The Beach! Photos first...

So, the Friday before last, Roxanne and I drove to St. Simons Island for a four day vacation. We were very sad that Justin couldn't come (pregnant lady hormones=an actual tearful departure... sigh) but he is currently having the busiest month ever at work. And since I'll be taking maternity leave from work in August, I knew that I couldn't do a summer vacation unless it was when my bosses were out of town already. When they told me they were going out of town last Friday and the following Monday, I decided to just take Roxanne to the beach. Did that sentence make sense? I'm tired... Baby Bumblebee is kicking and kicking in a way that makes it hard to sleep. So I'm delirious blogging. Dangerous!
Back to the beach... We had a great time. There were definitely some stressful parts, since herding a 3 year old for that many days all by yourself can get old, and even more so when said 3 year old is an extremely stubborn little thing. Still, it was very very worth it. Our routine basically consisted of waking up, me letting Roxanne watch some cartoons while I tried to sleep in a little, eating some snacks for breakfast on our way to the beach, spending a few hours on the beach, heading to a restaurant for lunch, then going back to the beach until dinner. We added in some shopping and walking around the Village at St. Simons here and there, but I tried to keep the beach the main focus. Roxanne LOVES the beach. She loves playing in the sand and splashing in the water. While it was way too cold for me to swim, she had a good time splashing in the water and occasionally laying down in it.
On Friday, she was content to play with me and/or amuse herself, but by Saturday, she told me she was going to find a friend on the beach to play with. And sure enough, each time we went back to the beach, she would find a "friend" to play with for at least part of the time we were there. They were all little girls, and most were around her age or just a bit older. It was amazing to see her be so incredibly social (not that she isn't always pretty social) and to see how well kids can get along at the beach. It's like they are all in this state of happiness that makes it impossible for them to be mean to each other. Of course, at one point, she ran back to me from being down at the water with lots of other kids (including some wild boys) and said something along the lines of "all of those jellyfish are dead. They all got killed." Sigh. There were a ton of jellyfish washed up on the sand for some weird reason, but I had been telling her they were resting. Oh well. In any case, ever since we've been home, Roxanne has been begging me to take her back to the beach. She says she wants to live in the hotel. Forever. And never come home. A girl can dream.
On Monday morning, I took Roxanne to the beach for about an hour before we headed to nearby Jekyll Island to visit the Georgia Sea Turtle Center. I had been asking her for days if she wanted to go to the "turtle hospital" in the hopes that if I made it sound awesome enough, it would distract her from the fact that we were going home afterward. It actually was a lot of fun, and her favorite part was asking me all of the sea turtles' names. They all had very fancy names, and we got there in time to hear a short explanation about each "patient" and see them swimming in their pools. We even got to see some tiny tiny ones that had just recently hatched. They were Roxanne's favorites. Painfully adorable... The museum part was also really fun. Lots of interactive exhibits about different aspects of sea turtle protection and life in general. I'd recommend a visit if you are in the area!

Belly progress

So here I am yesterday at 18 weeks. I'm 19 weeks today, so I just barely made it! Boo Boo is giving me moral support. I know it seems like she's just asking to go outside for the fiftieth time in an hour, but it's not. Support. I promise. I feel like my belly has been the same size for weeks. I actually even called the OB's office and asked a nurse about why my belly was actually shrinking (not in a crazy, hysterical way, just in a "please reassure me this is normal" way). Apparently when I was taking the progesterone supplement, it made my belly swollen and bigger than it really was. Hence the plateau in size... I also haven't gained any weight yet, but I totally admit that my exercise schedule is off track right now. Family, sickness, family sickness, and schoolwork are my big sources of blame. I will get back on track though. Honest. I do realize how much better I feel while working out, I just need all of the crazy 400 page a week reading assignments and constant papers to give me a break. And the strep throat. And the pink eye.

And just for fun, here's some Roxanne photos.
Here's her self-portrait. She's been loving taking pictures lately. Most are weird, fuzzy and impossible to see, but I kind of love this one with her mismatched Hello Kitty socks.
Here's her trying on a fake mustache a friend gave her for her birthday. I think this face is perfect. She's like an inspector.
She is totally working this look. I told Justin we should have a family photo shoot with fake mustaches on. I know it's trendy to have ironic mustaches, but I don't care. They are funny. And there are like 15 styles in this pack, so we could all get really good and weird ones. We're doing it!

