Natalie loves Micah, despite his corrupting influence
Natalie finally got some cake to celebrate her birthday. She enjoyed eating, singing and opening presents while Grandma and Grandpa were over.
Last week, we experienced the awful weather that went on everywhere. Here, Natalie looks out on the snow last Monday morning. None of it stuck, but it was coming down pretty impressively. Monday night the low was 7 degrees.
Then, on Tuesday, we woke up to no running water in the whole house. There was a frozen pipe somewhere in the main that leads to us and our neighbor's units. We suffered through and eventually went to spend the night at Micah's parents' house, but on the positive side- it was about time for me to rotate my emergency water supply. Here, Natalie helps me prepare to refill the bottles.
The hardest part about not having water? The hassle of flushing the toilet. It took 3-4 bottles each time.
And of course, the reason that Natalie is not wearing pants in any of these photos is that 2 weeks ago today we started a new potty training regiment. The 3-day method emphasizes the first three days, but then they recommend having the child wear nothing below the waist at home and only loose pants when leaving the house for 3 months to make sure the habit is well established. We have had a few ups and downs, but mostly ups in the past few days. Saturday and Sunday were completely accident-free. Woohoo! Today there was one inexcusable accident in the evening and then some issues earlier this afternoon. The poor girl pooped 7 times in 15 minutes; I was impressed that even half of it made it to the potty with diarrhea like that!
Natalie is happy for her new cookware. Thanks, Grandma! When we first opened this when it arrived in the mail, we were unsure if it was a toy or just some really cute, miniature pots and pans meant for making single servings of soup.
Little craft I did- I had old, rusty cookie sheets that needed retiring. Covered them in some cool fabric and viola- decorative trays. Perfect for collecting the assorted just that ends up on the table.
Natalie is more interested as of late in princesses and wearing tutus. She insisted on wearing this to church on Sunday and threw a fit when I tried to get her to wear a normal dress.
After our spending spree through the holidays, I am making an effort to get back on track with out monthly budget. I got a ton of great snack food this morning at Publix. Over $100 retail price, paid $14+tax. Haul included:
6 packs of Tena pads
2 pints sorbet
12 packs pudding
4 packs applecause
7 bags dried fruit and trailmix
3 bags frozen vegetable
1 pack yogurt
2 snapware bowls
1 bottle syrup
In other news, Nick does not stay with us any longer. Another volunteer asked if she could foster him because her current dogs and housing situation only allow her to foster calm, older dogs. I was planning on taking a break from fostering when the bebe was born, so we went ahead and decided to hand him over last week since the opportunity was right. He is now kicking back with some other grandpa dogs without living in constant terror of being sat on by Natalie.
For some reason, I've been getting a lot of questions lately about baby #2. I guess I haven't been broadcasting every detail, though I'm not really trying to keep private either. I just try not to think about the fact that in 4 months, I'll have 2 kids to handle. I'm just content to ignore the fact as much as possible... though it is becoming harder and harder lately.
I feel super duper pregnant. Like, at 24 weeks, I feel more cumbersome and uncomfortable than I ever did my entire previous pregnancy. Everyone says that it just feels harder because this time around I have a toddler to take care of. I'll buy that to some extent. I'll let Natalie take the blame for my chronic exhaustion and the pain in my lower back and shoulders. But I doubt having a toddler to chase this time around was the cause of my morning sickness symptoms being 10x worse. Or the reason that I have aversions to half the food I cook. Or the unbearable heartburn, which kindly descends each night around 9pm and lasts until 2am, regardless of what/when I have eaten last.
But by far the worst part is that I feel ginormous huge. I believe that this is a common feature of consecutive pregnancies because muscle memory causes abdominal muscles to relax and yadda yadda yadda. All that matters to me is that I can't breathe when I bend over, a bunch of my maternity clothes are already too small and there is no comfortable spot on my lap for Natalie that doesn't involve her elbow jabbing mercilessly into my gut. It's especially irritating because my pre-pregnancy weight is 10 pounds less than it was with Natalie and I've been exercising regularly (vs never when pregnant with Natalie) and yet I still feel way bigger. And I've still got so much longer to go. I already pee when I cough and can't get comfortable when sitting. How can this possibly get worse for 17 weeks?
Micah claims that I don't look that big. But this conversation from last week was telling...
Me: "My belly is huge"
Micah: "How big should you be by this point?"
Me: "Well, you saw Heidi today. She's due 3 weeks before me."
Micah: "I didn't even notice she was pregnant."
Me: "Exactly."
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