Rutabaga

I think that's a funny word, I had to look up how to spell it, and I've never eaten one, but its a funny word.
I am on partial bedrest, which basically means no intense exercise, no heavy lifting (other than my 20lb toddler) not a lot of walking, no running, and spending a lot of time sitting or resting.  That may sound easy, or nice, trust me, it's not.   It's annoying.   Chasing around Thomas is hard enough, but sitting on the couch and trying to get him to come to me when he's crying, or trying to explain to him why I can't pick him up all the time is not fun or easy.  Lorelai is just fine, she is growing like crazy , already weighs more than a pound (or so says the ultrasound tech in the ER) and moving like nuts. She's really strong, and her due date was actually pushed up a week, so we are 23 weeks rather than 22...  The bedrest (only partial!) is for me.  This pregnancy has been much harder on me than my first one was.   I have currently only lost weight, I am now almost 10lbs below pre pregnancy weight, and I contract ALOT.  If I am standing, or moving, or doing anything other than laying or sitting, I am contracting.   Thankfully the contractions aren't causing preterm labor, so that's good.  However, they are uber annoying. 
Okay, now that I have complained for a while, I shall cease and talk about happy things. Like my adorable son, who is saying so many words now.  Words I don't think I have taught him.  I have worked hard to teach him the parts of his body, and bear, and ball, and dog, and other stuff like that.  But the other day he brought me a book, and said "book" and he went to his bedroom door and asked me to open it by saying "door".  He just picks up on words, which probably means I should get my road rage under control, otherwise Thomas is going to think something in the van is named "Stupid"...
James only has two classes this semester, and I am so glad!  He is picking up all the slack at home, doing all the laundy, and dishes, and always taking care of Thomas, he's pretty much a saint, I don't know what I'd do without him!

The Haps

Thomas says please now all the time, if he ever wants something, or wants me to do something, he rubs his belly and says peazzz.  It's the most adorable thing I have ever seen, and I pretty much cave to whatever it is he is asking me.  Perhaps that's not the best parenting style, but I really want to encourage him to say please.. where is that happy medium between teaching him that please is what you say when asking for something, and that I will not always give him whatever he wants whenever he wants.  That is my parenting condundrum at the moment. That and I wish I hadn't taught him to blow kisses cause now it's interfering with his sign language thank you that we are working on...
He has an amazing sense of rythm, he gets it from his father, and I love watching the two of them dance. When I dance it's more of a "move my weight from one foot to the other and snap, or clap a little so I seem like I have some idea of what I'm doing" with Thomas it's totaly natural, he gets the beat and he moves his little butt, his legs, his arms, and his head all in sync and perfectly to the music.  I am jealous of my 16 month old's dancing skills....
I went to the hospital twice this week, so that makes it 4 times in the past two months, which is insane. That's quadruple the amount I had previously in the past 4 years.  This pregnancy has been much harder than Thomas was, many more pains, more contractions, more sickness, more tired-ness.  And I can't help but wonder if perhaps I am just more whiney this time.  Maybe I'm just a bigger sissy now, being a mom has made me a big baby.  Who knows?  But I do know that I find it utterly annoying that I never feel great.  James and I tried to go shopping, and after one store I had to sit down and get some water because I got dizzy and lightheaded.  What is this?  My sweet doctor is doing all she can, and she does a very good job of not making me feel like a whiney annoying possibly hypocondriac pregnant woman.  I feel like I always need to say "I'm not making this up, I really am in pain"  James is pretty great too, very understanding, always there to help me and get me what I need. 
We are watching You've Got Mail, and it's the end when she cries and says "I wanted it to  be you" and it made me happy, I just love that movie!
While at the hopsital they did an ultrasound to check everything and make sure all was well with baby Lorelai (she's great, it's just me having issues)  and we actually got a chance to see our sweet girl.  When we did out other ultrasound the woman was all about get in, get out, and go away.  We barely saw her, and Thomas was being bad so James missed it all. This time we got a good 20 minutes of the guy saying "Look, this is her arm, her heart, oh look at that cute face!"  And then after I called her a girl the tech said "Wait, they told you it was a girl?!"  And my heart stopped, and I said "What? Are you kidding me?" cause I was so prepared for a girl, and in the interest of full disclosure, I was on some serious pain meds, so Iwas totaly not all there, and the guy looks at me and says "Yes, I'm kidding, it's a girl!"  Long story short, it's still Lorelai in there, confirmed now for the 3rd time :)  This ultrasound was really good too, we could see more than just bones and her basic structure, we got to see her ears, and her cute little bottom, it was a lot of fun.  Of course at this point I was totaly drugged, so I had forgotten about the previous pain I was in.  It was better that way.  And now I'm pretty sure I'm babbling, it's been a long week, and I think I am still a little drugged, Thomas is crying and I'm going to go :) Sorry if this post is everywhere and off the wall, but that's what I am right now...

