Easter Weekend

 We had a great Easter Weekend.  I'm really truly trying to treasure these last handful of weekends while we are a family of three.
We went to a local park for a little Easter parade, the Easter bunny, and a Easter Egg hunt.  It was a lot of fun.  The day before we were blessed with getting a beautiful dress in the mail from Grandma Sweat!  These dress is beautiful, and the second one (like it) that Grandma Sweat has made.  Helena wore the first one for my maternity photo shoot!  I'm so thankful she has such a crafty Grandma to make her these truly special items!
Saturday afternoon we had another meeting with my doula.  It was a great meeting, and I'm feeling more and more at peace about this baby and birth, and feeling comfortable that he'll let me know when he wants to come.
We went to a special Saturday afternoon Easter Service at a new church (we're still church shopping).  The service was ok, Chris and I were distracted as Helena accidentally got called from the day care.  So I think we need to give this church another try.

Easter Egg Hunting

 Helena didn't get a visit from the Easter Bunny last year, so we made sure he made a stop this year.  She got some hot wheels cars, stickers, and a little fish rubber thing.  And a stuffed bunny that we got from the daycare at church last week.  She really enjoyed all the goodies!
We then went up to Ruidoso to Inn at Mountain of the Gods for some Easter Brunch.  We thankfully got there right before there were done serving breakfast.  We walked around the property and had a great time.

 When we got home we colored some eggs which Helena really enjoyed, and was worried about making a mess!

 Then right before bath time Chris "hid" the eggs in the backyard, and we did another Easter Egg hunt.  She had a great time walking around saying "looking eggs".  Chris hid the eggs twice and it was a lot of fun.  She's now obsessed with eggs.

It was a great weekend.  Chris and I even watched a movie (over two nights) The Martian.  It was a really good movie.

Helena at 22 months

I want to try and document as much of this month as possible.  Mainly because this is Helena's last full month as an only child.  I specifically remembering after I had her that if I were to have any more babies, she would be the oldest.  She would have us as her parents the longest.  It's weird knowing how drastically her role in our family is about to change, and that at the same time she doesn't even really know it.  She of course knows of baby brother and there are times he kicks her while she is in my lap, and she just ignores it.  She knows where the babies room is and that mommy has a baby in her belly.  She's fascinated by his pictures on the refrigerator and likes to kiss and hug the baby.  I know that she'll be a great big sister.  I am concerned about her listening and how she'll react to the crying.  But we'll all be making adjustments.

I'm hoping that within the next two weeks to do a "day in the life" post just so I can remember all the details of only having one child.  It's crazy how things are about to double.  Like at the end of my pregnancy with Helena I find myself doing things right now because I know I can do them now much easier than what life will be like post baby.  I suppose that is what nesting is all about. Doing things now while I still can.  Without having to get two kids in and out of the car, without splitting my attention, taking my time with Helena.

