Week 28

I didn't want to overwhelm the last blog post, so I saved the baby girl update for a new post.

I'm into Week 28 at this point, officially in the third trimester.  I have about 10-14 weeks left, depending on whether this little girl comes early, on time or late.  Kind of insane how fast things go.

The baby is approximately the size of an eggplant.  She is between 2-1/4 and 2-1/2 pounds, and is about 14-3/4 or 15 inches long (head to heels).

She can blink her eyes, and she has eyelashes.  Her eyes can also produce tears and she may be able to see light that filters through the womb.  She can also taste and smell, and her sucking and swallowing skills are improving.  Her bones are almost fully developed, though still soft.  Her main job is to put the finishing touches on her major organs, like her brain, lungs and liver.  Her brain will increase 400 to 500 percent in weight between now and delivery.  She's developing millions of neurons in her brain.

She's gaining layers of body fat in order to prepare herself for the outside world.  Her body fat is about 2 to 3 percent.  I continue to feel her jolt me.  Over the weekend I decided she's trying to claw or punch her way out.  I feel more solid kick/punches/bumps than I remember feeling with Jayden; this girl is already a fighter!  Because of where she seems to be located, her movements sometimes reverberate inside me, which is one of the weirdest feelings in the world.

I had my glucose test a couple weeks ago, which, thank goodness, came back normal.  That is a miserable test, even though I only had to do the one hour test.  For those of you unfamiliar, you are supposed to fast, then chug this solution, which I think is essentially sugar water in five minutes, then wait an hour and get your blood drawn.  I felt nauseous the rest of the day.  Actually, this pregnancy has kept me nauseous off and on throughout.  Carmen said he'd heard something about the girl baby's hormones messing with the mom's hormones.  I'm going with that since that's what I've got for now.

Physically I'm feeling okay - not great, but okay.  I'm mostly on track with my weight gain; a little more than I'd like, but not too far off.  I've had more trouble breathing, I've been getting light-headed and generally not feeling "normal," but I guess I am growing a tiny human, so there can only be so much "normal" associated with that.  Here's a picture of me from Saturday, at 28 weeks officially.  I've been really bad about doing "bump" photos, so I'm going to try to be better for the remaining 10+ weeks.  I make no promises.

Mentally and emotionally, I'm a disaster.  After my appointment tomorrow, I start going every two weeks.  I'm actually looking forward to that, simply because it makes me feel more cared for.  My co-worker who is about 8 weeks ahead of me says that her two doctor visits a week (she's a few years older than me so she's having to deal with a "high-risk" pregnancy) are what are keeping her going because she feels like her doctor is the primary person who cares about her.  It's a little sad, actually.  The attorneys who work for her are being the opposite of supportive and are causing all kinds of unnecessary drama for her, rather than discussing how they can chip in, help out and cover while she's gone.  She and I have been providing support to each other as much as possible!

Last night I was making dinner and literally started crying in the middle of it because I couldn't figure out a recipe to make what I wanted to make.  So dumb.  And then poor Jayden was trying to "help" me in the kitchen but just kept peppering me with questions about things I wasn't ready to deal with.  He's been super clingy lately, and I think some of it has to do with the baby.  This morning he was really sad when Carmen dropped him off at Juju's, and that doesn't usually happen.  Sometimes he'll express some hesitancy in going to Juju's, but by the time he gets there he's usually fine.  Today he didn't quite snap out of it like normal.

I never had this feeling with Jayden, but I am so ready to not be pregnant anymore.  Every day, the idea of watching what I eat, what I drink, of having to "take it easy," to be careful, etc. is just so overwhelming that I just don't think I can do it.  I'm exhausted, and I'm anxious and I'm just over it.  I have a few days off in the next month and I'm hoping that will help.  But I really don't know if it will.  There are moments here and there; yesterday Jayden decided we should call his baby sister "Owen" until she was born and then we can give her another time.   So, from now on, all blog updates with call this little girl "Owen."  I kind of love it, and it was entirely out of Jayden's head, which makes it even better.  I try to stick with those moments to help me get through the tougher ones, but sometimes the exhaustion and anxiety and overwhelming-ness (trust me, it's a word) of it all just gets to me.  And on that note, I'm off to bed!