Shots

Thomas had his shots on Saturday, and the poor kid did so well.  He cried of course, but he just cuddled with James and I the rest of the day.  We felt so bad that we took him to Jamba Juice after and got him his own :)  He has been really sore every since, I have been giving him meds and if I'm even just a little late then he gets so sad and just holds on to me and cries.  I HATE IT!  But at least he won't have to have anymore shots for a while. 
I am starting my last semester of school tomorrow, and I am excited.  It's finally almost over!  It's going to be so nice to just be a mom and wife.  I can help James with his school and focus on my kids, I am so glad!  It will be nice someday when we are done with College and aren't students anymore, then our kids will be students and the cycle will continue!

Snow and Kisses

It snowed!! Maybe it was just a tiny bit, but still, it snowed!  I love it so much!  I have missed having snow this year, we made it through all of December with no snow, none.  What is that?  It's Utah, aren't we supposed to be ski central?  You can't ski if there is no snow!  Not that I will be skiing anytime, I have bad enough balance when I don't have a nice baby belly going on, I would probably die.  Speaking of the baby belly, with Thomas I carried really low, he sat below my belly button for most of the time, and I felt like I had a cute little  baby belly, this time, I am carrying much higher, so I feel like I have a gut of fat, rather than a sweet baby girl... It's probably just my pregancy self conciousness :)  I have actually only lost weight this pregnancy.  I am 20 weeks today, and I had an appointment yesterday, and I lost weight from my 16 week appointment, probably from being so sick, but what can I do?  I eat, oh trust me, I eat.  And I eat whatever I want, whenever I want. But I'm still not gaining, my belly is growing like crazy, and I am getting smaller in other places.  My arms and legs are both smaller, which is making my clothes fit funny..  They fit my belly now, but my legs are always loose, its kind of annoying.
Thomas give kisses now, mostly he half opens his mouth, and puts it against you.  On occasion he will stick his tounge out while kissing you, that's fun.  This morning James was heading out to class (on Saturday, yeah, that sucks) and he had on his scarf to ride the scooter, and Thomas reached out for James to pick him up, and then Thomas moved his scarf and kissed James's cheek, so adorable!  Thomas will also hug the baby, it's really sweet.  He is going to have a bit of a hard time adjusting to the baby being outside me I think, now whenever we talk about a baby, he goes to my belly.  And when he sees a baby, or a dog on TV, he gets really excited, yells "BABY!" or "DOG!" and starts dancing, so cute!  Maybe I should find a TV show that is about babies who play with dogs, any ideas?

New Year, new thoughts?

So one of my goals this year is to post on the blog once a week, I use it as our family journal, so hopefully I can get better at it!  I will try, and if I fail, please feel free to text/call and tell me I am a slacker and need to get on the ball! 
The holidays were VERY intense for the Harris family.  The week before Christmas I got a really bad upper respiratory infection that had me in the ER on Saturday, and then back in the hospital on Tuesday for liquids.  James was able to take off some time from work, which was really good, because I was totaly incapable of taking care of Thomas.  I don't know that I have been that sick in MANY years.  Probably since I worked at 5 Star and got Mono and Pnumonia at the same time and didn't go to the doctor for almost 2 weeks because I had to go to work. Oh, 5 star, I do not miss you.  Anyway, I finally started to be able to breathe well again, and we made it up to South Jordan for Christmas, I was on major antibiotics and all sorts of other stuff, to ensure that I was safe around the 2 newborns we had in the house, and then, the ENTIRE family got the plauge.  Well, that's what we called it anyway, it was HORRIBLE.  Christmas eve night I woke up at about 1, and spent the next 5 hours throwing up and feeling like I was going to die.  James stayed up with me for a bit of it, giving me some water, and giving me a blessing.  It was so bad.  And everyone but Michelle, Taylor and Thomas got it, including anyone who visited the house.  I was so sick all day Christmas, and then I started to get a little better, and James got hit with it the next night.  So finally we got all better, more time off work, lots of rest, and Thomas ended up with a horrible yeast diaper rash.  It was the worst diaper rash I have ever seen, we slathered antifungal cream on him for days, and now it's finally better.
But it really was a fun Christmas.  It was fun having the entire Harris clan together, a little intense, because even when my whole family is there we aren't even half of the Harris family :) but it was really fun.  We got a ton of fun gifts, and had a great time watching everyone open theirs.  We also bought Thomas WAY too much, which we said we wouldn't do... It's so hard not to spoil your child, I mean he's so cute, I just want to give him everything!  He is also a little too smart for my good I think, we are having a few issues finding some form of disciplin that works.  He doesn't really do anything bad, but he plays with things he's not allowed to, touches the TV, ect. So for a little while time out worked, it was devistating, I only had to do about 10 seconds and he was set, he wouldn't do it again, and then after about a week of time out, he figured out that it wouldn't last long, and if he just sat and waited us out, we would come get him eventually, and then he could play again.  He's 15 months old and he's already figured out that  timeout isn't a big deal... So we have taken to holding him, making him look at us, explaining to him what he did wrong and holding him still for a bit of time.  He HATES being forced to stay still, so we shall see how long that lasts...
This is my last semester at college, I'm so excited. Despite the fact that I have to retake my finance class, because apparently a 70% is not a C, but rather a D... So I'm taking it from the same teacher, because I now have all the answers and I want to make it as easy as possible.  At least now I get all of the concepts... So annoying.  We have another ultrasound this week, its our 20 week anatomy scan, so we'll get a good long look at our sweet baby girl, I can't wait!