Introducing Adelaide Clare!

Born November 14, 2016 at 12:13 PM EST. She weighed 8 pounds 8 ounces and is 20 1/2 inches long.

Another baby on the way

Yesterday, we had the halfway-through ultrasound, where they measure everything that can possibly be measured (if the baby cooperates) and make their best educated diagnosis on whether you're having a tiny ball of energy that will never ever stop and eat all of your food or...well, actually, all children are like that. If you're having a boy or a girl.

My husband likes to know which child we have, and I lack an opinion, so we find out. With Kathryn, I did enjoy knowing that she was a girl because once we had the ultrasound, we knew her name and somehow using her name before she was born helped with bonding. (Because otherwise her pregnancy just kind of was not fun.) And seeing as I forget that I'm pregnant most of the time, some bonding would be nice. (No kicks yet. Despite a very active baby in every ultrasound.)

We had both names picked and ready for the baby, and I went in, all excited to find out which name was going to attach to this child...

And the baby never opened his/her legs so we could tell.

Oh well. We'll find out eventually.

~~~

So as of today, I am 18 weeks 6 days along with a baby who regularly measures 5 days ahead of the size he/she should be. Between that and Kathryn being born 3 weeks early, I'll be very surprised if this child isn't early too.

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While I typed this post, Kathryn was chewing on her favorite toy/security blanket — my scapular.

7QT: Updates on lots of things

So yes, I've been MIA for a while. Miss Kathryn has not been particularly cooperative, and my energy levels are...less than stellar.

—1—

 

This is why. 

(We're hoping this isn't indicative of how they'll behave together.)

So yeah, I'm pregnant again. I'm somewhere right around 17 weeks and due November 16. (If you're doing the math, yes, Kathryn was only 4 months old and yes, I'm sure exactly one month minus one day after Kathryn's first birthday.) And we only found out at the end of April, so it's really weird. We go for the full midway ultrasound a week from Monday. It's really bizarre. 

—2—

Also, Kathryn is crawling. Although not like a NORMAL child. She crawls using her head, bum, and feet. 

Proof. (I think. I'm on my phone waiting to have my blood drawn and it won't let me preview the video.)

—3—

And she likes to stand and try to walk. 

She still falls over when she's sitting, but she wants to stand and try to walk. 

—4—

She's starting to say "Mamamamama". It generally means she wants to eat. Or she's happy. Or there's something she wants to put in her mouth that she can't reach. 

—5—

My husband is almost done with the school year. He just had to go back on Tuesday for a few hours, and then he's home for the summer. Kathryn should be happy with it, she gets very excited when he comes home. 

—6—

Any tips for road trips with babies? We have a wedding 4 hours away and a reunion 2+hours away this summer, and we'd like to take a few other road trips this summer. We've only done hour long drives with her before, so tips on longer rides would be much appreciated. 

—7—

I AM going to try to write more, I promise. Hopefully with my husband home to help over the summer, I'll be able to get into a better habit of writing.

You can read more quick takes at This Ain't the Lyceum with Kelly. 

Things I Never Expected to Say, Vol. III

You can't have corn chips. You don't have teeth yet!

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You're four months old. Do you really still need to poop every time you eat?

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Do you want your hand or do you want food? That is the question.

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Apparently the answer is your turtle.

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How does your chewing hurt so much? You don't have teeth!

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And now you're eating your spider.

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This looked OK when I bought it, but now I kinda want to dress you in these dresses ALL THE TIME. You're SO CUTE!

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Why do you only try to touch your bum when it's covered in poo?

7QT: Non-political soundbites

—1—

Kathryn is going through a phase where her favorite toys are my clothing. She would much rather play with my sleeves, collar, or whatever else she can grab as opposed to her toys. Silly baby!

—2—

So I put her in this dress thing because it was 70+ degrees out. I bought it because it was $1.99 at the thrift store and she needed clothes. 

Wasn't quite expecting her to be SO DANG CUTE. I kind of want to dress her in nothing but these and turn all of her onesies into dresses like this. 

—3—

I like Lent and all, and I love the Triduum, but I will be very glad when it's over. It's just very tiring with all of the things we end up going to for RCIA since Shane is in charge. It will be nice to go to Mass 10 minutes away instead of 45. 

—4—

My Verizon contract is up soon. For a variety of reasons (namely cost), Shane and I had decided to remain on separate plans (the cost of the combined plan was higher than two separate plans. Yes, it was ridiculous) after our wedding 14 months ago. 

Instead of moving to a joint Verizon plan, right now I think we're going to sign up for Project Fi, a Google project moving into the phone plan business. It's a flat $20 for talk and text and $10 per gigabyte of data, and they reimburse you for data you don't use. (Which is great since I now work from home and hardly ever use even a full gigabyte.) It's currently only compatible with Nexus phones (5X, 6, and 6P), so I'll be moving from my Galaxy S4 (which has a better camera). I'm hoping that I can continue to use my old phone as a point-and-shoot camera since it's all I have. If not, we'll probably get a DSLR. (Which we want to get anyway, but haven't yet because they're expensive and we have to talk ourselves into spending that much money on one thing.) 

If anyone has a Nexus 5X, any suggestions for good cases? Otterbox doesn't make them, so I can't just say, "Otterbox is very good" and use them. I'd like to get a waterproof case (because Kathryn wants to chew on my phone, and she will someday be mobile in addition to grabby), but they don't appear to have an option like the Otterbox. 

—5—

I'm very ready for election season to be over. It feels like it's been going for over a year already and I just...really don't care enough to spend TWO YEARS out of every four thinking about this circus. I do believe politics are important, just not so much so that I want to immerse myself in it. (My husband likes politics. And spends so much time on it during the election season that he gets completely burnt out the rest of the time.)

—6—

I found this article today, "Why the Vocation Crisis is a Fiction". It makes an excellent point, and one that not enough people are thinking about — the actual number of faithful, practicing Catholic families, and the ratio of them to priests is up. Read the article for a more in-depth analysis. 

—7—

Just because it's funny. 

Happy weekend! You can find more quick takes at This Ain't the Lyceum with Kelly.