Mother's Day 2013

I had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend! It started Friday morning with an ultrasound and doctor's appointment to check on Baby Sister. She is growing steadily and mama continues to stay healthy! I passed my glucose blood test, blood pressure has been good, weight gain is steady but normal, and the antibodies my doctor has been keeping an eye on since the first appointment weren't even present in my last blood draw!

At 30 weeks pregnant, I'm feeling about as good as someone can expect to feel. At my last appointment about 3 weeks ago, I brought up some pretty intense pain in my hips & pelvis, popping, grinding, and sharp pain when walking & especially at night. She diagnosed SPD or symphysis pubis disfunction - basically pregnancy releases a hormone called relaxin that helps with flexibility of the pelvis region & ligaments, helping make natural childbirth possible. But it can also make your bones & ligaments too flexible, causing major discomfort & misalignment. She sent me to a physical therapist who has been an AWESOME help. My pain scale went from an 8 to a 2-3 in just one visit. I'm also dealing with a very uncomfortable varicose vein, but like the SPD, it should resolve itself after delivery.

Baby sister was covering her face with both arms and one foot for most of the ultrasound, so the best picture they could get was of her foot! It's lovely! The only less-than-great news we got was that baby is currently breech. My doc said she'll check again around 35 weeks & "go from there." So we've got about 5 weeks to try to get her turned back around!

Saturday morning Ben took Charlotte "on an adventure." She was so excited that she waited by the door for him! Those two are like peas and carrots!

They came back right around nap time and while I was getting Charlotte ready to go to sleep, she was telling me all about their adventure. She said, "daddy buy mommy and Char-itt angel." I knew exactly what she was talking about! Ben's mom gave us these Willow Tree figurines while I was pregnant with Charlotte & she calls them "mommy angel" and "daddy angel." Sure enough, Sunday morning I got to open a "mommy and Charlotte angel!" 

Ben also ran out in the wee morning hours to pick up breakfast and then got Charlotte changed & ready to greet me on Mother's Day. Oh boy, was I surprised when she walked right in carrying a gift bag & saying "Happy Mother's Day!" Melted my heart!! 

Saturday evening my parents came over for dinner and Charlotte had a blast playing with them. She stayed up past her bedtime playing silly games and reading books with them. 

On Sunday we went to play with Ben's parents and then went out to dinner at Fairview Farms (where we had our wedding rehearsal dinner) with some of his family. Charlotte did great at dinner & enjoyed a lovely bowl of ice cream after dinner! 

I think the highlight of Mother's Day weekend (well, besides hearing her say "Happy Mother's Day in her sweet little voice) was watching Charlotte give gifts to her grandmas and great-grandma. She painted birdhouses for each of them. She had a lot of fun doing it and was VERY proud of them. We're very lucky that she gets to see her grandmas so often and have such a good relationship with each of them.

I hope each of you had a wonderful Mother's Day - whether you were showered with love & appreciation by your children, were able to spend time or at least talk to your own mom, or get together with loved ones and remember all of the awesome memories you have of your moms who have passed on. Thanks to everyone who took the time to send me a "Happy Mother's Day" message! I really appreciate it! 

Most of all, I'm so glad I got to spend the day with my own precious girl & I'm already looking forward to spending next Mother's Day with two precious little ones!! :o) 

Unforgetable

The last 24 hours have been jam-packed with funny Charlotte stories. I sometimes wish I had constant surveillance cameras running in the house so that I could replay some of the hilarious things she does over and over again. Instead, I keep a blog of just a handful of the highlights of our everyday adventures. Here are a few quick stories I know I'll want to revisit down the road...

** Each night, we ask Charlotte what she wants to bring with her to the bath. It's a fairly easy way to make the transition easier from playtime to bath time. No, it doesn't always work. :o) Last night, she wanted to bring her rock collection.

** This morning, after coming in with feet wet from walking in the grass, I stopped Charlotte right inside the door & said, "Wipe your feet, please." She said "Ok, Mommy!" and promptly squatted down & wiped the tops of her shoes off with her hands!! 

** Before Christmas, I found several Charlie Brown specials on Netflix and Charlotte fell in love with them. She even calls Snoopy "Stupid Beagle" since that's how Lucy refers to him. She can identify Charlie Brown (or Chuck), Lucy, Snoopy, Schroeder, and Marcie. In the New Years Eve special, the gang has a big party, but Charlie Brown is stuck reading War & Peace over Christmas Vacation and misses all the fun. Charlotte got out her play phone and started dialing. I asked who she was calling and she said "Aunt Bob." I asked what she would talk about & she went off into her room, brought back a book, and said "Sha-Shee read War & Peace." At first I didn't get it and asked "What?" So she said, "Read War & Peace. Like Charlie Brown." ?!?!?! That would have been a long phone call, Aunt Bob! 

** Another sign she's been watching too many Charlie Brown specials - - Today she started holding her guitalele upright like a bass, the way Pig Pen does... 

** Tonight at bedtime, Charlotte wanted to read Duck & Goose How are you Feeling? It's a cute little book with illustrations and one-word feelings such as sad, happy, scared, patient, proud, frustrated, angry, loving, and selfish. She doesn't know all of the words, but can talk about what's going on on each page pretty well. Tonight when we were on the selfish page (one of the characters hogs all the flowers and doesn't share with the others), Ben asked her how Duck & Goose were feeling and she said "goldfish." Oh wow I burst out laughing! I couldn't contain it!! Luckily, she didn't realize how hard I was laughing at her mix-up!! 

Buy it here!

** Then, as if we weren't late enough for bedtime as it was, after she gave Mommy a big hug and she gave Daddy a big hug, she decided it was necessary to give ALL of her stuffed animals big hugs. So one by one she picked them all up and said, "Give Hippo big hug!" and "Give Elephant big hug" and "Give Sid (the Science Kid) big hug!" etc. etc. etc. etc. Sure, it may have taken 5 extra minutes, but oh man, how my heart thumped with pride and love for that precious little girl!!


I could write for an hour or two every single day about all of the silly, cute, wonderful little things she does. Every day it's something new and exciting and I just love watching her discover the world and her own bright personality. Since I don't have constant recording devices set up around us to capture these small moments, the next best thing I can do is to jot some of them down to revisit later on. We all know how quickly time flies - these little toddler years will be over in the blink of an eye!