24 weeks- Viability Day

Today Baby L2 is 24 weeks and considered "viable" (or at least has a good chance of surviving if born). That's not to say that we want him coming any time soon --16 or 17 weeks would be fine with Mommy!--but it's another pregnancy milestone. It also means that we have fewer than 16 weekends to get everything on our long to-do list done.

Total weight gain: ?? 

Maternity clothes? Yes! I just stocked up at a Gap/Old Navy online sale. I finally feel like I have something to wear. I have concluded  that I  dressed horribly during my my last pregnancy.

Belly button in or out? In. In so far that there is a shadow.  

Sleep: See previous post about the last two weeks. Last night I slept like a log all night and naturally today I am exhausted

Best moment this week:Playing in the snow with Chase on Saturday. I think I had as much fun as he did.

Food cravings:  Dairy protein like cottage cheese and yogurt

Movement: Lots, although some days more than others. I don't pay attention to the movement when I am busy (which is often), but he moves alot whenever I am holding Chase, as well as early in the morning.

Fitness: Per a recommendation on an online forum, I got the "10 Minute Solutions Prenatal Pilates" DVD. It is awesome! You can customize your workout with any of the 5 10-minute sections and they are all pretty challenging so I actually feel like I'm getting a workout. I've been been sore the next day. Unfortunately I haven't had time during the week to exercise, but I've been good on the weekends. I'm hoping to start next week.

Upcoming Pregnancy milestones: Dr's appointment on Tuesday and then gestational diabetes test (gross) two weeks after that.

What I miss: My waistline.

(I think I'm still about 5-6 weeks larger than my pregnancy with Chase. See 29 weeks post and 30 weeks post. )

Update

So sorry we've been MIA. First we had Nonnie and Pop in town for the weekend, then Chase got sick while I had the biggest 2-day work meeting ever, then it snowed on Saturday, and then Stephen got sick. Phew! I'm even more exhausted just writing it all down.

coloring at his new table

Chase is taller than his Elmo puzzle

So about poor Chase: He had a very high fever last Sunday night and was not himself at all. He laid in our bed and just stared at the TV--even the parts of Sesame Street without Elmo. He even watched Selling New York! Poor little guy was miserable, even with ibuprofen. I was worried his fever would spike overnight and he wasn't going anywhere, so we let him sleep with us. His fever finally broke around 5:30am and we got him changed out of his sweaty clothes. The next day he seemed better, but as soon as the ibuprofen started to wear off, he got cranky again, lazed around and just seemed miserable. He was barely eating anything and made me kiss the boo-boos on his feet.

Unfortunately, I had a HUGE work meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday that I could not miss. Luckily Stephen was able to stay home with Chase and take him to the pediatrician. Turns out he had Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease- a pretty common virus marked by a fever and painful blisters in the mouth/throat and on the hands and feet. No wonder he kept asking me to kiss his feet!  Of course there is no treatment other than ibuprofen and tylenol. Way to make a mom feel helpless.

Chase was a little better on Wednesday and on Thursday (when Stephen returned to work and I stayed home), he was almost back to his usual self. Friday we brought him back to daycare where, naturally, his 3 closest friends were recovering from the same thing!

Friday night into Saturday we had the closest thing to a snow storm we've had all winter: 1 inch of snow covered by freezing rain. Not the prettiest stuff, but snow nonetheless. We heeded the warnings to stay off the roads, played in the yard (our hill is big enough for Chase to sled on), and did stuff around the house.

Naturally we got take-out sushi on Saturday night. Chase loves chopsticks, edamame and sushi:

Monday was mostly back to normal and then yesterday Stephen felt sick when he woke up. He did go to work, but left early for the day. Chase has seemed fine and continues to eat well, but his stomach was clearly upset this morning. Oh, and I forgot to mention that Chase's sleeping has been a MESS since he got sick. He's waking up during the night and then very early in the morning. He still has his cough (the doctor said some kids just have a cough all winter. Sweet), which doesn't help either!

We're hopeful that everyone is on the mend and that mama here does not get sick.

We'll be back to normal and posting more again soon!

20 months going on 16 years

Lounging and texting...

Chase at 20 months and pregnancy week 22

This doesn't happen very often- today Chase is 20 months old and Baby Boy L is 22 weeks along. Let's get to Chase first.

At 20 months, Chase is:

-Talking non-stop. He does not babble anymore- almost everything he says is intelligible. He wakes up in the morning and starts talking about Mama and Dada and Abu and Choo-Choo! This morning I walked into his room and he said "choo choo?" Not even a "hi mama!"

Chase often says  "Mama come!" or "Daddy come!" and then pulls us to wherever he wants us to go (usually to play with trains). He is insistent and does not understand if we are doing something else like eating or cleaning up. 

His funniest phrases these days is "'a doin?" as in "Daddy, 'a doin?" It is so funny. He says it multiple times if we don't respond. We know we should correct it, but it's hilarious.
Chase is also naming almost every animal, even hard to say ones like "elephant."

