36 weeks and a skinned knee

Here's my 36 week belly shot:
I had my 36 week OB visit yesterday and my Dr. said that everything is perfect and right on target! I'm thankful to have had such a healthy pregnancy and that I've made it to this point! Only a few more days until I'm considered full term. :) I'm definitely ready to have this baby - physically and emotionally anyway. We still haven't gotten our baby stuff out of storage, but it's on the to do list for this week. There's really not that much to get ready, so I'm not too worried about it. We bought our double stroller this past weekend, a second changing pad, and a diaper pail (both for our room, where Baby will be sleeping/nursing). I'll be glad when everything is set up, the newborn clothes are washed, and all the little details are in place. I suppose I should pack my hospital bag soon too!

I've noticed that I'm becoming more easily irritated lately, and I'm SO ready to have the baby and get rid of that. My patience is wearing thin, especially with Micah, and I'll be glad to be done with that too. It's strange to recognize issues like that during pregnancy, when I'm not usually that impatient or irritable otherwise. I know Steve will be glad to get his "normal" wife back too. :) My body is holding up pretty well, but I'm just really tired overall. Getting up 4 times a night to go to the bathroom doesn't help with that either. :) All this to say, I'm ready! Let's get this show on the road! I can't wait to meet this little guy!!

One note on Micah - he got his first skinned knee yesterday. I keep meaning to take a picture of it since his little knees will never be the same again. :) It's not a bad one at all, though. We were outside since the weather was really nice, and he was walking around our front walkway. He tripped and fell, scraping his knee a little bit (he had shorts on). He cried for a minute or so, but then went right on walking. He loves being outside! Here's a cute picture of him from last weekend (we were at Steve's parents') in one of his new summer outfits.

Micah's 18 month checkup

Micah went to the pediatrician yesterday for his 18 month well visit. His Dr. said it's always one of the hardest visits because the kids realize where they are and don't want any part of being examined. That was definitely the case with Micah! :) He did pretty well in spite of it all, but his favorite part was when she wanted to see him walk, so she let him take off down the hallway. Of course after that taste of freedom, he had a complete meltdown the rest of the appointment! Oh well. :)

He's up to 32 in tall (50%), 29 lbs 4 oz (75-90%), and his head circumference is 19.5 in (90%). She was very pleased with his growth and said it's great that he's been on the same growth curves in all three areas since he was 9 months old. I was curious to see what types of questions she would ask about behavioral accomplishments, etc. He seems to be right on track with all the things he's doing. She asked if he had any words yet, and I said, "He says a bunch of words!" She asked if I had a rough number for how many, and since I've been writing them all down, I said, "40 to 50." She said that was exceptional for his age! I didn't know how many words an average 18 month old could say, so I had assumed that he was just doing what they all did at this age. But wow! He was behind the norm by a couple months in almost every physical milestone along the way, so it's kind of fun to be ahead with the words. :) The Dr. said we should get him some books with big letters of the alphabet, since she thinks he will learn the alphabet quickly.

It's been such a privilege to watch Micah grow and accomplish new things over the last year and a half. It makes me really look forward to watching his brother do the same! I'm amazed at how the Lord created children to enter the world as tiny, helpless babies and that within the first couple of years they grow, learn, and develop quickly into amazing little people!

34 week belly pic

As promised, here's my 34 week belly shot:
I also wanted to make note of my newest pregnancy necessity: Breathe Right Strips! I use them for sleeping every night since my nose gets congested every time I lie down for bed. It was driving me crazy to wake up every morning with a dried out mouth since I couldn't breathe through my nose during the night. These things have saved the day! I don't remember having this issue while prego with Micah. Maybe it's because it's winter this time around and the house is extra dry??

The last couple days I've had a new issue - nasty upper rib pain. I definitely didn't have this with Micah! I did a little looking online and found that it's pretty common at this point in pregnancy, and that unfortunately, there's not much you can do about it. It feels like my rib muscles are bruised, and there's really no comfortable position that helps. Last night even sleeping was painful! I read that some people found some relief with treatment from a chiropractor, so I'm thinking about looking into that.

Six weeks and counting... :)

Oh, and here's a picture of Micah and me on Easter to leave you with. I love my little boy!!

Today's appointment

I'll be 34 weeks tomorrow and had my OB visit today. Everything is right on track. I was glad to find out that Baby is already head down! I asked my Dr. if he was likely to stay that way, and he said they usually will at this point, but that they can still flip. But he said it's definitely a good sign to have this little guy head down already. My next appointment is in two weeks, then after that it will be every week until he is here!!

On my way out of the office I saw my favorite doctor across the room (she wasn't the one who did my visit today). She saw me (holding Micah) and said hi. She said, "How many weeks are you now?" and I said, "34." She said, "Wow, you look big! How much did he [Micah] weigh at birth?" I told her 8 lbs, 3 oz. She says, "Oh, I bet this one's going to be 9 lbs!" Wow, do I really look THAT big?! (Check back this weekend for my 34 week belly shot.) I guess I'd rather have a baby on the bigger side since they usually sleep and eat a bit better, but it still scares me about the delivery a bit. :) And I guess I do feel bigger than I did with Micah. I'll have to ask the Dr. at my next visit to see if they'll give me a guess at the baby's size.

We're getting excited to meet our little guy soon! :)

Micah is 18 months old!

Today Micah turned 18 months old - I can hardly believe it! We've been working with him off and on for a little while to try to get him to use a fork at meals. Well, today he decided to do it! He ate some french toast for breakfast using his fork, then some pasta at dinner. I captured the pasta on video:



Yesterday I took Micah to get another haircut. I think this was #4! His hair just seems to grow so fast. :) I expected him to scream through it like he has all the other times, but this time was great! The lady who cut his hair was very patient, took her time, and did her best to distract him with interesting things. She told me from the beginning that she wanted to give him a "good" haircut experience, and that's what it was! I was shocked that we got through the whole thing without any fussing, and we'll definitely be going back to see her again.

Poor Micah has been dealing with an intestinal bug for a week now. It's been constant diarrhea and a nasty diaper rash, but thankfully he hasn't been throwing up. He's doing well overall, still playing and acting normal most of the time, which I'm thankful for! The nurse I talked to about it said that this bug is going around, and that it's usually done in 5-7 days, but could stick around for up to 2 weeks. Yuck! I'm praying that it will be over soon so I can stop doing so much laundry, spraying the house with Lysol to help with the smell, changing nasty diapers, and feeding Micah the same bland foods at every meal. He seems to be just slightly better today, but we're not getting too excited yet...

The pregnancy is still progressing fine! I'm 33.5 weeks, and my next appointment is on Friday. I've been really exhausted the last two days. I think taking care of Micah and the messes the last week has finally caught up with me. I'm so thankful for Steve who has been great and is trying to help me out as much as he can! What a wonderful Hubby!