Welcome to the world

This is Charlie.

8 lbs, 4.7 oz.

Eats like a lion, sleeps like a lamb.

Delivered by the best doctor ever.

Loved by everyone.

And about to meet his big sister...

The ghost in the house

It seems that Mom has been going crazy.  Brandon and I may not have helped with that.  Every week we drive out to my appointment and afterwards spend awhile at her house when no one else is there.  So this week, Mom came home to her Christmas lights already turned on, her packages on the kitchen counter instead of at the front door, some cookies eaten, and her leaves raked.  I would like to say that Brandon was just being a good son-in-law and raking the leaves for her, but he actually did it so that he and Violet could play around in them.  And they did.

But it left Mom a little confused.  Oh well.

Some holiday cheer

Just in case my last post makes you think that I'm about to lose it...

Violet has actually been very good lately (during hours when she isn't supposed to be sleeping).  She loves everything about the Christmas season and I'm thrilled to be sharing it with her this year.

 Oh, and I may have forgotten to mention that Brandon did get an internship lined up for next summer.  And as if a job offer weren't enough, his company sent us a "holiday package" with a bunch of treats in it.  Just for kicks.  It's like they knew he had a pregnant wife and a toddler to eat them all.

 On Saturday I went to the nutcracker with Mom and the Peterson girls.  It was beautiful, as usual.  During intermission I took a picture of Santa on this giant gingerbread house they had out in the lobby.  I showed Violet and she loved it, but I think she expected Santa to be small and plastic when we took her to meet him last night.

 Alas, he was large and human.  Here's how meeting him went over:

 Didn't catch that?  Let's get a close-up of that face:

It was actually a funny story.  As soon as she saw him, she made it clear that she didn't want to be near him.  Brandon walked her up to him and he gave her some candy.  She was ok with that.  But when Brandon tried to sit her on his lap, she thought "Is this the price I have to pay for getting candy?  I don't think so!" and she threw the candy (quite forcefully) back at Santa and screamed, NOOOO!!! MOMMY!!!!!! 

"You can have your stupid candy back, Santa, just don't touch me!"

Help

What do you do with a 2-year-old who refuses to nap, can climb out of her crib, won't stay in her room, and doesn't play quietly by herself? Seriously, this is not a riddle, I'm really wondering what to do with Violet.  Several weeks ago, Violet would go to bed without a fight at about 8:30 and sleep until 8 AM.  She would fight her naps but eventually fall asleep in her crib and nap from 2-4 PM.  This schedule was bliss. 

Since Daylight Savings ended, she gets up at 7 (Brandon gets up with her, thankfully) and won't nap until 3 or later.  One would think that naptime would be at 1 now, but that failed. This is because she figured out how to climb out of her crib, so the only way to get her to bed is to lie in bed with her and sing songs until she falls asleep. And this only works if she is REALLY tired; otherwise, I can be singing songs for up to an hour and she just stares at me.  Not going to happen.  People tell me that she's outgrowing her nap and just needs to have quiet time in her room, which would be fine if I could keep her in her room.  That is not the case.  I have spent 45 minutes holding her door shut while she pulls on the handle and screams, "Mommy read a book!  Mommy do blocks!"  On Friday I got her to stay in her room while I napped on her bed (I broke down and said that she could stay up as long as she let me nap) but it required me to fall asleep while she stuck blocks in my face and said, "After finish the blocks you can take nap."  When she does nap, it's so late and she's so tired that she will sleep until 6 if I let her.  So, I have to wake her up no later than 4:30 if I want her to go to bed at a reasonable hour (which is actually not reasonable for a toddler).  An hour of fighting for an hour of napping does not seem justified to me.

Bedtime is just as bad.  The same ordeal happens, except that she falls asleep around 10.  SERIOUSLY?!?!  This can't be healthy for either of us.  I feel like I've tried everything, but what works one day doesn't work the next day.  I don't consider myself the kind of mom that would be ok locking her child in a room; I don't want naptime to be a traumatic experience. But I'm running out of ideas.

