Well... technically 33 weeks 4 days... but who's really counting?

I am beginning to remember why the end of pregnancy is very not fun. As Eli grows and grows, my body is starting to feel the effects. If I'm standing up or walking around for any length of time my back, hips, and legs begin to ache. I guess an extra 40 pounds will do that to you. This wasn't such an issue last pregnancy because I could basically sit and rest whenever I needed to, but with Lydia it is much harder. She is constantly begging me to get up and dance, jump, spin, run, etc and she really doesn't understand that mommy needs to rest sometimes. I wish we could find more sit-down activities that she enjoys.

The heartburn has kicked up a notch too. I've relocated to a couch to sleep at night so I can prop myself up better, but I have to be super careful what I eat in the evening or I may regret it. Between that and how much Eli wiggles around in my belly, sleep is getting hard to come by. Often I am up every couple of hours. I suppose I could say this is just preparation for when Eli gets here, but lack of sleep isn't really something I like to prep for!

But really, I don't mean to complain. I know that all of this has a beautiful end result that is completely worth it, and I do not take that for granted. I'm so excited to see and hold my little boy! On a lighter note, we continue to make progress preparing for his arrival. He has a good supply of clothes washed and put away in his room along with clean bedding to welcome him home. Brent is almost done with decorating the new nursery then all that's left is to clean up the baby equipment that's been stored in the basement since Lydia used it.

Mom & my mother-in-law are both still thinking Eli will end up being an October baby. As long as he is healthy, I would not be opposed to this!
As my sweet little girl grows deeper and deeper into the toddler stage it has never been more apparent that we are born with a sinful nature. I never worked to teach her selfishness and manipulation, yet she is learning every day how to leverage these things.

This is a new realm of "tough" in parenting.

I love my daughter. I want with all my heart to believe that she will forever be sweet and innocent and obedient. But sadly I know this is not the way it will be. Not in this sinful world we live in. And lately I am beginning to see the root of sin - selfishness - creep into my little girl. She doesn't mean it to do any harm, but I can tell that her actions are turning into the result of the question, "What do I have to do to get what I want?" Sometimes it is sort of sweet... like insisting on never ending hugs and kisses at bedtime so that I won't leave her room. Other times, like the past couple of nights, it is screaming and crying until Mommy comes into the room - then the waterworks turn off and she wants to play and read books. When did she learn to manipulate like this?

It is really hard to be an honest parent. I have to admit that my child really ISN'T an angel and that she was born into sin in a fallen world, just like the rest of us. My job description is beginning to get longer. I can't just get by with meeting her basic needs anymore. She is reaching an age where teaching and training will become crucial in shaping her behavior. She will need to learn to obey, and more importantly learn about the One who gives us the strength to obey even when it goes against our human desires.

I am (and always have been) excited to watch my little girl grow. I love watching her learn and seeing her gain independence. I'm so proud of who she is becoming. But at the same time I'm a little terrified at how major a role I play in shaping who she becomes! I thank God that I have him by my side... and an awesome church home to help me out as well. But I sure do wish that they could stay innocent forever!
When I was showering on Friday I noticed a small line of what looked like bug bites under my left arm. I didn't think much of it until that night when my back was itching and Brent saw I had a cluster of around 14 more bumps on the left side of my back. We assumed they were bug bites until I did some research on Sunday night and found that rashes in pregnancy are not only common, but something that should be discussed with your doctor.

So yesterday (Monday) I called my OB and went in to have her look at the rash. I was expecting to hear it was something pregnancy related, so I was surprised when she told me it looked like shingles! I know some people who have had shingles and it was NOT fun for them. The doctor said I am more susceptible to them because of the pregnancy & subsequent compromised immune system. She actually said I was the third case she's seen recently.

Now I'm on medication for the next 10 days to help get rid of it and trying my best not to scratch my back despite the constant itch. It's so funny to me to see the various differences in pregnancies. With Lydia we had several scares that resulted in a lot of stress at the start, but not a whole lot of physical ailments for me personally. With Eli I've already had two illnesses that I've never had before: sinus infection and shingles. Let's hope this is the end of it... less than 8 weeks to go!
With less than 2 months to go until his due date, Eli and I are doing great. I'm still feeling really good with the only complaints being some aches and heartburn at night (oh and the getting up to pee a lot). Eli moves a ton but not in such a way that it is uncomfortable for me often. He stays out of my ribs and only occasionally uses my hip as a punching toy.

Had my latest checkup today and all is going well. I'm still measuring big, but only by a couple of weeks this time. I was that way with Lydia too (I'm short... there's only one direction for the baby to go...) so I'm not too worried anymore. The doctor estimates he will be in the 8lb range. I can handle that. My weight was also better than I expected. 154 lbs. That's up 33 from my first weigh-in at the doc's office. With Lydia I gained almost 50, so I'm quite pleased with 33. 8ish more weeks to go, so even at a pound a week I shouldn't end much more than 40 pounds up from the start. Not bad if you ask me.

