A baby story [Part II]: Weeks 18 + 19

Week 18: Baby’s the size of a Bell pepper

This little baby is an active little monkey already–I feel it kick and bounce around all day long and nothing could make me happier.  It’s most active right after lunch and a few hours after dinner when I sit down to read a book or watch a show.

Not too much going on this week with the baby other than that a sad day I knew was coming has arrived–I can no longer sleep on my stomach!  Most nights that’s how I have to fall asleep and during those sleepless moments in the middle of the night usually turning onto my stomach does the trick to get me to finally fall back asleep.  I tried to do that this week and was so uncomfortable there was no way I could stay that way more than 2 minutes.  Boo!  I busted out the ridiculously large maternity pillow that I used when I was pregnant with Sirena and have been reacquainting myself with it (that thing takes some getting used to to figure out exactly the best positions to put it in for the most comfort! But boy when I figure it out, it’s a godsend.)

My back has been feeling a lot better this week, probably because I’ve been taking it more easy on myself and have been asking Kevin to pick Sirena up or carry her whenever he’s around.  I went on a mostly uphill walk with some mama friends at the end of this week and the whole night my back was really sore.  It’s so frustrating to not be able to be as active as I used to be (especially given how active I was when I was pregnant with Sirena).  Three years older and caring for a toddler really changes the game!

Belly shot!

Week 19: Baby’s the size of a mango

Not much going on this week in the baby department other than that it’s more and more obvious that the little bugger is really growing and kicking a ton!  We are so anxious to find out the sex of the baby TOMORROW and we’ve got two fun plans up our sleeves to announce it to our families at our respective Thanksgiving get-togethers.  Just you wait, Delmar and Edmonds families…you’re in for a treat.  A lot of people have asked if we care what the sex is and I am being 1,000% honest here–we will be thrilled with either a girl or a boy.  A few people have made mention of how great it would be to have one of each and my reply to them has been that Kevin and I think we might like 3 kids so we may not be done after #2 (whether or not that is by blood or through adoption, that’s also still to be determined) and also in my family, I’m the second girl and I sure wasn’t a disappointment so I wouldn’t be disappointed in the slightest with another girl.  And if you know us and our parenting styles, very little will be different in the way we raise this child if it’s a boy.  There’s nothing (other than teaching him how to pee standing up, basically) we can do with a boy child that we can’t already do with Sirena, and vice versa.  We want to raise our kids, no matter their sex, with equal amounts of affection, rough-housing, and encouragement to be strong, smart, playful, and compassionate.

In other news we’ve entered a new frontier with big sister Sirena–she officially kicked the diaper habit this week, all on her own!  She had been rebelling against any and all mention of the potty for a couple of months now and I was getting really frustrated and disheartened by the whole process.  One day I came into her room after her nap and she was buck-naked from waist down and hadn’t peed in the bed.  I asked her if she needed to use the potty and she said yes and successfully peed in the potty.  The rest of that day she was in her chonies.  The following day was a school day and her teachers kept her in underwear all day (except for nap time) and she had zero accidents the whole day.  Since then we’ve only had her wear diapers during nap time and bed time and on a couple of occasions on longer car rides or outings.  We’ve successfully gone to a party, to the grocery store, to a restaurant, and to her grandparents’ and Nani’s houses without wearing diapers and she’s kept it up with only a couple of minor accidents.  We are so so so so proud of her and I know that this is finally it!  A few times throughout the day she’ll tell us, “I’m a big girl now” and it makes me smile and fills me with so much pride.

Belly shot!

Other pregnancy updates:

• Total weight gained so far:  1.5 pounds
• Fun baby developments: Baby is around 6 inches long and weighs 8.5 ounces and is busy rolling, kicking, punching, hiccuping, swallowing, and dancing around in its private jacuzzi.

A couple of updates to the blog: I’ve added a page for all of Sirena’s Monthly Photos (from 1 to 24 months) and I’ve updated the Pregnancy Posts page to include weekly photos of both pregnancies–side by side, which is fun to compare.  Check ’em out at the top of our site! And we’ve fixed an issue with our comments so feel free to comment away!