update and stuff

I am 37 weeks pregnant.

Full-term!

...yeah...I'm looking a little rough these days. 

Can you blame me, though? I have a freaking torpedo stuck under my shirt.

speaking of torpedos, here's a baby girl update:

So, remember the iron thing I told you to wish me luck on or something? 

Well, my iron actually went down.

It's funny/annoying to me at this point. So I had another iron infusion at the hospital this morning before my OB appointment. It takes TWO HOURS. I just watch the molasses-color-ish stuff drip into the needle in my elbow pit. I am still taking 1000 MG a day plus the prenatal. We'll check levels again next week

.But here's the totally awesome news:: I am dilated to a 1! Yessssssss.

You all may be laughing but this is HUGE progress for me. Let me take you back to a time 18 months ago when I was induced at 39 weeks not at all dilated or effaced. I made it to a whopping 1/2 centimeter before the c-section. Ok, so now do you understand my excitement?? Plus, the doc said her head is locked and super low--also totally awesome, considering Oliver was considered a "free floater."

speaking of the goober...:

 we took a stroll through campus. 

if you are wondering why Oliver's hair looks so terrible in the first two pictures it's because (well, aside from the fact that he has the horrible Sykes hair gene) he leaked his sippy of milk in his hair during his nap--and we decided not to worry about it until bath time. 

and speaking of hair and bath time, enjoy:

sometimes...

...I go to garage sales and find awesome things.

awesome thing #1:

yes, that's a birdcage.and no, I'm not putting a bird in it.

i'm going to put stuff in it.

awesome thing#2:

cutest. mini-dresser/stand/cute thing. ever.

and here is what it looks like now:

cream and crisp.

sometimes, oliver scales mountains (or very steep hills):

and sometimes when oliver spend the entire afternoon the day before scaling mountains,

he is too tired to sit up to watch dora. 

so this happens:

a day in the life of Oliver

His mornings begin like this--he and Sean watch a Dora together (Sean in his gym clothes because he's, like, motivated and dedicated to going at 6:45 am). Oh, and Oliver has Kate Gosselin hair every morning.

Then, His Majesty gets served breakfast, finishing his Dora, on  his lap, with his legs securely cocooned (a must for him).

Then (weather permitting) he likes to go for a walk. 

So we, his lowly minions, do as we're expected.

(pay no attention to the horse pushing the carriage).

We start walking and go to the bank. 

He knows what is at the bank.

Suckers (literal and figurative).

We end up leaving with 10 suckers.

Seriously. Could things get any better for him? 

Sunglasses? Check.

Sippy? Check.

Sucker? Just 10.

Fools to push him around all afternoon? Double check. 

The things we do for this kid.

36 weeks?!

I'm 36 weeks pregnant. Here's the proof:

I love how awesome my smile is.

Preggo update: 

36 weeks! I can't believe I'm already to this point. I have gained about 26 pounds to date, which puts me about 18 pounds UNDER where I was when I delivered Oliver. With the exception of Mexico, I have had virtually zero swelling in my feet/legs/hands! I went in for my first IV iron infusion 2 weeks ago and will find out tomorrow what my levels are--here's to hoping for good numbers!

I have been feeling sad for this little girl in that we are 4 weeks from my due date and up until this past weekend, I had done virtually nothing to prepare. To my credit, we have the essentials--diapers, wipes, car seat, onsies, bibs, and headbands (obviously)--but she didn't have a space. I know, I know, what's the point when we're moving at the end of July? The point is, it didn't seem real to me (or fair) that all of her stuff was just shoved into our closet, without a home of its own. Problem solved! We set up a mini-nursery (without a crib--though it's ordered, yay!). I haven't taken many pictures yet, but I will share this:

Cute, huh? I bought that table at D.I. about 8 months ago for 5 bucks. It sat on our porch all winter until last week. It was a hideous brown before. I sanded, primered, sanded, and painted and that was the result. 

So, Oliver is getting more and more precious as the days go on. He has added second sounds to some of his 'b' words (see video below), namely balloon and bird. Here he in his little workout outfit:

I seriously kiss that face almost every second of the day.

And...he has recently taken to feeding himself. He LOVES it and is quite good at it!

Lastly, Oliver and dad reading Oliver's favorite book: Jamberry.

pictures and a video--can you believe it?!

I love this boy so much. Are you kidding me? Look at those eyes!

Oliver turned 17-months on the 14th of this month. His comprehension level is really high, but he doesn't really say a lot. I'm not at all concerned, but we've been working on expanding his vocab nonetheless. He understands a clear and distinct difference between d-sounds and b-sounds. We think he's darling when he talks--here's a video:

Untitled from Summer Mosman on Vimeo.

SORRY

I know! I am such a hypocrite. I get so mad when people refuse to update their blogs and here I am, doing the same thing. We just spent the week in California and I have no pictures from it. I know, I suck again. But Shantele DOES, so when she uploads them, I will steal some. I have a draft post for our Mexico trip and other recent happenings, but no pictures yet. So, I will get on that this weekend.

