The February update!

This blog is terribly overdue...much like our second born daughter was! Yep, Audrey Ruth was born November 25th, and that's beyond fashionably late for her due date on the 12th! The evening before Thanksgiving, our little butterball arrived. Well, not little, more like gigantic. Audrey lay there screaming on the scale and a dozen nurses stood around her...busy saving her life? no. She was healthy. They were all placing bets on her weight. She was a whopping 10 lbs, 2 oz! I don't know whether I should be proud of my work or humiliated. Either way, we are overjoyed to have our sweet little angel in our arms now.

It was exciting to bring her home and introduce the sisters and rather funny to watch it actually happen. Nora got this deer-in-the-headlights look and just kept pointing at her and saying "baby...baby...baby...baby...". After all the talking we did with her beforehand, she was very caught off guard to say the least. Its been a bumpy road as they have tried to get used to each other. As the stay-at-home mom of the family, it has been very challenging for me. That's not to say it isn't extremely rewarding and tons of fun as well. Of course I am home alone with the girls every weeknight for the fussy hour, cooking and serving dinner, giving baths, trying to read bedtime stories and get both kiddos down for bed. That's not easy. Between about 5:30 and 8:30PM, most nights I lose my mind. Audrey often wakes up from her nap screaming and inconsolable, which upsets Nora and makes her whine. All the while I am trying to finish cooking and get Nora to eat. And try bathing a toddler, dressing her and reading to her with a screaming 2 month old attached to your chest in a baby carrier! Unfortunately bedtime is not all that relaxing for Nora...but she is a trooper. I think she's relieved to have some peace and quiet in the dark with her music. I should be so lucky! I love my girls and my heart breaks for them, but I'll be glad when Mark finally has evenings off, one way or another.

After 2 long years of online classes, I can't believe it, Mark is graduating next weekend! It has been so hard on our family to have his home time in the mornings be monopolized by school work on the computer. Full time school and full time work has taken its toll on Mark. He's amazing! He still finds time to be a supporting husband and loving father. What a journey this has been these last three years! Starting with the move to AZ from GA, we had our 1 yr anniversary, and the next week became pregnant with our first child, we both got into new jobs, bought our first home together, I left my job, had Nora, then 9 months later we found out we were expecting AGAIN! The economy went down the toilet, Mark's sales job suffered, we had our second beautiful girl, and Mark is now graduating all in less than three years. We are both different people than we were when we moved out here, after all we have been through and seen. And we are so blessed.

So now Nora is sick. Last tuesday (one week ago) I took her to the doc for lethargy, a low fever and fever blisters. He found that she had sores all in her mouth, hands, knees and backside, and diagnosed her with Hand, Foot and mouth disease. (Not to be confused with hoof and mouth--very different thing there) So as he looked in her mouth, he found something else, an abscess above one of her front top teeth. Apparently she got it when she fell and bumped her tooth. We went to the dentist yesterday and he confirmed it then referred us to an ORAL SURGEON! She has to have the tooth pulled to save the adult tooth coming behind it. My poor baby is gonna have a missing front tooth until about 6 yrs old! So next friday she'll have the surgery...that's right, surgery. She has to be put under general anesthesia and everything. I am going to cry like a baby. She's going to be so scared, and they say they usually wake up crying. I am about to cry now, typing this! I'm such a baby. My little Nora will be beautiful no matter what happens. I love my girls so much. They are the most wonderfully beautiful things in the world to me.

I'm putting some pics of our Valentines day toddler party up. We had five toddlers and two babies. It was fun to see all the babies now that they are almost two.

6 days...5 days...4...

