Wow, it's March!!

I can't believe that it has been 3 months since my last update. I no longer have a newborn, or even a tiny baby- Scarlett is already wearing 6 month clothes, rolling, sitting up, and sleeping like a champ. And Riley is going to be 3 in just over a month!! Where has the time gone?!

I hate that I don't get a chance to update here very much, but it just seems like there is so little time, and so much to do. Mr. Beaver and I have both been super busy with work, so we get up and go early in the morning, and then spend from about 5-9 with the girls together, and then we both get back to work or take turns working while the other plays with Scarlett/tries to convince Riley to stay in her room and go to sleep, until we all go to bed. Even on the weekends we seem to take turns working throughout the days while the other parent takes care of the kids. We are also on reverse nap schedules - Scarlett sleeps in the morning for a nice long nap, and then wakes up right in time for Riley's lunch followed by her nap, and then is ready for another nap right around the time Riley wakes up. So it's nice to spend some alone time with each of them, but a little hard for getting stuff done!

Anyway- the lack of time to post updates means that I have missed posting-- and already forgotten -- when a lot of milestones happened for both girls. BUT- I do have some notes on Scarlett! (which are all pretty scattered, oh well!)  When Scarlett was only two months old, she was already holding her head up like a champ and moving back and forth to watch people and Lili walk by. She was already trying to sit up, and she was already pushing her legs while on her belly like she wanted to move. She cooed like crazy, was generous with her smiles, but not so much with laughs. She was wearing size 1 and size 1-2 diapers and already too big for most 0-3 month clothes. By three months she was ready for size two diapers and the 3-6 month clothes fit well! She was still smiling a lot and still a little hard to get laughs from. She could support herself on her legs really well still, even though she had a lot of chub to hold up. She was great with all of her shots and generally very healthy, besides an occasional runny nose. She had amazing hand-eye coordination already, and a really strong grip. She still had all her hair - no bald baby like with Riley!
Sadly I don't remember too much more from this time to post- but about a month ago, I did write most of an update that never got posted:

FEB 4: 

scarlett: is huge! she was over 14 lb at her last doctor appt a month ago, and we've weighed her between 15 and 16 lb various times at home. We'll find out how big she is on Wednesday at her next appointment. Right now she is in 3-6 month clothes and they fit her perfectly, so hopefully she'll stay in those for at least another month. We bought a huge box of 1-2 diapers at costco, and they are way too small! I knew the size 1 diapers were too small now, but I thought being 1-2 would fit for a little while longer (the next size up at costco is 3!). She is such a doll- she is so, so happy and just smiles all the time. She cries occasionally, but really only when she is hungry, tired, or really bored. It's easy to entertain her, so she doesn't get bored unless I'm trying to get an email out or fold laundry or something. 

She is now able to hold her whole upper body up for long periods of time during tummy-time, and she can roll from back to belly. She's only really rolled from belly to back when her arm was already tucked under her body from rolling onto her belly in the first place. She is getting really good at grabbing and holding things already, and puts anything she grabs into her mouth. This is scary, since Riley has so many tiny toy parts that get left all over the floor! I think we're going to need to do some baby proofing sooner than expected! 

Scarlett is definitely a lot more verbal than I remember Riley being, and she makes a variety of sounds already. She loves to have conversations where we take turns going back and forth, and she likes when I make sounds similar to her own more than when I speak in words. She is awake a lot, but does seem to sleep more than I remember Riley sleeping, both at night and during the day. She sleeps really great at night, sometimes even all night, but lately only in our bed... I guess it started when I went back to work. She was going in her pack n play awake and falling asleep on her own, and sleeping all night, for over a month! Then I went back to work, and she started insisting on sleeping with me in bed again. I don't mind it too much- she is so cuddly and warm, and I actually enjoy cuddling with her all night, but I do think it causes a lower quality of sleep for me, so hopefully we'll switch back to her own bed soon. 