Baby Bumblebee

OK, so I just wanted to do a quick "new baby" post. I got a call from my midwife's office, and everything came back normal on my genetic screening tests. Yay! My glucose test was also normal. Also good!

I'm feeling the baby move quite a bit now. It starts up most when I lay down for bed, or when I'm sitting in class. If I sit too hunched over, I think the baby gets a little squished and starts really kicking me. Sugary foods make the baby go nuts (duh) and cold stuff does, too. Tonight we went to my little sister's drumline concert, and anytime there were big bass drum hits, I got a pretty good popping feeling from the baby. He or she can hear now, so I'm sure the loud noises were not very welcome. Sorry baby.

I'll be 19 weeks next Monday, and for now, I still haven't gained weight, but my belly is starting to really pop more. I noticed today I'm already "waddling" a little, and my back has been hurting from my joints spreading. Of course, I've also been busy at work with the littles, and several times this week I've had all four kids, so that definitely adds some strain to my back. But it's good practice!

School is fine, but it's definitely a learning process for me to figure out how to write papers, etc., without any coffee. Sad, but true. When most of your study time falls outside of normal business hours, coffee gets to be a useful ally. But I'll make it (I hope). For now, my plan is to take 2 classes this summer, but then take fall semester off to help adjust to the new baby, and working with 4 kids. Hopefully by the spring semester I'll be able to start back with school. At that point, I hope to only need about 3 semesters more. But a lot will depend on what is available in the night classes. Sigh. I'm sure it will be fine though, even if it takes a little longer.

Swimming Queen

Here's Roxanne as we were leaving for her swim lesson on Saturday. She had just finished throwing a giant fit. We are finding that Saturdays and Sundays are full of fun, intermingled with periods of INSANE grumpiness. Roxanne is giving up her naps, and the transition is not very pretty. But we'll still keep her. Her Nemo suitcase is from my mom and Mike and Leah, and she loves it. It's perfect for swim lessons (and overnight trips) because we can fit her towel and suit and change of clothes in it.
She's wearing her new sandals here. They are the pink version of the red ones she had last year, and they are by Livie and Luca. She picked them out with me at a consignment sale in Candler Park where they sold unused Livie and Luca old stock for about half the normal price. Thrifty and fancy! She is still insisting on wearing ONLY dresses, and her girly girl obsession is getting out of control. She often insists on having a bow in her hair, and she wants to paint her nails several times a week. I swear we aren't encouraging it, but we are also just not making a big deal about it. Hopefully it's just a phase... Today we were meeting some friends with two sons for a playdate, and before we left, she said "I can't play with boys, because I'm a girl. I want to play with girls." Sigh. Of course I talked to her for a long time about why boys and girls like to play with each other, and of course she had a lot of fun with the boys. But good grief. Where is all of this coming from???
We took MARTA to Georgia State for Roxanne's lesson. I tagged along to watch. Oh, and here Roxanne is wearing her new Old Navy flip flops. Perfect for poolside, and she's starting to get used to walking in them. One thing about Old Navy; the clothes might be cheap and fall apart, but the flip flops are abundant, come in fun colors, and are CHEAP. Oh, and sidenote, we just realized at the MARTA station that the wheels of Roxanne's suitcase light up when you are wheeling it around. Fun!
We got to the lesson a little early (shocked? You should be) so Roxanne stared wistfully into the water while waiting for the teacher to come and get her. She was the only little girl in her group, and the four little boys were at least a year older than her, but she still seemed to have fun. From where we were watching, she seemed to listen to the instructor on most things, but she definitely did not want to float on her back. She did finally try it a couple of times. She seemed to like it when they were squeezing these weird bean bag things over their heads and then practicing getting the water out of their eyes/faces. Her favorite was jumping off the side and into the pool to the instructor (who was a very sweet young woman). Hopefully by the end of the session (five more weeks) she'll have gained a lot more confidence and be on her way to being a little swimmer! She loves being in the water, she just gets nervous about going under water.

143 Beats Per Minute

Here I am at 16 weeks. My belly has actually gotten a little smaller. Weird.

