Meredith's Nursery

Meredith's nursery is a definite work-in-progress. Since we only have 3 bedrooms, her nursery is doubling as a guest room for a couple months (until she is sleeping in her crib). We need a guest bed, because I'm expecting/hoping for lots of help staying with us!

Because of the bed taking up so much space, her furniture is not really organized right now. And we have yet to hang the valances for the windows, and the rug won't be laid out until the bed is gone. Such is the life of a second child :) Here is her nursery, for now!

Below: the view from the doorway. Bow holder, glider, crib. You can see the dresser on the left wall and the nightstand on the right wall.



I just love how the vinyl wall hanging of her name turned out (even though it was really hard to hang/stick!)



Here's a close-up of her hair bow holder. I saw some like this online, and thought it would be super easy to make, so I did! She obviously needs more bows, though!



On the left wall, we have her dresser/changing table, and Jason hung that shelf above it for decoration. (A little bit of trivia: we used that shelf as a "mantle" in our condo!)



Shelf decor. The picture frame has an ultrasound photo in it right now. I LOVE the cross next to it - my mom and I found it at Hobby Lobby. And the piggy bank is cute - but so many people have told me, "wait, Russell doesn't even have a piggy bank!" I didn't really think that was an issue, but I guess it is! Lastly, the "believe in yourself" plaque used to hang in my carrel in the study room at the sorority house in college!



Baby necessities on the dresser :)



The guest room portion of Meredith's room. The picture frames will have her newborn photos in them.



Everything is ready and waiting! We are in the weekly doctor appointments now, and things are progressing, so maybe she won't be late like Russell was...only time will tell :)

Words on Wednesday :)

Jason and I really feel that the tubes have helped Russell already. I took a short video tonight of Russell's latest words. We are so happy that he's starting to talk a little! The speech therapist seems great so far - she has a good plan for helping him.

At the beginning of the video, Russell took the camera from me and held it up to his ear like a telephone - that's why it goes dark :)

Little Explorer

It was just gorgeous outside today! Who's heard of 80 degree days in March?! I love it - even though it did make my very pregnant body more swollen! Russell spent lots of time outside and could not have been happier about it.

Much of his time was spent exploring our back yard and our neighbors' back yards - we live so close to them that he just goes right over - thankfully, they don't mind!

Here he is in front of our neighbor's truck - Russell loves to look at Mr. Mike's trucks :)



Such a sweet smile he has!



Not outside, but I have to share this photo: Russell "reading" his Spot book. He will sometimes sit and flip through books, with a very serious look of concentration as he studies each page. (This is a great fine-motor skill advancement for him!) I just think it's adorable.

(almost) Wordless Wednesday - big shoes to fill

Russell decided to try on Jason's shoes, and he was very excited about it :) He grabbed them one at a time and dragged them into the kitchen to put them on. So cute!

First (and hopefully last) Surgery

I know I haven't really updated the blog concerning Russell's ears. Well, to make a very long story very short, the ENT agreed with us that Russell needed tubes.

Today was the big day. Tubes are considered a very minor and routine surgery, but when it's your child, it certainly doesn't seem minor or routine. Especially with Russell, who is very ingrained in his daily routine and kind of freaks out in new situations.

This new situation involved a lot of things that Russell didn't like:

1) we had to wake him up early this morning. He usually wakes up around 7 or 7:30; we had to wake him up at 6.

2) he couldn't eat or drink anything past midnight last night. Russell is not one of those children who doesn't eat - he eats very well, and on a consistent schedule, so I know this was tough for him.

3) we had to sit in a (very non-kid-friendly) waiting room for an hour and a half before the surgery.

4) there were lots of people he didn't know that were in his face and taking him away from Mommy and Daddy.

5) To top things off, he came down with a cold yesterday, and he is teething (all 4 incisors are coming through).

Well, needless to say, he was a VERY unhappy camper. At first, he did all right in the waiting room. We had lots of toys and books - here he is reading with Jason:

He definitely got restless, but was nowhere near as bad as when we went into the room to get his vital signs and change his clothes. He totally freaked out - screaming crying, clinging to me. They had a tough time getting everything they needed.

After we changed him and turned on Curious George, he calmed down a bit. I think he looked so cute in his little surgery outfit (scrubs? I guess? I don't know.)

They had to take him back, fully awake, to the OR without us. That did not go over well with him.

The surgery itself was super quick. The nurse and doctor came in and talked to us while Russell was "recovering." (I say that in quotes because it didn't sound too relaxing to us - we heard him screaming as soon as they woke him up.) Anyway, once he had some apple juice and Cheerios, he was just fine. Came home and was a little more lethargic than usual, but overall normal.

We will go back in about a month for a follow-up appointment. Hopefully everything will check out fine!

34 Weeks and Baby Shower!

My amazing playgroup girls hosted a baby shower for me tonight! We (the playgroup and several more friends) all went to dinner at P.F. Chang's and enjoyed lots of girl talk and great food.





Samantha was the youngest girl at the shower!



I totally forgot to have anyone take photos of me with any presents, but we got some wonderful things: diapers, clothes, books, even a booster seat for feeding later! Meredith is very blessed, and so are we!

Also, here's a pregnancy update:

I'm thinking I look huge! Maybe stripes were not the best choice!

At 34 (almost 35) weeks:

• I am no longer wearing my wedding rings (well, that happened on our trip to Hilton Head). But my hands aren't as swollen as they were with Russell - the fake rings I bought then fall off my finger - probably because the weather is not as hot.
• I feel Meredith's little feet and hands poke out all the time! She is (and she has been all along) staying mostly on my right side - I carry Russell on the left so I'm sure she's trying to get away from him already :)
• I am having a hard time sleeping - well, that's been true for weeks now, but now it's to the point where I sleep with multiple pillows, sometimes sleep sitting up to take pressure off my hips, and wake up every hour or so. But I'm still counting my blessings because it's still better than sleep with a newborn, which we will have soon enough!

We are counting the weeks and very excited to meet our little girl! It will be a huge adjustment for all of us, but we are very excited about seeing her in person!

Vegetable Success!

Russell doesn't eat many vegetables. I offer and offer, and they end up pushed off his tray or spit out, or both.

But he gobbled up these green beans!



So I thought I'd post my secret, in case anyone else's child needs incentive to eat veggies, or in case you just want an easy side dish!

Sweet and Sour Green Beans

1 or 2 cans green beans

1 small onion

3 slices bacon

1/4 c vinegar

4 tablespoons sugar (you can definitely cut this down; I used 3 1/2 and it was still more than enough)

1) Saute bacon until crisp; crumble and set aside, reserving drippings.

2) Cook onion in bacon grease.

3) Add vinegar and sugar; cook until sugar is dissolved.

4) Add bacon and green beans; cook until warm/hot.

That's it! Easy and yummy!

On the Lighter Side

We have had a crazy, not-great couple of weeks.

But I don't really want to focus on that stuff in my blog, since I blog for a) fun, b) stress relief, and c) as a sort of baby book for Russell and Meredith.

So...

Today, I got lots of cleaning done while Russell was at preschool. I washed lots of baby stuff for Meredith: sheets, carseat cover, bouncy seat cover, etc.

I put the bouncy seat cover back on the seat tonight, and someone felt the need to try it out:



He has always loved that thing - here he is at just a couple months old:



I really teared up (and cracked up too) when he got in it, just seeing how much he's grown! Chalk it up to those pregnancy hormones :)