Constant Beginnings

for the record, my shift key has stopped working. please excuse the lack of capital letters. i am 28 weeks tomorrow, so i went in for my glucose screen today. such joy. i nearly failed this screen with claire, so i was a bit worried about it. i know i shouldn't adjust my diet for this special occasion, but i couldn't help thinking about what i should and should not eat. i started the day with 2 small blueberry muffins, drank lots of water and got to lunch. i didn't have time to run to the cafe for my usual salad bar, so i popped some popcorn. that didn't fill me, so i decided to run grab a panini. evidently this could have been a mistake--white bread. ugh. i went for the screen and will find out tomorrow the ramifications of my choices. i was nearly anemic with my first pregnancy, which is also examined at this point, so tomorrow could be a bang-up day. after my blood work, i had an exam. i love all of my doctors. no complaints about any. love them. love them. love them

  I bought these jammies awhile ago, but forgot about them. I think they sum up how we both feel. We can't wait for the month to pass until we can see Chris again.

My sisters joined Facebook earlier this year, something I swore I wouldn't do, despite encouragement from them and friends. Why? I don't know why I was so resistant. While on winter break this week, something came over me--I joined. In high school I had a large, close group of friends. In fact, we had been good friends for most of our lives. However, after graduation, I took the road less traveled and ventured to college on the opposite side of the state than most. It was a decision I do not regret as it lead me to Chris and some self discovery, but the move was one that resulted in less contact with my good friends. Of course, I made new friends, but I know little of what happened to all of my old friends--until now. Although my time on Facebook has been limited, it has been fun. Fun to reconnect, catch up, see friends' families, and stay connected on their day to day lives. I am loving it.

I've done a few posts on Claire and her love of clothes. She has taken it to a whole new level. Last night, she went to bed with a mitten on her hand, and they stayed on the entire night! What a fruitcake! This morning she woke up and saw her boots, so put them on too. I can hardly wait to see what outfits this kiddo comes up with when it is time to choose her own. She'll be one of those kids whose teachers wonder what kind of mother she has. (I've been one of those teachers...)

My pregnancy updates are definitely less frequent with this kiddo. Poor thing is already getting the shaft. Things are going well. I am officially 26 weeks with 12.5 more to go. I had the two days on bedrest this week and they have seemed to stop the contractions or at least the frequency and severity. I feel good. In fact with the news that Chris' returning early, I am full of energy and working hard to complete the projects I said I'd do while he was away. For example, yesterday I made 6 cute little monogrammed burp cloths for the babe, painted a few spots on our ceilings that have been bugging me, touched up some spots on our walls and painted the rise on the stairs going up to our bedrooms, which I've been meaning to do for nearly 2 years. Pretty good. I am on vacation this week. Claire is going to go to daycare at least one day so I can finish painting in the basement. I had thoughts of organizing the Claire's bedroom, clearing out some of my clothes from the dress

Prayers are a funny thing. Just when you think no one is listening, they finally get answered. I have never doubted my faith, instead, faithfully believed and prayed--for people, change, and more recently for Chris, knowing that one day when my prayers were heard enough times and when the time was right, God would answer them. It was how I was raised. It seems as though my time has come for that answer. Timing is everything. Thank goodness. I just talked to Chris and what I have heard as a possibility for days, even weeks is going to come true. He is coming home---very early!!! Claire and I couldn't be happier. We are thrilled that he will be out of harms way, back in our house & back in our daily lives within a month or so. It is so much sooner than we ever could have imagined and hoped for, which makes it that much more incredible. Our prayers have truly been answered! Thank you to all who have faithfully prayed for his swift return and safety. Please continue to keep him in

Claire is a bit over 18 months, but we weren't able to get her in for her 18 month appointment until now--issues with being a single parent. Anyway, she did so well. I pushed off her hep A shot until today because she wasn't perfect (runny nose and eyes) at her 15 month appointment, which is my point of concern as a parent. Anyway, I elected to split that series of shots between two appointments. She didn't cry at all! It was rather amazing. She usually does very well, but tears seem to be inevitable. She is doing well developmentally too. Here are her stats: height: 30.5 inches (30th %ile) weight: 20 pounds 12 oz (5th %ile) head circumferance: 48 cm. (75th %ile) All in all things are looking up as she's climbing up the height chart! She's still a little peanut, but doing well. We quickly ran to Old Navy to get her some new pjs. She is over the one piece fleece jammies much to my sadness. I wish they made those in adult sizes! Anyway, she actually chose to sleep in

