Baby Cousins

We were so blessed to be able to travel all the way up to Washington to and see my sisters 6 week old twin baby girls Audrey and Heidi. We got some pretty precious pictures of Maiya holding them.

27 weeks

So, It's my last week in the second trimester!  All in all this pregnancy has gone by fast so far.  But!!! I feel it starting to slow down.  Mostly because of my aching back and inability to sleep.  Other than that though... I feel good. We are all very excited for our new little one.  I can see already that Maiya is going to be a big help.  She is very interested in the baby and concerned for me.  It's pretty sweet.  While we were visiting some family, I was holding one of our baby nieces, and Maiya got this shocked look on her face and asked me, " Did your baby come out, Mom?"  Oh my, I thought that was so crazy.  I reassured her that indeed the baby was still in my belly and it wouldn't happen that fast or that easy.  Several times since then she has clarified with me and made sure, " Your baby is still in your tummy Mom?"  Yep! sure is.  I can tell for sure because of the super strong karate kicks.  This is one strong little baby. 

24 weeks

Yep, I'm pregnant.  That's about all there is to say about that ;)  The past couple of weeks in church I have been getting people all of a sudden realizing that my belly is a lot bigger than before!  It's so funny to see the looks on their faces, like, 'where did that come from?' 

If I look tired in the above picture, it's probably because I am.  It is so hard for me to get back to sleep after my 3am potty trips, sometimes it takes a couple of hours.  And lately my hips have been bothering me a lot more when I sleep, so I end up on the couch a lot of nights, because it has that nice groove in the middle for my hips to dip into. 
This pregnancy in general reminds me a lot more of Quincey's, I am swollen... had to retire the wedding ring, and have to sleep on the couch, and no matter what I do, I gain 10 hundred million of pounds.  Things were so different with Maiya, I slept in my bed at night the whole time, I wore my wedding ring the whole time, I didn't swell, and I only gained half a million of pounds without any extra effort.  So, if you go on the theory that gender follows similar pregnancy symptoms, than my vote is boy.  But, I know that that is not always the case. 
Speaking of Gender, my midwife told me they have a really old ultrasound machine that they call WALL-E. (haha), and offered to give it a try to see if they could tell the gender.  So we did.  Now, to rewind a bit, the first ultrasound tech, said he couldn't really tell, but he was leaning toward girl.  And of course with the midwife, she said she couldn't tell for sure, but is leaning toward a boy!  So, we are back at square one.  Oh how fun the suspense is! :)  We are so excited.

Dancing Queen

Maiya officially started her dance class yesterday. It is a Ballet/Creative movement dance class for 45 minutes every Tuesday. She had a great time. And told us that she learned how to 'tip-toe, tip-toe' (she says it in a really cute kind of high pitched way, if you can imagine.

Little miss thing, showing off her ballerina moves.

 

I just thought this picture was cool because Quincey was caught jumping in the air. 

My little Artist

We borrowed this really cool little white board desk from the toy lending library that we have here in town.  And Quincey has been showing off his drawing skills.  This particular picture is of blues clues.  Blue and Steve.  I really see the resemblance!

Miraculously Cured!

So, I realized that I never updated about how Quincey's speech therapy went.  He went 30 min. every mon and wed for about 1 month total and is now pretty much cured and graduated on August 3rd.  We saw such an improvement after even the very first appointment.  He really just liked his therapist, and the environment and responded to all of the resources that they had there. 
She taught him a lot of techniques to help when he got stuck, like "Stop, take a breath, start over."  When we first took him he just got so frustrated because he had so much to say, and it wouldn't come out fast enough and there was so much tension all over his body, but especially in his face and neck.  I've noticed that he has been able to transfer that tension to his hands now, so he is a bit of a hand talker ;)  (which just runs in the family).
It isn't completely gone though, with Quincey his speech problems are highly influenced by his environment.  Especially, really exciting ones, where he feels like he has to compete with the noise.  Like when we went to Vegas with my sisters family, I noticed that he regressed a bit.  But, we just remind him of his speech tools and he responds like a champ.
I have been hearing a lot from people that know him how amazing the change has been. Life is a little better now all around.  Quincey is much happier, a lot less frustrated, and G and I too.  So glad we were able to get some help, and hope it lasts!

Quincey with Kandy practicing smooth, and relaxed speech with a swing.  I was amazed at how well that worked. 

22 weeks

I have such a majestic pose ;)

On the phone (not so majestic).

I am still feeling really good! I love the second trimester.  I have got my eating a lot more under control.  I eat a lot more often throughout the day so I am not so ravenous around brownies and the like.

We found a book called 'The Wild, wild Inside: A view from Mommy's Tummy" and my kids really like it.  The book is narrated by the baby that is inside her mommy's tummy and she talks about how people will always ask her mom what the baby is doing and she always says the same things.  Like, sleeping, eating, kicking.  And the baby explains that she isn't doing just those things, she dances like a ballerina, or plays baseball, or cooks food for hungry puppies, or does yoga and flies rocket ships.
Q has really gotten into it, he is always coming up with things that the baby is doing.  And even though he still says he wants a brother, he always calls the baby she.
So today I tried to tell the kids that the baby was sleepy so I needed to take a nap, and Quincey said, "No, Mom the baby isn't tired she is wanting to dance."  Ahhh man.