She has another round of vaccines on Wednesday, so hopefully she'll do okay! The first two rounds have gone fine -- pretty minimal crying until I was able to nurse her, and then she was okay. Last time she was sore, but we didn't need to give tylenol or anything, we just cuddled and comforted her and she was okay. Our pediatrician here doesn't get as many combo doses of the vaccines as our pedi in pittsburgh, which means she usually gets more shots than Riley did :(  But she seems to be a tough baby, just like Riley! Speaking of Riley...

Our 2 1/2 year old seems to be turning into a preteen already! She can have such attitude, but also says things in such a funny, mature way! She still has the terrible-two-tantrums, though. I don't think she's any worse than the average kid, maybe not even as bad as most, but the tantrums and whining are horrible!! Luckily they are not her typical behavior, and most of the time she is the sweetest, goofiest, happiest little girl I've ever been around. 

She is always asking SO many questions, but she seems to actually remember the answers to them days and even weeks later! She is interested in everything- she'll listen to me talk about shadows for 10 minutes and then build on that conversation over the next weeks, seeming to really understand a lot of my explanations. Of course I tend to explain things in not a very toddler-friendly way and a lot of stuff goes right over her head, but I really am impressed at some of the things she seems to grasp! She has full conversations with just about anyone now, and even talks to people on skype and the phone without us having to bribe her. She has the biggest imagination, too. Even toys that have a clear purpose or function become something else, but most of the time she doesn't even use anything in her games- it's all imaginary. We will go to the beach, ride on an airplane, shop at the store, visit the doctor, go to school, etc. etc. in any given day, with tons of details included in her stories and a lot of imaginary props. She even includes Scarlett, which is so cute! 

She still loves to read books, though most days we don't even get to books until bed time, and she will read through a magazine from cover to cover in a single sitting ("High Five" from Highlights magazine, thanks Great Grandpa!). She can even find the pictures in the hidden figures task now, sometimes before I even see them! She still loves to play with her building blocks and pattern blocks, and also loves any kind of crafts as well as dress up. She is really good at riding her tricycle now, and I'm starting to wonder if it's time for a bike with training wheels already! She seems pretty physically coordinated, so I'm considering letting her try skiing with friends in a couple weeks when we go. Riley doesn't like the cold- she tells us all the time- but she does like to play in the snow and go on the sled, which is fun! We never had snow growing up, so we're trying to make sure Riley gets to play in it and experience the fun of winter before we (hopefully) are able to move away from cold weather in a couple years! She asks to play in it all the time, though we aren't even really sure what to do besides sledding and building snowmen.

As I work on writing this post - over several days because I don't seem to be able to find the time to just sit and think and write - I want to include so much detail about things I see and hear from the girls every day, but can't fit it in or forget by the time I get back to my computer. I feel so lucky to get to be around my kids enough to see them growing and developing each day, and almost every day wonder where the time has gone!! I want to remember every detail, but I already seem to be forgetting a lot. 

AND finally some updates from this past month! Short now, because I am already out of time :)

Scarlett has been great at rolling over from back to belly for quite a while now, but still doesn't really go from belly to back except on rare occasions. BUT she sits!! She can't get into a sitting position on her own, but when we put her in one she sits very easily with her hands, and pretty well once she lifts her hands to reach and grab stuff. She is really great at catching her balance, too, which amazes me. And she seems to have no fear of falling over- probably because I have been there to catch her every time so far. She will sit for minutes at a time, reaching out and rubbing the floor, then reaching straight out to grab a hanging toy on her play mat, and then even reaches behind her to the playmat arch things, which she uses to help her balance. When she's not sitting up, she is grabbing her feet. She was grabbing her hands a lot a few weeks ago, but lately her feet are apparently the most interesting things she has ever played with. She coos, babbles, blows raspberries, and makes all other sorts of sounds. She finally laughs often and easily, and has an adorable laugh. The easiest way to get her to laugh is to let her watch Lili and talk to her about Lili. She especially likes Lili kisses!   

