26 Months

26 Month Claytonisms:

• This last month has been one from heck sickness-wise.  Guessing it's the combination of the crazy fluctuating temperatures and Clayton going to Mother's Day Out and the church nursery more frequently.  A snotty nose and coughing has been common around the Rhea household and really for all of us.
• She falls out on the floor when she hears something that isn't music to her little ears.  Living with a two-year-old can be exciting.
• Bedtime is becoming increasingly difficult at our house.  She doesn't go to bed as easily as she used to and especially now that she is in a big bed.  I do lay down with her but it's becoming later than her typical 8:30 bedtime. 
• Clayton refers to herself as Clay-Clay.  She will point around a room and say, "Who's that?" naming everyone and when pointing to herself it's, "Clay-Clay." 
• Her best friend is Sadie.  And I'm beginning to think Sadie's best friend is Clayton.  They share meals together, sleep together, nap together, takes walks together, and pretty much everything together.  Sadie is loving ti since Clayton feeds her most meals now.  She will roll the food bin over to her bowl and gives Sadie more than her fair share.  Nothing like a little girl and her dog.  
• I'm going to go out on a limb and say that her attention span is getting better.  She can sit still long enough to watch TV or complete one activity longer than 3 minutes.  Barney and Elmo certainly are her favorites.  She also likes to watch some Disney shows on my Ipad.  
• She is a huge baby lover.  Anytime we are in a store and she sees a baby, she points them out.  She loves playing with her baby dolls and takes exceptional care of them rocking, feeding, strolling, napping....besides the occasional throwing them on the floor or their extended naps in her crib.
• She is a sporadic eater and will eat more at some meals than others but for the most part eats more than she has in the past.  Beans (loves refried), doughnuts, and sweet potatoes are a few that she likes.
• While I prepare dinner, "cooking" in our lower oven is an afternoon activity favorite of Clayton's.  She likes for me to put the timer on and when it beeps she screams, "Hurry!, Hurry!, Hurry!" frantically as we run over to the oven to check her food.
• She still loves her bottles.  Yes, I know our doctor wouldn't be thrilled if he knew she still drank a bottle at naptime/bedtime/in times of comfort, or that it looks normal for a 2 year-old to be drinking a bottle, but it comforts her and makes her happy.  One of these days she may give it up...but I'm not going to test that theory right now.  A happy Clayton=happy, fat, pregnant momma.
• "Oh my gosh!" is an expression Clayton has picked up on and I love it!  Another is "Oh wow!".
• We ask Clayton questions such as, "Who loves their Momma/Sadie/Da Da, etc.?" and her response is "I deew".  
• I am molding my little baby into a craft lover.  She loves making things, painting, playing with play doh and writing with markers, colored pencils, pens and pencils.  She loves to display her artwork and is thrilled to show her paintings to Da when he gets home.  I am going to be loving when we can have serious craft time and make some fun things.  Yay for craft time and Pinterest!
• She screams at the top of her lungs when I tell her something she doesn't want to hear.  It's a short, high-pitched scream of a bad temper that comes out.  Think the devil gets a hold of my angel sometimes.  Sure makes me look at her like she's a nutbag and laugh at the same time.  Guess she is figuring out how to express her emotions.....(don't I sound like I read parenting books.  Yeah right!)
• We have a sensitive little girl in our household.  She covers her face with her hands when you tell her no or hurt her feelings.  Harris and I are often apologizing to her as she is heartbroken and we are shaking our heads second-guessing how harsh we actually were.
• Clayton interprets spankings as "Momma gave me a bo-bo."  (It's Momma because Da-Da wouldn't dare spank his little girl.)  And she certainly will tell her Mimi on me as well even days later when we go to Memphis.   
• Band aids aren't so completely life-threatening these days.  She will hear their name and touch the packaging but still doesn't particularly want one on her.  Baby steps. 

New Baby #2- 2nd Trimester Summary

Big Sister Clayton 

20 weeks 1 day:

-halfway point

-baby weighs 13 ounces according to ultrasound

-baby's heartrate was 145bpm

-baby's crown to rump length is approximately 6.5 inches

(This would have been the ultrasound where they told us the sex of our little baby but I insisted again that we didn't find out.  I'll post more on to know or not to know later.)

 4-D ultrasound pics are creepy.  This picture proves that.  I think she told me the baby's foot was 3/4 an inch but I could be remembering completely wrong since I'm recording this so long later. 

New Baby (top) and Clayton (bottom).  I think they look very similar.  

I'm terrible at taking pictures of my growing belly.

26 weeks (somehow the chalkboard went MIA): 

Heartbeat tracker:

Heart rates start out slower and then by 8-10 weeks run in the range of 170-200 bpm (beats per minute).  As you approach mid-pregnancy the average heart rate runs between 120-160 bpm.  It was said that 140+ bpm was a girl and under 140 bpm was a boy.  So...... (I googled this info.  I am definitely not a doctor.)

