Movin' Around...Movin' On

Movin' Around

We are officially minivan people! But more importantly, we are a two-car family! Hooray for us!!! We sold my car that I brought into the marriage just a few days before Max was born (21 months ago) so that we could afford a house. The house came just a few months later and while I missed the car, I knew it was totally worth it. The bummer part about it was that it stuck Max and I at home more than we would have liked sometimes. Tyler works on a Navy Submarine Base and has to go through two or three gates with armed guards to get to his building...gates that I am forbidden to pass through. So I could never take him to work. My wonderful husband, however, did ride his bike in to work and did a ride-share thing with a lady he works with who lives nearby. So don't feel too sorry for us, we had the car a few days a week usually. But there were times of frustration. We were planning to get a van in April or May of this year, but Tyler surprised me by coming home last Wednesday and taking me to start looking! I was thrilled! On Friday we found a great deal and decided to take the plunge. I haven't taken actual pictures of ours, but here's what it looks like:

The funny thing is that on my first day with my new-found freedom, I didn't go anywhere. I wasn't feeling especially well yesterday and didn't have anyplace I needed to be, so we hung out at home. Ty called from work to see where I would be going with my new set of wheels...boy did I sound lame! It's enough for me to know that it's there if I need or want to get out. :) And today we were all over the place.

Kelly continues to move around inside of me. We wish that her squirmy little body was in our arms instead, but we'll have to wait just a little while longer. *sigh* We went for a long, brisk walk on Sunday and tried a few other things that got contractions coming, but they just would not keep going. The doctor said on Friday that she had dropped even more from my visit the previous week, and boy has she! I have like 3 1/2 or 4 empty inches at the top of my belly. Maybe she's just a little bit too comfortable in this position. I know that I still have like 2 1/2 weeks until my due date, but as Ty knows I feel overdue everyday past 37 weeks. I'm getting a lot of projects done, though, and trying to keep busy so that I don't think about it too much.

Movin' On

Today we moved past the stitches. Yea! I took Max in and they removed the lovely things this morning. The lame part was that a scab had formed over the stitches and the nurse had to scrub off the scab to be able to take the stitches out. She was nice, but told me that if I'd kept it moist with medication then the scab wouldn't have formed and she wouldn't have had to do that. Right, lady. You try to keep medicine on a wound where you can't cover it with a band-aid and on a little boy who rolls around and wrestles and cuddles and sits on couches and chairs. It was in the worst place for that. I did my darnedest. The rubbing off of the scab was the worst part, the stitches coming out only took a minute. Max cried through a lot of it while I held him, but as soon as she was done, so were his tears. Brave little man.

We're also moving on to a new vocab phase. Well...kind of. Yesterday Max used his first sentence! It's a really short one, but it was so cute to listen to him put it together because he was really proud of himself. He says TONS of words and comes up with more all of the time. He can totally communicate this way, but it was fun to hear him put two things together and make a complete thought. He is constantly saying, "What's that?" to which I almost always reply, "What's that?" because he knows full well and just wants to be asked. Another thing about the Maxster is that he has supersonic hearing. I am grateful for his good hearing, but sometimes it's annoying. Like yesterday morning at 6:40 a.m. when he came running into my room asking, "What's that?" and then pointing to the direction of the sound saying, "Noise!" Ty had just left for work and the garage door was closing. Many a nap and night's sleep have been interrupted by his good hearing combined with some noise within the house or on the street - or the street over, for that matter. Anyway, yesterday he said it all together, "What's that noise?" No pause in between; a complete thought. The day was then filled with this first little sentence. He said it as often as he could. He really was proud of himself. I was proud too and we immediately called Dad at work to share the big news.

I am so grateful to be a mom. I am so glad to be able to be at home with Max and to know him so well. Almost every night Tyler and I talk about how cute Max is and how much we love him. The other day Ty was telling me that he loves when he finds things around the house that Max has left. Like the brush or shoes that he puts in our shower, or a little cord or q-tip sticking out of some small hole somewhere. He was saying that it makes him smile and he loves it because he knows only one little person in our house would have done that. Being a parent is so rewarding and so hard and so consuming and so very worth it. That's why I am so excited to be doing it again! I am nervous, still. I'm nervous about the delivery after Max's labor and delivery (ask me why if you don't know the story and want to know). I'm nervous because it's a totally different person with her own spirit and challenges and needs. I'm nervous because I can't imagine having more than one to look after. I'm nervous because I don't want Max to feel displaced. I'm nervous because I don't really remember what it is like to have a newborn and I hope I can recall the information that I need when I need it. I know that it will all flow more easily than I realize. That's how it was with Maxwell...I was so surprised that everything went so smoothly and that we knew how to care for him. I felt pretty relaxed about the whole experience. So here's hoping those feelings return this time around!

Hopefully my next post will be a birth announcement! :)