the weather isn't hot, but the coffee is...

yesterday's misery with mid 90's heat is over (it was still 87 degrees in our living room at 7pm last night), and it's back to a cool upper 50's. i was feeling super productive when i got up and took avery and i to the grocery store to pick up a few things. decided to get a coffee while we were there-a rare craving that usually ends up in the trash when i realize i don't really want much of it.

you can probably see where this is going...

as i was lifting avery out of the cart, she grabbed hold of the coffee, and when i gripped harder to pull it away from her she squeezed the cup and it went everywhere. luckily it had a shopping trips worth of time to cool down and wasn't scalding, but it was hot enough to make her cry. there were some workers outside taking a break and one of them offered to run in and get me some ice for avery's hand (yay for cool weather-she had a long sleeved shirt on!) and we spent a good 20 minutes tending to the poor baby :( her wrist looked a little red, but i think most of the crying was from 4 women she didn't know surrounding her and trying to make it better. she was a trooper though and let one of the girls put a bandage around her arm :) and she was grateful for the push lollipop that one of them gave her (she hated me when i took it away in the car...)

i felt like a loser of a mom....especially as i'm standing there trying to console avery and one of the women exclaims "oh! and you're expecting another!" yes. all i could think about was that i took my wedding rings off weeks ago and here i am, the unwed, pregnant mother of a 17 month old that burns her child with coffee. which i didn't even want (or should be having) in the first place!

that was our morning. the car ride home was uneventful, avery was smiling and saying "mama!" so i felt forgiven a bit. then we snuggled on our bed with some cheezits and baby tv. i took the bandage off and there's no hint of redness or blistering, so i think we're in the clear. phew.

in other news. she's 17 months old today! the strange thing is when i think of a month from now. she'll be a year and a half. i feel like that's such a big turning point/milestone in a toddlers world. it's also marking the end of this pregnancy-at the beginning i'd always think "oh, pickles will be here when avery is about a year and a half." and now she just about is. gah! as zane was getting ready for work on monday morning and lamenting that he had to go back after getting to be home with us for a week, i told him he only had about 6 or 7 mondays of work left before summer vacation. that really hit home!

expected high: 94

someone's excited!

feeling hot hot hot.

we skipped spring for the time being. and that's okay by us :) it's only a matter of time before it drops back to spring like (or colder) weather, so we'll gladly sweat through a couple days of heat. (though my feet and ankles are not as thrilled with the warmth). since friday we've been out and about a ton and having a blast. some highlights:

-carnival with g-ma kathy! we took avery to her first carnival. she won a rubber ducky, got scared by the bells and whistles from the games, loved some cotton candy and made us proud with her willingness to hold someone's hand while she was walking around.

-picking up an old, free fridge we found on craigslist. it's now in our basement, ready to store all our frozen goods and home made beer once we figure out how to get an outlet there that will power the large thing.

-cookout with phil and jill :) our first "official" grill-out, complete with eating on the deck and watching 4 dogs play in the backyard. we can't wait to do this throughout the summer!

-a second cookout with our neighbors next door and their 2 little girls. avery had so much fun playing with them in their yard, on their grass (we have next to none in the back thanks to the dogs) and eating some good food.

-playing on the back deck in the sandbox. avery stands at the back door saying "play? play!" over and over until someone is ready to take her out back and play. this morning (a bit before 9am, it hadn't even gotten close to being hot yet) we put a little water in the pool side of her sandbox, expecting her to splash a little with some toys. instead, she climbed in and sat herself in the freezing cold water fully clothed and was happy as a clam!

