So much for trying

When I got pregnant I promised myself I wouldn't fall into the "You can have a baby any minute now since you're 37 weeks." mindset...

Welp, so much for trying.
EVERY. NIGHT. I dream about labor, holding the baby, calling the midwives...SOMETHING. Last night I dreamed that I had just woken up [don't you hate that?!?] and went to the bathroom to find "the big show" When I woke up for real I thought that I had just gone back to sleep and should call Eamon to let him know.
Then I realized it was a dreamed I was slightly ticked off...Ok, I was really ticked off, but I'd probably lose half my readers if I wrote down the actual thoughts I had...

Last time was so different, I had distractions.
I had our one year anniversary to keep me busy, then moving, then my birthday. There were little things every week that even if I didn't have the baby, I would still have something to do.
This time I'm just sitting. Waiting. Looking at the storage bin that the birth tub is in. Making double triple sure I have the essentials like Depends, olive oil, hydrogen peroxide, and extra sheets [homebirth can be weird, y'all]. I've organized and reorganized each room multiple times. I keep cleaning up the house so that when my birth team comes home they don't see what kind of pigs we really are.

And I'm still two and a half weeks away from my due date. THREE and a half weeks from when Lily was born...

I was kinda encouraged though when I looked in the mirror this morning and noticed Baby is sitting practically between my knees, see?

So it can't be that much longer...right?

I'm actually praying it happens Friday. Next week is Spring Break at the TCC campus and Eamon will be off, so we'll have a whole week AND an extra weekend of just the four of us if the baby comes this weekend. But it's really just not likely.

How on Earth am I going to distract myself without putting myself in labor? Ugh.

Lastly, if you haven't already, go enter the big Hip Green Baby giveaway by telling me what your predictions for this baby are! So far you guys are thinkin boy ;]

Mae

200th Blog Post & A Full Term Baby Giveaway!

Well, our baby is officially "full term". For my blog readers I want to do something fun, something baby centered, and I want to give away something REALLY cool.
So without further ado....

200th Blog Post & A Full Term Baby Giveaway!
*GIVEAWAY CLOSED*
Winner will be announced when Baby is born :]

Many of you have heard me talk about my good friend, Kristi, over at Hip Green Baby.

She is our source for cloth diapers, teething necklaces and crunchy parenting advice since she's a mom of six! She is EXTREMELY knowledgeable when it comes to what cloth diaper is best for your baby's bum and goes out of her way [often!] to help her customers out. So just for my readers, she is offering a 

$50 STORE CREDIT TO HIP GREEN BABY!!!

How exciting is THAT?!

The Details:

So how do you enter this amazing giveaway? See the calendar below?

Predict what date that you think Baby Burke will come!

My estimated due date is March 24th. Lily was born exactly one week after her due date, which would put this baby being born on the 31st if he/she follows the same pattern. I've put any "relevant" details on the calendar to help you pick a day :]

To Enter:
1. Follow my blog & leave a comment.
2. Leave a comment telling me the date you think Baby is going to come on. [If it's past the 8th, we're gonna have a talk...]


For extra entries:
3. Leave a comment predicting a Boy or a Girl.
4. Leave a comment predicting the weight [Lily was 7 lbs 11 oz]
5. Link this giveaway on your Facebook page and leave one comment saying so.
6. Blog about this giveaway and leave a comment here with a link to your blog.

Did I win?!?
If you have the most accurate predictions, YOU WIN!
*If more than one person has 3 correct predictions [Date, Gender & Weight] or if several people have the same number of correct predictions, we will put their names on a slip of paper and put it in a hat for Lily to pick the winner. [The more comments you leave, the more slips of paper you'll have in the hat!]

The giveaway will be open until Thursday, March, 10th so you have plenty of time to tell you friends ;] [maybe?]

Have a wonderful weekend everyone! Get your thinking caps on and start guessing!

Mae

Oh, and in case you're wondering, this is how Baby is doing ;]

Check out the full series here :]

Who's Gotta Potty?

At my baby shower one of my friends said "Oh, Mae...one of these two has a stinky diaper"

I thought "Uh...it's not Lily, she doesn't crap in her pants anymore, duh!?"

Then I realized I sounded an awful like I did a few months ago when this blessed incident happened. To try and avoid a second, prideful, poop slap in the face, I went over and checked anyway.

SUCCESS!!!

The poop smell was not coming from my child!
But I kid you not, I ran to my hostess's bathroom like lightening [for a pregnant woman, anyway] just in case she was about to pee/poop. In my rush I made Lily drop the bottom half of her pants in the toilet. At my baby shower. I walked out red faced as Lily walked out happy as can be looking like Huckleberry Finn with her little pants rolled up to her thighs. This only happens to me, people...only me...

Lily has actually pooped in her diaper 3 times in the past 4 months, it's pretty exciting!
Even though I swore up and down that I would NOT have two babies in diapers, it looks like I'm still going to. Lily poops in the potty about 95% of the time. Sometimes she is running to the potty trying to hold it in and she screams "UH OH MAMA! POPE! POPE!" [I didn't think we were gonna raise her Irish Catholic like the rest of Eamon's family, but somehow...] She pees in the potty about 90% of the time, but only when we're at home. I haven't been brave [brave in this sentence could also mean "willing to get up from the table every 20 mins when we go out to eat"] enough to try it out in public, but I know the time is coming. When she misses at home, she brings over Rusty, calls him and "bad dog" for licking up [gag] the pee she just shoved in his face, runs to her bedroom to get a cloth diaper, throws it over the pee and stomps on it until it's all dry. She has a mind of her own, I tell ya!

So here's what's worked for us
1. Lily's "Diaper Free" around our house at all times, and has been since she was itty bitty. 
We've started letting her wear panties [She'll bring them to us and say "Panies?" when she wants to put them on, so cute] but she still isn't really good at pulling them down before she sits on her potty.
2. No physical rewards, just LOTS of praise.
We don't have a sticker box, candy dish, or dollar store toy chest that we let Lily dig into every time she potties. We kinda think it's weird to bribe your kid, and Lily is BEYOND excited when she brings us her little pot saying "DEE! DEE!" or "OOOOOOH!!! POOOOPE!" and we clap and give her kisses. She feels really special, and we never have to worry about whether or not we have her "reward" for her when we go out.
3. Patience.
Six months ago all of our friends thought we were insane for having Lily's potty sit out where she could get to it, and that we put her on it as much as possible. They thought we were pretty sick for having to clean up the pee/poop off of our floors too. But I tell you what, by slowly introducing all of this to Lily, her "training" has put her at the top of her class. [You know, if you want me to get all competitive mom on you...]




I feel really confident that before her birthday we'll be able to go out in public with Lily wearing panties and just have to worry about the baby's diapers, but am still kinda kicking myself over the fact that she still will be in them for these first few months.

But please, PLEASE don't worry! I'm sure there will be PLENTY more poop stories in our future. One night, after watching me sing Lily's Potty song [I sing "Lily's gotta potty, Lily's gotta potty, Lily's gotta potty, hey, hey, hey, hey! Who's gotta potty? Lily's gotta potty!" to the tune of the Little Rascal's "I got a pickle" song] Eamon told me "You know, I'm so glad we're not covered in poop anymore, but I just realized...it's about to start all over..."

Stay tuned for a super fun, awesome giveaway :]!!!

Mae