The Third Prayer

On Thursday I had my 8th prenatal appointment, and I’m realizing now I never wrote about my 7th!  Maybe that is because when you have such an exciting (hint of sarcasm) pregnancy like mine there is nothing to write about.  And well, there isn’t much to report on the 8th visit either.  Sweet Pea is still growing at a good rate, head still down and had a great heart rate. 

I’ve found a little shimmer of silver lining regarding my cough, which is going on four weeks.  I was talking to my doctor and asked if it bothers the baby.  He confirmed that it doesn’t but asked if I noticed her sleep cycle changing.  I hadn’t thought about it until then but, yes, it has changed.  Now that I am coughing throughout the day, Sweet Pea is moving a lot more.  When I sleep, I don’t cough, and well, she has been sleeping too.  Which means

(a) I am only waking up to go to the bathroom and not because Sweet Pea is practicing her kickboxing moves, and

(b) she is sleeping when I am sleeping which means…she might keep up this cycle when she is born.

We could only hope, right?  I remember those first couple weeks where Mary Rene was like a cat and wanted to play from 2 until 6 a.m.  We were some tired new parents. 

So, forget getting rid of this horrible cough for now.  Keep Sweet Pea sleeping at night!

Dear mom and dad,

When I was 15 1/2 years old, you both were at work one night and my friend Missy and I took the minivan for a spin.  I’m pretty sure we just went to 7-11 (1.5 miles east from the house.)  But we were wild girls driving with no license and then drinking and driving as we slurped on our Slurpees.  I’m such a rebel I know.  But we had fun in that minivan for those 10 minutes.

Love your daughter,

Trena

And now I am driving my own minivan and praying that someday my daughter doesn’t take it for a spin before she has a license. 

(More to follow on the purchase of our new minivan next week!)

Somehow, I got the second wall completed.  Although I still need to apply the second coat.  The plan was to paint circles on this wall.  I really thought it would be very difficult but it turned out being easier then I thought.

Before

My problem was drawing a perfect circle but I looked on the floor and found the perfect circle to use.

So I plucked out the pink circle and drew them all over the wall.

I realized there were two different shades of pink on the floor mat so I decided to do a different shade of pink then the stripes. 

And the wall is complete, except for that second coat of paint.

I love it.  And so does Miss Mary Rene.  She keeps pointing at her wall, touching it and saying, “circles, circles.”

We all have crosses to carry in our lives.  It could be a job you hate but you have to go to everyday.  It could be fertility issues or rough pregnancies.  It could be a bad relationship with a family member or a spouse.  For me, my cross is my daughter’s sleeping situation.  And if that is the only cross God is going to give me at this time, so be it.  Sure it can be hard at times, very frustrating, (did I say very frustrating?) but I accept my cross and I will carry it. 

Each child is different and thus, no two children are expected to have the same routines.  I can’t spend my life comparing one person’s child to mine and I won’t.  I love my daughter for who she is, even with this rough sleeping situation we are going through at this current time.

I don’t want to sugar coat things in my Tuesday updates but this sleeping situation is very stressful for our family.  It isn’t just about losing sleeping anymore.  We are beyond stressed which spills out into our marriage.  And frankly, it spills out into being a parent as well.  I don’t like to hold resentment towards my daughter or husband but the stress level has gotten me there.  And the nights are rough.  I hate when bedtime comes; I hate it with a passion.

This morning, I was so frustrated with what happened last night that I did something very drastic today.  Frank is going to be very, very upset when he finds out so I am not going to say what I did yet.  (Just in case he is reading this at work!)  On Tuesday it will be revealed to all and I’m praying that it was worth it.

After I got my frustration out of me and I was done doing what I did, I stopped, looked to the heavens and just wanted some type of approval.  I believe God gives us all crosses but He also gives us the knowledge to do something about them.  You can’t just pray and expect an answer to fall in your lap.  You have to use your mind, the mind God gave you, and do something about it.  So I did; and I’m praying that I did right.

I accept my cross and I will carry it and I won’t expect God to take it away.  I know people who have heavier crosses then I, thus I have no right to pass on my cross.  I’m just lucky to be able to have such a small cross at this time in my life.

