The Waiting Game

I'm doing everything I can to hurry Kaitlyn up. It is funny because in my mind the absolute latest she would be here was tomorrow. I can't possibly go past my due date can, I??????

I've been vigilantly doing my prenatal yoga everyday this week. I usually only do it twice a week so I was hoping this would make her uncomfortable enough to want to get out of there. She seems perfectly happy in there though. I, on the other hand, am NOT comfortable. I don't know what she is doing in there so happily but it is putting a major damper on my circulation. I can't imagine having restless leg syndrome on a regular basis. I feel for those people. I, at least, have an end in sight (although it seems to be getting further as we speak).

Everyone keeps telling me all the "tricks". My mom just told me that it is a full moon so that triggers labor....ummm ok, am I having a baby or a werewolf????? I'll keep posting with the progress...or lack of progress.

My OB said they won't let me go more than a week past my due date so I guess I do know she'll be here in at least 8 days!!!! Whoo!!!

And the countdown continues...

So my official "due date" is Friday whatever that means. I went to my OB's office this morning before work even though my appt wasn't until 1:15 hoping that he would see me early and tell me nope you can't go to work you are going to the hospital. He did see me early but unfortunately he didn't tell me to go to the hospital. Once again he said, see you Monday.

I'm unhappily at work. HURRY UP Kaitlyn. I'm ready to meet you!!!!!!

Final blog blabber of the day

I know...I know I never blog and then when I do I go on a rampage.

I read the book the Family Tree that Angelle recommended. I really liked it but I decided it wasn't a good book to read while you are pregnant. For the past few months I have been having absolutely crazy nightmares/dreams. In one dream, I dreamt my sister had become a chain smoker. It was so vivid and real. I honestly had to ask her if we had discussed this or if it was a dream. It seemed so real. Anyway now that you all think I'm crazy let me prove it to you :-)

In the book two white parents have a black child. The past week now I've dreamt all kinds of crazy things about Kaitlyn. She has been black, asian, a boy...which considering the large amount of pink things in her closet wouldn't be such a good thing. All I really want is a healthy baby but these dreams have really been disturbing me. In one dream she came out with a cartooney like south park head. What does this mean???? Is Joe going to think I had an affair with Cartman???? I can't wait for the hormones to go back to normal and for the crazy dreams to stop. It is almost impossible to sleep as it is.

2 minutes

Zach has really gotten better in his negotiating skills. His new trick is "two minutes." I've always given him a little warning of when an activity is going to end. Zach we are going to go to bed in two minutes, we are leaving the beach/pool in two minutes, dinner two minutes...you get the idea. Well Zach now has decided he would like to use this technique as well. The first time he said it I almost fell off my chair laughing and of course I was more than happy to accommodate this request. He now wants to use it for everything. It is hilarious though. Mom I'll brush my teeth in two minutes. Mom we'll change my diaper in two minutes, etc.

I've also been telling him that he has to be gentle around my stomach. I guess I must use the word easy as well. Well yesterday as I was putting him in his car seat he tells me, "Mom please be easy with your tummy. Be careful, I'm heavy." Where does this kid come up with this stuff??? I love it.

My final Zachey came when he was playing ball with our dog Jade. He tells Jade, "Go Deep Jade, Go Deep". He couldn't understand why she wouldn't do it. He kept trying to run and show her how to do it but she just kept following him with the ball. It was very cute.

AMAZING!!!

I would desperately love to stay home full time with Zach and soon Kaitlyn. Joe and I are doing everything we can which right now isn't much to make this a reality. Since the housing market tanked and we pretty much bought our house at the peak we are stuck...at least for now. Well I've decided that if I have to work having a maid is the way to go. This also isn't really a financial reality right now (especially since I want to work less) but it was nice to see how the other half live.