Her 3-6 month clothes are already getting to be too small, and she is getting pretty heavy. At her last appointment almost a month ago she was 15lb 7 oz, so I'm sure she is over 16 lb now. Her hair has started thinning- mostly on the sides and back (I think from the carseat?), but she still doesn't look bald like Riley did! We still don't have her ears pierced because I'd prefer to do it in FL, so I need to book a trip down there, asap! She is really good at grabbing stuff, and I don't want to have her grabbing out the earrings! Speaking of her hand-eye-coordination, it is amazing!! She is so precise with her arm movements and is already able to grasp pretty accurately. She is strong too! 

Hmm... what else... she is eating great, both nursing and pumped milk from a bottle... she does really well with the nannies during the week and is still a pretty easy baby. Especially when it comes to sleep -- she takes a nice long nap most mornings, and then a few short ones sporadically throughout the day, and then stays up late but sleeps all night most nights!!! I can't believe how different and amazing it is to have a baby that sleeps at night!! I am really, really hoping it continues :) Riley is STILL hard at night, so Scarlett's sleep has been such a relief. 

Not that Riley doesn't sleep- she does- it's just hard to get her to go to bed. And to do most things :) She is the sweetest girl ever when she is healthy, but it seems like she is never healthy- and then she can get a little cranky! She is still sweet most of the day- but during her tantrums, she is just a different child. She does the whole limp body, screaming, trying to force herself to throw-up type of tantrum, and it can last a long time- way too long to try to ignore. We've been doing a good job of remaining calm, ignoring the tantrums for the most part, and calming her down as quickly as possible without giving in if she is crying for something. But it is hard sometimes! But then she will be back to normal healthy again, and the tantrums stop for the most part, and we forget all about how frustrated we were. We try to avoid these situations while keeping her well rested and fed, because tiredness and hunger are definitely triggers, but you can't force her to eat or sleep! (She will spend hours in her room before falling asleep sometimes!!) 

Other than the occasional tantrums, Riley is becoming more and more grown up by the day! She is back to not wearing pull-ups at school and home during the day, and just wears them at nap and bedtime. She has even made it through naps at school without a pull-up. She goes both poop and pee in the potty and does it on her own, without reminding. I'm not sure when she'll be ready for night-time potty training, but she is doing a great job with daytime! She has also been recognizing many more letters lately- both upper and lower case, and knows many sounds that go with letters and can think of words that start with different sounds. She knows up to five now- where she can give you five things or count up to five things, though still makes some mistakes with both four and five. She can make up stories to go with pictures in a book, and she loves her highlights magazine where she can find the things that are the same and different, and the hidden figures in pictures. Her favorite toys to play with are blocks, and she builds elaborate buildings that are built both out and up, sometimes even with flowers and bushes she makes out of her pattern blocks. She makes shapes with her hands, and can draw all sorts of shapes on paper now, and has started trying to write letters too. She makes up songs and dances, and pretends to play all different kinds of musical instruments, with the violin still being her favorite, followed by piano, saxophone, and trumpet. 

I am sure there is so much more I am forgetting, but now I am out of time. Maybe I'll come up with some more things to post when I update with pictures- which I will do very soon! I have many pictures and videos from practically every day over the past three months, including the holidays, Scarlett's baptism, and lots of sisterly love. 

6+ weeks!!

Scarlett is over 10 lbs now!

She seems so much bigger, and so much older. She holds her head up, likes to coo at us, smiles, and is even starting to sleep on her own, thank goodness!


Riley is also growing like crazy lately, with all the long sleeve 2T stuff I just bought being too small! (The sleeves- I guess she has my long arms poor girl!) Her personality has exploded recently and she is so outgoing with everyone who visits! She is so much fun, and really great with Scarlett. Her favorite things to play lately are doctor (for everyone), and mom to her babies- she imitates everything I do with Scarlett, even pretending to give birth every now and then... 

Pictures!
(Luckily the baby acne didn't last long at all, thanks to the miracle of breastmilk as a cure-all!)

