"Reading"

Jayden reading to Daddy.  He has the entire 30+ page book memorized.

Holding on, and missing birthdays

We are on day three of five without Daddy.  We're surviving, but we're not all happy about it.  Jayden really wants his "family hugs" at bedtime and he regularly tells me he "really misses" daddy.  I asked him about why he wakes up early when one his parents is gone (he woke up at 5:30 am most of the days I was gone and has been waking up at about 6:00 am the past couple of days).  He didn't really understand the question, so I asked him if he worried when one of us was gone and he said "yeah, I worry that one of my families is missing and so that's why I wake up early."  There was a little more to the explanation, but that was the gist of it.  Very cute, but I still wish he'd sleep in more.

It has been a decent week.  Definitely busy, but Jayden is just such a trooper and has been in such a good mood, despite the changes and ways in which he's had to adapt.

Jayden has been picking his own outfits recently.  First I just had him pick his shirt out.  I thought maybe he would have fewer accidents if he had a stake in what clothes he put on.  Either it's working or he's just figuring things out on his own, because he hasn't had an accident in a week or two at Juju's.  He pretty much never has an accident at home, just at Juju's.  And they make him wear a pull-up at naptime, even though he never wears one at home.  I understand, mostly because cleaning it up if it does happen is not fun.  But part of me is a little frustrated too.  Oh well - that's part of the deal when your kid is in daycare, I guess.

An outfit he picked out last week.  Sparkly jacket and hat!
Apparently they had been talking about it at Juju's the day before, which is what inspired him to wear the ensemble.  His daycare buddies loved it.  

Another one, just because the pose is cute.

Hanging out upside down while Daddy puts his shoes on.

Floating with Ms. Stacie.
A couple weeks ago we learned that Ms. Stacie is leaving Blue Buoy.  Her last day is a week from Saturday.  I gotta figure out what to get for her.  And what we're going to do when she's gone.  I'm so sad.  And I think Jayden is going to have a really hard time understanding also.  Part of me wants to follow her (she's going to another swim school), but the other school is so much further away, it doesn't really make sense.  He's only had her as a swim teacher for the two years he has been in lessons.  And he really enjoys and trusts her.  The transition is going to be difficult for all of us, including me!

Floating to the shallow end with his swim buddy Maxwell and Ms. Stacie.

Being sad together after naptime.

On Sunday, Blue Buoy had a swim safety event.  The kids had to accomplish a series of tasks, including jumping in the water and swimming to the side, floating on his back for 30 seconds, swimming the width of the pool, swimming the length of the pool, learning how to float with a life jacket, learning how to rescue someone and swimming 50 yards or more.  Jayden sort of made it 50 yards, but that was about it.
This is him floating on his back with his life jacket.  It was hilarious; he couldn't figure out how to stay on his stomach in the life jacket.  He just kept flipping over to his back.  But he did look peaceful on his back.

Picking up balls at soccer class to throw at his coaches; it was part of a game, I promise.

Jasmine wearing Jayden's shorts.
Neither Jasmine nor Jayden were amused.  

Jayden rediscovered the ball tent we bought a couple years ago as I was rearranging the house for the 80th time trying to figure out how to have the baby's room as clear as possible so that it can be painted.  We've played with it at least once a day, if not twice a day, since then.  He loves laying down inside the tent, throwing all the balls out and making us go get them.  Sort of like fetch, but with grown-ups.  It's awesome.

Sitting in a (parked) car with our sunglasses on.  It's been ridiculously hot (and bright) here recently.  Grossly so, actually.
Also, celebrating Carmen's birthday from a couple thousand miles away.  Carmen and I went to dinner and a comedy show last Friday to celebrate, and we'll go out all three of us this weekend to celebrate since Carmen was (and is) in Chicago for the actual day.  It was sad to miss the birthday, but Jayden did a good job of spreading the word at daycare, and we did get to talk to him for a few minutes in the morning.

Check out his eyelashes.  I love taking pictures of him like this.  