Awww yeah.

It's dark, but this is one of my favoritest videos ever.  If I'm ever ready to hang him upside down by his toenails (as I always threaten), I'll watch this video and remind myself how charming and funny he is.  Even if this was in response to being allowed to watch Paw Patrol after his nap.  

We made it!

And by that I mean, we are all alive, and actually pretty happy.  :)

The trip to Delaware was fun.  Tiring, as expected, but fun.

First, prior to the trip, I took Jayden to a park Wednesday afternoon, because I had been promising him that.  My co-worker mentioned a park near Juju's that is a "castle" park.  I had no idea what that meant, but decided I'd check it out.  It was pretty fun, except, to Jayden's disappointment, there were no slides off of the castle.  Life is hard sometimes.

The castle park.

Jayden following his "friend," a little boy who first asked Jayden to play with him and then minutes later, yelled at Jayden for following him around.  I think the boy thought Jayden was older than he is and expected more from him.  All Jayden could really do was chase him, which was fun for Jayden but not so much for the other boy.
Thank goodness Jayden is too young to completely understand what was going on. 

It was difficult to leave (it always is, especially when there are tons of kids around whose much much nicer parents are not making them leave), but we made it home finally.

We had to get up at 4 something the next morning to get to our airplane.  It was brutal, but Jayden was a complete trooper, especially once we explained we were heading for an airplane.  Thank goodness he loves cars and airplanes.

And thank goodness take off is his kryptonite.  He doesn't like the bumps, and since he can't watch paw patrol until we're up in the sky, he usually just lays down and closes his eyes for the first few minutes.  He actually slept for the first hour or so, which I was very grateful for since our first flight was to Atlanta and was therefore a rather long flight.  

And even more thank goodness, he loves paw patrol.  :)  He got to watch the paw patrol shows, and then I had some coloring/activity books and a couple other toys for him to play with.  He really was sweet.  He didn't sleep on the second flight, but passed out about ten minutes after we got in Gigi's car in Philadelphia.  He slept the whole ride to the house (about an hour) and then for another hour or so afterwards.  It was good for him, even if it threw off his schedule a bit.

As expected, he was pretty reserved and clingy in the beginning.  He's better with Gigi, but took some time getting used to everyone else.

Friday we had nothing to do other than relax and watch basketball.  Since Carmen of course forgot a belt and Delaware has no sales tax, we headed to the mall in the late morning, once Gigi got back from work.  It was pretty cold, in the 20s, and by the time we went to lunch it was snowing!  For us it was exciting.  Clearly everyone back east was over it, but for us Californians, since it wasn't sticking and didn't impact driving or anything, it was lovely.

Snowy scene from the car window.

Daddy and Jayden making tracks in the snow.  It was fun for a minute and then Jayden decided it was "too cold Mommy."

Saturday morning was the motivation for the timing of the trip - Carmen was inducted into the Delaware Basketball Hall of Fame!

Playing around with Daddy before the ceremony.  Check out the shirt with helicopters - thanks Aunt Gwen!

Daddy accepting his award.  I recorded his whole speech if anyone is interested.  But it takes up a lot of space, so I'm not going to post it here.  Happy to share if you're interested.  :)

Carmen with two of his fellow inductees: Ralph Blalock and Coach Bix Bush.

Family photo.  Turns out the trick to getting Jayden to smile is to tell him not to smile.  Works pretty much every time, even though sometimes the smile is a little goofy.  

Saturday afternoon/evening, Enid and William had a big gathering - in honor of Carmen's induction and Enid's birthday, which was March 25th.  It was a lot of fun, with lots of friends and family, and lots of basketball, of course.  And for some of us (really, one of us) there was a lot of drinking!

Sunday was recovery day, even for those of us who weren't drinking.  We took it easy, relaxed and hung around the house.

Giving Gigi her birthday present and card.
Sorry for the bathrobe picture, Gigi - but it's too cute!

Talking on Gigi's telephone.  I can't remember who he was talking to, but probably something related to the Paw Patrol.  

Jayden was a bit grouchy.  We finally convinced him to get out of the house in the fresh air.  We didn't get too far, but I do think it helped.

