40 weeks

Oh wait ... I mean 2 weeks...

Well today was supposed to be our little girls birthday and goodness am I glad she decided to be born early!  Solveig was 8lb 10oz when she was born 2 weeks ago and today she is 9lbs 14oz.  I have been a little sad the last couple of weeks and that is because I wasn't done being pregnant yet.  I have known that this was my last pregnancy since the day I found out I was pregnant and I wasn't ready for it to be over quite yet.  It's all good and I'm ok, I just feel a little bit cheated out of my last 2 weeks.

Solveig is an amazing baby.  She wakes every 2 or 3 hours for food and then either goes back to sleep or lies happily in a chair or her bassinet.  Nursing has been far easier with Solveig than it ever was with Maizie.  I dare say that I am actually enjoying nursing (I never did make it that point with Maizie although I stuck it out for 11 months).  I am nervous about nursing because of blocked ducts and mastitis that I had with Maizie but I do know that it is the right choice for me and I proud of my decision.

I'd love to post more and tell you all about how great I feel (hormones are working in my favour for once) and how I am learning to juggle 3 girls (I took all three out to the grocery store completely by myself today!)  However my starving baby has different plans for what I should be doing right now.

18 months old

Our beautiful Maizie is 18 months old (on March 20).  It is so unbelievable to me that 18 months has passed already!  Maizie has changed so much in the last few weeks, it's been incredible to watch.  Her sense of humour is emerging as is her stubborn streak.  Maizie is a strong girl and makes sure that she isn't forgotten or overlooked.  Her first 'joke' is saying "Dada" when you ask her to say a persons name.  You say "Maizie say Susie".  She pauses to think about it, then smiles at you and says "Dada" with peals of laughter.  Her second 'joke' started after she learned where her elbow was.  If you say "Maizie where's your elbow" she lifts her shirt and points to her belly button and says "Bee-bow" with tons of giggles.

Mumma fell asleep while cuddling with Maizie during her bedtime bottle.

Maizie picked up a crab at the beach.

CHEESE!

We had some yummy Hedgehog cake to celebrate Maizies Half Birthday.

Maizie adores Sofia and likes to be just like her.  We recently started flossing Sofias teeth, she lies with her head in our lap to make it more like the dentist.  As soon as we are done with Sofia Maizie climbs into our laps, lays back, and opens her mouth.  It is so much fun watching the girls play together.  They take turns being the leader and the follower, every day there are new adventures!

We have a series of alphabet books and they are Maizies favourites.  She even has a few of them memorized.  I love it when she grabs a bunch of them and climbs into my lap to read.  "Y, lolo (yellow), Ohgur (yoghurt), o-o (yo-yo)"  "L, bugbug (ladybug)"  Maizie likes to read all books though, when we put her to bed she requests books in her crib and she'll sit there for a while 'reading' before going to sleep.

Baby Dybdal the Third

Introduction our newest daughter:

Solveig Johanna Dybdal

Solveig and Mumma on her first day.

Solveig and Daddy and their first time together.

Solveig doing what she does best, sleeping.

The very first picture of the 3 Dybdal Sisters.
Such beautiful girls!

Born March 17 at 2150 and weighing 8lb 10oz and 20.5 inches.

I was super blessed to have another natural deliver and the whole family is doing fantastic.  I have so much to blog about but so little time right now.  Grant is doing an amazing job taking care of all of us.  We came home from the hospital on Saturday at noon and Solveig and I have been laying pretty low spending most of our time in bed getting to know each other.

Phone Calls

I have been waiting for some very important phone calls lately.  Every time the phone rings my mind hopes it's "the one".  Oddly it's the same feeling I was feeling when we were waiting for a referral although this time I'm just waiting for a date for Sofias surgery.  Funny how time changes things.  Today the phone rang and it was a surgery date for her.  LUCKILY I asked the right questions and found out that they had her booked incorrectly, for only 1 of the 3 procedures they were supposed to be doing.  So back to the office we go for ANOTHER consult.... I can not express with blog-able words how upset I am about all of this.  We have been waiting since last June for this surgery that is going to change her.  It will change how she hears, how she talks, and how her body reacts when she's sick.  How can I express my frustration and anger to this surgeon?  Sofia has now been out of swimming lessons for a year because we didn't want to have to pull her out because of her surgery (we didn't want to be out money and we didn't want to blame the surgery on her not being able to go).  She asks weekly why she can't go to swimming lessons... Not to mention the gagging and puking.  That's hard on her and us.  And don't even get me started on the behavioural issues, we can't tell how much she can hear so we can't discipline her for not listening to us.  Somedays you can whisper and she can hear you, other days you can yell and she says "can you say it louder please".

Then the phone rang again... "Alicia your new glasses are ready".  I actually WHOOPED!  Last Wednesday Maizie mangled my glasses and I've been wearing them for a week with only one arm.  They are super crooked which has been causing me dizziness, headaches, and eye fatigue.  Not to mention I haven't really wanted to go out because of being self conscious of them.  Instead of putting the girls down for nap I packed them into the car and drove immediately to the office to get them.  Ahh, I feel SO much better!

9 months

How far along: 36 weeks

Weight:  192lbs

Sleep: I sleep just fine but I sure am sore when I wake up.  My pelvis is achey and miserable until I get up and moving.  Rolling over isn't even worth it, it's too hard and causes too much of a stir.  I wake up every night between 4 & 430.  I'm expecting that to be a feeding time.  

Energy: Failing.  My midwifes instruction at 34 weeks was to take it "really really easy" so as soon as I got a little tired I sat down and put my feet up.  Now that I've made it to 36 weeks I'm aloud to push myself a little but I've lost most of my drive! lol  I'm getting used to taking a nap during the girls nap/quiet time and I'm not ashamed to admit it.  I'm used to being tired or having low energy but normally I just push through it and keep going.  Allowing myself to not push myself has been hard to get used to (and it's even harder to see the effects in my house!).  I know it's not for much longer. 

Movement: This baby has been positioned head down with it's body along my left side for as long as I've been able to feel it (Maizie was positioned this exact way her entire pregnancy).  For a couple of days this last week this baby decided it would check out real estate on my right side and it slide it's body over.  It was SO STRANGE to get kicked and punched on my left side!  

Feeling:  I was feeling like this baby was coming early.  I was worried and nervous.  Now I have no expectations.  As long as I/we make it to next Thurs. and 37 weeks this babe won't be considered preterm.  I'm still focused on my due date cause I think it would be really cool to say that both my babies were born on their due dates.  But I have been saying April 2 or 3 would be perfect the whole time I've been pregnant and that's where I'm truly focused on.  I'm trying hard to not get frustrated by being pregnant.  I know that this is the last time I will be and so I am trying to enjoy every last little thing about it.  As great as it will be to have my body back to myself I know that I will truly miss sharing myself this way.  Once during a very frustrated infertile moment I remember saying to Grant "I know that if I pregnant I will be really good at it!" and surprisingly it's true.  No morning sickness and no odd side effects.  I am really good at being pregnant and I do enjoy it.  

What I miss:  Picking up Sofia, doing dishes facing the sink (I have to stand sideways to the sink), cooking with the front burners on the stove (I burned my stomach twice and so now I only use the back burners), shaving my legs, wearing lace up shoes, getting up spontaneously (currently I need a plan-of-action to move), and hugging my husband (not that we don't hug now but it doesn't feel right). 

Food cravings: Sweets! although I'm sure that's just me and has nothing to do with being pregnant.  Also I'm trying to get in lots of calcium because my leg muscles have been cramping.  Vegetables.  

Food aversions:  None.