Reading

Mallory loves to read.  No really, LOVES to read.  I can’t even begin to tell you how many books we read each day.  Or how many books I have memorized because we read them so many times.

My favorite is when Mallory reads them on her own.  When she reads them out loud.  I can’t get enough of it.  It turns me into mush.

Today I was vacuuming and when I headed with the vacuum to her room I found her on her floor with a book.  She was laying on her belly reading her book.  I stopped the vacuum and ran for the camera.  When I got back she was on her back with her feet on the wall.

At first she was particular to her books.  She would only sit still and listen to her favorites.  Now she will sit and listen to any book!

She ran off to get another one from the shelf.

Came back and laid back down with her new book and read some more.

You can about imagine what it is like to take her to the library.  She is hard on her library books though.  Our last trip to the library – we weren’t home for 5 minutes with her new books and she accidently tore one of the pages.  I’m an expert at taping pages back together to look like nothing happened.  : ) 

I love that she likes to read so much.  It makes me so excited for chapter books and reading them together.  Beverly Cleary here we come!  : )

When she is like this – playing independently – it makes me so proud.  Yet, I just want to go snuggle her and bother her.  : )

While I was taking a break snapping pictures of Mallory in her room – I decided to tackle some much needed closet organization.  Check out these boots!!  Are they not adorable?  Um… well… Mally won’t wear them!  Plus, I can’t get them on her.  She has thick chubby feet and feet that will not go into boots.  I’ve tried many boots – ones that zip, ones that slip on… nothing fits!  No matter what size!

While organizing and sorting out all the items I never used and will never use… I found our hospital bracelets and her nuk from the hospital!

I thought maybe if I took a picture of them then I could throw them away.  Didn’t work.  I put them back in the drawer.  : )

Belly Status–26 Weeks

This pregnancy is going so so so so fast!  Which is great, because this time around I am so excited for the end.  I’m not nervous about labor/delivery – I’m not nervous about the newborn stage – I just feel more ready this time around.  Not ready in the sense that he can show up and have a bed, clothes, blankets… because I only have one outfit and one blanket.  LOL!  So my goal for February is to start actually getting the house ready! 

I am nervous about how Mallory will react to having to share me and having to be away from me for a couple days while being at the hospital… because she has only ever spent one night away from me.  I already know that Aunts and Grandmas will be fighting over who gets Mallory while we are in the hospital – however they all work so hopefully it isn’t during the week or the person with the most vacation time wins.  Teehee!

Every once in a while I do this – I unconsciously dress Mallory and I the same.  I didn’t even notice it this day until I was carrying her out of her room after getting her dressed and looked down at her and went “we match!”  Good thing we don’t go anywhere or people might start to think that I have an illness.

Ups:

~ Faster labor and delivery.  When I went to my last appointment (almost a month ago already) they measure me and I am at the top of the scale and she says… looks like you will be having another big baby this time.  To which I hufffed and said.. noooo!  Mallory really hurt me – I don’t want another big baby!  She either said this to make me feel better or she knows what she is talking about… she said the second time around is so much easier.  Labor and delivery are cut in half from your first one.  I was in labor for 16 hours with Mallory and pushed for 2 hours.  I can handle that being cut in half because when I hear other moms say they only pushed for 5 minutes… I kind of want to punch them.  : )  Just kidding! 

~ I’m having a real hard time thinking of ups with this pregnancy.  For the most part I feel fine.  I’m not sure if I am experiencing  some braxton hicks lately – but my belly is very tight some nights and very uncomfortable.  Maybe it is the lugging around of my 30 pound child (I have no idea how much Mallory weighs – but I’m guess she is around there) and Baby2!  You don’t realize how easy you got it when you are pregnant for the first time.  Not that I am not enjoying this pregnancy – I totally am.  It is just different this time around.

~ Mallory pats my belly when we ask her where Baby Brother is.  Or sometimes she pats her own belly.  : )  She also says “kickin” when we talk about Baby Brother.

Mallory ditched me and wouldn’t come get her picture taken anymore.