Gigi and William's house.  So pretty, and so big!

Monday morning was the beginning of the most exciting day (for me): a 12 hour cross-country trip, six months pregnant, on my own, with a three year old.  It was awesome.  Luckily Carmen and I really do have an awesome kid, and luckily he is used to traveling and is very patient, even with me.  We flew through Houston, an airport where I had not spent much (if any) time.  I won't really be going back if I can help it.  We landed in C terminal, and our second flight was out of C terminal, so I thought we were good to go.  Turns out C terminal is basically the entire airport.  And of course, our second gate was basically at the opposite side of the airport.  We had landed early, thank goodness, so we stopped at the play area for a few minutes where Jayden immediately found a friend, and found a place to sit and eat lunch.

As we were getting up to go to our gate, I did one last check of the gate, and of course, it had changed.  And of course it changed to a terminal to which there were no moving walkways and no trains or other transportation with which I could bribe the toddler.  Considering the state of my pregnancy and the amount of bags I was carrying, there was no way I could carry Jayden.  Amazingly, he made it.   Then our plane didn't show up.  Then we switched gates again (luckily it was only one gate over).  Then our plane was coming from Mexico and had to be extra-cleared for security reasons.  We left an hour or more late, but ended up only landing about 20 minutes late, thank goodness.  It meant we couldn't pick up Jasmine that evening, but I had boarded her until the following day to be safe, so it actually made my life a little easier.

Carmen was heading to North Carolina the following day, so it made sense for him to stay in Delaware rather than flying back to the West Coast, but man I could have used parent #2 for those few days after we got back.  Jayden was great, actually, it's just being the sole parent and being responsible for anything and everything that comes up.  It was a short trip for Carmen, though; he was home Thursday.

I had scheduled a make-up swim class for Jayden on Thursday since we missed the prior Saturday while we were in Delaware.  He had a different teacher, because Ms. Stacy was busy during the times that would be best.  It didn't really phase Jayden, though, since he loves swimming just that much.

Hanging out in the corner of the sunny swimming pool before his lesson.

Showing me how he can touch the bottom of the pool all by himself.  He's awesome.
Proud Mama moment: When I called to schedule the make-up, the scheduler mentioned how impressed she was with the level Jayden was at.  I think the teacher's update the student's levels and I guess maybe Jayden is at an advanced level for his age.  I love how much he loves swimming; I'd totally be happy spending time at swim meets.  :)

I think Jayden might have missed his Daddy, because Friday morning when we were getting ready for work and Juju's, Jayden told Carmen he wanted him to drop him off and pick him up.  Because Daddy was gone for such a long time and Mommy had been doing drop-off and pick-up for a long time so Daddy could do it today.  Luckily it worked with Carmen's schedule, so he got to do drop-off and pick-up.  Very cute.

The weekend was filled with more basketball.  As you might have guessed, there was a lot of Duke cheering going on in this house.  In particular, Carmen brought home some Duke gear for everyone (including baby girl).  Jayden had to wear his the next day and he looked ridiculously cute.  By the way, for anyone wondering, these clothes are Youth Small's or 5/6.  And it is big, but it fits.  Yes, our child is huge.

As Carmen said, the Duke game face began at swim class.  Luckily it held through Sunday's game.

The basketball shorts, according to Jayden, also helped him jump higher so he could play basketball better.  While this not might be exactly true, it is clear Jayden is really taking to basketball, along with every other sport.  Clearly Carmen and I are overly excited.  We still need to work on the dribbling, but we're really trying to not push.

It's just so hard - look at that touch!

Sunday we made it back to soccer class, after missing it for two weeks.  Jayden was pretty excited, and because a new session had started, there were a whole bunch of new kids.  Soccer is not my favorite class, maybe because it's in the middle of the day, who knows.  But Jayden still enjoys it, so for now I'm going to deal with it.  His coaches are really sweet too - always celebrating holidays with them.  This time he got a lollipop:

And now it's Monday again.  I have tomorrow off for Cesar Chavez Day, which will be very nice.  I have a doctor appointment in the morning and errands to run, but other than that nothing planned.  I am grateful.  And then even more grateful that after tomorrow there are only three more days until the weekend again!

