25 weeks! but you don't get to see it

Well, last night was the night for the good ole monthly belly picture, however I'm not publishing it, nor do I think I'll be showing it to anyone. You can definitely tell I'm pregnant now even in my regular clothes, which was not the case about 2-3 weeks ago. However, in this picture that my lovely husband took, it looks more like the baby is developing in my behind! Hopefully, it was just a bad choice of pants. We may repeat the photos tonight with a different pair of pants if I can talk him into taking another picture. I know it's a chore to stand up off of the couch for all of 3 seconds, but sometimes he seriously will not do it.

If the behind looks as horrible in the next pictures, then I'm going to start doing squats or something. I'm reminded of a line in the movie Steel Magnolias when the mayor's wife is dancing and Clairee says, "Looks like two pigs fightin under a blanket." I believe that Truvy says it's due to the lack of a girdle. Not that I'm signing up to wear any girdles for the next 3-4 months, but if I were seen dancing, I think the same could be said about me right now. Hopefully, the forward growth will overshadow the growth in the rear soon.

Anyway, instead of a belly pic, I'm leaving you with this one. I had to use an old, really small memory card to take those pictures last night because my other one is full, and I haven't saved them yet. When I went to upload the pics to the computer this morning, these little pics came up of Grant. I took them the day of his first birthday party. My how time flies. I still get teary eyed over all of the curls he had!

At the End of a Rainbow

Yesterday on my way home from work, I saw several rainbows. It was clear when I left work, and in the 11.5 miles between my office and my babysitter's house, the weather was dramatically different. I could see one partial rainbow before I ever got to any rain, but it started raining really hard a few miles before I got to "nanny's" house. As I got closer, it looked like I was going to drive right into this rainbow. It was the craziest thing, kind of like a dream. I think it ended on the street right in front of me, but as I was driving, it was kind of like I couldn't get through it. It just appeared to keep going. It was making driving difficult because it was pouring down rain, but the reflection from the rainbow was so bright in my eyes. Apparently, no one was anywhere around me because I probably would've hit them because it was a very unique experience and my attention was not focused on driving. The only disappointment was that I didn't find a pot of gold. I could really use one right now!! Better luck next time, I guess. After I picked Grant up, it had pretty much stopped raining, but there was a huge rainbow that appeared to go right over the main street in town. I think it was the first one that Grant had ever seen. He was so excited and very disappointed when we could no longer see it. He kept saying he needed the different colors back. If I'd had my camera, I would've taken a picture. It was beautiful!

Did you say Dessert?

Can you say heaven??? I had a coupon for buy one sundae get one free, so we indulged in one of these! I gave the free one to my husband, but I swear I could've eaten them both. Awesome!

Food

It's official...... my mind has been taken over by thoughts of food. I feel like I am a bottomless pit, and that pit really wants to be filled with all things sugar! I don't think I have ever been so hungry in my life. I really don't want to be a total blimp at the end of this pregnancy, but if my appetite doesn't take a break soon, it will be inevitable. We go to the park alot after work and walk and then let Grant play on the playground. This week, I've really struggled through the walking part, partly because I am about to die to go to the bathroom before we're done, and also because I'm about to starve. Poor Grant only gets to play for a few minutes because mommy has to go home and eat.

Dora to the Rescue!

So after a rather lengthy post on Friday about my lack of sleep, I resorted to desperate measures. My plan was to find a doll with hair to replace my ratty mane! After picking up Grant from his sitter's, we went to Kmart with a mission. We settled on Buenas Noches Dora. Grant has just recently started getting into Dora, so I thought it would be perfect.. plus she had hair. It's short and black, rather than long and blond, but hey, it's hair! Only problem with the thing is that she never shuts up, so we had to turn her off for him to actually go to sleep. Three nights later, and we are batting 1000! He has slept in his bed solo three nights in a row, only waking 1 time on Friday night and zero times the other two. I think everyone in the family is having a much better day today than we had on Friday, all courtesy of Dora!

We Have A Problem!!!

Help me please! I have not had any sleep, and I feel like I'm dying. Grant did so well in his big boy bed for a few nights, and this week has just gotten progressively worse. I thought it would get better, but after last night I'm ready to throw the big boy bed out the window, make his room into a toy room, and just let him sleep with us. Seriously, I've had maybe a total of 4 hours of sleep, and I just don't know what to do. I'm pregnant, and this is not making this any easier! I know this problem is all my fault because I didn't let him cry it out when he was 10 months old and started waking up screaming every night, right?! Well, easier said than done. When he was 10 months old, I was (and still am) working full time, and my job required that I be coherent 8 hours per day, and I couldn't do that if I had to listen to my baby cry for 2-3 hours per night. Now, I don't have to be quite as coherent, but I do have to shower and come sit in a chair all day, so sleep really helps.

