We are now 31 weeks along with you. Your Mom is growing and tired and beautiful! Her feet stink a little, but I rub them every night. I (apparently) stink a lot to her, due to her incredible super smelling powers, but your Mom lets me close enough to her to rub the aforementioned feet. I don't remember smelling this awful to her with Aidan, so hopefully you won't think I stink when you come out.
At any rate, let's try to move on to some non-stink related news.
Developmentally, you are going through major brain and nerve developments AND it says that all 5 of your senses are working wonderfully. Which would be good news if we weren't trying to avoid discussing the olfactory funk that apparently has consumed my being. Hopefully since you'll have taste now, you'll have good taste and you really won't inherit your mother's perception that I am a big stink bomb. I don't smell of garlic and onions and general stank; think of me as sweet...with a hint of sharpness.
Like a pineapple!
Which is quite coincidental, because at week 31, that's about how big you are!
Which is not surprising at all: Look how beautiful your Mother looks!
Can you believe how far you've come in just 20 weeks?
WHOA!
And the 31 week-old belly apparently is giving off 'Julia vibes' like crazy!
A few weeks ago a random Dad at our local yogurtery approached your Mom and said "I'm not trying to be creepy, but are you having a girl?" He could just tell! Amazing...and he was a bit creepy.
Then, this week, we went to a local salad bar, at which kids eat for free (so we'll be going there a lot) and we walk in the door. The employee who opened the door stopped us after we had taken a few steps and said "Excuse me. When is the little girl due?"
It took a moment to click that he- without knowing us from a cherry tomato- could tell you were a girl just form looking at your Mom's belly!
Isn't that incredible?
I gave him a high five and asked how he knew. He said "A man always knows."
Okay.
He also thought your name was beautiful and wanted us to make your middle name your first name. He also wanted us to spell it with a lot of apostrophes in it: perhaps "S'Keineh" or something. Sorry, magic oracle salad bar guy, you're very nice and your gender detection senses are very keen. But, Julia Sekina is Julia Sekina...although the spelling of your middle name is still being debated. But we do know there will be no apostrophes for you, little girl.
But, a rose by another name would smell as sweet. And you, little one, apparently are setting off all the oracles radars with your sweetness: they know you're a girl the moment they see how you're riding in the womb. We are so pleased with the seeming magical nature of these two random occurences, and think it's a good omen that you will be a great girl and strong woman. And nothing stinks about that.
Man, you step out of the home office for a long weekend, everyone grows by leaps and bounds while you're gone. You go on business to Vancouver for a few days and...wham...everything changes!
Your mother is growing more pregnant each day. While I was gone, she had to jettison her wedding ring and engagement ring for the duration of the pregnancy. Swollen tummies means swollen fingers. So, it's better to take these off now, then have to cut them off later. Don't worry. We're still an item, though.
Little one, we're now in the 17th week! While I was gone you, you grew to be the size of an onion (all the way up from an avocado!) Your bones started hardening, you're putting some fat on to said bones and you're just getting bigger and bigger!
And your Mom thinks she may be feeling the early signs of you fluttering around in there! Or, she said it may be gas. But that's far less romantic. I would have been very sad to miss your first flutters...the other option, not so much.
But, I was back in plenty of time for our Doctor's appointments yesterday.
It's been a LONG-feeling month since we last got to see your pretty face, but yesterday we got to see you again! You look just as beautiful as ever, but we must have caught you during nap time. You weren't bouncing and bounding and tossing and turning. Just nose up into the placenta.
And after what has seemed like quite a long time, that 2% of OBGYN doubt is all gone.
You're officially, 100% a GIRL!!!
The doctor said if they pulled a boy out to put him back, because there is definitely a girl in there!
This means that the cute dresses Aidan and I picked out for you and the pink onesies Yaya and Mommy bought for you don't need to be returned!
We are so excited to meet you. But first we have a lot of work to do! Including naming you (which, to be honest, is all but done...we have a very short short-list of one name option at current).
We also have some work to do with your brother, including getting him out of what is to be your crib, and into his toddler bed which he'd previously only napped in twice in the 2 months its been in your future room.
But, the Thursday night before I left, Aidan requested to "nap" in his bed. "Nap bed nap bed"...lots of pointing and gesturing. And so he eagerly climbed in bed and we tucked him in with relatively little effort. A lot less muss and fuss and crying (read, "no crying") as with the crib over the past few months. Someone was ready to be a big boy and sleep in his big boy bed. But...he's not quite ready for the self discipline to stay in it.