By the way...

Scarlett is up to 8 lb, 8 ounces!!! She seems so much bigger already, which is understandable when she grew more than 30% of her birth weight already!

I want to do a post, but I don't think I'm going to have time right now... but here are some new pictures!

Scarlett's first (of many I'm sure) trips to the zoo!

 Sisters cuddling in bed...

 

 

 

 

Halloween 1: Riley won the costume contest! She's a red bird... I didn't think about the fact that there would be a lot of "Angry bird" costumes this year when choosing the fabrics... oh well!

Halloween 2: This time I dressed up too :)  I wish I would've thought to put green leaves to cover the ergo! Oh well... I did have them on my shirt to try and look more like a tree, but they are hard to see in this picture.

 

 

 

Riley playing with Scarlett on her "raft" at the "beach". We need to move back to FL I guess!

Scarlett's BIG eyes!

 

Sleeping peacefully, not a typical occurrence unless she is being held or against my skin in bed!

Halloween #3: after Trick or treating in the neighborhood. We missed one- my office party was cancelled due to the storm, so I only got the one use out of my costume!

More sister cuddle time!

10 Days Old!

Scarlett Grace is already 10 days old!

(forgot to push "publish" yesterday)

The past week and a half went by so quickly... probably because of family visiting for the first week. I had told both grandmothers that if they came right away, they needed to stay in a hotel, but then went back on my word and my mom stayed with us the whole first week. Oh well... at least Riley had a great time and was definitely not feeling any lack of attention! My brother and sister-in-law also visited for a couple of days, so Scarlett went on her first Philly sightseeing trip at five days old. Now we have short visits from friends and no houseguests for a while, which is great. My mother-in-law comes in a couple of weeks and stays with us for a whole week, so I'm happy to have some downtime before having to host again!

Things are going great so far as a family of four! Riley seems to be adjusting very well still... there has been one crying episode where she said she didn't want to be a big sister, but I think it had more to do with me telling her she wasn't a baby and needed to act like a big sister when she was being grumpy, and didn't really have anything to do with Scarlett. It was only a matter of time before she was asking to hold the baby and giving her kisses! Overall she is actually not acting much different then normal, except being much more social and talkative around other people, which is great! We've both had some alone time with her so far, with Mr. Beaver taking her to swim class and I took her to a farm's harvest festival. I don't know if she even thought anything about it, but I felt good about each making sure to spend some one-on-one time with her.



Scarlett is not doing much yet besides nursing, pooping, and sleeping a bunch. She is staying awake for longer periods of time, sometimes even a couple of hours, and is pretty alert when she is awake. She looks around a lot, and seems to really focus on our faces and the mirror reflection on her playmat. She is already holding her head up for several seconds at a time, and she flops her head and body around so we have to be careful holding her! We introduced the bottle and pacifier early this time, and she takes both pretty well and is still nursing like a champ -- in fact, she's gaining weight just as quickly as Riley did!  She was 6 # 5 oz at birth, 6 # 4.5 at four days, 6 # 7 at five days, and 7 # 1 oz today, at ten days old. I never bothered to wake her to eat, so we had a few pretty good nights of sleep where she slept from midnight until after 5, and then back to sleep until after 8! Last night was more of a feeding marathon with alert time early this morning, but I'm hoping she keeps her days and nights straight and we continue to be somewhat rested.

Scarlett is just about as cuddly as Riley was, and already seems to be smiling both in her sleep and when awake! I know it's not intentional, but she is pretty convincing :) 
She is great in the moby wrap, which makes walks and errands relatively easy with both girls (though I haven't been out alone yet!). Both girls were brave at the doctor's getting shots this past week, Riley watched hers and didn't even make a face!! The nurse seemed very surprised, but I have known for a while that she has my pain tolerance! Scarlett didn't react too much, just let out a little cry for a second before we gave her a pacifier.


