No pictures of Kevin yet

I wasn't allowed to take one today because he didn't style his hair. And he wants a nice outfit on. While I'm exactly the same way, it's so much funnier coming from a boy. Hopefully tomorrow I can post a picture of his new face (and my growing belly, which has "dropped" according to multiple sources).

My morning started at 2:48am, when Patrick crawled into bed with me. I've posted before on my not-so-loving feelings towards co-sleeping, but I was tired and the only one in bed. If the child had actually GONE TO SLEEP we would have been OK. But no, he was Mr. Snuggles and Awake for the next hour. Then we tired going back into his bed. He fell asleep! For 10 minutes. Then he returned. But 4:15am I figured real sleep was a lost cause and just gave up. Patrick was good. He didn't try to play or turn on the lights or ask to go downstairs. The boy just wanted to snuggle with Mommy. At 5:28am we went downstairs and I gave the wide awake child to the parent who had slept through the night. "Honey, he's yours and he's been mostly up since 2:48. I need to get some sleep." Kevin was a champ, I didn't hear from them until they went on their doughnut run at 8:30. Lovely.

It wouldn't have been so bad if I had woken up about five times between 10pm and Patrick's initial wake up call. I've been doing lots of nesting, which means little resting. My back and hips are screaming by the end of the day. But it feels So Good to have my list getting shorter and shorter. A woman has to suffer for her goals :)

The rest of the day perked up considerably. Kevin and I were both off work, and we hit a nice mix of chores and fun. After running a bunch of stuff to the dump (I hate doing it, but you can't recycle everything and it was all just broken crap) we tried to take Patrick to the zoo. As we entered the park, I turned around and saw that he was out cold. His thumb had fallen out of his mouth, so pretty darn asleep at 10:45am. Poor buddy, guess he had gotten an early start. So we turned the van around and put him to bed. Patrick took a nice long nap and walked downstairs himself just before we were going to wake him! By this time the sun and blue sky had appeared and we hit the zoo for real. Patrick sat for maybe 2 minutes in the stroller, then he RAN the rest of the way through the zoo. Guess the nap worked.

Fiona's room is coming together, and it's so sweet to see those little pink clothes hanging in the closet. They look so small! I'm glad I didn't decorate gender specific before Patrick was born, saving me much time and cash to change it all about. At 38 weeks, it's crazy to think that she'll be here sometime (likely) in the next 3 weeks. I've threatened my midwives that if I go past 40 weeks I'll just write myself in on the induction schedule. There's got to be some benefit to this job...

Bedtime went quite well tonight, only four attempts at getting up. Perhaps an end is in sight, or at least a shortened routine. We did run him hard today, the secret of good behavior in my active, wonderful boy. Patrick currently loved to use our big shovel to pick up tennis balls and dump them in a bucket. That shovel is pretty heavy! Not bad for 2. And his verbal skills are slowly growing as well. He'll mimic us more readily, words are really sticking around, and he's making lots of attemps to say more words and use his signs in new ways. His speech therapist reassures us that he's making progress and showing good growth each week.

A big thanks to all our lovely friends who are willing to watch Patrick as needed during our birth. Knowing we have so much support makes waiting for the unknown much easier.