Why not: Lucan's 3 Year Stats (written in June)

I wrote this, well, a way long time ago after his birthday in June and never got around to publishing it. So better months and months late, than never, right?

Stats: 32 pounds, 38 inches tall, 51% percentile for height and weight. 

Wearing: Some 3T shirts, some 4T jammies and a lot of his 2T pants and shorts. This kiddo has thinned out some and his baby belly is diminishing. 

Milestones: The announcement of a baby brother or sister coming in December! Being 95% potty trained. We still put him in a pull-up at night, but he consistently stays dry during the day and through naps. We are careful to limit how much he gets to drink in the evening. If we watch fluid intake, he’ll wake up dry in the morning. We survived our longest road trip to date: driving to Michigan last summer. He’s on his third daycare since turning two. That must be some sort of new record. But the daycare center has turned out to be our best decision to date. No regrets. Lucan tells all of his teachers, by name, “bye bye” at the end of the day. Attending his first big screen movie, Frozen.

Eating: Lu loves candy. I can’t say that I’m surprised. He loves grapes and blueberries, chocolate milk, vanilla ice cream with chocolate on it (like Papa!), scrambled eggs, waffles, pancakes, bacon, peanut butter, frosting, peas, edamame, granola bars, lunchmeat, popsicles, string cheese, blueberry yogurt, mashed potatoes and gravy, chicken noodle soup, veggie beef soup, hot dogs, chicken McDonalds (chicken mcnuggets – GROSS), French fries, popcorn, sweet corn, queso dip, STEAK.  Man, can that kiddo pound steak like no one’s business.

Consistent dislikes: green peppers, onions, tomato soup, salsa, indian food.

Occasional dislikes: green beans, beets, focaccia bread, toast, pizza, non-string cheese.

Sleeping:  One nap. At school naptime is at 12:30PM. At home it’s 1:30PM. Most days he’ll sleep a solid two hours, sometimes on the weekends if we’ve had a busy morning he’ll sleep 2.5-3 hours. At night Lu goes down around 8:30PM and will sleep through the night unless he’s sick. Then all bets are off. Usual wake-up time is around 7:15AM, but sometimes Lucan will surprise us by sleeping in until 8AM or horrify us by creeping into our room at 6:30AM on a Saturday.

Saying: Everything. This kiddo is a talker. Non-stop chatter. And if you don’t respond quick enough, he’ll just repeat himself louder and louder until you do acknowledge him. And because I’m biased, I think his speech is pretty good and that he speaks pretty clearly. Lucan remembers people’s names and will bring them up in conversation. He’ll talk about his daycare teachers, his friends at church, our grown-up friends, our friends at small group, his grandparents, his cousins, his aunts and uncles, people that Lance and I are talking about in a conversation, basically everyone is Lu’s friend. It’s a cute age.

Some of the funnier things I’ve overheard from Lucan: “Grammer (grandma), I love you all the time.” “Mommy, no more snacks!” “I naughty. I hit and push. I do better TOMORROW.” “I’m a genius.” “I’m adorable.” “I don’t smell! You smell Mommy! (trying to convince him it’s bath time)

Loves: his favorite green blankie, construction equipment, farm equipment, trains, Daniel Tiger, Curious George, play dough, hiding under blankets, riding bikes, bounce houses. 

• Lu also loves to be “a big helper.” Usually this comes in the form of helping me with supper or helping Lance outside with yard stuff. Lucan will tell both of us solemnly “I’m a big helper.” He likes to use about two gallons of water to wash potatoes. But it keeps him happy and distracted, so I’m not complaining about the water bill.
• Lu goes through favorite book phases: Pigeon books, Thomas the Train books, Goodnight Goodnight Construction site, Daisy books. He loves being sung to; some of his favorite songs are: Jesus Loves Me, Twinkle Twinkle, Hickory Dickory Dock, Jesus Loves the Little Children, The Wise Man Built his House Upon a Rock.
•  Lu loves church and the singing. I think Lucan thinks it’s fun to see our friends there.
• Technology. I know some parents don’t let their children watch television or play with computers or iPhones or iPads. We are not those parents. Lucan loves anything with a screen. He especially loves playing the game “Minion Rush” on the iPad. He’s awful, but not as bad as I am. He calls the minions “marshmallows.”

Dislikes: getting ready for bed or naptime. Sleeping in his bed (he wants to sleep on the floor).  

• Clocks (he especially dislikes my parents’ grandfather’s clock).
• THUNDER. Lucan’s terrified of storms. There was a major storm that came through last fall during the day while Lucan was at daycare. I kind of get the idea that our daycare provider had a mini meltdown and caused all of the kiddos to panic a bit. As a result Lucan will watch the skies very closely for any impending inclement weather and ask us if it’s going to rain. We’ve reassured him several times that Mom and Dad will keep him safe, but he still gets really worried.
• Then there’s the gimmies: listening to Mom and Dad, being told “no” or having to end something that’s really fun.

When I grow up ... I want to be a firetruck. This morning it was a dinosaur.

Playing pretend at school, going to the grocery store: I buy raisins. (everyone else chose stuff like milk, cookies, apples. True to Lucan, he bought raisins. Lance was proud.)