I need to figure something out soon.  I have 10 days or less until I have another child.  I'm afraid that if I have to deal with this and a new baby, I will develop post-partum depression and end up throwing myself out a window.  Or maybe I just need to have this baby so that it will force me to stop treating Violet like an only child.

Nesting

You know how some women get a burst of energy before they have their baby and do crazy things like make meals for a month and deep-clean their bath tubs? Well, that hasn't happened to me. I have no energy, I still don't like to cook, and no amount of pre-labor hormones could make me bend over far enough to scrub my bath tub. Violet and I have been taking it easy and this Friday we went to the zoo.

 But even taking it easy can be hard.  After walking around the zoo for an hour, I could practically feel myself effacing with each step.  My body doesn't seem too eager to push this baby out, but at times I feel like it could fall out at any time.

Even if I haven't been deep-cleaning my whole house, I've been getting ready for baby in my own little way.  The car is cleaned out and the car seat is installed.  I put the bumpers I made in the crib since Violet has figured out how to climb out of it and no longer naps in there.  I'm making a Christmas coming-home onesie. Brandon even painted my toenails and put an avocado mask on me last night.  He sure loves me.

And you're probably wondering what an avocado mask has to do with preparing for the baby.  Honestly, who is going to notice my toenails and pores when I am in labor?  Probably nobody.  But I've just gained 40 lbs and will soon have a roomful of people see me half naked.  It's just my way of doing anything to make myself feel a little better.

And that is how nesting happens for me.

(Yeah, I know, the AAP doesn't recommend these. If baby figures out how to roll, I'll take them out so baby doesn't suffocate on them. I mostly plan on using them during the time that baby can crawl backwards and get his/her legs stuck between the slats.)



Bring on the season.

The Christmas season has gotten off to a great start.  Awhile ago, I mentioned to Brandon that I might get him a nice TV if I find a good black friday special.  It took him no time to find one he liked and the day before Thanksgiving, we got this ginormous TV delivered to us.  I had planned on wrapping it and waiting until Christmas to open it, but Brandon was too eager and had Christmas early. I guess he won't have much to open on Christmas morning.

 Thanksgiving was a blast for everyone.  All of my siblings were gone, so Mom and Dad tailored the meal around what the pregnant lady was craving (tons of jello cranberry salad, mexican sodas, and more banana cream pie than any non-pregnant person could handle).  Violet was pretty overwhelmed by all the food (see picture below) and afterwards we went on a drive to look for Christmas lights, which ended up being the most exciting part of the day for her.  She is starting to love this season.

 Tonight we decorated our little Christmas tree for family night.  Violet was squealing the whole time and handing me "orna-minutes" every 5 seconds. 

 After she went to bed, I took some close-ups of our tree.  The festivity and glowiness of the decorations make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. 

 Joy.

Finally, tomorrow I will be full term.  (WHAT? That means I will have a baby in 3 weeks or less!  Totally blows my mind.)  And although I'm having trouble sleeping, staying awake, bending over, walking, and putting my clothes on, I am really enjoying myself right now.  I'm pregnant enough to use it as an excuse to get out of doing anything I don't want to, but at the same time, I get to do whatever I want because I don't have a tiny baby to take care of.  But with the cold weather and decorations up, I feel like I could take this baby home any time now.  I'm ready.

Grateful

Turns out explosive diarrhea is better than non-stop vomiting.  I can handle this.

Rough day for Violet

Today I am thankful for 2 things: laminate floors and nice weather.  Because if Violet had thrown up on carpet and if it had been too hot/cold to open all the windows and air our my apartment, I don't think I would still be sane.  Those 2 simple things saved my day.

Before I get into the lovely details of Violet's sickness, let me tell you about how lately she has been obsessing over being clean. About a week ago, her diaper gave out in the middle of the night and she ended up leaking pee on her bed (which was covered by a waterproof mattress pad).  We cleaned it up but ever since then, when we put her to bed, she will stand on the bed and point to it and say, "No, it's yucky!  I peed the bed!"