Also, thank goodness Duke won.  That's made the entire house a whole lot happier for this week.  :)

Excuses to get outside

I mostly complain about the weather here, because honestly it should never be 90 degrees in March anywhere.  I will say, though, that the one good thing about the weather here is the ability to get outside and run around with Jayden.

Last Monday I had the day off.  I spent the day resting, relaxing and working.  But I picked Jayden up early and stopped at the park on the way home.

He's so grown up - he climbs this thing entirely by himself now, and with much less hesitation than before.  I used to have to hold the chain to the side and boost him up.  Now he won't let me touch him and he moves the chain by himself, while he's already up there.  

He wouldn't stay still long enough for a shot of his face, so you (and I) are stuck with the action shots. 

The good thing about the park is it lets him get some energy out before we get home, and if I get to Juju's early enough, it means he doesn't watch TV either.  The bad thing about the park, especially on a Monday, is that it makes him want to go every day for the rest of the week!

Sooo, of course I gave in and stopped at the park again on Thursday.  I hadn't left work as early as I wanted (which is ENTIRELY normal), but it was still early enough to stop for a few minutes, and we were having leftovers so all I had to do was microwave, thank goodness!

The park went south quickly.  We had gone down the slide maybe twice when Jayden took off running back to the stairs, as usual. He took a slightly different route, turned a corner and the next thing I knew he was flat on his back on the ground.  Turns out he'd run smack into a metal shower-looking thing sticking out of one of the posts.  Thank everyone and everything that it hit him where it did, about a quarter inch below his eyebrow, but about 1/2 or 1 inch above his actual eye.  I freaked out, thinking there was going to be blood, stitches, broken eyeballs, etc.  So I was relieved.  Jayden was scared and in pain.  But of course, he refused to leave and had to slide seven more times.  So we did.  Then.  We were heading to the car, going up and down a grassy hill to get there.  We get to the bottom of the hill and Jayden falls (not unusual), but this time he manages to bite his tongue hard enough to draw blood.  And he scraped his knee.  At that point I knew the park was a bad idea and we got to the car as fast as humanly possible.  I figured the next injury would require a doctor and I was having none of it!

It might be a little hard to see in the picture since it hadn't fully developed, but it's the little spot towards the outside of his eye.  Right now the area underneath his eyebrow is a nice yellow-ish purple-y color.  We keep telling him he has a "black eye" and he keeps telling us "NO!  My eyes are brown!"  He is actually right this time.

Friday was the super big exciting day: Gramma, Grampa and Auntie were arriving!  I picked Jayden up early again and we raced to the airport so we could see the Alaska Airlines plane land.  The person entering the parking garage ahead of me drove five miles an hour or less for the entire length of the garage, which meant we missed Gramma and Grampa's flight by about two minutes.  We got to see some other planes land, but Jayden was still disappointed.

Hanging out on the hood of my car again.  A little earlier in the day this time, so a little brighter!

Luckily getting Gramma and Grampa in the car resolved any disappointment.  We then had a great weekend visiting.  We went to swim lessons as usual Saturday morning and then headed down to the hotel for Carmen's company's event (the Athletes First Classic).  The hotel is beautiful and this weekend is always a little vacation for us.  Now that Jayden is older it actually feels a little more like a vacation too.

Jumping off the block at the end of his lesson.  His swimming partner, Maxwell, is to his left.  Maxwell needs some convincing.  Jayden needs no convincing!  Jayden had a cheering section, since ALL of us were there - he had a crowd of five cheering him on, and he kept looking over at us and waving.  It was awesome.

Handsome little dude getting his snack on before the party.  Jayden got to attend the first part of the party and then I met Katrina and they went to the hotel room for the dinner portion.  Jayden was a hot mess, having napped for maybe 40 minutes the entire day and being incredibly active.  So he and Katrina got to watch one of his favorite shows, order room service and generally hang out.
Jayden was actually so exhausted that when I left the room he said "bye Mommy" and nothing else.  No tears, no dramatics, nothing.  It was awesome.  I'm sure it was a one-time thing, but if it continues, it would be lovely.

