Ack! Less than a month to go!

Today is officially 36 weeks.  Baby Girl is due less than a month from now.  I can't even believe it.

This week was apparently a week of showers for me and Baby Girl.  I was included in one a couple months ago before my first pregnant co-worker went on leave.  I really shouldn't have been included in that one, but it was very sweet, and it involved my closest work friends.  And of course there was last Saturday's "surprise" shower.  And then this past Wednesday, my full office included me in a shower for me and my third pregnant co-worker.

First, some pictures from the excitement last Saturday:

The balloons that were delivered Saturday morning.  I had to like the pink ones so that Jayden could like the purple ones.  There are a lot of rules to follow when you live with a three year old.

Jayden picked this shirt all on his own, and it was very appropriate considering what my sister must have gone through to organize such a ridiculous outpouring of love from my friends and family.  

The beautiful pink and purple flowers that are still blooming.  From now on I am always ordering from Proflowers.  This is no way an advertisement for them, but these flowers were shipped completely closed and have slowly opened into this amazing bouquet over the past week.  They couldn't have timed it any better; I am very impressed.

The assortment of hand-painted/hand-drawn onesies from friends and family.  I love them!  They are an assortment of sizes, from 0-3 months up to 6-9 months.  Jayden drew one too, but I keep forgetting to iron it (ha - as if I could find my iron if I tried in our mess of a house) or run it in the dryer.  I will.
Also, I have no idea how these all look so good.  I tried drawing something on the onesie and it was impossible.  So I clearly have some talented friends and family.  

And finally, three pictures from this week:

Me and Baby Girl last Sunday (May 17), at 35 weeks and 2 days.  Even my maternity shirts are starting to pull a little.  :)  

On Tuesday I went to a meeting with Lili (my friend/co-worker who is due a month after me) and we were literally wearing the exact same outfit - blue wrap dresses, black tank tops underneath and similar necklaces.  So Wednesday morning, the day of our shower, she sent me this photo.
The photo on the right is clearly what we will look like in a couple months, once we pop these babies out.  (apparently that photo is actually of the Kardashians and Lili just happened to find it Tuesday evening and think of us since I look about a head taller than her in our photo on the left). 

The beautiful and surprisingly tasty cake for our baby shower on Wednesday.  It was a dulce de leche cake, but it was basically caramel cake and it was wonderful.
Wednesday afternoon/evening I felt terrible pretty much the whole time from eating all the food I ate at the baby shower.

The work baby shower was funny; it involved a white elephant gift exchange, with just me and Lili as the recipients.  It was very awkward.  But we later learned the whole point was so that people would only have to buy one present.  So I immediately took back everything I had said negative about it and thought it was a great idea.  I was already trying to avoid showers, and this was my third one (and second at work!), so I didn't want people feeling obligated to buy presents since I had already said I didn't need anything.  But everyone was very sweet.  And I am definitely appreciative of all the love being showered on Baby Girl, and me of course.

So.  Back to 36 weeks.  Baby Girl is about 6 pounds, and is the size of a head of romaine lettuce. She is somewhere between 18-1/2 and 20-1/2 inches long, most likely.  She is mostly just gaining weight to get to her full birth weight of (hopefully) between 7-1/2 and 8 pounds.

Baby Girl is shedding the downy hair that covered her, as well as the waxy substance that protected her skin during her almost 9 month bath in amniotic fluid (no wonder babies are so wrinkly!).  She swallows these substances in the womb, which turns into meconium, which is her first bowel movement (and scares pretty much all first time parents out of their minds!).

She should be head-down at this point, but my doctor hasn't started checking yet.  On Tuesday I get my strep B test and then begin my weekly doctor visits.  She is definitely taking up a large amount of space in my belly.  It is very difficult for me to bend over, to get up from sitting on the couch, etc.  I don't think she's "dropped" yet - but apparently because this is my second child she likely won't drop until I go into labor.  I definitely should be careful about eating full-size meals.  I've actually started giving myself almost the same portions as Jayden (maybe just a little more) for dinner, and that's about right, sadly.  It's mostly sad because sometimes at lunch I get so hungry that I eat too much and then regret it for the next four or five hours and end up feeling kind of nauseous around dinner time.

