Old friends and pizza

We didn't even make it to Monica Ward's Sacrament meeting this morning. We're not complete slackers, of course. Instead, we crashed the Rosedale Ward's Sacrament meeting, because Jeremy and Emilee's little boy Tyler was being blessed. While James hadn't been specifically asked to being the circle, he did make sure he was cleaned up just in case. Good thing, too. Jeremy and Emilee arrived late, so they didn't get a chance to ask James beforehand, but James was gestured to, lol. And I got to hold Tyler for the first time, despite meeting him when he was only a few days old (Cadence was in a very clingy stage, I couldn't even hand her off to James in order to get my hands on the newborn!). I'd almost forgotten how spinelessly squirmy they can be. Cadence got her backbone at a very young age.

We left that place and went on our merry way to John's Incredible Pizza where we met up with Mike and Erin. Cadence went to town enjoying a plate of spaghetti, a piece of cheese pizza, two breadsticks (one of which was almost entirely whole when it ended up on the floor...), and some saltine crackers. She got good and messy, then cleaned up just in time to be spoon fed a bit of ice cream and a brownie. Oh yes, we encourage good eating habits early. Haha.

Jamie and Bradley showed up (Bradley attempting to run into the restaurant before his mom had paid, lol), followed by Shaimaa, her sister, and her sister-in-law. The whole get together was for Shaimaa's birthday (which was yesterday). Nothing super exciting happened, but it was fun. A fair bit of gossip. Teasing Jamie because Cadence refused to be held by her. Watching Bradley give Cadence dirty, suspicious looks whenever she'd glance at his plate of food. Getting caught up on the little ins and outs of each other's lives in general (Erin's new place, Shaimaa's boyfriend, etc.).

I meant to get a few pictures. But I got so caught up in everything else that my camera stayed tucked in my purse. I should have at least gotten a picture of Cadence once she'd stolen my ice cream cone. Or even my chin and neck when she turned to give it back to me... Instead, I'll leave you with a completely unrelated photo:

It's that time again!

Well, okay, so I went a day early... Here we have July 15th (19 weeks) right beside the far less flattering August 14th (23 weeks). Megan's really expanded her living quarters, but I haven't expanded with her, so my whole stomach looks swollen instead of the nice compact baby bump that most others seem to have this far along. I'll complain, but I'm really not all that upset or concerned, lol. I spend most of my time in t-shirts anyway, so who cares if the first 6+ months of pregnancy just as me looking like I packed on the pounds?

And then... I got bored. Really bored. And here was the fruits of that particularly bored labor:

Busy, but not doing anything. Fun times!

Well, I was going to doctor a photo of Cadence standing against something and erase the thing she's holding on to to make a really bad "look, Cady's standing" picture that was obviously doctored, but that didn't work out as expected, since I don't have any pictures of Cadence standing even while holding on to something.

She is standing, though. The funny thing, however, is she does it without thinking. Suddenly something needs both her hands, so she'll let go to do something, realize she's standing on her own, get a terrified look on her face and reach for whatever she was using to hold her up before. I've tricked her into standing by letting go of her hands and quickly handing her a toy, which she'll happily play with for a few seconds before that realization of "I'm standing by myself" hits her and she quickly plops down on her butt. Silly girl.

We ended up having to leave Church early today. Cadence has gone and changed her schedule on me again. Now instead of settling down for a nap 2-3 hours after waking up, she's going as many as 4 or 5 before needing to crash. Add in the fact that we all slept in until 8:30 this morning (a-freaking-mazing, by the way), and she was wired during Church. We ended up sitting in the foyer for Sacrament, because of how loud Cadence was being. And James missed most of Sunday School. By then she was starting to get sleepy, but we had no blanket and she won't go to sleep without her blanket anymore. So, we took her home rather than have me spend all of Relief Society pacing the halls trying to keep her calm until the end of Church.

The blanket thing, by the way, is too cute. It's the blanket the Monica Ward ladies gave us when Cadence was first born. I didn't realize how attached to it she was until yesterday. Jen watched her for us so we could go to the temple, and apparently when she was tired, she grabbed the blanket (which was on the couch at the time) and crawled over to Jen to be picked up and cuddled to sleep. Also, last night, the blanket was still on the couch and she got tired, so she picked herself up, laid her head against the blanket and sucked on her thumb and a piece of the blanket's yarn to tell James she was ready for bed. She got a bath and then got wrapped up in her favorite blanket and promptly went right to sleep, fingering the unraveled pieces of yarn and sucking her thumb.

