Nothing Extraordinary

Today's doctor's appointment went almost exactly as expected. We waited for a long time to be seen, weighed and took blood pressure, heard the baby's heartbeat (for the first time on the doppler), asked the doctor a few questions, and headed home. Everything is remarkably routine, right down to the morning sickness starting to ease up just a bit. I go back in another month, and probably about a month after that we'll get the "big" sonogram. I don't know if I can wait another two months to find out the gender, but I guess since I don't have a choice, I will. My gut still says boy, but for the first time yesterday, I found myself thinking about the baby as a girl sometimes, too. I'm no longer quite as sure.

By the way, I have guesses for your babies, too, Jen and Ginny. Not that my track record is any good on myself, but I'm pretty good at guessing other people's babies. Jen, I see you with a little girl, and Ginny, I'm getting the boy vibe for you. I can't wait to find out whether my guesses are right--although I might have to wait a bit if your baby continues to be so uncooperative in sonograms, Jen.

Patrick is still doing well. He is finally vocalizing more in words that can possibly be translated into normal talk, not baby gibberish. He's learning the concept of "uh-oh," even though it sounds more like "eh-eh" the way he says it. Tonight he finally also stood completely alone without something to hold at least nearby, and for a good minute before sitting down again. We're really starting to think walking isn't far off; he's quite good at walking while holding our hands finally. He'll be a full-fledged toddler before we know it.

We had some minor pregnancy problems a few weeks ago (which have since been totally resolved), and I was instructed to be careful about my activity level in the meantime. That included much Patrick-lifting. As a way for me to cope, we converted his crib into a toddler bed. It felt foolish to us, with him not even walking yet, but we felt like we had no other options. He took a few nights to get used to the idea, but now he loves having the independence to play in his room until he gets tired. Unfortunately, he can crawl out of his bed but not back into it. Every night I have to sneak into his room late at night to move him back to bed. He has taken a liking to curling up on the feather bed we've placed on the floor next to his bed to cushion his deliberate fall out of the bed every night. It's really cute, even though I wish he would start to understand that he's supposed to sleep in the bed, not next to it.

One of Patrick's new words is "baby," and I think he's starting to understand what a baby is. I had the sweetest moment with him tonight when he was cruising around our bed after sneaking into our bedroom. He kept repeating, "baby, baby," so I asked him where the baby was. He was probably just reaching for me to get me to pick him up, but he happened to touch my big belly right then. Since he got to hear the baby's heartbeat earlier, while watching the nurse hold something to my belly, it is possible he's figured out that somehow Mommy's belly and the new baby are related. Maybe not too likely, but we all know how smart Patrick is after all...