She is still moving regularly, although her movements are much different than before.  I described them to my doctor as "thunderous," which made my doctor laugh.  What I mean is that they are just so much more intense and strong than they used to be.  One night this week Carmen and I were sitting on the couch and I felt a movement, looked down and saw what looked like a giant tumor sticking out one side of my stomach.  For anyone who hasn't been pregnant, it seriously feels like there's an alien in your stomach.

I've also felt some contractions, which I don't remember feeling with Jayden - but that may have been more about me not knowing what was going on, rather than them not happening.  Not frequently (thank goodness), but every once in a while I feel a general tightening across my stomach that lasts for a little bit and then goes away.  It's pretty crazy.  I am not looking forward to having to time these things, especially with the way my work schedule is.

I'll try to update more regularly as we get closer, especially since "full term" is 37 weeks (aka next Friday!), according to my doctor!

Looooong Weekend

And it couldn't come at a better time.  I have somewhere around 14 days left of work, since my last day keeps getting moved further and further back.  Since I really have no clue when Baby Girl is arriving, I'm a little nervous about (1) working up to 1 week before my due date and (2) working up to 1 week before my due date.  I'm worried about (1) because what if she comes a week early?  I'm worried about (2) because what if she comes a week late?!?  Life is hard.

In any case, I am grateful that I am getting closer, even if it is also scary!

In other news, our house is moving along at a ridiculous (-ly amazing) pace!  Seriously, even our contractor is surprised to an extent.  This is what our house looks like today:

It's amazing - we have windows!  You can't see it, but they've also put the paper on the roof.  Next week they're going to tar the roof, and the downstairs bathroom and laundry room should be done in the next 10 days or so.  Our contractor is being very sensitive to helping us have a place for someone to stay when the baby arrives.
They've knocked a hole in the upstairs already; they'll just need to demo the closet and the wall and then finish it up.  And obviously do the drywall, do the stucco/siding, and all the interior finishings.  But there has been a bunch more progress in the last couple of weeks and it's making me feel so much better.  
I'll probably buy an air purifier for our bedroom since me and Baby Girl will be sleeping in that room most of the time and that's where much of the construction will be.  And for the painting, maybe I'll go hide out at my friend's house for the day; we'll see.  I'll worry about that when we get there.

The week has been long.  I don't know why, but for some reason Monday and Tuesday felt like four days smashed into two.  I am oh so grateful that this week is done.  The upcoming weeks will be challenging too, but it is getting better.

Last weekend was good.  It was Jayden's first swim lesson with Mr. Christian, and he seemed to be pretty excited.  I kind of hate that he doesn't miss Ms. Stacy, but I am also grateful that he's not freaking out with a new teacher.  So there's that.

Sunday I skipped soccer class so that I could go to the grocery store.  It wasn't the most amazing time off, but it did allow me to get the errands done.  I was hoping for a little more relaxing time, but Jayden actually was kind of tired all day, since he was fighting off a cold, so we got some rest/snuggles after nap:

As usual, I did a bad job taking pictures this week, but I have a couple:

Wearing a new shirt from Auntie and some fancy yellow shorts.  He just looks so grown up sometimes.  It kills me.
As you can see, he is a little tired in this picture too, and his hair is suuuuuper long.  Hopefully he'll get a haircut this week or next.  I kind of love it long, but it is starting to get a little difficult to manage.  How I'm going to deal with a little girl's hair, I have no idea!

Smiles (aka not smiling) with Mama tonight (Friday).

There have been a few funny stories:

• First, one day this week or last, Jayden came home from Juju's and said "Mommy, Juju said I can't have two babies."  I told him he was right, at least this time around.  I pretty much know there's only one baby inside me.  He looked at me and said "but I want a brother tooooooo!  Mommy, after my baby sister comes, can I have a baby brother?"  I nearly spit out my water.  I told him I'd think about it, but I wasn't making any promises.  And Carmen pretty much vetoed it outright.  So yeah, if Jayden had his way, apparently I'd be pregnant forever.  Thanks, but no thanks.
• After we got our Adidas shipment a few weeks ago and we were all wearing our Adidas quite a bit, of course Carmen and I sang the "MY A-DEE-DAS!" song.  So apparently Jayden sings that song and does a funny dance for one of the kids at daycare and makes him laugh.  Yesterday morning he showed us his dance and it's pretty awesome.  I'll find a way to video it so everyone can see.  He's seriously adorable, and I don't care how biased I am.  :)

We have no plans for the weekend.  We'll have workers at our house tomorrow and Monday, which is crazy.  Both swimming and soccer are cancelled for the weekend, so we really have nothing on our schedule.  It's awesome.  We're hoping to go to some farmers markets, maybe swim in our pool, and just generally relax.  I can't wait.  I just have to remember to sleep a little extra, if I can manage it, do some extra yoga, and try to clean/organize as best I can.  Oh, and do five loads of laundry, in case I don't get to use the laundry room next week!  But that still sounds lovely to me.

