2. Valentine’s Day cards for your spouse: funny or romantic?
Whichever one doesn’t make me shake my head or gag. I HATE buying cards for any holiday.

3. What are you most looking forward to about spring?
Spring is here already. We’ve only had maybe a half dozen cold days. I’m bummed because I LOVE sweaters and jeans and I haven’t been able to wear them.

4. What’s your favorite way to pamper yourself?
Either a pedicure or uninterrupted time with a book. My mind is so much clearer after a few hours of reading.

5. Does your tax return go into savings or do you spend it instantly?
These days it goes into savings, but it hasn’t been that long since I needed it to dig myself out of a financial hole. Hopefully those days are behind me for good.

Emma Leigh was born on October 19th at 1:01pm weighing 8lbs 1oz and 19 3/4 inches long. While we’re awaiting her official stats at her 4 month well visit this week, she is already 15+lbs!

Maybe one day I’ll write a full comparison, but I want to say that this c-section was SO. MUCH. EASIER. than my first. The first time I could barely walk around the hospital no matter how much I tried, and spent weeks sleeping on the couch because it was physically impossible to climb into bed. This time, after the inital difficulty of learning how to get out of bed, walking was a breeze, and I spent most of my hospital time walking because it was more comfortable than sitting or laying down.

Once I got home, I was able to sit anywhere I wanted, thanks to a backrest pillow (I think that’s what they’re called?), and with the help of my daughter’s bathroom stool, could even climb into bed! That was REALLY nice in the afternoon when someone else was around to watch the kids and I could nap in peace and quiet, although I still spent several weeks sleeping on the couch to be closer to the babe. Who is STILL sleeping in a pack-n-play in the living room because she only just a couple weeks ago got on a schedule that would allow her to sleep in her crib in the bedroom with her big sister.

It’s been a very busy first few months which included, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s and big sister’s 3rd birthday. Hopefully I’ll be able to update the blog world on those events with some help from Wordless Wednesday. As much as I usually dislike this time of year because it’s so boring, I’m actually relieved to be “bored” so I can really adjust to my role as mom of 2. The babe is on a schedule, my big girl is a great helper, and I set up a list of chores for myself so it (hopefully) doesn’t seem as if everything suddenly has to be done at once (like the laundry).

Right now, I’m REALLY looking forward to our first camping trip the end of February. The girls will be spending the weekend with their grandmothers and the husband and I will be in the woods with friends. Nothing but eating, sleeping, canoeing and hiking! I can’t wait to have 52 hours kid-free! Love those munchkins, but mama needs the personal time to be all that I can be.

I think that’s a long enough update, hopefully be posting again soon!

Hopefully I’m back and there will be more posts to come in the next few weeks!

Link up with Family and Life in Las Vegas, Crazy About My Baybah, and My Life As A Sippy Cup Mom to talk all things toddler! If you choose to tweet your post, use hashtag #letstalktoddler.

It’s been awhile since I participated in Toddler Talk Thursday, but when I saw this topic, I just had to post about my daughter’s most recent favorite book. I think it’s kind of an odd choice for a 2.5 year old, but she LOVES it and has almost memorized the entire book so she can “read” it to anyone who will listen.

And what IS this book?

*Amazon Affiliate Link

My daughter picked it up off the shelf at the library because the cover bears look like gummy bears and is heartbroken every time it has to go back to the library. One of these days, I’ll remember to add it to my, rather frequent, Amazon orders so we can have it forever and ever.

My suggestion for next week is: How did you tell your child(ren) they were going to get a little sibling? This time next week, I’ll have a newborn in addition to my toddler.

*How far along?: 37 weeks 2 days

*Total weight gain: About 18 pounds

*How big is baby?: Textbook is 6 pounds, 19-20 inches. According to my ultrasound this past Thursday, she’s 6 pounds 12 oz.

*Sleep?: Erratic, but still getting what I need. Hopefully this will help once the baby arrives in keeping us all on schedule!