-riding to pickup some bagels this morning in the jeep with the top down! avery was holding her hair and grinning the whole time and kept signing that she liked it :)

a cute picture of avery the girl saying hi to avery, the neighbors boy cat. she couldn't figure out why he was in a box and not running free like her kitties ;) (we were kitty sitting for a 1/2 hour)

32 week appointment

had my 32 week appointment today. the next 2 visits i have are 2 weeks apart and then i have the weekly visits. YAY for really being in the home stretch now! things were looking good. heartbeat was good (didn't get the rate), blood pressure was good, still measuring ahead (getting an u/s in 2 weeks to check on the size), gained 8 lbs in a month (yikes! my dr. reassured me though that i shouldn't reach my 50 lb weight gain like i did with avery, phew ;)), and got to talk with/get info from the dr. about the staph infections that are running through the hospital where i'll be delivering. aside from the dr running late as usual (good thing zane stayed home with avery), it was a good appointment and i'm still in shock that i go back in just 2 weeks! it was also a real treat to come home and have avery climb all over me! we never get much time apart to really miss each other, but today definitely took care of that :)

the weather here is promising to be nice tomorrow and then BEAUTIFUL this weekend! amazing how we can go from a cool 55 degrees to a real warm 85 degrees in just a couple days. zane and i have been lamenting over not being in new orleans right now for the start of jazz fest, so having nice weather here is helping to cheer us up :) we've already decided to make every effort to get there next year, anyone interested in babysitting? ;)

lounging. and more lounging.

yay for zane's vacations!! :) we've had a really great week so far, getting some stuff crossed off my neurotic list, and then getting stressed out over my silly list and going about our days playing and being productive when we feel like it. we have done a few shopping trips stocking up on house/baby stuff which is helping make me feel more prepared for the summer and having 2 kids and not being able to run out of the house on a whim--or as "whim-my" as we are now with a toddler in tow. i got a pedicure (it was HEAVEN!!! thank you g-ma kathy!!!), we watched a few movies after avery's been in bed, i've gotten the chance to sit on the couch with my feet up (after they've gotten swollen) and not felt so guilty about it knowing zane is around to entertain avery, reunited with grammy and gramps after they returned from vacation--avery was thrilled to have her sesame watching buddy (gramps) back, we've gotten take out a bunch of times as a treat and just tried to enjoy avweek of "downtime".

avery still seems to be changing every day. her favorite thing after we go food shopping is to rip all the food and goodies out of the bags on the kitchen floor. on saturday she did her usual destruction routine, then settled on the floor with a bowl of blueberries and watched us work.

there have been numerous times this week where zane and i will just stop what we're doing and watch her and say "she's such a big girl!!" she's repeating just about anything we say-most of the time not really knowing what she's saying, but trying anyway, asking for different things she wants (food, toys, going outside, watching a dvd), asserting her independence (her favorite is shaking her head and saying "no no no" in a small voice or just pouting out her lip and flapping her hands), and eating things like a big girl with her 11 teeth!! she'll be 17 months next week and each day i'm even more proud of her than the last.

apologies in advance...

so. no idea how long this insanity is going to last, but hopefully not long. for zane and avery's sake, for our dogs sake, for my sake. and for anyone's sake that comes in contact with me while i'm in this funk.
i dont know what happened. since the end of last week i was on a roll. cleaning a bunch. organizing stuff. motivated to do things. and the yesterday i hit a wall. didn't think too much about it, cause it was just one day. but it continued into today and it feels crappy. i'm really hoping i just over did it and my body is telling me to slow down. i'm really hoping that with zane's vacation just a day away i can snap out of it and we can have a nice time and get the things done i have on my ridiculous list. i'm really hoping that other people have gone through this and i'm not a complete freak? :)

comparison post. and new avery stuff.

the other night when avery was taking her bath, i was thinking back to when we first moved and she was getting used to being in the "big" tub. what a difference 9 months makes! same cheesy smile though ;)

first in her car seat when she was about 7 weeks old, second trying it out when she's almost 17 months...

i was looking back at easter pictures from last year...i can't believe how much she's grown up!! the recent picture isn't great. i'm telling you, she doesn't like bunny ears. or things on her head. or having her hair washed :) hmm...i wonder if it's a phase?

when zane was looking at the blog he made the comment that avery looked a lot like peppermint patty in the sandbox pictures :) i think he's right...there's something similar!

k, onto the new stuff...until we clean it out for pickles, the play yard upstairs has a bunch of random toys and blankets that we've tossed in it over the past months. avery LOVES going in it and will gladly play for 1/2 hour or more by herself. yesterday we came upstairs so i could clean and put things away and i kept hearing her say "eee"...she was standing in front of the play yard, begging to be "in". i put her in and she was happy as a clam! she's going to be dissapointed when there's a squirming baby in there instead of her toys!

