Almost 1.5 years/33 weeks

Clara Beara. Dada is calling you "Bear" on a regular. You're learning so many new words each day it is crazy. Your memory blows my mind. You retain so much information so fast I can't believe it.

For example, we've gone to the beach about 4 times. By the 4th time, you understood where we were going so you didn't get mad about getting into the car. You let me do your hair, put sun block on, put your suit on, get all our things together...you helped me. No fuss...since you knew where we were going and were happy about it. As soon as I said beach, you said "Seesa!" for Lisa, since she has gone with us 3/4 times. So I called Aunt Lisa and told her she is a connection with the beach and of course she had to come! She is too sweet and gave me her pass to park so we walk maybe 15 feet before our feet hit the sand. She lives about a block and a half away and we park at the end of her street at the Wells Fargo and the walk is maybe a block. With Spring Break she is worried we'll get hit so she gets us as close as possible! Love you Lisa!

You can read your favorite book to yourself. The book's title is, "Where's Spot". It starts with Spot not eating dinner and his mommy looking for him. Each page gives a new place he could be and you have to open the doors, or lift a lid, to see if you can find spot. You turn each page and say, "Is he?" for "where is he" with your hand in the air while you question yourself. Then you lift the "door" or whatever is on the page and say, "No." and then you say what's behind the door. For the bear you say, "Bear/honey" because he's eating a jar of honey, for the monkey you say, "monkey, Oooh Ooooh Ahhh Ahhh, nana" since he's eating a banana, you say "hssssssssss" for the snake, "Chomp chomp" for the alligator, etc. When you finally get to the end you find spot in the basket and kiss him. Then you say, "Again" to yourself and start it over again.

Yesterday when I put your in your car seat from Doe's house (your babysitter) you weren't happy about it, as usual. So I gave you my bracelet to entertain you and showed you all the things on it. Stars were one of them. You started to sing, "Twinkle Twinkle Star" and then said, "Again!" so I'd sing the whole thing. I don't sing this song to you that often, must be Doe does! You put the bracelet on and said, "pretty!".

You know the sky is blue and the grass is green. You're counting to 3 now. You say 4/5 later on but you don't yet count 1-5. When we ask what color something is, you make a guess, but you always say a color, usually blue. You know emotions, you can do a happy face and sad face really well. Your sad face is so funny because you think sad faces are silly and you try really hard not to smile while you pull your bottom lip up over your top. That's why when you do something that makes me sad and I make a sad face you don't feel bad right away because you snicker at the sad face I give. Later you say sorry though, once the funniness has faded. You give great bear hugs too, so TIGHT! You focus very well on whatever you're into, you do get mad when things don't work or you can't do something you want with a toy. I remind you to ask for "help" and you repeat "help" and everything is better, you just forget to ask. Lately you've been saying, "stuck" when you can get something open or apart and you bring it to me. You say "welcome" for thank you, we're working on thank you. You speak very clear and it surprises not only me but everyone that hears you. You only struggle with "l, th, and r" which are hard sounds but your words are so very clear! I think you talk so well because you repeat us all day long. I wish dada would step up the Spanish so you start both now, you're such a sponge these days!

You've not been wanting to go to bed as of late. Have I mentioned we're bottle free now? I'ts been a while since we have been. We didn't go cold turkey. We stopped giving you a bottle at night over my spring break. That one was easy. It only took a few days and you started drinking more milk from your sippy cup no problem. We'll only give you a bottle in the morning when you wake up very early, knowing it will put you back to sleep. It may be once a week at most. You don't ask for a "baba" anymore so I don't see the harm in us all getting sleep! This morning you woke around 4:30, you sit in your crib awake and if I don't notice you go back to sleep within a half an hour I'll give you a bottle. Today it was a little after 5 you fell back to sleep so I don't think I need to cave with a bottle much at all. You don't cry when you wake in the morning, you sit up and play with your nunu. I sometimes think that's because you never had to cry, I hear you the moment you are up and have always given you instant attention you need so I don't think you feel the need to call out. That's working in our favor greatly now! You didn't nap for Dada today, I got home and you were playing in your crib for 45 minutes. I gave you another 15 and nothing, so I got you out to play. You didn't fight that long to get back to sleep tonight. Lately, you've not been wanting to go to bed. Our routine is bath (if we give you one, not every night) around 6, you drink milk while watching Bubble Guppies while we comb your hair, put pj's on, and brush your teeth. around 7 we go to read books in your room. Even though you know that means bedtime after you love to read books so much you come. You keep asking to read more books knowing it'll prolong bedtime. You've been crying pretty hard when we put you in your crib, and you used to stop the moment we walked out the door but this week you've gone on for 15 - 20 minutes, except for tonight since you were pooped with no nap. It breaks my heart. You've never been a big crier before sleeping so it gives me anxiety to hear you so upset. I know we need to stick to the routine though or we'll set ourselves and you up for failure with sleep. The other night I could tell your cry was different, it also went on too long, you had pooped. Glad I didn't let you cry that one out! You're so funny, when you know we're about to put you in bed you list all the things you want to do, "Guppies, outside, shoes on, books..." as fast as you can to see if we'll go for one. It's so hard not to cave, you're so cute!

Little man. You're growing like a weed! People have started the whole, "You have HOW much time left?!" comments. I'm not surprised one bit, your sister was big too. As scared as your size makes me, I'm glad you're growing well and healthy from what we can tell. I have less than 7 weeks before meeting you, I hope! We can't wait! As slow as each week goes, looking back on it all...it's gone so fast.

