Well, Madelaine is in her own bed now. Bottom bunk. She still sleeps in the crib during naptime but I have to pull it away from the changing table, otherwise she climbs onto it and gets down. Not a big deal, but I imagine I'll have to put her in the bed for naps soon, too. She's talking and saying words. She can say 'book', 'ow', 'mommy', 'daddy', 'kitty' and knows the signs for most of those, too. She can also say 'Wii' when she wants to play the Wii. We all take walks around the block and she has to stop and examine every crack in the sidewalk! Lots of curly hair still on her head, too. We'll see if it fades away like McKennas did.
For those who don't know, we're having and boy due July 21st, although I think he'll come sooner. I'm using a hypnosis course called Hypnobabies for my 'birthing time'. I'm already very excited about it. Just have to figure out if I'll be using a midwife through the hospital or through a free-standing birth center. I'm having stress and anxiety about the hospital. 1 out of every 4 women who walks into a hospital ends up with a C-section and I'm trying for a VBAC (vaginal birth after c-section) and my odds are even worse because of it. Having a midwife and trying for a completely natural birth with no meds or inductions greatly improve my chances of having a successful VBAC and so I'm not too worried. A birth center would be fantastic as it's more home-like, but they aren't equipped for emergencies and so if I had one I'd be transferred to the nearest hospital, which probably would be an out-of-network hospital in regards to insurance. Let's hope the little guy doesn't turn breech or anything! I have an appointment with the birth center and also another appointment with a 2nd midwife for the hospital so I'll have lots of options to examine.
McKenna is very excited about the baby. I'm feeling a lot more confident about her behavior toward to baby when it's born. She hasn't exhibited any aggressive behavior towards other kids at all when playing, so I'm not worried about having to keep an eye on her too closely. She's a good big sister to Madelaine!
McKenna also has graduated from her speech therapy class at Snake River Elementary and is now in the average range, so she's done with that for now. I do have her enrolled in a homeschool P.E. class through the rec center and she loves going to that. Her favorite tends to be the running around an upper level 1/4 mile track they have. She also liked the rock climbing even though she wasn't very good at it. McKenna also wants to be at the birth of her brother and see him born so I've been preparing her by showing her some fairly mild births on youtube. I have no issue with this as it's a natural function and am expecting that if she becomes overwhelmed in the delivery room she can always leave with one of her grandmas, who will both be there with me!
We're slowly working on reading with her and she wants to be able to read like her friend Christi, but won't give me her undivided attention for more than a few minutes so we try to work it in whenever we can. I've also started her on a program called Math Mammoth and she's really liking it. We're just concentrating on addition for now.
She's also become enamored of taking showers. I usually will take one with her and with this pregnant belly it's easy not having to bend way over to wash hair! Of course, Maddy's not ready for the shower yet. She's been in it a few times and usually wants out after a couple of minutes.
Well, I need to work on dinner. Meatloaf, baked potatoes and a healthy salad tonight.