long time, no post!

Well, Leah is almost 22 months now and I am 27 and a half weeks pregnant. The first trimester was really rough having a toddler and feeling sick all of the time....The second trimester got much better. Thank goodness for Julian's mom who helps out all the time.

Leah is not sleep trained as the last post mentioned we would do...she sleeps with us....I know...I know....some are thinking "What are you going to do when the new baby comes?" We have no clue. We are done making plans and figure that we will figure it out when it's time. Leah sleeps the whole night through now and so do we (when she is with us) so, for now, this is what works. She holds our hands and snuggles. She is getting spoiled by asking for foot rubs and arm tickles but she does okay when we tell her we are finished doing that. (She will shove her foot at your face or take your hands and place them there, though, until she gets the hint).

Leah is still working on being gentle and not hitting. This has been really trying for me in social situations. She's such a loving girl and gives kisses and hugs all the time (even when not asked to) so the hitting and pinching kids is really frustrating! I can't wait for that phase to pass!

Leah's favorite things right now are playing at the park, riding in her red wagon, playing in her swimming pool outside (she calls it her poo), watching Elmo, stickers, reading books, etc. She loves fruit still a ton, french toast, spaghetti, broccoli (yes! broccoli!) green beans, corn, and treats (which she shouldn't have...I know...but she loves ice cream!)

She's had 2 official hair cuts..the first one looked like a china doll but this last one is looking stylish. We are growing out her hair and love to have her wear pig tails.

Leah still loves playing with my makeup and knows how to brush the blush on and where the eye lash curler goes. She plays with the lipstick daily too. I had to get new makeup recently bc she dumped out the rest of my foundation on our carpet. Oh well :)

She's been talking a ton now...a few of her pronunciations are funny...examples: poo for pool and cock for clock. She asks for Elmo daily and repeats almost anything we say. She says peas for please constantly and has great manners. I can ask her questions and she responds to me. Example: Leah, did you hide my makeup brush? She tells me "No." I know she did though. She sings songs and her nightime favorite is singing "Goodnight Dada!!!" i ask her to say goodnight mama but it's only Dada....we try to sing other people too but she always says Dada! She also sings the Indiana Jones theme song when she sees weeping willow trees because Julian takes her to pretend to swing from them and sings that song. I heared her singing the supermario brothers music while moving mario magnets on our fridge....another things Jules has passed down to her. One not so great thing he passed to her was when he dropped something on his foot and said "oh sh#t".....so when she sees things drop she says "Uh oh! Oh sh@t!" We are hoping that one passes too.

Leah likes to kiss my belly and say "baby!" although I am not sure she knows what is going on. I think she may actually think her favorite baby doll is in my stomach. I hope she is not too dissappointed when her sister is born and she doesn't look like the Latino Baby Alive doll. She will also be bummed when she realizes that unlike the baby alive doll, she can't throw this one on the floor when she is through with it.

We started swim lessons but had to put them on hold because I was having some fake contractions.

So, this pregnancy has been better than my pregnancy with Leah. It has helped to not be working and to have Julian's mom to help me so I can rest more. I have not had any blood pressure issues this entire pregnancy which is also a huge change from last time. I threw up more this time around...several times a week for 5 months but that is better now. The baby wasn't moving as much but has picked up now that I am starting my 7th month. Julian thinks that this one kicks harder than Leah did, but I haven't noticed that. The ultrasounds were totally different...Leah was always kicking like crazy and jumping around in my stomach....this one has always just been laying there calmly with her hand up to her face. I think she sucks her thumb but am not sure yet.

We don't have any names! I am hoping we can find one for her soon so that I can order letters for their room, but we can't find anything we like yet.

Well, Leah and Julian are asleep and I am going to get ready to go out. Nice updating :)

and more changes

Leah no longer sleeps well...it is literally exhausting....sleeptraining starts tonight....again. UGH.

She's 17 months now and is having a few problems with her actions towards other kids...she's been hitting them and pinching their cheeks....hopefully this passes soon.

Other than that, things are good. Julian's mom is back from Asia which means that I have help with Leah and actually had a few hours to clean a good chunk of our house today....Thank goodness for Lola.

big changes

Our little girl is growing up! She started sleeping in her crib all by herself for the whole night. She still wakes up one or two times a night but it is getting much better and she goes back to sleep pretty quickly.

