Akiva at 18 months and the Alien Baby

I'll try to get some more pictures up tomorrow when I find the cord that attaches the camera to the computer...

In the mean time, I'd like to create a portrait of Mr. Marvelous at 18 months:

* He has all of his 12 month molars (finally) and we appear to be having a brief respite from teething. He is enjoying being able to chew baby carrots, grapes, and other foods I used to have to cut up for him.

* He is starting to eat more vegetables. He ate a whole baby cucumber at Nana's the other day. He loves fruit - bananas and strawberries top the list. I appear to have passed on my sweet tooth to him, so I have to make sure I hide the good stuff until after he's eaten the healthier part of the meal. If he has a full tummy from supper, he's very reasonable about the amount of dessert he eats (we only eat dessert 1-2 times per week).

*Sleeping. He has always been a good sleeper - waking to nurse once or twice but sleeping a solid twelve hours most nights. Until three weeks ago, that is. His sleeping seems to be in flux. He naps anywhere from 30 min to 2.5 hours during the afternoon. Lately, he doesn't seem to want to go to bed before 10:30 pm. Ugh. It doesn't seem to matter at all how he has napped during the day - he just doesn't want to stop partying. We've tried different strategies, but have decided at this point to see how he works it out. Two nights ago he asked to nurse right after dinner (7:30ish) and fell asleep for the night. Yesterday, he refused a nap and played nicely all afternoon with his new construction set from Ikea. When I put him in the car to go pick up Mark from work, he immediately fell asleep and didn't wake when we got home. He's been asleep since then (it's nearly 4am and I'm up because I went to bed to nurse him at 8:00 pm). I'm expecting him up at first light.

*Play - he's very social. On our recent trip to the Seattle zoo, Akiva was more interested in the people than the animals. He loves getting together with his little friends and continues to flirt with pretty women at the grocery store, on the ferry, and wherever else we happen to be.

I'll add more to this portrait as I think of it.

Alien Baby:

The pregnancy is going well. The baby seems more active than Akiva was, but Akiva's placenta was in front, so it's possible that Akiva was just as active, but I felt less of it. It's been fun to watch the storm in my tummy. With Kiv I would get the occasional glimpse of a kick or jab, but I get whole undulating rolls with this child.

My gut feeling is that baby is a girl and that she is feisty. However, at our last appt, the heartrate was around 130 which the midwife suggested anecdotally indicates a boy (in her experience). We'll just have to wait and see! I'm making diapers out of old t-shirts and recently bought a pink sheet made out of t-shirt material from the thrift store. I plan to make newborn-size diapers from this. I figure this means I'll have a boy since I'll have a pile of pink diapers for him to wear...

I feel great and recently made the decision to stop "acting pregnant". I had been starting to feel tired and was having pain in my left hip, but I knew I couldn't give in to it, so I go about my business as normal. The hip pain is gone and the other day I was able to run from the car up the stairs to the house without any more effort than normal (i.e. when not pregnant). Mind over matter.