Last night was a disaster...
I laid down with Grant around 9:00. I don't know what time he feel asleep because I probably fell asleep first. I woke up around 10:30 and wondered to my own bed. Around 1:30ish, Grant woke up yelling for me. Pookie tried to go lay with him because I didn't even hear him yelling (even with a monitor, does this tell you how tired I am??!). Anyway, Daddy just doesn't do the trick. Could it be because his hair is very short? He kept yelling, "mommy, where are you?" At that point, I went into his room and laid back down with him. He said, "I need your hair." I think he has an obsession. It all started a long long time ago, but now, he needs to touch my hair to go to sleep, ughh! Anyway, I waited till he went back to sleep, crept back to bed, and laid down. I, of course, have to the bathroom every time I wake up now, and after all of that it took me awhile to start dozing off. No need to doze, as soon as I did, Grant's at it again. This continued for most of the night. Then, I finally gave in and brought him to our bed, but guess what... this isn't what he wanted! He started crying to go to his bed!! When we got there, he patted the pillow next to him and said, "mommy, you lay right here." Over and over. Finally, I laid him down crying, and went back to my bed. He continued to cry so I went back in his room after awhile and told him he could come to bed with me or lay in his room alone. He chose going to my room where he began to cry for milk! What's up with this? I haven't ever given him milk in the middle of the night, not since he was like 10 weeks old and still nursing! He finally went back to sleep even though I pulled my hair back and refused to let him touch it. He reaches for it in his sleep! So, even though he was asleep, I was trying to avoid his little hands for the remainder of the night and he even woke up crying 3 more times for who knows what. By then, the alarm clock was going off!

I hope that he's not getting sick or anything, but I really hope last night will never happen again. I don't think I can handle it. I need advice, PLEASE!! What do I do? He has nothing that he feels like he needs to go to sleep, no blanket, pacifier, animal, etc... all he wants is my hair, and I'm withholding that! I've tried to give him something for security, but he tosses them all aside. So, if you have suggestions, please leave a comment! I don't care if I know you or not. I'm willing to try just about anything!

Let the Countdown Begin

Nothing blogworthy going on in my life this week really, at least nothing anyone would care to read about, so I thought I'd write about something totally irrelevant... Grey's Anatomy starts in 2 weeks!! I know it's horrible that I'm counting down to this, but it's the only show that I absolutely have to see. If Meredith and Derrick break up because of Christina and Burke, I'm going to get really mad!

I will probably try to watch Private Practice this season too because I really like Kate Walsh (aka Addison), but we'll see how long that holds up. It stinks that both shows come on at 8 because that's usually around the time we start getting a bath and getting ready for bed. I, seriously, don't know what we did before we had a DVR! So, I'll probably just end up recording Private Practice and watching it if time permits, but Grey's night is my night, so daddy will have to handle the bath on Thursdays, and Grant can just stay up a little later waiting for me to put him to bed. We don't have a rigorous night time routine, and who am I kidding??? He's never in bed by nine. I'm doing good if we're laying down at 9:30!! I know this probably makes me a horrible mother, but there just isn't enough time in the evening for everything that we have to accomplish. Maybe when he starts school in a few years, we'll work on getting him to go to bed at a more reasonable hour. I think he's wired like his mommy and daddy... we'd both much rather stay up late and sleep late too! Too bad that Grant's the only one getting to sleep late for now!

Thomas & MDO

On Saturday, we took Grant to A Day Out with Thomas. After what feels like months of no rain, of course it decided to start shortly after we arrived! However, I'm not sure that he even noticed, and he had a good time. He also got his very first temporary tatoo. He was pretty proud of it at first, but then wanted to make sure it would come off later. It was so crowded that we didn't really get any great pics of him next to the actual Thomas the Train, but here are a few from the day:

After Thomas, we went to The Cheesecake Factory for my mom's and Drew's birthday dinner. Grant took my cheesecake when they set it down and assumed it was his own. I think he liked it!

Today was Grant's first day back at Mother's Day Out. I was a little concerned that he'd be upset because his cousin Ella isn't in his class this year. He seemed really excited this morning, and loved wearing his backpack and his school shirt. The shirt swallowed him whole, but they had told everyone to wear them, so we complied. I haven't really heard how he did today, but I know that he seemed to be fine when I left him. Hopefully, it was a tear free day!

On Being Thankful

I feel like I take so many things for granted sometimes. While I can't even begin to compile a list of all the things I'm thankful for, here's just a few for today:

My family and their health

My home, hot water, and air conditioning in the summer, heat when we need it

Good books and the time to enjoy reading them

That the heat wave is finally over. 90 Degrees feels like a nice spring day, and I am lovin' that breeze today. Now bring on the rain!

My clicker for my car that died a few months ago all of the sudden works again!

Good friends in many places from different times in my life, all whom are very different from one another.