(Sort of) angelic.  ;)

And as for the baby, everything is going well.  I go to the doctor every two weeks now, and at my last visit on Monday I was still right on track.  I've been getting lightheaded quite a bit, but the doctor said everything seemed pretty normal.  My blood pressure was lower than 120/80, but not in an actually "low blood pressure" sort of way.  My measurement was exactly 32 cm, which is what it's supposed to be at 32 weeks.  The baby's heartbeat was strong.  She's been moving a lot still, but still in stronger movements than I remember with Jayden.  She takes my breath away sometimes because of the way she kicks/bumps inside.

Tomorrow will be 33 weeks.  She's about the size of a pineapple, about 17 inches long and weighing about 4 to 4-1/2 pounds.  She will apparently gain about half a pound a week until she is born.  Scary!

She is losing the wrinkled, alien look and becoming more and more baby-ish.

Her skeleton is hardening, but the bones in the skull are not fused together.  This is so I can deliver her (in case she has a large head like her father and older brother) and why some babies are born with a "cone head."  Her skull bones actually don't fuse together until early adulthood, allowing her brain and other tissues to grow and expand during infancy and childhood.

She will soon move into a head-down position to prepare for birth.  At this point my doctor said it's a little too soon to tell if she's in the right position, because her rear feels an awful lot like her head at this stage of development.  But at the next visit (34 weeks) or the one after that they'll start checking more closely.  Being in the head-down position also allows blood to flow more directly to her brain, promoting brain development.

Her immune system is not fully developed, so if she were born now we'd have to be extra careful to keep her in a sterile environment.

The best prediction I read is that I will now begin waddling.  I do feel less on top of things physically and mentally than before, which has been interesting.  The other day, at 2 pm, I realized I had been wearing my underwear inside out the whole day.  Awesome.  And today, somehow, two potty-filled diapers ended up in Jayden's laundry basket and I didn't realize it until after the washing machine had finished.  So now I'm working on the second wash cycle of the same clothes.  Yup, that's about right.  And I might as well give up on sleeping more than a few hours at a time.  It's just not going to happen until maybe 6 months from now.  Good stuff.

I forgot to take a picture of myself this week.  I'll try to get one this weekend.  Some people are saying I look cute.  But I'm at the point where I can't bend over properly, putting on shoes is difficult, some of my maternity clothes are just not comfortable, and sitting for more than a couple of hours is really difficult on my back  I'm not saying I'm ready to have the baby, but I might be ready to be on maternity leave, at least!

Freeeeedom! But at what price?

As I reported last week, I got to escape for a weekend to the bay area to visit some of my bestest friends.  It was a lovely weekend and I have some lovely friends.  I won't go into too many details, since this really isn't all about me, but my two plus days in Northern California came at a good time.

Here's a brief photo review of the weekend:

My amazing friend Tamara walking the runway during Queer Fashion Week in Oakland.

Tamara (in the middle), with me and Joy, another friend from college.
We subtitled this photo "former ballers in small prints."  It was a good time.

Belly bumps!  Brunch with my friend Tamara (pronounced differently from "Tamara" above - don't even get me started, it's all kinds of confusing!)
Tamara (pictured) is due the end of July, about six weeks after me.  And she looks so beautiful and peaceful - I'm so happy for her!

Weekend barbecue in Tamara and Sam's backyard.  Sam is amazing.  She grilled kale, which was fantastic.  And there was a cucumber tomato salad that I couldn't stop eating.
Also pictured are Tamara and Sam's friends Dioni and Angie, and my friends Stacy and Vanessa.
This was also about the time I learned that Jayden managed to fall into the pool.  Awesome.  Luckily he was fine, and climbed out on his own.  He cried, but mostly because he didn't want his clothes to get wet, not because he was hurt.  Apparently his balance isn't quite as good as he thought it was.  And this is why we go to swim lessons.

Waiting for "dinner" outside Fenton's.

Our "Sundae" dinner - on Sunday night.  Get it?!?  See what I did there?!?  Sunday/Sundae.  Pretty hilarious right?

