A snapshot of the week

 

I have written multiple posts here but it's being weird about uploading pictures from my camera, and since a post without pictures is quite dull, I've not published any. I've tried in the past few weeks to pull out my phone, so here's what we've been up to (in reverse order):

 

 

Children's Museum this morning. H actually was having a great time in the construction zone room, and I was completely overwhelmed with the sheer volume of bodies and noise. No plans to return, but we had a nice lunch down at Quincy Market and it was a fun family outing.

My "flower garden". As the woodchuck made his presence well known last year by chowing down everything I'd planted, I opted for the easy and lazy version of gardens this year and chucked a bag of wildflower mix in the space. It's a bit overgrown, but I love seeing what's bloomed that morning and think it's rather English Cottage

Still crying about this. H's last day of daycare was on Friday. For all the agonizing that went in to placing her in care, it's been 10x worse pulling her out. She loves it, they love her, I'm worried about her lack of socialization and stimulation once she's home all day with just me, she learned so much I worry she'll fall behind because I won't think to teach her something, she talks about her friends all the time and is very dedicated to her schedule.....I just feel awful about it. Long way of saying I sobbed the minute I dropped her off and continued for the rest of the day. Hope it's just end stage pregnancy hormones and that she'll really be fine.

The Green Room, her home for the past 9 months

The wonderful Cindy, H's main teacher. She's been a great support through a period of extreme change in our lives, and obviously I trust her with the most precious thing in our life. Wish there was some way of taking her home with us....

Determined not to be a slacker mother, I took H strawberry picking this week. I anticipated a very short grumpy stay with tons of prep work and no pleasure (lets be honest, that's how most adventures with kids go, right?) and was shocked with how much fun we had. It was a cool and overcast day, H got the concept right away, there were no bugs, strawberries are the perfect crop for kids to pick (no thorns, easy to identify ripe, easy to reach) and she had such a good time. We filled a flat with almost 12 pounds of berries in 45 minutes, and that's not counting the number of berries H ate (and did she ever eat!). She helped quite a bit with the actual picking, though once I got home I realized her version of packing them included smooshing them down in to make sure they fit, and there was a large number with a single bite missing (quality control?) so our usable amount was a bit smaller, but all in all a fabulous adventure.

We've been slowly making the living room into a decorated space. Lots of Ikea trips (because I keep forgetting stuff) and plans for a few more things, it finally feels like something other than a porch where old furniture got dumped.

Watching Dad's softball game. It was pretty toasty so she got to run around naked. She loves these games, always cheers for the wrong side, and it's a great way to burn energy off for her.

My living room rug! A bit obsessed with zebra print at the moment for some reason, so the room's being made over in that print and reds. We'll see :)

So excited about this find. I've always loved the road rug idea but the only ones I've seen have been so "boy" and industrial This one is perfect for H's room. For one thing, the blue is the exact shade of her walls, and for another, it's a really fun design with all kinds of scenarios on it. Fits the space perfectly, easy to clean and cheap....I've been having a blast playing on it

My first and only frivolous purchase for Bo (and no, poor kid is still without a name). A cream colored formal outfit for
church just screams for a blowout accident, but it's so soft and so cute...he got a new outfit.

I still have a few more clinic visits to complete, a few SOAP notes to write and a HUGE budget summary to complete (start......) before I can take my practice exam, comps and boards. Realistically I won't have boards done by the time Bo comes, but I hope to have the rest out of the way, though I just realized I'll be considered term in just 3 weeks. Eeks. Also, I changed my midwife back to the one I had with Henri and am feeling so much better about delivering at Cambridge. No guarantee about anything, but their VBAC rate is an amazing 90%, and it helps that I know every single person (literally) that I will see while staying there. They're excited to have me, and I'm feeling hopeful. The midwife I had been seeing was wonderful when I told her and gave me her personal cell # and email address and asked to be informed the minute I went into labor. I joked that I'd call her to be my doula and she was dead serious and said she's love to come. We'll see what happens, but it's great to know I have all these wonderful women willing to come help make my dream a reality. As far as the pregnancy itself, it still really sucks. I'm in way more pain than I ever had with H, he keeps flip flopping positions, I'm still crying about everything and I've measured 3 weeks ahead for the past 4 visits (either really big baby, weird shaped uterus or tons of fluid. none ideal options. I'd love for it to mean he's coming early, but highly doubt that). We'll see what my midwife says Tuesday, it might mean an extra u/s :( H has gotten to feel him move and was pretty excited by that. She's starting to observe babies more closely and was a big help in nursery on Wednesday night with the twins, so there's hope she'll adjust.

Anyway, lots of plans for family and renovations and re-doing my bedroom to get ready for Bo...and of course classwork. Hope you all have a great start to July!

One month gone

I've been very neglectful of this space but don't worry, you're not missing anything! Just life continuing at a rapid pace, a very tight deadline for a few big papers and then some breathing room before the big push to final exams and licensure, and, oh, a baby. Yeah, not that I think he'll be early (despite a lot of finger crossing) but technically he could be here in as little as 6 weeks. Name suggestions would be welcomed!
David has moved in for the summer and H is loving having another person to boss around/chatter at/comment on their every movement. Not much gets past her at this point and she's combining that with a killer memory to keep me on my toes. I tend to tune her out as the constant talking can be very overwhelming, but when I do listen she's coming up with some pretty funny stuff. A favorite activity is to "have a conversation", a tradition I started when she was a newborn, and one that she organizes for us now. It's a 2 minute check in of where we are in our day and what the next plans are, as well as a chance for her to tell me the pressing issues of toddler-hood. Generally it revolves around things like airplanes, what's for dinner, and what various relatives might be up to at that given moment.
We've moved on to bigger girl books and it impresses me that she'll sit for as long as she will while I read. Frog and Toad is a huge deal right now; I have a collection of 4 of the books in one and she'll have me read the whole thing a few times a day. Predictably, the Button Story is her current favorite. She also thinks Blueberries for Sal is the funniest story ever, and I have ambitious hopes of taking her to Blueberry Hill in VT. Realistically I'll let her pick out which tub she wants from the grocery store and we'll make cobbler or something....Anyway, a few photos from the past few weeks (I've been terrible about getting out the camera. It's so much more fun to just enjoy the moment as H refuses to look or makes an awful face when I pull it out):

31 weeks. This kid is low and waaaaay out there. Just looked at the scale and I'm up 20 pounds :( No idea how that happened except perhaps for the ice cream, cookies, cake, iced tea, chocolate bars, tootsie rolls.....I did pass my glucose test, though!

A typical play scenario. I assume we're having a picnic here, a favored activity

As labeled, brought home from school. It did great in our window but withered and died within a day of transplanting.

Ogunquit day trip a few weeks back. Pretty much the easiest way to entertain Henri, ever

Easy way to entertain me, too :)

Steve, before the tide forced us to retreat to the river side of the beach

What most of my pictures of her look like at this point

These were after I halved the recipe. Yum!

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A favorite tree at the park



Our new couch! Nothing too crazy, but it's comfy and currently tear-free

If we remember to get it out once in a while there should be plenty of photos next week as we have the ambition to join some good friends in Nantucket later this week. Very very excited, many fingers crossed that I'll be able to finish my papers by then and that the weather will hold :)