Baby Herman #2 - 36 Weeks & 37 Weeks

I'm still hanging in there.  I'm torn between wanting to have the baby because I'm so uncomfortable these days and wanting more time because Adriana is not quite big-girl-bed-trained (almost but not quite) and I'm still scared of labor.

I've started having more pains and more contractions, but nothing is happening regularly yet.  My mom and dad will be leaving for vacation soon, so we're all hoping the baby waits a little while still.  I'm worried, though, because Adriana told me yesterday morning that she wants the baby to come out.  This worries me because Zeke told me he wanted Adriana to come out on September 10, 2011.  She was born the next day.

Adriana said it because she was talking about sharing her toys, and I told her she could when the baby comes out.  She started saying "out" over and over.  When I told her it wasn't ready to come out yet, she said it is "stuck."  I told her it is for now, but I hope it's not stuck in a few weeks.

Here are the pictures of the "stuck" baby from the past two weeks:

This is Week 36:

 Click here to see Adriana at 36 weeks.

And here I am at 37 weeks:

Click here to see Adriana at 37 weeks.

Adriana Leigh Herman is 21 Months Old

On Tuesday, Adriana entered what is likely her last full month as an only child.  I know she can't possibly grasp the major change that is about to occur, but she does seem to be excited about being a big sister.  She is ready to move out of her baby room.  She loves her big girl room.  She loves to play in her room, pick out her clothes each day, and sleep in her big girl bed.  She thinks of it as a punishment to have to go to her crib.  If she ever has trouble getting to sleep, I remind her that she will have to go to her crib, and she calms down to go to sleep very quickly.

She also seems excited when we talk about the baby.  She will run up to my belly and kiss it.  I think my belly has gotten 15 kisses already today.  We went to storytime at the library today, and there were some babies there.  When she saw one of the babies, she turned to me and said, "baby."  Then she came over and kissed my belly three times.  The other mom thought it was the cutest thing!

Adriana is learning to play with friends.  She has a friend in our neighborhood named Mia, who is about 3 months older than Adriana.  We saw Mia Monday and today.  She loves to hold hands with Mia, and will grab Mia's hand without being prompted.  She then had to tell her Daddy all about Mia, and she talks about sharing with Mia often.  She also met a boy named Creighton at the pool.  He shared his pool toys, and Adriana thought that was the greatest thing ever!  Whenever we go to the pool, she asks me if Creighton will be there.  She also asks if Zeke (and Connor & Quentin) can go to the pool or park with us.  She is definitely social, and I think she will really like preschool when she starts going in September.

Intellectually, I think Adriana is doing very well.  She remembers things that happened a month (or longer) ago.  She is doing very well with her colors.  She knows all of the basic colors (red, yellow, blue, green, orange, purple, black, white, brown, and gray).  She can tell you that red means stop and green means go when she sees traffic lights. She does not like red lights at all! I call her Little Scott when she gets mad about sitting in traffic.She can identify a circle everytime she sees one.  Now, we are working on mastering a square and a triangle.  I'm trying to focus on square, but we talk about triangles when we see them.  Adriana can tell you when she is holding two objects, and occasionally when she is holding three.  We were especially impressed with "three" because no one sat down and taught her that, she just picked it up.  I haven't quizzed Adriana on her letters in a little while, but she still excitedly points out the letters she knows on a regular basis.

Apparently, Adriana has been blessed with her mother's childhood temper.  She has started throwing little temper tantrums when she doesn't get her way.  We are working on getting this under control...

Adriana's favorite activities right now are music (including her Kindermusik class), jumping, hiding in the sliding door curtain, "swimming" in the baby pool, playing with bubbles, and watching her friends (Mickey Mouse, Elmo, and Monsters Inc.).

She loves exclamations right now.  This started with "oh man!"  She now says, "oh great!," "oh dear!," "oh boy!," "oh crap!" (we're trying to get away from this one), "oh Sulley!" (from Monsters Inc.), and "oh broccoli!"  She doesn't quite get that the last two aren't normal sayings, but she likes them.

We are very proud of our little girl, and we are excited to see what a great big sister you are going to be!

I'm a little off-balance these days.
I almost fell over when I knelt down to take this picture, and she thought it was hilarious!

Baby Herman #2 - 34 and 35 Weeks

I know, I know...I said I would be on time for the 34 week post.  Then we had some weird sleeping days.  I don't want to jinx it, but I think we're under control now, and Adriana is officially in her big girl bed.  She is so excited about it, and doesn't want to sleep in her crib at all anymore.  I just want to make sure we don't have anymore days that begin at 5:30, which then lead to me napping when she naps.  Anyway, I'm actually posting 35 weeks when I am 35 weeks along, so I think I'm doing pretty well.

I went to the doctor today, and she said that everything looks fine.  She agrees with the other doctor I saw that this baby is going to be small like Adriana.  She also said that it's fine that I'm having some contractions now because that's normal for a 2nd (or 3rd, etc.) baby.  She said that even if I did have the baby today, it would be ok because the baby should be big enough and developed enough.  The baby is still head down.

The heart rate today was 134, which is still in line with a boy, according to the old wives' tale.  Adriana was with me today, and the doctor let her hold the Doppler machine while she tried to find the heartbeat.  When she found the heartbeat, Adriana turned quickly to look at me and said, "woah!"

So, since everything is going well, I'll go ahead and get to the pictures.

Here is Week 34:

 

Click here to see Adriana at 34 weeks.

 

And here is 35 Weeks:

 

Click here to see Adriana at 35 weeks.

Baby Herman #2: Weeks 31, 32, and 33

The end of the school year is always hectic, and this year was no exception.  So, I managed to take pictures of Baby Herman's progress, but of course, I didn't get them posted.  Here they are now:

This is Week 31:

Click here to see Adriana at Week 31.

Here is Week 32:

 Click here to see Adriana at Week 32.

And finally, here is Week 33:

Click here to see Adriana at Week 33.

Everything is still going well, according to the doctor.  When I went last Friday, he said that my blood pressure and weight are perfect, and I am measuring exactly as I should be at this time.  The doctor I saw at 31 weeks said that he is expecting the baby to be little like Adriana was.  And this past doctor told me about how labor tends to not take as long the second time.  I hope they're right...

I should be more timely with the 34th week pictures since I'm home now and Adriana is sleeping better.  I think she understands that it's summer and she doesn't need to get up early to see me.  She's been sleeping until 7 or later, which means I can make it through the day without a nap (since I'm up about 5 times/night).

We're working on transitioning Adriana to her big girl bed.  She's really excited about sleeping in her big girl bed, but isn't quite ready for it all the time.  She is currently napping in her crib because she couldn't get to sleep in her big girl bed.  She was upset about going to her crib, but I told her we'd try again tomorrow.  I think by the time the baby is here, she'll be ready to move out of the nursery without it seeming like the baby is kicking her out.  I'll keep you updated on her progress.