Snippets of the past two plus weeks

• On Friday the 23rd, we had our middle-of-the-pregnancy ultrasound. It went well, the baby looks healthy, but was also pretty uncooperative. We are fairly sure we're having another girl (!!!), but we will get another look to make sure (along with a better look at her heart, diaphragm, and her profile, as she was hiding these things too) on August 20th. I can't wait to get another peek in there at this little baby who insists on kicking me pretty much continuously these days! (I absolutely love that she kicks me pretty much continuously these days!)

• Last Thursday I finally got word that I got the promotion I had applied for last month! Which is totally awesome, but also comes with a buttload more work, because I still have to keep on doing some of my former position duties. All in all though, this promotion is a great thing. I'm excited to go to work again! My days have flown by lately, and before I know it it's time to go home, and once I get home, I blink and it's time to go to bed. This is why I've sucked at blogging lately (among other lazy reasons). 

• Aaron and I escaped for a weekend up north on Friday. We took Gabbie to my parents' house and then headed up to our favorite place in the state - Traverse City. We stayed in a really, incredibly lovely bed and breakfast, and spent the whole weekend eating and sleeping and enjoying being together. It was wonderful, and I'm really glad we took the chance to get away just the two of us. We really needed it.

• Weird pregnancy factoid - I have never in my life liked any kind of olives. I have tried to like them, but I just can't. Until lately, that is, because now I want sliced black olives on everything. So weird!

• Weird pregnancy factoid #2 - Not that I've tested this out *ahem*, but this pregnancy has made fantastic changes to my hair, including the ability to go at least 3 days without showering and it still looks fresh. One of those pregnancy things I wish would stay around forever.

• I found myself wishing today that I could vote a split ticket in the state's primaries. We have crap choices for our next governor, especially on the democrat side. I care much more about which republican candidates don't make it past the primary (there are some seriously shady and way-too-conservative choices over there), but I chose the most ethical choice and stuck to the democratic candidate who has better records and policy toward women and the environment. I still wish I could have played spoiler on the republican side though. Michigan polictics are such a mess (*ahem*Kwame*ahem*)!

• Speaking of polictics, if you made it past that last painfully boring bullet point, there's something that has been cracking me up lately. I listen to NPR in the car (another weird pregnancy thing - I have a hard time listening to music or being around loud noise, it's just too much to handle), and they are frequently interviewing republican politicians who spend the whole interview complaining about Obama and the other democrats playing politics. I'm sorry, isn't that kind of their whole job as politicians? There are quite a few lawmakers over there that need to stop whining and actually do their jobs. (Okay, I'll step off my soapbox now.)

• Okay, I'll end with something fun. (At least it's fun for people other than me.) Lately, when Gabbie doesn't want to do something she lets us know by saying, "No thank you," which yes, is polite. Until you hear it a million times or have it screamed in your face. Then it becomes less funny and polite. My family thought it was hilarious until they heard it a million times this past weekend. A couple of weeks ago, we were home in the afternoon, and Gabbie really needed to take a nap. She had refused to clean up her toys (instead kicking them under the couch), screamed at me for a treat (she is so two these days), and was throwing a huge tantrum. So, I picked her up and took her upstairs to her crib. She spent the next 30 minutes, laying down, kicking the matress and slats, and screaming, "NO THANK YOU" at the top of her lungs. I finally couldn't take it anymore (see the above weird noise thing) and took her downstairs and plopped her in front of a movie. But, even though it's annoying, I chuckled a little bit at her using politeness during a tantrum and I'm sure we'll look back at this a few years from now and think that it was all very adorable.

Tomorrow!

At 10:00 tomorrow morning I'll be at my doctor's office hoping to God they'll let me pee a little bit before they do the ultrasound. Did those of you who haven't had kids know that they make you drink 32 oz. of water an hour before your ultrasound and you have to hold it until they're done? And it usually takes about 30 minutes for the ultrasound? All while a little person is kicking your bladder, like, "Hey! Give me some room here, Ma!" and you're hoping to all things holy you don't pee yourself? It's a good thing they let you look at the baby and will even tell you the baby's sex if possible, because otherwise that whole thing would totally not be worth it.

We have no clue what we're having. No inkling. No preference either, except for a healthy baby. We'd be heros on Aaron's side of the family if it's a boy, because this is probably the last chance to carry on the family name. My side would be happy either way, as long as they get to hold the baby as much as humanly possible once it arrives. I just can't wait to go get a peek at the baby tomorrow. I'm having trouble sitting still and am guessing I won't be able to sleep tonight. It's a good thing I took tomorrow off work, because I'm sure I'd be useless the whole day.

SO EXCITED!

So what say you? What do you out there think I'm having?

Spaghetti!

So, so two

Gabbie has been eating us out of house and home lately. She's still pretty picky, but she has been constantly requesting food. More, and more, and more food. We, of course, are thrilled that she finally seems to be subsisting on more than air and crackers, and give her dish after dish of food. She's still a skinny kid, so we were wondering where it was all going. Then I took this picture yesterday morning and realized:

  

Growth spurt! Look at how tall she is getting! Those legs look about a million miles long. (As is her hair!)

Two is pretty fun and challenging at the same time these days. There are plenty (PLENTY) of tears, but nearly as many hugs and laughs. This morning we were all sitting in bed, and out of nowhere Gabbie wagged her finger at Aaron, saying, "Stop, Daddy. Just. Stop." Aaron and I busted out laughing, so of course she continued telling each of us to, "Just stop!" (Apparently that's what she is told at school when she's crying for no reason whatsoever. Two!)

One of her new habits lately is that if she's sad she walks up to me with a pout on her face and says, "Bed." This can either mean she is ready to go to her bed or that she wants to go snuggle in my bed, and Lord help you if you pick the wrong one. Every time we go upstairs she has to climb ahead of us, up on the first stair, and turn on the hallway light. Again, if you do it for her? Hell to pay. Or, she'll turn it off and then on again. Same thing with her car seat. She MUST buckle it herself, and if you do it you will be rewarded with tears. But then there's the insisting on clinking glasses together and saying cheers before you drink. There's coloring and tickling and much, much laughter.

Gabbie likes things a certain way and isn't afraid to tell us. I hope this is something she keeps doing; it's so easy to compromise and go along with others, and that's not always bad, but she speaks up for herself and I want her to keep that trait. It's so much fun seeing the person she's growing into, and it makes me excited that we get to do this all over again, because choosing her dad and making her were the two best decisions I've ever made.