Sleep, sleep, where are thou?  Oh how we miss you so.  The sleeping situation is still a pain but we’ve figured out what the issue is and why everything fell apart.  In the matter of five days, Mary Rene went through the following:

• Fever from teething
• Teething
• Mom and dad’s bed out of her room
• Stopped nursing
• Classical radio station went off air

All this lead to her jumping out of the crib which made us move her to the toddler bed, which is another change in her life.  We realize our baby girl is overloaded and having a hard time adapting.  So, we took the couch cushions from the front room and put them by her toddler bed.  We’ve been doing the same nighttime routine but now we lay on the cushions until she falls asleep.

Unfortunately, she is still having a hard time settling and it is taking any where from one hour to two hours to put her to bed.  So exhausting for us.  In the middle of the night, she wakes up and walks into our room and smiles as she falls asleep between us.  Frank calls it her ‘victory face.’

I was on the phone with a nurse from her doctor’s office yesterday and we were talking about a completely different issue.  The nurse basically said, “whatever you are doing now (regarding the other situation) is going to change when the new baby gets here because her world is going to be turned upside down.  So expect to go through change again.”  Well, that same philosophy applies to the sleeping situation.  Frank and I talked about it and decided our new plan of action would be:

• Same bedtime routine
• While Frank is doing his 20 minutes, I turn off all the lights in the house and get into my bed
• Frank only stays in her room for 20 minutes and then kisses her good night
• When Mary Rene comes running out of her room, she will come in bed with me, like she does every night
• Mary Rene falls asleep, I leave the room to go hang out with Frank (same thing we used to do, several months ago, before she was in the crib)

When we go to bed, we might move her back into her toddler bed.  We are not sure about this yet but we want her to get used to sleeping in her bed.  We know this routine is “tricking” her but honestly, we can’t keep doing what we’ve been doing the last week.  We both are so frustrated that we are taking it out on each other and well, our marriage is an important part of our family dynamic.  And since we are so close to the due date, knowing that things will probably change anyway, we would rather have some relaxing weeks of sleep while we can.  Cause ya know, newborns don’t sleep!

And we keep reminding ourselves, this is a short time in our lives.  In a few years she is going to be a big girl, going to school, and won’t want to snuggle in bed with mommy and daddy.  And well, that is going to break our hearts.  Right now she needs us and we need to give her what she needs.

Which is making us consider buying a king size mattress.

I digress.

Mary Rene still likes to talk on her play phone but now she likes to take my phone and watch the videos I recorded of her.  Every time my phone rings she starts saying, “pictures, pictures” and will get the biggest smile on her face until she gets to watch the videos.  Frank will call me on his way home from work, around 5:05-5:10 p.m. and when we get off the phone, Mary Rene will watch videos on the couch.  She seriously will watch videos until he walks in the door, about 5:35-5:45 p.m.  Girl loves her some videos.  (And this allows me to cook dinner in peace.)

I was watching her watch videos and I saw this young little lady on my couch.

Seriously, she is growing up way too fast.  She is a toddler moving on to a tween.  Oh gosh, please stop time.  But I must say, I love pulling her hair back in a ponytail so you can really see her face.  Oh she is a precious one.

Mary Rene is still closing her eyes when she smiles.

Before I take a picture I’ll say, “keep your eyes open” and she will keep one open to watch but closes the other to smile.  So funny.

Mary Rene has also learned how to use my camera.  While I was helping Frank and his dad work on the canopy for the baby shower, Mary Rene was taking pictures.  She took about five pictures of the grass and one of my butt.  One day we were sitting on the couch and she took a picture of me rubbing her foot, like I said, girl has a foot fetish.

Mary Rene didn’t get a nap the day of the baby shower and we were worried that she would be crabby.  But luckily there were a bunch of kiddos there to keep the crab spells away.  I think Mary Rene interacts with kids really good and is pretty loving.  Her sweet friend Natalie was there and she wanted to hold her hand when they played.

So sweet.  Mary Rene is a little lover.  Natalie fell on the slide and Mary Rene looked up, saw her crying, and wanted to help.  So she grabbed Natalie’s sippy cup off the ground and handed it to her.  Because we all know, sippy cups make you feel better.  And Natalie felt better (nothing to do with the sippy cup but was her mom & dad’s love) and they went back to playing on the slide.