after i finished cleaning our rooms, we headed downstairs. avery was standing in the kitchen saying something over and over and i couldn't figure out what she was talking about. finally it dawned on me...she was in front of the fridge saying "milk" (which actually sounds more like "muh"). she's never ASKED for milk before. she usually gets a cup after her nap in the afternoon, but never because she really wants it, mainly because i figure if she'll drink a little it's better than nothing. i was skeptical, but poured her a cup anyway. she said "tay-too" and walked off, happily chugging her milk. then brought it back to me around lunchtime and said she wanted "moooo" (more). YAY!!! the kid likes milk! with no forcing from us. OR any flavoring in it! it was a proud moment :)

one more thing before i forget. over the weekend, we were all downstairs playing. avery was trying to carry something over to zane (i can't remember what it was), but was having a hard time because it was big and heavy. all of a sudden, she grunts "heavy!" we've only ever told her the little piano/keyboard she has is "heavy" when she tries to pick it up, but her little mind put the concept and the new object together. now if she's trying to move something or pick something up that really is too heavy, she knows it and says so. i love her little brain!

(after writing all that i have to laugh because the simple question of "where's avery's nose?!" leaves her stumped. and she starts pointing to and naming all sorts of other body parts (knees, toes, hair, eyes, belly)...but for some reason, she can't quite get the nose. ah well.)

i hear her getting up from her nap and i'm on duty again :)

long, full weekend of good times and productivity!

...which leaves me completely exhausted and too lazy to do a little album, so there'll be tons of pictures on here (and we'll see how many words i can come up with)

friday brought perfect weather, zane had the day off, and after running errands we spent the day on the back deck, playing in the sand and reorganizing the shed. friday night, zane and i each had plans (me to a bachelorette, him a birthday party), so g-ma kathy came down and kept things in control until we both got home (it was a late night for both of us, i think we're still in a bit of a daze :))

avery shows off dance moves in the sand box

avery loves ringing the dinner bell, no matter what time of day ;)

saturday- we got 2 amazing easter baskets from g-ma kathy!! it was so unexpected and sweet and we're so appreciative! :) thank you! avery especially liked all the goodies in her basket, especially the carrot flavored cookies! g-ma had to head off to work, so we spent the rainy day upstairs moving things around. the guest room that had our futon has been declared pickles' room. in order to make that happen, we moved the futon into the computer room and rearranged the desks in there.

before...in shambles.

after, much better (the blankets, pillows and clutter on the windowsill won't always be there). the desk with the computer/etc isn't really organized/set up the way i want yet, but it's coming along. we watched a netflix instant movie last night (broken flowers---the worst movie of all time) and it was cozy and clean :) i'll post more once i get pictures of the baby's room (there's not much in it right now)

taking a break from nesting to regain some energy.

easter sunday! we had a really low key day. we played with avery, zane made a delicious ham dinner (i contributed an apple pie), and the 3 of us enjoyed the quiet. the first picture posted was the best i could do to get her in bunny ears :) (zane snuck up on her during dinner) last year was so easy! this year she barely let them touch her head before she wanted to take them off and inspect them.

this picture is called "giving the baby a kiss"...or "watch out, you're going to be smothered by mama's gigantic belly"

we took the car seat out of the house and installed it in zane's jeep. avery noticed it was gone, so zane replaced it with her infant seat. she tried it out but really wasn't impressed with it's limited space. i can't believe how small she used to be in it!

and finally...31 weeks. i'm convinced that since i have a small torso there's nowhere for my belly to go but straight out. that's why i look enormous. must be.

hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend. it's almost halfway through april!!!!

oh happy day!

avery was in such a good mood yesterday! the face she's making is one of her favorites, and she cracks up when she opens her eyes :) maybe the teeth are less painful? maybe it's a full moon? maybe she knew i needed a break? who knows...but i took a bunch of pictures. enjoy :)

avery sings her lullabye :)

*i also added videos on youtube of pickles squirming around a little...funny, when i was pregnant with avery, my mom would always tell me to stop poking my belly to make her move and i didn't realize what it looked like to other people until these. they aren't hard pokes, i swear!"