Baby number two, come on!!!!! Although she is not due for another six days, there are oh, so many good reasons why Audrey should come out right now and not a moment later. Mark really wants to get out of work and start his leave since there is no reason to work hard to hit goal as he has no chance to hit goal this month. I am nervous about having a gigantic baby. I mean Nora was big enough at 9lbs 4 oz, but second babies are often bigger, and I just don't know how much baby I can push out...without getting too graphic. Also, my labor last time was NOT what I had in mind as I wanted to go all natural. I went past my due date by 6 days and was told I had to be induced because of a low level of amniotic fluid. I am really afraid of that happening again. If I have to be given pitocin again, I am just going straight for the epidural. I feel that with the evil intensity of pitocin contractions, it is absolutely necessary. I'm not gonna try and do that again. No point. After 8 hours of Hell last time I needed the epidural anyway to get my body to relax enough to progress, so just forget it. Also, my mom has come out to give a hand. She got here from Atlanta yesterday morning, and while she is extremely useful with Nora, I don't want her to wait too long to help with the new one. I want to maximize her usefulness you know. And then of course we are all excited to meet the little bugger.

I really think Nora has a pretty good idea of the extremity of the change about to take place. I had thought she would be clueless, but she is very much out of whack right now. She is getting over a little bug that gave her a fever for a few days, but she has become so whiney and clingy with me, I really think she knows something big is happening. I guess even an 18 month old can see that I can only grow so much bigger before I explode! I mean it's just logic!

Well, last night I noticed my first regular contractions. It was probably a good couple of hours of them being 7 minutes apart. So that was just thrilling...except that they didn't even hurt. It's probably all for the best because the last few days I was having an intensely sore throat, and yesterday, in particular, I did not feel up to going into labor. That would have been awful. But today, I'm feeling quite a bit better so COME ON LABOR! How did I ever get to be so impatient? It's pathetic. I should be content if I have a healthy little girl and that's all. Don't get me wrong--I do want that. I just want other stuff too = )

Well maybe this will be the weekend. Right now, I'm off to go drink some raspberry leaf tea and do some labor-inducing yoga! Wish me (us) luck!

OK, ok, ok I know...a month between blogs is bad blog etiquette. So sue me. I find myself having a hard time finding the energy to take a nap many of these days...blogging is not the first thing on my list. Cleaning my house, taking care of my off-the-walls one year old, or ya know feeding my family often end up coming first these days. I had really forgotten how tired the last trimester can make you. I seriously take a 2-3 hour nap most days and Nora wakes me up at the end of it. Yeah, I sleep about as much as a one year old baby. She's almost 17 months now, and HOLY COW has the separation anxiety phase gotten bad...It's all about mama these days. I have started to go to a mothers' meeting at my neighbor's church twice a month where they watch your kid for you, and last time I could hear her for a full hour screaming MAMA! MAMA! down the hall. NOT relaxing. Made me want to tear my fingernails off and eat them. eww. What did I just say?

We are all gearing up now for the newest Mayer to come along within the next 5 weeks (hopefully). We have had our shower, which was quite beautiful. Thanks to everyone who came and helped. I am having contractions ALL THE TIME now, and many of them are beginning to hurt. We will have an ultrasound next friday which will tell us if she's hangin out in there the wrong way or if she's another baby elephant like her older sister. Judging by my lack of self control lately when it comes to carbs and sugar, I'm gonna say she's probably HUGE. Those are the two things my OB said to limit to help keep her a bit smaller...yeah, it's pretty much all I want. mmm, cinnamon chip muffins......I'm digging my own grave. Yet I am still feeling very hopeful about this birth. I am planning, yet again, to try and do it as naturally as possible. And If I have a medical need to be induced like last time, I'm taking the epidural hand in hand with the pitocin. That stuff is EVIL. EVIL, I TELL YOU. I want to know what it's like to go into labor on my own. Apparently the contractions aren't anything like the mind-numbing pitocin contractions. So I'm gonna give it a shot. And maybe, since Nora is working me so hard, I'll go into labor early...and not have a 10 pound baby! Nora was 9lbs 4oz. I had to push for a LONG time with her. I'm hoping for a quicker pushing experience this time. Anything 9lbs or less sounds like a breeze.

