I'm about to have a baby.

 38 weeks

 39 weeks

40weeks

 I can't believe we are about to meet this baby!  I'm due tomorrow, and just keep hoping my water breaks.  It's all I can think about.  I am excited to have a newborn again.  I can't wait to see what he looks like and get to know him.  Being a mom really is the best thing in the entire world. 

I kind of feel guilty that I've been so bad at documenting this pregnancy.  I wish I had taken more time to write everything down, and to have Josh take some real progress pictures.  The only real picture we have is when I was 5 weeks along...lame.  This pregnancy has been easy, exhausting, but easy.  I have been SO much more comfortable at the end with this one, compared to my experience with Lucy.  Every step and every breath was miserable, at the end, with her.  This time, I'm not that uncomfortable.  Last night I had my first moments of, "I need him out, and I need him out NOW!!!".   I felt desperate for the first time.  I think it was because I ate too much for dinner- I hate that.  Baby boy still moves a ton.  My stomach is never the same shape for long because he is always shifting around and making it mold into something bizarre looking.  

He has dropped a crazy amount in the past week.  Last Saturday night I had contractions every 5 minutes for about an hour or an hour and a half.  I thought it might be the beginning of the real thing, but then they just faded away.  The next morning when I woke up, my belly sat about 4 inches lower than it had been the night before.  I've had a ton of contractions, pressure, and shooting pain this past week.  I hope he comes soon.  I really just want to hold him already.

I have gained quite a bit more weight this time around than I did with Lucy.  I put on 18 lbs with her, ending at 118, and I have currently gained 24 with this one, weighing in at 124.  I am eager to get back in shape.  My family is doing a fitness contest that I will blog about later, that I am excited to participate in.  I pretty much only wear work out clothes these days.  I might actually get dressed once a week, no joke, and when I do it lasts a whole hour or two.  The other day I pulled out all of my pre-pregnancy clothes and it made me so excited to actually have things to wear again!  I've missed wearing cute clothes that actually fit.

I found a new doctor!  The one I picked randomly when we moved here turned out to be a mega douche.  I finally decided to make the switch after my 37 week appointment, when he chewed me out for turning down a vaccination booster shot.  It was really weird to get into a fight with my doctor.  I never really liked him, but that was the last straw, he was fired.  Luckily my new doctor had a cancellation in her schedule and was able to see me!  So far, I really like her.  The hospital I where I will deliver is a half hour from our house, without traffic, which makes me a little nervous.  I just hope I get there in enough time to get my beloved epidural.  I am also hoping that my family gets up here in enough time, so we don't have to bring Lucy to the hospital with us.  Can you imagine?  Oye.  I'm really hoping to only stay in the hospital one day.  I hated being in the hospital after I had Lucy.  I was constantly being interrupted, woken up, poked, prodded, and was just ready to be home.  Everything was so much easier once we were home, so I'm really hoping they let us go after 24 hours this time around.

The nursery is almost complete.  We just need pictures of the little guy to fill some frames, I need to get an ottoman, and I would like to get a rug as well.  It is simple and clean looking.  I didn't really have a vision for his room, I just knew what I didn't want.  It has come together slowly with a lot of DIY projects, and I really like it.  We have his car seat in the car, blankets and clothes washed, newborn photo session scheduled, blessing date set, toys and accessories out and ready, Lucy's schedule printed for my family, hospital bags packed, cameras charged and ready to go... I think we are ready.  Now he just needs to decide to come out!

Anyway, those are my thoughts for now.  I am excited to finally have him here.  I can hardly wait to kiss his tiny cheeks.

Two Year Old Lucy

At two years old, Lucy:

