"In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt." -Margaret Atwood
As always, I am long, long overdue at updating our blog. I realize that for a while I was really good at doing "Week in Review" posts and now they've become sort of every-other-month posts. Yikes. But at least I'm still blogging, right? Here's a look at what we've been up to since mid-March!!!
Jojo had his 2nd ever dental appointment and, just like the first time, he did awesome! From playing with the train table in the lobby to getting his teeth cleaned, he seems to enjoy each step!
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| They always take a picture of him at each appointment and I thought this one was so so cute! |
We took a day trip to Charlotte to get together with our friend, Emily! We try to get together with her a few times a year and we all always have SO much fun! She took us to a very very authentic Dim Sum restaurant (Dim Sum is a style of Cantonese Chinese cuisine in which you order multiple "small plates" to share, kind of like Spanish Tapas). Our family definitely loves ethnic food (including Jojo), so we are always game to try pretty much anything. After eating, we went shopping at an international market and then also went to Concord Mills for a bit. Thanks, Miss Emily, for such a fun Saturday!!!
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| Our Dim Sum table |
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| Jellyfish anyone? (Yes, I'm serious...jellyfish.) |
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| Jojo loves Miss Emily! |
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| Watching the balloon artist |
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| Playing at the Lego Store at Concord Mills |
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| Silly Emily!!! |
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| Happy family after a fun day with a friend! |
We were heartbroken to stay up late only to watch the Tar Heels lose during the NCAA Title Game. So, so sad. But at least Jojo had fun snuggling on the couch during it!
As a family, the three of us (well, four of us counting Lizzie!) attended the annual La Leche League Area Conference in Durham, NC, at the Doubletree Suites. We only went for the Saturday morning sessions (the conference went on all weekend), but we had so so so much fun! Next year the conference is in Greensboro which means not only will I be helping plan it, but hopefully we can make it for the full weekend! Most of you know how much my involvement with La Leche means to me. Being a member and a leader has been simply amazing. And, although La Leche is first and foremost an international breastfeeding support organization, for me it's also an important place of connecting with other moms that share our family's parenting philosophies in general. And the best thing is that La Leche really encourages family participation in conferences, so it felt great to bring David and Jojo along, and I can't wait for them to join me next year! The three of us attended the first morning session on "Fostering Sibling Harmony." With Lizzie on the way, David and I decided this would be a good one for us to sit in on. After that we all attended the general morning session, and then I attended the luncheon session on cosleeping and bedsharing while David took Jojo to lunch at the hotel restaurant and to play outside near the hotel. I'm not sure which of us had the most fun! I also got to meet Mariam Thompson, one of the original founders of La Leche League International back in 1956. If you don't know the story of La Leche's history, it's pretty cool! In 1956 breastfeeding rates were at an all-time low in America. A group of suburban Chicago women (Mariam included) met at a church picnic at Wilder Park outside of Chicago and noticed each other nursing their babies. Shortly after, many women approached them expressing their frustration with wanting to breastfeed their own babies, but experiencing difficulty and not being able to get much help from their doctors or others (doctors at the time were very poorly educated in breastfeeding). They started a local group to provide mother-to-mother support to women who wanted to breastfeed and, in the 60 years since, La Leche League has grown to a huge international organization that offers support to breastfeeding moms all over the world. Meeting Mariam was awesome!
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| Me with all of the other ladies who became accredited LLL leaders over the past year. |
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| Jojo and Daddy played outside while I went to the lunch session. |
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| Jojo played on some steps of an apartment complex next to the hotel. He must have been having fun, because he asked David if we could get an apartment there, LOL! |
As is a regular occurrence for us, David gave blood at a local blood drive. I'm so proud of him for giving so consistently. One of the things I miss most when pregnant is donating blood with him (can't wait to get back at it after Lizzie comes).
