Tuesday, April 29, 2014

life lately {4.29.14}



- Well, we bought a house and moved into it. It's been crazy... I was having lots of contractions, Judah got a terrible stomach bug while we were moving, and our washing machine wasn't working. And still isn't working, 2.5 weeks later. It's been quite the ordeal trying to get it fixed. I got put on bed rest last week until baby is full term (I am 32 weeks)... too many contractions and starting to dilate/efface. We found moisture/water and mold in our basement that the inspector somehow missed. Thomas has had to keep up with a busy work schedule and his ridiculously hard and time-consuming grad school class. Needless to say, we have felt rather overwhelmed. But we have had sweet friends help us with laundry, bring us meals, and even come to stay and unpack our house (thank you, Wright family! We feel so much more at home now). And Grandma (Thomas's mom) is coming in a couple of weeks to stay and help until baby boy is born.

- Despite everything it has entailed, I love our little house. It is just perfect for us right now. It is bright and airy and feels like a home. We don't need the basement living space at the moment, so we can fix the water/mold issue and then just take our time refinishing it (Thomas has already had to rip out most of the finished area of the basement because of the water/mold).

- I've been starting to think more about baby boy and the fact that he will be here oh so soon. Eight weeks or less... (hopefully not too much less). We've been so busy with the move and everything else, it has snuck up on me. I think about how little time I have left with just Judah, and I wonder how he will adapt to being a big brother. I hate that I'm on bedrest and can't do all the fun things I was planning to do with him before baby gets here - swim lessons, playing at the park, his gym class that we had to quit (he asks about it daily), planting a little garden. I think about baby boy and what he will look like and what his personality will be like. I wonder what his name will be (we still haven't figured that out). I worry a little about the labor and delivery. Will it go fast like last time? Will we make it to the birth center in time? Will I be able to handle the pain again? I wonder what our little family of four is going to be like.

- Back to the name thing... we are finding it ridiculously hard to name this little guy. Every name we come across that we like seems to have something about it that gives us second thoughts.

- The nice thing about a second baby is that I don't feel as much pressure to have everything perfect and ready like I did with Judah. Babies just need to be held, loved, nursed, and changed. We have most of what we need from Judah's baby days, and what we don't have... eh, it will all get sorted out!

- I'm behind in posting the 52 Project... I will get caught up eventually. There may be some phone pictures involved this time... I decided to take the pressure off myself and not worry if I don't manage to get a picture of Judah with my DSLR every week.


Saturday, April 26, 2014

17/52

"A portrait of Judah once a week, every week, in 2014"


17/52 - You always ask to be snuggled right next to baby bump so you can give baby brother kisses and hugs and pat and talk to him. You are already such a loving big brother!
(phone picture this week)

[Joining in with Jodi's Project 52]

Saturday, April 19, 2014

16/52

"A portrait of Judah once a week, every week, in 2014"



16/52 - Dancing around the living room in the "new house" among all the boxes. I took a whole series of pictures of you doing this, see below!


[Joining in with Jodi's Project 52]


Most of these are blurry, but they still capture the pure delight and energy as he danced around the room.




his pretend sad face...

taking a break to work on a puzzle

Saturday, April 12, 2014

15/52

"A portrait of Judah once a week, every week, in 2014"


15/52 - Loving "The Tigger Movie" ... sometimes (more often than I should) I pull you into bed and let you watch something on the tablet for a little bit in the mornings, while I try to wake up.
(It's a phone picture this week - the week we moved!)


[Joining in with Jodi's Project 52]

Thursday, April 10, 2014

2 years old

This is basically just a blog post full of all the things I don't want to forget about Judah at 24 months of age :) Along with a few pictures, of course...

 These bath time pictures were taken just a day or two before his birthday. 
I just love them because they are so descriptive of his personality.

