This week I hired my mother's maid to come help clean the house before Kaitlyn gets here. When I left for work on Tuesday my house was terrible. When I came home from work Tuesday I almost cried. My house was sparkling!! I of course picked up before the maid got there so there weren't Lego's and trucks all over but she did a wonderful job. I know everyone has done the shove everything in a laundry hamper in the closet so the house "looks" clean when people cover over trick. Well I had done this and put a note on my closet door saying "DO NOT CLEAN". Evidently the maid doesn't read/speak English so she cleaned my closet anyway. She organized all of my shoes, swept, mopped and basically made my closet sparkle. It looks amazing. She also cleaned out my refrigerator. Once a week before I go to work I "clean" out the fridge. This basically involves throwing out rotten fruit or things I've forgotten about. I keep saying how I need to wipe it out, organize, blah blah blah. Well the maid did this. Everything was organized and it looked amazing. It is amazing how all of these little things can make you feel overwhelmed. I had the greatest day Tuesday! I have never felt so relaxed and relieved.

My nesting instinct has been a little overwhelmed lately by my wow it is really hard to bend over with this belly and inability to breathe instinct. By the time I get home from work and cook dinner and play with Zach and read him stories and put him to bed I have very little energy to do anything else. I really needed the extra help. I feel like I'm definitely ready for Kaitlyn now. I have a doctor's appointment Monday so I'll let you know how it goes.

Waiting...

I had my 38 week appointment yesterday. Kaitlyn is still pretty happy in there. The doctor said it wouldn't be before my next appointment so I have at least another week :-(

I'm so ready for her to be here all ready!

I've definitely been preparing for the lack of sleep. Zach has pretty much slept through the night since he was six months old with few exceptions but the past two weeks he's been waking up often. Sometimes he just lays in there and talks but I think he might be having bad dreams because other times he'll scream like a mad man. It is so weird. Hopefully it will stop before Kaitlyn gets here but from all of your posts it doesn't seem like that is the case.

In addition to Zach, it is so hard to get comfortable with a baby in your belly :-) Wah Wah poor me...sorry for the complaining. I'm at work and I'm feeling yucky so the complaining is easy!

On a good note, the nursery is finally finished and I'm so happy with the way it turned out. I'll post pictures this weekend.

Final post of the day

I had my 37 week Dr's appointment yesterday. He said everything looked good. I'm 1 1/2 centimeters so I guess it could be any day now! Hopefully it will be soon. I'm so ready!!!

Joe has asked that I wait until after the Tennessee game on Saturday. I told him I would try but I wasn't making any promises! Geez us Gator's have to plan everything around Gator football.

Blogging rampage

I just had to share some more Zach stories this morning. He has totally been cracking me up lately. Sunday morning I hear him screaming from his room, "Ma". He does this several times before I can waddle myself in there. It takes me a few (well maybe like 10) minutes to roll myself out of bed these days. Joe actually went in there because I was getting ready to go to the shower. I hear him say over the monitor, "Ma, Come here please I need to talk to you." Umm...ok. Where does he get this stuff. He didn't have anything particular to say though.

He also told me the other night after I told him no more books, "Ok mom, I promise we'll read this one tomorrow." Ok thanks Zach, I was worried! I love how he is really expressing himself now.

He also is really thinking before he speaks. He'll say umm....and then come up with funniest things. I love this age!

His potty training isn't going great but we do have progress. Yesterday when I picked him up from school he wanted to go potty. He didn't want to use the urinal though so he decided to pee standing up in the toilet. The only problem is his part doesn't quiet reach the toilet so instead it went all down the front of the toilet and his leg. At least his is trying!! It is so hard not to laugh at these events. I told him next time we'll have to try the urinal instead and he told me I don't want pee on my leg mommy!

Thanks again

When I put the new banner up for my blog it wasn't quite ready for prime time. Nikki took one look at it and knew she had to perfect it! I thought it looked great the way it was but Nikki made it look even better. Thanks again Nikki and thanks to Erica for taking a great picture to begin with at Hive. While I'm on a role thanks to Min for making Zach have a great having fun smile in the picture!