Family shot.  I wanted to get one standing, because Carmen and Jayden are wearing matching shirts, but Jayden would only take a picture sitting on this giant chair.  So we agreed, because we got this awesome smile out of him.  If you look closely, you can see that Carmen's shirt is purple checked also.

The event was fun, but it was exhausting.  I made it to 11, but that's about it.  My parents didn't make it that long!  When they went to bed, I went and relieved Katrina so she could go home.  I walked in, expecting her to be in my parents room (the rooms were connecting) watching TV or napping or something.  She wasn't there and my room was dark, so then I was confused.  I looked closer, and she and Jayden were cuddled together, asleep.  It was so sweet.  I should have taken a picture, but didn't want to freak her out with a flash.  She told me that they were playing and around 9 finally he asked her to lay down with him.  She said sure (because who doesn't want to cuddle with a three year old - seriously, it's just lovely), knowing she'd pass out immediately!  I felt bad waking her up, but also didn't want to just leave her there.  In any case, it was a successful night.  The first thing Jayden said when he woke up in the morning (at 9 am.  Yes, NINE am.  It was lovely)  was "Mommy - Mommy, I had a LOT of fun with Katrina."  Which just makes me smile even now thinking back.  I really want him to be comfortable with a babysitter, and Katrina is so great that I'd love it if it were her.  I've said it before, but I really want to try to use Katrina at least once a month - so Carmen and I do a better job of having date nights and so Jayden gets more used to her and used to me leaving.  We'll see how we do, especially with the impending arrival of #2, but we're going to try.

Sunday we were supposed to go to soccer class, but Jayden decided not to go.  I felt bad that we were missing it, especially since we'll miss it again next Sunday when we're in Delaware, but it made my life so much easier.  So much less running around!  Instead, we ate breakfast, then went to the pool to relax and get a little sunburned.  We ate lunch with Carmen on the golf course, took a quick walk afterwards and then Mom, Dad, Ellen, Jayden and I headed home.  Jayden slept in the car again, for a total of maybe an hour.  It wasn't enough, but it was better than the day before.

Mummified Jayden, getting warm after round #1 of swimming.

Playing with the giant golf club and giant golf balls.  So fun!

More practicing, while Gramma and Grampa look on.

We played outside for a bit when we got home, showed Gramma the Paw Patrol show she gave Jayden for Valentine's Day and generally relaxed.  We then went to a restaurant nearby for dinner, so I didn't have to cook and to celebrate Auntie Ellen's birthday.  It's a very casual restaurant but it's cute and decent food.  And I think the waiter had a crush on Ellen; he gave her the birthday flan for free (the maracas he took back)!  Happy birthday Auntie Lizzle - sorry we  couldn't be there for the actual day, but hopefully the extended celebration was fun too!

Weekends like this are always fun, of course, but they are also so. much. more. tiring when you're pregnant.  I am 26 weeks, going on 27.  I'm going to post both updates now, since we'll be in Delaware this weekend (this is why - check it out, we're so proud!) and Jayden and I are flying home alone while Carmen continues on to a work trip.

The baby's nerves in her ears are developing and she may be able to hear my voice and Carmen's and Jayden's voices too.  If she can hear Jayden she may decide not to come out (he has SO many plans for her)!  In the next couple of weeks I may actually hear her jump when there is a loud noise.  She is inhaling and exhaling small amounts of amniotic fluid and her lungs are developing surfactant, which are helping her lungs develop (and inflate.  Her eyes are starting to open.  They're blue right now, but unless Carmen has some secret hidden blue eye gene (I've discussed this with him; scientifically it's just. not. possible.), they'll be brown by the time she's born.  She weighs between 1-2/3 and 2 pounds and is about 14 inches long, which is about as long as a scallion.

 






By next week she'll be 2 pounds and will be about 14-1/2 inches long, or about the size of a head of cauliflower (or a small pot roast!).

She's still supposedly sleeping and waking at regular intervals.  I'm still not totally convinced of that, but maybe.  She also may be sucking on her fingers, which is funny to me for some reason.  Her brain is very active because more and more brain tissue is developing.  If she were to be born now (knock on wood that's not going to happen), her lungs could actually function - with a lot of medical help.