Oooh, last night! Last night Megan started squirming like crazy and I was able to get James's attention and point it out. She's finally big enough that you can see my whole belly move with her if the movements are violent enough. This pregnancy is going so much faster. I almost feel bad that I can't appreciate every little thing as much. But, I still enjoy the moments I do get to sit back and focus on (though being so absorbed in baby movements in the temple when you're one half of the witness couple... not so good. Thank goodness I caught James moving and realized I was supposed to be moving too, lol).

22 weeks and hospital tour

Well, quick note: I'm 22 weeks along as of today. Only 18 more to go until my due date, 16 more to go if Megan wants to come as early as Cadence, and 20 weeks to go if Megan is more stubborn (if she's more stubborn than Cadence, then Heaven help me!!!)

James and I abandoned Cadence at her Nana's house and went to the L&D tour and orientation at the Memorial Hospital. What a switch from what KMC offered us last time around! First and foremost: private post-natal recovery rooms! Then there's the whiteboard that they keep updated with all your information so you always have an idea what's going on and what else will be done soon. The, uh, 32" flat screen TV and DVD/VCR player in every room is awful nice as well. And then the private bathroom and shower. No having to wonder if one of three other women is using the bathroom at the exact moment I have to pee...

I am a bit nervous though. I asked a few questions and it was confirmed that if for any reason I have to schedule delivery (aka induction), I will not be allowed to go to Memorial. I'll be routed right back to KMC. Kinda makes me wish I'd never gone on the tour. If I'd never seen how nice L&D could be, I wouldn't miss it if I end up back at KMC.

Ah, well, so long as Megan is healthy and happy when she's born, I suppose I can't be too bummed about having to share a bathroom. I will miss the chance to watch whatever movie I want to, though... I'm all set to pack "Ever After" (which my mom bought on DVD for me since they couldn't find the VHS I left behind!) in my hospital bag. Hehe. I so love that movie. Maybe we can snatch James's brother's portable DVD player...

ETA: James had a good time teasing me. A good majority of the women in the group were probably due in the next month or two, considering how big some of them were. Others appeared to be around the same time frame as me, except I was the only one in that tour group that wasn't sporting a noticeable belly. Naturally, as soon as we got home, Megan rolled forward and let me have that bit of baby belly for awhile. She couldn't have done that earlier? LoL.

Rearranged

James and I decided it was time to move the dining room table out of storage and fit it in the little room that our floorplan calls a "nook". As this nook had currently been taken up entirely by my little computer station, it took us a bit of head scratching to decide how this could be arranged, as I was entirely opposed to moving the computer into the spot right next to our television.

Of course, as it always goes, we moved one thing, and then another, and then another until the only things in their original spot are our television and the big couch (simply because we considered moving them and decided it was too much of a hassle). The dining table is pushed up against one wall, giving us enough room to have a mini computer station lined up along the opposite wall. Bookshelves were moved, including one moving to the bedroom, which had also been rearranged as James and I realized if we put the bassinet back in our room, there'd be no walkway on my side of the bed.

Now we're talking televisions. The big 40" old LCD sucker is taking up a large portion of the corner of our bedroom. Unfortunately, the one we have in our front room is just as wide, if not as tall. We're contemplating switching that one for the old 32" LCD we gave my mom awhile back (she'd be trading up!), put the 32" in the bedroom and move James's beloved 40" into the front room.

Before we do that, however, we must ensure that old TV picks up all the cable stations in the front room. Last time we trusted that sucker as the main room telelvision, at our old apartment, I didn't even know we had full cable access until a few months before we moved. I'd been thinking I was super special for being able to get ABCFamily and Disney and some of the other higher cable channels if I flipped to the channel (TV channel 17 got me access to cable channel 65!) when the stars were aligned correctly, I did the hokey pokey, wiggled my nose, and chanted. Turns out, the chanting wasn't necessary, just a better TV that could translate our apartment's screwy cable signal. However, since the TV can successfully pick up all 75 channels in the bedroom, I'm going to assume it's learned its lesson and will do so properly in the front room as well.