And then, this is why you come home:

Wearing the hat I brought back from Fenton's (where we had our "sundae" dinner).  It was an instant hit, which actually surprised me quite a bit.

All in all, it was a great weekend.  I slept more than I remember sleeping in the recent past, I ate some fantastic food, I tried boba for the first time, I saw an awesome fashion show, I got a foot massage, and more than anything I got some great company with some amazing women - pretty much all good things.

The only negative is that I think Stacy's husband learned a little more about pregnant women than he cared to know - at least more than he wanted to learn from someone other than his wife.  :)

And then reality hit me like a ton of bricks on Monday.  I got home from picking Jayden up and there were some leftovers, but only enough for one night.  We were about to run out of yogurt.  And 87 loads of laundry needed to be done.  I was grateful to get to cuddle with Jayden at bedtime, but completely overwhelmed by everything that else that needed to be done.  Not to mention what I was facing at work the next day.  Sometimes taking a day or two off makes you think twice about taking a day or two off.  So last night I was up until 1 am, after going to the grocery store after bed time, preparing two meals for the rest of the week and handling work assignments in between.  And of course I woke up at 6 am with leg cramps.  Awesome.  So today was a long day.  And then Carmen and I had a meeting with our contractor and interior design consultant (a husband/wife duo) after Jayden went to bed.  Maybe one day they'll start working on our house again.  For now it still looks like a tornado hit the house, and we really have no idea when the work will start again.  I think it causes me a slight panic attack pretty much every day.  I'm trying really hard to be relaxed and not worry, but it's just not my personality.

Which leads me to the baby update.  58 days until my due date!  I will be 32 weeks on Friday.  Amazing how quickly time has gone.  She is between 3-3/4 and 4 pounds, and is about 17 inches long.  She's definitely taking up a lot of space inside of me, and making it very difficult to get comfortable, particularly when sitting down.  Yesterday when I was cooking she stuck something (a foot, a bottom, a hip, something) in a spot an inch or so from my belly button.  When you touched my belly there you could feel the hard spot that was this little girl.  I think it freaked Carmen out a little!

She is about the size of a jicama (I didn't even know what a jicama looked like until I had to do an image search).

Supposedly Taylor will gain a third to one half of her birth weight over the next few weeks.  Which means I will also likely gain weight quickly (particularly if I keep eating sundaes for dinner...).  I'll gain about a pound a week, half of it baby weight and half of it water retention.

She is practicing breathing motions in preparation for life outside the womb.  Her five sense are developed.  She is practicing REM sleep, which I hope she learns really well.  The lanugo is disappearing, and her skin is becoming soft and smooth as she gets ready for birth.  She has toenails and fingernails, and she is growing something on her head, whether it's hair or "respectable" peach fuzz as one app calls it.

I definitely get short of breath quite easily, particularly when I'm talking.  I have to remember to slow down and take deep breaths, especially when giving presentations.  My blood volume has increased 40-50%.  I've also had some lower back pain, in the same place I had pain with Jayden.  The pain with Jayden was so severe I had to go to physical therapy; this time it is just discomfort, probably from loosening joints and ligaments.  I've been doing some yoga poses (without actually doing a full on yoga practice because it's just hard to do on weeknights), and that's been really helpful.

Besides the countdown that's perpetually in the back of my mind, everything seems to be running smoothly.

One last rant to support my lovely friend:
A friend has an anonymous blog (so don't blow her cover if you know who she is), where she discusses all kinds of funny stuff, mostly related to parenting.  She cracks me up, and also regularly posts about things that I can absolutely totally relate to.  Today she posted about her son wearing a pink shirt to preschool.  Within minutes of him arriving, three kids pointed out that his shirt was pink (he was adamant it was "owange") and basically made fun of him for it.  Our two boys are similar, and so I totally feel for her and the "sensitive boy" issues.  I immediately related, sharing the story of Jayden and his purple shoes.  Jayden is as likely to match Mommy's purple shoes as he is to match Daddy's Superman t-shirt.  And I love it.  I hope he never has to feel shamed for choosing to wear a shirt he loves - or anything more serious.  As my fancy blogger friend pointed out, Jayden has a daring fashion role model in Carmen, which will probably help him out.  But I can't help being acutely aware of the stereotypes that come along with boy/girl things.  As I've said before, this is part of the reason I am adamant I will use some of Jayden's clothes for the little girl.  I just hate the boy/girl stereotypes, and I want our kids to wear what they want, play with what they want and understand they can be anything they want, irrespective of their genders.  I know it's idealistic, but it matters more to me than almost anything else and I will probably turn angry mama bear on you if you try to teach my kids otherwise.  Fair warning!

