This pregnancy has definitely moved along much faster than when I was prego with the twinners.  I am 37 weeks and it is definitely time for an update. I am mainly doing these updates for myself because if it does not get blogged, my brain is likely to forget it forever!

Latest stats

37 weeks and 2 days pregnant

Countdown ticker says 20 days till due date.

BP consistently about 100-110/60-64 (Except yesterday when it was up a bit after listening to Hubby make 7 business calls on the way to Portland for our appt.  Apparently his job would stress me out.)

Up 22 pounds

Baby measuring just a bit ahead. Dr. said this is likely because I am short and baby sticks out pretty good instead of hiding inside.

Dilation-Nothing too notable to mention. I will spare you the details.

Baby head down and fairly low but not “dropped.”

Babies heart rate- 150 “on the nose”

Backup C-section scheduled for 12 past due date in Salem.

-Enjoying spending lots of time snuggling the kiddos. They seem need extra cuddle time and so do I. They ask me to come and get in my “cozy spot Mama” and they arrange my pillows so proudly. I lay down and they cuddle in and each try for the good spot next to me.  The other one has to lay on my side on top of me.  It is a very special time.  Even though there is constant blanket wrestling and climbing over me, I enjoy it.

-Still working on lots of projects to get the house and basics ready for baby girl when we have time. This looks very different than our prep before the twinners.  Before it was all about them and having everything just right, this time it is mainly about having the house in a decent place.

-Starting to get more tired than I have been the last few months.

-Going to try and start walking more to make sure my body knows I mean business. Not sure how this is going to work out with the “more tired” part.

-One of the sales women at the Gymboree Outlet that I know (she used to work in Salem and transferred over there) happens to go to the same OB in Portland and said she loves him. She also said that he was “from the old school,” which may be why I may not be getting the VBAC friendly vibes from him.

-The leader of the Portland VBAC support group emailed me back and told me that I was at pretty much the worst Dr. in regards to being supportive of VBAC’s. She highly recommended that I switch.  Bummer.  At this stage in the game I do not have the desire or energy to switch Dr’s (if it was even possible).  I am trusting God that it will all work out in his plan and am not going to make any changes.  Who knows who will even be on call when I deliver.

-Little man can’t wait to take the new baby to the Saturday Market and Little Lady is excited for her to “sit cozy” with us (snuggle on the couch).  So fun when I get glimpses into their minds.

-We have made a few name suggestions to them to see what they think.  They have both been very sure of the name from the time we started talking about it with them.  Not sure we could change our minds if we wanted to.  We love it though.  Still working on a finalizing middle name. Names are a BIG deal.  I keep having this feeling that if I had days to spend researching I could come up with the most perfect name.  Hard to feel like you are even scratching the surface of your options.

-I don’t mind wearing maternity clothes, but I am done with jeans that don’t stay where they belong.

-Enjoying the final days of pregnancy, not knowing if this will be our last baby.

-Slightly sentimental about going from our little family of 4 to 5.  We have a pretty cool thing going and I know a lot will change for my “babies”.

-Who will she look like? What will her personality be like? Can’t wait to see this baby’s sweet face!  She will be a blessing!

Tomorrow I will be 37 weeks prego. That means approximately 3 weeks till baby! I can hardly believe it. Here is an updated to do list with a couple new things, lines through the completed items, and notes added to some of others that are in progress.

To do:

1) Organize master bedroom-move chairs, dust in places I can’t reach, change bedding to my favorites, go through drawers again and make each of them work for me, get the totes to the garage when full of outgrown kid clothes…

2) Organize master bath-do a deep clean of tile and bath, organize stuff on counters, in drawers and cupboards and get rid of anything we don’t need . (Mostly done)

3) Organize small bedroom and large closet (not a priority)  get all scrapbooking and office stuff into the closet, and make the room look how I want it to (mostly done) !

4) Go through upstairs hallway closet- purge, organize and maximize the space.

5) Make laundry room cuter and clean the floors.

6) Organize kids bathroom-take out anything that does not belong, decide what to store in the cupboards, and deep cleaning (since our kids aren’t potty trained we don’t use this bathroom often at this point).

7) Finish my crafting space and make the large storage/inspiration board (might not happen).

8 ) Finish organizing toys (Pretty much done, just a few more finishing touches)

9) Organize the garage (partially done)

10) Finish putting stuff on Craigslist (did some, need to do more)

11) Donate to UGM

12) Take things to consignment store-multiple trips involved (I think they only look at a few things at a time)…we have been putting this off for too long. Use credit to buy clothes in next size up for kids and things for baby.

13) Print pictures and put them in frames

14) Set up an art station for the kids. (Made a basket of their art stuff and some learning tools. Will wait on art station till art stays in tables.)

15) Start and finish the twins baby books….HA, Just kidding!!!!

16) Create a working paper organization system for for the misc. things that stack up (partially done)

17) Get car maintainence done

18) Go through book shelf

19) Potty train kids (little man is doing pretty well all on his own initiative)

20) Take a family vacation (Went to Disneyland)

21)  Decide what to do about room arrangements and who will share when the baby moves out of our room and prepare accordingly (sort of dreading putting my “separate sleepers” in a room together).

22) Take family pictures

23) Go to the Zoo

24) Stock up on groceries and cook some meals ahead.

Baby related tasks

1) Go through baby clothes-organize, wash, make a list of any little things we need (this baby will be born in June and my twins were early Feb babies).

2) Put gear back together and wash everything.

3) Figure how in the world to configure the car seats in the van and get them all checked by the tech.

