Watch us grow!

We are growing!

I am now 35 weeks pregnant, with only a few more weeks to wait for the arrival of Shireling #2.  I am having a pretty good pregnancy as long as I pace myself.  When I try to do my usual 16 hour days, I end up feeling pretty much miserable by the time I go to bed.

My blood pressure is still really good - 108/68 yesterday.  But I am getting pretty puffy.  My fingers are a couple ring sizes larger than they were two weeks ago, so my wedding ring is in a dish on the counter and a much larger Celtic band is in it's place on my ring finger when I'm out and about.  And since this baby has dropped already, I am facing less heartburn - but much more hip discomfort.

I am content to live with all these discomforts for then next few weeks, knowing that life won't be easier then than they are now.  I am trying to enjoy every moment of Donny being the only in the family.  He keeps us smiling all day long!

So, lots of requests have been sent to me to see preggo pics from friends from far away. Unfortunately, most of the pictures that are taken around here are of our Donny, so you won't get to see much of me - but here are a couple which prove that I am, indeed, great with child.

Here you can see the pictures were about Donny, but I happened to be close by :) - and I look more fat than preggo... proof that though sweatshirts are the most comfortable thing to wear, a nice, tight maternity shirt is much more flattering!

Okay... enough whining about no one taking pictures of me (if I'm not careful, I'll end up with cameras flashing all over the place).  On to what Donny's up to these days.

One of his favorite pastimes at 20 months is playing with laundry.  If we don't get it put away right away, he piles it on top of himself, tries to put it on by wrapping it around his neck, drags it around the house...  very cute, and a bit annoying!  Last time I was pregnant, I could leave my clean clothes piled up if I didn't have the energy to fold and put away.  As we speak he is flinging my clean socks onto the floor next to the underwear he tried on and discarded a few minutes ago.

The picture above, where he is wearing my "I heart Mom" shirt and the one below with Auntie Jo's sock are both examples of his love of wearing other people's laundry.  Both of these were his idea.  He even got my shirt on (minus arms in armholes) all by himself!

Climbing in, on, and around is one of Donny's other favorite things to do.  I carefully put the dining room chairs in their places each day, and each day, Donny lines them up into an L shape near the table so he can climb onto one and then go back and forth on all of them... kind of his own personal boardwalk above the kitchen floor.  He still likes to climb onto his Incrediblock, the couches, into the car and his highchair.  And, if he can find pillows nearby, he loves to dive off head first - he doesn't seem to be bothered by bumps too much.  I've gotten used to it, but my co-workers get really nervous when he climbs on the chairs at the office.

Here, he is in his dresser.  I've tried to store shoes and hanging clothes in this compartment, but that doesn't last long, so I gave up.  It's a good playhouse!

The third activity of this toddler is following us around and talking to us.  Here, his Daddy caught him talking to me while I was taking a shower.  He didn't get up the nerve to go into the bathroom for quite a while, but he stood in the doorway and talked/shouted to me for at least 20 minutes.  I encouraged him a bit by playing peek a boo around the shower curtain.

We have been working with him on Starfall.com, and he has learned to recognize sounds and letters from that.  He is about 60% accurate. Not bad for 20 months!  He loves to look at books and point out the letters and numbers, and points out the letters on our shirts, appliances, and cereal boxes.

Some of his cutest current words:

"Monkeys!" (for any stuffed animal)

"Babe-we!" (for people's tummies and babies he sees)

"Dubba!" (for W)

"Simus!" (serves a dual purpose for PBJs and the Simpsons)

"Pone!" (for phone)

"One, two, one, two, seven, eight, ten!" (counting)

"Emm-Oh!" (Elmo or any red stuffed animal)

There is much more, but you get the idea.  He's just the cutest kid ever :)

Don't you agree?

Precious Moments

Ever try to cuddle with an 18 month old?  The one that lives in my house is pretty stingy with his cuddles.  Ten seconds here and there is about all I can get.  Tonight he did something inexplicable.  He hauled his thirty pound frame up onto the vintage green couch and nuzzled up next to me while I held a phone conversation with a friend.  He sat there for at least 45 minutes - as close to me as he could get.  No toys.  No TV.  Just cuddle time.  Once in a while he pretended he was talking on the phone too.  

Then when I said goodbye to my friend he crawled over my lap and sat on the other side of me jabbering about the Christmas tree.  Again, he sat as close as he could get, his hand resting on my arm.  So we sang "Here's a ball for baby" and "Pat a Cake" and several versions of "Jingle Bells" ala Elmo's World.  Then we worked on the alphabet song (he likes the lmnop and w portions the best, but always chimes in on the "Now I know" part too) and counting.

It was precious, and I find myself more attached to him after such a great bonding moment.  When Andy got home he reminded Donny to do that lots since the days of Mama-Donny time will soon be over.  I vowed that we would still make time for us even with younger sibling vying for attention.  These moments are the ones that make me so glad to be alive - and not at all anxious for time to pass.