Mama's escape!

This weekend I am taking a few days to myself and flying up to the bay area to see some of my good friends.  It is my mother's day gift to myself.  :)  I also have the best friends; they are collaborating behind my back (which I love, seriously) and providing me with places to stay.  I literally don't have to do anything other than pack a bag, get on the plane and get to wherever we're going tomorrow night.  Other than that, I'm in their very capable hands, and it feels lovely.

I was telling someone (maybe lizzle?  maybe someone else?  i can't remember anything these days), that I almost want the doctor to tell me I need to go on bed rest or take it easy or go part time or something.  I don't want anything to be seriously wrong, obviously, but instead what she says is: "your measurement is exactly where it's supposed to be, the baby's heartbeat is perfect - you're basically the perfect patient."  So not helpful.

But, in case any of you are curious, as of Monday I measured almost exactly 30 cm, which is where I'm supposed to be since I was 30 weeks and two days then.  The baby's heartbeat was 140 bpm.  I've gained about 20-25 pounds so far, according to her, which she is fine with.  I'd prefer to be closer to 15-20 pounds at this point, but who's counting, I guess, besides me and my doctor.

So yeah.  Tomorrow is 31 weeks.  My good friend at work had her baby Monday.  Her labor was about five hours.  So not fair.  Although this was her third child.  Her name is Stella Lucia Cruz.  So pretty.  The part that makes it scary is that she's the first of the three of us to give birth and I'm next!  Stella came early, which makes it scarier since I was measuring my timing off of her, and I'm eight weeks behind her.  If that's really true . . . I have eight weeks left.  Ack!

Oh, by the way, Jayden has changed the name of the baby and we are now going with Taylor.  He is basically rotating among the "babies" at daycare.  So Taylor it is, for now.  Taylor is about 16 inches long, or a little more.  She weighs about 3-1/2 pounds, or about the size of a coconut.

I'm pretending like I get to mix this with pineapple and rum and have a pina colada.

She is gaining weight faster than length at this point, and she is heading into a growth spurt.  I was telling Carmen I think she's already hit that growth spurt, because I am feeling significantly more crowded than the past few weeks.  I get out of breath a lot easier and definitely feel sick if I eat a full-sized meal all at once.  All the extra weight gain with limited gain in length is what will give her chubby cheeks and help her plump out more and more.  She can also turn her head from side to side.

She is moving like crazy.  Sunday night I swear she moved pretty much non-stop from 10 or 11 pm until 9 or 10 am the next morning.  It was brutal.  It didn't help that Jayden was having "bad dreams" and was up from about midnight to 2 am.  Or that I had gone to bed late (about 11:45 pm) and then after barely laying my head down, spent the hours from 1 am to 5:30 am or so on the floor of Jayden's room.  It was pretty awful.  My hips were killing me because of the extra weight and extra pressure on them.  Monday night I fashioned a contraption to support my belly while sleeping out of a blanket and that made a huge difference.  I decided Taylor must have felt like she was falling or something and was kicking and screaming to try to save herself.  Or something less weird and more logical.  Whatever the explanation, the contraption seems to have helped because now the only things that wake me up two to three times a night are horrendous leg cramps and peeing.  Being pregnant is so awesome.