4) Put little baby stuff into the diaper bag.

5) Purchase-Small cloth diapers, used glider, used papasan swing, My Breast Friend nursing pillow,

7) Read a couple books Read 8 so far

8 ) Decide between a repeat c-section or to try for a vbac VBAC it is! (at Providence St. Vincent in Portland)

9) Go on a couple “dates” with the kids individually. (So far little mans was a solo trip to the pediatrician and Fred Meyer on Sat)

10) Stock up on a couple baby related products (use coupons and watch sales)- wipes, booty cream, wash, and little diapers.

11) Sew baby girl blanket and swaddling blanket with Anna Maria Horner fabric.

12) Pick out a name! Update-Getting closer.

13) Write out our “Birth Plan” (Never thought I would be one of “those” people, but I feel that it is especially important in our situation to have a plan and be brave enough to communicate it clearly (and not worry what others think).

14) Find a “take home outfit.”  Why is this so hard? (Think we have something)

15) Still need to pick up-A couple newborn hats

16) Pack bag for hospital

Other things we have done lately

Registered for the hospital online.

Ordered nursing bra.

Purchased nursing tank.

Got new pj pants and shorts (live in these and needed new ones).

Got the last of the cloth diapers.

Hung kids book rack in play area.

Currently prepping natural prefolds to get the oils out.

Washed tiny clothes and cleared out a spot for them to go.

Fixed a couple things around the house.

Got the kids 4th of July outfits. I am strangely into dressing them up for this holiday.

Built a raised bed and planted a garden. (All daddy and kids)

——————————– (New additions above and older below)

Moved the kids out of high chairs and cleaned them up.

Got the kids a little kids table on Craigslist

Got them a cute storage rack for their books

Got twin beds, frames, and bedding for both kids and got them set up in their room. We will wait to transition them till they seem more ready.

Now that the duo are two I am seeing some changes around here.  Because of their increasing vocab the “requests” are becoming more frequent.  This makes for more whining, crying, and asking for the various things they can think of.  Play time was becoming rougher and rougher as they went from entertaining themselves for little pockets of time, to heading in the direction of becoming quite demanding.  While I realize that this is quite “appropriate” for their age, I needed to find ways to channel their energy and ideas into something more productive.  If I did not try we would be eating very specific types of crackers 27 times a day, using our binkies constantly, having only grapes and cheese to eat, playing with mommies i phone, watching Charlie and Lola, and climbing on bar stools ALL DAY LONG. This is a recipe to make a mom crazy.  I don’t want my kids to be ultra demanding, nor do I want them to be crying all day long either when I deny their requests.

Enter-More purposeful play and structure

In my silly head I think of this as “homeschooling”. That’s a joke because the kids are a young two and time time we spend on these things could hardly be labeled as “school.”  This new time of chaos has left me searching for new options to occupy my kids time and our brains.  They are quite capable of learning simple things and I don’t want to waste our time just trying to get through every day.

Here are some of the things we are doing at 2 years 3mo:

-Sometimes staying in our chairs after breakfast to work on something rather than going straight to free play.

-Getting ideas off a really cool blog called Tot School. (Likely more on this later)

-Doing flash cards. Some people don’t like flashcards, but my kids seem to love them and we stop when they get bored. It is very interesting to see what types they are interested in. Little Lady loves the clothes and accessory types (jeans, hat, belt, watch) and Little Man loves the animals and vehicles best. Go figure.

-Working on colors. We frequently ask them what color something is, look at color flashcards sometimes, help them associate colors with objects they recognize (“It is green like Rex.”), ask for things by name and color (“Can you bring me the pink bowl?). Colors seem to be one of the tougher things for toddlers to learn. This is why we have focused on them a little more than other concepts or objects. It is interesting that the colors they are having the easiest time with are the colors that have less shade variation like white, brown, black, red, etc. Green, blue and other colors like them seem to be harder.

-Talking about the days of the week and what we commonly do on those days.

-Coloring

-Playing with Play-Dough

-Folding paper to look like things like butterflies etc.

-Working on having fun with music and learning about different types of instruments. Doing puzzles. Looking at different pictures of instruments and doing the motions that you would do when playing that instrument. Talking about the different sounds and trying to identify what they are. Listing to the Jazz station on our “Music on Demand” channel and naming the instruments they show pictures of during the music.

-Talking about the sizes of things and using words like “tiny, small, medium, big, large” etc.

-Talking about some basic shapes. We are working on these slowly and using the same sorts of techniques as we use with colors.  We name things like crackers by their shape (circle crackers-whole grain Trader Joe’s crackers and square crackers-Wheat Thins) etc.

-Reading Bible stories together before bed and letting them repeat the words they are interested in and point things out in pictures.

-Looking out the windows and naming objects, animals, and colors we see.

-Put up a book rack at their level to encourage them to read their books and organize them on their own.

In case you are interested these are the flashcards we are using. Links are embedded in the images.

The first set we got was the Baby Einstein Numbers and Shapes Discovery Cards. I got them at Tj Maxx for a great price, but I have to say they are just okay.

The second set we got was Trend Enterpirse’s “Picture Words”. I chose these because they covered a variety of topics in one pack. Topics include; animals, clothing, transportation, common objects, shapes, safety signs, and colors. I figured this would be a better value than purchasing a bunch of separate sets. I got mine at Learning Palace. I signed up for their email list and they sent me a coupon (I think it was 20% off one item?). Worth a shot if you are needing something there.

What are your kids enjoying lately? Do you have any suggestions for fun ways to learn, play, and add structure to the day?