22 weeks

The baby is growing a ton and this week is the size of a papaya.  Other than my cold, I have little to write about.  This week was nice and short due to the labor day holiday on Monday and Adam has been spoiling me with sleeping in some in the mornings.  Usually, we switch off who wakes up with the dog, but he's been walking Mac most days.  Part of this is Adam being nice, part of it is because Mac likes to take advantage of a pregnant mommy.  He somehow senses that my center of gravity is off and makes an extra effort to pull on the leash if I'm walking him.  I love my dog, but sometimes he's a brat.  Its amazing how much force a 26 pound dog can have.
We have a quiet weekend planned and I am looking forward to some down time with my boys.  The only thing we really need to do, aside from the usual weekend cleaning, is picking out our paint colors for the rooms we're getting painted.  The kitchen, James' big boy room, and the bathroom ceiling will be getting painted on the 17th and I am so excited!  The kitchen will be a light, almost ice blue and we've been going back and forth for James' room.  We are thinking either a yellow or a pear green.  I will let you know what we decide after our visit to the Sherwin Williams store!

I have a cold

Or maybe its allergies.  I am stuffy and have a runny nose and want to nap more than usual.  I am grumpy and sleepy and want to go home.  Having a cold while pregnant is not fun and I'm going to complain about it.
Probably a lot.
Okay, I think I might have the complaining out of my system.  James and I have been fighting a little bit of a cold.  Although Adam is convinced its allergies.  Actually, James' might really be allergies, because we started his daily Claritin back up a few days ago and he seems to be doing better.  Claritin isn't helping me at all.
I'm sure I will survive either way, but since I'm trying to save up my sick leave, I am at work today.

21 weeks

This week thebump.com tells me that the baby is the size of a pomegranate.  The choice of a pomegranate confuses me, they don't seem that big at the grocery store.  Maybe its the weight comparison that matters this week.  Maybe the pomegranates that are shipped to Maryland super markets are really tiny?  I'm at a loss.
The baby is no longer being measured from crown to rump (the infamous crown-rump length), but from head to toe.  It looks like the baby grew 4 inches this week, but really we just added his little legs.  Last night I told Adam that I thought adults should be measured from their crown to rump (I just love that word...) and he gave me a crazy look, so perhaps not.
Not a whole lot going on lately, I have been diligently faxing in my blood sugar numbers to the high risk OB twice a week.  I haven't been too happy with my numbers recently, they aren't out of control by any means, but the second trimester means a huge increase in insulin need.  The third trimester will mean an even larger increase, so I should just suck it up.  I increase my settings and doses as the doctors instruct and check my sugars regularly.  Sometimes I marvel at the ease of pregnancy for those without chronic illness (or my perception of the ease...).  I mean, I could be pregnant a ton more times if I didn't have to do all this craziness.  But that is not the case, so two little boys will have to suffice!

Maternity Clothes

Getting dressed in the morning has become an interesting challenge.  I have a ton of maternity clothes, thanks to my good friend, Candi.  She actually supplied most of my maternity clothes with James too, but the vicious bed bug attack of 2010 destroyed all of those.  The problem is that I'm feeling extremely lazy.  Today, a Thursday, I have on a loose, non maternity top, and maternity jeans.  Ha!  I wore jeans to work on a Thursday.  The problem is that I also wore jeans to work on Monday.  Tuesday, I sucked it up and wore a dress.  Wednesday, thankfully, I work from home, so I wore... jeans and a t-shirt.  Do you see where I'm going with this?  I have a few pairs of maternity work pants, but they require finding a coordinating top and not wearing flip flops.  I have some skirts and dresses, but laziness generally prevails.  I am lucky that I work in a fairly relaxed environment, where jeans are usually okay.  But I feel like a slob and should probably do something to cure that soon.
Maybe next week...

The phone

Phones have been a favorite of James' for awhile.  He likes to steal our cell phones, turn on the house phone (prompting us to move it out of his reach), and pretend that most any toy is a phone.  Since Adam has been out of town this week, James has been using the "phone" a lot.

Last night, while sitting on my lap, James opened up a collapsible hairbrush from his toy bin (its pink and was in the dollar section of Target.  James wouldn't leave without it...  does that count as a bribe?) and said hello.  He continued to talk for awhile.  I'm not sure exactly what he was saying, but he was really animated.  I finally asked who he was talking to.  James looked up and answered "Daddy" and continued his conversation.  After awhile it was time for a story and bed.  But James refused to get off the phone with his father.  So I lowered my voice to a very believable baritone and told James that it was Daddy and that he should go pick out a story book.  Daddy then said goodnight to his gullible little boy.

Adam won't be home until tomorrow, we'll see if James has another long night on the phone.  I should mention that normally Adam and James do get to talk on the real phone while he is away.  This trip took Adam to Portland, OR, so the time change means that James is in bed before we get our phone call.  But we just have to get through tonight and life will be back to normal.

James who?

I have not been keeping up well lately with posting about James!  Poor first child, he's being ignored already.  But such is life, I usually think about something I want to blog about and by the time I get around to doing it, I have no idea what my idea was.  But such is life, I will keep tabs on my crazy, running toddler when I can.
James is growing up so quickly.  He talks up a storm and most of the time we can understand him.  He puts together sentences well and I really enjoy talking to him.  He comes up with the most hilarious observations and questions, stuff that as adults we never even think of.  The other day, he broke two of his blocks apart and asked me "Mom, what happened to the blocks?"  Okay, I suppose it was more "Mom, what happened blocks?" but I tend to fill in the blanks for him.  He likes to "break" things over and over, just to ask mom or dad or fix it.  He will point out all kinds of vehicles when in the car, big truck and motorcycle being his favorite.
Yesterday, towards the end of James' nap, we got a huge thunderstorm.  The thunder was pounding and James was a bit freaked out by it.  Usually by the time we get a storm, James is asleep in bed and it would take a lot more than some thunder to wake him up.  He wanted to be held during the storm, but Adam explained that it was just thunder.  After that, every big noise, thunder or not, that James heard was "Big thunder!".  When Adam braved the rain to take Mac out, James stood by the door "No walk, Dad, big thunder!"  Actually, telling Adam not to walk Mac is another one of James' catch phrases right now, along with "No work, Dad."  I know that speaking more is a normal part of development, but I can't help but think my boy is a genius.
Anyway, I could go on and on about how smart and wonderful I think my boy is.  I'm so excited for him to start the preschool curriculum at daycare next week.  He'll be doing "Mother Goose Time" with the big kids and I know he's going to have so much fun.

20 weeks

This baby is getting huge!  I can't believe how quickly time is flying, we will have another baby in no time.
James is starting to understand that there is a baby coming or at least that there is a baby in mommy's tummy.  He'll cuddle with me, rub my stomach and say "baby". Actually he says "Oh, baby" which is pretty funny.  This morning, I asked him what we should name his little brother.  He decided on Applesauce.  Maybe he's been reading my blog updates with all the fruit comparisons!  Applesauce is his favorite food right now, so that probably has more to do with it.
If I was having a typical, non high risk pregnancy, I would be half way done right now.  Since we know I'll deliver early, I am more than half way there and am getting more and more excited!  One weekend soon, we will get the baby clothes out of the attic and decide what needs to be thrown out due to stains, etc. and what we can keep and wash.  I think we'll just wash everything for now and put it back into the plastic storage tubs.  We are hoping to get James' big boy room decorated in September and at that point will transition his things from the dresser in the bottom of the changing table to the bigger dresser.  Wow, it really does sound like I'm nesting, which I am, I can't wait to have everything set up for James the big brother and the new baby.