Things he says a lot at the moment:
"No touch the computer/heater/etc.! No touch it!" (he knows what he's not allowed to touch... doesn't always stop him though!)
"Mama get up too!" ... "Mama go downstairs too!"
"Mama sit down here"
"Come on Mama! Let's go!"
"Mama open the eyes please! Put on the glasses!" (when he's trying to wake me up, ha)
.... [Obviously from the above sayings, Mama does not move fast enough for him!]....
"Judah hold it! Hold it the tablet please!" (or anything else he's normally not allowed to hold...)
"Chocolate have some in mouth please?" (a boy after my own heart)
(He sometimes says sentences kind of backwards... with the important word first... "Phone have it please?" or "Food have some please?")
"More cabbage please!" (his "cabbage" actually means "ketchup"... haha, at least it sounds like he eats his vegetables!)
"Ok! All right!"... he says when he falls down. He also will ask his toys if they're ok/all right if they fall etc.
"Solly Mama!" (sorry mama), he says to me if he does something naughty...  or "Solly firetruck/other toy"... if he drops/throws them or is otherwise destructive.
"Judah ride the bicycle. Judah go that way." - he is obsessed with his balance bike that he got for his birthday.
"No like Mama's towel. Take off Mama's towel." - he tells me this whenever I have my wet hair wrapped up in a towel, he really doesn't like it!
"Firetruck go upstairs in bath too?"... he always wants to bring his toys with him for bath time/bedtime.
"Go in mama's car? Go to the work?"... he always asks to go to "the work" because that is where Papa goes everyday :)
"Go to the park? Play with the dump trucks in the dirt?" - his favorite park has a sandpit and dump trucks.
"Sharky have some pancakes with peanut butter and jam too?"... he always wants to share his food with his toys :)
"Play outside! Dig in the dirt! Find the squirmies!"... squirmies = earth worms :) His favorite thing to do now that the weather is getting warmer.
"I LOVE IT!"... he declares about anything and everything that he likes.... milk, water, food, activities, toys... "I LOVE chocolate!" or "I LOVE eggies!" or "I LOVE firetrucks!"
"Judah do it!"/ "I do it!"... yep he's definitely becoming a 2 year old!
"Get Judah! Get me!"... or "Judah get Papa!" - he loves chasing or being chased around the circle of our downstairs.
"I drive Mama's car?"... he asks every time we get in the car. haha.


Bedtime excuses:
"have some water? have some milk?"
"sing songs! sing songs! more songs!"
"more rock-a-bye chair?" (meaning he wants to be rocked and snuggled more)
"pray?" (how are we supposed to say no to that!)
"more kisses?" (the little stinker likes to withhold kisses from me all day, and then whips them out at bedtime... like Thomas says, he's got me wrapped around his little finger...)
"hugs?"
"sleep in mama's bed?"

When he really wants something his sentences go up in pitch and noise level... "Judah have some milk? HAVE SOME MILK? HAVE SOME MILK PLEEEAASEEEE!"

Talking about the baby:
"Hi baby!" while rubbing my belly... "Give baby kisses??"... "Give baby hugs??"
"Baby come out now?"... sorry, not for a while buddy!
"Mama and baby come play with the toys?"... he often includes baby now when he asks me to come play!
Once I told him that the baby was kicking me... he thought for a moment, and then said "Naughty baby! No kick mama!" .... haha! He knows that he's not allowed to kick people so he's trying to instill the same values in baby brother :)
We were going for a walk one day recently, and he asked "baby come out and ride in the stroller?"... :)
He got to hold a friend's newborn recently and now he's always asking for "baby brudder" to come out so he can hold him.

He's started quoting his favorite movies (which are Despicable Me 1 and 2, The Croods, Mater's Tall Tales, Leapfrog Math Adventures to the Moon):
"Lipstick taser!" (DM2)
"Cookie alabata!" (something one of the minions says in DM2)
"not cool! not cool!" (Croods)
"dun dun dah!" ... along with arm gestures (the little sloth guy in the Croods)
"cha cha cha!"... along with dance moves (Mater's Tall Tales)
"what happened?!" (MTT)
"Let's get outta here!" (Leapfrog)

He also is really starting to play make believe:
- The other day he turned his little four-legged stool over and sat in between the legs, and told me "Judah's rocket ship! Go to the moon!" ... and now it's one of his favorite things to play. He does rocket ship sound effects and goes up to the moon and then comes back down and says "Judah back!". I ask him what he did on the moon and he grins and claps and says "Fun on the moon!".
- He does little voices for his stuffed animals and makes them talk and interact. Same with his cars. He was feeding his rubber ducky breakfast in his highchair the other day and asking the ducky "ducky like yummy toast?" and then saying for the ducky "mmmm yummy! more toast"
- He'll pretend that he is an airplane, or a car, or a firetruck, or a rocket ship etc... he will tell me what he is, and run around making the respective noises.
- He loves to sit in boxes/laundry baskets and pretend he's in a boat, and sing "row, row, row your boat..." and then climb out and pretend to splash in the water.
- He'll tell me his piece of toast that he's eating looks like a turtle or an elephant or a rocket ship whatever else he thinks it looks like at that moment.