I don't have a ton of updates on Jayden, other than that he's just so sweet.  I absolutely love cuddling with him at bedtime.  After we read books, I lay down in bed with him and talk with him for a minute or two before leaving.  Tonight he mentioned something about Star Wars, so I quickly wanted to change the subject to avoid any bad dreams.  So I mentioned something I may now regret: taking a family trip to the "mountains."  I put mountains in quotes because after growing up in Washington it's hard for me to agree that what California has can be called mountains.  But since everything will be big to Jayden, they're mountains.  I've been wanting to take him to Big Bear, a local ski resort, for a while.  It's supposed to be great in the summer and in the winter.  They get snow up there, kids can innertube and sled, there are cabins, etc.  I'm hoping maybe the (soon-to-be) four of us can take a quick weekend getaway up there a few months after Taylor is born.  So, I was telling Jayden about sledding, etc. and I may have accidentally created a monster.  Oops.  He has the most ridiculous memory ever, so I may never live this idea down until I can actually deliver.  I can't wait for our breakfast conversation tomorrow.  Somethings tells me it might involve snow, sledding and stars.  

It's been a crazy week, so I only grabbed a few pictures one morning after I strapped him in to Carmen's car.  The minute before and after this picture he had the cutest smile, but of course at the moment I snapped the picture, this is the face I get.  Gotta love him.

I am going to miss him (and Carmen too) dearly this weekend, but I am looking forward to getting away and being on whatever schedule we all decide to be on.  Definitely not a 6:30 am wake-up schedule!  I hope everyone has a great weekend too!

Just a note

I realized that when I don't post for a couple of weeks, I forget to throw in some of the hilarious excerpts from life with a three year old.  

A lot of Jayden's stories these days revolve around baby sisters, oddly enough.  I'm trying to make sure he's involved.  Today we went to a baby store to check out a stroller (we found the one we want, and it comes in purple - wa-hooo!, as Jayden would say).  While there we bought a few other things for the baby.  Jayden helped pick them out, but as we were getting close to check-out, I realized he had just helped us pick out three or four things for the little girl, and nothing else.  And he couldn't even see the purple stroller, since they don't sell that color in the store.  He found some foam numbers/letters that go in the bathtub and stick to the side of the tub.  I could tell he felt like he shouldn't ask for them, so I asked him if he wanted them, and he said yes.  They were $7, so I said sure.  And it made him suuuuper excited to get into the bath tonight.  We put all the numbers up in order, we spelled everyone's names, it was awesome.  A totally minor thing, but it brought the focus back to him, which was nice.

And then.  The other day we were having a meal - breakfast or dinner, I can't remember which.  He turned to me and asked me a question, beginning with "Mommy?"  Carmen answered.  He turned to Carmen and said, with a completely straight face: "Is your name Mommy?!?"  Carmen and I cracked up and couldn't stop laughing.  Such an attitude.

He also regularly tells me "I'm not talking to you, I'm talking to Daddy," or vice versa.  So.  I was talking to Julia last week and learned that both of those things come straight from her.  Apparently she says some of those things to the kids - not in a mean way, just in a way to get an answer from the child to whom she's talking - but it is apparently rubbing off.  This would be reason number one why sometimes you wonder whether you should quit your job and be a full-time parent.

This weekend has been exhausting.  In a good way, but exhausting nonetheless.

In the train bounce house at the first birthday party.  This party was for a one-year-old, but the parents have lots of friends with kids of all ages, so they went all out.  There was this (huge) bounce house, a train that went up and down the street in front of their house, toy trains on the tables, party favors with engineer hats and bandanas and lots of train-related decorations.  Jayden had a blast, and found a boy there who was almost exactly two weeks older than him.  They were two peas in a pod - both sensitive boys, not comfortable with character in costumes, etc.  But they had a great time running around the bounce house and riding the train together.  Of course, I didn't get a picture of the two of them on the train together, but there was a photographer there who did get a picture, so hopefully I get one eventually!

Part way through the party, I was sitting at a table and suddenly I see Jayden wandering down the path, holding his shoes (they were off since he was in the bounce house) and sobbing.  Unlike him, except that he was tired.  I ran over, thinking he'd hurt himself something bad, or something else rather terrible had happened.  I pick him up to figure it out, and the explanation was: I missed the train ride.  I'm guessing his buddy went on the train and he couldn't get his shoes on in time to go with him.  So he was sobbing  I calmed him down, and he says to me "Mommy, I don't wanna go on the train, I don't like it when it goes fast."  So yeah.  Totally worth it to have a meltdown over not getting to do something you don't want to do.  My new favorite explanation.  

