38 weeks plus two days and I can’t wait to meet this baby girl! I’m glad I’m keeping fairly busy with Christmas preparations and such, otherwise I really would be just waiting. I’ve got clothes washed, bassinet set up, even toys out! My wonderful friends had a great shower for me:

And we’ve even had a false alarm:

The long lead-up to labor has been so different. I’ve had so many more contractions for longer and they’ve felt more like labor contractions than my pre-labor contractions felt with Reese. Now that I know what to expect I know not to call the midwives, which I’m sure they’re grateful for.

I feel like Reese is also as ready as she can be. I’m sure we’ll have issues, but she seems genuinely excited to get started on being a big sister and having the baby here. I’m sure she won’t always feel that way, but I’ve done everything I can do to help her prepare. Some of my friends got her some big sister/two children books that she already loves - I’m so grateful.

The midwife has me on hand-an knees, just like last time. Reese was posterior (back to my back) until right before labor, but she turned around. Doesn’t cause complications, just longer labor and more pain. I picked up the birthing tub from the midwife today, so we’ll get that set up and be ready to go! Be checking Facebook for updates!

I have some Christmas decorating pictures to post, but I’m too tired tonight. Soon!

I did want to post two stories you all will love.

When we were driving to Richmond for Thanksgiving, Reese slept most of the way, but she woke up towards the end. After a little conversation about going to Grandma and Grandpa’s for Thanksgiving, eating turkey, and what turkeys say I looked in the back seat, and she had her hand to her hair and I heard “Beautiful hair. Curly hair.”

Then, on the way from Grandma and Grandpa’s to Aunt Tracy’s we saw some cows lying down in the field. I said, “The cows are lying down, they must be night-night.”

So she said, “Cows read books. Cows have pipes (pacifiers for the uninitiated). Cows have blankies. Cows go night-night.”

Apparently cows have the same bedtime routine that she does.

We had a fun weekend, but we didn’t take the camera. Sorry! We took Reese to the Carolina Raptor Center and we saw “Owls!” and “Eagles!” It was very exciting.

Reese also had a new phrase that is our favorite.

Reese: Airplane!
Mommy: I don’t see it.
Reese: Must be bye-bye.

Incredible.

We are about 95% unpacked and settled now. Still no pictures up, but I’m trying to be patient. When our kitchen table comes and we can stop eating off of the card table, it will feel much better. I must say, though, having our old couches certainly does make it feel very homey around here. Reese finally seems to be adjusting to having a full-tim mommy again. The girl’s amazing. It took her a full week and a half to get completely out of whack in her sleeping, and one day to get back. We had some naptime struggles yesterday, but today we’re back on track. What a sweetheart. Her dad has been coaching her on the road to crawling, so hopefully that will develop faster than rolling over! She rolled over again a few days ago, but refuses to anymore. I don’t think she likes it.

Reese loves sucking on her exersaucer toys. This is a little elephant (orange? I know…).

She’s really digging her toes lately. I also have her in a shirt that says “I love (shopping with) my mommy” which is the truth. She never cries while shopping. She loves looking at everything and she loves having everyone talk to her. People here love when I have her in the sling - they think that’s really cute and always come up and talk to us.

Brian was having a little photo shoot with her when she was wearing this adorable red sweatshirt (the matching jeans have red hearts emrboidered into them).

Here she is sucking on those toes. It happens most often while her diaper is off and she shows off all of her little parts to the whole world. Not a great photo opp. She gets all confused when she wears footed sleepers!

Last night was by far the most difficult night for Reese. She got really worked up, cried a lot, swallowed a lot of air, cried some more. Poor baby. She’s sleeping now, so we’re glad for that. Here are some cute pics! We call her our burrito baby when she’s all swaddled, which we’ve finally mastered. She is great at escaping the swaddle, though, so then she gets called Houdini. A multi-talented child.

Here’s a headshot of the burrito baby.

This is the look of infinite mistrust. Brian and I get that look a lot.

I can’t get enough of these pictures of her sleeping on her side. She’s so cute! The blanket was sent and made by Christina Weaver.

Well, Reese had her first bath in her tub and she was an angel! She let out a little whimper at first, but sat there totally chill the rest of the time. And even better, it’s 8pm and she’s sleeping. Wow! Usually she is awake from 6pm until midnight, but tonight, she’s sleeping. I’m so excited. I’m way more excited about this than when she started sleeping in her co-sleeper. I only hope now that when she wakes up again, she will go to sleep soon after. We’re getting there, slowly.

Today was also a super exciting milestone for me. I wore real pants! Not lounge pants or maternity pants. Now, granted they were the pants I bought one size too big for my first trimester of pregnancy, but still. When you’ve gained forty pounds in 9 months and had a belly so big you couldn’t see your toes, getting back into size ten jeans is no minor feat.

I’m learning that every day is different with a baby. She doesn’t always eat at the same times, sleep at the same times, or stay awake at the same times. For a person like me who loves routine, it’s a new experience not to know if she’ll be sleeping during lunch or not, but she’s so beautiful, I think I can manage.

On the sleep front, she has slept the last two nights in her bassinet! Yay! I must admit, I pull her into bed with me come morning, because I love cuddling that little bundle. She’s been doing her part of letting us sleep, though, by staying in the bassinet and only waking up twice to three times.

Here are some more pictures. We just can’t resist!

So, for those of you who followed the blog through my pregnancy, you know I had to take out my belly button ring in October, to much sadness. As my belly has begun to shrink to normal size, my navel is following suit. I was looking at it last night, and thought I might try to put a ring back in. Everyone has always told me that belly button rings close off almost immediately, so my hopes weren’t high. However, the hole was still open and I have jewelry in it again! Yay! Does this deserve poetry?

Reese stays awake more every day. Here’s one of her little peepers.

Reese is as much of a sucker for cuddles as her mom. As long as someone is holding her, she puts up with a lot. If we change her clothes on a changing table she screams, but if we do it in someone’s arms, she doesn’t make a peep. The not great thing about this is that she refuses to sleep in her bassinet at night. Something I don’t mind now, because I love cuddling her as much as she loves it, but later on we’ll have to make more of an effort to get her into her own bed. Here’s a picture of her in the one and only outfit I bought for her (I splurged and bought this at Baby Gap).