Easter Sniper

Picture this...

Easter Sunday.

Balcony at the United Methodist Church we attend.

This beautiful princess dressed in her Easter's best. Amanda Remembered smocked bunny dress.


Pointer finger extended.

Towards the preacher.

With a look of perfect aim in her eyes peering through her pointer finger.

She did, however, forget the sounds. Not to mention, she has no clue what she is actually doing. Too bad I didn't have the camera in hand!

Hubby reminded me of this episode this evening when I told him I wasn't sure how to play with boys. He said, "Cars, Hot Wheels. You already have one trying to knock off the preacher." Oh yes! I forgot! And, the best part, this is the very first time either of us have seen her use her finger as a gun. I am pretty sure she learned that from some new church friends we have been hanging out with lately.

Girls will be boys sometimes! It just brings back the good old memories of playing cops and robbers with my brother. Who needed play guns? We had our fingers!

Barometric Pressure

I'm taking a poll, except I'm too lazy (more like tired) to figure out how to add a poll to my blog tonight. But, here are the questions.

Do you think the change in barometric pressure caused by the thunderstorms and rain tomorrow will send me into labor?

If not, do you think this child has enough of a sense of humor already to wait until April 15th to make his/her arrival into this world?

As for hints, all of the labor indications are definitely there. Contractions (definitely contractions) since Monday, low dull backache with contractions, emotional mood swings since this weekend, nesting and other hints I won't disgust you with on this blog.

Any guesses on the weight? Hint: As of Monday's doctor's appointment at 39 weeks and 2 days, I had gained approximately 32 lbs from my pre-pregnancy weight. When Annabelle was born early at 39 weeks and 2 days, I had gained 40 lbs and she weighed 7 lbs, 9 oz at birth!

10 Hours

I know, I know, you all are probably very tired of hearing this, but why is it that my child only needs 10 hours of sleep every single night no matter how hard we play during the day?

She played hard at the playground this afternoon, and I even allowed her to play in the backyard where I could see her while I cooked dinner this evening. And yet again, it is 9:40 p.m., and I am scheduled to check on her for the first time in 2 minutes. I left her room at 9:30 p.m., and Jezebel felt the need to meow. Annabelle, of course, found that as her excuse to come out of her room to tell me, "Shadow [she confused the cats] woke me up." Sure she did! You weren't even asleep yet! How did she wake you up?

Big surprise! I went in her room to check on her at 9:42 p.m. Do you think she was asleep yet? "Mommy, can I get some pants?" Seriously? For what? It is 76 degrees in this house. You don't need pants! But, whatever. Stall tactic. That is why I have NOT even attempted to cut out the diaper at bedtime. She would never go to sleep!

This is just going to get more interesting in a few short days (or weeks)! I am praying for a second child that likes to sleep much like his/her Daddy. One duplicate of me is quite enough!

Bedtime Music

I can see that being a big girl is not on the top of Annabelle's list, or at least it wasn't tonight. She did not want to be a big girl this evening, and that was after I threatened her with, "if you aren't a big girl, Mommy will make you be a big girl, and you won't get a sticker if Mommy makes you be a big girl." And, she even okayed sleeping in her crib again if that meant not being a big girl. Of course, I realized that threat had backfired, so I told her she was going to do it and Mommy would check on her as usual.

She whimpered a bit and then requested some music. Thank goodness! We tried to get her to listen to music a week ago to drown out the other noises in the house, but she wasn't interested. But, tonight, it worked, and the Baby Einstein music is softly playing as I type.

After I started playing the CD, and in hopes of persuading Annabelle to listen to this music, the following conversation was held.

Mommy: You used to listen to this when you were a baby.

Oops! I realized instantly that was a bad comment since she's a big girl now and not a baby.

Mommy: Mommy likes to listen to this music too.

Annabelle: I listened to it when I was a baby?

Mommy: Yes, you did. It makes you smart.

Annabelle: Does Daddy listen to it too? Is that why Daddy is so smart?

Mommy: Yes, Daddy likes to listen to it too.