And today she threw up all over the floor.  She was screaming and crying afterwards and after gasping for air, she pointed to the vomit and yelled, "MOMMY WIPE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  Not exactly the reaction I expected.  I cleaned it up and it happened a few more times, getting on her favorite blanket once.  When it was time to go pick up Brandon, I tried to comfort her by saying that she could bring her blanket in the car (I had forgotten that she threw up on it).  Instead of getting excited like she normally does when I talk about her blanket, she yelled, "NOOOO!!!! Blankie yucky!"  Oh, right.

When we got home, she threw up a few more times.  The worst was when I saw her coughing and knew it was about to come, so I told her to go into the bathroom.  So she started running to the bathroom and threw up on the way there.  She then slipped in her own vomit, fell backwards, and hit her head on the floor. Our poor baby.

After Brandon cleaned her off, I came in and held her.  I commented that she smelled badly (her hair was covered in vomit) and Brandon said, "Oh, are you stinky?" to which she responded, "No, Mommy tooted."  That was followed by uncontrollable laughter from me.

Now she's in bed and I'm still going in every once in awhile when she throws up.  I'm just glad we've been able to get through it so far, and hopefully she will feel better tomorrow.

Naked

I feel naked.  I'm not wearing my wedding ring.  No, Brandon is not in the doghouse.  I just woke up this morning with fat sausage fingers and joint discomfort in my hands.  I barely got my ring off (it left quite the mark on my finger) and I'm afraid of putting it back on.

Renfest

My mom told us awhile ago that she had free tickets to the Renaissance festival, so we decided to go with her this weekend.  All I have to say is that she is a saint for going with us because it is really far away and the traffic was TERRIBLE getting there. We got there over an hour before she did, but it gave us plenty of time to check out all the ridiculous costumes that people wore there.  Apparently, a lot of clothing styles qualify as "Renaissance," including (but not limited to):

belly dancing costumes

a loin cloth (but only when paired with fur boots)

anything with wings

anything that pushes your breasts up to your chin

any outfit involving a tail

a trench coat with a see-through mini skirt underneath

and anything that resembles lingerie.

The highlight of the trip was the elephant ride (obviously).  It was an expensive, short ride, but it was worth it to see the excitement on Violet's face. 

  

 After the elephant ride, I held Violet up on the fence to get a better picture with the elephant (see pic below).  BAD IDEA.  A couple of seconds after this picture was taken, I felt something scratchy move across my arm and try to wrap around Violet.  It was the elephant's trunk.  I'm not sure how many of you have been touched by an elephant's trunk, but I can tell you that they are quite forceful.  So I FREAKED out and pulled Violet down as fast as I could and now I get to tell the story about how I almost had my toddler stolen by an elephant. 

 This elephant didn't try to steal her.

 Mom even bought Violet some butterfly wings, which she LOVED.  When we got home she walked around with them in my high heel shoes.  I would have put up a picture of that but she was butt naked.  That's just how she rolls.

A feel-good exercise

On Friday while I was looking at strollers, an older lady came up to me and asked, "Your baby is coming really soon, isn't it?" I told her that I still had a month and a half to go and she looked at me and said, "REALLY? Are you only having one? You just look so big!"

 

So on Saturday I got all dressed up and made Brandon take some maternity pictures of me.  Just so that I could have something to look at and think, "Okay, I can still look cute, even if people think I'm having multiples."  I also photoshopped out some hormone-induced skin flaws. I'll do anything in the name of self-esteem. 

 Of course, Violet never needs photoshopping. 

 Here's the belly.  I'm actually not too self-conscious about how big it is.  I like feeling all the kicks.  It's better just to focus on the excitement of a new baby, right?

And Mom, THANK YOU for funding my new hair cut and babysitting Violet while I went to the salon.  That has actually been my biggest insecurity for the past several months (I got a really bad hair cut awhile ago) and I'm finally friends with my hair again.

Halloween: rockin' the cow

This Halloween was a big success.  Brandon was gone on a field trip over the weekend so we headed out to stay with my family.  Violet went to two trunk-or-treats out there all dressed up as a  chicken.  She caught on to the idea quickly.  Her bag of candy started getting heavy, so I tried to hold it for her, but she would NOT let go of it.  I also witnessed her talking about candy in her sleep since she slept with me all weekend. 

