20 Weeks!

(I'm actually 21 weeks pregnant today, but I totally meant to post this last week)

I'm halfway to being a mom of 2 and I can't BELIEVE how much faster this pregnancy is going. I think a big part of it is that I started looking pregnant a lot faster this time which made it feel real much earlier. At this point I am feeling like I look huge already, although people (who I suspect are lying to me) keep telling me I look little and cute. I'm going to choose to believe them, lies or not.

Here are the 20 week stats:

• Weight gained so far: 5 lbs (not too shabby, and with as big as I feel, I expected more!)
• Maternity clothes: The weather has been really up and down so I'm still managing to wear some of my non-maternity sweaters. I don't want to spend money on long sleeved maternity shirts because I'm hoping that any minute it is going to warm up and I'll be able to wear my short sleeved maternity shirts from last time.
• Sleep: Still going pretty well. Occasionally getting up to pee but not every night. However, now that Hailey is potty training, she doesn't like to be wet. Ever. Including in the middle of the night. Which means she's been waking up once or twice a night crying and wanting to be changed. Doesn't she know I'm not supposed to have to wake up in the middle of the night for another 5 months?!?
• Pregnancy symptoms: I've been going to the chiropractor for my lower back and hip pain and it turns out it is actually lower lumbar and sacroiliac misalignment. After 4 adjustments, I am already feeling better, which is awesome! I've also learned a few stretches to try when my hips are hurting so I've been doing really well.
• Gender: Girl!! No progress on a name yet... Bryan is killing me with his unwillingness to commit to one! I'm dying to name this little one so we can start telling Hailey what her baby sister's name is, but he basically feels that until the birth certificate is in our hands we've got nothing but time. Has he met me?!? Doesn't he know I am a capital P Planner???
• Movement: I started feeling little popcorn pops at about 17 1/2 weeks and they've been getting stronger ever since. I can't quite feel them from the outside yet, but they're definitely becoming more kick-like. She tends to move around most at night and I'm loving it!

Next up, we leave for our cruise-that-wasn't on Saturday!! We had to use the credit we got for having to cancel back in September before November of this year, and since I don't plan on leaving a 3 month old baby for 8 days, we are going now! Babymoon here we come!

IT'S A GIRL!!! (AGAIN!)

We had our 20 week ultrasound today and found out that Hailey is going to have a SISTER!!! Bryan was convinced that we were having a boy from the moment we found out we were pregnant (not because of preference, just his feeling). He was just as confident that Hailey was going to be a girl, and he was right that time, so I let his conviction sway me into thinking we were having a boy too. We were fully prepared to hear the ultrasound technician tell us we were having a boy, so imagine our shock when she said GIRL!! I had her check about 10 times before we left just to make sure because I was in such disbelief.

I honestly would have been happy with either a boy or a girl, but I am really thrilled that Hailey is going to have a sister. I never got to experience having a sister myself, but I look at my friends who have sisters and my friends who have 2 daughters and I think there is a really special bond that sisters share. I am really excited that she is going to get that experience and that I am going to get the experience of parenting sisters. It makes me happy that Bryan is excited to have another girl too. While we know that no two children are alike, we feel we already kind of know what we're doing with a girl. It's also a nice perk that I get to reuse the 3 giant Rubbermaid bins full of girl clothes I have saved! :)

Pee-Pee In The Pot-ty!!

This is going to be a long, detailed post because I want to remember exactly what lead up to Hailey starting to become potty trained!

Last weekend Hailey spent the weekend with my in-laws because I was sick and Bryan was out of town. According to my mother in law, Hailey asked to use the potty and peed in it 3 times while she was there. This was pretty shocking to me since she has wanted absolutely nothing to do with the potty at home. Every time we ask her to sit on it, she throws a tantrum and says " I no sit on the potty!!!!!" We have been trying not to push the issue because we didn't want to make potty training a negative thing for her. However, after hearing how well she had done with her grandparents, we decided to try again. Here is a rundown of what I like to call "Hell Week".

Monday- We decided to try putting Hailey in underwear so she could feel if she was wet. In the morning she was willing to sit on the potty, but no matter how long she sat, nothing happened. Of course, as soon as she stood up and left the bathroom, she wet her pants. We ended the day with 5 accidents, 0 hits on the potty, and 2 meltdowns.

