March Update

Hello. So as always, we're overdue for an update. And as always, I have a decent excuse. Yet again, we find ourselves unable to upload any more pictures to Picasa as our hard drive on this little netbook is simply out of space. And I hate to leave you hanging without a good (one or many) pics to enjoy of our adorable dolly, so I've been holding off.

But in the spirit of catching up all up, I've decided to just give you a bit of info to wet your appetite until I can get more photos on here.

First of all, I've been nesting like crazy for what feels like at least a month now. I know that that has a lot to do with the fact that Avery's birthday is next week and her party is the following weekend. But it also has to do with the fact that I want to get the baby's nursery ready asap so that I don't have to deal with that and chasing a toddler when I'm really far along. Plus, as many of you know, our house is quite small, and we'll no longer have a guest bedroom or the same amount of storage, and I've been kind of freaking out about how to re-organize our space to make it the most functional it can be.

Needless to say, both Ed and I have been suffering as a result. For one thing, my body just doesn't seem to take the extra exertion as well as it did when I was pregnant with Avery. My hip keeps locking out whenever I've done too much, which makes walking difficult. (The reason for this problem is two-fold: one, I'm not nearly in the shape I was in then, and two, after being pregnant, then breastfeeding, then pregnant again, my body never had a chance to normalize without all the resulting elastin hormones.) And then there's the obvious of Ed suffering because I just won't give him a break.

My midwife wanted me to see a chiropractor who specializes in pregnancy (I'd been seeing one all along, but she doesn't have that specialization), so I went today. I feel a lot better, but there's still a lot that needs to be done. I'll be seeing her every week for a while, and possibly til the end of this pregnancy (probably more often than that at the end).

And as far as the pregnancy itself goes... that's going just fine. As I'm sure you all know by now, this little guy has a name: Owen Alexander. We thought it went really nicely with Charlotte Avery. I'm 23.5 weeks already, but it's getting harder and harder for me to remember exactly how far along I am now (a second pregnancy thing, I've decided). We're going to get a 3D ultrasound this time - to do a little something special for him that we didn't do for Avery - and that'll be here before we know it. We finished painting Owen's room last week and moved his furniture in, so now all we have to do is add shelving to his closet, his bedding (which my mom is sewing), and decor.

Avery is fabulous, as always, unless you are wanting her to something she's decided is not what she wants... she is definitely exerting her right to express herself. Often this occurs in the form of a fit if I don't intervene fast enough with calming her down and getting her to 'use your words.' Definitely in the two's. Which, by the way... she turns two next Wednesday, and I can't even believe it. Sometimes it's hard to believe so much time has already passed.

But she's not all about tantrums though. Let's see... she's potty training. Really good at it if she's naked. She'll go to the potty on her own without prompts for all needs. Panties are not really happening well yet. Mostly she treats them like diapers. Although Aunt Elizabeth came and spent the day with her on Tuesday so I could get some things done, and she was quite successful at getting her to go on the potty while wearing them, so I'll have to ask her her trick.

Avery loves singing, especially the ABC song, Itsy-Bitsy Spider, Row, Row, Row Your Boat, and Ring Around the Rosie. She also loves Sesame Street still (Avery's World is her birthday party theme) and Brainy Baby. She talks a lot now. And she surprises us continually with how much she repeats and understands. Some days, she REALLY misses daddy when he's at work. On those days, I even have to call him sometimes to convince her to let me get her out of her crib in the morning when she only wants him. Going outside is a favorite of hers, and she seems obsessed right now with riding on the bicycle (the way she says that word is adorable, too). I'm so glad the weather has been getting nice finally, so that we can do those things more.

Anyhow, I know I've mentioned her party a few times already, but I thought I'd expound on that a little bit before I close. It's the weekend after her birthday and we have tried really hard to keep it smaller this year. As I mentioned earlier, our house is just small, too small to really fit everyone we'd like to include into it for her party. So we had to settle for having a toddler playdate with 10 of her buddies, their mommies, and Avery's grandparents, aunts and uncle, and great grandparents. We hate excluding our extended families, but even capping off the list at that has still made the guest list pretty long. We've talked with both of Ed's parents about doing something with each side of the family outside of her party, and that is an option, too.

As I mentioned, the theme is Avery's World, and it will be all about her favorite things. Topping off that list is her "Mankie," the pink and yellow-orange blanket her Aunt Aimee made for her, so those are the colors we've chosen to make as her theme (plus a bit of red thrown in for Elmo).

As soon as it's possible, I'll post some pics of the party. Thank goodness I still have over a week to get ready, as there's still A LOT to do.

Anyhow, enough for now. You should be completely distracted by the throng of words I just posted that you might have forgotten there weren't accompanying pictures. (Well, you remember now!) Come back for them and I promise I'll post again as soon as possible.

Have a great weekend!