These girls are either going to have fun sleepovers every night, or they'll kill one another.  I have visions of future me screaming up the stairs, "Stop pulling your sister's hair or I'll cut yours off!"  I'll do it too.  I already have.    

Our little house has two bedrooms on the second floor.  There's also a very small third bedroom downstairs that we currently use as an office/playroom/dumping ground.  If this baby had been a boy, we would have had to eventually move Madeline into that room.  (Alright kid, there's a new baby around these parts....git!)    We certainly weren't keen on the idea of moving Madeline so far from the rest of the family, so thankfully, things are working out in our favor.  

In reality, all we had to do to get the room ready for a second girl was dump a bed in there for Madeline and call it a day.  But I'm a dreamer, Dotty, a rebel.  I fully intend on tricking this hovel out into a full-on girlie-girl paradise.  (Cue inspirational music for me, and groans from Eric who will end up doing most of the work.)   

When we moved in two years ago, we painted her room a raspberry-pink color.  It was light brown before that.  It took my mother-in-law and my husband's aunt several hours of painting in sweltering heat to achieve that lovely hue, which I deeply appreciate.  But, I decided it had to go.  

It was just too dark for the space.  Besides, Madeline loves light pink.  Or "lightning pink" as she calls it, and I think everyone should start calling it cause it sounds way more bad ass than "ballet slipper" or "apricot dreams."  

Anyway, we painted.  

Actually, Eric painted.  I helped prime, but he got sick of me criticizing his manly skills, so he  kicked me out to go shopping on day two.  Poor me.


Next, I decided that "we" needed to add quarter round molding to the base trim in order to cover some unsightly cracks.  Eric did the measuring, cutting, and nailing himself,  but he did let me and Madeline help a bit.  I was particularly good at caulking.  


Madeline was pretending that the clamps were a family.  This clamp is the baby sister, and she's rocking it to sleep. 
 Our old house has original wood floors and horse-hair-plaster walls.  For the most part, everything is in good condition, but there are certainly plenty of areas that I wish we could magic eraser away...like all these gross, crumbly cracks.


 Ahhh...I feel so much cleaner!


I know this doesn't seem like a huge change.  Even Eric wasn't sure it was worth the time and effort when I first introduced the idea, but in the end, we both decided that it makes the room look ten times better.  It's neater, cleaner, smoother.  Fancier....

Here's what the room currently looks like:  (Don't mind the twirling Maddie Bear.  She's a photo hog.)


Here's what it used to look like:

More images of her room can be found here if at all interested although our plans have changed.

I love, love, LOVE the new color.  It's a very pale, peach-y pink, and it brightens up the room so much.

I found the new rug on Overstock last week for half the price as listed on other websites.  It's darker than I thought it would be, but very much a coral tone in real life.  Madeline's pink dresser is from Ikea. I painted it a shade darker than the walls.  I sold her old armoire on Craigslist.  I was sad to see it go, since I had decorated it myself, but it went to a nice, new home that is expecting a baby boy.

The girls' room is coming along, but there's a lot left to do.  The next big project is the closet.  It's big, but awkwardly shaped due to the sloped ceilings.  There are also cracks in the plaster that make me all sorts of nervous.  Eric claims he knows how to fix it.  I've decided to have faith in him.  We also need to finish touching up the trim and painting the doors to match.

After that, it's just a matter of decorating, refurnishing, and rearranging.  That's the fun part!