Tuesday- We took the potty to daycare and encouraged Debbie to have Hailey try to go potty. Hailey was very resistant in the morning and even had to have a time-out for throwning a fit. Debbie called me and I talked to Hailey on the phone and told her she had to try to sit on the potty. After that she tried a few times, but again, nothing happened. That night we went out for dinner and when we got home I had Hailey try to sit on the potty before we got ready for bed. She sat down but then started putting her hands in between her legs and saying that her bottom hurt. She asked for her pull-up and started to get upset. I told her that her pull-up was dirty so I just pulled up her pants and told her to wash her hands. As soon as she stepped up on the stool she peed her pants.

Wednesday- Hailey sat on the potty a few times at daycare without a fight but didn't manage to make anything happen. After daycare she had swim lessons and I decided to have her try sitting on the potty when we got home. She started putting her hands in between her legs again and asking for her pull-up, so I knew she was about to pee. She DID NOT want to sit on the potty so I had to physically hold her on it because I knew pee was coming any minute. She screamed her head off, so loudly in fact that Bryan came running downstairs thinking she had burned herself on the stove! Sure enough, she peed on the potty while I held her on it and then she was proud of herself. We made a huge deal, did the potty dance, gave her an M&M, had her put stickers on her chart, etc. Despite the previous screaming, we ended the night on a very positive note.

Thursday- Hailey had a HORRIBLE day at daycare. She refused to sit on the potty and had a nuclear meltdown, complete with hitting, kicking, and scratching Debbie. She was in a bad mood all day and had to have several time-outs. I felt conflicted because on the one hand I didn't want to force Hailey to use the potty if she wasn't ready, but on the other hand I couldn't let her think that it's okay to throw a fit like that and then get what you want. When we got home she was in a pretty good mood so before dinner I told her to sit on the potty. She came into the bathroom with me and I took off her diaper but she refused to sit down. I felt like she was about to pee so I took off her pants and socks and let her stand in the bathroom naked. I watched her like a hawk and as soon as I saw her start to pee, I whisked her onto the potty and made a HUGE deal about her peeing on the potty. Again, she got an M&M, sticker for her chart, we did the potty dance, and called Daddy at work to tell him.  She went to bed in a great mood and I decided I'd try to have her sit on the potty over the weekend and if we still didn't have success, we'd take a break and try again in a few months.

Friday- I woke up Friday morning thinking to myself, "I really don't want to deal with potty training today!" But, I knew I needed to stick with it a little longer so I told Hailey that we were going to get up, have breakfast, sit on the potty, and go to Little Gym in a very matter of fact and casual way. During breakfast she said, "I can't go on the potty" so I told her, "we're just going to try and if you go, great, and if you can't, that's okay too." After breakfast Hailey said, "let's sit on the potty Mom!" After she sat down she said, "I hafta pee." I told her to go ahead and she said, "I trying!" Suddenly, she went!!! We were both SO EXCITED and she was really, really proud of herself. After we got back from Little Gym she tried again before lunch and did it again!! Just sat down and went! Then after lunch she did it AGAIN! I was blown away!  The rest of the day went the same way and I just couldn't believe it! I don't know what changed between Thursday night and Friday morning but whatever it was, it was working!

Saturday, Sunday, Monday- For the past 3 days Hailey has peed on the potty about 40 times and has only peed in her diaper at naptime and at night! She has gone at home, at a friend's house, at her grandparents' house, and on a regular potty at a restaurant! She has told us herself that she needs to go a few times and the rest of the time we ask her if she needs to go and she tells us yes or no. We haven't had to deal with pooping yet because she always goes during her nap. I don't even know how to begin to approach that one but for now I am just BEYOND THRILLED with how well she has been doing! She goes back to daycare tomorrow so I'm hoping she is able to go there as well as she has been going at home. I am SOOOO PROUD of my little boogie-boo and I cannot believe how big she is getting!!

16 Weeks!

I can't believe I'm at the 4 month mark already! This pregnancy seems like it is going by a lot faster than the last time, probably because this time I'm too busy chasing after a 2 1/2 year old to sit around daydreaming about my baby-to-be all hours of the day and night.

