21 Week Update

Here we are again, outdoors, with a head! :) The bump is getting kind of crazy and out of control!

How far along?
I am 21 weeks and 4 days (129 days left)

Baby is the size of...
or rather, the length of...a carrot. She is 10.5 inches from head to toe and 3/4 of a pound. Although, I have a feeling that Olive is probably closer to a full pound, considering her weight three weeks ago! :)

Symptoms:
The last few days have been getting rough. I was feeling pretty good; but, I carried Lucy quite a bit this weekend, sat on some gym bleachers a couple of hours, and squatted to give our chihuahua a hair cut. It really did a number on my muscles! I was and still am sore from it all. My back and shoulders are so tight. I think my husband should massage them! :)  I have to give him credit, he has a little bit...

The one thing that I am not really supposed to talk about (bowel movements) are completely irregular and annoying. But, to save you all, that is all I will say. Annoying!

I am starting to have a tough time sleeping again. I wake up a lot and dream constantly. I sleep, but don't really feel rested. So, I am feeling really tired lately. The smallest activity, like walking around Target for an hour, just about lays me out. Aww, I'm making myself tired. Let's move on...

Anything New?
The name is the same. I haven't gone to the doctor again. The belly is just getting a lot bigger! She is moving quite a bit more, or I am just feeling it more. Unlike Lucy, who used to kick and punch mostly up by my ribs, Olive's kicks are all downward. She hits my bladder like crazy and I am not as confident about my bladder control as I was with Lucy! :{ Constipation, then diarrhea, possible incontinence...get back boys! I know I'm a catch, but I'm taken!

New with Heath?
This last weekend, since I didn't feel well, he spoiled me pretty bad. I appreciate it a lot. I was just out of it and still am a little bit. I am so thankful that he takes care of Lucy and me. He is a great daddy and husband. Thank goodness for me!

He has really started to talk about Olive. He talks to Lucy about her and talks to me about our future, all while referring to her as "Olive." It helps us to better realize that a fourth family member is on the way! It gets kind of hard to believe at times. Although I am absolutely positive nothing can prepare you for having a newborn baby! And, in our case, adding another one to the family, while also having a 2 1/2 year old!

We continue to think about what we need to buy and what we need to do. It isn't as overwhelming this time, however, we probably need to get on it! I've been nesting a lot, but mostly in other rooms of the house. The nursery needs some TLC, since Lucy moved out.

New with Lucy?
Although she still occasionally gets out of bed at night, I would say that we have successfully made the transition to her big girl room. She doesn't really talk about the crib or her old room at all. And.....we have been binkie-free for over 72 hours!! Small victory in our house! :)

I'd love to say that we did some type of ceremonial goodbye to the binkie, or "mailed them" to her baby friends. But, we didn't. She got in trouble Friday night and we took it away. And, well, we decided since we were on a roll, we should continue with it. When she asks for it, we just say, "No binkie. Sorry honey." Surprisingly, her response so far has been, "Okay..." - of course it is in a whiny tone.

Now we need to move on to our third feat - potty training. More about that some other time...

Anything else?
I was recently approached with this question, "You aren't seriously naming your baby Olive are you?"

I expected it from the person it came from. I tried to be cordial, "Yeah. I know it isn't very popular." She continued to make disgusted faces, while ridiculing the name. I just smiled, in the bitchiest way I could possibly come up with, and nodded. She ended her rant by saying, "I just worry about other kids making fun of her."

Ohh...I see. She was telling me the name Olive was horrible, as a favor! Silly me! "I told her that I didn't think there was anything to make fun of and to be honest, "if she is a good person, then I don't care."  Her response was, "Yeah, I guess. Was Olive Oil one of your favorite cartoons growing up?"

It wasn't, but oh my gosh! God forbid that children call her "Olive Oil." That would just be the absolute worst! Riiiiight...they won't even know what Popeye is in that generation.

Finally, I just said, "Yeah, many of my family members don't like it too much, but they are too polite to say anything." I was hoping that would shut her up.

Fun times!  I still love the name and no one is going to convince me otherwise. I just have no use for rude people. Get a clue....what a way to start the week! I hope the rest of it goes better!

New Nap Mat

Sometimes I pick Lucy up early from DayCare. We try to work around nap time; however, at 2:30 or 3 pm, sometimes, Lucy is still sleeping. I would usually walk in and take an immediate left into the baby room, where Lucy had her own pack-n-play to sleep in. Well, a few weeks ago I turned left and was halted by one of the daycare providers. "Lucy is over here."

I turned and Lucy was to my right. She was on a nap mat, sleeping with the older children. First, I was thinking, "Wow! How did you get her to lay there and fall asleep?" Then, I thought about how big she was getting, as I approached her. She was on a daycare nap mat.

