Baby's First Haircut

We took Brigid to get her hair cut this weekend, and although I had my brief moments of 'what happened to my baby?!?!?!' hysterics, I really didn't need to worry.

Because we went from this....

To this...
To this...
And let's be honest...that? Doesn't really count as a haircut at all, does it?

What I missed today...

Warning: This video contains a truly, truly frightening red wig and a lot of back and forth motion that might make you nauseous if you stare at it too long. On the other hand, it also contains an awesome amount of toddler giggles, so it might be worth it.

But seriously. Sorry about the wig. I think it's the stuff that clown nightmares are made of, honestly...

Pregnancy Update - Week 21

Other than announcing that there is a baby on the way, and mentioning that said baby is to be of the female variety, I have done a very poor job of documenting this pregnancy. And that makes me sad, because with Brigid, I kept a running diary of every little thing that happened to me throughout the process, and how it all made me feeeeeel, and what my health stats were very week, and blah, blah, blaaaaaah.

Blah.

The second child inferiority complex starts in the womb, apparently.

But really, it's not that I'm not so OMG!!EXCITEDBABY!!$#!YAYBABY!!! about this whole situation, it's just that I have nothing to say about this pregnancy that won't sound annoyingly trite and obvious.

I'm tired - Of course you're tired, you idiot. You have a two year old at home. Suck it up and get used to it, princess.

I have heartburn - Sure, you've had maybe three or four bouts of not-so-great indigestion, but you were thisclose to vomiting for three straight months last time. Plus, some people vomit through their entire pregnancy. So...boo-freaking-hoo.

Someone at work told me they could tell I was pregnant because I used the bathroom a lot and my hips were getting bigger - Ok...well...yeah, that sucks. NOBODY wants to hear that their hips are getting bigger, even when they can see it happening for themselves. But still. That's not exactly ground-breaking stuff there, is it?

And...I swear. That's all I've got. I feel fine, outside of work stress and general toddler-aided exhaustion, and it's kind of just business as usual right now.

I mean, my blood pressure is excellent. I'm gaining weight at a slightly less alarming rate (although, still somewhat alarming when I actually sit down and think about it, which I try not to do that often) than I gained it with Brigid. I can feel the baby move, sometimes, when I stop moving around (so...when I sleep, basically). I have a pile of already-done baby laundry waiting to be folded and put away, with another load or two still needing to be done. At some point I intend to brave the mess that is our basement to find the swing and the pack n' play, so I can start to reclutter my living room with stuff. And maybe I'll look for the bottles, too, just so they're ready if they're needed.

I do have a very big need for teeny-tiny hangers, but that's about the most pressing thing I've got going on right now. Oh, and I guess we are going in for a fetal echo in a couple of weeks, to see if Brigid's heart condition will be shared by her little sister, but I'm trying not to think about that right now, because there's really nothing I can do about it one way or the other, and we'll just deal with what comes at us, same as we did before.

Believe me, I'm not complaining, because NOTHING is better than an uneventful pregnancy, but still...I'm going to have to work on this whole sharing of attention thing, I think.

I wouldn't want my little sisters to realize that the first-born really IS always the favorite, would I?

Lunch Date

When we hear that Jen and Elizabeth are killing time in our part of town while waiting for the exterminator to finish up at their house? Well, we offer to meet up with them for a two-hour lunch trip to Chick-Fil-A, complete with playground time and free ice cream.

Because, hello? Playground time and free ice cream?

It usually leads to this.


And I am a really, really, REALLY big fan of this.

Let Down

My parents have been in town for the last few days, handling bedtime routines, helping me sort through baby clothes, entertaining Brigid while I nap, and doing all of those other things that parents are awesome about doing when they're visiting from out of town.

But they left today.


We all miss them already.

On a sort of related note, because my parents have been in town, I've been TERRIBLE about promoting this, but I'm hosting a giveaway right now (here!!!) for an eight person party pack that you should ABSOLUTELY enter, because your chances are ridiculously high of winning. So...GO! ENTER! WIN!

Next Steps

Well....I'm having a second girl.

And I'll be 19 weeks along on Friday.

Up to this point in my pregnancy, I've been putting my to-do list off with the understanding that once I found out what I was having, I'd really get to work on making sure things were ready around the house for December.

Piles and piles of clothes around the baby's new room? Can't do anything with them until I find out what I can and can't use.

Potential names that Steve and I might like? There's really no point in going through that process until we can eliminate half of the names.

But now, I know what I'm having. And seeing as how Brigid came along around 38 weeks last time, I could technically be halfway through this pregnancy.

That's a thought right there, huh?

(Side Note: I don't know if this baby will be as early as Brigid was or not. She was measuring around 7lbs with about three weeks to go, and her head was LARGE, so my doctor decided to do what she could to 'hurry the process along' at my 38 week check-up. Considering B was 7lbs 11.5oz at birth, I appreciated the help, because I didn't want to try to deliver a 9lb baby at full -term. I think, though, that it made the labor process a little longer than it would have been, because I'm not sure Brigid was really ready to come out. I just imagine that this kid could end up being a 40 week baby, if left to her own devices. I guess we'll see...)