I hope everyone else has equally relaxing plans.  I know at least two of my friends have even better plans - one is on vacation in Seattle and the other is on vacation in Hawaii.  I am pretty jealous of both of them.  But maybe in five years we'll get to go on vacation again...

THIRTY FIVE weeks

Yes, that's right, 35 weeks.  Which means, 5 weeks, or 35 DAYS to go.  We can actually count down the days now without sounding crazy.  So scary.  And exciting.  And overwhelming.  And whatever other description you can come up, it probably all fits.

The kid is 5 to 5-1/4 pounds.  And about 18 inches long (or somewhere between 16 to 20 inches long).  She is about the size of a honeydew melon, or a roast chicken.  The chicken picture is really kind of creepy, but it could have been a raw chicken, which would have been just ewwww.

She is pretty much fully developed at this point, which is awesome, but also scary.  If she were born now (which cannot happen under any circumstances), she has a 99+% chance of surviving.  Which is great. But please everyone tell her she needs to keep marinating, because we're just not ready quiiiiiite yet.

Her kidneys are fully developed and her liver can process waste.  Her nervous and immune system continue to mature, but everything else (toenails, hair, etc.) is fully formed.  She continues to add fat so that she can regulate her body temperature, but otherwise she's pretty much cooked at this point!

There is now more baby than amniotic fluid in my belly, and - as if I needed someone to tell me this - I am probably getting pretty uncomfortable, having a difficult time breathing and generally having smashed internal organs.  It's pretty awesome.  I have to be really careful what I eat because if I eat more than half a "normal" meal at a time, I end up pretty uncomfortable.  Also, another "state the obvious" tips is that simple tasks are very tiring.  Walking to and from my clinics at the courthouse causes me to be out of breath, talking for too long does the same (which makes Carmen happy - I have to shut up more often!).

I saw the doctor Monday, and I measured exactly 34 cm, which is where I was supposed to be at 34 weeks.  The baby's heartbeat is strong, and I've gained about 25 pounds so far.  So my doctor says I'm just plugging along as I'm supposed to do, which is great.  Except I still want her to tell me I need to start resting more.  But since she won't tell me, I'm just going to tell myself.  I'm going to try to leave work by 4 pm-ish most days and try to stop scheduling so many things for myself.  Maybe I'm being a baby about it, but it will mean a better life for me, the baby, and for Carmen and Jayden.  So I'm voting for that, for now.

In other news, my sister is crazy.  Starting Monday I began receiving packages from all of my friends.  My first two were from bay area friends, so I thought maybe they had gotten together to do something crazy.  And then two more packages showed up, from friends unrelated to the bay area.  And now I have a box of glitter, a pile of onesies, a bunch of sweet notes and cards and some amazing books and gifts for me, baby girl and Jayden.  I am totally overwhelmed with love.  I'll have more pictures tomorrow, but for now, here was the haul yesterday:

Jayden is also excited about all of these arrivals.  Especially because some of the boxes have things for him inside, and because he's super excited to read all of the books to his baby sister.  It's so very cute.  I know I'm not going to reach everyone here, and I will send appropriate thank you notes, but for now, thank you thank you thank you.

I just don't know

I really honestly couldn't think of a title for this week.  So it gets a lame one.  For as good as I felt last week, I felt equally as bad this week.  I think it's a combination of exhaustion and being tired, and maybe throw in a little more exhaustion.  I've felt nauseous and achy and just generally icky pretty much all week.

Mother's Day was nice - we went to soccer class and then to the beach.  Jayden managed to keep himself awake, even though he was supposed to fall asleep in the car from soccer to the beach.  He was a trooper at the beach, even when he faceplanted straight into the sand trying to run away from a wave.  He then passed out hard in the car leaving the beach, which was completely expected, and was a little bit whiny at dinner and at bedtime.  But all in all, it was a good day.  And I got some pretty cool shoes, both for me and for baby girl.