Sadly, our spring has not been all happy experiences, though. In mid-April, all 3 of us came down with a HORRIBLE stomach bug. Terrible vomiting, stomach pain, fever...it was awful. Joseph got it first and had it a full two days before David and I came down with it. It is the sickest I've ever seen our little guy. He was truly pitiful...slept for 2 days with only a few small periods of being awake, and couldn't keep anything on his tummy. We finally took him to the doctor, just to make sure he wasn't getting dehydrated. It was really rough on all of us in different ways....rough on Jojo as a child, rough on me as a pregnant woman, and rough on David as someone that had to go back to work right after recovering when he was still weak. Stomach bugs stink!
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| This was the first day he was sick. He'd been throwing up since 11pm the night before. We took him outside to the back yard and hung out there, to get him some fresh air and to make clean up easier (gross, I know!). Poor baby. He slept most of the time. |
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| At the doctor's office, waiting in the waiting room |
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| Note the bucket. As the doctor said "Jojo, it's never a good sign when a patient comes to see me for a stomach bug and they have a bucket with them." Hahaha |
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| After the doctor's visit. So, so sick. He requested to sit in the front yard and be held like a baby. We obliged him, of course. |
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| Finally, that evening, turning a corner |
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| And even up for a little interaction. Little did David and I know at this point that the same bug would hit us about 8 hours after this pic was taken. :-( |
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| Not my finest picture, but taken with Joseph the next day when I was really sick (I'm all about being "real" on the blog, so here you go!). Little monkey was feeling considerably better by then, and was so sweet to cuddle with mommy. |
The week after we fully recovered from the bug, we attended a fundraiser at the Brassfield Chick-Fil-A that was being held my the Greensboro Police Department, with proceeds to benefit Special Olympics. Jojo had so much fun visiting his police officer friends, including his longtime favorite "Miss Rosann").
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| Miss Rosann, Jojo, and the Cow! |
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| Hanging out in the back of Miss Rosann's patrol car, with the stuffed animal she gave him |
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| Such sweet buddies! |
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| Thanks, Greensboro Police, for all that you do! |
We attended a "Big Brother/Big Sister" Class at Women's Hospital one Sunday afternoon, for children expecting little siblings soon. Joseph had a ball! He got to make Lizzie a card for when she comes, see a mother-baby room (so he'll see the type of room he'll visit Mommy is when Lizzie is born), have a snack of animal crackers (probably his favorite part), and learn how to hold a baby (he was allowed to bring a stuffed animal to mimic diapering and holding a baby, and he chose to bring the stuffed bee Miss Rosann gave him the previous week). Little man is going to be an AWESOME big brother!
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| Daddy helping Jojo make a card for Lizzie |
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| Snack time! |
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| So proud that he learned to hold a baby! |
Jojo and I finished our homeschooling year this past week! YAY! I am so so proud of all he learned this year and am looking so forward to planning his next preschool year to start in August (this one will be with a 5 week old baby in tow, so it should be a whole new challenge for me!). Homeschooling him has been amazing...I'm 100% excited about the many years that remain in our homeschooling journey! I've also, over this year, really come to prefer the "unschooling" philosophy, that learning shouldn't be confined to a school day, and is a lifelong process that happens throughout time, in every little moment. I also like some structure, though, which is why we will continue to have a "formal school year" each year and do a little enrichment work over the summer. But, by and large, I most enjoy seeing his brain soak up little bits of life all the time! Amazing!