Mary Rene has been talking in this different voice and I can’t tell if it has to do with the new tooth/teeth or what.  But the new voice is allowing her words to be clearer and she can say bigger words, like picture and elephant.  She has been saying little phrases as well so maybe the new voice comes with her talking clearer and longer.  Not sure but it is interesting.

Hopefully next week will have better updates regarding sleeping!  Wish us luck!

Because I am lacking in the creative juice area, I contacted my friend Nicole B about a month ago and needed help figuring out a shower theme and party favors.  I asked her because (a) she is so super creative and always has great ideas and (b) I love her.  She had a great idea to do an American Baby theme since our friends were both in the military.  Turns out, they actually meet and fell in love in Texas while they were stationed there for training.  Years later, they got married and Nicole C moved here to start her life with Jim.  So the American Baby theme was fitting.

Well, the theme didn’t completely work out because I’m very picky about decorations.  The decorations that could have worked because they were red and blue, said “It’s a Boy.”  And let me tell you, that is one of my biggest pet peeves.  A person is not an it.  An it is a car or a plant or a Diet Coke.  A person is a he or she.  So I was not about to buy any decorations that referred to their precious little prince as an it.  So out when that part of the theme. 

So the plan was to make sugar cookies, decorated in red, white and blue for the party favors.  The day before the shower, Nicole B showed up with the dough she made the night before and we went to work.

And I must say they were very tasty and she did an awesome job.  We wrapped the sweet treats in clear bags with white stars, tied with red ribbons with the blue tags.  So patriotic.

That night I went to bed and couldn’t sleep because my mind was racing with what I needed to do before the shower.  I had a horrible dream that I forgot to cook the party potatoes and hang decorations.  It was a train wreck but Nicole C didn’t mind at all in the dream.  She was all smiles.  But I was still worried and when I woke up I made myself a list.

And every time something was completed it was marked off. 

After my list making, Frank’s dad showed up and helped with last minute yard work.  And then he even agreed to stick around and help, as did Mary Rene, put up our new canopy. 

What a pain, but a great end result.

Then it was time for the “Baby Boy” decorations to be placed sporadically around the yard and house.

My mom came over and took Mary Rene to the grocery store so I could get some last minute things done and well, shower. 

Hours later, guest started arriving and the party got under way.  And I was a bad, bad host and didn’t take lots of pictures like I wanted to…but the memories were so good.  The weather was pleasant, the food turned out good and the guests seemed to be enjoying themselves.  I count that as a success. 

Jim & Nicole C got a lot of awesome gifts from their friends and they are so blessed.

They seemed to be really enjoying themselves as they chatted with friends about their little man.

I love how his wedding ring is visible in the picture (at least it is when seen on my computer!) 

And I did take advice and relaxed, when I could, and got to do a lot of baby talking with my friend.  We love our little basketballs so much.

I love how she holds her little man so tenderly.

Mary Rene was in bed within 20 minutes that night so Frank and I were both able to hang out, with a baby monitor, in the backyard for a couple more hours with our friends.  It was a long day but so much fun.

Too lazy to take a picture!

Weight: 154

Baby Developments: Sweet Pea weighs approximately 4 pounds and nearly 17 inches.  Baby just keeps on growing and getting all fatted up for birth.

Pregnancy Signs:  I’ve had this terrible cough for three weeks now and let’s just say, being pregnant and coughing is no good on the bladder.  Plus, I’m sure it must feel like an earthquake to my poor little Sweet Pea.

Thoughts: With all the trouble we’ve had lately putting Mary Rene to sleep, I’m praying a lot that Sweet Pea is a sweeter sleeper.

When I told Frank I was pregnant, we both hugged and cried tears of joy.  It was a happy moment that we shared as we celebrated the life growing inside of me.  But after a few moments, my tears of joy changed to tears of sadness. Frank instantly noticed the change in my mood and asked what was wrong.  And when I looked up at him, I didn’t even have to say it, he already knew why my heart was filled with such sadness.