Showing off the shoes for his baby sister.  We explained that we got similar shoes for him when he was in my belly, but he pretty much was just excited about getting to give his baby sister some shoes.

My sweet kicks.  I told Carmen I am definitely not trendy or cool enough to wear them, and I'll have to google what I'm supposed to wear them with, but I'll work on it.  I do love them, in all their funkiness.

Digging in at the beach.

Catching some rays after the faceplant.  Jayden and I were testing the water (Carmen said it was too cold), and a larger wave came by.  It scared Jayden, so he turned and ran.  Unfortunately his feet got stuck and he went face first into the sand, no hands to stop him at all so he had sand everywhere - all up in his mouth, his nose, everwhere.  Poor kid.  But it was so funny.  And he recovered well.

Monday morning, at the same time Jayden and I left for Juju's, Carmen left for the airport to go on his company trip.  It used to be called a "retreat" and they were supposedly doing team building and whatever else nonsense, but they finally came back to reality this year and admitted that it's just a trip for fun.  Because they certainly don't spend enough time away from their families as it is and they don't spend enough time together . . .  Not that I'm bitter or anything.

In any case, so at 34 weeks pregnant and feeling terrible, I got to spend three days alone, working full-time, with my three year old.  Not to mention I had to do a presentation Monday night, so I had to manage work, babysitter and more work.  Luckily sometimes I am Superwoman.  But unluckily, I also think 12+ hour workdays take it out of me more now than ever, so I think that Monday just did me in.

You never know how Jayden is going to be with Katrina, but Monday night he was amazing.  You could tell he was sad, but he was talking himself out of it.  On Monday, while I was running around the house getting everything ready, he said "Mommy, Jasmine is sad, she's really wants her Mommy to be home."  I told him maybe he was the one that was sad and he wanted his Mommy to be home.  He said "NO!  Mommy!  I'm going to have fun with Katrina!!!" with a lot of emphasis.  And when I left he was like "go, mommy - I'm playing outside with Katrina."  So he's pretty much over me.  And while I was gone, he and Katrina put together some legos.  He wanted her to build two cars.  He told her that it was pretty complicated, and she might not be able to do it.  She was almost offended, and told him she thought she could figure it out.  And then she did it like the picture, and he told her it was wrong, because it wasn't how Mommy did it.  She told him it's just how the picture is, and that's what he told her to do so it's not wrong.  She told me when I got home that they sass each other back and forth, which I love, because that's how we are too.  And what's amazing is that Jayden, at three years old, totally gets the humor.  And can actually give it back sometimes, which I am always super impressed with.  He's so charming.

Tuesday morning he came in to my room and said "Mommy!  I had SO much fun with Katrina last night!"  Which is just such a nice thing to hear when you're feeling totally guilty about running him all over the place and barely seeing him for two hours the whole day.  It was very sweet.

We got some new Adidas gear too, which was pretty exciting.  Check out the shorts:

He's such a big kid, it just throws me off sometimes.
It turns out it's a good thing I bought extra shorts, because with the construction I am likely to lose the use of the washing machine/dryer for a few days next week.  But with these extra shorts, I am hoping to make it without having to find a laundromat.  It all depends on how many accidents happen in those few days.  Fingers crossed please!

Tuesday morning was more of the Mommy and Jayden show.  Jayden found this puppy dog phone that I got randomly when I worked at Windowbox, I think.  And he's taken it as his phone.  So oftentimes, in the mornings, we have to call someone or someone is calling us.  Tuesday, he needed to call Juju to tell her we were on our way, we just needed to take Jazzy for a walk and then we'd be on our way.  It's so cute.  He has a real conversation, too, with a "hello" and a "bye" and everything in between.  

AND, when we got home Tuesday, we had a second floor!  It's a huge monstrosity and I immediately freaked out that we'd regret adding this on, but we will get a ton of space, which will be great.  The other fun thing on Tuesday night was that there was little to no electricity upstairs.  It was awesome.  I was able to switch one of breakers, so I at least had a light in my bathroom.  And one of the lights in Jayden's bedroom worked, so we survived.  The joys of living through construction!  (but just wait - it gets even better later in the week)

Our monstrosity of a second floor.

Wednesday morning I let both of us sleep in.  I decided I was going to get to work whenever I got to work and it would just be fine.  So both of us woke up around 7:00 am.  We left the house around 8:45 or 8:50, and I didn't get to work until about 9:30.  And it was fine.  I still could have used more sleep, but it was nice to not really rush and to just do what we needed to do without having to coax and convince Jayden to move more quickly.  I wish I could do that more often.