Differences between the First and Second Pregnancies

The first time I was pregnant I was just so enamored with the whole process. Everything was new and shiny and so interesting. Needless to say, the second time around, while still magical, has not been nearly so shiny per say. I have the vaguest recollection of things that I’m supposed to be doing and watching for but I’m just so nonplussed compared to being pregnant with Lucan.

1. I have yet to read any pregnancy or newborn books. I’m fairly certain that we still have the two we purchased when I was pregnant the first time but I have no idea where they are. I have fairly low intentions of actually finding and reading them.
2. First pregnancy: I made elaborate pastel sugar cookies to tell all my coworkers the good news. This time? I bought a couple of cupcakes and said “oh and by the way, I’m pregnant.”
3. I think I broke out the maternity pants the second after I saw two pink lines. There’s no point in suffering people – embrace the elastic!
4. No foods are off limits. Cold turkey lunchmeat sandwiches, sure! A California sushi roll, well that sounds tasty! Nor have I limited or altered my caffeine intake – an afternoon soda to get me through the 2pm slump, dear God – YES.
5. My bladder is doing things now that I only encountered post-delivery with Lucan. I’m not sure why but this is NOT OKAY.
6. We’re not doing any pregnancy classes. Not a one. I did sign Lucan up for a big brother’s class, so at least I feel like I’ll get a partial credit.  (On the flip side, we are taking Working Through Behavior Challenges: God’s Way class at a local church)
7. 90% of the things little sister will own, her brother will have owned first. I’m buying a few nursery and bedding things, but we really don’t need much (besides clothes). I hope she likes tractors and construction equipment.
8. We had a huge gender reveal brunch with all of our families with baby #1. This time we had a nice little family dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and had them write the gender of the baby on our cheesecake plates. And then we texted our families. Real special.
9. There is a very likely chance I’m not going to have maternity pictures taken. While I absolutely loved the ones I had taken with Lucan, I know that we need to save our money and apply it elsewhere.
10. I am so much more tired this time around. It’s probably a combination of being older, not having a nap room at work and trying to keep up with a 3 year-old. The first time around my energy levels bounced back after the first trimester but this time around I was well into the second trimester before I felt like I didn’t need my 5:30 pm nap every day.
11. I’m in the third trimester and I cannot, for the life of me, decide which hospital to have little girl. I know. It’s ridiculous. JUST DECIDE KARA!
12. I knew how to pass my blood glucose screen this time around, meaning not eating THREE bags of fruit snacks an hour before my blood draw. Results? Passed with flying colors – bam! Experience wins again!
13. If my iphone didn’t have an app stating which week of my pregnancy I was in, I wouldn’t have a clue. The math is too hard for me to calculate.
14. It’s probably safe to say that I’m not going to write out an elaborate, single spaced birth plan this time around. My birth plan consists of 1) No C-section 2) Okay with drugs and vacuums. This also assumes that I’ve made up my mind as to what hospital to deliver at.
15. With Lucan, I walked twice a day during my breaks and did consistent yoga twice a week. Baby girl, gets sporadic exercise and a few hot yoga sessions. Speaking of which, I need to stop trying to stand on my head. Lance and Erika made me promise.
16. We had a scare with Fifths Disease early on with this baby (thank you toddler germs) and I heavily protested having to get a blood draw as Lu never actually came down with it. Then at my third appointment when they wanted to do another blood draw, I put my foot down. I wasn’t paying the lab fees for a disease that never reared its head. If this had been baby #1 I probably would have elected for extra testing. Ain't no one got the time or patience for that.

While I promise that baby girl will be adored and fawned over in her own right, I like to think that I’m not nearly as crazy this time around compared with my first pregnancy. This is our own sweet special girlie that was knit together and brought into the world to become part of our family.

Stupid Mistakes by a Rookie Dad and Mom

We also shouldn't be letting Lucan eat crunchy things in our bed.

Below are 7 mistakes that we won't be repeating with Baby Girl.

1. Lance started letting Lucan out of the shopping cart mid-trip. I had a perfectly trained toddler who would contentedly stay in the cart until Lance started giving him the option of getting out and running. I took Lucan to Target one day and he started whining to get out. I retold the tale to Lance once we got home and he replied with “oh, yeah I let him out or give him the option to get out if he wants. #stupiddad
2. Lance gives Lucan the option to walk or be carried anywhere we go. I firmly told Lance to knock this off because 1) we’re having a second kiddo and I can’t carry a car seat and a toddler 2) I don’t want to carry a 35 pound child and be 9 months pregnant.
3. Lance lets Lucan be the one to hit the button on the garage door remote. Cue epic meltdown if you happen to forget and hit the button yourself.
4. Chocolate milk. On the rare occasion I wanted chocolate milk, I could drink it without it being an undercover, covert operation. Now if Lucan even glimpses the bottle of chocolate syrup, all bets are off. We’re ALL having chocolate milk.
5. Car treats. Originally I started putting a treat in the cup holder in the front seat of the car because would want to climb around and explore. But if he found a “treat” he would get distracted by it and willingly get in his car seat without incident. This got me stuck in a never ending loop of scrambling last minute to find Lu a special treat and Lucan feeling entitled to candy, etc. I also hide snacks in the car which has Lucan on a never ending scavenger hunt. And I'm not talking about the dropped pieces of Annie's Bunny Grahams.
6. Letting Lucan have way too many snacks after I pick him up from daycare. Like somewhere in the neighborhood of three (popsicle, cheese stick and wild card). And yes, he has a snack at daycare too and his “car treat” to boot. That one is purely my fault.
7. Not trusting your instincts. If you feel like something is wrong, than you’re probably right. Case in point: bad daycare, being told by our first pediatrician that we were overfeeding Lucan (lies, you can't overfeed an infant), knowing that pull-ups weren't going to help potty training.