I was pregnant again when my dear friend wanted to be so much.  My dear friend had lost four babies, two before she ever got to meet them and two sweet little girls only moments after they were born.  And my heart was just breaking for her.  I was scared to tell her I was pregnant because I could only imagine the pain it would cause her.  And really, who wants to cause their friend pain?  Here I was, not even trying and I did. 

A few days after learning of our exciting news we decided it was time to tell our friends.  I wanted to tell her first so I called her while she was upstate visiting her parents.  We chatted for a bit and then I broke the news.  And she was happy.  Seriously happy.  I was so relieved to hear the true happiness in her voice.  Oh, but I’m sure some of that happiness had a part to do with the news she decided to share with me.

She was expecting as well!  Oh what great joy!  It turned out she was only a week and a half behind me; my due date being August 28th and her date being September 9th.  I congratulated her and agreed to keep her secret until she felt more comfortable in her pregnancy to share the news.

Frank and I prayed daily for her little bambino and often times we realized we were praying for him more than our little Sweet Pea.  He grew in our hearts as he grew in her belly.

And grow he has continued to do.  Oh, did I mention he is a he?  Sweet little Armando.  Armando is his nickname since they won’t share the real name was anyone.  We are so looking forward to meeting Armando after Sweet Pea is born.

It has been so fun to share our pregnancies together these last seven to eight months.  Mary Rene’s pregnancy was fun because it was my first but this pregnancy has been fun because I’ve shared it with one of my closest friends.  After nearly every doctor’s appointment we would text about our appointments and well, share the good or bad news on our weight.  We’ve sent more text messages then I can count discussing the weird quirks of pregnancy (things I don’t discuss on my blog!), our ice cream cravings, our growing thighs and bellies, the body parts we no longer see, and anything related to babies.  Only she knows about some of the crazy, I mean crazy, pregnancy dreams I’ve had…oh if only you knew!  And she’s had some interesting things to share along the way as well.  We’ve gone baby shopping at stores and a consignment sale and well, we made a lot of ice cream stops along the way.  We’ve looked at other pregnant women and wondered why the heck we are so big compared to them!  We’re already talking about returning to our pre-baby weight and our plan to get back in shape together.  Oh the fun this pregnancy has been.

Tomorrow, Frank and I have the honor of throwing her and her husband a couple’s baby shower for their friends.  We couldn’t be more happy to do this and have been planning our little hearts away.  We can’t wait to shower them with love tomorrow in anticipation of their son’s arrival.  God’s blessings on our friends and their sweet little Armando.

And a big thanks to my readers and friends who have prayed for her and her baby along the way.  Some of you emailed me privately to ask how she was doing and I appreciate it so much that you loved her, like I have, and have prayed for her during this time.  Please continue to keep her and the baby in your prayers during these next nine or 10 weeks.  God is good.

As if the growing belly didn’t already point to the obvious, reality is setting in that we will have another member in our family soon.  This weekend, my Jeep went from this

to this…

wooh.  We went ahead and installed the car seat now because the local firefighter who is certified to install car seats  is heading out of town for two weeks.  Then we would be heading out of town and that takes us to August.  Since Frank was off we did it and now…

we realize how much bigger this family is getting. 

My five passenger Jeep is now a four passenger Jeep thanks to two huge car seats.  Which means (a) no more car rides for Sophie (b) my mom has to ride to church separate on Sundays and (c) less grocery bag room.

The infant seat takes up so much space that the driver’s seat is sitting really close  to the steering wheel.  Thankfully Frank and I are short.  It will definitely be uncomfortable for the long drives to Piedmont but manageable.

The limited space not only smacked reality in our face that we are having another kiddo soon but it also made us start discussing a bigger vehicle.  Will we become a van family?  I actually learned to drive an automatic on a minivan so I have experience but will it really happen someday?

The only way to make more room in the Jeep is to move Mary Rene behind the driver’s seat and switch her to forward facing.  That will make the passenger side tighter but really, the driver needs more space.  But this solution has two issues from the firefighter’s point of view (a) Mary Rene is safer rear facing until she is 30 pounds (she is 24 pounds now) and (b) the infant should be behind the driver.  So I’m feeling a little torn.

Deal with the tightness in our current Jeep or upgrade?

We did not realize that adding a car seat would cause so much heartache.  Good thing we got the seat installed two months before my due date so we have time to think!