Do you want to know my thoughts at this point? They go a little like this. "What the heck? Is that why Daddy is so smart? What about Mommy? I just told you that Mommy likes to listen to it too."

What is it with little girls and their daddy?

Cinderella's Crown

If you've hung out with us enough, then you know that Annabelle loves to dress herself, and she especially loves to dress herself fancy. And on most days, I don't fight it. Except for Easter of course. Easter and all holidays are Mommy's days to dress Annabelle, for now at least.

Today, she decided to wear an orange gingham dress with an ice cream cone on the front accessorized with a bright pink tie, bright pink Mardi Gras beads and her bright pink sparkly "pincess" shoes. My mom was actually in the room when she was getting dressed, and she said that she actually laid the dress down on the glider stool and then laid the tie and beads on top of the dress and mumbled something about, "Oh good, that matches."

So, we left the house dressed in the cutest orange gingham dress ever adorned with a bright pink tie and bright pink beads. Oh, and we must not forget the "matching" silver and blue Cinderella crown she got with her Halloween costume. Too bad I never took a picture!

After we had finished eating lunch out, Annabelle somehow managed to break her Cinderella's crown. The crocodile tears started flowing. I felt so sorry for her, and I tried to talk her through it to let her know that we could always just bobby pin it to her head or perhaps Daddy could glue it back together again. Unfortunately, the reasoning didn't help much, but she did finally dry up those tears. But not until she had broken my heart!

False Labor

What is up? Yesterday afternoon, I thought for sure that we were going to meet Beebo for the very first time by Tuesday early morning at the latest. I even called hubby home from work at 2:30 p.m. because my emotions took the best of me, and I was afraid that labor was going to progress quickly as I started having uncomfortable contractions around 1:00 p.m. And, they were becoming fairly regular.

But, now I'm just waiting for the real thing, and frankly, I'm a little freaked out that the real thing will hit suddenly with all intensity at the worst time.

Fortunately, yesterday's little episode did prepare me more emotionally for Beebo, and believe me, that goes a very long way! Based on my emotions alone, the remote thought of natural childbirth before yesterday made me cringe. Now I say, bring it on (assuming pitocin is not involved in the equation)! But again, let me reiterate, I am NOT against an epidural.

For now, I'm just a little worried that my water may break and require an induction of labor. The doctor stripped my membranes yesterday (and caused this mess of contractions). I just hope he didn't do anything that will cause my water to break because of it.

And, I'm also a bit worried about the size of this child. But, of course, isn't it really the size of the head that matters? And, I've already mastered the birth of one big headed child (in more ways than one). Hubby's side of the family doesn't make small headed babies!

Baby and Me

Annabelle attended a Baby and Me class at Northside Hospital today. She had an absolute blast, and as we were walking down the hall for a tour of a hospital room, she turned to me and whispered, "This is fun!"

Some highlights of today included the following:

1. Ms. Pam taught the class. At the beginning of the class, Ms. Pam asked all of the kids to spell their names. When she got to Annabelle, Annabelle literally jumped up and down with excitement as she spelled her name. "A-N-N-A." Then she turned to me and whispered, "Mommy, what is next?" I was so proud of her for spelling Anna all on her though!
2. Annabelle was not shy at all when the class first started. We didn't know what had happened to our little girl. She was so excited! However, two girls in the class who were sisters aged 6 and 4 got to laughing so much that Annabelle quieted down. She watched them the entire time, and she became very shy again when it was her time to change the baby doll's diaper because they kept laughing every time the diaper was referred to as a stinky diaper.
3. Ms. Pam asked if she was going to have a baby brother or baby sister, and she replied, "We don't know."
4. Then she was asked what the baby's name was going to be if he or she was a boy or girl. She told Ms. Pam, "We call it Beebo while it is in Mommy's tummy. But, if it is a girl, I think we should name it Pin-cess Jasmine or Ariel." Ms. Pam actually thought we are planning to name it Beebo if the baby is a boy.
5. When asked if she wanted a boy or a girl, she said, "A boy!" I think she's been brainwashed by someone as she used to say she wanted a girl.

She graduated with flying colors, and she was rewarded with a certificate and two coupons for a free McDonald's McFlurry.