Cadence loved us rearranging, since it took us a few days to finally get everything in it's place, which means lots of goodies were in new places and within reach! Items that had been otu of reach on top of bookshelves and desks were now conveniently laying on a coffee table that she'd never seen before, that was the perfect height for snatching the pens, papers, and other trinkets.

Ah, but funny story before I go: We have a 5-shelf bookshelf in our bedroom, and recently moved one of our 3-shelf bookshelves back there as well, right next to it. Around 5am this morning, I wake up to James muttering in surprise and open my eyes to find him crouched at the foot of the bed on my side, looking towards the bookshelves that now line the wall by his side of the bed. "We have a problem" is what he says and I look up to see Taz had used the 3-shelf bookshelf as a stepping stool to leap to the top of the 5-shelf bookshelf (which she and Hanna had done several times when a similar arrangement was in the old apartment). James, by the way, doesn't wake up entirely for quite awhile. So though open-eyed, moving, and talking, he was still very much asleep, which means his brain isn't up to it's usual snuff. In the dark, Taz looked entirely black, and James did not recognize her. He chased her out of the room and followed her so he could flip on a light and see who our black-cat intruder was, then returned to the room and told me it was okay and that it was only Taz and went back to sleep. I fell back asleep very amused.

Thoughts as the 2nd child time draws near

Cadence is teething. Unfortunately, this doesn't mean she'll have a new tooth any time soon. It just means she's fussy, we're going through Orajel and Tylenol like they're... Dr Pepper (I'd say water, but I think Dr Pepper is the humorous alternative answer in our household...). And, it also means she's woken up an hour after going down at bedtime needing me to rock her back to sleep. I don't mind. I'm more than willing to turn off all the lights in the front room, wrap her up in her favorite blanket, and lay on the couch with her. There's something too sweet about how she'll hold on to my shirt or my hair or just have her hand against my cheek to make sure I'm still there as she goes back to sleep.

She's getting so big. Tomorrow, we're replacing her infant carseat carrier with a convertible car seat in the car (James'll bring up the base with him tonight after work). She is officially too long for her infant carrier. I remember when, even with the head rest inserted, the car seat dwarfed her.

I am going through the typical second-time-mom-to-be fears of "how am I going to be a good mom to two of them at once!?!" It really kinda hits me when Cadence shows signs of needing her mommy (like tonight) that I may not be able to so readily respond to her come December. I know she'll be more independent at 1 year old, she already gets more and more independent as time goes by, and I know once she's walking... Still, what about if/when they get sick at the same time? I can already see myself banning James to the couch so that I can cuddle both of my little girls at the same time in our bed.

Cadence is turning into a daddy's girl, at least, so perhaps she'll be more willing to let him do all those small things that currently only I'm allowed to do (like put her to bed). She loves, James, though. When he first wakes up and she sees him for the first time all day, she just lights up and wants to be held by him and nobody else. And now that she's really interacting, James is growing into the daddy role quite well. It's not uncommon to walk by Cadence's room and find James on his belly growling at her and her growling back.

I'm both excited and nervous to welcome Megan into our family. I'm pretty sure it's completely normal. It seems most experienced moms I talk to say the 2nd one can be harder than the 1st at times, but once you get the hang of it, 3rd, 4th, 5th and so on are nothing. I just wonder how I'll handle it. I felt semi-confident in my abilities to handle the changes Cadence would bring, but after having survived Cadence, I am not nearly as confident in my abilities to handle these changes. I must be capable, though, or Heavenly Father wouldn't have told us it was the right thing for our family. Still... Nervous and excited. That's where I'm at right now.

Cadence and I about 20 minutes after she was born
(it seemed appropriate tonight):

Why mommies are the bestest!!!

My mommy is officially the best mommy in the world. Seriously, if I want to compete for that title, I have to step up (sorry, other mommies, you just can't compete with my mommy!)

As promised for the past week, my mom came over armed with PineSol, scrub pads, pizza, and soda. It took 3 hours of solid work, but my kitchen is so spotless I'm afraid to cook in it! The counters are literally sparkling (yay glossy finish!). The floor is spotless. The oven is clean. Heck, she even pulled out my oven and fridge and swept behind and underneath them (she also unearthed four slices of cheese... luckily they were individually wrapped). All my dishes are done. The microwave's spotless. The stove-top is clean.

