22 months

22 months

Friday was Wilder's 22-month birthday! He went to the park with Daddy, got a haircut from "Uncle" Les and played with trains at Mimi and Papa's. Wilder's days are filled with exploration, reading, laughter and lots of talking. He speaks in exclamatory sentences, but they're mostly understandable. He picks up random words all the time--he's seriously a parrot. We can have conversations recalling things that happened earlier in the day, or the week before, or about books we've read together. It's such a fun time interacting with this little boy! Everything is fun for him-- from running in the house, to looking at trash trucks outside. As I get ready to deliver his little sister (sometime in the next three weeks! Due October 7!) and things are finally winding down with my work, we are really savoring this time as a family of three.

Wilder is still wearing 12 month old shorts with a belt, still wearing 18 month old tops, but they are getting a smidgen short. I got him new shoes last week: 5.5 mediums. In the spring, got shoes that were 4.5 wide width. He's been wearing his size 5 Natives most of the summer. So his FEET have grown. I'm pretty sure he's taller too. He's just a string bean! I was built that way as a kid, and Zach was thin too, so it's not really surprising. I don't have any idea what clothes he'll wear for the cooler weather. He's probably too tall for his 12 month old pants from last year (CRAZY) but 18 month old waists will swallow him!

Some of the words Wilder has said lately: Bulldozer, haircut, helicopter. He will say "Sad" when he's upset and "NoNice" when we do something he doesn't want to do. He rates everything as "Tiny," "Big" or "Really big." Everything is "Funny" to him. He calls after "Afed, Pierre, Ewwie" and wants to pet them. "Choo-twains" Thomas, Percy and Caboose rule the roost right now, but he is equally enamored with his cars and planes.

He can count to 10 all by himself!

Favorite books: Little Engine that Could, People-God-Moon(Bible), his non-fiction adult books about classic cars and steam engines, 10 little snowflakes (it's a counting book). He will go through days where he wants the same 4 books read over and over, and the next day he's on to a different set. He can tell you which book he wants and say no to other suggestions.

For the most part, he's stopped this thing he was doing where every night he would wake up around 12 and call for mama or daddy. All he wanted was a diaper and rocking for a few minutes (he can tell you what he wants, which is nice) and then he would ask for his bed again. It was every night for a couple of weeks, but this last week he stopped doing it and went back to sleeping through the night. He goes to sleep around 8:30, no matter when we put him in bed (usually 8 and he rolls around for a while). He's up between 6:45-7:30 am. He also naps 2-3 hours in the afternoon like clockwork.

I'm so grateful for my Wilder snuggles. Even though my belly is huge and I can't get around very easily, he's such a hugger and lets me hold him in ways that we can still be close. I just feel so lucky to have him for my son.

Here are some more photos from today!

Jumping with Daddy. :)

36 weeks

A little less than a month till my due date!

I'm in the home stretch! Today I am 36 weeks pregnant. I am always happy when I get past 34 weeks. My mom had me at 34 weeks, and I was so worried about that with Wilder--ironic, since he was born at 41 weeks 5 days! I breezed past 34 weeks and Monday was one month till my due date. I can't believe this pregnancy is almost over.

I have occasional contractions, and they kind of put me in a panic, because I still have assignments left to go before my due date. That number of stories is shrinking rapidly, though. I can see the finish line! I really just want to get these completed so I can relax and focus on my family during those early days with baby girl. It won't be the end of the world if I don't get it all done, but I sure would be a lot more stress-free going into labor if I could get them done.

So I workworkwork. Went to San Antonio twice this m month, and the last time, even with compression socks, I was really happy when I got home because I started swelling. No more long trips for me for a little while! I feel really heavy and bulky and it's hard to move quickly anywhere. I'm still trying to stay active--stretching and yoga, walking, some squats, but it's difficult. My calves have been hurting--the chiro says that's because pregnancy causes the muscles in your back and backs of your legs to contract as your body is pulled forward. Makes sense! My feet are starting to swell... yay. :-) Loving warm epsom baths. I'm still able to sleep well, but I'm not resting enough. I'm trying! :-) I still feel good most of the time, but I can definitely tell I'm carrying a big ol' baby, and my body is getting ready for labor.