I had my midwife appointment Monday morning (17 weeks), and everything is fine. The midwife found the heartbeat right away, and it was 143 beats per minute. I said something to her about how we were tracking the heart rates to try and figure out the sex, and she said "well, this one is right in the middle, but that's never accurate anyway." Sigh. I still haven't gained any weight yet (believe it or not) and my glucose test came back normal. I also had my blood taken for the genetic testing, or quad screen as they call it. I am not sure when I'll get the results back from that, but I'm hoping for good results. I go in for my ultrasound on April 8, and I'm very excited. Justin is going to come, too. I think the ultrasounds they do at the Maternal Fetal Specialists are more detailed, so they should be really fun to see. We aren't finding out the sex, so that part will be nerve-wracking. I actually dreamed that they told us the baby was a boy during the ultrasound and we were so upset that they spilled the beans. What a weird thing to be worried about...

A few photos

Hello everyone! We've been fighting off strep throat around here the last week, ew. Finally on the mend thanks to the power of antibiotics. We've been very busy the last few weeks/weekends, so I just wanted to post a few photos from when we actually remembered to take them...
Here's Roxanne on our stoop yesterday. I had asked Justin to take my 16 week pregnancy photo and Roxanne demanded "Take my picture, too, Daddy!" and immediately popped this pose. What a diva.
We are frequent visitors of jumpy places around town, especially during the icky weather. I usually take the kids during the week, but sometimes we venture out with Daddy on the weekends, and Roxanne loves when he comes. This is a great example of what she's like at these places. A blur...
She's in the zone...
Here's Roxanne at the GSU pool. She was supposed to have her first swim lesson yesterday there, but timing was bad and her and Justin missed it. But they went swimming anyways, and she apparently had lots of fun! They can try again next week. :)
Looks pretty awesome.
She loves the pool.
Who needs a beach vacation? Indoor pools are apparently pretty perfect.
Roxanne and Daddy feeling exhausted and watching some computer TV on the couch.

14 Week Photo

Sorry for the weird basement bathroom photo. Justin was already asleep when I got home from school tonight, so oh well. I can't believe how big my belly is already. I still haven't gained any weight (KNOCK ON WOOD) but I'm slowly starting to feel that "second trimester honeymoon period." As in, I only have occasional bouts of nausea and my hit-by-a-train exhaustion only comes once or twice a day. It's weird, but after you have suffered pregnancy losses, you actually enjoy the ickiness. Like, I'm relieved to feel bad, since it reminds me that things are OK. I'm feeling so much less anxiety these days, too, in terms of this being a viable pregnancy, and starting to enjoy it. I go for my next appointment on March 14. Nothing too exciting I think, just lots of bloodwork and that icky glucose test that you have to drink the sugar-drink for. Because of my weight, I have to do it twice. Sigh. I can't undo my starting pregnancy weight, but I'm working hard to keep it where it is!

In the world of non-in-utero kids, Roxanne is awesome. We've started trying to talk more about letters and the alphabet and what makes what sounds, etc. At first, she could care less, and would intentionally tell you the wrong letters and giggle. But she's slowly getting more interested, and asking what letter different words start with (of her own volition). We're trying to stay laid back about it, since I think too much too soon can make little ones shut down. She really likes trying to write letters, but it takes super intense one on one instruction, and so it's not something that happens all that often.

We got all of her paperwork submitted for preschool, so she'll officially be starting in September. I'm really excited, and so is she (to the extent that she understands). But if you say anything about fall, she'll pipe up, "That's when I'm going to school." The program will be 9-12 five days a week, so I think it will be a great introduction to Pre-K. She already likes all of the teachers she's met, so I'm sure she'll love being there. I hope she meshes with the other kids, and that the experience teaches her some good social skills. Right now, she's a pretty friendly thing, but she does get her feelings hurt sometimes when other kids say "mean" things to her. I'm hoping school will help her realize that some kids are grumpy sometimes and it's best to ignore it when they say mean things. With adults, she's getting way too friendly, so we've started trying to introduce the "stranger" talk. Like the other day at Monkey Joe's, these two moms were sitting on a bench talking, and Roxanne just climbed up between them and sat. Yikes. Anyways, I don't want to scare her, just work on some ground rules. I can't believe she's so old that we have to talk about this stuff...