Wednesday night was when Carmen got home, but not until later (he landed at about 8:30 or 9:00 pm).  But we did get to talk to him while Jayden was in the bathtub, in between bubble beards:

This might be one of my favorite series of pictures ever.  And don't worry, the bubble bath is non-toxic and it's perfectly fine if he drinks a little bit of it.

Thursday the rain started, which we knew was coming.  It but a little kink in our construction, but they were moving so quickly, we're actually ahead of the revised schedule.  The fun part, and this is what I mentioned earlier about the serious fun of living through construction, is that we got home Thursday evening and the ceiling in our downstairs guest bedroom was completely leaking.  The bottom part of the bed was wet, the bench at the end of the bed was wet, the dressers were soaked, it was awesome.  Thank goodness for quality waterproof mattress pads - the mattress was completely dry.  We put some buckets down and quickly moved all of the furniture out of that room so it didn't get any more wet.  And I began the first of approximately eight loads of laundry to wash all the towels we used and the bedding in that room.  Insane.  Part of me wanted to cry and part of me wanted to laugh.  But instead, I set up a fan to blow on the soaked bench, hoping I could avoid mold, turned around and managed to fall down the one stair from our living room to our dining room.  Amazingly I turned my body so I landed on my leg and arm, and didn't hit my belly at all.  But it completely freaked me out, and I pretty much went upstairs to do yoga and go to bed right afterwards.  It was just too much.

I have found that yoga is incredibly helpful, and I have been trying to do at least the 15 minute yoga session a few nights a week.  I sleep better when I do it, and I feel better the next day.  It's just a matter of me convincing myself to do it more frequently.

I left work a little early this afternoon to get Jayden, and it turns out it was a really good thing I did.  When I got there he was curled up on the couch with a blanket over him drinking gatorade and eating pears.  He was really lethargic and felt warm.  He perked up a little bit on the way home and when we got home (we played outside with the bubbles for "at least six minutes" which was the requirement - thanks for the cool bubble container Gramma!), but then began fading fast.  By 6:00 pm he was ready to go upstairs and he was in bed and almost passed out by 6:20 pm.  And he basically fell asleep while I was laying in bed with him, which never happens.  The poor kid.  He was saying his throat was hurting, so we're really really hoping he feels better in the morning and it's not strep throat or something that requires antibiotics.

Carmen and I don't really know what to do with ourselves it's so early!  So we're doing the same thing we always do: sit on the couch, watch basketball and make decisions for the next step of construction (tonight we're picking out sinks and faucets - wooo hooo!).  

Happy Mother's Day!

Clearly, the thing to do the night before Mother's Day is write a blog post.  :)

It has been a pretty good week.  I'm actually feeling okay - still tired, but I think I'm starting to get used to it.  In any case, we finished off the time without Daddy without too much incident on our end (on his end it was an entirely different story - I'll get to that in a minute).  I know I say it all the time, but we are just so lucky to have such a great kid.  It is even more noticeable when I'm home alone with him for a few days.  He really is smart and funny, and just generally good.  Sometimes it makes me wonder what I did to deserve it, because I know part of it is parenting but the other part is just such luck.  

In any case, back to Carmen's trip.  Thursday night went pretty well - three guys taken in the first round.  Friday he went to Atlanta to be with a client who was expected to be drafted Friday night (2nd and 3rd rounds).  Around 5 pm, when Jayden and I were driving home, I get a call from Carmen and it was clear something was wrong just from the way he said "hello."  Turns out the client's mom's house had caught fire.  When he called, they had just finished evacuating the house and everyone was standing in the street watching the firefighters attempt to put out the blaze.  It turned out to be an electrical fire, and amazingly it really only affected a couple of rooms.  There was extensive smoke and water damage, and unfortunately much of the damage was in the client's room.  He lost a lot of his memorabilia and his clothing.  AND he didn't get drafted that night either.  The last time I spoke to Carmen, it was about 2 am his time and he was just driving to his hotel, after he finally got everyone situated in hotels and figured out what was happening the next day.  Amazingly for everyone, the client was drafted Saturday morning/afternoon, and was drafted by his hometown team, and the team where his father had played.  His dad actually helped announce the pick.  The damage to the home is pretty extensive, and they probably will never fully associate the draft with positive memories, except for hopefully it will be the beginning of a long and amazing career with the Falcons, or somewhere in the NFL.  And thank goodness the only damage was property damage.