Felicity's room is almost finished. We got her dresser, nightstand and chest of drawers yesterday. I'm waiting for some curtain tiebacks in the mail, and I'll be finishing her room next week with decor. I organized her closet on Monday. It's looking great! We have a few more items we need before she comes, but it's nice to already have some things from the first time around! Once it's done I'll take some photos and share them!

I'm packing our hospital bags today, just to have it done. :-) Probably she'll come late, but I'll feel better if I'm prepared!

We met our doula today and I think she'll be great to work with!

Yesterday I had my 36 week appointment with the midwife. All is well. Her head is down but she's moving around still. We scheduled the rest of our WEEKLY appointments till my due date! Getting close!

and... for comparison, here's a photo from the same point during my pregnancy with Wilder. I look a lot bigger and you can really see how much lower she's sitting! I weigh less than I did with Wilder at this point, but I've gained a bit more throughout pregnancy. Hoping not to gain any more, but I know she's growing at like an ounce a day? So I guess I'll be gaining a bit more. Oh well! It could be worse. :-)

I'm just really looking forward to meeting our baby girl and seeing Wilder interact with her too. It's going to be so different with two little ones, sometimes it seems overwhelming. But I'm excited for the challenge and I am excited to see how Felicity's personality shines through!

Thanks for reading!

21 Months

21 months

Little Wild Man hit the 21-month mark yesterday! Every day he's coming up with new words. Wilder is a little ball of personality. He's so sweet, loves to be on the go, lovesssss to read, and is still our little cuddle bug. Simple things like going for a walk, playing in the sprinkler or chasing balloons just make his day. Lately he's been playing on our bed like it's a bounce house, diving headfirst into pillows and giggling all the while. He has a golf set from his papa, and he gamely tries to "hit balls" all over the place, while Ellie steals them away as fast as she can. He has about 10 books on rotation that he likes to read every day, and he can even call them by name.... sort of. We've been reading through the beginner's Bible--finished the New Testament tonight--and he calls it "People... God... Moon." Not sure where all that came from. There ARE a lot of people in the Bible, and he likes to look for the illustrations with the moon in them.

Transportation is the biggest thing to Wilder these days. He loves cars, trucks, construction vehicles, planes and trains. Can't get enough of them in toys, books, tv, real life...

He's been counting more lately. Just a few weeks ago counting looked like this: "one, two, green, four, v, v" but today, he counted to 10, getting almost all the numbers himself. He knows a lot of colors: red, green, yellow, orange, purple, white, blue.

Some of the fun things Wilder says these days:
"Running!"
"Funny"
"Going"
"You do it"
"I got you"
"I found it"
"Okay" (he says this instead of "yes")
"Golf, hit balls, fast"
"Hiiii"
"Baby Ficity" (trying to say his sister's name!)

He will verbalize many things in the books we read, which makes for an entertaining experience. :-) He also is very affectionate to the books. If he sees a mama and a baby anything, he likes to say "aww" and kiss the picture. He likes to pet the cat pictures, and if there's a climactic moment (like Max the minnow almost getting eaten by a shark) he will pat his chest and say "ok? ok?"

Wilder also likes to pet the cats and pet Ellie whenever he can. He's very gentle with them.

Now that we've weaned (see post HERE) Wilder's bedtime/naptime routine is a little different. At the moment, he gets books read by both of us. When he's ready to sleep, he says "bed, kiss" and leans in for a kiss and then over to the bed. He's been taking a long time to get to sleep lately, but he is sleeping well at night and during naps.

Foods: the last week, Wilder has finally started eating some meats again. YAY! He's still not a big fan of veggies... they just sit on the plate, but he does like cucumbers, and will chow down on pasta, rice, toast and oatmeal. He eats a lot of fruit, a lot of yogurt and a lot of cheese. And millions of puree food pouches. OK not that many, but a LOT. We should buy stock in Ella's, just saying.

I stopped wearing Wilder in the Tula on my back, now that I'm really really pregnant, so the shopping cart is a new experience for him. He likes helping me, whether it's by putting things in the cart or on the conveyer belt, or holding the shopping list or receipt. It's always fun going to the grocery store with him because there's so much to talk about!