I suppose this blog would not be complete without a pregnancy update, so here it goes. As of tonight, I am 30 weeks, 2 days pregnant! Roughly 9 weeks, 5 days to go. Yay! I'm feeling relatively decent. I've had no swelling at all so far, in my legs or anywhere else. I had a TON of swelling starting at 21 weeks with Jojo, so having made it 9 weeks further with no swelling is awesome. In terms of uncomfortable symptoms, there have been a few. For one, Lizzie's movements are so, so, so, so painful. I hate to complain, because I love that she is healthy and active. But WHOA, her movements hurt so bad. One night I was actually in tears. What I found odd was that it isn't just her big powerful kicks that hurt me (those also hurt with Joseph), but even her smaller squirms and movements cause me much pain and discomfort. It was confusing, because the pain occurs even when she isn't moving vigorously. After asking my doctor and several other medical professionals I know about it, as well as some other moms, I pretty much determined the reason for all this discomfort (her movements started hurting at 24 weeks and it's gotten worse of course as she has gotten bigger). For one, since I've been pregnant before my abdominal wall is much more stretched out and thinner, leading to a more intense feeling of movement. For another, the placenta is entirely on the back side of my uterus this time, meaning it offers no padding between Lizzie and my abdominal wall. But the biggest thing has been my weight gain. When starting at a normal BMI, it is recommended that a mom gain 25-35 pounds throughout pregnancy. By this point, I should have gained somewhere between 17-21 pounds. With Joseph, I think I had gained about 20 pounds at this point (I was ravenously hungry during my 2nd and 3rd trimester with him). With Lizzie, I have gained...9 pounds. LOL. I'm very behind in my weight gaining. I was so nauseous my first two trimesters, AND even now I don't have the huge appetite I did with Jojo. Basically I have apparently lost the nice layer of fat padding on my abdominal wall that I had to cushion Jojo's movements. So virtually, there is not much of anything between Lizzie and the outside world other than a super thin layer of uterus and a thin layer of abdominal wall and skin. Her movements feel like they are RIGHT under my skin, and if you watch my belly you can see virtually every move she makes. It's crazy. In fact, AS I am typing this, I am yelping in pain every few minutes. I think I'll enjoy her movement more on the outside than I am right now. LOL. Also, I'm having some trouble sleeping due to her putting pressure on my sciatic nerve, but that comes and goes. Some nights I have a really good night, and some nights not so good. Every night I go to bed in our master bedroom with David and Jojo, and then when I wake up uncomfortable anywhere between 11:30pm and 3am I wander into the guest bedroom across the hall and sleep the rest of the night there where I can toss and turn as much as I need. It's an arrangement that works fine now, but I'll be happy when she's here and I'm more comfortable and can spend all night long in the bedroom with my two favorite guys (and Lizzie!). And I'm having LOTS of VERY STRONG Braxton Hicks contractions. They were never so strong with Jojo, and some are downright borderline painful. My body must really be practicing for this upcoming VBAC! It's all so worth it, though. We had an ultrasound this past week at 29 weeks 5 days. She looked great and the ultrasound estimated her weight to be 3 pounds 3 ounces, which means she is measuring about 2 days ahead of schedule (which is on target with how she has measured from the start). It was so fun to see her for the first time in a while!!! We have also started a refresher series of childbirth classes. Hoping that we'll get to use all the techniques we didn't get to use with Joseph's delivery since I never went into labor with him. Lots of exciting things going on!
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| Sweet Baby! |
Finally, I'll leave you with a few random pictures of Jojo as of late. Love love love my precious boy.
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| This picture makes me laugh. We were fishing at the lake in our neighborhood a couple of weekends ago. Jojo was squatting down right at the edge of the lake and tumbled right in! LOL. David grabbed him with one hand (without ever dropping his fishing pole!) before he was fully submerged, but we laughed about his quick little "swim with the fish." This was the immediate aftermath. |
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| Joseph took a late nap one Sunday afternoon when we'd gone to my grandmother's house for dinner. Nonie was happy to hold him while he slept. |
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| We got rid of an old recliner. Jojo was happy with it when it was in "transition stage" after we had removed the back. It fit him perfectly. :-) |
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| He loves to stuff a stuffed animal under his shirt and pretend that he's pregnant like me, haha. |
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| Posing with the beautiful azaleas in our backyard! |
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| Silly boy enjoying some time at Krispy Kreme |
Hope everyone is enjoying their spring! Hopefully I can do more regular updates soon!