In the meantime, here is an update on baby:
I am almost 34 weeks. WHOA. Don't ask me where the time went. Sean had a mini-freak-out moment today with the impending due date. So, at my 28-week appointment I found out that my iron levels are even lower than they were with Oliver (which was pretty bad). So low, that my doc was pretty concerned. I was prescribed a diet high in iron with an additional supplementation of 1000 mg of iron DAILY. He said to do this for a month and we would re-check at my 32 week appointment. Well, my levels hadn't changed a bit. Yeah, really lame. So, guess what I have to do now? IV iron infusion--yeah, that's how low my levels are. It has to be done once a week (possibly two times a week--I'll be tested weekly to make sure my levels are increasing AND being maintained) until the baby is born. In a stupid hospital.

Other pregnant things: I have gained about 22 pounds thus far. Good you say? That's about where I was with Oliver at this time and I proceeded to gain an additional 20-ish pounds up until I had him. I am not entirely optimistic. No stretch-marks (thank you genetics, because I do NOT have the patience to rub crap all of my stomach every day, not that I'm entirely convinced that that does anything to prevent them...). She was head-down at my last appointment and measuring, still, 3 weeks ahead. We're still going for a VBAC, which yes, I'm a little worried about.

There's the update. Oh, so the funniest thing about this pregnancy is when people ask how far along I am and I respond, they say I'm really tiny for being that far along. I guess that's a good thing? Except that I'm actually measuring ahead, haha. at my 32 week appointment I was measuring 36 cm. Here's a picture--you can be the judge:

33 weeks, 4 days

(don't mind my freaky face, please).

my child...

...is a stasher.

I know. It's hard to swallow. But the first step to fixing something is acknowledging there is a problem. It began with cell phones and remotes in the couch cushions, hot dogs in his pockets, and sippy cups in the bathtub. It escalated rather quickly to social security cards and non-farm objects in the silo of his barn.

But most recently, the worst has happened; 

 he stashed our digital camera in the dirty clothes basket. 

I dumped the load of dirty clothes straight from the basket to the washer, as I always do, and began the load. I went about my business for the next 45 minutes and returned to the washer to make the transport. Upon transporting, I noticed a hard "clink" when I pulled out a sweatshirt. I looked in and I saw it. Just, sitting there. All I could say was a choice 4-letter word. And call Sean:

"Sean, I found the camera."

"Good! I knew it would turn up--and you thought he threw it in the garbage."

(did I forget to mention Oliver threw my wallet in the trash a month ago, never to be found again?)

"Well, you're right about that. He threw it in the dirty clothes."

"Good thing you found it before you put them in."

"Uh...yeah. I found it as I was switching loads."

"[insert choice 4-letter word]. We'll talk about it when I get home."

You want to know the worst part? There were 2 smudges on the back screen I tried everything to get off, all to no avail. The smudges are finally gone.

Go Bruins!

...I suck at updating this thing lately.

Main reason: SO MUCH has been going on that I have found myself to be pretty much useless in matters other then taking care of myself (not really--I did finally wash my hair, though) and taking care of Oliver (with lots of help from Sean). I need to blog about Mexico, pregnancy, Easter, finishing school, Oliver, and lots of other schtuff. But I wanted to do a quick update to announce where we're going to law school.

....drum roll please....

UCLA, UCLA, UCLA!

There it is--UCLA! We are so excited. Sean got a great scholarship offer there and we decided it was the best decision for our family. We were holding out to hear back from Stanford--which we finally did--and it was a wait list (which is still pretty awesome). We move at the end of July--and yes, I'll have a brand-new baby (not even a month old) when we move. 

That's going to be really awesome.

curious as to where I've been?

here's a teeny taste:

(running around like he's on crack)

the whole gang

28 weeks

  (my SMIL made me look at the ocean. apparently I don't know how to look normal):

Akumal, Mexico!

*Please take note of my feet and ankles--totally awesome.

50!

I reached 50 posts much quicker with this blog than our original one.

I must love this one more.
And I sure wish I had something more interesting to say, but alas...

...I do not.

So, we spent March 16-21st in Virginia and D.C. (did you know that?). Sean got into (and got scholarships) to both University of Virginia and Georgetown, so we figured we would use our free Southwest flights and the $400 travel subsidy UVA was offering and make a little trip out of it. As soon as we get all the pictures from Lisa (who met us there), I will post pictures and info from that trip. Bottom-line: Virginia is beautiful.

Per usual, I can't find our camera cord. I'm guessing it's somewhere close to my wallet that is also missing.

Oliver thinks it's his business to hide things.

Perhaps I should try and find it before we leave for Mexico on Friday...

Anyway, Oliver had his 15-month appointment last week and here are his stats:

Height: 35"-100th+ percentile!

Weight: 28 pounds--88th percentile.

Head: 19"-80th percentile. 

His head has FINALLY tapered off on growing. In fact, it hasn't grown at all since his 12-month appointment, and only 1/4" from his 9-month. Was his head really that huge back then?

He absolutely looks like he's thinning out. He's sorta ripped, actually. 18-month pants are about 2 inches too short, so we have him in 24-month and 2T clothes. My little (huge) precious.

I'm sorry I don't have pictures. 

I hate blog updates without pictures.

Did I mention I'm 27 weeks today? 

I know. Don't ask me how we're already to that point.

TIME, PLEASE SLOW DOWN.

:-)