Baby's BIG !

Well ... bigger than his/her older sister at least.

Another check up with the doctor and sonogram measuring tools estimate my 2nd baby is nearly 4 pounds at the end of the 7th month.

That puts him/her in the 55th percentile in weight.
That's also about how much Alexadra weighed when she was born!  (4 lbs, 10 oz)

No wonder i look and feel twice as big this time around.  lol.

Baby's head is still pointed downward -- so i figure those are his/her feet i feel fluttering up around the base of my ribs  (graphic, huh?)

And now that baby can swivel his/her head, sharp pangs against my bladder and whatever else is down there make it difficult to get comfortable in extremes: moving from a long drive in the car, to walking ... or from sitting upright to lying down for the night.

Pleasant, right?

Lola's Still With Us

Yep.

We just couldn't let her go.

All the medicines we though were helping ease the pain of her hip dysplasia -- haven't really helped.

So we've cut back on the meds, and Lola's still chasing squirrels and feral cats all day long ... just with a little limp.   :(

She's seem very happy so we'll pray she survives -- Alexandra, that is.

The baby LOVES to do her best to torture Lola...

Alex chases her .. tiptoes up to Lola then screams at the top of her lungs .. Alex pushes her high chair around the kitchen and living room, following Lola who scrambles to get out of the way...

My husband and I run to rescue Lola when we realize what's happening. Other times Lola will lie there and take Alex trying to feed her plastic donuts from her toddler kitchen.

When she's had enough -- Lola just runs to, and scratches the snot out of the door to GET OOOOOUUUUT!  lol...

Poor Lola.  She's such a great sport.

I Am Eating Like a Fiend!

Even this second time around my husband cannot get over how much I'm eating during my pregnancy.

And believe it or not, I'm not enjoying eating every few hours -- it's become a chore.

I feel like a junkie at work.
With certain co-workers I know who will be passing by food on their travels at certain times -- It's gotten to the point where they just automatically call me at their "appointed times" to see if I'd like them to pick me up something... lol....

At least I'm eating healthy, depending on how you feel about eating meat.   :)

I'm not big on eating red meat.

This pregnancy though -- i just can get enough of it.  Meat in general; any kind.
I try to eat chicken and fish.. we had pork tenderloin last night (thank youuu, hubby!) .. steak on the grill last weekend -- you name it, i'm chowin' down on it.

I don't understand it. I wanted nothing to do with red meat during my 1st pregnancy.

Hopefully my meat craze will end after the baby's born.

Hubby's pork tenderloin w/raisin and pineapple dressing -- YUM!

Peanut-A vs. Peanut-B

As time ticks away and our 2nd baby's birth creeps closer... all kinds of questions are flooding our brains --

Will my husband and I ever "see" each other again with a 2nd child in the mix?
How do we make this a smooth transition for our first born?
Do we go with a prepaid college plan, or education IRA?

What's interesting, is the question my husband asked me yesterday -- that kinda caught me off guard.

"Do you think you might ignore Alexandra because of the new baby?"

I was surprise, because I was thinking just the opposite:  My fear of resentment toward the new baby because of time he or she takes away from Alex.

I don't know why I'm afraid of that ... I have no intention of loving one child more than the other, and definitely want to give equal attention to both... which (now that I'm "saying it out loud") is probably impossible because Alex is pretty self-sufficient, aaaand a baby is, of course, not.

I'm giving myself a false sense of hope we will all adjust splendidly to our new arrival, by making it Alex and my project to fix up her new room!

Yep -- the 3 of us went searching for a "big girl" bed this past weekend -- so many cool set ups out there now!   And these stores are pretty proud (too proud) of their product!  Sheesh.  A little more $$ and hubby and I could get a brand new bed.

Terrible 2s? - NAH!

There is nothing terrible about being 2!


Sure, Alexandra has her moments when she's frustrated and reverts to crying instead of "using her words" to tell me what's wrong ... but overall, I am having a blast watching her grow and learn!


At 2-years-old, Alex has got her word combinations down!  "Daddy home?"  "Follow me, mommy!"  "That's amazing." -- i think she got that one from her Mickey Mouse DVDs (Daisy Duck is very trendy)


Alex is so intuitive -- and obsevant!
I was messing around with my husband, snapping a dish towel at him while following him around the kitchen... lol...
When my last towel-snap really hit hubby hard on his back leaving a nice red mark, we laughed as he shunned my pity hugs... but Alex was watching us like a psychologist behind a 2-way mirror.