Feeling kicks in my belly... I think I'm semi-obsessed with them, but I sure do love it!!

Good food and to be fortunate enough to enjoy some almost everyday, especially anything with sugar

And finally, last but no least:

That Grant slept in his new bed by himself ALL NIGHT LONG!!!!

Seriously, this last one is a huge deal, and my eyeballs are so thankful today (along with my back)! His furniture was delivered yesterday as promised, and daddy went and picked up his mattress. We made his bed all up, and Grant was so pumped. He kept wanting up on the bed, only problem is it's too high for him to get on alone. I'm sure that he will soon figure out a way to climb up, but he hasn't yet. He even asked me if he could sleep in there. When bedtime came, he was not very happy about going in his room. I laid in bed with him and we read a book and turned out the lights. Then the crying started. I negotiated a little and we agreed to one more book and then lights out. So we read Thomas the Train, turned out the lights, and he actually went right to sleep. I almost did the same, but got up just before 10:00, and went to my own room. I was afraid our little munchkin would wake up and make his way to our bed at some point in the middle of the night, but he didn't. I heard him moving around about 4 am, and I had a hard time going back to sleep, but he never woke up. This is a picture I took of him this morning asleep in his new bed right before I picked him up and put him in the car to go to nanny's.

I know this is already a long post, but just one more funny story. I'm trying to write down my funny Grant stories so I don't forget them. Ever since we painted the baby's room last weekend, there has been lots of talk about where baby sister is and when she's coming. We've tried to explain that she's in my belly and that she's coming after Santa Claus does, but that's a little far off for a 2 year old to comprehend. So, on Weds. night after Grant's bath, I was getting him all dressed and he asked me, "Where's my baby sister?" I replied, "She's still in my belly." Grant then said, "Where's her mommy?" I said, "Well, I'm going to be her mommy and your mommy." I got a really quizzical face from Grant. He then looked at me, pointed his finger, and shook it and said, "No mommy, don't do that!" It was too cute. My mom tried to explain to him that she was my mommy and all of brothers' mommy too. All I can say is this may be very interesting! :0)

Belly Pic

I just realized that I haven't posted any pictures of my blossoming belly. We're trying to take at least one a month. I don't feel like putting on a skimpy tank top much more than that. I'm not sure why I think that's what I have to wear for these, but you can't really tell much in normal clothes I don't think until closer to the end. Plus, I wore them for all of the pics we took while I was pregnant with Grant, so I think I need to again. Anyway... right now, I'm a little over 22 weeks and I feel like I've grown since this pic was taken at 21 weeks, but I'm not volunteering for any more pics until later in the month. Not much to see yet, but I'm sure that will be changing very very soon! With my last pregnancy, I couldn't believe the difference between the 21 week and 25 week pics, so it will be interesting.

In other news, Grant's furniture is coming today, and we're all super excited. He thinks he's excited, but I'm not sure if he realizes he actually has to sleep on it. I'm not sure that I'll be able to get everything set up tonight so we may save the fun for this weekend. I may need Saturday morning to recover anyway.

Grant goes back to Mother's Day Out on Monday. It's not really Mother's Day Out for me since I work every day, but it's just a chance for him to get some interaction with other kids. We had some attachment issues toward the end of the year in the spring, but I'm hoping we're past all of that now. His cousin, Ella, is not going to be in his class this year though, and that may be difficult for him to handle. He is really attached to her. He spent the day with her yesterday so his nanny could go to the dr., and he had a blast. He loves going there and eating "pizza in a box." That's what he told Ella's mommy that he wanted for lunch because that's what he had last time he was there. That was back in May. I couldn't believe that he remembered that. This child forgets nothing. I have to remember that whenever I tell him things because he always remembers sooner or later!

The Painting is Done!

Well, Friday was a long day, but the painting in both Grant's and new baby girl's room is officially finished. We got some of the furniture shifting done, and now it's just a waiting game for Grant's new big boy stuff to be delivered so we can get both rooms set up. No one died during the painting or furniture moving process, and it was fairly pain free. Pook did run over one of my big toes with one of the dresser causing it to bleed from under my toenail, which I'd never experienced. It's feeling better now, and it was worth that little sacrifice for everything we accomplished. Saturday, I was a bit of a zombie due to all of the work on Friday. I never knew that I could be soooo tired after getting a decent night of sleep, but I think I over did it slightly on Friday. Thankfully, besides a little cleaning, grocery getting, and some shopping, the rest of the weekend was fairly uneventful so there was plenty of time to recover. UT lost Sat night for anyone that lives in a cave, but I didn't stay around to witness the 2nd half so I was spared most of the moaning and groaning that I'm sure took place on Saturday night. Last night, we enjoyed a cookout with our Sunday school class that absolutely wore Grant out. We had a great time hanging out with everyone and look forward to doing it again soon!