we need diapers. and rest. and daddy.

we had a pretty busy and fun weekend, ending it by playing in avery's sandbox for the first time. she was pretty unsure at first that she even wanted to put her hands down, but once she got used to it she had a blast! it was chilly while we were out on the porch, we can't wait til warmer weather comes and we can spend hours out there!

today is a gray, rainy day...aside from going to babies r us and buying a box of size 1 diapers (i learned my lesson with avery about buying the newborn size :)), we've been hanging around at home. the car seat that g-ma kathy bought last weekend has been in our living room since, and i don't know that avery is going to let us move it to zanes car anytime soon. she LOVES sitting in it to play, drink her milk or watch her farm animals dvd.

today i walked in to let her know that lunch was ready and she and the dogs were passed out on the floor. her eyes are closed, but she was awake...just resting :)

and now...catching up.

-pickles gets the hiccups between 8-10pm every night. it's pretty amusing. avery got them all the time too, but not as much "on schedule" as this little one ;)

-if dada's around, others may as well not be. this weekend especially, zane was the one and only thing avery wanted. anytime he was around, she'd be hanging on his legs saying "upee?!" and the times when he couldn't pick her up, i'd offer. at best, she'd let me pick her and then squrim to get down. at worst, she'd hit me in the face and give me her big lip before crying. i'm trying not to take it personally, but it's hard! today she's fine...i guess she knows there's no choice but mama ;)

-date night on saturday. g-ma kathy came down saturday and zane and i went to see a band give a private performance. zane got an invite from the drummer (who he works with) and we had no idea what we were going to find as far as location, atmosphere or music. it ended up being a really fun night! the "concert" was in their practice room, decorated with the drummer's artwork. there were only about 15 people there (good because it was about 85 degrees in the small room) and the music was eclectic but engaging. afterwards we grabbed some dinner at a local pub that we used to go to all the time a few years ago. it was such a treat to have time away together and know that avery was in such good hands! (wanted to add: it was the first night we left avery before dinner and bedtime completely! she ate a ton of food, asked for us a few times, then went upstairs for bed-after a little coaxing-settled down and slept through the night! so proud of her!!)

-friendly's fiasco. in addition to all the teeth that are popping up in her mouth, i don't think avery got enough sleep over the weekend...and we paid for it :) yesterday, with g-ma kathy in tow, we headed to friendly's for lunch. avery had a complete meltdown :( it was the first time ever she wasn't her happy self while we were out. she was hungry and tired, and it didn't help that we had the slowest service ever. we were there for almost an hour before we told them to pack up our food for take-out when it was ready. we ended up eating at home and then avery took a 3 1/2 hour nap...poor thing. she woke up happy as a clam and with no hard feelings towards us for taking her out under less than happy circumstances ;)

-10 weeks left! i feel like we're in the home stretch!! not only is the weather going to get nicer from here on out, but we're in the weeks starting with a 3 and with the c-section, we know we won't really be getting into the weeks starting with 4! it doesn't seem like much, but those last 2 weeks of avery's pregnancy were TOUGH.

along with the excitement of being so close came panic. not about having a baby around again-that part i can't wait for-but about not having anything ready. we have clothes and burp cloths and blankets and all the necessary "equipment/gear", but no diapers and nothing set up! it'll still be a few weeks before we get out the pack and play and bouncy seats or put the car seat in the car, but i was able to buy some diapers today and feel a bit more prepared :) we're still going to have the baby sleep in our room or sunroom for a while (either in a pack and play or in a bouncy chair), and we haven't even decided which room will eventually house pickles. i just have to keep reminding myself that there's no rush and we'll get there :)

-avery's new words: heavy (she says it over and over when she's trying to carry her keyboard), yogurt, egg, car, broccoli (she only had the one time she said broppoli, now she says "occli"), diaper, dirty, giraffe ("raff"), dvd ("ddd"), occasionally "mommy" (used for mama, bunny, yummy and melon :)) and "daddy"...it's crazy how much stuff she repeats now and how quickly she's learning things!

