A little dye and a new carseat

 

So, I felt kind of bad about Elly having a blue carseat. We didn't want to buy a new one when we had a perfectly good one still, so I thought I'd wander over to Michael's and bye some pink dye. So the result is a brown, pink, and purple carseat. It turned out better than I thought it would. So, it's like we got a new carseat for $3.99! Wahoo!  See this post for what the carseat used to look like: http://www.laytonfamiglia.blogspot.com/2010/10/two-months.html
 

Peter

Poor Peter hasn't had many pictures taken of him.  Such a shame, as he is a little cutie!  He is growing so fast and continuing to be sweet, smart, and active.  Although I haven't gotten pictures of any of our outings, we do try to go on a walk or go to a park every day.  He really needs this time, as he is so active.  He LOVES being outside.  He also continues to love reading, and we spend a lot of time reading every day as well. 

 Here is an eighteen month picture.  He always tries to get ahold of the camera lately, so all the pictures are fairly close up.  He had a good checkup at the doctor for eighteen months.  The doctor said he is pretty advanced with speaking still.  His weight is in the 69%, height in the 90%, and head circumference in the 79%.  So, he's a big kid still too. 

 I think these are 19 month pictures, but not positive.  One of my favorite things he said during this month was when we were having dinner.  Peter and I started eating early, as Chris came home a little late from work.  As Chris sat down with us at the table with his plate of food, he quietly said a prayer on his food.  Peter announced while Chris was praying, "Momma forgot to say the prayer."  Which was true, I am embarrassed to admit.  Peter and I had been eating food that wasn't blessed, and he picked up on it when he saw Chris praying over his food.  I was sort of hoping that I wouldn't have to admit that I forgot, but I love that my little boy keeps me honest!  And it was a little crazy that he was able to say that at 19 months too...Chris and I were both a little shocked.  Since then, he has been saying a few sentences here and there.  But a lot of the time he speaks in fragmented speech. 

 Peter loves time with his daddy.  We are teaching him primary songs, and one of his very favorites is Daddy's Homecoming, of course.  They are two peas in a pod. 

 Peter is also working on counting.  He enjoys counting the stairs.  I have heard him count from 6 to 13, but never starting at 1.  Although he knows what comes after each number because Chris and I will count and ask what number comes next.  But he doesn't seem to like to do it on his own yet. 

Peter with his new haircut.  I miss his other hair, but it was getting out of control.  Peter wasn't being patient for the scissors this time around (but at least no tears!), so a buzz cut it was!

Lately, Peter is also working on learning colors.  He is funny.  Sometimes he will get them, and sometimes not.  He is most accurate with colors of his mega blocks and cars.  But then other things, he doesn't seem to care or try.  His go-to colors are usually red, then blue, then orange.  If it's not one of those, he usually stops trying.  I'm not sure if he's trying to be funny or if he just doesn't care to be accurate right now.  But at least he's getting it some of the time. 

Another thing that Peter does often is to ask us to repeat things.  This is happening incessantly lately.  It seems that everything we say, he thinks is hilarious and wants us to repeat it.  So he'll say, "Again!"  And then he'll go on chanting whatever it was we were saying that amused him.  Today, for example, he has been running around chanting, "Indeed," and "I concur!"  Oh, what a little silly!!  I think the above photo showcases his sometimes goofy personality.  We love our little boy!!

Another of our favorite things of his is that he will say, "You know what?"  And then when we respond, "What?" he says, "I love you."  He is good at melting his momma's heart.  Such a sweetie! 

As for behavior, he is testing his limits right now quite a bit.  We have started giving him time-outs, to which he has responded pretty well.  Although sometimes it seems like he doesn't dislike the timeouts enough...  But usually they are an effective deterrent.  His "naughty" behaviors lately are screaming and general disobedience when I tell him he needs to stop doing something (like stomping on the floor).  I'm not sure what to do with the screaming sometimes, because when he hurts himself, he responds by screaming (anger seems to be his first reaction upon wounding himself, followed by tears).  I don't really feel right putting him in time-out when he hurts himself, but I do want him to understand that screaming is not an appropriate response for stubbing a toe.  We'll work on that. 

36 weeks

Well, it has been a LONG time since I last blogged.  So, I will probably end up doing several posts in a row to make up for lost time.  It turns out it's a lot of work being a pregnant mom to an active toddler who happens to also direct the ward choir (for me, this is more work than the average, I suspect).

My morning sickness has not abated at all during this pregnancy, so I continue to medicate.  Thank you, Vitamin B6 and doxylamine: I would not be the same without you.  I look forward to having a normal appetite and no more queasiness.