So, I guess it's time to start on that list, maybe? The first item on my list is going to be make a list, because between bottles and baby gear and diapers and all other manner of newborn paraphernalia, I'm not even sure what all it is I need to do before December. So I'm focusing on the organizing and laundering of Brigid's old clothes, because that is a problem staring at me every day from the bottomless pit of mess that used to be the floor of the nursery, while adding some time for an over-dramatic wailing about how THERE ARE NO GOOD NAMES LEFT IN THE WORLD!!&#!sadface!#$! because Steve and I have tried ONCE to come up with a list of names, and we weren't able to really agree on anything that we liked.

But pregnancy is not the time to be rational, people, so I will do my best to avoid any semblance of sanity at all costs. You may want to avoid me for the next few months, if that's an option open to you...

(Sorry, Steve, that most definitely does not include you. Love you and stuff!)

It's a....

GIRL!!!

I shouldn't be at all surprised by this, seeing as how that's all my family does, really, if myself, my two sisters and my current daughter are any indication.

Brigid was in the room with us during the ultrasound, and after months of telling us that it was a baby brother in mommy's tummy, when Steve told her it was actually going to be a girl, she responded with a less than enthused...

No boy? Oh well.

But then in the car on the way home, she told us she was going to pick out a couple of outfits for the new baby and that the two of them would be sharing clothes.

So I think she's just fine with her future sister.

(And I'm not going to lie...I'm pretty freaking ok with two girls, myself. I mean, it would be such a shame if all of Brigid's clothes didn't get used a second time, right?)

(LITTLE GIRL!!!! YAY!!!)

And now she's grounded until she's 24...

Yesterday, my darling child went to the pool with Steve to meet up with our neighbors, who'd been out of town for the last few days. Steve technically went because Brigid really likes to swim with her little friend from next door, but I'm 99% certain he actually just wanted an excuse to drink beer with his little friend from next door.

Either way, I had the house to myself for awhile, so there will be no complaining from me.

But then he came home and told me that Brigid had more or less chased her buddy (a one and a half year old boy who probably thinks she is CRAZY right about now) around the pool before planting a big kiss on his lips. And when I asked her why in the world she would DO such a thing when we ALL know that boys have such TERRIBLE cooties?

Because me 'ike it.

I've...well, I've got nothing.

I swear, they go to sleep like this:


And they wake up as the pool flirt.

I (hopefully) find out what baby number two is tomorrow, and for the first time, I'm actually kind of hoping it is the boy everyone keeps telling me that I should want. Because I am just not sure I can survive two of these little creatures...

4th of July: The Fun Parts

So, remember yesterday, when I mentioned the no-candy-at-the-4th-of-July-parade thing? Well, I'm still not over it. But!

There were some fun parts, too. 

Brigid really loved this balloon, until she kept dragging it along the ground, and it popped. Then she got very quiet, and very shy, and told us to stop talking to her. She was either really pissed about the situation, or really embarrassed. It's hard to tell with her, really...


This might have been taken after we bribed her with the Smarties we 'found' on the ground. I'm not sure she was super smiley before that moment. What can I say? She inherited her mother's sweet tooth.

There was no candy, but there were flags. Lots and lots and lots of flags. We're set on lawn decorations for the next five years worth of patriotic holidays, I think.

So, we've got that going for us, which is nice...

Holiday Blues

The last parade Brigid went to was the Halloween parade across town, this past October. And for that parade, we took her plastic trick-or-treat pumpkin, stood in the middle of the street, and stocked up on candy that absolutely none of us needed, but also candy that none of us could actually say no to when it came flying at us from the passing floats.

So, we were expecting big things from the 4th of July parade we hit up yesterday. In fact, Brigid wanted to bring her plastic pumpkin with her to the big event, but Steve talked her out of it at the last minute.

And it's a good thing, too, since there was NO CANDY at this parade. NONE. There was every, single, freaking politician under the sun at the parade, but no candy.

Brigid was distraught.

'Me can't look at you. Me no have candy.'

(Seriously...that's a direct quote from little miss thing, here.)

Lucky for us, there were some leftover Smarties and a Blow Pop in her diaper bag that we'd scored from my parents' house in Indiana, previously intended for use as air-plane-quiet bribes. We pretended to find them on the ground, and all was right with the world.

But really? Who has a parade with no candy?

Say Cheese.

Hey, Brigid! Smile for the camera!


Come on, Bug! Smile at Mommy!


Seriously, kid. I am not even kidding with you...smile at me RIGHT NOW.


I give up.

Pool Day!

The good thing about having a neighborhood pool is that there is a pool within walking distance of our house that we can use whenever we want, but we aren't personally responsible for the upkeep.

The downside is that we have to share that pool with all of our neighbors, and that's not always ideal if you don't want to hang around with a bunch of people all of the time.

But sometimes...

Sometimes you go to the pool for a few hours on a Monday afternoon, and you're the only ones in the pool, and you get the best of both worlds.






Those are good days...