It was time to stop nursing her and so a few days ago, she reached for my shirt and i just told her, "Baby girl, there is no more milk. It's all gone." and she looked at me and reached again like, "What?" and I said, "No more, baby. All gone." And I offered her a sippy cup with whole milk and she took it and hasn't asked again...she HAS been mad at me though. I know this because when I tried to hold her she would arch her back and scream and cry as if I was hurting her. At 4am yesterday I burst into tears because I was so sad that she didn't want me at all.....Today was a little better....I have been taking over other things to do with her like I did bath time tonight so I can bond with her in other ways. I hope she comes around soon.

The pain associated with weaning is crazy. I would imagine it's what a bad case of blueballs feels like only it lasts for a few weeks. There are a lot of guys that are reading this so I will spare too many details but it sucks. * Not literally, of course, as that would help the situation). I am so desperate that I am trying the cabbage solution. Google it.

blind side

We are watching Blind Side and we were at the part where Leanne is reading to SJ and Michael a story and Colins is sitting in the stairway so that her mom can't see, listening and smiling. I burst into tears and said that one day that might be Leah. Then of course I told Julian that I am going to read her stories forever.

new words

Leah has been starting to say some new words....she's got mama, dada, di di, nana, dog, moon (mmmm), cow (ca) ,cat (KAH) and cock. Yes. You have read the last one correctly.

We were at her little 13 month old friend's house. She is a genius....knows like 30 or more words already including some mandarin. Leah hasn't picked up anything she's doing yet....except Kenzie was pointing to the clock and exclaimed, "Cock!" and from the kitchen I hear Leah yelling COCK! That's fun.

Two different friends have made comments recently about how they think Leah will be in high school. One said that she seems like she already has a ton of confidence....and that she thinks Leah will be a popular girl who has a lot of friends but kind of laughs off when she gets into trouble for talking in class. Another friend and I joke that her son is taking Leah to prom in England but then she wrote me a card that said she can't wait for Leah to take Arthur to prom. I tol dher he is taking her. She replied that no one will be able to take her anywhere she doesn't want to go, so wherever it is England or here, SHE will be taking him. That made me laugh.

She's a good girl. She is working on not hitting others. She has been especially clingy to me at home.....she cries a lot when put down.

We tried to take Christmas pictures with my dad dressed up as santa and she melted down like crazy. It was super sad.

Right now we are watching the Office Christmas special and it's awesome. Leah is sleeping in her crib upstairs....she usually wakes up in about 41 minutes.

updates

Well,

Leah's surgery went well and she healed fine. You can barely see her scar. She's such a trouper!!!!

She had her first hair cut yesterday. She looks like a little china doll. It was 20 dollars and the last 20 dollar hair cut we are going to spend on her for a while....that seems like so much and I think they only cut about a teaspoon of hair total! But it was the experience, I suppose. And I did cry. I didn't think I would but as she took the sheers to her little hairs, I just cried because that little girl had that hair from the time she pooped out into this world and then SNIP!. Leah did a great job, though. She didn't cry that much. She sat on my lap.

Of course we hadn't gven her a bath and she had crusties in her hair. Oh well.

Leah's into giving kisses....she's also into hitting other kids. We are working on this.

We joined a co-op preschool that meets Tuesday mornings. We have only gone once (I go with her this year) and she had a blast. I just pick a station and work at that station, but she can venture and go where she wants. She stayed at the fake kitchen station last Tuesday and enjoyed eating the pretend pizza.

Thanksgiving is right around the corner. I looked at pics from last Thanksgiving and I can't believe how little she was. Where'd that little baby go? Sometimes when she naps I just touch her little hands and kiss them. They are so much bigger than they used to be. And we kiss her little, growing sweaty feet. Where are those little feet going to take you, little girl?

Thanksgiving last year....compared to now...

surgery

Leah's having surgery to remove her cyst tomorrow morning (most likely). It might be moved due to us givng her ib profin for her teething. They never told us we couldn't but then in the pre-surgery phone consultation they seemed concerned about it. Hopefully they can do it and get it over with because we have been staying away from other kids and playgroups, stores, etc so that she doesn't get sick. If she got sick, they wouldn't do it.

Leah's cut 2 new teeth in the last week. She has been hurting! She has 8 teeth now but a lot of them are on the verge of breaking through. Talk about rough nights of sleep for everyone.

She's been walking around and running. She has sucha fun time.

She started saying Dog. Which is said "Ogg! Ogggg!" but it's super cute. She started to find her own nose, lips, and eyes when asked. She discovered how to plug her nostrils which brings her hilarious joy.