Overall, things seem to be going pretty well! Mr. Beaver will go back to work full-time on Monday, but with him working from home I hope it won't be too hard to handle both girls on my own. Riley and I are both excited for Halloween and the many different events going on for it, and we're having fun taking advantage of no work- in addition to the harvest festival we're planning to do the pumpkin patch/farm, our children's museum, and the zoo. This weekend is a halloween festival with lots of events on Main street in our neighborhood, and then we have a halloween parade on Tuesday and my work's family halloween party on Wednesday, plus trick-or-treating! So it should be a very fun, even filled week!

Riley has a little sister!!!

Baby Beaver #2 was born on October 12, at 8:35 pm! I had a feeling labor was close all week (even the week before), so I may have ignored some of the signs during the day again, but we made it to the birth center in time, and all went well! Besides being super fast and overwhelming again, I don't think my birth experience could have gone any better.

Like every other morning this week, I was up and out of the house for work by 7:30 am not feeling especially different from other days. I had the occasional contraction, but nothing regular or uncomfortable. My plan was to finish and leave work by noon, and I was only about an hour delayed, leaving work a little after 1. On the way home I did notice a couple of more painful contractions, but not very close together and still not too painful to be fine driving or anything. I really wanted to get a mani-pedi with my mom like we did last time, and I had gotten a recommendation from my midwife for a place that uses reflexology that they use for natural induction. I picked her up and we got our nails done from about 1:45 until 3. I noticed about five contractions during the mani-pedi, so realized they were becoming much more frequent. I had a 3:30 phone meeting - last work before leave! - so we stopped at starbucks, and then I told my mom we'd better go get Riley from daycare and get home to prepare for the birth center. I texted Mr. Beaver and told him to get his stuff ready just in case, and that it would be time to start timing contractions when I got home. I was noticing more contractions now, still not too uncomfortable and still not too close together, but definitely more frequent.

We got home and my mom started dinner while we packed our bag and I started timing contractions. They were pretty frequent at this point and starting to get a little uncomfortable. After about 8 that were averaging five minutes apart (but ranging like last time- 3-8 minutes apart), I called the birth center to say I was coming in. This was the first of many times during delivery that I was happy about choosing the birth center-- they said okay, what time will you be here? Not a single question about the contractions or anything, they just trusted me that I needed to come in. I said we'd be there between 7:15 and 7:30 (This was at about 6:15).

We packed a ton of stuff, not really sure what we should bring, including the food my mom had been making because we didn't eat yet. We pulled in to the birth center at about 7:15 and were shown to our room. Contractions were pretty uncomfortable at this point and getting much more painful with each one, though later the nurse said I had her fooled because she did not think I was in much pain at all. We got settled in and put our food in the kitchen; I tried to eat some chicken, but at this point contractions were every 2 minutes and very hard to stand through, so I mostly just drank a lot of fluids for energy and worked through the contractions bending over a yoga ball. I felt a few small gushes a little while later- maybe around 7:45... I wasn't too sure of the time at this point.

There was another baby being born when we got there and they were waiting for another nurse and midwife to get in, so I still hadn't even been checked and we were mostly alone because we figured we still had a little while. The other baby was born at about 8pm, and that is about the time the new midwife arrived, who was the one that ended up delivering our baby. (The other mom was pretty loud- she was on the other side of the building, but we could hear her yelling/moaning and it sounded painful! Not the most relaxing thing to prepare for my own delivery :)  I was so proud of Riley that when she asked what the noise was, she was completely fine with our answer and not concerned.)