In between phone call updates, Jayden and I sent Daddy this picture to see if we could help him smile a bit.  I knew I couldn't fix the problem, but I also know how much Jayden means to Carmen and usually a smiling Jayden can make either of us smile, no matter the circumstances.
(it worked this time, by the way)

I've been terrible at taking belly photos this pregnancy, so I tried to take one last Friday (33 weeks).  This clearly was at bedtime, and clearly Jayden wanted to participate.  So you get a bonus - Jayden picked his books, and a 33-week bump picture.

Saturday was Mommy and Jayden's last day alone, so I decided to make it a fun one.  After swim class we went to a train show in Fullerton.  We didn't take the train there because of the schedule, but we parked at the train station and got to see a train right as we were pulling in.  At the show there were a ton of toy trains, life-size trains and all kinds of other fun things.

The Amtrak leaving the station as we arrived.

Checking out the toy trains.
The other fun part of the day was that Jayden insisted on wearing two shirts, including a long-sleeve shirt on top.  It wouldn't have been so bad, except the temperature was literally 90 degrees that day.  It was brutal.  His cheeks were flushed, but he refused to take off either shirt.  I carried him as much as I could and tried to hydrate him as much as he'd allow.

The Disneyland train!  We got to go inside and blow the whistle and ring the bell.  Apparently the Disney train only leaves Disneyland for this event and no other time.  Pretty cool.  Jayden of course refused to either ring the bell or blow the whistle, so I did both while he sat there.  It was towards the end of our time there, so I think he was fading fast, especially considering the heat and the clothing choice.

I have no idea what this thing is called.  But it didn't move and Jayden was willing to pose, so I went with it.

Carmen came home Saturday night, after Jayden was asleep.  The airline managed to not load his bag on the plane somehow, so Carmen had that to contend with when he got home as well.  I was pretty much in bed asleep by the time he got home, poor guy.  I was just too tired.  Sunday was back to normal.  We did celebrate Daddy's birthday - he got his new pink shoes that Jayden bought for him for his birthday.  Carmen wanted cheesesteaks for dinner, which luckily for his son and pregnant wife was right next door to the frozen yogurt place!  

At Daddy's birthday dinner with our cheesesteaks and sunglasses.  

 And then a week of work and Juju's and "fun" ensued.  Wednesday night was rough for Carmen because he was trying to get all of the rookies signed before rookie camp started Thursday morning.  Thursday night was rough for me because I had to go to a cocktail reception where I couldn't drink, they didn't serve dinner and they didn't provide chairs.  Finally one of my board members found a chair in the hallway for me and my pretty much equally pregnant co-worker.  We were dying.  But we made it and I managed to have some self-control and not stop at Jack-in-the-Box on the way home for a "snack."  Thank goodness I had very little cash.

Assuming the position.  You can guess what Jayden is doing.  ;)

Jayden says: I'm crying because I called my mom an "old lady" and she won't give me candy until I take it back.
(it was clearly time for bedtime)

My Friday night tattooing my three year old.  I don't know about hand tattoos in real life, but the kind that last 20 minutes are awesome.

And today, Saturday, was the day I was dreading.  It was Ms. Stacy's last day teaching Jayden.  She was a mess.  Which made me a mess.  I definitely had tears.  We gave her a plant (that Jayden and I picked out yesterday at a garden store), a gift card and a card.  I found her on Facebook, and she put up a picture of her table at home later and it was completely covered in flowers, cards, gifts, etc.  She is just such an amazing person and has such an amazing talent as a swim teacher.  Maxwell's mom and I were talking today about how she manages to have the perfect balance of encouragement and discipline - so her students exceed expectations, work hard, but have an amazing time at the same time.

Floating with Ms. Stacy (for the last time)

Dancing on the block waiting to jump in.

Riding the surfboard with Maxwell.  Jayden jumped off two or three times, in the deep end, when he was supposed to just ride.  Ms. Stacy was just laughing.  

Hugs for Ms. Stacy.  This is when both she and I were crying.  I've explained to Jayden that he won't see her anymore, but honestly he doesn't totally understand.  And he knows he's still going to get to go to swim lessons, and that Maxwell will be there, so he's not that worried.  Maxwell's mom and I were joking today that we want them to be more sad about this, since we are so sad about it!
But her replacement has been teaching with her for the past two weeks and he's actually pretty cool.  I think he'll be good for the boys too, even though nobody can really replace Ms. Stacy.  