Pregnancy Update: Week 26

We matched in our chambray :) Cute photo bomber!

 Weeks: 26

Trimester: Second, one week away from the third trimester

Gender: GIRL!

Name: Ha, like we even know. I tried to make a go for the name “Eden” but Lance hates it.

Baby's Size: One and 2/3 pounds

Cravings: Root beer floats. Sweet creamy goodness. The occasional pickle.

How I'm Feeling: More energy than first trimester (thank goodness, I don’t think Lance thought that I was ever going to make supper again and I think Lucan thought that the baby and momma must need a lot of rest.) But about mid-second trimester I started developing more lower back and left hip pain which seems to go hand in hand with a protruding belly. After walking around the Iowa State Fair all day, I thought that I was going to keel over and die. I’m just trying to be mindful of not overdoing it. 

Sleep has been good, just never enough of it. Rolling over is quite the process these days and will only get worse. I miss sleeping on my back. 

I do seem to be doing a few absentminded things which can only be attributed to needing more sleep and baby brain. For example, I wrote out Lucan’s daycare check to the wrong daycare. I completely got the wrong day for a chiropractor appointment. Forgetting treats I made for treat day on the counter at home and having to go back for them. Burning a pan of bacon to a complete charred mess. Silly things that usually I’m much better at remembering to do.

Movement: Little girlie seems to think tap dancing on my bladder is a fun activity. Not a fan. Or she tries to stretch up into my ribs making breathing hard.

Wearing: 90% maternity clothes, 60% mine, 40% borrowed from friends. I love having gracious friends to loan me their clothes. There are some looser or stretchier things I’m wearing that are non-maternity, but as I’m rounding into the third trimester, my thought is, why bother?! Embrace elastic people! No one is impressed by the fact that you uncomfortably compressed yourself into your pre-pregnancy clothes. I wearing lots of dresses because dresses = no waistbands. I’m not sure what I’m going to wear when it starts getting cold outside because 80% of the maternity pants I own are jeans.

Momma thoughts: I am amazed by different people’s reactions that this baby is a girl. Some of them are outright overjoyed by the fact. And yes, while we feel extremely lucky to have a boy and a girl, there would have been nothing wrong if this baby had been a boy too. So moral of the story people, be excited that it’s a healthy baby. Not that it’s a healthy baby girl.

I filled out a Target online baby registry. Not that I have expectations for anyone to actually buy me anything or throw me a shower, but it’s a good way to keep track of things that I want to get for baby girl. 

Picking garden produce with a pregnant belly feels like a punishment. Seriously. It's too bad that Lance's color blindness really impairs him from knowing which tomatoes are red and which are green... 

We canned a small batch of salsa two weekends ago and it also felt like a punishment. Lots of standing. Boiling water. Hot kitchen. Not a good time. We'll see how much I feel up to come apple time.

Nursery thoughts: We officially moved Lucan out of the crib this weekend. It’s a convertible crib and we had taken off all the sides months ago, but we finally bit the bullet and bought him new bedroom furniture in preparation for the crib to be girlie girl’s. Lu’s having fun sleeping in his new "big boy" bed and enjoys tucking all of his animals in. But it’s nice to be making steps forward to getting ready for baby girl (or as Lu has named her this week “Paco”).

We’re keeping Lucan in his present room and turning the guest room into the nursery. I haven’t purchased anything yet, but I’m trending towards a grey and pink theme. Light pink, light grey. Grey walls with one wall that is grey and white horizontal stripes. Lance readily agreed, which I was a bit surprised by. I wonder if there’s any way I could convince him to install a chandelier...

Placenta problem update: at my last appointment and ultrasound things had remained largely unchanged. My patient OB-GYN (best doctor ever!) explained to me while there is nothing that they can specifically pinpoint that caused this “spot” on my placenta and nothing that can be done to resolve the spot either, as long as the baby keeps growing and the “spot” doesn’t increase in size they aren’t going to be too concerned about it. I will have another ultrasound in September to check everything out but if things remain unchanged they will discontinue the ultrasounds. Which is fine, I’m already getting a little concerned about how much more this pregnancy is going to cost.

Exercise: I'm still doing some yoga  and bike rides and irregular walking and running about with Lucan. I took Lu on a tricycle ride the other night (he rode and I walked) and there were times where I felt like I was getting a side ache from trying to keep up with him. Pregnancy is slowing me down.