Helena is changing daily.  It's amazing how quickly she picks things up.  Mainly in the world of her vocabulary.  She can carry on a full conversation.  She'll come into a room and say "hi" or "how are you doing today?", I'll respond with "good" and she says "good day today".  Or in the morning or after nap, I'll ask her how she slept.  And she'll say "sleep good".  You ask her to do something and she'll respond "oh sure".  Not too sure where she got that, because neither Chris or I say "sure".  She says "I love you too, Mommy or Daddy".  Or just "I love you too".  She loves to give hugs and kisses, by saying "mommy hugs or mommy kisses".  ...she's usually all about the kisses when she is doing something she knows she's not suppose to be doing.  She says "sorry" instead of "stop".  Like if we're washing her hair in the bathtub she'll go "sorry sorry sorry".  She loves that she can make anything into a hat, by putting it onto her head.  If you are reading a book and you ask her "where is the apple?" she'll respond and say "looking" while looking over the page and then pointing to the apple, or whatever it is you asked her to find.  She says "delicious" and it's the cutest thing you ever did hear.  Although she's been doing this for some time now I've never documented it, she pushes her hair back.  For the longest time she would just let her hair be in her face.  I think shortly before we moved she finally figured out she could use her hands to get her hair out of her face.  When I let her know she's going to the daycare at either church or MOPs she'll say "play with friends" or "toys".  In the bath she'll go swimming and make bubbles.  She knows all of her body party, animals and animals sounds.  Can count to 3.  Knows her ABC's with prompting, but will sometimes say 3 or 4 letters by herself.  She loves lotion.  She's sprouting two more teeth, her bottom canines.  Teething was really rough last week.  She hardly ate and was super clingly.  One big transition we're in the process of is eliminating the rocking chair before nap and bedtime.  Mainly because it's getting uncomfortable with me, and we need to move the rocking chair into baby brother's room.  I know the chair won't be used right away, but I would love to be able and just put Helena down without rocking.  Although truth be told this transition is taking a lot longer because I do know I will miss it.  When we do go down for a nap or are leaving the house to run some errands she'll say "bye toys".  Or specifically "bye owl" if we aren't taking him with us.  Everything is on repeat, so we have started to really watch what comes out of our mouths.  She's great at saying "please" and "thank you".  When we pull into the garage she'll say "here" or "home".  She's confused by up and down.  She knows what up is, but often if she wants down, she'll say "up" so usually she'll just say both until she gets what she wants.  She also definitely has her own language.  There are times she's talking complete gibberish and she knows what she is saying, but I don't have a clue.  There are also times where she's saying something and I should know what it is, but I don't.  But thankfully I'm learning how quickly her vocabulary is growing and changing, so I hope there aren't too many language challenges, especially with baby brother coming in the next few weeks.  She really is awesome.  And I pray that her little brother will be a nice laid back easy baby!

I read an adult book

One new thing living here in Alamogordo is meeting new people, and creating new friendships.  One of the first Mom's I met: Laura invited me to her book club.  I've been to one so far (in January) but it was a blast, and definitely want to continue to go!  I've never been part of a book club before, but one thing I really like about this one, is even if you don't read the book you still get to go.  The book for February was "Room" (I just finished it, and I missed February's meeting because it was while I was out of town).  I was excited about book club and really having an excuse to read a book.  It's easily been 2+ years since I've read an adult book, and I really enjoyed it.  Now I want to see the movie, which I think will be a little bit more tricky to do.
I much preferred the last half of this book, as the first half I had a hard time getting into it.  The book is told from a 5-year old boys perspective, so getting adjusted to that dialogue and writing was a little difficult for me to get into.  But once I was used to it, his point of few definitely made the book more interesting.  The topic of this book I think would be difficult to write from an adults perspective just because of the issues involved, having the book told by Jack kept it's innocence, since Jack doesn't know anything else.
The book is about a woman help captive for seven years, with her soon, whom she gives birth to after 2 years of being held captive, and their escape.  I would recommend this book just because of the different narrative and to give yourself the view of how a 5 year old boy sees the world.