 

 Besides trunk-or-treats, we had a blast with the cousins, went to Stephen F. Austin park, I finally got my hair cut, and we had a Halloween-themed dinner.  It was so nice to not have to stay by myself all weekend.

Her costume was awesome.  Onesie made by me, shiny pants made by Brandon.

 Sunday night, Brandon came home just in time for Halloween.  We went to our ward's trunk-or-treat tonight and Violet finally got to spend some time with Daddy.

 After that, we went to Chipotle to get boo-ritos.  They were doing a Halloween promotion where if you came in dressed up as a farm animal, they would give you one of their huge burritos for just $2.  Since I was a cow and Violet was a chicken, it worked out perfectly.  The cashier even asked to take a picture of Violet because she was just so cute.  And plenty of people got a kick out of my pregnant belly/udder.

Moo!

Best. Pumpkin. Ever.

Okay, so I'm a little excited about this baby.  Excited enough that I immortalized my uterus on our pumpkin.  But isn't it AWESOME?

The bright spot near the top is a rotten part, since pumpkins don't last more than 45 minutes in this humidity.  We can just pretend it's supposed to be the umbilical cord or something.

The problem with articles (more complaining)

I know, I'm whiny. And I'm about to dish on yet another pet peeve of mine. So feel free to not read this if you don't want to hear more of my complaining. But if you do read this, just know that I warned you.

Here it is: Some parents spend more time reading articles on raising a child than they actually spend with their child. And they like to send me the links to those articles, which I promptly delete. You may wonder why I feel this way about articles, considering that I spent most of my last post defending the AAP's recommendations on safety.

I probably wouldn't mind articles if people got them from medical journals or other reliable sources. But it turns out that not that many people subscribe to medical journals (you don't count, Mom). Most people like to get their advice from parenting magazines or websites that throw around phrases like "studies show" and "research suggests" without actually citing their sources. Maybe this comes from being married to someone who does research for a living, but I always wonder, "What studies? What were their methods? How many people did they test? Was there a control group? Were there any obvious lurking variables? Were the results repeatable?" And they never say. (Obviously, because if they did most people would fall asleep after reading the first paragraph. I never said that peer-reviewed journals aren't dry.)

What people also need to think about is, who writes these articles? Not the people who actually do the research. They are probably way too nerdy to make it sound cute and trendy enough to be put into a parenting magazine. It was probably written by a jornalist. Or, if you found it online, anyone who has an 8th grade education and an opinion.

Yeah, for now, I'm just going to delete them all.

"...and my kids all turned out fine."

I really hate it when people say that. People tell you that a lot as a parent, especially now that most new parents have access to all of the AAP recommendations on safety. I find that many times, parents who think they have "been around the block" like to tell you how useless your safety precautions are. I have always put Violet to sleep on her back, because it is supposed to reduce the risk of suffocation and death. And people will say, "Oh, my kids all slept on their tummies, and they turned out fine. My kids had bumpers in their cribs and they turned out fine. My babies ate honey and they turned out fine." And it makes me wonder if people really understand statistics. Yes, your kids probably turned out fine. But the fact is, when you're talking about something like SIDS, the chance of it actually happening are less than 1%, even if you do everything wrong. You could put your baby on its belly and surround it with pillows every night and chances are he will still be alive on his first birthday. But that doesn't mean that preventative measures don't decrease that risk even further. I would rather have a back-sleeping baby with a .5% risk of death than a tummy-sleeping baby with a 1% risk of death, even if the risk is low either way. (By the way, I just made up those statistics, but you get the point.) I understand, some babies sleep better on their bellies. If you decide that getting a few more hours of sleep is worth taking that small risk, then I'm not here to judge. After all, the AAP doesn't raise your child, you do. But please, don't pretend that the fact that your baby is still alive in the morning is proof that the AAP recommendations are all bogus. Observation of your own child does NOT constitute a scientific study.

