I'm
four days past baby boy's due date! Yesterday, my doctor scheduled an induction for Wednesday, April 4th but I'm really hoping he decides to come before then on his own. He's doing well and they estimate he's around 8 pounds. It was fun to get a final ultrasound.
I am very ready for him and
getting impatient, but it also feels like I'm getting little gifts
of schedule-free days with Allie and Harper and unexpected nights
of sleep. Here is his nursery. It was already painted baby blue and the only new piece of furniture is the rug, which was a shower gift from my mom and sister. The dresser was alternately mine, Tyler's and Bobby's growing up. It's a tiny room but the space is used well since the crib fit perfectly in the odd window box.
I'm also taking advantage of the extra time to write an
update on Allie and Harper at two and a half (almost). I stopped doing
the regular updates because instead of doing a few new things each week
to report, they are constantly changing and surprising us, so it's hard
to sum them up in a few paragraphs, but here we go...
Harper
This
lady thinks she's the boss. She understands how things work and likes to
instruct on how they should be done. Michael says, "I'm going to work."
and she says some version of, "Go put on your work shoes, and then the
door is right there. Your car is outside, you need your keys, and be
careful on the stairs." You can imagine that she also likes to tell you
exactly what she does and doesn't want to do, wear, or eat.
Sometimes, when mom does not follow her instruction of the moment, tantrum
ensues.
A
happy Harper though is a total joy. She loves to read,
especially Bible stories (wish I could take more credit for this, but
really she is just drawn to all her bible books without much
encouragement from me). She flips through a book on her own quite
often and does a pretty good job of "reading" out loud. She also loves
to color, and I have to give Michael credit for persisting in teaching
her how to hold her crayons properly -- she has a great pencil
grip despite me being skeptical that was worth teaching to a two year
old.
Her blue bunny and blanket are long-time treasures, and she goes through
stretches with addictions to other baby dolls or animals. She's finally
beginning to admit that the $5 sparkly shoes that my mom got her at
Walmart don't really fit anymore, so I can sometimes get her into other footwear.
Her obsession with shoes continues and she is very helpful at fetching
the shoes that Michael and I want to wear from our closets. Finally, my dad put
an awesome swing in our front yard, and I'm very impressed at how she
runs, catches the swing on her belly, and makes herself fly on her own.
Allie
From
how she was as a baby -- aggressive, fearless, constantly on the go -- I
never thought that Allie would be girlier
than Harper. She is still the little energizer bunny, but will now have
nothing to do with clothes that aren't
dresses without lots of convincing. She talks about marriage a good
bit: who is married to who, wearing her blanket as a veil, and that she
is married to our neighbor Rob. Cinderella is an obsession (despite our
best efforts to avoid the Disney-princess craze). She takes
interest in painted nails (not her own, of course!) and is very
maternal. She makes sure that her
baby and pink bunny get adequate food and sleep. They get rocked and
sung to sleep and usually need a sound machine as well.
At this moment, I hear her on the monitor during rest time belting out "So Long, Farewell" from the Sound of Music.
She sings continuously and it's pretty amazing some of the notes she
can hit. She is also a potty pro. Her smile is contagious and her hops
and running make me light-hearted. Her favorite book is probably
Madeline, and she is great at filling in
the lines. She also likes bible stories, particularly about Goliath,
Daniel, and Noah. Allie is very tender-hearted and made my week when
she hugged me recently and said, "You are a good mama." That loving
encouragement really helped me quell my anger for at least a couple
daily power struggles I deal with from both ladies.
 |
| Michael was able to convince her to wear hiking clothes. |
I
can officially call my ladies potty trained, though Harper still has a
fear of going more than pee on the potty. She holds it in for a day or
two and then desperately asks for a diaper, disappears for 10-15
minutes and then comes waddling back asking for clean undies. On the other hand, I would
put money on Allie being the most regular 2 year old in town. Two
very different people! I'm
prepared for some regression after baby boy comes since I imagine I
won't be able to assist them with each potty trip all day.
Both
these ladies love Peter Pan, Cinderella, the Jungle Book, Dumbo and
Pocahontas (basically the Disney movies that they have watched so far).
I made a CD with music from these movies plus Sound of Music, Chitty
Chitty Bang Bang, Annie, the Lion King, and Mary Poppins, and they cannot
get enough of it both at home and in the car (let me know if you want
a copy!). I field requests for the Elephant Marching song, the Bear
Necessities, and So Long, Farewell all day long.
If baby boy had decided to come on time, I would have missed out on this neighborhood Easter Egg hunt:
 |
| Easter Egg hunt! |
 |
| A rare family photo |
Happy Easter everyone!
We are thrilled to introduce blueberry #3. He arrived on March 30th and was 9 lbs. and 21 1/4 inches long. Fletcher is Michael's great grandfather's middle name and Jackson is Michael's dad's middle name and his grandmother's maiden name. The first two weeks of his life were actually a breeze starting with an easy delivery and what felt to me a resort vacation in the hospital. He was incredibly sleepy the first two weeks and hardly made a peep except to remind me every three hours that he was hungry. I had a few days of help from my mom and then my San-San swept to pamper us with her cooking, house-keeping, and baby whispering. The last three weeks he has still been very good for a newborn, but thinks he is the hungriest man alive and lets us know he has a voice too. He has become very alert lately and graces us with a few half smiles every now and then. It is so funny to me that he is all boy already- lots of grunts, very strong, and even his cry sounds like a boy cry. 