The next party was a five year old's birthday party - Ollie, the son of one of my work friends.  This was at a place called Pump It Up, which was two rooms of nothing but bounce houses.  Jayden loves the slides, and they were really fast!  I could not get a non-blurry picture to save my life, so the above is the best I could get.

A group shot of all of the kids.  Jayden even smiled!

The birthday boy is the boy sitting in the inflatable thrown.  It was a Star Wars-themed party.  Which was fine, until Ollie's dad (Josh) came out dressed as Darth Vader.  All the kids had pool noodle light sabers and it looked like Jayden was having a fine time.  And then all of a sudden, he's standing by himself sobbing.  I run over to find out what happened (thinking another kid hit him in the head or something else not terrible), and it turns out he's freaked out by Darth Vader.  We told him over and over again it was a costume (like Halloween!) and that it was pretend.  And Josh even came over to him and lifted his mask to show him, but it was all bad.  Jayden wouldn't be in this picture because Josh was there in his costume.
It took him about an hour to go to bed last night; he couldn't stop talking about Ollie's party, about why his dad wore that costume, and on and on and on.  Amazingly he slept the entire night, which I wasn't expecting.  He'd only napped about 30 minutes because of the timing of the parties, so I think he was just that exhausted.

Jayden being hilarious after we got home.  Despite his two meltdowns, he was in a surprisingly good mood when we got home.  And so silliness ensues, obviously.

We thought he might sleep in today, but not so much.  He "slept in" until about 7 am.  We went to the baby store, then went to soccer class.  I then thought he'd nap like crazy, and instead slept for barely an hour.
At soccer class he managed to split his lip open.  Again, he was sobbing in the middle of the soccer field, which, except for this weekend, was unlike him.  Carmen somehow saw the blood and ran over.  This time he really was hurt.  He had snapped his head forward and rammed his upper lip directly into the cones he was picking up.  Blood was everywhere.  Carmen and I couldn't tell if he'd hit a tooth, a lip, some combination of the two or something else entirely.  We grabbed some towels and cleaned him up and luckily he had just split his upper lip.  Jayden was pretty freaked out, but we cleaned him up pretty quickly and he was able to go back to class.  We offered to take him home, but that made him more upset, of course; he hates missing class.  He was not his normal self at first (I think partly because the other kids made a big deal over his injury and I think it made him uncomfortable!), but was just fine in a bit.
And it gave me an excuse to let him have a popsicle - his first one! - when we got home.  He had no clue how to eat them at first, but Carmen taught him a technique and the end result is clear - cherry red lips and a smile, sort of.  :)

And now it's almost Monday.  I want more weekend days!  

Baby update (and a little more)!

So, if you can even believe it (because I can't), I am officially 30 weeks pregnant this week.

Since I missed last week, I'll start there:
29 weeks
The little girl is about 2-1/2 pounds and is 15-17 inches from head to toe.  She is about the size of a butternut squash:

Her head is continuing to grow, to make room for her growing brain.  Her brain can detect rhythmic breathing and control body temperature, which means that if she were born early, she is less likely to need assistance breathing at this point.  Some researchers even think that babies can dream at this stage - after investigating brain wave activity.  So cool to think about, but also incredibly unclear what the baby would dream about.  Each week improves the chances that she'll be born strong and healthy.  Clearly we don't want her popping out now, but at least if she did, she's likely to be able to survive.  She's adding fat, as expected, since she's close to as long as she'll get, and she's growing eyelashes too.  We can only hope her eyelashes are half as good as Jayden's, for her sake!  Her muscles and lungs are continuing to mature as well, and I am feeling the brunt of the muscles, that's for sure.  I seriously can't believe how calculated it feels like her movements are.  There is nothing subtle about this baby.  I am so curious to find out if her personality as a baby/kid at all reflects her "personality" in the womb.  I am also scared!