You move and kick all day long. You're very active during the day and fairly quiet at night. When I roll over or get up to pee (about 4-5 times at night) you stir for a while sometimes, so I try and hold still for us both. You get hiccups a lot. I can feel every portion of your body, there's not much fluid left in my belly. Sometimes you keep me up with movement, especially around 5am but usually you're pretty good to me. Daddy and I have thought through many names. I really want you to have a family name since Clara Maria is a very strong family name but our choices are interesting. I like Cyrus for you, which was my great grandfather's middle name on my dad's side. Grandma Lang almost named your Grandpa Cyrus. I asked her why she didn't and she said because Grandpa Lang used to play dolls with his sister all the time and he named them all Karl since Karl was his favorite name so they went with that. We considered Franklin Albert which is both of our dad's middle names. I was really excited about it at first but I'm not sure if you're a Frank/Franky. The one name we agree on and have since the beginning is Everett. It's not a family name though. If we chose that your middle name will probably be Lang. Having Lang as your middle name is exciting for me since I miss my maiden name a lot, so Everett Lang Feger has some pull. I try to think about what you would want, a family name or a "better" more common name. I can't decide if you'll thank us for not forcing a family name or not. I'm still working on Cyrus.

We're not nearly as prepared for you as we were for Clara. I promise you we love you just the same! We have great plans for your nursery. We just have enough company that comes to leave two rooms until you're really here using it. You'll be in with us for the first few months at least anyway. Your Daddy has been busy with his spring ideas outside for a while now and promises he'll have that done when you're here to help with you. Since he's outside a lot, that means I'm playing with your sister. Don't you worry, when the time comes your room will be perfect for you! Mommy and Daddy can't wait to meet you!

This pregnancy is very different from Clara's. I still do a good job cutting myself off from eating early and I take the same medicine as I did when I was having acid reflux issues with her and I'm able to sleep much better. With her I was burping all night long. I was also swelling more with her at this point I believe. I don't doubt that's on it's way, probably tomorrow since I just "said it". With this guy I get more chest pain/heart burn but it seems more controllable at this point. I am VERY tired this time around and I'm positive I wasn't this tired at this point with her. I know working all day and then coming home to play, get dinner, bathe, and clean up is tiring me out. My profession isn't one where I sit at all, I'm on my feet teaching which is fine, it's distracting, but when I get home I'm pooped! I've been way more uncomfortable this pregnancy, probably because I'm force to bend over so much with a little one, constantly picking her up, carrying diaper bags, school bags, groceries. It's getting hot too which makes me more lethargic. I haven't gained the weight I did with her, I'm about 10 lbs. less at this point which is what I was trying for since I never lost that last 10 lbs. I'll probably be right around the final weight I was with her give or take a few lbs. I'm going to bed early, as soon as I get Clara to bed and the house picked up I'm gone. I've been sleeping in the other room sometimes since so much wakes me up. Between Clara (who's not bad but it happens), Andre coming to bed after me, Andre snoring, Shalimar moving about the bed, peeing, Andre peeing, Cyrus kicking, sometimes reflux, bad leg cramps that make me want to jump through the ceiling...you get the picture. So, if I can take Shalimar and Andre out of the picture that's a few less times I'm woken up, I'll take it!!!!!!!!! All in all, I really don't have anything to complain about although I do, to Andre mostly. I'm so thankful to be pregnant. All I care about is the health and happiness of this little guy. I try and do everything right and hope I'm being the best mommy I can be. I must say though, pregnancy and I do not mix well. I see Tiffany and so many others handle it like champs, go on with life like any other day, I'm excited for him to be here and work on getting rid of this fat suite I reside in!

On a final note. We gave Shalimar away this week. Andre has wanted her gone forever. It's something we've fought about for years now. It wasn't until I had Clara that I ever entertained the idea. I felt bad not giving her the same kind of attention I used to. I knew that would happen but I didn't realize how little attention I'd have for her and how bad I'd feel about it. Nancy our wonderful neighbor has a friend, Goldie, who has been looking for a Maine coon (Shal's breed) for going on two years. I warned her the best I could about Shalimar's temperament. She didn't seem to mind. She is a cat lover for sure! If we hadn't found someone who was so excited for Shal and who was so patient I wouldn't have been able to do it. I cried, a lot. I felt horrible about giving my furry baby away. This is a cat only a mother could love, or so I thought. Anyway, they (Goldie and her husband) came on a Sunday to meet her. They were thrilled about it, didn't care she is a pistol. We took her Tuesday to their house. Once I saw Shal in their home which is very well kept and Shalimar will be their BABY I felt a lot better. Goldie was so excited and so understanding about my sadness. Andre has been very appreciative of what I sacrificed which helps too. This wasn't an easy decision. It may not be final though either. Shalimar is stubborn and I know she's not behaving well yet. It's a lot of change for her and I feel so bad not being there to calm her. I called Goldie Wednesday and she said Shalimar was hissing a lot, growling and chasing her husband while swatting at him. She is a very defensive cat. One that stands her ground, I've never seen her run away, ever. Goldie still seemed optimistic, I know she wants her to come around so badly so I hope Shalimar does. She'd be in kitty heaven if she'd stop being such a brat. They're ready to spoil her rotten! The house is quiet without her, it was strange not having her at the door and still is. Once I know she's happy in her new home, I'll be okay with it. I know the second half of her life will be better spent with two retired folks than two children growing up chasing her around the house.

No time to edit, time for bed, pictures soon!