A birthday and a dumb idea

It's official.  Violet is 2.  All that time and I still can't believe what a cute little girl she is.  The night before her birthday I stayed up late finishing a dress that I was making for her.  On her birthday, she loved being the center of attention.  All we did was have some cupcakes, but to her it was the greatest thing in the world.  She is growing so fast and has so much personality.

 And for those of you who don't see me much, I included a belly picture. 

Speaking of bellies, I did something really stupid on Sunday that I am now paying for. Brandon was trying to measure how high in the air Violet could jump. After she did it, she turned to me and said, "mommy jump." And despite the fact that I am 7 months pregnant and 30 lbs over my normal weight, I stood by the tape measure and repeatedly jumped as high as I could so that Brandon could measure my vertical.  I'll admit, I knew this wasn't the brightest idea, but I thought I may be a little sore the next day and then be over it.  No way!  My entire body has felt sore/bruised for the past 2 days.  It hurts to sit, bend over, and lay on my side (which is the only position in which I can lay anymore).  The muscles in my abs (or what's left of them), back, chest, arms, and legs have gone on strike.  Seriously people, don't do it.  My body hurts so much that it is tricking itself into thinking it's actually sick.

Camping!

This weekend we went camping for the first time in over a year.  I had wanted to go much more often but during the spring, Brandon was too busy and in the summer when he actually had time, it was WAY too hot. We had a lot of fun but because of the drought, we weren't allowed to build a fire, which meant no s'mores.  We also forgot to take a flash light (or any kind of light) and got to the park around dusk so there wasn't much to do with Violet before bedtime.  That didn't keep her from being very entertained, though. We put her to bed in the tent at about 8:45 but heard her jumping around and talking until about 10 pm.  It was quite a night in the tent.  Brandon, Violet, and pregnant Lindsey all shared a full-size air mattress.  Since I have so much extra weight now I normally sleep with 2 pillows but I forgot them all at home.  At 4 AM I took a trip to the bathroom, which woke Violet up.  When we tried to go back to sleep, she sang "Jesus wants me for a sun beam" in our tent for awhile.  The next morning was better, and we got to have some fun at the park.

Violet learned how to swing from a vine,

 

we went down to see the river,

and we went on a nice walk... before we all got hot, sore, and tired and called it quits for the day.

A conversation at our house this morning

(as Violet is sitting on the porch, going through Brandon's rocks)

Me: Brandon, Violet is sticking fossils up her nose!

Brandon: Violet, stop sticking fossils up your nose! Those snails have been dead for 70 million years!

I am definitely married to a geologist.

An interesting start

Since I didn't announce this pregnancy right away, I almost forgot about a few funny things that happened right at the beginning.  I went to a party with Violet and some friends at the beginning of April.  The entire time I was there, Violet kept sticking her butt in the air and looking at me through her legs.  One friend (who is Navajo, by the way) looked at Violet and said, "in my culture, when a baby looks through its legs, it means there is another baby on the way." I thought it was pretty interesting and just laughed.  Little did either of us know that a week later I would be holding a positive pregnancy test.  (I can't tell you how hard she laughed when I told her that she had predicted this baby.)

In May we went to visit Brandon's family.  We knew we would be telling them about the pregnancy since that was the only time we would be seeing them all year.  I don't normally announce these things in a cute or creative way-- it's just not my style.  But for some reason I thought about the Mexican Christmas tradition of the cake with a little plastic baby Jesus inside and I convinced Brandon that it would be funny to make one for his family.  So in Idaho we found some plastic babies at the dollar store and put them in a cake we baked (which, as you can see, was SUPER ugly) and watched with delight as his family found tiny little babies in their slices of cake. The look of confusion on their faces was priceless. 

 Hopefully our baby will be much cuter.

Mixed signals

I often find myself catching Violet doing something and saying, "Stop that!  But first, do it again so that I can get a picture of it."  Yes, I am one clear and consistent parent. 

In this picture she was supposed to be helping me make key lime pie for Brandon's birthday.  Instead, I caught her drinking a jar of sprinkles.

 I got Brandon a rock light for his birthday.  It turns out the rock it's made of is halite (aka salt).  So Brandon showed her to lick it.  And now she licks it ALL THE TIME.