Heartstrings Being Pulled and All That...

While I was whiling away my evening at a Lamaze class at the hospital tonight (going au natural this time, people!), Luke pulled out the camera and Finn pulled out the cute.

And I. am. jealous.

Every time I get the camera out, most of the pictures are of Finn trying to grab the camera. Apparently placing the forbidden cellphone in his hands does the trick. He's a thinker, that Luke.



Yep. That is all.

On Finn...

Feel like Finn has been getting the short end of the blogging stick recently? Me too. And so does he. He knows when I'm not blogging about him. It's instinctual or something.

Anywho, Mr. Mister celebrated his 19 month birthday with an awesome ear infection. His first ever (the Dr. was impressed). We'd all had colds for about a week but his took a turn and the poor guy was fever-riddled and couch bound all morning. Seriously. He wouldn't get off the couch. He even fell asleep twice. Which was worrisome because usually I'm the one falling asleep on the couch after chasing his energizer bunny butt around all morning.

The pose du jour.

Ok, I'd fall asleep on the couch even if I hadn't been chasing him around, but that's beside the point.

So, with a fever of 102.8 (!) we left for the doctors and then left the doctors with some antibiotics which we can only administer when he's sleeping. Because he spits it out if he's awake and we're just so sneaky like that.

In any case, he's feeling better now :)

As for the cute-new-things-that-he's-doing section of this post. Well, we've got plenty of that, too.

New favorite phrase: Uh-oooooooooooh. He sounds like he's howling by the end of it and it is a heart-melter, let me tell you.

Also, he knows the letter 'O' like a boss. Any 'O' in any book (and sometimes even a capital 'D' or 'C' or other circular type letters) and he's all over it. He can also point to it on my keyboard because Luke is ensuring that he is computer savvy like that.

Favorite words: Balloon, Ball, Bike, Book, Airplane, Apple, and Hot. Balloons and balls are big hits around here. He intercepted a football from some college guys playing out by the library the other day and when I asked him to throw it back he turned tail and ran the other way. The kid's got game, what can I say?

There are more words in his vocabulary but they certainly aren't his favorite words, so why mention them, right?

Also, he can spot any airplane in the sky no matter where we are or how far away it is. His eyesight and/or airplane radar never ceases to amaze me. He even looks for them when we're inside but he can hear them overhead.

And last, but not least, potty training! Sporadically!
Sorry for the embarrassment you're going to feel in 15 years when I take this picture out...

Easter. It Happened.

And without a lot of fanfare either. Sure, I hid eggs around the house, but I forgot to tell Finn that the Easter Bunny did it (or even explain who the Easter Bunny is. Because frankly, I'm not sure I know either. A child-friendly interpretation of a resurrected Jesus? A marketing ploy? All of the above?) and that it only happens once a year, so don't get used to it, kid.

As you can see, I was very creative with my egg hiding...

He had a blast with the jelly bean-filled eggs, though. The bunny graham ones? He looked at those like, 'why aren't these jelly beans?!'. Can't say I blame him. And then Luke showed him how you can put the eggs in your mouth and shoot them out like a rocket. Finn thought that was shuper shweet and insisted Luke do this as much as possible. Like this:

Heaven help me if he ever gets his hands on a real egg and remembers this. Oy.

Not impressed, apparently...

I was also going to take some very sweet, spring-y, all fancy and everything, family pictures but alas I got hit hard with a cold and my nose was, as Luke said, 'glowing red'. Always fabulous.

Today has been a particularly rough day here, coming down off our sugar highs and everything (Finn wasn't the only one who ate his weight in jelly beans...). Not only did Finn veto my workout for me by screaming every time we went into the clubhouse, you know, like we do EVERY Monday and Wednesday, but he also threw his entire bowl of oatmeal and fruit on the floor and that stuff splatters. Not to mention the fact that my momma went back home, leaving me solo once more, I'll be lucky if I make it through the day...

Hogging the Spotlight...

Baby girl got to show off a little bit more today. Fittingly, this modern chica got treated to the ultimate technology...3D(!).

My mom is in town visiting and so is my dad so it seemed fitting that we schedule an ultrasound so that they could both see her strut her stuff. Problem? Finn, for some reason only his toddler brain can explain (but won't), would cry every time he went into the ultrasound room. Seeing as it was just me, my dad and mom...and seeing that Finn is kind of a grandma's boy, my mom had to miss a good chunk of the fun.

Thank goodness for DVD recordings! With ambient background music!

Anywho, I thought that baby girl still had her head up and her feet down because I feel all the kicking down at the bottom of my belly and was feeling anxious that she wouldn't flip around before 'go' time. Turns out this little acrobat's head is down and she's folded herself neatly in half so that her feet are also down by her head...which explains the kicking being in the wrong place. Or so I thought.

So that was cute.

She's measuring exactly on her due date and weighs 3.8 lbs at 31 weeks and 1 day. Sidenote: I was born at 31 weeks exactly and weighed approx. 3.8 lbs. That being said, I turned out fine so I see no reason why this girl should hang around for tooo much longer, right?