Fantastic Shower

Thank you so much to Melissa and Nicole for throwing me a fantastic shower!! The food was terrific and the fauxmosas were great! I know everyone else liked the real mimosas! It was so much fun seeing everyone. I got so many cute clothes for Kaitlyn. I'm really excited for her to hurry up and get here now. A special thanks to Erica for being the official shower photographer. She has some great pictures posted on her gallery.

It was nice to have a girl day. Joe watched Zach so I could relax and enjoy myself. I can't believe that the next time I see everyone I will be a mother of two! Wow that is crazy!!!!

Thanks Nikki

I just had to post a big thank you to Nikki for making my blog look nice and pretty. She did such a great job with Zach's picture. Thank goodness I'm a good accountant because I wasn't blessed with the creative gene!

Zachies

I love reading all the blogs about the funny things that all of the kids say and do. We too have a name for Zach's little sayings. We call them Zachies. I'm not sure why they are so funny but it cracks me up to here the things he says. I'm going to try and be better about blogging about them when he says them because I want to be able to look back and remember them.

Yesterday when I went to put on his shorts they wouldn't button. I'm not sure the last time he wore them but it hadn't been that long. It is amazing how they seem to grow overnight. I've decided that the best way to make him grow is to buy him shoes. Inevitably every time I buy him new shoes his feet grow an inch that week. Anyway, Zach looks at me and says, "Mom my shorts are too small. I'm going to give them to the baby 'cause I'm a big boy now!" He takes them off and walks them into Kaitlyn's room and puts them in her closet. What???? Sometimes I think he is blissfully unaware of her and then this. Hopefully he'll be this good with sharing once she gets here.

Labor Day Fun

I know it is Thursday and I'm just posting about Labor Day but I'm a slacker what can I say. Zach has been going through this golfing phase. He watched some golf with his Papa T this weekend and he loves it now. I walked in the room and he told me he was watching golf balls. Ever since he's been using anything long as a golf club. When we were watching the Gator Game Saturday he was using the Gator flag as a golf club. It was very cute! He also doesn't play golf he plays golf balls which is equally cute!

So anyway Monday we decided we would take him to play mini golf at Boomers. Of course as soon as we get in the car it starts raining. We decided to go anyway but no luck! The golf was closed the entire time we were there but he had a blast anyway. The had a miniature bowling alley there. He absolutely loved that. The balls were small and the lanes were small too. He kept wanting to run down the lane after the ball. We had to keep grabbing him and telling him just the ball. I know Joe will appreciate the fact that I have included a picture of his tush for the world to see. Oh well men don't really care about that do they? He also loved the basketball game.

Yeah it's Kaitlyn's turn!!!

Congratulations to Keith and Keri on their newest addition Corgan Alexander!

Two healthy babies down and two to go. I'm so ready now that both Angelle and Keri have their little ones on the outside! Hurry up Kaitlyn!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow...it's been five years

Joe and I celebrated our five year anniversary on Friday. It is so strange how sometimes it feels like we've been together forever and other times I can't believe we've been married five years. Well after reading Keri's post about the Melting Pot I was super excited about going to the Melting Pot. Joe suggested that we not splurge because money is so tight right now...so after being a little disappointed I agreed that he was right. We shouldn't be indulging ourselves right now...we should save for the baby. He suggested PF Changs much less expensive.

Well he told me he made reservations for 6:45. He suprised me though and ended up taking me to the Melting Pot anyway. He had done some side work for somebody and used the money he made for me. Awwww!!! I love my hubbie! When we got there he even had gotten me balloons and a roses. I wish I had my camera but by now you all know that of course I didn't.

We had a really nice time. When we first got there our waitress spilled Joe's coke all over him but they definitely made up for it. It was such a nice night.

My parents actually watched Zach the whole weekend. It was our little version of a "babymoon". We didn't really do anything but relax. We went to see Superbad on Saturday. It was very funny!