"Daddy, you have boo-boo?!"  "Daddy, you sad ?!???"


Great.  lol... the baby thinks I'm a daddy abuser.


Whomever said kids' brains are like sponge, wasn't kidding. 


Alex knows her entire alphabet, upper and lower case ....
She can count to 20 (after a little help with the numbers 17 and 19  :).... 
She can name every character affiliated with The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (including Claribel the cow's dog, Bella)
The little peanut even remembers names of people she hasn't seen in 6 months! -- Fascinating.


I think that last little observation is what's going to push my own mom in Jersey to sign up on Skype!  FINALLY.

30 Weeks And Counting !

Wow!  It's been a while since I've written ... and I'm FREAKING OUT.


Just returned from my now bi-monthly visit to my OBGYN...


I though if a woman had a C-section for her 1st pregnancy, she had to have one for her 2nd ... lowering the risk of ripping and hemorrhaging from the incision which could lethally endanger mom and newborn.


Nope.


Well, yes -- that can happen.


However unbeknownst to me, the chance of blood pouring from my abdomen uncontrollably during labor and delivery the 2nd time around because I had a C-section the 1st time    (sorry -- the translation of a freaked-out brain) ... is only --

 1-percent.

(Pppft!   Whatevs.   It can happen.)

So, imagine me be-bopping into the doc's office, wondering when we're going to schedule my 2nd C-section, and the doc says, "Oh. We can schedule one if you want to...."


Heh?????


Suddenly my brain is instantly spinning --
"ok, let's schedule one... a week before I"m due?!?! .... wait ... what if i start labor before that? ... are ambulances equipped to handle C-section incision rips?!?! ... what if no one's around and i have to drive myself to the hospital... ***GASP*** ... will i even have the strength to call 9-1-1 ???"


 .... sigh......   I'm ok ....


Really.


Usually what I do in these instances is take a nap and save the worrying for some other time. Lol.


Let's see --
I'm 30 weeks pregnant, and twice as big this 2nd time around.


My little Alexandra (baby #1) was born at 37 weeks.


HAHAH!  Whew.  Hope I make it that long!  Not sure how much more my body can stretch!

Ah, well...  zzzzzzzzzzz.....





PEANUT #2 !





Saying Goodbye to Lola

Death -- it's part of life.

For my 22-month-old, it's already something very final and memorable.

Just yesterday, as she was playing with some toys outside, an oversized-ant crawled up on the toy in her hand.

"Bug!!" she exclaimed, pointing at it while looking at me, waiting for me to do something about it.

Without thinking, i grabbed my shoe, killed it and said, "ok -- it's dead. All done." 

Alex looked at it .. then a little closer ... said the word 'dead' ... and went on about her playing.

I say the concept is memorable, because it's been how long since she saw that dead frog in our driveway....?  Feels like forever ago.

A very VERY faint mark is still there -- thanks to the vehicle tire that smushed the frog -- and when Alex sees the mark, she says "Dead, fog."

So here's my dilemma.

Our wonderful, loyal, loving dog Lola ... will likely have to be put down.

She has hip dysplasia in both hips, and because of that -- other problems are arising, like tiny ligiment tears.

Lola's on so many pain medications, and in the past week has occasionally stopped using one of her hind legs.

We're going through the motions -- xrays, tests, meds .....

There are surgerieSSSS availible ... which are very expensive, and there's no guarantee they'll even help.

So yes, the closed-door discussions have begun about possibly ending Lola's obvious pain all together.

Even Lola has become much more clingy and needy -- just wanting to be in someone's body space.

It's so heartbreaking.

All the adults in the family understand what's happening .... but how do you explain to a not-even-2-year-old ... that the one "person" who never gets mad when Alex tries to run her over with a highchair -- might suddenly disappear?

Right now, Alex knows Lola's "leg hurts" and has a "boo-boo," and that's why we say "poor Lola," but that's about it.

I don't want to tell Alex that Lola's gone because of her boo-boo.   Don't want Alex to freak out the next time a scratch (boo-boo) appears on her own finger.....

Do i want to say the word 'dead'?  Or would that conjure up images for Alex of something violent happening to Lola (like the ant i killed with my shoe)?

I would like to incorporate God and Heaven into the equasion, but Alex's Bible stories are just that -- stories....

We could pray for Lola -- Alex knows how to say her prayers...

Then again -- maybe i'm over-thinking the entire thing.

Just really trying to think of what to tell Alex when she screams for LOOOOOLAAAAA!  -- and Lola's not there.