I have definitely felt tiny rhythmic movements, which, as I expected, are baby hiccups.  They only last a few moments and are kind of lovely in a weird way.  It's just this tiny little flicker in my belly that happens regularly for maybe a minute or so - but it's so gentle it's not bothersome.

Also, these weekly updates are sometimes scarily accurate, just maybe a week or two behind for me.  I have been getting terrible leg cramps in the middle of the night for the past few weeks.  I usually wake up once or twice with cramps so bad I have to get up and walk around to stretch my legs.  And the cramps have been in my lower leg and feet, which are incredibly difficult places to stretch I've discovered.  According to my app, the leg cramps are a result of the extra weight my legs are carrying, the pressure my expanded uterus is putting on the veins that return blood from my legs to my heart and the nerves leading from my trunk to my legs.  They also come from dehydration, which I know because I'm prone to leg cramps even when I'm not pregnant.  So I've been trying really really hard to drink a lot of water during the day, and I also keep Dr. Singha Mustard Rub on the table next to my bed with some cotton balls so I don't have to go as far to get relief.  If you haven't heard of or tried this mustard rub miracle, you must buy a bottle immediately (it's also available on Amazon).  It's amazing.  It immediately relieves my leg cramps and has relieved other chronic pain from people who have tried it.  It doesn't solve every problem, but it solves a lot of them - particularly leg cramps involving muscles that actually cannot be stretched.  And it's all natural, so I feel better about overusing it and knowing I'm not absorbing some kind of chemical into my skin.

Random fact of the week: babies have more taste buds at birth than they will later in life.  Newborns can tell the difference between their mom's milk and someone else's milk - an adult could probably not tell the difference.

The amniotic fluid in my uterus is reduced by about half, which is why we might soon be able to see bony knees and elbows sticking out as she moves around.  I definitely feel much larger over the past week or two.  It is much more difficult for me to bend over and I can feel more pressure internally.  I know I'm gaining more weight than last time, which really bothers me (as I've said before), but hopefully it's not too much more.  If I continue at the rate that I'm supposed to, I'll have gained about 30 pounds for the pregnancy, which is about 5 more pounds than with Jayden.  I definitely feel hungrier than last time; I'm trying to be good about not overeating, but I'm not totally succeeding.

And this has become waaaay too long now. I probably won't post again until 28 weeks, when I'll officially be in the third trimester!  Craziness.  If this little girl comes early like Jayden did, we've got somewhere between 11 and 13 weeks left.  Ack!  Here's hoping for a smooth  cross country flight with the fewest amount of bathroom trips possible (for me) and no crying (for me and for Jayden)!

March Eighth

Most importantly, today is my "little" sister's THIRTIETH birthday!!!

Isn't she lovely?!?!???

I'm sad I couldn't be there to celebrate with her, but I get to see her next weekend, so we'll just keep the party rolling!

The week was an interesting one.  We knew Carmen had to leave, but we all thought it was early Thursday morning.  Welllll, turns out he actually needed to leave Wednesday at about noon, which we all found out about Wednesday at 10 am.  A little rough, but at least he made it to where he needed to go on time.  It was only one extra night without him, so it wasn't so bad for me, it was just the unexpected.

Tuesday, Jayden got a long-needed haircut.  You can tell by the middle picture just how badly he needed the haircut.

Making smoothies in the morning.

As Carmen said, "holy hair."
I have nothing else to add.

Such a big boy.

 I know I say this all the time, but Jayden is such a great kid.  He gets excited for the barber.  He gets excited for the dentist.  He even doesn't totally mind the doctor.  This week we only had two out of three.

Being so good at the dentist.  He got a brand new electric toothbrush, which he thinks is so cool.

It is hard for me when Carmen is gone, but because of how great our kid is, it's not terrible.  I pretty much am always later than normal for things, like walking Jasmine, dropping Jayden off, work, picking Jayden up, eating dinner, getting Jayden to bed, etc.  I did manage to bathe Jayden on Wednesday.  It meant he was in bed later than normal, but we had a good time.  And if he's excited about a bath, sometimes it's just better to go for it.

Handsome boy.  And seriously, those eyelashes!

