ally-cat

1/14 i think it’s cool that Lucas has a pretty good grasp of verb tenses. we were doing laundry, and he was carrying some clothes to the hamper. he said, “Lucas getting it.” then after he dumped them in he said, “Lucas got it.”

1/16 Lucas got his big boy bed today! paul converted Lucas’s old crib into a full-sized bed, and the mattress and box springs got delivered. so now his crib mattress gets moved to Arianna’s crib, and he gets the big bed!

a few days ago when it was storming a bunch at night, Lucas developed a fear of thunder and lightning. one night the thunder was really close and kept vibrating the house. at 6am Lucas comes to our bedroom door, duckies in tow, and when i asked him why he was out of bed he said, “Lucas scared.” so i tried to let him cuddle in my bed, but he would not stop squirming and would not stop talking. since then, he has started waking up during the night (for no reason that i can tell) and comes to the door wanting to cuddle mommy. hopefully with his new big bed he might break the trend.

the other night i was trying to get him to climb up on the potty, and he kept being all distracted. so i was going “get on the potty, get on the potty,” over and over. finally he says, “okay, Momma, quit. mommy so annoying.”

How your baby’s growing:
Your baby now weighs about 4 3/4 pounds and is almost 18 inches long. Her fat layers — which will help regulate her body temperature once she’s born — are filling her out, making her rounder. Her skin is also smoother than ever. Her central nervous system is maturing and her lungs are continuing to mature as well. If you’ve been nervous about preterm labor, you’ll be happy to know that babies born between 34 and 37 weeks who have no other health problems generally do fine.

How your life’s changing:
By this week, fatigue has probably set in again, though maybe not with the same coma-like intensity of your first trimester. Your tiredness is perfectly understandable, given the physical strain you’re under and the restless nights of frequent pee breaks and tossing and turning, while trying to get comfortable. Now’s the time to slow down and save up your energy for labor day (and beyond).

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“ Her fat layers — which will help regulate her body temperature once she’s born — are filling her out”…really? b/c i have tons of fat layers and none of them are helping with my fun new (as in the last couple of weeks) symptom of nocturnal hyperhidrosis, which is fancy medical jargon for waking up in the middle of the night having completely, literally soaked all the bedding in sweat. yuck.

“ By this week, fatigue has probably set in again, though maybe not with the same coma-like intensity of your first trimester.” nope — definitely coma-like. it takes forever to go to sleep at night, usually from major muscle/joint achiness in my lower back and hips and legs, the i wake up pretty much hourly to pee, so i’m tired like allll the time. i nap so much that every time i sigh lucas says, “mommy tired” and every time i leave the room lucas says, “mommy go night-night.” paul has him seriously trained now to never ever ever wake mommy up and he is sooo 100% good about following that rule.

the 2011 baby name list is out now. Arianna landed #22 on babynames.com and #32 on babycenter.com

we finally have our paint colors picked out and paul is going to start taping off the nursery tomorrow and mom is hopefully going to be able to start sewing. now that January has hit, i’m suddenly anxious to get the nursery ready. i also might be nesting, because i suddenly got the urge to organize the master closet and bath – the only two rooms left of the house that weren’t unpacked and settled.

How your baby’s growing:

By now, your baby weighs 3.75 pounds (per an ultrasound she is actually 3 lbs, 9oz) and is about 16.7 inches long, taking up a lot of space in your uterus. You’re gaining about a pound a week (yup, gained two pounds since my last doc visit two weeks ago. was kinda bummed about that until i read this) and roughly half of that goes right to your baby. In fact, she’ll gain a third to half of her birth weight during the next 7 weeks as she fattens up for survival outside the womb. She now has toenails, fingernails, and real hair (or at least respectable peach fuzz). Her skin is becoming soft and smooth as she plumps up in preparation for birth.

To accommodate you and your baby’s growing needs, your blood volume has increased 40 to 50 percent since you got pregnant. With your uterus pushing up near your diaphragm and crowding your stomach, the consequences may be shortness of breath (yup) and heartburn (and yup). To help relieve your discomfort, try sleeping propped up with pillows and eating smaller meals more often. You may have lower-back pain (and yup again) as your pregnancy advances.

So I had an awesome day yesterday. First I went to the doc in the morning for my 32wk check-up. Just the usual, but as he was walking me out and talking about scheduling an ultrasound to figure out when we would need to do the c-section, the tech was hanging out there and said she could see me right then. so i got to go ahead and get the sonogram right then, and SURPRISE! my placenta has *completely* moved out of the way of my cervix and i have gone from a high-risk pregnancy requiring an early c-section to a completely normal pregnancy with no restrictions.

After the doc, I picked up Lucas and we had a dentist appt. It was his first teeth cleaning and he was a perfect little angel as usual (when he is at a doc office) and lay on the chair and held still for the whole thing.

After the dentist I had time for a nap before my plans to meet Lauren and Jana at Melting Pot for dinner. When I went inside, they weren’t in the waiting area. I told the hostess I was meeting people and she asked if it was for the shower and I told her no, just a couple of people. I called Lauren and she said they were seated at the back and came to find me to direct me to the booth. For some reason we went to the party room, and when we walked in, my eyes first saw Raechel Bowman. I was excited she was there b/c she hadn’t been able to make it to the Christmas party. There were a bunch of people there and I was surprised so many people had come to dinner – I thought it was just going to be the three of us. Then I looked more to the left and saw my mom and Sarah…and wait…pink balloons…and wait this isn’t just a bunch of people were able to make it to the dinner with us…this is a party for ME!! i was so surprised, shocked, and thrilled. it was so so cool. I’ve never had a surprise party before and this one was perfect. Sarah and Shelly, Amanda and Macy, Mom, Jana, Raechel, Kristie and Ashley Ford, Lauren, Jenn and her sister Amy and her mom Judy. 

Lauren had spread rose petals all over the table and Amanda had baked an awesome three-tiered cake of yumminess and everyone got Arianna presents! It was all so perfect and amazing and awesome. My friends are so amazing. 

tonight i stepped out of the bathroom, and lucas shouts, “Good job, Momma, pee-pee on the potty!!!”

i’m so proud of myself.