expanding....

Well, I'm expanding!!! Woo! Yes, the belly is really starting to take over everything now. Where I was once joyously proclaiming that I was feeling limber and "as if I wasn't even pregnant", I am now feeling heavier, shorter of breath, and am really needing to slow down.

I've been surprised at how hard it has been for me to slow down. I guess it is in part because I've got a toddler now and life just has a faster pace than it did for me before Plava came along, but when my midwife suggested I just slow down in order to avoid my short-of-breath/exhausted/need-to-sit-down/low-blood-pressure episodes, I was kind of surprised. Slow down? Am I going fast? I suppose I am...

Anyway, I am making an effort.

Today Plava and I had a couple ultra important errands to do.

Stated here in Plava language:

1 - Go to hostipal to see baby Pito and sit on Mama's bed!!!
(Go to the hospital to register myself in the maternity ward)

2 - Go SHOPPING!!!
(Groceries - we had some seriously bare cupboards this morning)


So off we went. Plava was doddling a little more than normal as we got out of the car and walked through the parking lot towards the entrance. Most of the time I'm patient, but I'm finding that the slow, goofy walking, picking up leaves, pointing at birds, cute-dance-thing is getting harder to handle as I have hot flash after hot flash and need to sit and rest more often. BUT, patience is what I try to show her, while coaxing her along as nicely as I can.

We got in the door and asked a woman at the front desk where the Mat ward was. She pointed us towards some signs and soon I realized that we had come in rather far away from the Mat ward. A fun walk through the hospital and lots of chatter and songs from Plava later, we arrived. I filled out a form while Plava danced around me with her new leaf (picked up off the ground in the parking lot while she doddled along) and poked at me, requesting the pencil and paper that I was "drawing" on. She got her turn, as the woman entered my info into the system and asked me questions. Plava sat on my lap with a new paper (given by the woman behind the desk who thought she was rather cute) and every pen and pencil in sight, drawing a scribbly picture which eventually was presented as a gift to her new friend across the desk.

When we were done, we headed back to the car.
"Do you have pee-pee in your underwear, Plava?"
"No. I don't have pee-pee in unnerwear. It's dry."
"Good job!!! When we get to the store, we'll go to the bathroom okay?"
"Okay mama. I don't go pee-pee in my unnerwear."

Gotta love potty training!! She's doing great, by the way. Underwear all day including nap, although not without occasional accidents.

In the car on the way to the store, I hear her suddenly say, "Mmmmm! Yummy, mama!!"
I turn around to see her "pretending" to eat her shoe. ACK!
"Plava! You know you're not supposed to put your shoes in your mouth! That's VERY dirty!"
"Okay. Sorry mama!" She interpreted my tone correctly - don't mess with me, kid. I don't want you licking up all the joyous things you walked over in the hospital. Eeeep! The idea left me wanting to wash her mouth out with soap when we arrived at the store.

We got to the store and used the loo, then proceeded on with ultra important errand #2. Plava had a hard time sitting in the buggy, even with her "big baby" with her (that's the name of one of her dolls), but she managed to listen very well, and there's nothing like asking her to help me find the next thing on the list, or to hold the bag while I pick out some good lookin' plums.

She was most intrigued by the meat today - in particular the ground beef.
"Whaaaat's thaaaaat?" She said with a grin on her face.
"It's meat, Plava. We don't touch it, okay?"
No response.

I should have known by the lack of response that I should pursue it further. She's so good when I explain something to her and ask her for an OKAY, but when she doesn't offer it, or refuses to say it, it's recipe for her getting into it later.

So we're in the lineup at the till, waiting for a VERY SLOW CASHIER. I wondered if there was a spot for me to sit down and take a breather, but the only spot I could see was the bottom rack of the buggy and, well, that would just be awkward in more ways than one. I then looked around at the other lines to compare speed and it would seem that today was just a slooooow day. Everyone was sighing and looking forlorn. Somehow that made me feel an eensie bit better.

Then I tuned in to something Plava had been saying, something I hadn't been listening to as I focused on the line-ups.

"Mmmmm! Yummy!!"
"What are you eating, Plava?" I looked down at the buggy, where she was now standing, having been released from her spot next to Big Baby.
"That!!" She proclaimed, and pointed at a hole she had dug with her finger in the ground beef package. ACK!!!

Oh my goodness. If it wasn't something that she picked up from the hospital floor, it would be salmonella from the beef. Sick.

I had a talk with her, and once again she caught my tone immediately. She won't be eating any more raw beef. No sirree.

Sigh. We went home and made a simple lunch - lentil soup and orange slices. Delicious, healthy and filling enough to satisfy us. I put her down in her bed for a nap and after a couple random requests as she settled down ("Mama! Put my tummy down on the bed" - and I proceeded to untuck her legs from her body and stretch them out....) she drifted off to sleep in the peace of her room, with me checking email and facebook in the next room.

Aaaah, what a day. What a day indeed. Pito, within, is getting larger and really starting to kick into my ribs. Yes, that means she's already head-down, smart little ducky. We'll see if she stays there, or if she thinks she'll toy with us and flip into a breach position before the big day. Sneaky kids - just when you think you've got them under control, they escape your grasp and do whatever they want to. I suppose it's good though. Life would be a lot more boring if they didn't present us with these challenges. :)