17 Months, 30 Weeks and Hospital Visits

Apparently I'm going to write once a month from here on out. Sorry, I'm a slacker! I can't even lie and say that I've been doing fun things. If you follow me on Instagram (find me - AmberKellogg) you'll have seen that a lot of what I've been doing is...laying around. And complaining. And eating. But today is a good day. I napped for a solid hour in which I was out cold and it felt like 4 hours. Absolutely wonderful. So let's move onto the kiddos.

June is now 17 months old and it's so weird to me that she's almost a year and a half. I really wonder how the pregnancy has changed her. She's so smart and I often wonder if she's growing up faster because of how fast my body and our family is changing. Does that make sense? She's a sweet, sweet baby these days. She has been giving me completely free kisses where she will be playing around the house, come over to me, put all of her stuff down and kiss me. It is the best thing that has ever happened to me in my entire life. Seriously. So incredible. Let's look at our Baby Center Chart.

Child's Age

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)

17 months

Uses six wordsregularly Enjoys pretend games Likes riding toys

Feeds doll Speaks more clearly Throws a ball underhand

Dances to music Sorts toys by color, shape, or size Kicks ball forward

Her words are still not completely there. I would say she uses 6 words - yeah, hi, momma/mommy, daddy...maybe not 6. She has said several words within the past week completely out of the blue, like Mickey. I had a Mickey Mouse mug and she looked at it and said, "Mickey!" Loved it. Also, what do you think about counting "momma" and "mommy" as different words? Because they're not the same but they are very close. Moving on, she does enjoy pretend games like playing with her baby doll. She nurses her baby, puts the baby to sleep, and today I even got a picture of her laying down for her nap with her baby. She's LOVED riding toys since she was like 11 months old. Still does.

She does feed her doll, like I said before. She is so cute nursing her dolls. I love that she just naturally does it even though she only nursed for a few weeks as a newborn. It's just such a natural instinct and she definitely picked that up. Speaking more clearly...oh man. Well, I guess she is but it's really not super clear still. She said, "please" the other day and that was pretty clear and a new word but it's a lot of vocalizations without super clear words. She throws a ball underhand though! Of course she's more of an athlete than a speaker. 

June is a super dancer. It's one of my all time favorite things to see. We'll put on music in the car and just watch her do her pointing dance where she literally just points in the air to the beat. She also can clap to the beat. It's impressive seeing as how I can't even do that. I'm not sure if she can sort by color,shape or size - I'll have to to test that. She definitely can kick a ball forward. Again, this child is a natural athlete.

So far, I've really enjoyed every stage she's been in but this one is super fun. She's a natural performer and makes us laugh all day. The flip side is definitely her very strong willed personality where she can throw a fit like nobodies business. You take the good with the bad, I guess. 

I'm now 30 weeks pregnant and this boy is h-e-a-v-y. I asked Dr. Man if he thinks Theodore will be bigger than June and he said, "I actually think he'll be around the same or smaller." I'm still betting on bigger but it is true that I'm measuring right on schedule whereas with June I was consistently measuring a week or two ahead. I've also gained less weight at the same point as I had with her. As of yesterday, at 30 weeks, I've gained 18 pounds. At 32 weeks with June, I had gained 26. Granted, I could still gain 8 pounds in the next two weeks, I'm doubting that I will. Like I said in this post, I wanted to stay under 200lbs and only gain around 20lbs. I started this pregnancy 10lbs heavier so I think I'm actually doing pretty okay. I try not to beat myself up over silly things like weight but 6 pounds in 4 weeks is a lot. Again, Dr Man is really great and told me that 18lbs in 30 weeks is awesome and he's very pleased. What is weird to me, though, is that I lost weight in the beginning and at 18 weeks had only really gained one pound. So technically, I've gained 17lbs in 12 weeks. Not as great sounding as 18 in 30 but whatever. Anyway, enough about weight! 

I was in the hospital nearly two weeks ago for what we all thought was a kidney infection. Turns out, it was nothing. The good news is, I got two days of a little vacation and while it wasn't really fun being bed ridden and having to get help to pee (every 45 minutes, seriously, I've never peed so much in my life), it was exactly what I needed. I am not good at resting and haven't quite found that balance of house/family and my own health/baby needs. We did find out that Theo is a wild man and will NOT show his face on ultrasounds. Neither did June. I hope that isn't an indication of his personality because it sure was for her! I also got to hear a baby being born while there. I cannot put into words how amazing and incredible it was to hear that. I heard a woman moan, "OH GOD! OH GOD!" and not seconds later a baby cried. I heard a roar of coos and cries and it immediately transported me back to that feeling of relief and love when June was placed on my chest for the first time. There is absolutely nothing like that in the world.

Tonight we're meeting with our incredible and fabulous doula, Becky. I'm really excited to get things finalized (and started!) on our birth plan for Theo's big day. Even though we'll be having a c-section, it's still important to us to have someone there to be with me in recovery so Thomas can focus only on Theodore. My mom will also be there and as much as you all know I love my mother, she's not the most reliable emotional support. She just loves her grandbabies so much that she's really there for them and that's what I want her there for! Only 9 more weeks until we get to meet this little man! 

I know this is a long post but here's what you're really here for - pictures!

Sunday morning fun. I love that sweet face!

Getting that grilled cheese at In'N'Out!

That face. Oh, that face.

A few days difference between the two but you get the idea. I think I look fatter with June because it was late July/August and freaking HOT. And I'm actually wearing makeup in Theo's. Lucky boy.