Starting to answer more when we ask him what he did, or what we're going to do etc... Like if I ask him to tell Papa what we did at gymnastics class, he'll say "played in the balls! go in the dolphin swing! circle time!". Or when I say we're going to playgroup he will immediately start talking about how he's going to "play with the other kids!"

His memory astonishes me. For example, the first time we went to the birth center for an appointment with my midwife, the assistant gave him a little red ball to play with. That was back in... October? Every time we go back (once a month) he still asks for that little red ball even though he only played with it once. Also, whenever I tell him we're going to see my midwife, he says "listen to the baby's heart?"... he knows what's coming!

He is also very observant. For example, we were Skyping with my family and Uncle Matthew was in the background. We were talking away with Nana and Grandad, and Matt yawned in the background. Judah said "Uncle Matthew tired!" :) Even when he is totally absorbed in playing with something or acts like he isn't listening, he IS indeed listening to every word we say and if he hears something interesting (like how Nana made muffins...) he will instantly ask "Judah have some muffins please?!" (and then we have to explain that Nana did indeed make muffins... but Nana is in Kenya and therefore we can't have her muffins because they're on the "other side of the computer"... poor kid).

Other general language development:
- using pronouns more - me, you, I
- better overall sentence structure, getting the words in the right places
- starting to use different tenses correctly - "I go play"... "I went"... "I played"
- uses words to describe how he's feeling etc now: "Judah scared of the dark"... "I no like this sandwich" etc.
- using words like under, over, behind, around, close, far away etc... to describe things. "Judah hiding under the table!"... "Doggy far away" etc
- starting to sing more complete songs - Itsy Bitsy Spider, Row Your Boat, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Jesus Loves Me.

Personality:
He is two years old and therefore has his moments, but his general demeanor/personality is very sweet and gentle around other kids... he will try to hug them and hold their hands and play and laugh and giggle with them. This also means he kind of gets taken advantage of - other kids will grab toys away from him and he usually just looks sad momentarily and then goes to find a different toy. When other kids hit or bite him he just looks shocked. If the other kids' moms are watching and make them say sorry to Judah, Judah will grin and try to hug them - all is immediately forgiven and forgotten. If he does knock another kid down, it's always by accident because he is focused on what he's doing (I always have him say sorry! And remind him to watch where he's going.). If he wants a toy that another kid has, he will usually just follow them around until they put it down, haha. We do talk a lot about "waiting your turn" and he will ask "Judah's turn? Judah's turn?". I always hope and pray that he doesn't pick up any of those aggressive gestures, but somehow learns to stand up for himself in a healthy way! He does get more ornery and terrible-two-ish when he's just at home with us (because we're his parents I guess), but with other people he is usually very sweet.

Still very picky about food and textures. We're working on it. We finished nursing at 22 months old because my milk dried up at the beginning on the 2nd trimester. It was a great way to calm him and comfort him and get him through big transitions/changes, but we're figuring out new ways. There are definitely times when I sigh and wish I could just nurse him, when nothing else is working - when he's sick, or temper tantrumming, or inconsolable etc. Nothing works quite as well as snuggling up and nursing did!

He is SUPER active and full of energy... pretty normal for a 2 year old boy! But he also loves to sit and snuggle and read books. He loves to be outside and is so much happier and sleeps better when we get to play outside. Thank goodness winter is on its way out. He is silly and goofy and loves to "put on a show" and make us laugh!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Judah William, we are just loving this age! It comes with its issues, as does every stage, but right now you are so talkative and you are developing the funniest little personality. You make us laugh all day long with the things you do and say. We are in awe of how quickly you grasp things. You are so compassionate and loving and gentle, even in the midst of your rough-and-tumble 2 year old boy-ness. We love you so very much!

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Second trimester recap - baby #2

I'm almost 29 weeks now, so we've hit the third trimester! This pregnancy seems to have gone on forever and yet fast at the same time. I've said this before, but it is SO different the second time around. I hardly have time to think about sweet baby #2 and yet he just keeps on growing while I try to keep up with his big brother.

