You asked for it

I took Oliver into the bathroom this evening around 7pm (for the umpteenth time today), and he slipped on one of the rugs, rubbed his eyes, and said, "Oliver take a nap."  Twenty minutes later he was in bed, and we haven't heard a thing.  Looks like this transition to no nap in the afternoon might necessitate an earlier bedtime.

Okay by me.

Three years ago today...

I wrote my first post for this blog.  I didn't post until weeks later, after there had been ultrasounds and a midwife's appointment to confirm that I was, in fact, pregnant and the baby was viable.  I had hoped that today would bring another first and new beginning, but nope -- still here on the couch.  But very cool that I've been blogging here for three years now!  Thanks for reading, those who do.

Kiss on the cheek

At some point when Oliver was younger, I started giving him kisses on the mouth and he eventually learned to return them.  As such, he's only ever known how to give kisses on the mouth.  Yesterday, Oliver wanted another kiss from Wes before he left for work, and he said, "Kiss on the cheek."  So he ran to the front door and gave Wes another kiss.  He did the same at bedtime, only this time I realized what he was doing.  Oliver's "kiss on the cheek," which he must have learned at school, involved him putting his cheek next to the recipient's cheek and then making a kissing sound.  Kiss on the cheek, indeed.

The watched pot

I am not in labor.  Just in case anyone is wondering and might be tempted to call and ask, I just want to repeat, I am not in labor.  I promise not to secretly birth and parent a child without telling friends and family.  So the baby is not here yet.  I am sitting at home, on my couch, in front of the television, contemplating a nap and maybe a movie later this afternoon.

I repeat, not in labor.

Adventures in Potty Training, and Wow!

Yesterday morning, Oliver gave my mother a hard time and somehow ended up in underwear.  He got up from bed dry (which I think had more to do with a lack of fluids than any restraint on his part), so she put him in the underwear to induce him to pee in the potty.  We sent him to daycare with spare pants and underwear to a supportive but somewhat skeptical classroom teacher.  I picked Oliver up at almost 5pm and found him, to my surprise, in the same pants and underwear.  He had a lot of juice when he got home and then, despite my best efforts, ended up wetting himself twice -- the first time quite a bit before I could get him to the potty, the second time just dampening the underwear -- and so we switched back to a pull-up for the rest of the evening (which stayed dry until bedtime).

I let him wear underwear to school again today.  I don't know if this will continue, but he's really excited about the underwear (Disney and Dora the Explorer themed, none of which he recognizes, but still) so we'll use it to our advantage.  Here's hoping my couch and rug make it through in tact.

Adventures in Potty Training, And so on

I'm happy to say that Oliver is doing really well with potty training.  After such a hit and miss beginning, then regression, I'm excited to say that he's getting close to the point of spending his waking hours in underwear.  We've been doing pull-ups during the day so that he can use the bathroom easily, and most days we go through one or two, so I don't feel as bad that he's not in the cloth.  He still wears a cloth diaper to bed and sometimes for his nap if he hasn't peed recently before going down.  He didn't do as well at daycare on Thursday and Friday, I heard, but I figured the transition back after being gone for a week would be a little challenging, especially since my parents had just left on Thursday, and he loves being with them so much.

Ollie has a pretty good process.  He can go into the bathroom, get his pants and pull-ups down, sit and pee, and get all the way to the point of needing the basin rinsed without requiring any help.  Granted, he normally gets supervised anyway.  He rarely initiates the potty himself, but he goes very quickly after being told to sit down if he needs to, so as long as I watch the clock and his fluid intake, he stays dry all day.  Very often for two hours or so, and even sometimes through naps.

Pooping has been the biggest challenge.  He almost always tells me right after he's gone.  And the last few days he's been constipated, with really small, hard stools.  But then tonight, about ten minutes after he'd peed in the potty, he said he needed to potty again.  So I took him in, set him down, and went back to the kitchen and told him to yell for me when he needed.  Five minutes later, he was still sitting there, pretty red cheeked.  Mom went in and confirmed that she thought he was trying to poop.  And a few more minutes later, the smell in the bathroom indicated our suspicions were correct.  He's clearly started to loosen up, and he'd finally -- FINALLY -- pooped in the toilet, not to mention having initiated the visit.  Lots, lots of excitement, I tell you.

So we're not "there" yet.  I want a few more days like this before I risk my couch and rugs to underwear.  And his daycare teacher has said she's willing to try them at school with him when we're ready to do it both places.  It's going to have to stay prominently on my radar if we don't want to lose ground when the baby comes, but I think he could be close to being daytime trained.

Yay, Oliver!

Weigh In: Week 38

142 lbs.  And still pregnant.  I had a midwife's appointment on Friday.  They asked if I wanted to be checked, and I said yes.  Normally I don't want to know how far dilated or effaced I am.  I prefer just to go with how I'm feeling as an indicator.  But with the GBS and knowing I need to be there a few hours early, I wanted to know if I was starting from 0 or had made a little progress already.  The midwife said I was 2 cm and soft, and the baby was low but still could come down a little.  She didn't think it would be this weekend, and now that it's Saturday night, that prediction seems ever more likely.  My next appointment with them is on Monday, January 10, the day before my due date, per their estimation (which puts me at 39 weeks on Tuesday).  Oliver was 39 weeks based on his EDD by first trimester ultrasound, and if this one comes at the same gestational age, she would be born on my younger sister's birthday.  Perhaps that's what she's waiting for.

I am a little bigger, a little rounder, a little more uncomfortable, and ever more ready for her to be here.  My parents visited last Tuesday until Thursday, at which point they drove home and my mom came back on Friday to stay the weekend while Wes works overnights, just in case.  I took advantage of the extra kitchen help (and, for my father, toddler-wrangling help) to do a LOT of cooking.  Before Oliver was born, I made two lasagnas that we froze and ate later.  This time, I went BIG.  Wes and I bought a chest freezer for the garage, and I am doing my utmost to fill it.  Currently there: two sausage lasagnas, two spinach lasagnas, two batches of white chicken chili, two batches of beef chili, one batch of chicken tortilla soup (the other in the refrigerator for us to eat this weekend), one black bean vegetable bake (the other in the refrigerator for later this week), and half a dozen cornbread muffins.  Tomorrow ia posole day, with two batches to be frozen.  That's a lot of food, people.  But I think it will make a big difference in how healthy we eat over the course of this semester.  I am very thankful to have had mom here to help me dice probably 16 onions, mince garlic, and chop peppers.  We had the chicken tortilla soup for dinner tonight, and while I think it could use some more spice, it was pretty good (and Ollie ate and loved it, which is always a bonus).  Oh, and we also made pumpkin bread today, which yielded three medium loaves, two of which have also been frozen.  The chest freezer, in addition to housing these items, will likely get some frozen rolls, perhaps some pizzas, and eventually (I hope) lots of bags of breast milk.

Other than that, nothing else seems to be cooking.  I keep hoping each day that I am nearing her arrival (and of course, that's always true, though not as imminently as I'd hoped).  I made a lunch date with two classmates for Tuesday, and my first official class of the semester is a week from Thursday, January 12, so I do sincerely hope it's not too much longer.  The good news is that her delay -- if it's even fair to call it that -- has allowed me to do all the errands, stocking up, cooking ahead, and cleaning that I could possibly do (or that is reasonable I guess, as I could always do more).  Ollie has had time and attention at home.  Even Lucy got a short walk today.  And tonight, Wes works his last shift for the next three weeks.  Seems as good a time as any, doesn't it?

Here's hoping my next Weigh In is a post-partum one!