I don't need a toddler that doesn't take a nap

Stupid coughing wakes Allyssa up from her naps these days. I am really sick of it. She only coughs during her nap and in the early morning before she wakes up. I am really sick and tired of it. I really want her to take a good nap like she was a week ago. Doesn't she know that she is about to have a brother and that I really need her to take a nap so that when he comes along she still naps!? It is really frustrating. I know that she is tired. One day she literally didn't take a nap at all. Another couple of days this week she's taken short naps. Does this have to do with her asthma or with the time change? I don't know, but I don't like it.

Smelly Stuff

While I do wear body spray, I do not wear perfume, and really never have liked perfume. I was reminded of why today. As a child I often set behind a lady in church who wore a flower scented perfume that made me feel sick to my stomach. I would often have to ask my parents if we could find another seat. I thought that that was the worst that perfume could get...you know, over-powering, drifting too far away from the person, making the whole world smell like the perfume that that person is wearing. I was wrong. Today Allyssa was held by someone whose perfume smelled like poop. I'm not trying to say that it was stinky, which it was, I am trying to say that I repeatedly checked my daughter's diaper to make sure that I wasn't imagining this. I wasn't. And she isn't gassy. It is really quite sad that there is someone walking around who smells like poop on purpose. I am so glad that it is a bath night (it would be even if it wasn't) and that today is the day that I wash Allyssa's sheet after her nap. Hooray for that! Boo for perfume!

Full Term and a Story

Yesterday I was officially full-term. I am now 37 weeks and 1 day pregnant. I feel good. I'm no longer as sleepy in the morning, but I get very tired in the late afternoon. This week I've gotten up early enough to fix waffles one day and French toast another for the family for breakfast. It was good to finally get to fix breakfast for everyone again and not be dragging. It also helps that we got a new waffle maker, thanks to swagbucks, that also doubles as a griddle! It is very exciting because we haven't had a waffle iron in a LONG time because ours broke so many times that we gave up on it (we kept shipping it back to the company and the same piece would break again and again). The griddle sure made making French toast less time consuming!

I stubbed my toe this past week really hard. Most people yelp or scream something when this happens. I did. I shouted "Oww! Pain!" Allyssa thought that sounded like a fun thing to yell, so she shouted "Owww! Pain!" several times after that. I'm really glad that that is what I screamed!

***Swagbucks is a search engine that gives points for searching. Each point you earn gets you closer to winning a prize. My favorite prize is the $5 gift card to Amazon.com, but they have hundreds of options!

Today

Today I had a doctor apt. I'm fine. I was supposed to have a babysitter watch Allyssa, but at 5:30 last night my sitter cancelled. It was too late to get another sitter without being super rude, so Allyssa came with me. David had dressed her this morning before he knew the temperature, so when I opened the door to load her up in the car, I quickly had to shut the door, take off her skirt and sandles, grab pants, socks and shoes, and re-dress her. Then I put on socks and shoes myself, but didn't have time to switch to pants. I grabbed her jacket and quickly put it on her as I rushed to get her in the car. I brought along the book A Dragon in a Wagon. We made it all the way to the office without having to resort to a snack in the car or the special book. All she wanted was Caillou's Community and water. She didn't start fussing until we were about 2 blocks away. Pretty good. At the doctor's office, I was told that 4 ladies were in labor and the doctor could leave anytime. Go pee in a cup and wait to be called. As we waited to be called into a room, I gave Allyssa the special book. She had me read it to her so many times that the lady sitting near us sighed with relief when she was called into a room. I don't blame her. I would have liked a room without that book, too. In the room, I struggled to keep her occupied until I had to undress. Then the doctor came in and asked why I was undressed to which I replied, "The nurse told me to." Oh well. Allyssa was very upset about the doctor being there. She threw a fit. The doctor picked her up and handed her to me on the examination table. That wasn't fun at all. She cried as I held her and had to lay down to get measured and then sit up all holding her with one arm on this skinny table. She cried until I finally got dressed. Then we headed to the store because I can't buy ground turkey sausage at my Wal-mart and was out of it. Allyssa wasn't a fan of stopping, but goldfish crackers kept her from being too angry in the store. Then we headed home. The whole way home she kept asking for songs or books or simply fussing. We finally made it home and she didn't want to come inside. By the way, I had to pee and was dressed in shorts and was freezing. I made her come inside after I got the car unloaded. That did not make her happy, so she threw a fit on the floor. When she was done with that, she came to see what I was doing in the workshop. I was putting the meat in the freezer. She decided she should play in the worshop, but she isn't allowed to because there are too many dangerous things in there for a little girl, so she threw another fit when I removed her. Then I got her jacket and shoes off and put away and got her diaper changed. I got lunch on the table and told her it was time to eat. She threw a fit because she had to leave her toy mommy and daddy behind. She ate one, maybe two bites. Then told me she was done. Undoubtedly it had to do with the goldfish. Oh well. So I got to eat hardly anything and went to put her down for a nap. She fell asleep at noon only to wake up several times coughing until finally staying awake at about 12:20. I tried to rock her back to sleep once I realized that she wasn't going to settle down herself, but that failed, so she spent the rest of naptime awake in her crib while I cried and tried to get chores done. What a great day this has been!

