This is what 47 1/2 inches of belly looks like

Once upon a time, about July, I was a size four or six. Not anymore.

Three Milestones

First: Abby told her first "not" joke. It went something like this... "Abby change her play clothes... not." Then she laughed. I laughed harder - almost hard enough to fall down the steps. She certainly keeps us on our toes.

Second: I am up to 47 1/2 inches. I don't know how much further my poor belly can stretch.

Third: Steve now weighs 3 pounds less than I do. This is the first time since we've been dating that I've outweighed him. I guess his 4 weeks of eating sensibly and running on the elliptical have worked wonders. Now we are going to have to pull out his box of smaller pants and I'll need to pull out my box of maternity dresses, since pants are becoming a more and more uncomfortable option.

Growing UP

Abby has been stretching out - two weeks in a row her size 2T dresses seemed a little too short. It's hard to believe our little baby started out at only 8 pounds and 22 inches.

We finished our most recent round of swimming classes yesterday. Abby really enjoyed her class, but had the most fun when mommy was participating. And we had a much better time this time around since Abby's friends were in the class as well. We will have to see what we decide to do this summer when swimming is offered again - having two kids in the pool is going to be a lot more work.

Abby Reads

Abby's version of reading (this is the same video we put on facebook earlier this week - it just wouldn't load here until now).

If you can't tell, she reads this book a lot. Like 5 to 10 times a day. I'm pretty sure she knows every single word.

Newsflash!

At 1:00 p.m. today Abby finally did her stinky business on her potty chair - and got rewarded with two mini reese's cups. Let's hope she decides the reward is worth letting us know that she needs to go potty. And it would be great if she'd decide to pee on the potty too. Changing diapers is not something I really enjoy doing.

Abby is Grouchy

"Abby is grouchy."

The above statement came directly from the little girls mouth on the way home from play group. She wasn't kidding. After 1 entire hour of crying before taking her nap, I am exhausted. So for today, all you are getting from me is Abby's revelation that she is grouchy (this was said before the napping incident).

I think I should be grouchy too... but I am trying hard not to be. First my little grouch woke me up at 3:30 because she wanted to listen to her veggie tales c.d. Then the city decided they needed to remove the huge embankments along the edge of the road. Last year they were chest high when the city came through and took them down. This year they are mid-shin to knee high. I'm not sure that amount of snow merited waking me up at 6 a.m. so that they could remove it - I could see over the bank just fine, even in the granny car.

I hope tomorrow is a better day.

Our Girl - 32 Weeks

How your baby's growing:By now, your baby weighs 3.75 pounds (pick up a large jicama) and is about 16.7 inches long, taking up a lot of space in your uterus. You're gaining about a pound a week and roughly half of that goes right to your baby. In fact, she'll gain a third to half of her birth weight during the next 7 weeks as she fattens up for survival outside the womb. She now has toenails, fingernails, and real hair (or at least respectable peach fuzz). Her skin is becoming soft and smooth as she plumps up in preparation for birth.

Apparently I've been doing a lot of laying on the couch (and with good reason), since Abby seems to have decided it looked like a fun thing to try. I've been having some major joint pain, mostly in my right hip and jaw. According to the web it's probably caused by the hormone relaxin, which helps loosen joints to aid in delivery. Unfortunately, I don't really need those joints to be loosened for a c-section and there seems to be an imbalance in the levels, because my joints never hurt like this when I was expecting Abby.

Abby and I went out for a lunch date with her friends Autumn and Little Abby. She had a great time at play land and finally went high enough to get down the slide (she had some major mommy assistance). We've been working very hard on breaking Abby of her recent habit of not listening to mom and dad. Today it took 3 tries to get her into her bed for nap time. She's also been asserting herself with Maize, which can be funny but also probably isn't too safe. Yesterday she was dragging Maize around by the collar (see pictorial evidence). Luckily we picked a very gentle dog, because I think any other dog would have taken a bite or two at Abby for all the abuse. It may make bringing home Baby Sister an exciting adventure. I'm really hoping that Abby will decide to be a helper/protector instead of a boss/aggressor.

And.... only 49 days until the scheduled c-section. Let's hope for a few days less :-)

Comparison

At 32 weeks pregnant with Abby I was 45 inches around. This morning I am 47 inches around. No wonder I feel like a blimp!

For the record: Abby's belly was 19 inches today, but she was sticking it out as much as possible. Then Abby made me measure Maize's belly too. Her's was 22 inches.

And... for the first time since we've been married, I am about to weigh more than Steve. We are within 1/2 pound of each other. I am going one way, he is doing a great job at moving the scale in the other direction.

22 Months Young

Apparently hats are hilarious! Especially when being worn backwards.

Abby has been keeping busy today - she visited her friend Ella, took payroll to the crisis pregnancy center with me, had lunch with her dad, and told all her dolls "I love you anyway." I guess she's read Olivia a few times since Olivia's mommy always says "I love you anyway" when she puts Olivia to bed. It's amazing the things our little sponge soaks up and remembers.

We've been watching a bit of the olympics, since there isn't a lot on t.v. in the evening that is Abby appropriate. Last night she enjoyed watching the "dancers" (ice skaters) doing "supers" (lifts) and the luge, which she called sledding. She is still convinced that the olympics is one giant pow-wow, so whenever they come on she gets excited to see the pow-wow again. She sure keeps us laughing.

Unlike Abby, who was a kicker/puncher, Baby Sister seems to be a flipper and roller. This is way more uncomfortable than the kicking/punching variety of babies. I've been struggling to sleep at night with all the flipping going on. It's been resulting in lots of uncomfortable bulges that are hard to sleep on. But it does make for easy identification of the baby in my belly for Abby, so she at least has the advantage of knowing some littler person is in there trying to get out.

Happy Valentines Day

Abby got to pick her own breakfast this morning from these options:

Russel Stover Chocolates
Great Grandma Grace Sugar Cookies with frosting and sprinkles
Fresh Strawberries

She picked the strawberries. I was shocked! I didn't know that there was a variety of child who would turn down candy or cookies given the chance (all three where on her plate at the same time).