Right. I joke.

Other things of note: She has lots of hair which was fun to actually see. And which could explain the seriously constant heartburn I have (if you believe old wives' tales. I've never met an old wife I didn't trust so it flies for me). She also has some serious chubby cheeks going on. The tech was laughing about it. In Finn's 3D shots he also displayed his characteristically chubby cheeks so this was not something I was surprised about. And last but not least, she's got long legs. Because she's a Rebarchik like that.

And with little to no further interruptions here are some freaky-deaky shots of what my baby looks like right now inside my uterus. Weirded out yet?

Whaa?! She has Luke's nose. Maybe?

Those are her feet on her forehead. Yeah.

A nice 'normal' side profile for the less adventurous...

Delusional

As a responsible preggo person I stopped running altogether about a month and a half ago. Which super sucked because I really love running. Outside especially. But I'll take what I can get.

Anywho, I started having contractions when I ran, which was no big deal but I thought I'd play it safe....cue the beautiful weather and watching other people go run. So I said, 'screw you conventions! There is nothing to say a 7-month pregnant person can't run AND push a jogging stroller!'

I really said that. Really.

(I also read an article about this mom who ran 5 miles the day she gave birth and I thought that as long as I don't go so far as to do that, I'm probably cool)

And then I acted on it and yesterday went for the most glorious 1 mile wog...no typo there! It's a walk-job combo of awesome.

And since that went swimmingly (as first runs often do) I decided to do it again today.

My knees kind of hurt. My bladder wanted to rebel. My legs were tired. But hallelujah I'm out there. Doing it. Sticking it to the man. All of that.

Kind of. In a pathetic sort of way. I wear a big sweater so that people can't tell I'm pregnant right away and therefore withhold judgement.

In any case, my delusional mind keeps concocting all these brilliant plans of running every morning until I pop this baby out (or 'drop a bowling ball', as my brother so kindly refers to the miracle of childbirth) and I've got a feeling that my body might not cooperate.

Because that's what happens when you're 7 months pregnant, tired of being so, jumping at the chance to do anything that you used to do and ignoring the -- pounds you've gained (yeah, you're not going to get that number).

Baby girl better get her Nike kicks ready...

We've Come A Long Way...

Me and Nick in our stroller back in the day:

My new beauty (Baby Jogger City Mini):

I love it. Luke is installing the car seat adapter and everything.

And while it is from Baby Jogger it is not a jogging stroller. Just a bitchin' everyday ride for my chickadees.

No biggie though because there's a BOB duallie on it's way (apparently) as we speak (or type. Or in your case, read. Covering my bases, here). Which is silly because I won't be able to use it with the little miss until she's older and she's not even here yet. And I have a single BOB....that is wedged into the trunk of the Kia at the moment. Not sure we'll be able to unwedge that beast outta there.

Obviously, I love me some strollers. I have 3 single strollers, too. Craigslist is going to love me in a couple of months when I try to downsize my stroller brood. Which probably won't happen because I really couldn't choose one to get rid of...I'm attached to those puppies :)

29 Weeks!

29 weeks, baby! Officially in the THIRD trimester. Third out of three(!). It is an ah-mazing feeling being this (relatively) close the end.

And all I need to do is buy a mattress for her crib. She'd appreciate that, I'm sure. And diapers. And convince Finn that he's not the center of the universe. We'd all appreciate that. That boy is spoiled with attention. I can't help myself.

Ok, so I'm not completely ready. But my sweet double stroller is set to arrive tomorrow. Don't fret, you'll see it. I will not be able to contain it's awesomeness.

But I am feeling fantastic still which is a humungo blessing when you're chasing around the energizer bunny of toddlers. He's an outdoorsman, what can I say?

So far, this is what this pregnancy has to offer me:

-Major heartburn. WAY worse than it was with Finn. Its like, all day everyday. Fruit is the worst. Citrus fruit is the worstest. And what do I like eating the most? Cruelly, fruit.

-Swollen feet but only at night. Which means my Birkenstocks that I was forced to buy around this time with Finn are still safely tucked unfashionably in the back of my closet.

-Lots of workout time. I'm still up at the gym at 5:45am most mornings and do a second strength or pilates workout later in the day. This is not to say IN ANY WAY that my weight is a lot less than I want it to be. It just means that I'm eating tons and it's not totally out of control. Blessing in disguise? We'll call it that.

- What I like to call the 'crazybelly' (yes, it must be all one word). This chica chica is unbelievably active most of the time. I see my belly moving in approximately 14 different directions at once and have been known to verbally tell her to stop freaking me out.

-An awesome post-baby wardrobe. I can't pass the Gap without buying something that I cannot wait to wear once little birdy gets here. I have, basically, their whole summer collection but I can't wear it yet. The suspense is killing me...but its keeping me going. And keeping me working out because dammit, I will fit into my skinny jeans like, stat.

The next two and a half months promise nursery refining, baby craft making and refraining from shopping for superfluous fabric and clothes...I'm going to try real hard on that one. Real hard.

It certainly is a belly...