23 Months Old, 38/39 Weeks Pregnant

This is what my life looks like now...very pregnant and chasing a little rascal around.  Except I'm not usually smiling.  Noah doesn't walk, he only runs.  Then after he gets all tired and sweaty, he says "Mommy carry."

He also does the exact opposite of everything we tell him to do.  At lunch the other day, I asked him to use a fork, and he didn't want to.  Then I said, "Okay, you don't have to use it if you don't want to."  Then he picked up the fork and started using it.  When Noah isn't being totally disobedient, he's usually bossing me around, telling me to get up, or sit down, or read this, or do that.  Then the other 10% of the time he's really sweet and cute and does what I ask.  All I can say is, it's a good thing I think he's cute.  Haha!

The only change I've really noticed this past month is improved talking.  He had been stringing two or three words together, but now every once in a while he can get out an almost real sentence!  He also uses "I" sometimes, rather than "Noah".  I don't recall him using the word "you" yet though.

Peter's been working late the past couple of weeks and was out of town this past weekend for his cousin's wedding so Noah has had a lot of just Mommy time.  I don't know if it's because of that, or age, or the pregnancy, but he's become a lot more Mommy dependent.  And while it's kind of nice since he's really always been all about Daddy, I'm getting a little worried about how he's going to handle having a new baby in the house in a couple of weeks!  Okay, I'm actually a little worried about how we're all going to handle having a new baby in the house, but at least Peter and I are adults and will adjust.  We've been reading to him about being a big brother and telling him he has a baby sister on the way.  He seems about as aware as he can be, but I think I'm going to be hearing a lot of "Mommy carry" and "Sit down Mommy lap" in the near future.

Worries aside though, I'm ready to be not pregnant anymore!  The anticipation has been kind of different this time around.  With Noah, I really didn't know what to expect other than what people told me, and you know how they say that ignorance is bliss.  Also, because Noah was the first, we had to actually prepare a room and space for him, so there was physical evidence ahead of time that change was on the way.  This time around all I really needed to do was dig up Noah's old baby things, buy a few onesies, and wash some clothes.  My sister-in-law, who was supposed to be due Aug 3, a week ahead of me, just had her baby this past Friday.  Seeing the little baby actually helped get me into the baby mindset a bit more.  I know that some things will probably be easier with baby #2 because I (hopefully) won't be as paranoid and neurotic about everything, but how do you prepare to take care of two kids?  Two kids in diapers, two kids to schlep around, two kids to plan for, two kids to feed, two kids to nap...sigh.  I remember what a logistical ordeal it was every time I just wanted to step out of the house with Noah.  All of a sudden there was fifteen extra essentials I needed to have to go out.  In the past, I had a hard enough time just remembering my wallet, cell phone, and keys.  I guess all I can do is put forth my best and not stress too much, and let God and Peter fill in the rest.

Well, hopefully I will be updating again sooner rather than later about the new baby!

22 Months Old

Happy with Monkey

Moody with Monkey

Noah turned 22 months old last week and boy has it been an interesting month.  I'm not sure if the "terrible twos" are upon us or if Noah is having a hard time transitioning to the more lax summer schedule, or both.  Some days he'll wake up just fine: smiling, cooperative, happy.  Other days, he'll wake up super cranky and the answer to everything is "No Mommy" or "No way" or "Go away."  Just recently he woke up crying, saying "No Mommy, go away" and then cried when I actually went away; this cycle continued for at least 20-30 min.  Then when I finally got him out of bed he would start crying every time I tried to get him to do something.  I think the picture above is from that day... He was so out of control that I finally decided to take him on a stroller ride because that usually calms him down.  We strolled around for a little while, and though it didn't exactly put him in a better mood, he was at least able to be calm.  Earlier in the year we had decided to keep him in daycare until the end of August because of my pregnancy (we would've had to pay a penalty to pull him out earlier but would have saved some money still) and I am so glad we made that decision!  Not just because of the tantrums every 5 minutes, but also because the heat makes it difficult to do anything but stay inside; at least at daycare they have activities going on all day long, as well as very powerful A/C.  I've also been experiencing a lot of back pain and fatigue from pregnancy so it's nice to not have to deal with a crazy toddler at the same time.  Yesterday I had a hard time just standing up for more than a few minutes!  I don't recall having these issues with Noah, and I definitely was feeling pretty ok overall until just recently.  I hope it isn't like this the rest of the pregnancy because I don't know if I'll make it to August 10!

Noah is talking more and more and starting to string two or three words together.  He has been using this new skill to boss us around.  He often doesn't like it when we're relaxing while he's playing so he'll say "Mommy/Daddy no lie down!" or "Mommy/Daddy off chair!"  Another favorite is "Mommy/Daddy get up!"  "Mommy/Daddy milk, please" isn't one of the combos, though.  Have to work on that.  On the more positive side, Noah is also developing more personality and remembering more events these days.  He likes fooling around and often will say "Noah funny" after doing something silly.  When he does accomplishes some task, some times he will say "Good job, self."  We recently started getting him familiar with the idea of using the potty (he's a long way from any sort of real potty training) and one day we found a bug in his potty.  I have no idea where it came from because living in a condo, there aren't too many insects around, but ever since then, he'll randomly say "buggy in potty."  We also started swim class last week and since that Friday, when we mention playing in the water, he'll say things like "pool" or "fish, green fish" because he played with a green fish toy in class. 

Another fun thing is that Noah now breaks out into song randomly - on the changing table, during lunch, while playing with toys.  He sounds tone-deaf when singing and only really gets out maybe 75% of the words and lyrics, but it's enough for me to know what he's singing.  His current favorites are the ABC's (which he calls ABCD), Twinkle Twinkle (which he calls Winko), Wheels on the Bus, and the Itsy Bitsy Spider - though at daycare they also sing a version where it's the Big Big Spider, and this is the one that Noah insists on singing.  He doesn't like the itsy bitsy one even though it's the exact same song, just with different sized spiders.    

It's so funny the things he takes in and holds on to, because he sure isn't holding onto the times when I tell him to not put his hand in his drinking cup or to not play with the cable box.  I find that it is really difficult to get him to do something without some sort of manipulation.  When he runs into his Cozy Coupe and slams the door shut in order to avoid a diaper change or putting on his shoes to go out, we have to coax him out of the car every time.  We usually employ one of two methods: bribing him with the prospect of watching a DVD in the car if we're going out, or giving him the choice of getting out himself or being taken out.  About half the time he'll get out himself, but the other times we just have a screaming toddler who's gone boneless.

Despite all of the tantrums and difficulties though, Noah is more fun and funny than ever and it melts my heart every time he runs over to give me a hug or just wants me nearby.