Lately

This year Mother's Day was just what the doctor ordered. Doug and Ava both spoiled me with cards, a nice Krups waffle-maker, and a book of short stories about the special bond between boys and their Moms. Short stories are just the ticket these days, for my pregnant mush-filled brain!

We celebrated early by going to Relish for lunch on Saturday, on the Roswell square. There was an art festival going on at the square, so we walked around after lunch. Sunday we went to church (Ava went #2 on the potty BEFORE class, which was a Mother's Day present in itself :-). Ava only seems to have accidents at church, during the service...probably because there is a different person taking care of the kids every week, during that timeframe. She probably doesn't feel comfortable enough to announce to a stranger "I gotta go poopy". :-) Who can blame her? :-) After church we ate lunch and went to the nearby church park to fly a kite, because it was so windy that day. I accidentally stepped in a pile of fire ants and was promptly bitten by 3-4. Ava enjoyed playing on the playground equipment while Doug flew the unfliable Tiger shark kite. It was hilarious to watch him run around after this kite. He was determined to keep it up in the air! He definitely got his exercise that day.

Ava has been such a sweetheart. She likes to kiss my belly and talk about "baby brudder". She tries to feed toy pieces of pizza and the contents of her teacups (air :-) to my belly, to feed baby brudder. (We really need to name this kid! :-) I think she's getting used to the concept of having a baby brother around. We've told her that the crib is baby brother's bed. She mentions it at bedtime, pointing to it and saying "baby brudder's bed". When we were in the car the other day, she pointed out that Ava, Mommy and "baby brudder" were all in the car. We've started calling him "our baby", so hopefully she does well when he arrives. ;-)

I went to the doctor yesterday for my 33 week appointment. Everything is progressing just as it should be. All appointments from here on will be weekly. The baby is now head-down, although that could still change before delivery. PLEASE PRAY that he is head-down when it's time to deliver, and that he doesn't have dreams of becoming an acrobat. He is quite the mover and shaker, watching my belly move these days!

I am still hoping for a VBAC (Let's just say a non c-section delivery, if that's possible), but lots of things will need to be "a-ok" in order for this to occur. They will not try to turn the baby externally (do a "version") if they know the baby is breach, so that is the only definitive thing that could prevent me from having the baby naturally, at this point. At this point, the baby seems to be a normal-size. I have gained 20 lbs so far, so I should gain exactly the same amount of weight I did with Ava, even if I gain 1 lb per week from here on out. In the last two weeks I gained 1 lb (I was previously gaining 1 lb per week, it seemed), so I think my days of quick weight gain are slowing down. We'll see!

Heartburn has been killer! I was taking up to 3 pills of Zantac a day and chugging liquid antacid daily. I mentioned it to the doctor yesterday and he gave me a prescription-strength pill to take care of it. Taking ONE pill yesterday, I've already noticed a difference. The crazy thing? I woke up this morning and was dizzy just laying in bed! The room was spinning. I called the doc's office to see if this was a potential side-effect of the medication, and they said it was. So, they've said to continue taking the medication unless the dizziness gets worse. Oh, and they mentioned that I shouldn't hurt myself. Check. (???) Yes, I guess I am a true blonde, dizziness and all. :-) As if a pregnant lady's center-of-gravity-change isn't enough, now I add dizziness into the equation. I guess I won't be hauling tomato plants down hills these days. :-) On the bright side, the heartburn is gone, and that alone feels like a vacation!

We started keeping the gate to Ava's room open at night, so she can come get us if she has to use the potty during the night. This kid is as regular as you can get! If we don't wake her up by 7 a.m., she will "poopy" in her Pull-Up. So, we try to avoid it by getting her up, if possible. It was cute... even though the gate to her room is open, she didn't realize until a few days ago that she could get out of bed and come downstairs on her own. So, I sat at the bottom of the stairway, looked at the baby monitor and called her name. I saw her head pop-up from her pillow in bed. When I told her to come downstairs, she stood in bed and said "I want Mommy". I reassured her (from the bottom of the stairs) that I was waiting downstairs for her. She climbed down out of bed and came downstairs by herself. I'm thinking this will also come in handy if I do end-up requiring a c-section (I know my stair-time will be limited if I have a c-section). So, I now hear the pitter-patter of feet at 7 a.m., and get good-morning kisses from Ava while I'm still in bed.

Her vocabulary and conversation skills are developing so quickly lately! People have commented on how clearly she talks. Just this week, her request was "I watch the Wiggles, okay?" Doug was also amazed at her response, when he asked her which Wiggle plays the guitar. Expecting a response of "the red one", Ava told Doug that "Murray plays guitar". :-0 (Murray is the red Wiggle).

She's getting more acclimated to dirt, ants and bees. No longer do they deter her from playing at the playground. Lately, I keep the french doors to the deck open for a few minutes longer, if the weather is nice. Ava occasionally runs across an ant trying to sneak in from the deck. I will hear an emphatic "There's an ant in my house!" from Ava. (Hysterical to hear her say this sentence, I always start laughing). When I tell her to just step on the ant, she will say "Mommy step on the ant". :-) Baby steps, I guess? In the garage, she normally will step on them.

We're loving this beautiful weather and are anxious to use the pool (membership at a nearby sub-division) in a few weeks.

On an entirely different note, I am definitely learning patience through this little gardening project I've been doing. The tomato plants now smell like tomato plants, the cucumber plants are flowering, and I've enjoyed focusing on something productive that is pregnant-friendly. I recently ordered three different varieties of seedless table grapes (white, red and Concord) and some blueberry bushes. I hope that we'll have some fruit this year from them, as well as some yummy tomatoes. Next year I would like to start everything from seed, if possible. Cross your fingers for this year's "harvest"!

(Note to self, this year's plantings now include:
Quinalt strawberries,
Burpless hybrid cucumbers (some from seed),
Sweet basil,
Cilantro,
Lemon balm,
Thyme,
Fall Gold raspberries (1st year plant)
Red Latham (summer-bearing) raspberries (1st year plant),
Big boy tomatoes,
Roma tomatoes,
Cherry tomatoes,
Grape tomatoes,
Spartan blueberries (1st year plant),
Bluecrop blueberries (3rd year plant),
Himrod white seedless grapes (2nd year plant),
Reliance red seedless grapes (2nd year plant) and
Concord seedless grapes (2nd year plant).

Peace, love and berries,
Shelly