Apparently about 250 mg of calcium are deposited into the baby girl's skeleton each day - so I'm supposed to make sure my calcium intake doesn't falter.  Good thing I generally like milk and I eat yogurt every day for breakfast.  And maybe this gives me an excuse to make grilled cheese every night for dinner!

30 weeks
10 weeks, or 70 days, to go!  Owen (I forgot I was supposed to call her that) is almost 3 pounds, and is still 15-17 inches long (11 inches head to rump).  She's the length of a laptop (although that may be a little outdated of a comparison, considering the variety in laptops these days), or the weight of a head of cabbage.

Right now there is about a pint and a half of amniotic fluid around her.  From now on that number is likely to decrease, as the baby grows bigger and takes up more and more space.

Her eyesight continues to develop, but is still pretty bad.  At birth her vision will be about 20/400, will mostly respond to changes in light and will only be able to see objects a few inches from her face.  If she's "lucky," she'll end up with glasses shortly thereafter, considering Carmen's eyesight, my eyesight, and the eyesight of our family members!

From now until birth, she'll only gain a few more inches in length.  For comparison's sake, Jayden was about 21 inches at birth, and this little girl is (supposedly) 17 inches long now.  So she'll only gain maybe 4 more inches in length, but will likely gain another four to five pounds in weight.  We'll see if she's like Jayden and turns out to be long and lean, or if she gains some extra chubbiness.

As if these pregnancy apps know me, they think I'm likely to have trouble sleeping and may be clumsier than normal.  So, to prove their point, this week happened.  I've been up at least 2-3 times a night every night this week.  Either due to discomfort, peeing, muscle cramps or Jayden's bad dreams.  Jayden has contributed one bad dream pretty much every night, which hasn't helped, but he goes back to sleep quickly so that hasn't been so bad.  The discomfort sucks, though.  There's no good way to lie down that's comfortable.  I've found myself on my back a couple times, which is not great; apparently the weight of the baby can press on some nerve that can reduce blood flow to my heart, which can prevent blood from getting to the baby, I think.  The moral of the story is I'm not supposed to lie on my back.

Yeah, and then today: I managed to spill my smoothie all over the bag it was in, including Jayden's blanket and my lunchbox.  While I was getting my hair done, I managed to kick off my own shoe and then drop my phone on the floor.  And later, I was grabbing one of Jayden's toys off a table and managed to knock down the entire puzzle rack.  It is Friday, but I still shouldn't be quite that clumsy.  It is also apparently NORMAL for me to be a crazy, emotional wreck.  The app calls it "mood swings," but I prefer the stronger term.  There are so many things to worry about and since I'm already prone to worrying, added stress/anxiety does not help.

And this is one of the biggest reasons for my stress - a house with no roof!

This is ACTUALLY what our house looks like right now.  We did used to have a garage and our house did used to be yellow.  Not so much anymore.  Thank goodness the construction hasn't moved indoors yet.  It'll be here soon, and then I'll really cry.

OH, but I am now officially excited about having a girl, and here is why:

Baby girl athletic clothes!
Seriously, the greatest thing ever.  Little baby girl Owen will be wearing onesies and cute Adidas tracksuits for every event.  I'm so excited.

It turns out boys' clothes aren't too terrible either.  Jayden got a couple new pairs of shoes this week (as you'll probably see/guess, Carmen got some stuff from Adidas, and his kids and wife benefited).

Some sweet new blue shoes.

