39 days to go!

Will had his two-year checkup last week and his pediatrician was very happy with everything. It seemed like he has grown taller but he’s still so skinny so I was concerned about his (lack of) weight gain. He’s pretty much been 26 1/2 lbs since last September. And he’s still 26 ½ lbs. He is about 36 inches tall, which he’s been for a while. But the doctor said he is perfectly healthy so I’m trying not to worry too much about his lack of weight gain. His height puts him in the 88th percentile and his weight is in the 35th percentile. This was the first appointment where Will was measured standing up as opposed to lying on a table. The doctor said the previous measurement that put him in the 97^th percentile for height was likely inaccurate. He said Will has hovered around the 90th percentile for most of his life so he doubts he briefly jumped up to 97th. Anyway, the Dr said his growth looks great and he’s just a skinny, active boy. Overall a clean bill of health!

This week we’ve really taken it easy. A couple of days we haven’t even gone outside during the day, although David sometimes takes Will to the park in the evenings. The weather has either been extremely hot or rainy so we’ve stayed indoors more than usual. Will has actually been very cooperative. He’s watching more TV than I normally like him to but I figure our situation (of me not being able to get around well) is only temporary. He does a good job playing on his own and we still read a lot of books (especially Dr. Seuss, which he’s really into now). Despite not playing outside in the mornings Will has actually been napping fairly consistently in the afternoons, which helps me out a lot. One day this week we did go to the park on base and Will’s friend Tyler happened to be there. Will was a little more social than usual and he kept repeating “Hi Tyler.” After the park we went to the Commissary and I have decided that two “outings” in one morning is too much for me. My energy and stamina are just not enough to do the park and a grocery trip back to back. In fact, we walked to the park in our neighborhood a few days ago and Will, who is a fast little thing, was getting too far ahead of me. I told him to stop and wait for Mommy. He said “Mommy,” and turned around, came back to me and took my hand. It was pretty uncharacteristic of him- he usually takes off and never looks back. But I feel like he knows I’m not in top condition and he decided to give me a break. And, apparently, Will thinks I look like an egg. On the changing table yesterday he kept pointing to my tummy and saying “egg.” I told him it’s a baby, not an egg. Then he just alternated calling it “baby” and “egg.” I can’t wait for this egg to hatch!

Will has done several cute things this week. For example, he likes to say “bye” to everything. If we’re driving he’ll say “bye truck” and “bye school bus,” and “bye” to just about everything he sees. When we left the park, the entire walk to the car he was saying “bye swings, bye slide, bye trees, bye rocks, bye grass.” Definitely funny to hear! He still hasn’t slept in his big boy bed and probably won’t for some time. But he’s started tucking his Woody doll (from Toy Story) into the bed. He lays it on the pillow, covers it with the sheet, kisses him and says “night night.” Adorable. Also, after watching an “Elmo’s World” segment about violins, Will took his little Elmo guitar, put it up under his chin like a violin, and used his t-ball bat as a bow. He proceeded to “play” the violin! I can’t keep up with all of the new words he’s learning, but one of his new favorites is “broken.” Everything that doesn’t do what he wants it to is broken to him, especially puzzle pieces that he has trouble fitting together. Finally, he has started to be very on top of telling me when he has a dirty diaper. Sometimes he doesn’t care about his diaper being dirty, but lately he’s been telling me “diaper change” before I even notice that he needs one. But I think him telling us “diaper change” is a positive step toward potty training (which we’re not even tackling until after the new baby and the move).

After several months without rain, we finally got a big thunderstorm with lots of rain on Thursday. It started around 9:00 am and got very dark. We lost power for about 40 minutes so Will got to man the flashlight, which he thought was pretty cool. He also learned several new words like “rain,” “thunder,” “lightning” and “flashlight.” Sad to say that I don’t think he knew the word “rain” before this storm. The last time we saw rain was some drizzle when we visited Maryland in February. We just haven’t had any rain here to speak of. But he knows what it is now. He knows that the rain turned out our lights! He understands what thunder is but I think he had some trouble grasping “lightning.” By the time I pointed it out to him, it was gone. We were just so happy to get rain!

On Friday, David and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary! Hard to believe it’s been five years already but yet a lot has happened for us since our wedding with all of our moves and babies. Will and I picked up David from his office yesterday and we went out to lunch. Then we stopped by Wilford Hall and took a tour of the labor and delivery unit. After Will went to bed last night David and I rented a movie and had a relaxing night in. Will gave us the best present of all- he slept until almost 9:00 this morning!

The labor and delivery floor seemed to be fairly nice. We saw a room similar to the one we will be in and it was bigger than the room we had for Will in Summerville. Same uncomfortable pull-out bed for the dads but I told David that it just wouldn’t be fair if he were completely comfortable. The biggest challenge for us will be that there is no nursery. So from the second Luke is born and gets cleared as being healthy and doing well, he goes with David to our room. After the surgery, I’ll go to a PACU on a completely different floor. Once I am considered stable, then I’ll come back to the room with David and the baby. And then we’re completely on our own as far as taking care of Luke! In Summerville we had the opportunity to have Will go between our room and the nursery. So when David had to leave to go back home during those first couple of days, Will usually went to the nursery since I had so much trouble getting out of bed. This time, it’s different and we'll have some new challenges. I am not going to do any PCA (patient-controlled analgesia) like I did last time so I should be able to attempt to get out of bed sooner. I won't be on any heavy painkillers because I'm allergic to most of them. So I may be hurting but I should be able to get up and around a little sooner with this one. My goal is to get out of bed within 12 hours of the surgery- even if I don't go very far. Still, between taking care of me and Luke and checking in on Will, David will have his hands full during those first couple of days. It was good to have a tour of the L&D unit- I feel more prepared. C-section is scheduled for 39 days from today…but who’s counting?!