So thanks to Mom and Dad and thanks to Joe for a fantastic weekend. I love my family! It is very weird though, being away from Zach. I missed him like crazy and I was only away from him for 48 hours. I'm such a dork!

On a separate note, Zach is doing so great at daycare! I'm so glad that he is with the older children. Joe usually drops him off at school though, but today I did because I had my 34 week checkup at 11:00 so I kept him at home with me for some really great snuggle time. On the way to school he fell asleep. He was still sleepy when I took him in. When I went to set him down on the playground with the other kids he looks right at me and says in the most pathetic and gutwrenching voices, "please stay mommy, please, I love you." What do you say to that??? I of course had to leave and spent the entire carride to the Dr. crying! Again, I'm a dork!

I called to check on him after my appointment and she said he stopped crying like five minutes after I left. Whew!! I know this but it is still hard!

Finally, as to the Dr. appointment, everything looks good. I'm ready though!!

Congrats to Mike, Angelle, and Leah on baby Erin. They are an inspiration to the rest of us!!

Progress!

So Zach has been in the three year old class room at daycare for two weeks. He is doing wonderful! He has not had one problem since he has been in that class. They actually discipline the kids in that class. If they misbehave they get sad faces drawn on the board and when they do what they are supposed to they get smiley faces. If they get three frown faces they start to lose privilidges. So far, Zach only has smiley faces!!

This is such a relif for me. I had been dreading taking him to school for weeks. I'm so glad that everything is finally working out. I knew he wasn't a little demon (well most of the time anyway). He's two, all of you mom's know what a two year old can be like. I love going to pick him up now. He is always happy and playing contently whenever I go to pick him up. He always makes me come in his class and play a little while before we leave. He never did that in the other class. He was always ready to get the heck out of there.

On a different note, I think Zach really understands about the baby now. I love reading all of the blogs about the crazy things that our kids are saying. Yesterday when I went to pick him up from daycare a woman was there with her newborn. She asked Zach if he was ready to have our baby and he said, "My sista will be here soon". I almost died laughing. We should definitely have a tape recorder to catch all of these little quotes.

Is my child really a bully?

So last week Zach was having a rough week at daycare again. They told me he was hitting/kicking and basically having screaming fits all day long. So I had to see for myself. Zach does have occasional meltdowns at home but they are usually short. So I went to the daycare and spent about 4 hours. I know that Zach wasn't acting the same because I was there but I got to watch how the teachers interacted with the children. Zach's class has 22 kids in it from ages 1-2.99. This is a huge age difference. Zach is probably the oldest child (at least he acted like it). My first observation was that the teachers didn't have any authority at all. There were 3 teachers in the room. Two of the teachers mostly just held the kids and played with individual kids while the other teacher did the activities. The first activity was exercising. All of the kids started getting toys out of the bins while she was trying to get them to dance. She said twice "no toys" but all of the kids got toys out anyway and she didn't make them put them away. I guess she figured it was a losing battle. Isn't this bad? I think you have to be consistent if you want the kids to listen. You actually have to enforce what you say.

Moving on to lunch...she told the kids to stay in their chairs several times...again they got up and nothing happened. So I'm thinking Zach doesn't listen to them because nothing happens if he doesn't. He also is extremely bored. I think the age difference is too great. Most of the kids are still babies compared to Zach. None of the kids talked at least they didn't while I was there. In the four hours that I was there the only "activities" they did were a 15 minute art project and about 10 minutes of dancing. The rest of the time was spent hand washing, diapering, feeding, etc. There was so much time where Zach was just sitting there.

So I had made up my mind that I was going to take him somewhere else. I found a great place on Friday. I was going to start him there next week. When Joe went to drop Zach off at daycare yesterday they had moved Zach up to the 3 year old class though. I had suggested that he might be bored in the other class on several occasions but they never agreed. They actually asked if we watched a lot of violent television at home. Are you kidding me? Of course we sit at home all day and watch Die Hard and Rambo?????? I actually am extremely careful about what we watch. If it isn't dancing or PBS Zach doesn't watch it. Anyway I digress...so when we went to pick him up yesterday he had an excellent day. He played nicely all day. I told them we'll give him two weeks in that class. If he isn't doing great he is starting the new school. I'll let you know how it goes.