-i have pt again tonight and i'm really hoping i can convince him that i can do excercises at home and not come in again unless i really need to :)

a moment of cuddle.

i just remembered something else from over the weekend...on saturday, avery took a later nap than usual and i had to wake her up so she wasn't completely thrown off that night. her eyes were actually open when i went into her room, but she was pretty sleepy and out of it. i picked her up (with her blanket and pacifier) and she put her head on my shoulder. i backed up and sat in the rocker and for over 20 minutes we cuddled in silence. i'm pretty sure she must have drifted back to sleep a few times...her hand that had been playing with my wrist and rings flopped once or twice and i could hear her stop sucking on her "buppa". it was the most relaxed and peaceful i've felt in a looong time. it was such a sweet moment and one that i won't forget...ever...

holy molars!

so maybe some of the grumpiness has been explained! this morning i was loading avery in the car to run some errands. she kept opening her mouth wide and making a funny face and it looked like there was some white showing through next to her bottom teeth. i daringly put my finger in her mouth and not only felt some sharpness poking through there, but 2 more molars have already started to cut through her gums (one on the bottom, opposite where molar #1 is and the other on the top, same side as molar #1)!!!

i talked to my mom (who is still on vacation) and told her that she and my dad will be coming home to a toddler with a mouthful! YAY!!

ps, we're trying nap #2 at my parent's house. so far, so good. when i put her in the crib, she immediately found the soft blanket at one of the ends and layed her head on it while looking up at me :) she's not crying or fussing, so it's already a success in my book!

april fools?

ok, come clean. who took my sweet, good-natured, precious daughter?? there's someone who looks a lot like avery here today, but with a lot more tears, scrunched up faces, and pouty lips than i've ever seen in such a short time span. surely this has to be someone's april fool's prank?!

:( i feel so bad for her. there's something bothering her...maybe teeth (just about every inch of gum that i can see looks inflamed)? maybe lack of sleep? maybe missing zane? all i know is that she's been melting down over the little things today and that's so not her. mom's going to carry my water upstairs for my nap? no way...meltdown. i can't get my foot over the boppy pillow on the floor? hell no...meltdown. you're telling me i can't shovel 8 pieces of cheese in my mouth because i might choke on them? i'll make you sorry you ever took that plate away from me...meltdown. she'll start by giving the most pathetic looking lip pout and then the tears literally jump out of her eyes and soon she's sputtering and clawing for me.

she's down for her nap now...after throwing her pacifier across the room and then having meltdown #86 when clumsy, frumpy, large mama who can barely get out of a chair by herself let alone while holding 28 extra pounds took too long to retrieve it. (by the way, that 28 pounds is avery, not my own weight gain...though at this point i just may have reached that :))

another 'by the way'...anyone have tips on how to successfully de-clutter and spring clean without making even more of a mess than you started with??

a few more things while i'm thinking about them...

-instead of going through the clutter that anyone can actually see in the house, i've decided to go through the pictures on the computer and put them all on cds. finally. i've been meaning to do this for about 6 months now.

-avery has added "okay" to her vocab. she'll ask me for something (to watch a dvd, to have a snack, etc) and i'll repeat "you want blah blah blah?" and she'll respond with "okay" :) i realized that when i repeat back what she wants, she sometimes does this laugh/"yes" type of sound and then i say "okay". she doesn't miss a beat.

-when i was pregnant with avery, i had intense, all day, non-stop, ridiculous hunger. i'd eat and 20 minutes later i'd HAVE to eat something again. we were in the car one day driving to concord and i was suddenly starving (we were on our way to dinner). there was nothing to eat in the car. and then! i found an old lindt chocolate (which i don't even really like) in the backseat and even though it had melted, i sucked the chocolate off the wrapper. worked like a charm.

i've been surprised at my lack of intense hunger this time around. until today. i was just sitting here feeling gross and i couldn't figure out what was wrong. then it hit me that i'm starving. like, really really hungry. and to be honest, my lunch shouldn't have left me like this. i could fudge the truth and say that avery and i shared the whole box of rice-a-roni (plus a bunch of other nibbles of snacks)...let's face it, the kid can eat, so it's not completely out of the question. but, no, she only had a few bites, leaving the rest to me. and now i have to go eat.