Here are some photos from today. Just a quick session--it's pretty hot outside still! Oh, and he got a haircut about 3 weeks ago--it's growing out now!

On concluding breastfeeding

Two weeks ago, right before Wilder's bedtime snack. Love this pic of him!

This week was bittersweet. Sunday night was my last time to breastfeed Wilder. With baby #2 headed our way in October, I knew weaning would happen at some point because I don't plan to tandem nurse Wilder and Felicity. Wilder will be 22.5 months when Felicity is born. After we found out we were pregnant, I told myself we'd wean by 20 months, even though I had originally hoped for 2 years. We made it to nearly 21 months, and I think this was the right time for us.

I thought we'd have to wean when we left for a trip away from Wilder for 9 days in May. We had been dropping nursing sessions here and there trying to prepare, and were down to three times a day. He was nearly 18 months, but the week before our trip he got hand foot and mouth disease and nursed CONSTANTLY. I didn't feel either of us were ready, so I pumped on our trip religiously, even on the plane, just in case he wanted to nurse when we got back. I haven't pumped since he was a year old because he stopped taking the bottle, so it was unfamiliar, uncomfortable and time consuming. And I got barely anything out, so I didn't know if it was doing any good. Wilder didn't drink any of the milk I had pumped and frozen, so I didn't know if he'd still want to nurse when I got back.

But he did want to nurse, very much, and so did I. We dropped the nap time session and kept going for a few months. At first, someone else had to put him down for his nap because he would ask to nurse--he would just pat my chest and point at the rocking chair. But eventually I could put him down too. At 19 months we dropped his morning session. That was harder than I expected. I learned to have breakfast all ready before I got him out of bed, because he was STARVING the second he got downstairs, missing his milk. I also learned that I needed to change into regular clothes vs. pajamas, or he'd figure I was open for business. Once we learned how to work with that, it was mostly ok, but there were some fussy breakfasts there.

The last two months, we've just nursed before he went to bed. He started to nurse and would finish without falling asleep, then he'd sit up in my lap, point to the bed and say "bed? night night." and be completely happy going to sleep on his own.

A few weeks ago, Zach started putting Wilder down after he nursed instead of me. Soon after that, I started shortening the amount of time Wilder was nursing, a minute at a time. We talked about how he's getting to be a big boy, how milk is for when he was a baby, and for Baby Felicity, and how it will go bye bye soon.

So by the time we got to this past weekend, I felt like we were both OK with saying goodbye to breastfeeding. Sunday night we nursed for just a minute each side and I told him it was our last time. Monday night, we did our bedtime routine (we started adding reading books at bedtime again these last few weeks) and I rocked him for a few minutes. He asked to nurse while I was waiting for Zach to come in, but he didn't fuss about it when I said it was just time for rocking. Zach had to read some books too... but eventually Wilder went to sleep. :-) It was strange to not nurse him at all, and I felt like my snuggle time with him has become so abbreviated. It makes me sad!

We followed that routine for a few days. Yesterday Sharon, Wilder and I drove to San Antonio and Zach stayed home for a meeting. So last night I put Wilder down myself for the first time since weaning. We read our books and he asked for more books. He also said "call dad" but we had already talked to Zach on FaceTime a few minutes earlier. We rocked for about 10 minutes and he went down to sleep!

Tonight he also went down without a fuss. He's starting to invent ways to stay up though. :-) I'm pretty sure he would read every book in his library twice if he could.

Overall, the transition went really smoothly. I got emotional about it, because it was SO hard to breastfeed at first (read my recap of those excruciating early months HERE). I almost gave up on it at that point, but things did get better and better. I treasure that bond Wilder and I shared for nearly 21 months. I will always remember those hours spent holding him close, just time with the two of us. I'll never get that much snuggle time with him again, and that is what makes me the saddest, but I know those days were only temporary. I'm thankful God designed my body to provide nourishment and comfort to my baby and grateful I was able to do that for him. We have a really great relationship and I know part of that is thanks to breastfeeding. I'm very sad this time is over for us, but know it was the right time to end that season.