Thus began the adventures of Captain Thunderfoot!
Aidan, the night before I left for work in Vancouver, you asked to sleep in your big bed. You'd been doing pretty well at napping there, but we had never attempted a full night's sleep there. So, your Mom and I tucked you in, sang to you, said goodnight and voila! You fell asleep there.
Your Mom's famous last words were "I'll be very impressed if he STAYS there."
While we are impressed thus far...we haven't been VERY impressed yet. That's a bit harsh. We're very pleased that you've taken it upon yourself to migrate to a bigger bed. But, you don't quite stay in it. That first night at around 2 am...Captain Thunderfoot sleep-stomped into our bedroom. Your Mom escorted you back to bed and you easily fell back asleep. This happened again at around 4.
While I was gone, your Mom continued to re-sleep train you for the big boy bed, and Captain Thunderfoot came stomping out of bed every night, sometimes once, sometimes 3 or 4 times. Usually ready and able to easily go back to his big boy bed, but perhaps just wanting to 'quietly' check on his parents.
This pattern has even continued upon my return. You're about a week into sleeping in your big boy bed now, and you're doing great: easy to put down, easy to tuck in. You kiss your Mom's back and give her gentle hugs, then toss your blanket down on the bed so you can...ahem...lie on it...face down...and rock yourself to sleep. You even open the curtains to say 'bye' to the five kittens that live under our neighbor's house, right outside our window.
But, Captain Thunderfoot, doesn't quite stay in bed through the night. At all. Yet. This is good in some ways: you're napping like a pro at school (they had to wake YOU up), and one morning around 9, your Mom left the room for a brief moment and came back and you'd curled up in your bed for a one-hour cat nap...guess you needed it! It is cool getting to hang out with you in the morning a bit before I go to work...you normally find me by banging on the bathroom door. Captain Thunderfoot is totally a morning person.
So, while I was gone, you also grew by more leaps and bounds. Yaya kept me posted with video messages.
While I was gone, you got very excited about drawing shapes:
And you learned to stack (and hug) block towers!
I can't believe I missed those milestones, but, no worry, since my return from this epic 4-day trip, we've made a million memories, and you've grown even more: you've got a new laugh ('tee hee hee'), you're rocking the socks off of nursery rhymes and story times by filling in the blanks at the end of lines (black bear black bear, what do you see? I see an elephant looking.....(then you say) "AH MEEEEE!") You are taking ALL your meals at the table now, like a big boy.
So, everyone's been growing: young men, young ladies, pregnant mommies and even old, grizzled, manly-man daddies. That's right: while I was gone, I grew too! Okay, maybe I gained a few extra pounds, but that's not what I was talking about. What I meant was while I was gone missed all three of you very very much...okay all five of you, Preston and Toby. I knew I'd miss you, but I didn't remember how incomplete I'd feel without you. So, after my epic visit to Vancouver, and a little quiet time for introspection (which is worth it's weight in gold) maybe I grew into a bit better Daddy (and once I ate a lot of chocolate and got over the jet lag, I was a bit better husband too)...not that I had much room for improvement.
But, despite all that changed in a mere 4 days, what they is NOT true. You most definitely CAN go home again; and it definitely felt good to be home with my growing family.
What has plagues, eggs, tornadoes, surprise birthday parties, matzah, and temporary tattoos?
What has Cousins galore, Aunts and Uncles AND Grandparents?
What involves the lake, the zoo, the arboretum, the aquarium, and Benihana?
That's right, the excellent Passovster/Mimi's Birthday Family Break Extravaganza!
For Passover/Easter/Mimi's 70th your entire immediate family on my side got together, including your long-lost cousins from England (okay, they're not lost, they were just in England). We all gathered in Dallas for a week of fun, catching up, wrestling and a lot of eating.
Little Girl, it was a lot of fun to tell all of your aunts, uncles and cousins our good news...that we found you you were a girl! They were psyched...especially Grayson and Aunt Mendi.
Aidan, It was so amazing to watch you instantly reconnect with your older cousins. You wanted to kiss on them, hug them and wrestle and giggle with them too. You were in hog heaven being surrounded by your great cousins...and they really had fun too!
It was also wonderful to watch you, Aidan, bond with your Aunts and Uncles too. You have a special place in your heart for Aunt Rebekka, and she's pretty keen on you too. But, you also really liked Uncle Keith, and even let him hold your hand and cuddled with Aunt Deborah, Aunt Mendi and Uncle Taff too!
And now, a gratuitous amount of adorable pictures from the week:
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