Speaking of breeze, life is really looking up around here as the AZ fall weather has set in. It's about 2pm here and I have doors and windows open! I LOVE that. Nora and I can go for a walk to the park pretty much any time of day aside from like 3-430pm just because the sun is so hot. And let me tell you, she is a much happier kiddo this time of year. She was driving me crazy asking to go outside just before October hit. Now the highs are in the 80s and the dry air really feels cool all the time. It's a whole different world now. Good time to have a baby, I'd say. Just a couple weeks ago, Mark and I drove up to Payson and did a bit of hiking up there. That was gorgeous. A great way to kick off fall. I know the highs will probably fly up into the 100s again sometime soon for the last time, and I'll want to kill people again, but for now, I'm content. I can almost imagine the leaves changing color when I close my eyes (when they're open, the cactus-covered desert landscape throws me off). Man do I miss the southeast. Oh well. Maybe we'll be back to the land of FOUR seasons someday soon. Until then, I'm gonna try and enjoy the loveliness here and work this little rib-boxing-champ out of me. Nora's up and making some bizarre sounds in there...I'll try to add some shower, preggo, and payson pics...

Nesting time...

Yeah, I'm officially really bad at keeping a blog. Sorry I can't seem to be very regular about this. Things are getting exciting around here. We're looking for the cooler weather, we're getting strict about out budget, house cleaning and setting up for the second Mayer princess. We are so excited to meet her. Well, I'm excited to meet her...I think Mark is more excited about the time off. Haha JUST KIDDING. No, we are both really jazzed about the new baby. Nora is growing in leaps and bounds. She is figuring out more words and improving on old ones. For instance, now she's beginning to say "daddY" and "doggY" rather than "dadA" and...well, just barking to refer to a dog. Man does that little girl love animals and babies. She's always pointing to my belly and saying BABA (for baby) and giving it hugs. She has not a clue what's in store for her I'm sure.

And as for me, I am going nuts with my nesting instincts. I can't seem to satisfy this urge to set up for our new little girl. Of course it's hard because we really don't have a nursery for her. We have only one crib and that's Nora's. She's not ready to move out of there yet. All we have is our pack n play with the bassinet level for the newby to sleep in, and that's not set up yet. We got some diapers and some clothes and a hand-me-down dresser...but other than that, this kid has nothing. I wish we could do for her all the things we did for Nora, but we're totally out of money and not even sure where we will be living in 6 months so ya know...it's a little tough. We are having a baby shower next saturday...so after that maybe we will pull out the pack n play and the infant swing and get serious about set-up. We are also doing a refresher childbirth class at our doctor's office so maybe that will make things feel a little more 'for real'. The only real sign of this little one that I notice is my ever growing torpedo-shaped belly. Yeah, I feel like I already look full term. I shudder to think of what I will look like in the end with this one. It was out of control with Nora. Here's a taste of what I looked like toward the last days:Oh, and notice the swollen head and ankles. Not fun times for Meggy.

So Anyway, that's me with a nine-pounder in my belly. What will this pregnancy bring? Who knows? Here are some pictures of Nora at Grandma C and Grandpa Hal's for your entertainment...

I have to sit down and put my feet up out of the San Diego sun from time to time anyway, so I figured I may as well post a blog while I'm at it! We're having more and more fun each day we're out here. Yesterday (Monday) we went to the San Diego Zoo. It was amazing. We toted Nora around in the wagon the whole time...well except when She wanted to get out and push it. I was tempted to jump in and take advantage of her kindness, but thought that might look a little wrong...well, and...not...work. So I wanted to post some good zoo photos, as there are many. I think the only animal we didn't see was a giraffe. We see those at the Phoenix Zoo when we go though so that's not too big a deal. OK, here they are: One happy kid at the zoo...





We also went to the beach a bit yesterday morning and made a few good memories. So I am posting a couple pictures of that. We've been having great breakfasts at this cute place called Cafe Mono. Sooo good. They make this fresh 5 dollar breakfast wrap that we just can't get enough of, until we saw the tiny breakfast cafe on the boardwalk that had COCONUT BANANA PANCAKES with MAPLE SYRUP. Hubba Hubba. So that's where we went this morning (Pics should be posted tonight or tomorrow). Nora chose to eat sand instead. Here's yesterday morning's pics to leave you with. You'll love the shot of Nora punching my lights out. Enjoy!