They look like this. They are red and blue, and they easily fold up for storage. They are pretty cushion-y, actually. However, they are that vinyl type of material.

When I approached Lucy she was so sweaty and her poor little face was sticking to the mat with sweat and slobber. I type that and kind of smile with amusement...but, I knew then that we needed to get her a nap mat of her own. Even if she got a sleeping bag and placed it on top of the mat, it would be a little better for laying on.

I scoured the internet for a comfortable and affordable option. You could literally spend, like, $50 on a mat! I found a winner and we ordered it.

I knew Lucy would love the princess mat, with the crowned frog in the bottom, right-hand corner.

We removed the name tag and the pillow to give it a quick wash. The next morning it was rolled up and ready to go! :) Lucy loved that she could grab the handle and easily carry it with her.

She carried it into DayCare and I was bursting with happiness. She was so proud of her new mat. She started yelling from the door, "Look! New mat!"  Or, for those of you who know Lucy, it was more like, "Gook, New maat!"

She even yelled at one point, "Awesome, new mat!" The phrase she picked up from Heath.

We all walked into the kitchen, Lucy leading the way with her mat. She stopped and lifted it above her head. Her eyes were wide and mouth was dropped open in awe. I was so happy that it made her so happy. I scanned the room of children. Most were holding some type of breakfast item in their hands and they stared blankly at Lucy. Poor girl.

No one was giving her the awe-stricken reactions that mom and dad did. Then, the daycare provider turned from the counter and started to ohh and ahh. :) Lucy lowered her mat in satisfaction. She then got to carry her new mat over to where the others were stored and place hers on top. :)  She was so, so proud of herself and at that point, I wanted to buy her the world. She was so happy...

She turned around and brushed her hands along her legs, as if she had just accomplished a great task. Then, we told her goodbye for the day.

My heart bursts with happiness when I think about her showing it off. She was so proud and excited over a nap mat. A nap mat. It was the best $23 we ever spent! :) She is getting too big!

Second Child

Being a second child myself, I understand. You always have hand-me-downs - clothes, shoes, bows, toys. You don't have many pictures of yourself alone as a child. Or, you don't have many pictures of your childhood at all.

I'm on the left, obviously. Nikki was always much more put together than I was. I was a wreck of a dirty child. And, yes, I have both of my hands down my pants. This was a common thing. Lucy does it too! haha.

As the second child, even rules get handed down to you, although you haven't even had the chance to break them yet.

Your milestones are often compared to the older child. I apparently took longer to walk, talk, and potty train than my sister. She got all of the good stuff first - a new bike, her own telephone line, a television in her room.

You are probably thinking this is similar to the "Marsha, Marsha, Marsha" episode of The Brady Bunch. Don't fret; it won't be. You see Jan Brady was the middle child. Something that I've only studied in school and watched on television. Although the second, I was also the youngest. That means along with the bad, you get some good.

You get to learn from your sister's mistakes and see your parent's reactions for punishment. Nikki's teenage rebellion years were coupled with my uneventful years in 6th and 7th grade, which automatically made her seem like "the trouble child."

And, I got all of the fun stuff a few years after hers had aged. I remember her pastel colored bike being two years old when I got my brand new, neon colored bike. She was pretty upset...although I paid for it when her and our friends made fun of me. I was the only kid in town with a Murray bike, everyone else had Huffy bikes.

On Nikki's birthday, I also got a present from my grandparents, probably the most unfair youngest child tradition of all.

I was also pretty spoiled rotten by our grandpa. :) I miss him so much.

The second child is something that I've been thinking about a lot lately. For the most part, Olive will get Lucy's hand-me-down clothes. I know that we will get her new items; however, we have totes and totes of baby clothes that Lucy wore just a few times. Olive will wear them. (Sorry future Olive reading this; it is financially the best decision. Perhaps all of the money we saved on baby clothes went to fabulous, family vacations or your college fund. Think of it that way. ;) ) 

Olive, no doubt, will have twice as many toys as Lucy. Since she will get to play with Lucy's (sometimes) and her own. She will of course get her own at Christmas, Easter, Birthdays, etc.

I vow to try my hardest at taking just as many pictures of Olive, writing just as many blogs about Olive, and filling out Olive's baby book as much. However, I understand with two children, it's going to be tough! I am going to try though...really.

I hope to give the girls equal presents, as to squash jealousy. However, Olive will not get presents on Lucy's birthday, or vice versa.

I really hope to make my girls' childhoods similar in parenting and spoiling. It is hard. Some things you just can't help. But, there are perks to each stage - oldest, youngest, or middle - at least in my opinion. I just want to focus on her as much, yet not neglect Lucy. It's a hard balance that I will undoubtedly discuss in the future. Stay tuned...

I wanted to leave you with this photo from Pinterest.com. It made me laugh...children of the 90s.