Pregnancy Update

Baby Boy Sweat 30w4d 2/17/16

Chris is working on a dresser in baby boy's room and soon to be big sister is sleeping, and I read this yesterday, so I feel like an update right now is important as I have lots of feelings and emotions going on in my head.  I unfortunately got too far behind on my weekly updates that when I would think about trying to update I would just get overwhelmed.  So this child already has less recorded from his big sister, and I'm trying not to feel too guilty about it.  I started getting overwhelmed at the beginning of February when an appointment with my preferred doctor got changed to another doctor that I could tell was not VBAC friendly.  And I feel like since then there has been some different issue going on almost daily.  It's been a lot to try and keep up with, but I will try and document as much as possible.
Since our move at the beginning of November I've mentioned my blood sugars at every single doctor's appointment, with no real action, until the beginning of February.  I had an appointment set for (another) 3 hour glucose test just to find out that my insurance wouldn't cover another 3 hour test until I failed a one-hour test.  So after mentally preparing for a 3hr test, I did the one hour test.  At this appointment the doctor asked about my birth plan, which I stated (again) VBAC.  ...when we met for the first time in December and I told her I intended to VBAC she responded that I still had time to change my mind.  Which indicated to me that she wasn't really a VBAC friendly provider.  At this appointment in February she asked again, and I advised VBAC, then out of nowhere she asked if I was getting my tubes tied.  This shocked me.  My first thought was "wow, this women really wants to cut be open", as her point was, if I did want my tubes tied, that the procedure is pretty easy follow in a c-section.  But to present it that way, especially after voicing my desire to VBAC I truly felt like she wasn't listening.  And then to assume I'm done having kids, I was just speechless.  Especially because Chris and I haven't had this conversation, and for her to give me a permanent solution to birth control, truly seemed out of left-field.  I really just wanted to get through this appointment.  I (of course) failed my 1 hour glucose test, and get the 3 hour scheduled for the following Monday.  I fail the 3 hour and I'm officially diagnosed with gestational diabetes and am put on insulin.  That was the Wednesday prior to leaving for my trips to ABQ and Denver.  Long story short, my insurance declined the prescription that the doctor wrote for the insulin....Who knew they could even do that?....I do not recommend Blue Cross Blue Shield!  So after a lot of back and forth I finally get some insulin my first night in ABQ.  Once I get it, it's not the dosage that I had reviewed with my doctor, in fact it wasn't even my doctor who called in the new prescription, it was from a doctor I hadn't even ever met!  So then I was really confused and upset and decided to not deal with it until my return to Alamogordo.  Finally 2 weeks after I was prescribed to be on insulin I was able to talk to my doctor this past Tuesday and get everything settled.  In addition to that, there were issues with the glucometer.  And I'm sure other things that I'm forgetting.  Once I was diagnosed with GD the doctors office finally started giving me the care that I felt I needed, but at that point it was too little too late.  I had started the process of possibly having this baby in Las Cruces with a highly referred doctor.  Chris and I met with a doula and really looking at all of our options.  We toured both hospitals (the one here in Alamogordo, and the one in Las Cruces), and made an appointment to meet the doctor in Las Cruces.  From the beginning I've felt the doctor that I somewhat like here in Alamogordo was basically just telling me what I wanted to here in regards to my VBAC wishes.  It was a similar feeling with the doctor I had Helena with.  I was also feeling extremely anxious about the birth of this baby, and where we were going to have it.  On Friday we drove to Las Cruces and met with the doctor (thankfully Chris was able to come and meet him, too).  It was really good (although he was running extremely late, which was frustrating).  He's much more aggressive in his VBAC approach, which makes him a lot more confident, which in turn gives me more confidence.  He has a higher success rate, and the hospital itself gives me huge peace of mind, as it has a NICU, is baby-friendly, and a 24-hour anesthesiologist.  And Chris liked him.  So we have a decision!  We are having this baby in Las Cruces and I'll be canceling all of my appointments here tomorrow!  I feel like a huge weight is lifted that at 33 weeks pregnant I know where I'm having my baby.  But that doesn't mean I'm not nervous and anxious, because I am.  And part of me is sad and feels bad to "fire" my doctor here.  I thrive off of what I know.  And this is the doctor's office that I've known since we moved, and that is where I'm comfortable, but I truly feel that Las Cruces is going to be best, and is going to give me and my baby the best start!  In addition to that we've hired the local Doula, and I'm really looking forward to that relationship growing, and having a great labor and birth!  We still need to figure out the details in regards of what to do with Helena, but we have some options to discuss and we'll hopefully get all of that figured out soon.
I've been feeling really behind this pregnancy.  This time two years ago Helena's room was ton, clothes were washed, car-seat installed, and I wasn't even this far along.  As I get bigger and more and more uncomfortable as baby boy takes up more space and as slow the last few weeks of pregnancy can seem, I'm also highly aware of how quickly they will go, so when I think about having a newborn baby here, I don't feel ready.  Which makes me feel uneasy.  Chris assures me that everything will be ready and set to go by next weekend, and I know that'll make me feel much better.  Then there is the love.  Every single time I get to see baby boy, or even just feeling me move throughout the day, I start to get overwhelmed by the love.  I wrote about the love that I felt for Helena and how it wasn't this wam bam type of love just because I didn't know what to expect as a first time mom.  But as I got comfortable in my motherhood role and as I got to know Helena it was amazing the immense amount of love you feel.  Now that I know what to expect, I love this little boy.  I am brought to tears every time I get to see him and the moments I get to see him move I immediately giggle and get teary eyed.  Just because I now know the love this little boy will bring, and it is so exciting to think about.
I truly can't wait to see him and love on him and kiss him, and I know how quickly the rest of this pregnancy is going to go, I just hope I'm ready!

