Welcome Spring!

I have to say that for the first full day of spring, it was pretty awesome outside today. Actually we were lucky enough to have really nice weather for the past 4 days in a row! Lots of sunshine and warmer weather. Which has meant lots of walks, playing outside at school, and daily trips to the playground. The fresh air and the activity have done wonders for Corinne and it's been a nice change of pace for us too.

Tonight we walked around the neighborhood for a while and met some neighbors. Everyone seems really nice, and there are a TON of kids in our plan. It's nice because there are about 60 (of 66 total) homes so it's not too small but not overwhelming. Most of the kids are younger too - kindergarten age or less, so that is perfect for making friends. (No doubt it will spell trouble in about 10 years or so, but we'll handle that then....) And I was invited to the development's book club which was nice.

This past weekend we also visited my mom for an early birthday dinner which was really delicious. Cori helped me blow out the candles and ate a ton of icing (which she calls "cake") and it was pretty funny.

Sleep training has been going much smoother (knock-on-wood). Without wanting to jinx it, that's all I am going to say. But it's been much better / smoother and Cori sleeps through the night until morning without waking which is wonderful.

I've been having some pregnancy insomnia and am starting to get uncomfortable sleeping. I can't seem to find a good position. Plus baby boy just keeps punching away at me most actively at night. And I'm starting to experience some minor swelling in my feet and aching in my lower back. It feels too early for this to be happening but I guess my body has other ideas!

Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh!

Corinne is a European "mutt" thanks to the background of her parents - Slovak, Hungarian and Polish from her Mom and German, French and English from her Dad. Oh, and I can't forget the 2.5% Native American from her father's side. She isn't Irish in the least. But we still wish "A St. Patrick's Day Blessing Upon You".

Sleep has been a little better the past 2 nights. She shows some anxiety at the end of our bed time routine. It's like she knows what is coming (us leaving) and she's taken to stalling - asking for more book stories, extra hugs, etc. I feel badly that she is anxious but am really trying to project a calm, loving attitude to her during the time. We tell her we'll check in on her in a few minutes, and we do. I know with Ferber you only go in after set times when the child continues to fuss, but it seems that Cori is comforted to see one of us check in after 5 minutes or so. We don't go through the gate (thankfully she has stopped opening it and throwing things) but just tell her we love her and we'll be back, go to sleep, etc.

It only takes about 12-15 minutes and she is asleep. And she's been sleeping through the night straight. She will wake up and fuss but has been able to put herself back to sleep right away. Last night a bad dream woke her up as I heard her say over the monitor "I want to go home!"but it was quiet again within a minute. We'll see how tonight goes as she only napped 30 minutes at day care today.

Sleep Training Update

Apparently I made the mistake of saying how well sleep training was going because it came back to bite me in the butt. While Monday was awful, and Tuesday & Wednesday were great, Thursday and Friday were back to not good. They weren't awful, but they weren't great either.

Saturday Corinne was at Um-ma's house, so we can't count that night. Tonight, as I type, I'm listening to her scream again like Monday night. Another awful night. I actually think this might be worse. AND she keeps opening the baby gate; if this keeps up, we're going to have to shut her door and start locking it from the outside somehow, which will scare her to death.

I knew this wasn't going to be easy, but this absolutely sucks. What the hell do I do now?

Halfway

Today marks the official half way point of the pregnancy - 20 weeks down, 20 weeks to go. I'm feeling good for the most part aside from some out of the blue nausea and occasional insomnia. I'm still down 10 pounds from before I got pregnant, but I'm not sure how much longer that will last. Here's a "belly shot" from this morning - I actually think I look more pregnant in the shot than I do in real life. I still have co-workers who tell me they had zero idea I was pregnant as I don't look it at all. Here's a comparison shot of 20 weeks pregnant with Cori (in which I gained 40+ pounds over all).
Yesterday my OB put me on pelvic bed rest because the placenta is covering the cervix. This is cause for increased risk of bleeding and premature labor should any stress be applied to or, um, inserted into the area. There is a chance that the placenta will move away from the cervix as it grows, but in my case, it started out fine and is kind of growing "downward". I know this because it happened with Cori's pregnancy (it's fairly common) and resolved itself by 20 weeks. Now I'm in the opposite case.... it started out fine but is going the wrong way. The important part is that the baby is fine, and I'll have another ultrasound in 10 weeks to see if it changed. Worst case scenario - I stay on pelvic bed rest and have to have a scheduled c-section.

But today has been a fun day - I found out that I got a really, really nice bonus from work for the work I did last year. It will afford us the ability to get Cori a nice swing set for the back yard. I'm leaning towards one of these two:

The first one is at Costco, but Cori has always been afraid of covered slides. It looks really well constructed though and I think would be fun.

The second one is at Toys R Us - this would allow me to buy gift cards at Giant Eagle and earn some big time fuel perks!! No covered slide to worry about, and has a nice sand box area which would be fun, but do I really want to have an uncovered large sand area for wild animals to do their business in?? I'd have to find a way to cover it.

We also started up sleep training this week. While Monday was horrible (is there a stronger acronym for horrible??) - full of tears and screaming and distress - the past two nights have been a complete 180 degree difference. Last night even Cori didn't make a single whimper or tear when we tucked her in and left. We've been leaving her door open with the baby gate preventing her from exiting her room, and the hall light is on low and I think that is the big difference. It seems to really comfort her. I just know I am super thankful that it's been going better, and I hope it continues that way. It makes both of us very happy.

Speaking of happy, tomorrow I'll be a puddle of happiness. I am having a spa day with my friend Sara. 2 hr massage, spa lunch, manicure and pedicure. And some much needed girl time - I can't wait. I'll be trying out a new spa near my house (well, new to me) called Osiris Wellness, so I can't wait to report back!

Meet our son!

That's right - it's a boy! It's been 24 hours since we found out and I'm still getting used to the idea, as much as I suspected it. Most importantly, he is healthy and growing well. He was moving and grooving around in there a lot. The tech kept asking him to slow down so she could get his measurements; he already doesn't listen! (which is fine, as long as he sleeps!!) Heart rate was 136 bpm.

I'm a bit worried since Cori really wanted a little sister so much. I'm hoping she will bond just as well with her little bro. We showed the ultrasound picture to her yesterday and told her it was her little brother. She replied "No, that's a doggie!" Ha ha - kids!

Now comes the hard part - names. Dave and I are pretty much worlds apart. We had decided on Benjamin Robert when we were pregnant with Corinne. Since then, I've gotten a really weird fear that people will call him "Big Ben", and since we live in Pittsburgh... And it isn't really the whole controversy about Ben Rothelisburger the Quarterback. It's more that calling our son "Big Ben" sounds really "Yinzerish" to me - esp living in Pittsburgh. Like, why not just call him IC Light or Primantis? And as much as it would drive me crazy, I'm not sure I'd be able to possess the stones to tell someone "please don't call him that - his name is Ben" etc. But I hate nicknames that people give to others, especially when the person may not be old enough to say "please don't call me that" etc.

I know it will all work out fine in the end. We're trying to explore other male name options, but I suspect that we'll end up using Benjamin since that is really the only name we can agree on. We shall see.

In the mean time, I've gone through 18 bins of Cori's clothes to put out all the gender neutral stuff. I cannot believe all the clothes that girl had!! Next up on the "to do" list is to finish setting up the nursery.

Welcome March

Thank goodness February is over!

That is all (for now)