After The Tenth..... When The Fun Really Begins

This pregnancy has felt real for a while now, but the concept that there would another set of feet in the house still felt way off and a bit of fantasy. Until this past weekend.

Last week we had the arrival of the stroller and the car seat but this was the last full weekend to prepare before the big arrival. I've been working feverishly on the outside of the house these past few weeks, knowing that the yard and outdoor items would be abandoned as free time will quickly diappear.

At the same time, we are reconfiguring the inside of the house a bit. "Macy's room" is now officially ready to be "The Girls' Room." Next to the crib we've added a toddler bed. While Macy won't be evicted from the crib for another few months, we wanted to try and ease the transition by giving her a chance to play on the bed and get used to it. As an added bonus, playing with Macy on the floor of her bedroom has become easier, now that I can sit and lie on the mattress. I think my knees are appreciating it the most.

Besides the nursery, my office/guest room needed some work, allowing the "guest" portion of the room to be active again.  I don't want to say there was pressure to get the room ready, but I am typing this post while watching the clock. I only have 30 minutes before I shoot off to the airport to pick up Grandma, who is flying in to take care of Macy while we are in the hospital. She's clearly doing us a favor, but something tells me that she's not going to complain about getting a week of up close and personal time with Macy.

I almost forgot. I've just updated the Progression video again and this time it goes all the way to week 34, which means there will only be one more update after tonight's version.

With the early arrival date, we are now officially inside of 5 weeks out. It doesn't seem possible, but what was 3 will become 4 in just over a month. We really need to settle on a name. The hunt has seemingly come down to two choices, but it wouldn't surprise me if a previously yet disccussed name jumped into the fray at the last moment.

Other than the name front, I think we are just about ready for her arrival. Tomorrow night we are taking a tour of the hospital. I know what you are thinking...weren't we just there? Well this time we are going to pay attention to the C-section portion of the tour. I think Annie and I talked through that whole part last time. The tour also has a surprise addition this time, which works out great for us. They now include the NICU, which is perfect since we might have a temporary resident. (Still crossing our fingers that we can bypass it....) I still can't believe that they include the NICU in the tour, so I'm anxious to see where they actually take us. I'm betting on some viewing window that overlooks the NICU and that we don't actually cross into the room, but I guess we'll find out tomorrow.

Now that I think of it, Annie hit week 30 and it is time to update the progression video. I just added the past 6 weeks. I don't know about anyone else, but I'm enjoying watching the comparison of Macy and her sister in the side by side shots.

Watch the Video.

We aren't quite ready for Letterman's "Stupid Human Tricks" segment, but we are well on our way. Macy has expanded her bag of tricks by another handful of talents.

I don't want to say that my wife is holding out on me, but last week Macy demonstrated mastery of a new trick that I didn't even know that Annie was working with her on. After the baby refused some solid food, Annie broke out a juice box and I found myself amazed as I watched Macy take it from her mother and began to drink from straw. At first she struggled a bit, drooling out almost as much juice as she swalllowed, but after a few moments she was drinking away without any mess.

I am totally amazed at the things Macy seems to learn and how quickly it seems to happen. Some of her "tricks" seem to be just fun toddler tasks, but some of them seem a little unusual. Maybe its just me....

THE FUN ONES:

- When Macy has had enough sleep, be it a full night or just a nap, she tends to stand up, cry a bit and then "drop" her woobie (stuffed animal blanket) onto the floor. The dropping is immediately followed by an "uh-oh...dada", informing me that something has happened that's not good. If we don't rush in, a few moments later you'll hear the clinking of the dropped binky followed by another "uh-oh." If you time it just right, sometimes you can catch her "uh-oh"-ing a split second BEFORE she drops it.

- She has now learned both the horizontal head shake means no and the vertical head bob means yes. You can now ask her questions and she'll respond. I was truly amazed the first time I saw Annie ask her if she wanted to go outside and the baby proceeded to shake her head yes and then walk to the door. There are clear signs of her gaining audio recognition. I not quite ready to declare her a genius because when I tested her "yes" head shake and asked her if it would be ok for the giant purple gorilla to crush the house, she nodded her head affirmatively.

THE ONES THAT MADE ME LOOK UP THE CHILD LABOR LAWS TO ENSURE THEY DON'T APPLY TO PARENTS:

The following "tricks" are hysterical to watch, but the first time I saw them, they seriously made me think twice about the times I heard Annie talk about having kids as "building a workforce."

- If you leave the diswasher door open, Macy will now walk over to the silverware tray and begin taking the utensils out and then put them back in. If you hand her your spoon, she will march it over to the diswasher and usually put it in the silverware section. The strangest part of watching her move the utensils around is that fact that when she's done, they are usually back where they belong, instead of on the floor. She actually seems to clean up after herself.

- I think I told you already that when you dress Macy you can tell her to go get socks and shoes and she does. She'll head over to the appropriate drawer, open it, find a pair of rolled up socks and then select a pair of shoes for the day. You never know which shoe she'll select, but she will ALWAYS return with a matching pair.

-If you leave the Swiffer out of the closet, she'll grab it and begin to "sweep" the floor.

-When Annie heads to the laundry room, the baby follows along. When the washer is finished, Annie grabs a wet item and hands it to Macy who promptly places it in the open drier and then gets ready for the next article of clothing.

- If Macy goes number one, you no longer have to grab the diaper and drop it in the Diaper Genie. She'll actually do it for you now. After she's dressed, you stand her up and hand her the rolled up and secured diaper and she'll walk it over to the can. If you step on the foot pedal to open the lid (I'm guessing in another month you won't even have to do that part) she'll drop it in and then clap hands celebrating her achievement.

So there you have it, you are now caught up with all of Macy's "tricks", at least for the moment. I wouldn't be surprised to get up from my computer desk to find the baby vacuuming the living room.