Because my life was too calm, something had to happen. I awoke this morning to contraction-like tension in my lower pelvis. This tension is/was not painful, but present and constant. I finally called the doctor at 9:00 only to hear the words bedrest and liquids. Great. They think I am dehydrated which caused contractions. I laid around all morning and afternoon feeling fine. The baby is kicking and moving around, which alleviated much of my worry. However, I went to pick up Claire and was upright for all of 10 minutes or so feeling contractions again. We came home and I called again. I am back in bed with poor Claire by my side. Thankfully all the entertainment she needs can fit in the bed with us, so she is perfectly content. If things don't improve tomorrow morning, I need to go see the doctor. Keeping my fingers crossed. It is much too early for this kind of drama.

Claire will be making the move back to her own bed in a week (tear, tear), so I decided it was time to get her a pillow of her own. While sleeping in our bed, she swiped one of Chris' pillows and loves it like no other. We bought a small travel sized pillow for her yesterday. It is the perfect size for her crib. She was so excited, holding it throughout the store. Target didn't have a pillow case that small, so I whipped one up for her. We even got lucky in that it coordinates pretty well with her bedding. She loved it, so much in fact, that she told me to "stop it" when I attempted to rest my head on it last night. "Stop it," is a favorite phrase as of late, along with "Andrew hit me." Andrew is a four year old handful at daycare. He doesn't hit her, but she's obviously been listening. Anyway, all day yesterday, she was laying her babies on the pillow and carrying it around with her. Such sweetness.

Who doesn't love a pocket or two? Claire was quick to develop this love. I put her in jeans on Friday and immediately she started shoving paci's and anything else she could find into her tight little pockets. Cute, smiling pictures are hard to capture these days as she is way too busy to sit still for her slow picture-taking Momma. Therefore, this is the best I could do--hands in her pockets. She definitely brings many smiles to my face each day.

Claire is getting older and frankly, a bit bored with many of her toys. She loves the typical ones---babies, this racing car thing, her magnadoodle, & books. I thought it was time for something new, so we bought some blocks today. They were a hit. She played for a really long time with little guidance. She is such a toddler. It is amazing how quickly time flies.

The temperature on Sunday was around 40 degrees. It was gorgeous, simply a perfect day for chipping away at the ice on our driveway. Claire and I were out for over an hour. I finally lured her to the back deck. After several attempts of trying to get her inside to which I had the door pushed in my face, I took charge and pulled her in. Needless to say, our little girl has some control issues. She wasn't pleased with me. I am chalking up her little display of drama to spring fever--perhaps naive, but what can I say?

Our kid is unique. She is perfectly content walking around with her hat over her eyes. Can't imagine that it would be comfortable, but she does it. Her newest thing is running around with just a diaper on. It started with a little game of chase when getting dressed in the morning, but it has expanded to other times of day as well. Fun times at our house.

The poor guy had to wear an Elizabethan collar, so that he wouldn't bite at his leg. It drove him crazy, so I removed it when we returned from the vet until around 10 the next morning when he began biting. One last kiss.. This was a typical sight at our house, wherever Claire was, Harvest was or vice versa. Claire and I said "good-bye" to Harvest this morning. It was an awful experience to say the least. He was in tough shape at 12 years old. Harvey tore his other hind ACL in July, had numerous warts, which irritated him to no end and now a cyst on his front leg that multiplied in size this past year. Chris and I weighed our decision in July and decided that we would just let him live his life as a poor handicapped soul until he showed us that it was poor quality. That sign came on Wednesday. His cyst broke open, which lead to days of licking it. I called the vet on Thursday to get a quote on the surgery only to come home and discover his cyst looking extremely "tiss