This pregnancy has been gloriously complication free, other than the nine months of morning sickness.  We did decide to change providers and go back to the midwives at Shady Grove Hospital where Peter was born.  This was a hard decision to make, as I have always dreamed of having a home birth.  But it just seemed like $1000 was too much to pay out of pocket when we could have a free birth at the hospital.  Yes, I know there are risks of intervention at the hospital.  However, if something should go wrong with the labor, I won't have to transfer, so that is one good thing about the whole switch.  And I do very much love the midwives at Shady Grove.  I just don't so much love that they have to answer to the OB practice with whom they share business.  But I am hopeful for another unmedicated, uncomplicated birth for little Eleanor.

We have decided to name her Eleanor Marilyn.  For some reason I had a difficult time deciding on a middle name, but Chris was insistent it be a family name.  But in the last month or so, I just felt that Eleanor Marilyn would be perfect for our little girl.  We will probably call her Elly (not Ellie, as Chris informs me that he had a family dog with this name and spelling.  This is not the first family dog to spoil a favorite name of ours...ahem...Doug and Melanie...;)   ).

Peter has been so sweet with this pregnancy.  He has been quite the patient little boy, especially early on when his mother was a zombie who had no energy and couldn't be very active in an effort to keep food down.  I'm not sure if he really understands what is growing inside my belly, but we have talked to him at length about the situation.  He affectionately refers to my belly as, "Elly belly," per a fleeting suggestion from Chris at one point.  He constantly wants me to lift up my shirt and touch my belly and asks, "Elly moving?"  He has tried to lift up my shirt in public places, but luckily I have been able to keep covered up.  But he is already quite affectionate with her and snuggles my belly on occasion.  Hopefully he feels the same fondness for her when she actually arrives.

The ladies in the ward threw me a baby shower.  Apparently you are entitled to a baby shower if you are having a baby of a different gender.  We now have a lots of cute little girly things, so I hope that ultrasound tech was right!!  Anyway, there are so many lovely people in this ward and it was a very fun shower.  It makes me sad that we might have to move out of the ward.

Yes, the cigarette smoke and marijuana smoke has proven too much to bear for us.  But more than that, we just feel like it's the right decision to get out of this apartment.  We would like to move closer in so that Chris's commute is shorter, but we also would love to stay in our ward.  Our lease is up at the end of June, so we will know sooner or later where we will be going.  It's not going to be fun at all to move with a newborn.  I'm not sure how I'm going to care for a toddler, a newborn, and pack and clean everything.  It should be interesting, to say the least.

In the meantime, I have approximately four weeks to go (although if we're on Peter's schedule, 2 weeks, yikes!).  I am feeling so much more at peace about this time around.  I know a lot of this has to do with my going through the experience of natural childbirth already.  I know what's coming, and I know how I'm likely going to deal with it, so this makes me feel a lot better.  Of course, there are always the unknowns that are a little scary.  But since those are out of my control, I might as well not worry about them until I have to meet them.  So, I'm just really looking forward to meeting this little girl of ours!

The scary part for me is what happens after she's born.  Right now, Peter gets so much attention from Chris and me.  And he is such a tender-hearted little guy, that I hope his feelings aren't hurt by my divided attention.  So, I am anxious about Peter's transition and my ability to deal with it and help him feel loved.  I imagine it will be somewhat of an adjustment period for us, but I'm hoping it won't be too difficult.  Luckily, I get to have my dad come and visit, so I think this will help Peter for the first week or two.  

Ultrasound pics

So I got these ultrasound pictures ages ago, but I just have neglected to actually post them.  So here they are--the first introduction to little Eleanor. 

 Her little face.  This looks a lot like Peter's ultrasound pic to me.  But perhaps they all look this way.  I haven't studied a lot of ultrasound pics. 

 Her profile.  She looks a little funny in this one, if I'm being honest.  Not quite human.  Does that make me a bad mother for saying so? 

 Her head and body with knees tucked in. 

And her little wave.  So cute! 

The ultrasound tech was pretty much convinced it was a girl, but she told me that they never can say they are 100% positive, even with a boy.  But she didn't seem to be in doubt, nevertheless.  So hopefully Elly's really a girl, because we have a lot of girl stuff now.  Chris was happy to have been right the whole time.  We suspected it might have been due to timing (but that's not really a proven method for gender prediction anyway), but I was mostly suspicious due to my extreme morning sickness as compared with Peter.  I was glad there seemed to be a reason for all the morning sickness, and not that I was getting progressively sicker with each pregnancy.  Although I have heard that each pregnancy is different, no matter what.  But, we are delighted to be expecting a little girl--a little nervous about the emotions and drama associated with girls--but delighted nonetheless.  We hope Peter feels the same when he meets her and gets to know her.  I hope they shall be good friends despite the gender difference.