My little reader...

So I know that Zach isn't really reading but I like to pretend that he is. I've been reading Barnyard Dance by Sandra Boynton to Zach for a few months now. He always finishes the words for me or "reads" along with me. Last night though he told me he wanted to read to me. He "read" every single word as I turned the pages. It was so amazing. He doesn't pronounce all of the works exactly right but he says something that sounds like the word for every single word.

I of course had to call Joe into the room so he could read to Joe also. Why didn't I think to get the video camera out for this event. I really need to be better with the video camera. All of my friends capture all of these great every day moments on video. I never remember though unless it is for a holiday or something.

I had my 30 week Dr.'s appt. yesterday. Everything is looking good. I'm very glad he asked me what hospital I was going to deliver at. I had taken a virtual tour of the hospital right by my house. It seems very nice and I was going to take an actual tour next week. I asked him which hospital he recommended (he delivers at 2 hospitals because they are so close). I had never even considered the other hospital. Well it turns out both of them are basically the same in all aspects EXCEPT at the hospital I was planning on delivering at they only offer private rooms on a first come first serve basis. He said there is no preference given and the likelihood of having a private room is not very good. When I had Zach we had to pay an extra $100 for a private room but it was definitely worth it. Coral Springs doesn't do that because they say it is discriminatory to people on Medicaid.

Again...WHAT???? Discriminatory! Ok I guess I'm being selfish but I really can't imagine sharing a room. I remember the first night in the hospital with Zach I cried myself. We were having a really hard time with breastfeeding. He was in the room with me the whole night and we both were awake the entire night. I can't imagine if another mom was in there "trying" to sleep.

So needless to say unless Northwest is awful which I highly doubt that is where Kaitlynn will be born. I need a private room.

My feet and my hands are supposed to be where?

The hospital where I'm having Kaitlynn offers a prenatal yoga class twice a week. I was very nervous about going but I loved it. Most of the women in the class had been before so they knew all of the poses. I felt a little awkward at first but by the end of the class I felt much more comfortable. I actually wish they offered it more than twice a week. It is amazing how good it feels when I'm finished. On the nights that I don't have Yoga I feel lethargic and unmotivated.

Not only am I loving the way it makes my body feel but it also fills me with energy. It is funny because the nights that I don't have Yoga I get nothing done. All I want to do is plop down on the couch once I'm done with dinner. On the nights that I'm out of the house for a couple of hours I actually am much more productive once I come home. I get the laundry done and the cleaning.

One of the other preggo's in the class with me last week was 38 weeks pregnant and she was still there. She was huffing and puffing but she said it still made her feel better. I'm hoping I can keep it up until the end.

I'm also hoping that starting this little exercise routine will get me in the habit so after Kaitlynn is born I will keep it up and lose some weight.

HIVE reunion

A few weeks ago we had our annual reunion with our friends from high school and college. It was really great to be able to spend time with everyone. One of our friends took some really great pictures of all of the kids.

It is funny because I never thought that Zach would go in a pool without me taking him in. We have a baby gate around our pool but I truly believed that Zach wouldn't go in without us. Well when we were loading up the car to leave North Carolina Zach took a belly flop right into the pool out front. I'm actually not sure if he jumped in or fell in but either way...lucky for us we were out there. I guess you never know what kids are going to do. Erica got some really cute pictures of him playing in the pool though.



I'm very thankful that it seems Zach has his daddy's athletic ability. He had such a great time playing soccer with the kids and the big kids. He really seems to love soccer. He's been playing in the yard for the past couple of weeks and he is actually really good at dribbling the ball. I can't wait to get him in little league.