Eli's room continues to come together. All of the base painting is done with just a decorative tree left to be painted. Today I bought the letters to spell out his name on the wall. So besides the tree, we just need to buy/install curtains, buy picture frames, and print out the pictures (images from his bedding) to put in the frames to go on the walls. I've been doing occasional loads of laundry to get clothing ready for his first few months and am looking forward to organizing it all now that the furniture is arranged.

It still seems so unbelievable that I'm going to have a son in a couple of months. What a wonderful Thanksgiving I have to look forward to this year! So much to be thankful for... hopefully including a healthy little boy in my arms.
I know I probably say this in pretty much every blog post, but things seem so busy these days and I find it hard to remember to stop and write it down. I can't believe it is September already! Here are some updates on the kiddos:

Lydia

18 months old now and getting smarter by the minute. I was asked the other day how many words I thought she says now and I guessed around 100. Today I decided to try to make a list and made myself stop after passing 250. So the real number is probably somewhere between 250 and 300, and these are words she actively says without us having to say them first. There's no way I'm going to try to add to the total with words she won't say unless we say them first or words that she clearly understands. Within the past week or so she has also become more and more confident with using multiple words together and forming small sentances. Mostly these consist of "Bye-bye {insert person/object here}" or "All done {insert item here}", but there are a few others that pop up here and there in her daily chatter.

At her 18 month doctor checkup I loved seeing the doctor's reaction to all that Lydia knows. Especially the face she made when I said Lydia already knows most of the alphabet! She now recognizes all of the letters and only has slight hang-ups on a couple of them (such as, sometimes "C" starts out as "G" and we have to correct her before she will say it properly). She's getting much better at colors now too and frequently points out orange, purple, pink, and green objects... which I find funny since blue used to be the one she assigned to everything, but now she seems to ignore blue things.

Sleeping, eating, playing... Lydia does them all well and she is a complete joy to watch. She continues to be on the go constantly. My mom, Brent's mom, and I all took her to the butterfly house last weekend and it was nearly impossible to get a picture of Lydia because she wouldn't stop even for a second! She just ran around saying "buh-FLY!" As she is getting older and gaining more independence, we are starting to see her testing her limits a bit more than she used to. I hate punishing her and wish she would go back to just listening right away (and don't get me wrong, she is a GREAT kid and obeys very well), but sometimes she pushes it too far and gets a hand slap for touching things she was told not to touch. But like I said, in general she is very obedient and loves to help clean up, do laundry, or other small tasks I set her on.

Potty training is sadly on hold right now. I was hoping to be getting a good start in these coming weeks, but Lydia decided she was going to get some sort of stomach... something... and be pooping like crazy. We even got to the point of being told to bring a sample in to the doc's office so they can check for bacteria, but as soon as they requested this Lydia has seemed much better (this was just 2 days ago). But there's no way I was going to attempt potty training a child that is pooping out some nasty stuff 5 times a day. So for now we are waiting for her system to get back to normal and will go from there. Still hoping we'll give it a go at some point this month.

As a final note on Lydia's life at the moment, I am getting excited to see her as a big sister. I really think, and hope, that she is going to absolutely love Eli. We talk about him all the time already and I try my best to convey the idea that he is a baby and will be here soon. She loves to give kisses and hugs to my belly and will smile and say "Eye-Yeye" (Eli) whenever she notices my belly or even sees baby boy clothing around. Can't wait to see my two little ones interacting!


Eli

Pregnancy week 30 is just on the horizon. So far things continue to be going along smoothly. If I remember correctly, I seem to recall being a lot more uncomfortable at this point with Lydia. My only complaints right now are heartburn and aches at night, but those are pretty minor irritations.

I had my most recent doctor appointment at about 28 weeks along and she said I was measuring 33 weeks! Yikes! I know those measurements can be off by quite a bit, and that I measured big the whole time with Lydia too, but now I'm slightly nervous that I'm cooking a 10-pounder here. Perhaps this will just mean he will arrive a little sooner. Mom is predicting a halloween baby... so we'll see! I also took my glucose test at that time and sadly failed the 1 hour test. This meant I had to go back in for a 3 hour test where I would get my blood drawn 4 different times and checked for glucose tolerance. While it was an annoying way to spend a Saturday morning, I did get a lot of work done on Eli's blanket while sitting around for over 3 hours, and I passed this time so no need for a special diet.

We finally got started painting the nursery this past weekend. And by "we" I mean Brent and my dad. My parents were here last weekend and Dad helped Brent with Eli's room while Mom & I were at the butterfly house. The walls are slated to have tan and green, so the tan was started and finished on Saturday. This coming Saturday we'll be working on the green, then Brent plans to paint a tree in one corner of the room. So excited to see his room come together!