Nora at the Beach

I'm sorry to everyone (if anyone) who has been expecting a blog for a long while now. I'm sure that's poor "blog etiquette." Please forgive me in my tired busy pregnant-ness...= ) Mark, Nora and I are in San Diego right now. We are on a family vacation for the first time in way too long. I haven't been to a beach in about 5 years, and I've never been to a Cali beach, so this is quite exciting to me. We are having a blast!

We arrived last night around midnight after a six hour drive with a one-year-old who doesn't approve of sleeping anywhere but in her crib. The drive was a little rough, and the parking was even worse. It took us an hour to park. Yes we have a garage in our cute little beach house, but we decided to borrow Mark's folks' minivan so we could fit all Nora's "gear" we wanted to bring, and it didn't even remotely fit in the garage. What a long night that was. Then, to make matters worse, Nora screamed probably 45 minutes after we put her down in the pack-n-play...I didn't sleep well.

But this morning we woke up to the sound of the Pacific Ocean waves and beautiful cool foggy weather (at the earliest 7AM I can remember in a while). We walked down the street to a cute little cafe with great coffee and very fresh breakfasts then strolled back on the beach. So life is good again. And later today after a good lunch, we took Nora to the beach, only about 100 feet from our cute little red front door. She had a blast. Loves sand. Cold ocean water not so much...but we did get some great photos. She was towed around like the Queen of Sheba in her red wagon, ate her first whole apple (not a fragment went to waste), hugged some poor random sleeping guy she thought was Dad, and helped build--and destroy--her first sand castle. It was great. Now she's sleeping after all her accomplishments, and we're just kicking back having a beer or gestating a fetus, depending on which one of us you are talking about. Good times.

Oh, and I'm finally 3rd trimester--28 weeks and change now. I feel like I am looking huge again already, and am rocking the contractions many times a day. Maybe this kid isn't going to wait a week after her due date like Nora. Eh...we'll see. For now, I'm just going to thing about the sand in my toes and my lovely family. How's that?
First WHOLE apple ever (sand, seeds and all)...
Queen Nora...
giving baby sister hugs....
Our cute little "red door" beach house we're renting...

Just another day in paradise...

Nora's sleeping so I'm blogging and cooking. She seems to be getting back into her two-nap schedule after a few weeks of only one a day. She was sleeping in until almost 9AM, but now she's up at 7 or 7:30 daily. I, myself have been unbelievably tired these last few days. I slept through her entire 2 hour first nap today, and I'm tempted to lay down now, during her second. She's been out an hour and a half now though, so I'm sure she'll be up soon.

Mark and I just can't believe how much she is growing up. She does sign language now very consistently for "more", "I'm hungry", and "please". Usually "I'm hungry" is the first thing she tells me when she wakes up. She's a good eater, what can I say? She's always poking my tummy now, saying "baba", which I'm pretty sure is nora for "baby", and when I tell her to give the baby hugs, she lays her head on my belly and pats it. It's gotta be the cutest thing ever. I need to get pictures of that. Most of the time she runs around saying DADA, and I know she knows who Daddy is, and that that is what that means, but she likes to say it all the time too. She'll say MAMA when I encourage her to, but DADA is definately her favorite word-ish thing.

Mark had the day off yesterday so the three of us spent the day together. We cleaned and cooked and got the car serviced for almost 3 hours, and it was PARADISE! I love the time we spend together. MArk was saying the other day that we are lucky because we have a lot of those moments that you just long for when you're bored or having hard times, but really just about every time we are together ends up being one of those times. I love seeing him with our little girl, and I absolutely can't wait to see him with our newest little girl (due now in 14 weeks). We are so lucky to have the relationship that we have, and our daughters are so lucky to have parents this much in love. I thank God often for this.

I am so excited. We are going to San Diego on the 22nd. I haven't been to a beach in 5 years and it's killing me! We got a great deal on a beach condo, and we are going to the San Diego Zoo. I've not been to California since I was to young to remember, so it will be very exciting. I hope Nora enjoys the ocean. I'm thrilled that we're gonna have a chance to kick back and make some good memories together.