At this point I changed clothes because I was starting to feel some pressure, and I was starting to feel that, "Oh my gosh what was I thinking -- I don't want to do this!!!" feeling I remembered from last time. The new midwife was paying attention to how quickly my contractions were, and could tell I was incredibly uncomfortable by how I had to work through them, and said she thought everything is okay but that the baby is going to come fast, and she wanted to check me. While I worked through a contraction, she tested the leaked fluid and confirmed it was my water that broke, and I told her I was feeling a lot of pressure and she hurried to check me. She said I was at least at 8 cm, and again said she thought it was going to go very fast. During the next contraction I told her I had a lot of pressure, and she said to do whatever I felt I needed to and got on the phone to call the nurse in (who was still working on finishing up with the other mom). I had been getting through a lot of the contractions on my elbows and knees on the bed, with my elbows on the yoga ball, but at this point I switched to my hands and knees on the bed. I was definitely saying "Ow, this hurts!" during every contraction now, and having uncontrollable pushing reactions to them.

The nurse came in about 8:25, and I was going with the pushing feelings and pushing with each contraction, still on my hands and knees. I didn't feel like I had much control over what was going on- I think my body was really just doing everything on it's own without me thinking about anything, except the pain! Mr. Beaver said I wasn't too loud, but I remember making some noise, and saying "ow!" a lot. The midwife was very comforting, saying "I know, it's almost over though, just push when you want to and take a break if it hurts too much." I did take a few breaks where I knew it would pull the baby back in, and it was such a relief! At some point the midwife used some olive oil, and also applied counter-pressure as I was pushing, and it made it SO much less painful during the crowning stage then I remembered with Riley. I also wonder if the position made a difference- still on my hands and knees. All of a sudden I had a few contractions I just couldn't control and started pushing without being able to stop, and it felt like the pressure started building up behind the baby, until the whole body seemed to shoot right out (8:35 pm).

The midwife handed the baby to me from underneath, and I immediately saw she was a girl! I kind of sat back, and just held her while we wiped her off a little bit. I got a shot of pitocin because the birth went so fast, but didn't really notice. I realized Riley had been there the whole time, as she came up to the bed at that point and I told her she had a little sister, which got a big smile. We did a very delayed cord clamping, and then Mr. Beaver cut the cord. The midwife somehow delivered the placenta without me pushing or anything, and everything was cleaned up pretty quickly- I wasn't really paying attention but was surprised there wasn't much mess. Riley was on the bed with me by this time, and the midwife was showing her the placenta and explaining what it was, what it did, pointing things out... it was kind of gross but Riley seemed really into it. She then checked me -- no tears!!! I did not need a single stitch- such a huge relief! I remember the stitches were the most painful part of Riley's birth, and were so horrible during the week or two after the birth.

I held our new baby girl for a long time, and after about an hour she latched on and nursed for the first time. Funny memory- Riley came up to meet her sister a few minutes after she was born, and sneezed right in her face!! Oh well ...
They ended up not doing the measurements until about 1 am so that we could do skin-to-skin contact to warm her up. We also let Riley hold her sister for the first time. We left just before 2am and came home as our new family of 4!

Riley has been an amazing big sister so far. She is so gentle, except when she is a little clumsy and bumps into the baby with her own baby or part of her body. She loves to try and comfort her if she cries. I was surprised and amazed to hear that she watched the entire birth, from the scary angle! My mom was not even watching, hiding back in the bathroom, and Mr. Beaver was up by my head. Apparently Riley was watching from the bathroom and told my mom she wanted to come to me when I was pushing, and my mom said okay. Riley stood a little behind the midwife, and the midwife explained everything while Riley watched. I was worried that she would be traumatized from what she saw, but the midwife, nurse, and my mom all convinced me that she just looked amazed and smiled when the baby came out. She has been completely normal since then, so I guess it really didn't phase her at all! I wasn't sure she would even want to stay in the room, but I'm happy that she did and think it's pretty cool that she was so interested!

I think it will take a little time to adjust to our new family, but today has been pretty nice so far! The recovery is not nearly as bad as last time, but I do hate feeling like I'm on my period now and the cramps that come with it. Nursing was easy at first, but is painful again when she first latches on, like last time. I'm hoping that goes away soon!! She seems to want to eat constantly, but has finally taken a nice long break to sleep, going on 4 hours now! I feel bad we haven't taken more pictures, and that our good camera has a dead battery, but I think by tomorrow we'll be a little more caught up on sleep and able to do some family photos. Such a whirlwind birth experience, but we are so happy to have our new daughter here with us, and for everything to have gone smoothly with the birth!
(written yesterday, just posted now, oops!)

