Ultrasound and underpants

Some pretty interesting happenings to report this time.

Maddie is slowly conquering the potty. One pee at a time. This past weekend, she used the potty in a store and a restaurant. Today, she used one in a doctor's office. We presented her with big girl underpants -- Elmo, Dora, overly pink and polka dots -- still, she only feels minimal remorse when she has accidents in them. We are still very proud of her and are working with her with the hope of changing diapers on only one child come September.

Frank's bug bite update. I'm sitting at my desk at work when I get an IM from Frank that says "Hey, I have Lyme disease. Yay!" No kidding. Blood test has confirmed it. So the good news is that the bite and surrounding area that has given him a lot of pain and worry lately will soon be no more. The bad news is he has to take some pretty powerful antibiotics that should make him equally miserable. Hopefully, there is no lasting joint damage. Serious stuff, those tick bites. Be very afraid...

As for me, I'm starting to have a sinking feeling. Too much preparation left and I'm really afraid I'm going to run out of time. I'm taking bets that the baby does not go full term. A bit stressful since I have projects at home and work that will take me through the end of August to finish. The pregancy dreams are becoming more disturbing. I had great, happy dreams when I carried Maddie so what gives?? Two nights ago, I dreamed I was on the Titanic. No kidding. And was separated from all my loves ones....and oh yeah, we were sinking!!! I am not making this up -- ask Frank!

Today we had a 31-week 3D/4D ultrasound. Since I'm older and this pregnancy has been so different, we decided to get one this time -- not covered by insurance of course. We also decided that maybe Maddie would like to see the ultrasound, too. We've been reading a Waiting for Baby book (by Annie Kubler) that has pictures of the Mommy having an ultrasound, so Maddie was as prepped as she was going to be.

After asking several times, "Where's the baby doctor?" we were ushered to the room and the hunt was on for an active fetus. This kid was having no part of it, though. He was sleeping and barely moved the entire time. He did entertain us with a few seconds of sucking his thumb. Frank was wrestling with Maddie, so the experience wasn't exactly riveting. But, the baby looks really healthy and has what are now known as the family features: huge cheeks.

Sucking his thumb:

Frank thinks the baby looks just like Maddie. We'll see. Final confirmation that this is indeed a boy...no mistaking that this time. Good to know. Also found out he is measuring larger than for his due date (not shocking to me at all). He is 4 lbs, 6 oz. and normal size for his gestation is 3 lbs, 3 oz. Hmmmm............His due date seems to be earlier also, but the tech said it's really too soon to tell if that will be the final date.

Big Girl Room

After weeks of talking to Maddie about moving to a big girl room and big girl bed, she was excited and so were we. Two weeks ago, we finished Maddie's big girl room. Grandmama and Grandaddy kept her for the weekend and we went to work on the room. We took some time off from work, Frank painted the room on Friday and we began putting the pieces into place.

On a personal note, I had to remove all my off-season clothes from the guest room closet to make room for Maddie's stuff -- my least favorite part of the weekend. That meant moving and hence cleaning out and organizing a hall closet that is a second overflow for clothes, etc. So we cleaned out and organized two huge closets while putting together her room! I know this makes for boring blogging, but it's the stuff of making room for baby. All part of the plan......

So, on to photos!!

BEFORE -- a guest room.

IN PROGRESS...

ALL DONE!!

After picking up Maddie, we were ready for the real test....DOES SHE LIKE IT??

We think this is a YES! She even sang with her maraca microphone!

She's slept in it for two weeks now and hasn't mentioned the crib once. She has so much more room to sleep and wallow. She even climbs in by herself. (I love this because lifting her has been a challenge lately.)

Of course, she resists going to bed and all that's involved in that process even though she loves actually sleeping in her bed. Must be the twos.....

Late, late recap of June events

Once again I'm playing catchup for the last month. Of the three weekends so far, two included playdates and one was entirely dedicated to creating the "big girl room."

Stella Dot's birthday was several weeks ago. Frank was at a weekend-long fiddler's convention (they let banjo players hang out also) in the mountains, so I had Maddie solo. It was a lot of work, mostly because my large tummy complicates all manner of movement. But we attended a pizza dinner for the birthday girl and then took a trip with Stella Dot, Amy and Grant to the NC Zoo. Maddie and Stella Dot's first zoo trip!

I don't have very many pics of this, as it is difficult to hold both a camera and a small wiggly child when viewing almost-wildlife. But Amy did get lots of good shots of the kids posted to her blog. On our way out of the zoo, a great African band began playing and we hung out to listen for quite a while. The two girls playing African instruments and dancing was the highlight, I think. Amy has a great movie of this posted to the same site. Here are a few I managed to take...



After the fiddler's convention, Frank made a major detour and visited the new Ikea store. I made a humongous list of items for Maddie's big girl room and for the new baby's room. He did a great job shopping without me -- imagine!!

A notable development is that Maddie now uses various household objects as microphones. I may have had something to do with that... She's very attached to these makeshift microphones and even took one with her to bed for a few nights.....the lint roller wasn't very snuggly though.


Fast forward to the second weekend in June. My parents came up to collect Maddie and take her home with them for a few days while we transformed the guest room to her new room. It took the entire 2.5 days and we didn't stop for anything except eating....but the room turned out great....that will be a separate blog post to follow!

Third weekend was cleaning, planting, Father's Day and an impromptu cookout at Noah, Robin and Waylon's house. Two pools, three preschoolers (that means they are 2 years or older) six adults and lots of food.
Yes, I'm the one to the left not in the pool. I was content with my non-alcoholic beer and watching everyone splash each other.

Noah, do you have a license for that thing? He was spraying everyone and loving it!

If the pool looks like it's leaning, it's because it is. Amy told Maddie the pool was for Mommies and Daddies, but none of the kids were buying it. They abandoned the smaller pool a few seconds later to hang with the Mommies.


The next day was Father's Day, so Frank decided to take Maddie to the nearby kid's museum. I planted in the garden while they were gone.

She is way, way into driving and anything with steering wheels. Thanks, Grandaddy! She gets to "drive" the truck, tractor and golf cart when she visits Grandmama and Grandaddy -- how boring are we??!!

After the "Around Town" exhibit, they moved on to the store and kitchen area. Maddie shopped at the store for food. Since it was Father's Day, what do you think happened? Frank took her to the meat area...she picked out a steak!!

And cooked it....oh, and seasoned it with dishwashing liquid....YUM!

Next blog: big girl room