I mean, I helped, but juggling a fussy, teething, clingy Cadence limited my help to clearing off counters, doing dishwasher dishes, and scrubbing out the microwave. I did manage to get my bathtub clean and sparkling again, while my mom distracted Cadence before her bathtime. And I got the trash taken out, and the bathroom floor swept, under the sink cleaned and organized, the sink top cleared off (not washed, but clean enough for now). Tomorrow, I may even be motivated enough by my sparkly tub and kitchen to get on my hands and knees and clean that toilet top to bottom and get it to match the rest of the place during Cady's nap.

My front room was also picked up, a cluttered bookshelf cleared, the entire floor vaccuumed, and everything put in its place. The computer desk is cleared off. I felt motivated enough to really clean Cadence's highchair (as in more than just wipe it down real fast). My pantry is organized.

Even the bedrooms are clean, though that was done earlier. I was just so motivated thinking my mom would be coming over to help clean up teh front rooms for me, I had enough energy to focus my attention on the two bedrooms instead and get them looking pretty tidy (far from perfect, but you can see the floor in my bedroom!)

I've always felt I've done well at keeping the apartment presentable, but having several areas deep cleaned all at once, tasks I simply don't have time to do every day, or even every other day... Freaking amazing feeling. I'm sitting at my computer desk looking around and grinning. It's so pretty! My mommy's the bestest!!!

Standing and Stuff

So Cadence surprised both James and I two days ago. I was using my fingers to help her stand, when, for whatever reason, she let go. I think we both realized it at about the same time. She looked as startled as I was that she was standing without holding on to anything. I had just enough time to get James's attention so he could see before she waved her arms excitedly and toppled forward (right in to me, so no harm there!)

Then, when I was telling James's family about her latest trick, though she hadn't repeated it yet, I impulsively wiggled my fingers free from her grasp. She got a very grumpy look on her face when she realized I'd let go, but still stood long enough for James's grandma and sister to see and respond with the appropriate delight.

She hasn't done it since. She's too determined to be moving to bother standing still long enough to find her balance. Butthead. And since both times weren't on purpose in any way shape or form, we're not saying she knows how to stand yet. But... she's almost there, if she'd hold still long enough. Haha.

A few days ago I got her bedroom rearranged. We're still seriously looking into moving after November, but until then, I moved things around so that the dresser AND fan were closer to Cadence's bed so that the fan can actually do it's job and cool HER off, rather than the opposite end of the room. We also hung curtains, though our lease expressly forbids them (it also forbids barbecues, but the assistant manager has one sitting on her porch). Her room has stayed relatively cool since, thank goodness. Now I don't feel bad putting her down for her afternoon nap. Also, if we do end up staying here, the space is already prepared to add a toddler bed or second crib when the times comes (until then, it's filled with the bassinet, which is filled with stuffed animals).

And, happily, I've reached my favorite stage of pregnancy: I can feel movement pretty regularly. Today, Megan squirmed through the entire first half of the Relief Society lesson, which was awkward, because it was the very low, almost ticklish squirms, which in turn had me squirming each time I felt it. It's still pretty cool, though. According to articles, she's about 10 inches long already, probably about half her birth length! Kinda crazy to think there's 10 inches of baby squirming around in there. Of course, it was kinda crazy to see Cadence for the first time and realized she'd been in there, too...

Just Pictures (they're cute ones!)

Mmm, Mommy made beef stew (it was yummy, apparently!):

Cady's new noise-making toy. The girl's in heaven:

We have a Name!

So, after compiling a list of possible forerunners, with my eye frequently falling on more unusual names like Talia and Caren (CAHR-in), we finally chose one with meaning:

Megan Ruth

Megan means "pearl", which anyone who knows me must admit that is probably the perfect meaning for a daughter of mine. And Ruth is not only Dama's middle name (see side panel for who "Dama" is), but it was a middle name given to her that has special meaning to James's grandfather. I don't know the whole story, but I do know a woman with the same name as James's mom was very important to him. As this is a man James respects and who I have come to think of very fondly over the past few years, we felt this was the perfect middle name to pass on.

It must be the right name, too, because before James and I even officially agreed "this is it", I slipped and began calling Parasite by the name Megan, because it felt so natural to do so once the name was discussed. So, there it is. And though I feared we'd never truly pick out a name until December, I think this one may actually stick.