• loves her grandma and aunts.  LOVES them.  She calls Lindsay, 'Liseen', and Mari, 'Murray'.  She also loves her uncles and grandpa, especially Uncle Chris.
• talks about Uncle Luke on a daily basis and knows that he is on a mission in Argentina.  She also pretends to call Chris on her calculator every day, and requests to FaceTime with Curtis on a regular basis.
• finally touched a dog for the first time in her life.  She has been terrified of them, which I am fine with because I think they are unpredictable and I don't want a strange dog biting her.  My sister got a tiny little puppy, who is the most mellow, gentle puppy ever- like I think something might be wrong with him because he just lays there all day.  She loves him though, and had so much fun playing with him this past week.
• adores her father and gets so so excited when he comes home from work at the end of the day.  Yesterday when he walked through the door she shrieked with excitement, jumped into his arms and said, 'Oh Daddy, so cute!' while grabbing his cheeks, and then smothered him with hugs and kisses.  Haha it was the sweetest thing ever.  She loves him.
• loves to watch football with her dad.  When he gets home from work she immediately requests that they 'watch footall?' together.  I told him to enjoy it while it lasts, because in a few years she will be complaining that it's on all the time.  He is so excited that they can do that together.  Between that and her requesting to listen to the Black Keys 50 times a day, he is one proud papa.
• can count to 10, knows 90% of the alphabet, is getting good at letter recognition, and speaks incredibly well.
• impressed her pediatrician in every way possible at her 2 year check up.  She was blown away by her vocabulary, social skills, ability to count, do most of her ABCs, climb on every single thing in the office, answer questions, diet, and overall cuteness.
• weighs in at almost 22 lbs, which put her back on the charts in the third percentile, and is 34 3/4 inches tall, which is the fiftieth percentile.  Her head is still in the fourth percentile.  Tiny bean.  She is long and lean, this one.  Lucky girl.
• is in love with her mama, and she is my favorite child. 
• has started taking an interest in makeup.  She watches me put it on and always wants me to put some on her.  She doesn't seem to notice yet, that I don't ever touch her face when I'm pretending to put some on her.  She has the sweetest little face ever.  Before I had her, I always thought I'd love to put make up on my little girl, but now I feel like it would make her too grown up, or something so we haven't actually played with it yet.
• got a play kitchen for her birthday from Josh and I.  She LOVES it.  It keeps her busy, and she thinks it's pretty cool.  
• loves boots.  She wants to wear them every day and would be totally content to be naked except for her boots at the park, store, in her play room, and anywhere else.
• throws the worlds shortest tantrums.  She literally lays on the floor, grunts, gets up and is on her merry little way.  It's actually really funny to watch.
• loves the display Christmas trees at Costco.  Every time we go, she gets so excited to see them, which gets me really excited for this holiday season.  I think she is going to love everything about it.
• is so social.  She says hi to everyone passing our way, even if we are in the car and they are on the street.  Every kid is her 'friend'.  We were at the park yesterday and were the only ones there.  She was so confused as to where all her friends were.  
• loves to go to the pumpkin patch and to the farm.  
• never forgets anything.  EVER.  If you promise her something, you better fulfill that promise because this kid will not forget.  She remembers things from months ago, it is truly impressive.
• has her dad wrapped around her little finger.
• loves to color, do craft projects, play with stickers, and do flash cards.
• loves to go out in our yard and throw rocks (bark), and has found a few little seats on our huge redwood where she loves to sit (for about 2 seconds, of course).
• is a little tornado and can make the biggest mess in the blink of an eye.  She will walk by something and knock it down, pull it off its shelf, etc. and keep on her way.  It's like she can't possibly leave the house looking neat and organized.
• helps us clean up her messes and toys at the end of the day, and is really good about getting a rag and cleaning up something that she has spilled, without us asking her to.
• has learned the word 'mine' and we are having a really hard time with it.  She has to go in time out every time she says it in a bratty way.  We don't want her to be a selfish person so we are trying to correct that one as quickly as possible.  In contrast to that, she is really good at sharing most of the time, and that we are proud of.
• is loved by all.  Seriously.

And just like that, she's two.

My beautiful baby is two.  I love this age, I really do.  In fact, I think it's my favorite age so far.  She has us in a constant state of wonder, amazement and exhaustion.  She is so bright and funny.  Seriously, she makes us laugh all day long.  We are so lucky to be her parents.  

She calls me sweetheart, and babe- I could die!  She has also started telling me to 'stop it' and to 'wait two seconds,' oh boy.  The past few weeks have made me very aware of things I say to her several times a day, that I haven't been aware of in the past.  I would freeze her at this age forever if I could.

We had a little birthday party for her at my parents' house in her birthday, September 22.  It was simple and fun, perfect for a 2 year old.  We had friends there, a balloon twister, face painting (thank you Aunt Mari!), chalk, bubbles, yummy food, cupcakes and presents.  It's amazing how much work even a simple party is.  Lucy was so happy to see her friends.  It made my heart sing.  I am sad that we still don't have many friends up here, mostly for her sake.  She is so social, and LOVES to interact with kids.  We are going to sign her up for dance classes, so she can have some social interaction outside of the nursery at church.  Anyway, back to her little party, she had a blast and was partied out by the end of the night.  Here are some pictures of the festivities:

Lucy was completely spoiled and got an insane amount of gifts.  She wasn't too interested in opening them at her party, but she has loved playing with everything at home.  She knew all about presents and would talk about them the week leading up to her birthday, I think she was just too distracted by everything else going on.  She got clothes, books, shoes, art supplies, blocks, toys...everything.  She now has every princess thing you can imagine- figurines, a singing Rapunzel doll, 3 different dresses, 2 crowns, 2 pair of princess shoes, jewelry, a wand, etc.  She is set for a long, long time.  She didn't care for her cupcake at all, which made Josh and I proud.  We still don't feed her sugar, so she just hasn't developed a taste for it.  She took 3 licks of cream cheese frosting, and was onto the next thing.  I am so glad she is such a good little eater.

Well my Lucy Lu, I couldn't love you more than I do.  I think you are the cutest thing that has ever walked the face of this planet- truly.  The great thing about you is that you are at least as cute on the inside as you are on the outside.  I've never met a child with as much life and personality in them as you.  You are non-stop all day long and I love that about you.  You keep me busy, and on my toes, to say the least.  You are my best little friend.  Your dad and I truly adore you.  You own everyone who looks in your direction.  They all see the light you posses and they fall in love with you immediately.  You have the best smile in the world.  You are strong willed and determined and I can't wait to see where that takes you in life. We are so proud of you and love you more than you will ever know!