*Best moment this week?: Ummm… Yeah… Not the best week. Today we went to Downtown Disney with a friend and walked around. It wasn’t super exciting, but we got to see all kinds of things that were cool to the toddler and she got to run around outside for awhile, which we rarely ever do at home anymore.

*Movement?: All the time. She’s pretty quiet in the morning, but after I’ve been up 2-3 hours she starts moving around and doesn’t seem to stop until I fall asleep at night.

*Food cravings?: Donuts. Or anything with a pound of sugar since I’m not supposed to eat it

*Stretchmarks?: Ugh, new and ugly ones around my belly button since she likes to poke out there.

*Labor signs?: Maybe? I have no idea what labor feels like, but there are some new weird feelings. Today’s Non Stress Test (NST) showed no contractions.

*Belly button in or out?: Disturbingly flat and occasionally partially protruding. I don’t like it. Or the new stretch marks around it.

*What I miss: Freedom of movement!

*Complaints: Everything. Let’s just leave it at that.

*What I’m looking forward to: Her arrival! Scheduled for Oct 19th 

*Nursery Progress: As complete as it’s going to get

*What items do you still need to buy for baby?: She doesn’t NEED anything else, but it seems like every time I leave the house I find something that I want for one of the girls.

I’m not so thrilled that this past week has involved so much more discomfort, or that I was put on insulin to regulate my gestational diabetes. I’m still trying to be positive, because it’s almost over, and I’ll have another adorable baby girl to snuggle, but it is much harder, and I can’t remember another time in my life when I wanted time to pass as quickly as I’d like it to right now. It won’t be much longer, and we can learn our new routine as a family of four.

2. Do you have a class ring, letterman’s jacket, or similar obscenely priced high school “must have”?
A class ring, and even though it’s hidden away in a jewelry box, I’m still glad I bought it. Maybe because I did actually buy it, with my own money earned working in a local grocery store.

3. If you could be one age for the rest of your life, what age would you choose?
I’m pretty happy with my current age of 29. If I wasn’t so intent on having a bitchin’ 30th birthday party, I’d probably just claim I was 29 forever.

4. What is your favorite (unused) baby name?
Ummm… Probably Tyler for a boy and Brianna for a girl? They’re the only 2 I can think of that haven’t been used recently by myself or other friends and family.

5. If you could make your child like something what would it be?
Reading. Reading has brought me so much pleasure over the years I hope I can find a way to teach my kids to enjoy it, even if they don’t actually DO it that often.

*Total weight gain: About 17 pounds

*How big is baby?: about 17¾ inches, almost as long as an American Girl Doll and weighs about 5 pounds

*Sleep?: 3-4 hours at a time, with a short intermission for bathroom break and drink

*Best moment this week?: Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte after my regular OB appt on Friday

*Movement?: All the time. She’s pretty quiet in the morning, but after I’ve been up 2-3 hours she starts moving around and doesn’t seem to stop until I fall asleep at night.

*Food cravings?: Donuts. Or anything with a pound of sugar since I’m not supposed to eat it

*Stretchmarks?: Nothing new

*Labor signs?: Negatory

*Belly button in or out?: Disturbingly flat

*What I miss: Being able to play on the floor with my daughter. There is no good position for me on the floor. And trips out with my daughter for coffee and scones. Both are to be consumed at a minimum thanks to the gestational diabetes diagnosis

*Complaints: I’m going to skip this question, because it seems like I’m constantly grumpy about the general pregnancy problems. And I’ve already vented once this week.

*What I’m looking forward to: October. I can’t remember another time in my life when I so wanted to fast forward time.

*Nursery Progress: Almost complete!

*What items do you still need to buy for baby?: A laundry hamper and diapers. Hopefully that will be taken care of this week!

I’ve been attempting to nest like a crazy woman, and I guess it’s not working? Let me attempt to explain.