Here are some of the belly stats at the 16 week point:

• Weight gained so far: 1 lb (Woo hoo!! Bring on the Girl Scout Cookies!)
• Maternity clothes: So far I'm still in my pre-pregnancy buttonless cotton work pants and most of my regular shirts, but I have been wearing maternity jeans for over a month!
• Sleep: So far so good... except for getting up to pee around 1am every night.
• Pregnancy symptoms: Zzzzzzz...um, I'm a little more tired than usual. I've also been having pain in my hips/sit bones which I thought was possibly sciatic nerve pain but my nurse practitioner said she thinks is just deep muscle and ligament pain. If I can find an hour 30 minutes 10 minutes any free time, I think I am going to try a prenatal yoga DVD that may or may not still be in the plastic wrap from the last time I was pregnant.
• Gender: Anyone's guess at this point. I had a dream it's a girl and when you ask Hailey what she thinks she's going to get she says "baby sister." Bryan is positive it's a boy and he was dead-on last time so maybe he's got some kind of baby gender sixth sense or something.
• Movement: Not feeling any movement yet but I can't wait! That was one of the most special things for me about being pregnant last time, I'm really excited to experience that feeling again.

Expanding

Where did this belly come from?!?!? Logically I know that most women start to show earlier the second time around, but that doesn't stop me from feeling a little weirded out that I'm THIS big already. I was looking back at pictures from when I was pregnant with Hailey and I look like I did at 5 MONTHS!

I've been feeling pretty good so far, aside from being really tired, until this week. This week I am having A LOT of lower back and hip pain. I think the hip pain is sciatic nerve pain- whenever I sit for any length of time my lower back starts to hurt and when I get up, the nerves in my inner hip joints are so pinched it makes me limp for a few minutes until they loosen up. Any of you other moms out there have advice on how to help alleviate some of this pain? Yoga? Chiropractor? Acupuncture? Physical Therapy? Ice cream?

Guess Who's Going To Be...

 ...a big sister!?!?! That's right, on (or around) July 19th, Hailey will be getting a sibling!! We are really excited and today was even more exciting because I had my 13 week ultrasound and got some awesome pictures of baby!

Hailey knows that she is going to be a big sister, although I don't think it means all that much to her right now. But it's so cute when you ask her where Mommy's baby is and she says, "In the tummy!" And when you ask what it's doing in there she says, "Growing!" I love it! I'm also really happy that a new baby started at her daycare recently and one of my really close friends just had a baby, so she's getting some experience being around them and being a good helper. She absolutely LOVES babies and is so sweet and gentle with them! I really hope that continues when her little brother or sister comes and doesn't leave at the end of the day!

I know I've been absolutely terrible about blogging lately but I'm milking the excuse of being completely and totally exhausted this first trimester, which was compounded by all the craziness of the holidays. My sincere plan is to try and blog more because it has been so much fun to be able to look back at my last pregnancy posts on the blog and I want to be able to do the same with this one! Next up, a belly picture! (Yes, there is a bump already! Crazy!)

Good Jumping Shamu!!

 Last weekend, Bryan's cousin Nick married his beautiful bride Carrie in San Diego. The wedding was lovely and Hailey had a fantastic time dancing the night away. Seriously, she danced all. night. long. About 9:00 (an hour past normal bedtime) we asked her if she was ready to go and go to bed and she said, "No! Hailey not tired yet! Want dance!" This girl is a party animal! Attending a wedding with a 2 year old is definitely a different experience than going without (as in a lot more trying to shush a squirmy toddler and a lot less consumption of adult beverages.) But she had fun and it was fun for us to watch her dance the night away. She looked sooooo cute in her party dress, and she knew it too. She twisted and twirled all night to make her skirt swish.

Since we had traveled all the way down to San Diego, we decided to make a weekend of it and take Hailey to Sea World. I was so excited to take her because I have always loved Sea World and I knew Hailey would like it because of how much she loves the zoo and all her books about animals. To get her ready for the trip I made her a little book of all the animals we would see and her daycare provider, Debbie, did sea animal themed art projects with her all week. All that prep payed off because she was SO EXCITED to see all the animals and shows! The first thing we did was see the Shamu Show and to be honest I got a little choked up when Shamu came out and Hailey breathed, "Oh wowwwww." I had no idea how happy and emotional it would make me to watch her wonder and amazement at something I grew up loving so much. All through the show she clapped and told Shamu what a great job he was doing ("Good jumping!" "Good splashing!" "Good swimming!") Obviously I had to buy her a stuffed Shamu as a souvenir from the day. She absolutely adores it and has taken it with her everywhere all week long.She was really excited about everything at the park and kept asking, "What NEXT??" She loved the penguins, polar bears, sea lions, and even touched a starfish! It was a really fun day and I am so lucky to be blessed with such a happy and flexible little girl. We were at the park from 10:45 to 5:00 with no nap and she only had 1 tiny meltdown at lunchtime that was easily diverted. Of course, she totally passed out before we had even pulled out of the parking lot to head home. What a memorable day!!