A lot of things are still "that," but we're working on his specificity. The great thing about this is that he rarely gets upset that he cannot communicate what he wants!

-Obsessed with trains. Not only does he have an awesome train table (thanks to Grammy and Grampy) that he loves to play with, he also loves to play the Zoo Train game on the iPad (we've had it for less than a month. It didn't take long for him to get obsessed). He even sat for 5 minutes today and watched Thomas and Friends while I put on makeup (the boy barely ever sits still to watch TV-- a good thing in general, but sometimes the distraction is helpful)

-Cooking up a storm in his new kitchen. Last night he told me he would make me a hot dog, peas, and pasta. Chase also makes "cahfee"- he puts the cup in the microwave and pours fake milk in when it is done. Then he brings it to you and makes you drink it. He even made tea for Grammy last week. We have to get it on video- words cannot describe how intently he makes cahfee.
-Can sing the ABCs. While we sing the ABC song to him, we don't think we do it enough for him to know it (thank you, daycare!) but lo and behold, one day I started singing and he sang along! He can even fill in the letters, although LMNOP sounds an awful lot like "Owen P."


-Remembering things. For example, I opened the toilet tank to see why it was running. Now every time we go into that bathroom, he points to the tank and says "see wawa?" because he wants to watch the tank while the water flushes. This happens EVERY SINGLE TIME we go in that bathroom. We have to distract him. But sometimes his memory is useful- the other day I couldn't find Mueller's leash and was looking all over for it. Chase called me over ("Mama dare!") and was pointing to the top of the coat closet where Stephen had stashed it. Chase remembered Daddy putting the leash "dare".

-Being such a sweet boy. He gives kisses and hugs on demand. While he's not exactly gentle to my baby bump,  he points to it and says baby and then lifts up my shirt and kisses it. Of course he has no clue what he's in for, but it's nice to imagine he'll be sweet like this to the baby once he comes!

 Speaking of the bump, here is the 22 week pregnancy update. Some of these questions are becoming repetitive and/or obsolete, so I'm going to amend the list.

How far along? 22 weeks


Total weight gain/loss: I'm ignoring the scale

Bump showing? Yes
Maternity clothes? Of course
 Movement: Stephen finally felt him move! One day this week he was not very active (so I drank mango juice until I felt him move) and the next day he was very active and dancing on my cervix.

Sleep: This is linked more to my first-born than to this pregnancy--Chase got into a bad pattern earlier this week and was up in the middle of the night and then again at 5am. The last two nights were better, but there's no way to know when it will deteriorate again. :-(

Best moment of the week: Stephen feeling the baby kick
 
Miss anything? My old clothes 

Cravings: I've been eating a lot of chocolate, but not craving it per se.

Anything making you queasy? I had headaches again this week. No good.
Gender: Baby Boy

Mood: I was in a funk this week. I'm really feeling the pull of the working mom these days.

Looking forward to: More family visits this weekend! And it is a long weekend. But I'm not looking forward to some very busy days at work next week. oy.

Christmas #2

This year we celebrated Christmas Eve and day (and a few days on either side) in Concord. We had so much fun with lots of family and friends. We were especially lucky to spend so much time with Grandma Ness who was there with us. Helen and Chase had never spent so much time with her and we really treasured it (despite an inability to capture Chase and Grandma on film!)

We started on Christmas Eve:

Chase and Owen in their matching "choo-choo" sweaters.

The boys snuck away while the adults were eating to play cars.

Chase loved Grampy's vintage rocking horse.

We attempted a family picture....

Plus we found out that Baby 2.0 is a Boy! And that was all just Christmas Eve.

Christmas morning, Chase slept until 8am (well, Mommy gave him a bottle at 5am and then snuggled with him)

"Did Santa come?"

(by this time Chase had figured out that Carol was not the only one to leave gifts)

Stockings on the mantel

He did come! And he left lots of presents!

But first thing was first. Chase needed "appo juice" and to put the final puff on Santa's beard.

(template from here)

Then it was time to get to work on his stocking, which was filled with lots of fun surprises!

...like a ball that Chase tried to throw at to Grammy.

After that, everyone opened presents. Apparently we did not take any pictures of present-opening, so don't let the lack of pictures make it seem like we were not spoiled-- we definitely were!

Then Chase and Daddy monkeyed around for a bit...

After Chase's nap, Amelia, Owen, Geoff, and Carrie came over and more fun ensued.

Cute cousins picture

Then the cousins opened presents together

 And Chase finally posed (sorta) for a picture with Grandma Ness!

During dinner, Chase had such a good time at the kiddie table- who knew he'd enjoy it so much?!?

 Cheers!

Throughout the entire visit, Chase idolized Owen. He followed him around and asked for him all the time, even first thing when he got up in the morning.

The next night the Andrews came over for dinner. Chase wanted to be just like Owen, so he sat up on the pool table while opening his present from Aunt Lisa.

 A crazy London taxi from Harrods- Wow!

Merry Christmas #2!