Sweet things she says...Silly things she says...

No matter how tired I am or how much my feet hurt, I jump up and run when I hear this over the baby monitor during nap time,
"Mommy...Mommy...Mommy"
so quiet and with a sleepy and scratchy voice, she calls for me after a coughing spell to comfort her so she can go back to sleep. Sweetest thing I've ever heard.

"Water need." So I get her a cup of water. "Thank you, Daddy...Mommy...Thank you Mommy." She gets mixed up a little and says it to Daddy first, but she knows who I am and corrects herself.

Silly:
The other day David mowed the lawn. He came inside to get an extension cord to plug in the blower to blow off the driveway. When he left I said to Allyssa, "Daddy is stinky." Of course "stinky" is a fun word to say, so she practiced that for a while saying "Daddy nink-nee." I thought it was absolutly hilarious, but didn't want to encourage her to call her Daddy stinky, so I quickly told her not to worry that he'd take a shower when he came in. When he came in she said to him, "Take shower." It wasn't a statement of fact, but rather in the tone of a request. I smiled and kept my mouth shut. Off he went to get a shower having no clue what new word Allyssa had learned. So while he was getting cleaned up, I had her practice saying "Daddy smells good." She knew all of those words, so I didn't think it would be a problem. He came out of the shower and she ran to him and all on her own says, "Daddy nink-nee. Take shower." I died laughing, so David asked me what she'd said. I told him and then prompted her to tell him he smelled good. She said "Daddy smell gooood." Then, she gave him a big hug.

Other Kid Stuff

One of these pictures is of stuff that I'd bought or could re-use from Allyssa for O.K. Another of these pictures is of wonderful gifts I recieved at my baby shower. And the other one is of me and O.K. about a week ago. Enjoy!

More photos of Allyssa from Feb and March 2009

For some reason the pictures didn't want to all upload in the same window, so here are the rest! Enjoy!

Photos of Allyssa from Feb and March 2009

What we did today...

Today was busy. Well, I'm not sure about the whole day because it is just after noon right now, but the morning was busy. Allyssa and I had breakfast and got dressed and played and read books and went outside and played on the swings and played with the dog, and ate a snack, and ran outside to watch a train. That's quite a sentence, but that's the way it felt. After all of that I was finally able to convince her that we should go to the store. Cantelope was the key word for her. Sadly, she thought we were just going to HEB. She was totally unprepared for our excursion. We did go to HEB and picked up said cantelope, some lettuce, generic chocolate chips because stupid Wal-mart doesn't carry them anymore, broccoli, floss, and we did not get tortilla chips because they didn't have the size of bag that I wanted (that's the story of my life when it comes to HEB and Wal-mart). Then we went to Wal-mart. My goal was to buy TONS of stuff that we use often and everyday so that once the baby is born we will only need things like milk, bread, and fresh produce. I'm sure this idea is pie in the sky, but it is a noble goal. I was so proud of my coupons. I saved $10.75 because of them. Included in that amount was my free bottle of Suave conditioner that was valued at $3.00. Thank you Suave. And I can't forget to mention the bars of kid's soap from Johnson and Johnson that were priced at $.97 and I used a dollar off coupon, making these three bars of soap free! Oh and this morning when I gave Allyssa a snack, I quickly checked to see if there were any good coupons that were blogged about and found this which led me to the coupon for Arm and Hammer's Clean Shower. Not only did I have a $.75 off coupon, but the product was also on sale! Hooray! Combine all of that with my other coupons (toothpaste, toiletpaper, etc...), and I think that my coupons did me quite well today. Almost all of my other products were generic because Great Value makes their noodles, tomato sauce, southern style beans, pinto beans, cereal, etc...just fine for us. My cart was overflowing. Well, almost. It was quite the expensive trip for me, but I think that it will really help us out in the long run. When we got home, I unloaded the few items that needed to be refrigerated/frozen and got Allyssa busy playing before sticking lunch in the microwave (ah - the blessings of leftovers). Then I unloaded all of these groceries and household products and put them away. All this before lunch! What a morning! Sadly, Allyssa did not get worn out and she is awake in her crib. Dear God, please help this child sleep!

My least favorite parts of pregnancy

In no particular order:
1. Clothes that don't fit right. (I can't stand the waistband that touches my tummy, so most of my pants like to slip down and my shorts that fit of course fit lowly because I don't wear them up on my tummy, so my shirts have to be long enough to cover my belly. All in all it is a sad, sad situation of clothes that aren't comfy and don't fit right. The good news? Pregnancies are about 40 weeks long and I'm past week 36.)
2. People who treat me like an invalid (for example: I am not allowed to lift anything or move anything over 1 pound. People will try to force me to stop doing something that causes no discomfort at all simply because it involves lifting. However, when I'm doing a task that really does cause discomfort but does not involve lifting, the same person won't offer any help. Odd, I tell you. Odd.)
3. Being told to take it easy. (Every mother of more than one child can tell you that slowing down when you are pregnant with any child other than your first is virtually impossible. Combine that with the fact that I have no family near me, and this idea is down-right laughable.)