Pregnancy Week 16: Holy Week Funsies

Updates with baby 3. The only pregnancy symptom (beyond my growing and now visible bump) that remains is nasal congestion. I've weaned myself off of the decongestants and cough meds at night, so I can pretty much survive without any meds, but it's still annoying to always be sniffling and coughing occasionally. I feel like I always have to explain to people that this is a pregnancy symptom because I don't want them to think that I'm sick and contagious.

 I had an appointment with an endocrinologist and after listening to my symptoms she diagnosed me with hCG induced hyperthyroidism, which usually goes away during the second trimester. This makes sense, because 2 weeks ago, I woke up distinctly feeling much better. She still had me go in and get some blood work done, but we are pretty sure that I don't have hyperthyroid disease. Man, this little baby has caused me to have some pretty strong hormone imbalances, I've read that lots of morning sickness may indicate a little girl, so here's another "clue" before we officially find out (whenever that may be). 

I should be feeling kicks anytime soon. Both Nathan and Hannah are asking questions about the baby and I always show them updates on the baby's size and what the baby may look like at this point. Technology is pretty awesome in this way. The baby is about the size of a dill pickle right now and can sense light through my tummy. He or she may even be able to hear my voice. 

Dear Nathan and Hannah, 

The weather has been amazing, so we've been venturing out for short excursions in the afternoon before the little bit of pollen left in the air starts affecting us. With a renewed of energy, we've been cooking up a storm in the kitchen. 

Last Wednesday, we made Nathan's favorite Chinese "Lion's Head" meatball dish. Your friend also loves these meatballs, so she helped out as well. As you can see, two 4 year olds can make quite the mess when there is cornstarch involved. 

 We also baked up some Easter cookies. You two did a great job cutting out the shapes, peeling away the excess dough and rolling out the new dough. Surprisingly, you both are doing a pretty good job with taking turns.

 And then you both decorated your cookies with entirely too much frosting and sprinkles. Decorating on cookie sheets actually worked out so well because all the sprinkles were contained and any frosting drips were easily cleanable by simply rinsing the cookie sheet afterwards.

 On Saturday, a friend invited us over for a playdate. We had so much fun with crafts, a little story about the meaning of Easter, games, and snacks.

 We even got a chance to work together on a really cool project for VBS.

Photo credit: E. Bernhardt 

For most of the time, you two play pretty well together. Hannah just copies Nathan and plays whatever Nathan wants to play, but still needs to work on not "swiping" things from him. Hannah, when we remind you with "Hannah no swiping!" You pout a bit and reluctantly give it back most of the time. I think usually when we remind you that Nathan is playing with it first and that you can play with it after he is finished, you calm down and say, "OK."

Hannah, you recently get freaked out very easily. If you are coming down the stairs by yourself, you usually come down screaming as if someone is chasing you from behind. When you go to bed, you want us to leave the door open, so some light comes in, but you don't want to sleep with the night light. I think your imagination is starting to develop more and you are starting to imagine scary things in your head.

Slowly, Hannah, you are starting to figure out what you like. For example, one morning I asked you two if you wanted pancakes or waffles. Nathan loves pancakes, so he immediately said pancakes. I expected you to also reply with pancakes, but you surprised me with, "I like waffles. Nathan will have pancakes and I will have waffles, OK?" Now, I usually will go ahead and make only 1 thing, but since you were stating your own opinion, instead of just following along with Nathan, I went ahead and made both waffles and pancakes, (which wasn't too difficult, just altered the batter a bit) and in fact, breakfast was prepared faster because 1 waffle maker was not the limiting factor.

Both of you agreed to have strawberries in your pancakes or waffles, so I had you guys cut the strawberries while I prepared the batter.

 One morning, I took Teddy out for a walk and saw a neighbor that I haven't talked to in a long time. I stopped for awhile to chat and she asked if she could give Hannah a baby high chair that she didn't end up selling at the neighborhood garage sale. I gladly accepted and when I took it home, Hannah has been loving it. Every meal the baby sits with us.

This morning we went to an Easter/Passover party hosted by a fellow MOPS mom. She had 1,000 eggs stuffed and ready for the kids to find. Amazing! The weather couldn't have been any worse for an egg hunt (stormy) so we had it inside. It was crazy, but the kids were so excited as they raced from room to room, quickly placing eggs in their basket.

 Nathan's basket is kind of small (holds only 6-7 eggs) so you had an idea to bring your explorer vest. After the hunt we counted 24 eggs in that vest!

Well, that's about it for this week. I'm thinking we will have a pretty exciting weekend ahead of us, so I'll have more updates then. Until next week,

Love,
Mommy