9 weeks: 180 bpm (ultrasound)

20 weeks: 145 bpm (doppler) 

24 weeks: 168 bpm (doppler)- ate a lot of sugar before & had to have my blood checked so baby was on a sugar high

Almost 29 weeks:142 bpm (doppler)

Clayton's was 6 weeks: 173 bpm  & 20 weeks: 142 bpm.

"Memorable" Dr. Appointment Moment

24 weeks- January 11

My nurse came back to get me and asked what I had eaten for the day.  Uhhhh....well.........a piece of pizza (or was it 2) for breakfast, a turkey wrap for lunch and before I could finish she says, "Have you had any sugar?"  (I thought she was just giving me a health quiz and not thinking that she was asking because of my urine results.  They NEVER said anything EVER my entire pregnancy with Clayton each time I had peed in the cup.)  Oh yeah, I had two cups of soft serve yogurt and a bunch of sweet tea at lunch only two hours ago.  "Well, your sugars are out of this world!  You'll have to take a blood test!"  Then I stepped on the scale and was cringing at the thought of what that number may say after the holidays.....drum roll.....I had only gained a HALF a pound!!!!!  I was beyond thrilled.  (Anyone who has been pregnant knows that the scale isn't fun to see month after month as the numbers climb.)

So the nurse was annoyed that I went to town on sugar that day but she wasn't going to rain on my scale parade.  I was grinning from ear to ear and that Jason's Deli ice cream and sweet tea was delicious! 

Then I met with my doctor.  The blood results came back normal so she wasn't worried.  But then she started asking me if I eat.  Uhhhh....yes, I eat......A LOT!  I chuckled and said that her nurse had just lectured me on eating too much sugar and she said well, forget what she says, I want you to eat more ice cream. 

Then jump to my next appointment (which I'm now technically in my 3rd trimester):

28 weeks 5 days- February 12

I made my appointment on a day when I would be in Memphis and my regular Dr. wasn't there so I saw another doctor as well as took my sugar glucose test.  Let's just say that my half pound weight gain scale parade is short-lived.  I certainly made up for it at this appointment but in reality I think there had to be a mistake the last time.  Anyhow, I wasn't thrilled but what are you to do?!  Then the other doctor says, "Well, you've gained Xlbs and we recommend you gain Xlbs so you have 5 more to go."  All I could do was laugh and told her that my doctor had instructed me to gain weight.  My baby needs to gain 5lbs alone and you can guarantee I'll be putting some on myself in these next few months, lady.  So needless to say, I left there laughing.

Summary of my 2nd trimester of pregnancy with Baby #2:

-more energized

-spirits lifted

-16 weeks: felt baby moving

-18 weeks: in mostly maternity clothes

-22 weeks: baby is really kicking

Cravings:

-sweet tea

-Wendy's Frosty

-full meals.  snacks aren't cutting it.

I had seen my sweet baby's face on her announcement at an appointment awhile back and had given my doctor the picture of her holding Clayton after she delivered her but didn't see it.  I discovered it at my 28th week appointment and I could stop laughing at Clayton's face.  She came into the world giving disgruntled looks.  We still have no clue who she gets this from?!?!

 

Big Girl Bed

I swore up and down that Clayton would stay in her baby crib as long as possible and had even just bought a crib for new baby.  She hadn't climbed out surprisingly being the monkey she is, however...  I had to sleep with her the week she had the stomach bug since she was getting sick in her sleep.  So she got accustomed to watching TV and going to sleep in her new bed and room AND with me laying with her.  Then she seemed very reluctant of going back to her crib.  I would have forced her to continue sleeping in the crib but because she will be switching to a bigger room when baby comes, I thought if it would be weird if I moved her crib into a new room next to the big bed she wants to sleep in, another crib into her old room, and then in a few months a baby in her old room.  Confusing!  I guess we could have kept her in her old room but thought she would like a little larger room with a bigger bed.  So needless to say, I'm torturing myself by having her in a regular bed because it sure makes nighttime difficult since she doesn't like staying in bed and I have to lay with her to go to sleep.  Not that I don't love snuggle time but many nights it's a hair-pulling task to get her to sleep.

I also swore I wasn't moving her into her new room until it was 100% decorated for her.  Uhhh.....another thing that didn't happen.  Of course, I have rearranged the furniture numerous times and took down things on the wall to plan for new.  I'm sure I may get it complete in a few years.   

 
 
 

Sadie and her are sleeping buddies.  Sadie naps and sleeps with her EVERY time Clayton is in the bed.  Best dog/sister/best friend ever!

 

January Phone Favorites

 

 

 Excited about her car dvd player from Santa.

 

 

 

 

 How am I to sleep when my bed partner had her head on the pillow and someone managed to end up with her feet on my pillow?

Drinking pickle juice...obviously her dad's daughter.