I'm so Proud!

I am so proud of Steve. He had his first visit from the clinical education coordinator yesterday. Alden told him that it is all down hill from here though. The site Steve is at is known to be particularly hard and have long hours. Alden chose the three students to put there, but they are older students who have more life experience and are more mature. Not the young ones fresh out of under grad.

I can only assume that the younger crowd tends to not quite understand work ethic, etc. I knew my hubby could handle it. I am just glad that someone else sees it too. Alden said that Steve will flat out seem bored by several of his rotations from here on out. Hey, at least he is getting the worst out of the way before the baby arrives.

Now back to bed to try and sleep a little since I just saw school is on a 2 hr DELAY! WOOHOO!

35 wks 2 days

I haven't posted a pregnancy update in while. I suppose I should since there might not be too many left to do (hopefully).

I had a check-up today. Doc said pregnancy is fine, but the rest of me seems to be falling apart. I am now on an antibiotic for bronchitis (like Lily was last week) and Ambian to help me sleep. I haven't been sleeping more than a couple of hours total a night. Sinus stuff, coughing, and pain in my shoulder. I have been slightly irritable. :(

Here's to hoping the doc made the right choices for meds and I start to feel a little better. I wasn't due to go back to see him again until Feb. 3rd, but he wants me back next week to check on my chest congestion and sleeping. Here goes to weekly OB visits - from now until baby arrives!

4 1/2 wks to go!!!!!!!!!!!

Frustration or Joy

Frustrations:
I will start with my frustration so I can get it off my chest. Lily has been particularly obnoxious in the last 15 hours or so. She likes to refuse to eat. I am not exactly sure where it comes from, but I have my suspicions that it is one way for her to have some control. I try to give her choices whenever appropriate. When it comes to eating, I don't make her eat. I also refuse to fix something different for her. We had soup last night.

She tasted it and said it was delicious and wonderful. Then proceeded to refuse to eat anything after the first couple bites. We had a playdate scheduled for 10 this morning. She got up this morning and I told her that we wouldn't go to the playdate until she ate the soup from the night before. She ate the first bit in decent time for her, but was refusing to eat the last three (literally) bites. I called our "date" in ear shot and explained that Lily was having a hard morning and that we might not be coming. As soon as I hung up the phone, the three bites were gone. It took her at least an hour and a half and then it was over in about 30 seconds. ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Joys:
I happened to have the news on while we had a picnic dinner (of pizza) in the living room. The local news put up a few pictures of children from Haiti. Nothing graphic - just sad faces. I was wanting to talk to Lily about Haiti at some point and let her shop for some ready-to-eat food giving her the opportunity to tangibly participate. Lily asked what was wrong. I explained to her that their houses fell down and they didn't have any food right now. "We need to put some in the car and help them." At first I thought she meant bring the children home, but she clarified herself. "We need to buy some food and take it to them. It is far away and we need an airplane."

We went shopping and Lily was allowed to pick out items. I asked her how many of each. "Seven" They got 7 cans of each food item and 7 gallons of water. We dropped them off in Danville at God's Pit Crew's drop off point while we were visiting Steve.

Reflection:
I know I need to focus on the joys, but there are times when that is hardly sufficient to persevering through the frustrations. I don't mean to come off as so negative. It is just where I am right now.

December Lily"isms"

iTouch - Lily knows how to operate Steve's iTouch. She knows how to unlock it (by sliding). She can find the games and open them to play them. It is really quite interesting to watch.
_______________________________________________

L to one of her dolls: "I know it's hurting sweet pie."
_______________________________________________

L (crying and very emotional): "I want putong!"
Me: "I do to, Lily. But it is still going to be awhile."
_______________________________________________

L: "Daddy, I smell poo-poo. Did you toot?"
I think she learned the word "toot" at school.
_______________________________________________

Me: "Can you do it Lily?"
L: " I can handle it. I can handle it"
_______________________________________________

Lily "wrote" a story/mini-book at school. She drew a few lines and then Miss Je** wrote what Lily told her. Here is the translation:

"The Mean Squirrel" by Lily

Great is the Lord and Mighty in power (one of her memory verses). The squirrel had a friend a cow. The squirrel pinched the cow and him said said "oww." The squirrel said, "I'm sorry" and they were friends.

The End

Cars - Argh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can't live w/ 'em. Can't live w/o 'em. Remember when the battery died in my car less than a month ago? Well, today Steve's car thought it was its turn - while Steve was still in D-ville! We replaced that battery less than 2 yrs ago. Maybe less than 18 mths.

It was a frustrating and seemingly endless experience. Suffice it to say. Steve was done in D-ville ready to come home WAY earlier than expected at 2 pm. He is still not home, but should be within 30 min maybe less. WAY more drama than I wanted tonight.

Just thankful he is nearly home!

Way TOO Funny

Mom and I headed to C-ville to do a tad bit of baby shopping. I hope we have most of what we absolutely NEED. I shouldn't be posting this. I should be in bed, but I HAVE to.

For those who don't know, my mom is state director for CWA. On the return trip, she made a phone call for CWA. I was starting to get a little impatient with her talking politics (even if it was concerning an important family/moral issue).

I was kidding around and held my hand over my mouth and pretended to make crackling sounds and said, "Sorry, L****, I'm getting ready to lose you." I REALLY was just kidding. Evidently, L**** heard me, thought it really was Mom, and said "Ok, Bye," and hung up!

After a few minutes of collecting ourselves from laughing so hysterically. she called her back and let her know that it was a joke :)

Christmas 2009

After being told she had to wait until Daddy was up!

Opening her Kai-lan figurines to be used in her dollhouse

Entranced at the Hershey Chocolate Tour

Hailey and Lily opening Christmas gifts together

Hailey in mid-flight - shock of all shocks Lily is waiting patiently :)

Disclaimer: Battery really did die, so I don't have many pics to choose from. I relied on my mom and dad's camera for pics of Christmas with them.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Let me start off with a deep apology! I will have a few pics to share this evening, but I didn't charge the battery to our little point and shoot camera before we left for CT. We got a few pics before the battery died. Lily's nap is about up and I won't get the ones we have uploaded before she awakes.

Can a trip be quick and long at the same time. We were gone only 84 hours, but 23 of those hours were spent traveling with 18-24 sleeping. We really only had about 37-40 hours with family. Lily really enjoyed spending time with her cousins and grandparents - aunt and uncles too!

Lots of fun and games and gifts to be had by all. We had an outing to a local McDs for some playtime the day after Christmas. We attempted ice-skating with Lily again. It was a covered outdoor rink. I think she really would have enjoyed herself, EXCEPT . . .

About an hour before we were to leave for the rink, she took a tumble down a flight of stairs. She seemed fine at the time and is fine now, but at the rink she was complaining on her head hurting. I asked L what happened and this is what I got: "I fell down the steps. (pause - possibly for dramatics?) Backwards, mommy."

We debated what to do, because she got sick after returning home from the rink. All the medical training in the world (PA school and dealing with concussions in athletes - for Steve) doesn't prepare you to deal with your own child. After some quick research, we decided it was best for all just to monitor her at the house. We woke her several times in the night and she was coherent enough to tell us in NO UNCERTAIN TERMS "LEAVE ME ALONE!"

She has a couple small bumps and bruises, but by the next morning she was back to her normal self. What is Christmas without some drama?

BTW, I wouldn't suggest traveling that far by car in your third trimester to anyone :) It wasn't bad just a lot more uncomfortable than usual. But I suppose, it was still easier than the same trip would've been with an infant!

I still have several more things to get done before L gets up and I am pushing my luck at this point!