Smattering of bullet points

I'm now 30 weeks pregnant and as the time draws near for baby #2's arrival, I find myself wanting to record this pregnancy journey more and more. Although time is much more limited, I still want to keep a record so that I can one day look back and remember/cherish the little details of this pregnancy. I also want to continue to record the milestones and achievements in Kaua's life. However, because there is so much going on and most thoughts are not sufficient for a separate post on its own, I've decided that random bullets may be best utilized for this post. So without further adieu, random bullets of the latest happenings:

• I still think I'm carrying bigger in this pregnancy than I was with Kaua. When I look in the mirror I see a bigger belly (think more overhanging) than before.
• I have no clue what we're having, gender-wise, but i recently dreamt it was a girl!
  
• We STILL have no names picked out for this child!!! We have maybe a couple possibles, but no real winners, and I'm starting to worry. I dont want to be stuck in the hospital trying to come up with names and then choosing one that I'll later regret. I like being prepared and giving birth without a name makes me feel unprepared.
• This baby is carrying much lower than Kaua. And almost all movements are mid belly or much lower (think just above pubic bone).
  
• I can surprisingly sleep decently without my body pillow on occasion. With Kaua I NEEDED my body pillow in front to support my belly and a couple pillows for my back. However, unfortunately, we still have "issues" which leads to Kaua sleeping with us and hence, there is not much room for extra pillows, so I've discovered that with this pregnancy I can sleep without some pillows.
• Speaking of sleep issues, Kaua has this tendancy to have terrible screaming/crying episodes in the middle of the night. Like crazy tantrums where he'll scream for his "baba" which is what he calls milk, but when we bring it to him, he freaks out and throws it back at us, then continues to scream for it. These are the most extreme tantrums that he's ever done. He is clearly sleep walking (or doing some version of it) but we dont know how to snap him out of it. He can do this for 15mins and longer. We've figured out that the only thing that calms him down is putting on Seasame Street, his favorite show (and Elmo, his favorite character). Eventually, when he calms down, he drinks his milk then falls back asleep. This is a little freaky and I plan on talking to the pediatrician about this during our next appointment this Friday.
• So because of these sleep issues, I've been giving in and letting him sleep with us more often, because this is exhausting, and we/I need sleep. I've pretty much ruined a lot of the sleep training we had previously done in january and I'm dreading when baby #2 arrives and I have to juggle two babies at night. I really want to start training #2 from the beginning to sleep on his or her own in their own room, but how do I do this when Kaua gets to sleep in ours? And how do I handle all this middle of the night wakings with two kids? (btw: kaua has also recently not been responding well to his daddy getting him when he wakes up in the middle of the night, so its been falling on me to do this). Ugh!
• Kaua seems kinda naughty to me. I'm not sure if this is normal for most kids his age, but he laughs when we scold him and punish him (with a light spank or time out or whatever). He is very inquistive and fairly bright, so he is ALWAYS getting into things he shouldn't be, despite our repeated warnings not to. For instance, he'll take plugs and try to put them into outlets, (we do have protective outlet coverings everywhere in the home). Because this is super dangerous (should we one day forget to put a cover back on), I'm always scolding him not to do this and trying to explain how dangerous this is due to the electricity, but he just laughs and tries to do it again. I try distracting him with something else, but the darn kid will go back and try it again in a few minutes. This is just one example of what he does on a routine basis, whether it be electrical outlets, running away from us when we are out in public, going too deep in the ocean or pool, going into the road, etc.
  
• Kaua NEVER sits still. He is very active and always on the go. I hope hope hope #2 is a lot more mellower than he is.
  
• Kaua has a great vocabulary and a great memory. I know, every mom thinks this of their kid, and i admit, I'm one of them.
  
• I'm swelling a lot more in this pregnancy than I did with Kaua. So much so, that I have to consciously cut down on my foods with high salts, which I never did with kaua. But I do allow myself a cheat now and then, and right now as I type, i'm eating my favorite - sunflower seeds.
• We're taking childbirth classes from two different institutions this time. We're taking the two course free one from the hospital and we're taking the 6 course paid one from a childbirth center in our area. I hope that I'm better equipped to handle the pain this go-round, especially since I may not have an epidural available to me. Yikes!
  
• I'm going to look at a BOB double jogging stroller tomorrow, which was on sale via craigs.list. According to a friend of mine who also has two young ones close in age, this is one of her must have items, and I've been considering whether to get a double stroller and which one to get if I did. She's recommended this one which I agree with, since I had been contemplating getting a jogging stroller already. She said it's totally worth the money (hello, brand new ones retail for about $500-$600!!!). She is also the one who recommended the umbrella stroller we currently have, the Maclaren, which I love, so I trust her judgment.
  

That's it for now.

tired.......

Well, I am at 29 weeks and I'm TIRED! Much more so than I was with Kaua. I feel more sleepy in the mornings, throughout the day, and less motivated to work out. I'm not sure if this is because the pregnancy is different or because I have a toddler who is quite the handful.

Taking care of a toddler with a burgeoning belly is quite the challenge. He doesn't quite get that I have a baby in my belly, but we're working on it. When I ask him where the baby is, he'll lift up my shirt and point at my belly button. He loves to climb on me, crawl on me and just plain be on me, which is uncomfortable to say the least because of my belly. And of course, with a toddler (who will be almost 1.5 years old at the end of this month) requires a lot of moving around (chasing him to stay off the road, or get out of the cupboards, or brush his teeth, or change his diapers...you get the point) and bending over (cleaning up food, toys, books, clothes, things he takes out of the drawers and cupboards....etc). Ugh. While I am very happy and excited to be having TWO children, man oh man, do I have my work cut out for me!

I'm also more swollen this pregnancy than last (which could be contributed to by the fact that I have much less free time to exercise and work out like I could last time). It's just amazing how different my mindset is this pregnancy than last. There is no doubt that the level of love for this baby is any less, it's just much harder to focus on this child and his or her impending arrival when you've got a little goober in your life taking up so much of your attention. How in the heck do mothers of more than 1, 2, or 3 do it?? I swear, becoming a mom gives me MUCH more appreciation for mothers. This stuff is HARD!