On a lighter note, I was driving Mary Rene to grandma’s yesterday and I looked in my rear view mirror to see her through the mirror in front of her seat.  When I was done glancing at her I then glanced at the other seat.  Oh, two little precious ones to gaze at while I am driving.  I can’t wait.

Oh what a week.  If it hasn’t been one thing it has been another.  So many changes in such a short amount of time that I can see why this girl is feeling overloaded.  On top of coming home to her own room, she weaned in the same week.  These two changes didn’t really effect her at first but within days it all came crashing down…and still is.

Since Mary Rene used to nurse to nap, we have had to figure out a new nap routine.  I’m starting to get a new routine down but the first few days were bloody rough with a lot of crying and fighting.  By the time I got her to nap, I was ready for a nap!  (Oh if I didn’t have to work from home.)  My original goal was to start getting her to nap in her toddler bed but that went out the window when she stopped nursing.  So I decided to keep some consistency and I would let her nap in my bed like she has done for the last year.  But Mary Rene had a different plan in mind.  She wanted me to stand up and rock her but this is a habit that I was not about to start.  Grandma Joanne already does this and it wears her out.  With a second baby on the way, I’m not going to have time to rock Mary Rene to nap everyday.  So I had to put my foot down right away.   Instead I am cuddling her for a few minutes and then placing her in my bed like my mom does.  At first she really resisted but after a few minutes she lays down and falls asleep.  With this new routine she was napping two hours again like she did when she nurse napped.  So that made me very happy.  Although it is stressful getting there, the end result pays off.  Hopefully it will get easier as time passes.

Strangely, she still is asking to nurse, sometimes will even put her mouth around it, but ends up staring at my boob before finally settling for cuddle time.

Yesterday was her best nap of the week and it happened at my parent’s house.  Funny how she never napped there and now it is the easiest place to get her to sleep!  When she gave me the cue that she was ready for her nap, I picked her up, cuddled for a few minutes and then placed her in the “nap room.”  She fell asleep within minutes.  And how precious does she look when she is napping.

But then sometimes she rolls to her side and looks even sweeter.

Oh breathtaking.

If only getting her to bed at night was as sweet.  We had a good thing going and Frank and I were gloating in our bedroom routine.  Until…all those changes took place.  Now we can’t get her to bed at all.  The night time routine is so off that she can’t comprehend sleep and we just don’t know what to do.  She got so mad about the sleeping situation that Sunday night she decided to climb out of her crib…and fell on the hardwood floor.  Ouch.  After that we decided it was time to switch things up even more and make her sleep in the toddler bed.  Needless to say, she ended up in our bed last night after struggling for over two hours to get her to sleep.  Ugh.

But on to the fun stuff.

Nearly every night, Frank has been doing a workout tape and Mary Rene likes to stand right in front of him and stomp her feet while he is doing jumping jacks and other moves.  I have been complaining nonstop about my thunder thighs so Frank was a sweetie and found a leg workout for me.  Of course, Mary Rene has to join me too.

Like I said in a previous post, work is fun to kids.

Check out Mary Rene’s car.

Sweet free ride wouldn’t you say?  Another treasure my parents found on the side of the road.  Mary Rene had to check and make sure all the bells and whistles, and engine worked before she drove her car into the sunset.

The phone works too, but papa quickly reminded her not to talk and drive at the same time.

Even though we have had a stressful weekend regarding sleeping, we had a lot of fun.  Frank was off Friday and Monday so we spent a lot of time together as a family.

We enjoyed some time at the park on Saturday and went to a 4th of July parade on Sunday.  The parade happened to go right past a friend’s house so we were invited to a 4th of July party there.  And I must say, we had rock star parking and front row tickets to the parade.  It was a great set up.

Mary Rene really enjoyed the parade, didn’t sit down once, as she grabbed all the candy off the ground and put it in her bag.  After the parade, we went in the backyard and Mary Rene got to play in the bounce castle.

When we were at the water park about two weeks ago, Mary Rene noticed some kids going down the water slide backwards.  Now, she goes down slides backwards too.

Girl cracks me up.

So even though we had a stressful week of sleeping, we had a lot of fun.  Here’s to another week of fun…and hopefully better sleep.