An action shot of Ms. Stacy tossing Jayden into the water.  They could do this all day.

After swim lessons and lunch we stopped by Old Navy to get some shorts for Jayden (he's constantly running out of shorts) and some clothes for his baby sister.  Of course Carmen also found two t-shirts to buy Jayden and I bought a few more baby clothes than I planned.  But I also decided she deserves to have a few new things of her own and that I don't really have pajamas or other clothes for her to wear when she first gets home.  And there was a big sale, so it all worked out.

In any case, long story short, we found a Superman hat that Jayden wanted and voluntarily wore.  He never wants to wear hats, except for sometimes his MJ hat.  He was very clear that his was not a baseball cap, this was a golf course cap.  He has an explanation for it, which Carmen and I only sort of understand - something about holes in the back.  Ask him about it the next time you see him and see if he explains it any better!

After naptime we had a birthday party to attend - the daughter of the woman who used to cut my hair turned 3.  So we drove up to Long Beach to celebrate.  They had a great idea and gave all the kids cupcakes, and let them put their own frosting and sprinkles on the cupcakes.  It was messy, but a ton of fun and a great activity for all of the kids to participate in. Jayden frosted his cupcake, put sprinkles on it, ate the top off, then re-frosted the cupcake and put more sprinkles on.  Such a great idea; I'm totally doing that the next time I make cupcakes!

Waiting for the "ready, set, GO!" to decorate.

Of course there was a bouncy house, and Jayden pretty much only left to eat the cupcake, and the one time he hurt his leg.  Bouncy houses are always a hit in his book.

And now it's Saturday night, aka Mother's Day eve, and I'm getting ready to go make the bed and go to bed.

I am now carrying around a canteloupe in my belly.    

She is about 4-3/4 or 5 pounds, and is about 18 inches long.  Assuming she makes it full-term, she'll end up around 8 pounds, and maybe 20ish inches.  She's adding about half a pound a week at this point, so it all depends on when she decides she's ready to come out.  Based on my work and the construction on our house, we're hoping she decides it's pretty comfortable in my belly and she stays until week 40 or so.  I don't really want to go over, but if that means the construction job is that much more done, I'll be okay.  

Her central nervous system is maturing, and her lungs are continuing to develop - she can take deep breaths.  At this point, if she happened to be born tomorrow, assuming she's otherwise healthy, she shouldn't have any major health problems.  She would still be considered "early" or "pre-term," up until 37 weeks.  Her eyes can blink and open and close when she's awake and asleep, respectively.  Her pupils dialte and constrict in reaction to light.  She sleeps frequently at this stage, probably because her brain is forming trillions of connections.  She actually is learning in the womb.  She may even have dreams, because her eyes dart around rapidly just as an adult's might in REM sleep.  

One of the websites I follow said fatigue is setting in again and that now is the time to slow down and save my energy.  Kind of makes me laugh.  Luckily I'm not overwhelmingly fatigued - but they are right that my nights are restless.  I wake up at least twice pretty much every night.  Thursday night, after standing for two hours and not really eating, I woke up probably four or five times with leg cramps, which were killer.  That will teach me to wear high heels when 34 weeks pregnant!

I still feel her moving regularly (which is important in life, generally!).  Her movements continue to be more thuds than tickles, and it is still difficult to tell where her head, rump, arms and legs are.  I often feel like she is sideways, especially when I'm laying on my side.  Hopefully in the next few weeks my doctor will have a better idea.  

I am starting to get a little anxious/nervous.  I'm going to pack a hospital bag for me and an overnight bag for Jayden this weekend.  And I'm going to pull the car seat out of storage and wash it so that it's ready for her.  I'll probably also put the bases in our cars, just in case.  I'm debating when to order our glider, but will probably do that in the next week or so.  And I'm ordering diapers this week, and going to figure out the bottle situation.  I need to make a reasonable list, but am sort of too overwhelmed to get started.  Nothing like making a to-do list on Mother's Day, right?!?

I hope all of the moms have a wonderful day tomorrow, no matter what you decide to do (or not do!).  We have the hardest, bestest job in the world, and none of us would trade it for the world, I'm sure.