Nesting for most expectant mothers involves cleaning, cooking, buying, assembling, washing, folding, organizing. I despise all forms of cleaning, although I can enjoy some organizing and have made a good attempt at it. The problem with organizing is when I am physically incapable of reaching either things that are needed, need to be organized, or need to hold the things I’ve organized, I can’t complete the organization and then leave piles of mess everywhere that drive me a different kind of crazy.

Due to my diagnosis of gestational diabetes, cooking no longer amuses me. Every thing I put in my mouth is supposed to have a carb count associated with it, and it has seriously decreased my pleasure in food. I usually LOVE to cook and bake and do so far more often than I should (based on keeping the husband’s and my weight in check), but the diagnosis just leaves me frustrated with my seeming inability to enjoy all the fun fall foods that are starting to make their appearances. I’ve replaced cooking/baking with crocheting, but progress is far slower there than with cooking/baking.

Also on the food front, I’ve gone a lil crazy planning meals for the fam while I recover from my c-section. As I realized yesterday as I started making their grocery lists for my husband, I easily have enough meals planned for two weeks, and there are still other things I had planned on. Food has become a financial drain and I need to get a handle on it.

When it comes to buying, I’m “hindered” by the fact that this is my second daughter, so there really isn’t much to buy. Sure, she got her own crib, sheets, and blankets, as well as a new activity center (DD1′s was cheap and no one enjoyed it much), but that’s about it. There have been some random clothing purchases so she doesn’t look like a clone of her big sister and because her first Halloween and Thanksgiving outfits need a much smaller size than her big sister did. But other than that, there isn’t much to be purchased.

Assembling is left for the husband, cuz he needs more work to do.

Washing and folding all the baby clothes is a necessity, but still a chore that I hate. Although they are easier to fold and put away than the piles and piles of toddler clothes for DD1.

So I mentioned noise in the title of my post. All these nesting things create noise in my head, sure, but the even bigger noise inside my head is a form of anxiety. At 33 weeks, this baby is head down and low, something my older daughter never was. I worry that all our careful and necessary planning is going to get tossed out the window and leave everyone scrambling to make adjustments or other arrangements, including what to do with my older daughter, WHILE I’m being prepped for surgery. As of this writing, I don’t want DD1 at the hospital with me. I think it would be scary for her to see mommy poked, prodded and hooked up to a half dozen machines. And while I have several people who are willing to help with the toddler, food, chores, and my general care, they all need time off work to do so.

Oh, and have I mentioned that I don’t WANT another c-section? That the only reason I’m not fighting for a VBAC is because we need the schedule more than I need to avoid surgery?

While I’m not the most positive of people on a good day, I do what I can to keep my bitching to a minimum because people don’t want to hear it. We all have problems and don’t need to air every single thing to the world. But some times, like now, we all need to vent and possibly get a little reassurance that it really will be ok. And it will be, but sometimes the noise is just SO loud…

For most pregnant women, this is only a nuisance. For me, it’s step 2 on the road to actually being diabetic. There was a time about ten years ago that I was hypoglycemic – prone to strange drops in blood glucose levels. This leveled out and disappeared, but I was warned that this could be an issue in the future, especially since my mother is diabetic (and started with gestational diabetes while pregnant with my younger brother). Now there’s a bump in the road with the label of gestational diabetes.

While no one asks for this and it’s very easy to make the modifications to live a life where no one would know you were diabetic unless you told them, my issue, as it is with many things, is that it’s something that was forced on me through genetics. Despite my attempts to eat a relatively healthy diet (because of my own family history, my husband’s family history, and his high cholesterol), I am STILL going to carry a label that I’ve worked to avoid.

Now that I’ve received the diagnosis and accepted it (really, I have, I just don’t like it), where do I go from here? I’m not sure yet, my records have been sent to a specialist who will be calling me to set up a consultation and education session. I know for a fact this will involve learning how to use a blood glucose meter, making dietary changes and getting more exercise. What else? I haven’t a clue. My biggest concern is the effect that this is having on my unborn child and what we can expect at her birth. Extra testing? Observation in the NICU? I guess we’ll find out when my consultation is scheduled.