Week 97.37 Oh, the Things We Do for Love

Dear Nathan, 

This week has been a pretty odd week. You have been imitating babies, pointing out things that scare you, and being super clingy. According to the mommy websites, this is normal behavior for a kid who is about to meet a new sibling. It's scary how you are acting exactly like how the articles said you would. They say everyone is different, but you are a pretty "textbook" child. 

We were wanting to try to move you to a big boy mattress. You seem to be interested in sleeping on a bed, so we tried to put a mattress in your room. You were only interested in doing story time on the bed and then insisted that I put you down in your crib to sleep.  So then I decided that maybe we can find some Elmo sheets to entice you to sleep on the bed. Well, after searching 4 different stores, I looked on-line, disappointed at the selection. The sheets were either ridiculously expensive, or of poor quality. So I came up with an idea of painting Elmo on an old sheet to see if it would work. In the span of one nap time, I finished the project and here you can see Elmo eating dinner with you. 

 When we put the sheet on the bed, things looked promising. We read, sang a lullaby and I asked if you wanted to sleep with Elmo or in your crib. You picked crib. I didn't really expect any other answer, but we decided to try again the next night. After a few nights, I decided I would leave you on the bed after our song and see what would happen. As I walked out of the door, you started crying hysterically, and I could sense strong fear in your cry, so I quickly went back in, comforted you and put you back in the crib.

The next day, we took the scary mattress out of your room and put the crib back. We will wait until you are ready to move to a big boy bed yourself.

I don't know if it's a mom thing, or just an Asian mom thing, but I really love watching you eat. You chewing on a rib just makes me so proud. Still no progress on the veggie front, but as long as you are eating veggie purees, I'm ok with it.

An activity that we have started to play is tee-ball. Again, we have a ghetto set-up, but it works perfectly. You are actually pretty good at hitting the ball. 

Your best friend came over to play yesterday. You guys had lots of fun completing a mini obstacle course that we set up for you along with other little activities like drawing and riding horses.

 In fact, when it was time to leave, she didn't want to go. She hid in our bushes so that her mommy couldn't take her home.

You have become so helpful. A few months ago, you were simply dumping silverware into the drawer. Now you are able to sort (with some reminders at time) and help put away the eating utensils. 

 I'd say this looks pretty good.

 Other than the odd behaviors that I explained above, you are still a happy little boy. You are napping for about 1.5 hours each day, with an occasional 2-2.5 hour nap here and there. Each day you are talking more and more. In fact, you are actually saying the word for "water" (in chinese) as opposed to "Aaaa," which you have used for water since you turned about a year old.

We are allowing you to watch more Little Pim and Ni Hao Kai Lan (no more than 30 mins a day) and I've found that you are picking up even more Chinese through those shows. I don't know if it's the reinforcement, or the fact that the characters are really cute, but you are speaking more of it.

Well, as far as the pregnancy goes, things are going pretty well. The contractions have lessened this week, but one night, I got a super painful Charley horse while sleeping. I definitely feel the baby's head lower in my pelvis, which makes twists in Zumba pretty much impossible, but other than that, things are settling down.

I've started to see the doctor on a weekly basis and as of my last check up, I'm about 50% effaced and dilated about 1 cm. I think I am ready to meet this little girl soon, (but not too soon). We have the nursery about 80% completed. I just need to hang the pom poms up on the ceiling and walls. I'm thinking about hanging a clump from the ceiling at the corner (the crib will go where the bed is right now) and then, the rest, I will hang on the wall with decal stems and leaves attached. I think I still have some contact paper from when I made Nathan's tree decal for his bedroom.

 We have been so fortunate to receive LOTS of hand-me-down, super cute, girl clothes from friends and family. Those purple drawers above are filled with accessories like shoes, bows, and bloomers.

On the other side of the room, we have the recliner and the chest of drawers that I refinished. I'm going to recover the hamper lid with the same fabric that I used to make the pillows and for the fancy frame, I'm probably just going to make it into a cork board for now. Originally, I wanted to cut a piece of glass to put inside, but I think we can wait until baby girl is older and won't reach for the frame during diaper changes.

I am actually pretty much ready to have this baby. Call me crazy, but I'm actually excited for the challenge of raising 2 kids. I'm not looking forward to being sleep deprived, but in hindsight, I know that it won't last for more than a year. The first few months were tough with Nathan, simply because it seemed like it was just me giving all the time and not receiving anything more than an occasional gassy smile. But this time around, I will have Nathan there, so caring for a newborn and a toddler will most likely be a bit more interesting.

I'm still a bit apprehensive about birthing at a hospital, but I'm sure it will go just fine. My worst fear right now is having to give birth en route to the hospital. While it would be an awesome story to tell at cocktail parties, I'm praying that we make it to the hospital at the right time: not too early, and not too late.

I'm probably going to have lots of down time after the birth, so maybe I'll do a post on the differences between birthing at a birthing center, and a hospital.

Well, that's about all I have to update this week.

Love,
Mommy