Downs:

~ Heartburn.  I feel like I am not getting it as much as I did with Mallory.  However, when I do get it – it burns!  The funny part is Jesse has heartburn too!!  He never use to get heartburn and now he has it  - I tell him it is sympathy heartburn.  : )  Then I was talking to another Mom and she said her husband would get heartburn with her pregnancies!

~ They are fighting already!  : )  One afternoon Mallory and I are sitting on the floor reading books and she is sitting in my “yap” (lap) and little man kicked me one giant big kick that I even said, ouch.  I asked Mallory if she felt baby brother kick her and she leaned back and pushed on my belly as if to yell at him. 

She ditched me for all her puppies!  These are all the things that are in her crib and she carried them all out in one big armful and dropped them right here.

~ Nanny talk.  We have been talking/plotting/planning about getting someone to come to our house during the mornings/early afternoons to help me out so that I can continue to work.  Right now I am able to work during Mallory naps and if something comes up before nap time – I can usually run downstairs for a bit and she will play upstairs… or worse case she comes with me and destroys the basement and office and pulls all the fun things from the office drawers.  Anyway, our set up is working right now – however throwing a newborn into the mix… we can’t really picture it working so smoothly.  (How I worked 30 hours a week with Mallory I will never know.)  Our business is also growing each year which is making it busier and more time consuming for both of us. 

Right now we are thinking since it will be summer when I have the baby and the kids will be getting out of school by the time Jesse goes back to work (he will take about 3 or 4 weeks off) that we would ask our neighbor girl (who watches Mally here and there) if she would like to come over for a couple hours each day to help out with the kids so that I can work.  If she isn’t able to do it then I guess I hit the search for someone else in the area.  *Scary!*  I use to say that I would never be a stay-at-home-mom.  I wanted to work!  Ha!  Look at me now!  I’m fighting it – yet I don’t want to stop it – yet I think I can do it all.

~ Sugar please!  The first 3 to 4 months I wasn’t into sweets.  Now, I can not get enough!  I think this belly is a cookie and ice cream bump not a baby bump.

Alright, that is enough complaining for one pregnancy post!  ; )

25 Weeks with Mallory.

Don’t Laugh. Keep a Straight Face.

So before my days of being pregnant and actually having kids I watched the show Super Nanny.  I really liked it.  It all made sense to me – her discipline style.  I thought I knew it all and thought I would never need a Super Nanny to come to my house to teach me how to discipline… then today happened…

Mally has been fighting getting her diaper changed or getting her clothes changed.  She can’t stand it.  I put a book on her changing table and have her look for things in the book – worked for months.  Not so much anymore. 

We started doing timeouts for being naughty.  She doesn’t like timeouts and they (usually) work like a champ.  Today – she liked it!  OMG!  This girl!  Once I think I got something down she goes and changes it on me.

She was being naughty with trying to get her diaper changed so I took her for a timeout.  She sat there.  Not crying.  Just sat there.  Then she started pretending to yawn and letting out big gasps of air/breathe.  Then she starts getting this serious look on her face and will look out of the corner of eye.  Then she tries to get up.  I immediately get her, put her back in her spot… without communication (Super Nanny says don’t talk).  She laughs.  Sits there and yawns – looks serious – gets up again.  I put her back.  She laughs.  We did this so many times that her hair is now a static mess and is sticking up every where to the point that all I want to is bust into a fit of giggles as she sits there and pretends to yawn.  Then she started licking her lips and smacking her mouth.  Then she got up on her knees and started walking away on her knees because she seen me do it one night while we were picking up toys and now she tries to imitate the move.  I put her back and she says “Listen Momma!  Listen Momma!”

And it continued… I was having to bite my cheeks so that I wouldn’t smile or giggle.  I have always had a problem with discipline – I get the giggles.  My little sister and little brother would do this to me all the time – they would be driving me up a wall to the point of breakdown and I would turn to yell at them and yell… then laugh!

Anyway – I finally got my timeout across to her after a good 15 minute battle.  We hugged and said sorry and she went down for a nap.  Whew! 

Now why, on all those shows I watched, didn’t Super Nanny come across a Mom who got the giggles when trying to give time outs?  I could of used that lesson!