The coolest ones of them all: purple running shoes!
Also, these are size 12-1/2 shoes.  They're a little big, but still wearable, which is super scary.  He's definitely most comfortable in a 12 right now. And he'll probably be in a 13 in another couple months.  Thank goodness we didn't have to pay for these shoes.  I'm thinking next time we get to benefit from Carmen's job I'm going to order the next three sizes of shoes for him.  He seriously grows like a weed.  There are some 4T clothes he can wear, but really he's a 5, and in some cases can wear a Youth Small, which is a 5/6.  The Duke outfit is basically a 5/6, and since the shorts are elastic waistband, they fit.
I think I am going to learn to sew, quit my job, and spend my entire life sewing clothes for Jayden.  He'll love that when he's 13.  ;)

And now it's Friday night and Carmen and I are sitting on the couch barely moving.  Sounds about right.  Except only one of us is growing a tiny human who kicks the nonsense out of my internal organs.  Tomorrow we have swim class and two birthday parties, so by 5 pm we will be more than done.  Especially because both birthday parties are exactly when naptime should be.  It will be interesting.

I hope everyone has fun weekend plans, or at least gets time to rest and relax.

Happy Easter and all that!

It's been a minute again.  I'd give you excuses, but it would be the same ol' thing and wouldn't make a difference to you!

First up, the construction started on our house.  And basically the front of our house is now destroyed.  It's insane.  The first picture is from the first day (last Tuesday). The second picture is from this morning, one week later.  It might be difficult to tell, but the garage is completely taken apart.  I'll post another at the end of this week or next week that shows the house from inside the fence.  Luckily no demolition has been done inside yet; our contractor is doing his best to minimize the disruption on us, but so far the following has happened: the DirecTV dish went out (don't worry it was fixed before the Final Four - Carmen would have freaked out otherwise); the electricity to two walls in our bedroom is out and probably won't be back until construction is complete; our water has been turned off and on at least two times now, and we currently have no water pressure.  Washing my hair tomorrow morning is going to be awesome.

Jayden is still doing well, and being a trooper.  We let him stay up late Saturday and last night to watch the Final Four and the championship game.  He's fought off a cold - although I'm afraid another one is coming along.  And he definitely passed something on to me.  I actually felt bad enough yesterday to leave work early, which takes quite a bit for me since I pretty much never take sick days.

Friday night we colored Easter eggs and it was lovely.

Coloring Easter eggs.

The end result - they actually turned out pretty great!
Definitely making me feel guilty when I crack one open to eat it.  :)

Saturday we ran errands - many many birthdays coming up (and one or two recently missed - sorry Mike/Kelly/Ella - I've had the present but managed to not mail it until today!).  And since we were at the mall, we had to ride the carousel, of course.  Jayden happily rides by himself, but still sits on the bench.  And sings along with the Frozen songs on this particular carousel.

Also, note the Duke outfit that Daddy brought back from Carolina.  We were getting ready for the (first) big game Saturday night!

And of course, Sunday was Easter.  I tried not to go overboard, but he got a little basket, as well as a present from Gramma.  

Coming downstairs to an Easter basket and a few small gifts!

Finding Easter eggs!  Next year I'm going to have to buy a few more, I think.  He's getting too good at finding them.  Except for that one that was in plain sight on his bicycle seat.  We must have given him 18 hints and he still couldn't see it.  

Playing cars with Uncle Alex on the road tape the Easter bunny brought.  This tape is awesome - it can be put down anywhere, doesn't leave marks and allows us to create whatever pathways we want.  

Easter brunch, on Mickey Mouse plates, of course.  We had homemade glazed and cinnamon sugar donuts, and sausage and spinach frittata.  So yummy!

SMILE!

Family selfie.

Playing basketball Easter afternoon.  Or whatever Jayden's game involved, usually something where Daddy had to "play defense" on him while he scored.  

Another good smile.  I swear he looks too grown up in this picture.

And Monday was the National Championship game (at least for the men).

Cheering on the Blue Devils - Go DUKE!
You can't tell, but Jayden is wearing his DUKE shirt, and so is Carmen.  Carmen got so decked out, he had his windbreaker from college, his final four pins and he almost wore his old nasty sweatpants.  I put my foot down at the sweatpants; it was just too much.  :)

I was trying to add to this post, but blogger will only let me add photos from the beginning, apparently.  Argh.  So, I'll end this one here - it's probably too long anyway - and start up a new one to cover the rest of the week.  All of you know how Monday night ended anyway - a happy husband and a not-so-happy father (my dad), but at least it was a good game.