Full term!!!

 Definitely the size of a watermelon now!

In honor of the big milestone, I'll do the old survey:
How far along? 37 weeks... that's only 21 days to go!
Total weight gain/loss: Just like last time, I think I'm about 27-28 lb up. I checked my weight today at my appointment, I just don't know exactly where I started.
Sleep: sleep is okay, I usually wake up around 4-5 in the morning and have some trouble getting to sleep. I should go to bed earlier, but Riley doesn't go to sleep until about 9, and I like to relax and watch a little tv after I get things cleaned up and do any chores... before I know it, it's after 11!
Best moment this week: We had our carseats inspected this past weekend, and I was happy to get them to fit both rear-facing, with the infant seat in the middle, just like I was hoping to. Inconvenient, but I have piece of mind feeling like the seats are safe!!
Best moment this month, though (because I haven't posted in so long!) was definitely the girls' weekend with friends to celebrate the new baby, complete with a Philly+baby themed scavenger hunt!! It was made even better having one friend's baby along and the other entering her second trimester with what will be the fourth kid-dition to our group! I can't believe how quickly we seemed to go from 3 of us to 7 of us... probably 8 of us by this time next year (or close to it)! ;)
Movement: SOOO much! The baby seems really big, but my midwife only estimates it at about 5.5-6 lb right now.
Food cravings: nothing out of the ordinary with my eating habits from pre-pregnancy
Gender: I kinda think girl, mostly because the midwife estimated the size so small, and because we keep calling baby "she"... but that could be out of habit. Also, not much seems different from last time. But who knows! We'll find out soon enough!
Labor signs: Contractions all the time... but I am pretty sure at least most of them are braxton hicks. Some of them are getting pretty uncomfortable though!
Belly Button in or out? very out for a long time now. eww.
What I miss: Being comfortable! I feel like my uterus is bigger this time... I am very limited in the ways I can sit and lay down. My midwife commented that my uterus is all the way against my sternum. Not sure where else it can grow! I'm measuring about 2 cm behind, but growing weekly so no worries... but we'll see what happens over the next few weeks!
What I am looking forward to: hmm I guess just figuring out a plan for work, and getting things set for my leave. Right now I'm not really sure what is going to happen with my work- I'm afraid it's just going to stand still until I come back, but it kinda has a time limit so it's stressing me out!
Weekly wisdom: I have nothing...
Milestones: I'm full term!

Here is my belly tonight:

 Compared to last time at 37 weeks:

And compared to a couple of weeks ago:

In Riley updates, she is doing great... talking all.the.time, moving constantly day and night (she cannot sit still!) and getting more coordinated every day. Her new thing is doing sommersaults, which she is surprisingly good at when she gets her legs over, but that is only about 1/4 of the time- the other 3/4 of the time she kinda just rolls to the side. She loves doing yoga too, and is getting pretty good balance!


So sad- I have no pictures on my phone from the past month or so! Here's an older one, I'll upload some from the camera soon...
 


In cognitive growth, I think she has gone from being a "two-knower" to a "three-knower"! She has understood the concept of two for a while, but today was the first time I was confident that she understood the quantity 3! Also, she is getting better at counting into the teens and knowing numbers in the 20s! She knows sooo many songs, and makes up a lot of her own, and LOVES to dance. Now she is getting coordinated enough to play her guitar (a ukelele) and sing at the same time, and the other day she entertained company by playing it while also "playing" the tuner :)
She still wants to pretend to be a baby, but I think it may pass once the baby is here... I guess we will find out soon enough!

Some videos:
Playing the guitar- this video is kinda old, but cute... I'd say it's from about a month ago? 

First time mini-golfing (out of the house- she's got a set of plastic clubs and plays at home with Mr. Beaver)