Pierogie Babies: 32 weeks 22 months

Ruby

I feel myself growing exponentially at this point! This big ole belly keeps getting rounder, more in my way and less is fitting. Good news for us :) I have a feeling that this little girl is going to be a night owl - most of her crazy dance moves start around 7:30p and subside about 30 minutes after I lay down to go to bed.

The due date was under question at last month's midwife appointment because the 2nd trimester ultrasound (my only one) showed that she is "measuring a week small." My midwife suggested that perhaps instead of a 3/4 due date we might be closer to anticipating a 3/14 due date. My own intuition and simply feeling the size of this little girl inside of me tells me that my LMP date is more accurate than the ultrasound's suggestion and that I will deliver at 39 weeks according to my first due date - so put your guesses in folks. I'm 80% sure I will have Ruby the week of 2/23.  Plus, in case you haven't noticed - I have small kids. Penny has measured in the 15th percentile her entire life, but is a very healthy & proportional kid. 2nd trimester ultrasounds really can't take into effect family genetics and this tree bears small fruits.

For one reason or another, I have to visit the dentist A LOT. I take really good care of my teeth but I'm thinking that genetics and 3 years of pregnancy // nursing // pregnancy are beginning to take their toll. Last year I had the pleasure of 2 crowns and 2 visits for fillings in addition to just one cleaning. I visited the dentist this week to get some fillings taken care of and the dentist (my second female dentist ever) made a comment about just how much my gums are bleeding during the procedure. It's pretty common for pregnant women to have swollen and bleeding gums due to hormones, but I guess it was to the point where she wasn't able to get work done! So lucky me, I got to go back in yesterday to that final filling done. Oh, and next week I'll be going in for my cleaning too - that's 3 dentists visits in 9 days, folks. My jaw and gums are sore.  Miss Ruby was bouncing away, not seemingly startled by the drilling, and the silver lining is that I got to listen to my music for a couple hours instead of Penny-tunes. I made a comment to a friend that luckily it's my mouth that's a wuss, and not my youknowwhat, because I can take natural birth like a champ. Dental work? You've got me whining all evening and I just can't handle it.

Penny

This little lady of mine is a hoot and a half. Over the last 2 weeks she's started to come up with 2-3 word sentences and I've had many a conversation with her. A couple favorites from the past few days:

Conversation 1:
We're on our way to my dentist appointment (during working hours), where Adam was going to meet us and take Penny to the local mall for the playground:
Mama: Penny, you're going to get to play with Daddy in a few minutes!
Penny: {somewhat confused} Daddy - working? ("working" is a common word around our house - Daddy is gone because he's working, or you need to give Daddy some space because he's working {on the house})
Mama: No, Daddy will play with Penny!
Penny: YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

Conversation 2:
I'm making dinner and give Penny a covered cup with a straw full of milk. She runs off happily, after a few minutes I hear "messy. raining. milk."

Conversation 3:
Penny wakes up from a nap and I hear her stirring over the monitor. She calls out for me, as she usually does, and I sit and listed to hear what might happen next. She started to get out of bed and I can hear her organizing her stuffed animals.
"Mama, Daddy - working. Yeah. Meaty play." ("Meaty" is what she calls herself, hilarious!)

Christmas break projects

Adam took the second half of December off and spent that time working on our Duraburb project. This is going to replace my current ride (our Volvo wagon) and this has been a fun project for him as an engineer and gear head. He put in a ton of hours during his 'vacation' and on the night before going back to work he got it started for the first time! This is quite the accomplishment because he's done full OEM engine replacements before, but this was taking a diesel engine from a different truck and putting it into a Suburban - not something that Chevy originally intended. Pretty proud of my man this week.

And as for me - well, one of my resolutions this year was to start and finish a project of my own (besides growing a baby, of course). On my last Pierogie Babies post I mentioned that I had my eye out for a solid wood dresser that I can upcycle to put into Penny and Ruby's room (check out my Sister Room Pinterest Board). Right after New Years I found the perfect French Provincial style dresser, nightstand and mirror set on Craigslist - and this week I've gotten to work sanding off the really crappy paint job. I'll unveil the project when it's all done, but in the meantime you can check out my inspiration dresser upcycle board.