Looking forward to Felicity's arrival and getting to nurse her! I know I won't get all those uninterrupted hours of nursing, but it'll be worth it to have both my babies with me.

32 weeks!

32 weeks along!

Just a quick post--I'm 32 weeks pregnant today! Well, yesterday, since it's after midnight. oops. 8 months along... only 8 weeks to go. It's crazy how fast this pregnancy has flown by. I'm definitely feeling pregnant all of the time these days. The usual back pain sets in at times. I get tired easily and can't move around as much. I still feel like I'm more mobile than I was with Wilder though. It's not a struggle to get out of bed yet, though getting up from the floor is a lot harder. Heaven forbid if I'm holding Wilder and I have to pick up something from the ground!

Cravings... Chinese food this time around! But not the house favorite, stir fry. My own recipe that the whole family loves... yeah it's one of my pregnancy aversions. BOOO. But lucky for us, a Chinese restaurant called Asian Gourmet opened a mile away with takeaway. It's good, cheap and has big portions for leftovers. Best of all, Wilder will eat their steamed veggies and shrimp and clean up on rice. It's a good option here and there for us!

Definitely popped out sooner with Felicity!

I feel like Felicity is riding lower than Wilder was. She's head down at this point (yay) and sometimes I can feel her testing out her space. You can see her movement, which is one of the cool things about being pregnant! I can't wait to hold a newborn again!

We've hired a doula. I feel good checking that off the list, and I think she'll be a great help. Talking to her just reminded me of my hopes for this delivery. I just hope for a shorter one. 76 hours is a really long time to be in labor. If I could even labor for half that long I would be good with it. So my prayer has been to be strong, open to pain and ready to get my baby girl out. I pray she has a smooth, uncomplicated delivery and that we both stay healthy and safe throughout. And I pray our breastfeeding journey is less painful at first than Wilder's was. But I know more this time around, there's less fear and I have resources I can lean on! I'm looking forward to meeting Felicity and seeing her develop a personality!

The nursery is coming along, and Zach has been working hard on his nesting projects. Zach took down the workout room mirrors, painted her closet and walls, we had the indoor/outdoor carpet replaced and Zach just redid the closet with shelves and hanging rods. It's a lot smaller of a room than Wilder's so we have to maximize the closet! The crib, bedding and glider are in the room. We have curtains and a rod ready to put up. I'm in search of the perfect used French Provincial style dresser to be a changing station, but I was waiting for the glider to arrive(earlier this week) to make sure everything will fit. That'll be a task for the next few weeks. I have an eiffel tower lamp that I got when I first moved to DFW, that was in Wilder's room for a while when his lamp broke, and now it gets to be in Felicity's room! Still working on decor, but that's the fun part. :-)

Bumping it along with Wilder (and Felicity). We walk around 3 miles at least 5 times a week.

Wilder and I still go for long walks, though I'm not the power walker I was earlier on, and I don't have the energy for lots of squats and pushups at the playground anymore. The heat is so so hard right now (over 100 too many times the last few weeks) and I'm longing for fall. I'm still getting chiro adjustments (apparently my SI joints alternate on locking up, which is why my low back hurts when it does) and I'm really excited about starting prenatal yoga with my favorite instructor again next week. It's been more than a month since the last class ended and I have really missed it!

The rest of this countdown to delivery is devoted to working my fanny off at my freelance work. I have a substantial master list of assignments due by/during/immediately after my maternity leave. I keep chipping away at it, turning stuff in early as I can and trying not to get overwhelmed. I've got three photo shoots next week, which could possibly be all the shoots I'll need to do before Felicity arrives... maybe have one more. The shoots are the big thing I want to get completed! I know I'll get everything done, but this is really what I've been up to lately. Workworkwork. Thankful I work from home and can also spend good time with Wilder, but the clock is ticking!

Wilder is officially weaned, as of Monday. It was a pretty smooth transition for him, but it was emotionally hard on me! I'll write about it in another post when I get a second, because I'd like to document the end of that journey. It was so rough at first, but so rewarding in the long run. I'm missing the snuggles already!! Looking forward to breastfeeding our newest addition!