Let's see... the first few weeks of the 2nd trimester I felt pretty good, apart from falling down our stairs (while holding Judah!) and spraining my ankle. Fortunately Judah and the baby were just fine, though it scared me half to death... and I had to wear an ankle boot for a couple weeks. Christmas time was magical and lots of fun with Judah. The beginning of the new year is kind of all a blur in my mind... it was freezing and we were stuck inside a lot. Then February came around and the plumbing in our house went kaput, so that was another blur of a couple weeks with plumbers and yucky machines being dragged through our house into the basement, and then having the entire backyard dug up to fix it. Somewhere during that disaster, before we knew it, I was 20 weeks pregnant and we had the highlight of the anatomy ultrasound and finding out that baby #2 is a boy! Fortunately all the plumbing nonsense was fixed just in time for Judah's 2nd birthday and we got to have a fun weekend with Aunty Laura visiting :)

By the end of February we were house-hunting full swing and I was starting to feel uncomfortable at 23 weeks. I got so much bigger so much faster with this baby. I blame winter for making it impossible to get out and exercise... (I know, I know, there's plenty I could do inside). Also, food is yummy. And I've been worried about doing too much because of all the pre-term labor stuff  I had with Judah. Around 26 weeks I started having more contractions, which is the same time it started with Judah. So we're just trying to be careful at the moment. Back when I had the 20 week ultrasound, we also had a consult with the perinatologist (pre-term labor specialist) and everything looked good back then. She warned me to not lift anything heavy, including 30-lb Judah (which is impossible not to do sometimes), and told me that I have an "irritable uterus"... haha.

By mid-March we found a house, and we will be closing on it on April 11th! Which is this Friday. And we're moving this weekend. I seem to have a history of moving while heavily pregnant... we moved 3 weeks before Judah was born! Obviously, I won't be able to help much with the moving part but I'm trying to get boxes packed up. It's amazing how everything takes twice the effort with a baby belly in the way. Even just rolling over in bed.  I remember it being the same way with Judah, but it seems to have happened much sooner with this baby. I find it hard to imagine that I still have up to 11 weeks to get bigger and more uncomfortable. This kid is already up in my ribs, and takes joy in kicking me in the lungs and ramming his head down the other way. Ouch.

We didn't have a name for Judah picked out until later in his pregnancy (well, we had two and then chose one when he was born)... this sweet baby will be lucky to have a name when he is born. Thomas is so busy with work and grad school, and then add on all the house hunting and buying process (oh and a 2 year old)... well, the poor baby hasn't gotten much of our attention. Hopefully once we settle into our new house and Thomas finishes his semester, we will have more time to "nest" and talk about this sweet little boy who will soon be here.

So... this 2nd trimester update ended up being more of a life update... but that's kind of how this pregnancy has gone! It's just been a tag-a-long to this crazy life. This baby is sure making himself known recently, though. He is so active, I think more so than Judah was. Judah LOVES to watch baby brother bounce around in my belly... he gets so excited when he sees the baby move, and I love feeling him move around inside me. And it's pretty hard to forget I'm pregnant now that every movement takes extra effort! I have some SPD (symphysis pubic dysfunction... quite common during pregnancy) which basically means lots of hip/pelvic pain... so even just walking is sometimes quite painful. Poor Judah is always saying "come on, Mama!"... I don't move fast enough for him, haha. I will start going to a chiropractor soon, I did that during my third trimester with Judah and it helped so much. I'm also convinced that it helped my labor go so quickly and smoothly - my weekly chiropractor appointment kept my body aligned... hips, pelvis... all very important during childbirth.

Little baby boy, we are so excited to meet you and welcome you into our [crazy] life. Your big brother asks every day "baby come out now?"... he can't wait to hold you. I'm sure it will be an adjustment, but we will welcome it all with open hearts. Stay inside until you're full term, though, ok? :)

Sunday, April 6, 2014

14/52

"A portrait of Judah once a week, every week, in 2014"



14/52 - Delighted! Playing with mostly empty balloons is fun :)


Super behind on posting these Project 52 pictures... I'm backdating them so they'll pop up in the right order.


[Joining in with Jodi's Project 52]


a few more...



[showing mama how to blow up the balloons...]


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