Holy smokes, I’m 38 weeks, which means I could go into labor any day now. I don’t think that’s going to happen this week, though – my contractions have backed off a ton and I feel nothing going on at all. But who knows. Ember will decide when she’s done and ready to come out. It’s just so bizarre to me that we could bring home another baby any day.

We’re pretty much ready, I mean the basics are washed and sitting here, but it’s very different with this one than with Devin or Kate. With both of my previous pregnancies I was super anxious and needed to have EVERYTHING purchased and set up and ready to go. Everything. The swing had to be assembled, the pack n play set up, clothes for the next 6 months, health kits and medicines and nursing pads and *everything*. This time I’m like, well, if I don’t have something we can go to the store. I am much more laid back in that way.

However the pregnancy bitchiness that I’ve had at a few points during this pregnancy is back again and my patience is just non-existant. I have my good days, but silly little things are making me irrationally frustrated and angry. I know it’s totally hormonal too, because I can just sit here all evening, nothing good or bad happening, Kate’s in bed, Den’s asleep, I’m just putzing around studying for my exam. And yet I am just grouchy. It’s like I am spoiling for someone to say the wrong thing so I can actually have something to be angry about. It’s ridiculous! I dislike feeling this way. I hope the sunshine this weekend chases it away.

Baby Ember remains active and her feet continue to love my ribs. I really like to be able to lean back and recline just to stretch out a little. Heartbeat was good at my appointment today, everything measures normal. I have no sign of impending labor (which is really good right now – exam tomorrow, party on saturday). No cramping, no bleeding, no heavy pelvic feeling, no aching. No leg cramps even! Once in a while I get a pinch in my lower back, but that works out or my chiro fixes it. I feel pretty good, really. The midwife said that’s rare to hear!

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Kate is definitely getting closer to age 2. The attitude seems to be flaring up more, laughing while intentionally doing what we just said not to do. It’s not a big deal and it’s certainly normal, but my patience is wearing thin these days. Especially when she starts slapping my belly. She gets a time-out for that one – hitting is not okay. (And no, she doesn’t mean anything by the belly, she really has no clue what’s going on – it’s just big enough and at the right height to be a good target. Otherwise she hits my knees.) The temper tantrums have increased in frequency, set off by things like, “It’s raining, we’re not going outside,” or, “No it’s not dinnertime, we’re not feeding the dogs right now.” She clearly wants things, and she wants them when she wants them. I am trying to walk the line between minimizing the expected tantrums (which means me hiding things out of her sight or planning distractions) and letting her realize that she just doesn’t get what she wants all the time. Unfortunately she’s having to learn to wait for things. A snack can take a few minutes to prepare; if I need to go pee she’ll need to wait for me to finish before I can get her something. She does seem to understand what the word “wait” means, she repeats it back to me happily… but then of course 2 seconds later she’s asking for the same thing again and stomping her feet and sobbing at me.

The bedtime issues resolved themselves quickly, thank goodness. It was only a day or two after I posted about it that she stopped the screaming thing. Den was able to put her to bed one night, and the next he went to bed first (saying night-night) which seemed acceptable to her. Not that she’s going straight to sleep at 9pm anymore. I do not know what’s up with her, but she is trying to push bedtime later and later. I have to wake her in the morning, she takes her normal nap at the normal time (without a fuss), she’s awake and active all afternoon and evening, and then when we’re trying to wind her down before bed she just keeps running around the house like she’s been eating speed all day. Even if she starts showing signs of being a tiny bit tired she immediately jumps up and runs off to jump on her bed. It’s crazy! I am tired and have had an exam to study for so I’ve been running through the bedtime routine and putting her in bed and leaving, knowing that she is WIDE awake. Last night I heard her playing in her room for 2 hours after I put her down. But the good news is that eventually at some point she crawls onto her bed and falls asleep, no crying. I wish she’d go to sleep sooner, but as long as she’s in her room and not crying I’m fine.

She is still a very sweet girl, though. She’s been saying “Hi!” to random people she sees in stores, waving and saying “Bye bye!” to pretty much everyone. She loves to triumphantly say “Ahhh gone!” when someone has finished a meal. She’s also been asking for hugs a lot lately, which is totally adorable. Of course sometimes she does it for sneaky reasons, like when she’s in her carseat she’s asking for hugs so she can get out. But some are just totally random, and I love that! I love the way she curls up against my chest when I sing her the bedtime song. I love how she cuddles with me early in the morning while we watch TV and her little fingers play with my hands. She tries to help me with chores like sweeping and wiping things down – she gets quite annoyed if I wipe down her highchair tray without letting her do it too. (And I discovered she’s actually pretty good at it, as long as it’s not a big mess.)

We’re currently working on cleaning out the basement room and getting it set up as a play room. Den will have his TV and a new xbox to play with, while Kate will have some newly-pulled-out toys, and it will be a great place for them to go play to give me and the baby a break. Having two floors can be really irritating when you’re going up and down stairs, but there is definitely something to be said for the separation of spaces. (We have only one finished room down there, the rest is unfinished basement/storage.) It will be really nice to get that room clean! Right now we just removed all the collected junk but the room is still covered in dust and needs a thorough cleaning.