Two Trips

Over Christmas my childhood friend Michelle offered to throw me a Baby Sprinkle.  So we picked out a date and made it official, for the end of February.  Then I figured if I was going to make the drive to Albuquerque, I may as well take advantage of the airport in town, and fly somewhere.  Denver was the easiest choice.  So we made it a girls trip and packed up me, my mom, and Helena and headed to Denver.  My main motivation was to see Andrea and Grayson.
So last Tuesday Helena and I drove to Albuquerque.  I got to have a nice late lunch/early dinner with my cousin Kari.  It was great to see her.  Then Wednesday we flew to Denver.  Helena did really good on the flight.  We had difficulty with the car seat at the car rental that was a mess, but finally got it installed.  We stopped by Andrea's and picked up a pack 'n play they so graciously let us borrow.  We then went to a fire station to get the car seat installed correctly, and the firemen were super nice and they let Helena and my mom go back and look at the shiny new fire truck!  We then went downtown to have dinner with a couple of old co-workers.  It was fantastic going to a non-chain restaurant and enjoy good food and good company!  I loved it.  I knew I missed the food options but actually being there made me jealous that there are all of these options right at other people's finger tips.  Helena did really great.  It was a little rocky once we got to the hotel, because she knew she wasn't in her element.  And I had prepared for a not so smooth night.  We set up the pack 'n play, gave her a bath, and made sure she was super tired when I put her down.  She did wake up in the 11 o'clock hour (and she did the same the next 2 nights a well).  Thankfully each time she did wake up she just needed to be comforted, and then she would go back down and sleep the rest of the night.  The next day we had breakfast at Cracker Barrel then met up with Andrea and Grayson at the Broomfield Rec Center for some swimming!  Lately Helena has been "swimming" during her bath, laying on her belly and making bubbles.  It's so much fun, so I was excited to take her to a pool!  After the pool we got ready and went up to the play area in the rec center.  The play area is an area where Andrea and I used to take Helena and Grayson when there were just itty bitty crawlers, and to see them now is so amazing!  After the rec center we had lunch at Mad Greens, and I dropped off Helena and my mom at the hotel, for Helena to take a nap.  I then went to go see Erin for an eye-brow wax.  We then went to Flatirons Mall for Helena to play at the play area and for dinner at the Village Tavern.  It was a good day.  Friday we got up early and met Chendra for breakfast at the Huckleberry Tea House.  Chendra was Helena's babysitter, and I really wanted them to see each other.  After breakfast I went to Dance Jam at the gym!!!  Man oh man, I miss that place, those people, that energy, so much!  It was a blast.  After the gym we went back Andrea's house to drop off the pack 'n play and hang out with Grayson a little bit longer before heading to the airport.
Overall it was a great trip.  It was short, although I did that on purpose because I was really only willing to sacrifice two bad nights of sleep.  Plus it was a good farewell trip, as I honestly don't know when I'll be back to Denver.  It was a great opportunity to take while Helena is free to travel and plus I know that traveling with one child is easier than what it will be with two children.
I miss Denver and what it has to offer, but I've met some great people in Alamogordo, and this is where my life is (for now).  I truly pray that one day we'll be back in some sort of metropolitan city, and I know that I won't take it for granted.

  Saturday was a beautiful little Sprinkle thrown by my wonderful friend Michelle.  It was a really nice get together, and I'm so thankful for all of those who came.  Baby Boy Sweat got some great stuff!  And I'm finally feeling a little more prepared for this little dude.
Planning for two trips was crazy, and a lot more stressful than I had anticipated.  But I'm so happy I did it and that I took the opportunity to go.