I Lied

Looks like I lied about getting some pictures ready to post.  I hit the ground running (well, as fast as my 33 week pregnant self can "run") when we got home from Baltimore and started trying to prepare for Eric to come home and blah, blah, blah...nothing anyone cares to hear about!!  Anyway, I did manage to get some pictures printed to mail out to Maddie's great grandmas (all three of them!  Lucky girl!) but I have yet to get them put on the blog.  Maybe this week, but I'm not making promises...

Eric comes home tomorrow morning for a quick 6 day visit.  I'm bummed that it's such a short trip but I'm trying to stay positive and be thankful that we have at least those 6 days to spend together.  Initially Eric was trying to give up his vacation because it's no fun to travel from Nigeria to Houston and back within a week, but they forced him to take it (thank you!!).  This will be our last visit before Eric comes home for the birth of baby girl #2.  We're hoping to have a lot of quality family time during these 6 days and not a lot of chores, although I do need some cleaning help while he's here.  I guess we can call that quality time as long as we're working together :)

In pregnancy news...I'm 33 weeks pregnant now and feeling every bit of it!  I'm easily worn out after a short amount of activity.  My feet an ankles have begun the dreaded third trimester swell.  YUCK!  And my wrists are joining in :(  I can no longer wear my watch comfortably and the carpal tunnel is acting up.  Sleep is becoming quite a chore these days!  I should set up a video camera to show everyone what an ordeal it is to roll over in a tempurpedic mattress when you're so middle-heavy.  It takes way more effort than I like to put into it at 2 am.  But since I'm up I usually just go ahead and make use of being out of bed to use the bathroom since at some point I'll be up to pee anyway...  :)  The worst symptom I have to deal with is a pain in my belly, well I guess it's more ON my belly.  It feels like a bruise just above my belly button and it gets so sore the more the day goes on.  I've read up on it and apparently it's normal but it sure does hurt!  It doesn't help when Maddie digs her boney elbows in to sit up or when the dog jumps on me.  The good in still barely outweighing the bad with pregnancy, though.  I still get to feel baby girl move all the time.  She hasn't settled into her head down position yet as I'm getting kicked all over the place!  It's fun to be able to feel her in there!  I'm starting to be able to feel little feet and what I'm assuming is her butt pressing against me.  I'll get confirmation at my appointment next week.  I love knowing that my body is able to grow this little human and that my body is nurturing her and nourishing her to make her strong and healthy to live with us in just 6 more weeks!  When I think about the miracle of it all, the aches and pains seem like less of an issue (until I stand up to walk back to bed, then I'll start complaining again!).  I'm ready to meet my baby girl and I think Maddie's ready to meet her baby sister (who she calls baby Turtle...although we do have a "real" name picked out now, we don't want Maddie sharing that name so we convinced her to call her sister "Turtle" for now!).  Maddie's in for a shock when she realizes all the changes in store for her...

As for Maddie, she's doing so well with Mother's Day Out now.  When I took her this morning she didn't even cry!  She went right into her classroom, hugged her teacher, and started playing with Mr. Potatohead.  I kissed her goodbye and she said "bye momma" and that was it!  I almost cried because I was so proud...but I made it a no tears day for both of us :)  I was waiting for this day to come and now that it did, I'm so relieved and I KNOW I'm doing the right thing by putting her in there.  She will continue to go through the summer until Aug 4th (so, 2 more weeks) then we'll have a break until Aug 30th.  In the fall she'll go 3 days a week so I'm looking forward to that. I know she'll love it and I'm going to love having a little time to myself with the new baby! 

What a blessed life I have!!  :)