day 2

Last night and today have definitely been more interesting. Gabrielle moved her arm around too much yesterday and has paid the price for it. I managed to rig up a row of safety pins and a doll sling that I can get her to wear once in a while to keep her arm still. We've been trying to just keep her on the couch which presents it's own set of issues because she can't hold herself up so she falls over, and when I try to straighten her up she starts crying. So we finally found a use for the Scenera that we bought for a trip a couple summers ago and have never really used! I also had to send Ryan in today and get Tylenol with codeine, I'm hoping that will allow her to sleep tonight, last night was rather unpleasant. Gabrielle can't lay flat on the bed and can't move at all without crying so it was a very long night of having to roll her over while she screamed. I shipped Madeline off to my mom's house for a few days. She kept bouncing around the house and then Gabrielle would try and follow, but would bump her arm or fall down. She keeps asking that I make her boo boo better which is sad to hear but overall she has been in good spirits as long as we keep her well medicated. A collection of new Mickey Mouse DVD's hasn't hurt either....

I foresee lots of TV time....

Cause Gabrielle fell and broke her clavicle last night. There isn't much they can do for her especially because they couldn't find a sling small enough for a 2 year old. I'm under orders keep her from jumping around and playing for several weeks, ha ha. Right now she is enough pain that she isn't trying to play that much or use her arm, but I can see in a couple days that will tough to manage. 

an agreement has been reached

Regarding the birth of this baby. Ryan and I have been on opposite pages, which is nothing new, that is always the way it is. Not having an midwife is something that I've talked to him about for years, and no matter how much education I try or talking through his fears, the idea alone can almost give him a panic attack. He is fine with a home birth, we've been there done that so that is not scary to him anymore. 

I have been happy as a clam this pregnancy not seeing anyone. I loathe prenatals, always felt that they were a waste of my time. I refuse to do anything other then checking my blood pressure heart rate, listening to baby, and once in a while measuring is ok. Heck, I can do all that myself if I really wanted to, I don't feel the need to so I haven't. 

I met with a midwife this weekend that I first talked with last year because Ryan starting to get really antsy about not having a midwife. She is fine with me not doing prenatals and for a reduced fee, she'll just come and hang out for the birth. Yeah, I'd prefer not having anyone else here, but I do know that unless Ryan has someone here for him, he would drive me insane while in labor. A calm and relaxing person he is not! I can deal with this, it is just one extra person, she can keep Ryan away from me, because he really does annoy me when I'm in labor. I prefer to be alone anyway, and I have only have to do one prenatal for some type of record. 

26 weeks

I'm really not great at taking pictures of myself, I always admire those women that have tons of pregnancy pics. I think I have 3 total from my last two pregnancies, I'm trying to do better this time around so now I have 3 from this pregnancy! I already had most of what I needed for this babe already. When we were in Denver I hit up some thrift stores and found some cheap newborn clothes just to have a different variety. I got a new infant car seat already, and found an awesome deal on an expensive stroller with the fancy bassinet. My plan for that is to keep it downstairs, it can be a place to stash the baby while Gabrielle is napping upstairs in the bed. Once the bassinet is outgrown then I have a new stroller for the older children to fight over who gets to ride in it. 

Ryan is starting to get nervous about the lack of a midwife so I have an appointment this weekend to speak with one. I've met her last year, she is actually friends with my parents and is very laid back so we'll see. I spoke with a closer one last month and wasn't impressed. She requires another skilled person present, that is not appealing to me since I would refuse all her normal midwifes that attend with her so I would be left trying to find someone. I do have a couple people that could work and they have offered but it would just be another person here and another person to call when the time comes. Currently I am not feeling the need for a midwife, I am enjoying going through this pregnancy with no appointments and no one to answer to but me.

this needs to happen more often

Over the weekend I went on my first mom's night out since Madeline was born. It was complete and utter heaven, I have to do it more often then once every six years! Ryan managed to put Gabrielle to sleep and even fed them a halfway decent diner, shocking. Gabrielle started calling us Mommy and Daddy today, it is really cute to hear. 

Happy Birthday Madeline!

I am the mother of a 6 year old today! Madeline is quite happy to officially be 6, and she had a good birthday. Her favorite Waldolf storytime at the library followed by playing with her best little friend and then she decided she wanted to go to McDonald's for dinner. 

Houston, we have a problem

I have an addict, her name is Gabrielle. Her current vices are Frosty the Snowman (the old movie), anything with a train or Mickey Mouse on it, and computer games, especially Starfall.com. She screams "game me" at either me or Madeline until one of us gives in and plays with her on the computer. She can recognize several letters, and can practically recite the entire Starfall site in toddler speak. I did make Frosty die a very sudden death this weekend, I'm not feeling too bad about the TV and 2 year old. Well, I didn't get her started on it, my mom did when we were in Denver and I was away with Madeline at her appointments. That movie did get us the whole way back from Denver on crappy roads with Gabrielle only talking to yell to turn Frosty back on again. 

Tonight though, I realized that Gabrielle is learning Madeline's anxiety and fears. Madeline has a fear of bugs in the bath water, we've never had one in there but it's something she is very concerned about and spends half the bath jumping out yelling because she thinks she sees something in the water. Gabrielle who LOVES bathes and will spend hours in splashing around now is refusing to get into the water because she thinks there is a bee in there. She has learned the water is something to be afraid of and copies exactly what big sister is doing. 

Madeline's party

We had Madeline's 6th B-Day party today. I started the day afraid that it would be a repeat of last year where it snowed and no one was able to come since once again we woke up to it snowing. It did snow all day but everyone was able to make it. Today was the happiest that I've seen Madeline in a long time. Even though her anxiety is manageable most days now, she always has some, she picks at her lips when she is  nervous now and I catch her doing it all the time. For several hours today, I didn't see her doing it once. I didn't have to walk to the bathroom with her because she was terrified or answer that no one would take her in the house or respond to questions for her because she was refusing to talk. It is days like today that make everything worth it.