Saturday was normal - swim lessons and lunch.  It was Duke-North Carolina that night, and the Duke Alumni Association had a viewing party at a restaurant just down the street from us.  It made for a slightly late night, but we went anyway and it was pretty fun.

Jayden doing the butterfly all by himself.  So cool!

Jayden's version of "cheese" in front of the fountain outside of where we had lunch.  We watched the water and the two ducks hanging out in the water for quite a while after lunch.  So long as he was happy, I decided it was worth the extra minutes.

While we were at dinner, we discovered that the birthday party we had on our calendar for today (Sunday) was actually Saturday and we had completely missed it.  I felt horrible.  The party was for Bard and Jody's daughter Seena, who is turning three.  Somehow, from the very beginning, I had it in my head that the party was Sunday.  And it never was.  I felt so horrible (and still do), but luckily they were home today and so we went down to their house after soccer class so we could say "hi" and drop off the present.

We bought Seena a car that you put together with a "screwdriver."  Jayden has two of these from Auntie and he loves them, and Jayden decided he wanted to get Seena a car, so that's what we went with.  When she opened the present she looked at me and said "you know I love cars!"  It was so cute.  But she is also so cute.

Sliding out of the playhouse.  This is what saved the day for us - even though Jayden missed the party he'd been promised, he still got a slide so he was okay.

Kian dropping his cars down the slide.

Jayden and Kian peeking out of the playhouse.  They were having a good time, creating an electric forcefield and zapping Bardis with it.  At one point all three kids were poking their heads out of different doors (there are three doors to the playhouse) saying crazy things like "ooh-la-la" and generally yelling silliness.  It was awesome.  

Sooo, all in all, a good weekend.  Duke won, which clearly was important to Carmen's mental health.  And we got to see some good friends, which was good for everyone's mental health.  What was NOT good for mental health was springing ahead.  Seriously the people who thought of Daylight Savings Time were not parents.  All this random switching of hours is just not nice.  The only positive is that it does let us eat outside for dinner, or it will in the next couple of months.  We ate lunch outside today and it was quite lovely.

A real cheese!

And now it's Sunday evening.  So bittersweet.

As for the baby update: I am 25 weeks, going on 26.  She continues to kick me like crazy (including right now as I type this).  Even though it can be rather uncomfortable, it actually helps relieve my anxiety because I know she's alive and kicking, literally.  Some of the kicks/bumps feel so strong I swear other people can see my body shake or at least see my stomach move.  I don't think it's true yet, but it certainly feels that way.  She's about 13-1/2 inches long and weighs about a pound and a half.  She's clearly growing faster.  In the next 15 weeks she'll double and triple her weight.

She's about the size of a rutabaga, which I'm not particularly excited about - they're not the nicest looking vegetables.  She is supposedly fattening up, which is why she weighs a bunch more.  It also means her skin is smoothing out and she'll continue to look more and more like a baby and less and less like a weird wrinkled alien.  She's also growing more hair.  We'll have to see if her hair is like Jayden's, or if she gets a little luckier and has slightly more hair all over her head so she looks less like an old man.  :)

She can touch and hold her feet, and she can make fists.  Her nostrils are opening up as well.  She also has more of a regular sleep schedule, which I can sort of tell based on the activity I can feel.  She is definitely normally awake between 8:30 and 10 pm or so.  And she's usually awake in the middle of the afternoon too, from around 2 pm to 4 or 5 pm or so.  I'm sure there are other times, but those are the most noticeable to me.

I get to have my glucose screening test in a week or so.  I'm not so excited about it - it's the test where you have to go to the lab, drink some nasty orange drink, hang out for an hour or two and then get your blood drawn.  If the test comes back with bad results, you have to go do a three or four hour test.  I didn't have to do it the first time, so I'm hoping I avoid it this time too.  We'll see.

I've been a lot more lightheaded and nauseous recently.  I don't think there's a good explanation for it, except maybe not drinking enough water.  I try to drink more, but I literally go to the bathroom every hour or two as it is, so I hate to drink too much more water!  I keep forgetting to take pictures of myself and the bump.  I'll try to get one this week so I have something for next week's blog.  Maybe my family can help with that (*hint*hint* Mom, Dad and Ellen!).