13 months/15 weeks

Most of the reason I keep a blog in the first place is so I won't forget all of the fun stuff that happens on a daily basis around these parts. Scrapbooking takes way too much time (that I don't have anyway), so I'm trying to be diligent about my general "what's up" updates, at least for my own brain.

So here's what's up with our big girl, who was thirteen months old on Monday. (The cake tradition, by the way, has ended... until October. Then Phoebe can help eat new baby's cake.)

• We have cut tooth #7 (on the bottom); I am sad that her baby bottom teeth will look that much more grown up now.
• Babbling non-stop, but still not saying real words -- at least that I can decipher. The other day I thought she said "ba" for banana, but we have yet to repeat it.
  
• "Walking" - Carolynn says that I should go ahead and admit that it's official, but until Michael sees it and it's on video, no dice. She's been working on taking a few steps at a time for about a week now, but yesterday she shocked me with a couple of 7-8 step sets. Wow! She still, however, prefers to crawl.
• Phoebe LOVES to have "pretty things" on her. This includes hats, necklaces, a purse, whatever. She especially loves to see herself in the mirror with these pretty things, and then gets this hilarious grin -- she KNOWS she's adorable. Such a girly girl!
• Although she won't yet "talk" on the phone (she prefers to slobber on it), Phoebe loves to hold things up to her ear as if she is on the phone. Feet, shoes, play phones, stuffed animals... it all works for her.
• I just started noticing this the other day, but she's been doing it for a while. When Phoebe wakes up from her nap (or from night sleep), she will stand up in her crib, suck on her paci, and hold Lamby out for whomever may be retrieving her. She hangs onto both Lamby and paci until she's picked up. Then, she chucks Lamby into the crib. I can also tell her to "leave her paci" and she'll pull it out immediately, too. What a sweet girl!
• Phoebs is also eating LOTS of big girl food. She does not like to be fed by a grownup unless it's on a grownup utensil, and even then, her tolerance is low. She will, however, eat just about anything we give her. She is particularly fond of fruit (grapes, her favorite) and green vegetables (not so much into the orange veggies). She will also eat ANY bread product, I am convinced...and she loves pasta. She is also experimenting with milder cheeses, and she thinks that cream cheese is the most delicious treat ever.
  

There is more, of course. However, naptime will end soon, and I'd like to update on "new baby" as well!

Here's how the pregnancy is going, at this moment:

• Generally, the nausea is gone. However, we are now experiencing new tummy issues. With Phoebe, I could eat just about anything. With new baby, I have to be really careful -- especially at night. We know that ice cream (dairy?) will make me very uncomfortable, but I'm working on figuring out what else does it.
  
• The answer to any pregnancy problem you may have? Drink more fluids. Really. I called the nurses all the time with Phoebs, and I think that was what I heard eighty thousand times. I have called once with new baby, and that was the response. You'd think I would have remembered to up the fluids by now? Ladies, drink your water.
• I'm still very tired, and I have to make sure to take plenty of downtime when I can. My sweet husband is extremely patient in the early evening hours, and tolerates my desire to all-out crash at 7:50 pm.
• I am not yet showing, really. I can wear most anything in my closet right now, but my tolerance for anything remotely tight is gone. My Old Navy jeans are still loose, but this pregnancy has not brought me any rear end benefit, so that means I'm constantly tugging on them to stay up. As a result, I caved and brought out the not-so-maternity maternity jeans, which, amazingly enough, stay up better.
  
• I am still a picky pregnant eater, but it's getting better. I want very little to do with meat. My favorites are the usual suspects (fried chicken and mac&cheese), but also any kind of pasta, salsa on anything, and dark chocolate. (I think pregnancy is just my excuse to eat more dark chocolate.) I'm also loving me some fruit right now, now that it's coming into season.
• I go to the doctor next week. Yes, we will definitely find out...but at the next visit. I had a dream last night that we had a girl. I've also dreamed that we're having a boy. Michael has dreamed it was a girl. In both of our "girl dreams" we had girl-name drama. Just FYI.

And...that's all. This took entirely too long!