Clair's 18-month-check-up and other tidbits

Clair had her 18-month check-up yesterday.
Checkups with her are such a breeze; I almost feel like we should just phone them in to save time. She's such an easy kid (in this area, anyway) with no issues or concerns, we just kinda sail through the whole appointment bing bang boom and done.

Here are her stats:

She weighs 22 lbs., 14 oz.
She's 31 and 3/4 inches tall.
She has 8 teeth.

As usual, Dr. Bodnar was impressed with her verbal ability and amused by her opinionated personality.

She got her shots, cried a little, and we don't have to come back until she's 2! Yikes!

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Speaking of Clair turning 2, I am freaking out just a little bit. You see, a group of my girlfriends sorta stumbled into making a plan for a girls' weekend in New Orleans. At first, it all seemed hypothetical. You know, the whole, "We should all get together!" thing that everyone says and sorta means but never actually does anything about.

But it only takes one earnest and reliable, whip-everyone-else-into-shape-friend to take that whole train from the station to the open road. That friend is Erika Peterman. And so now, she, Lisa Respers, Erin Texeira, Jill Hudson and I are slated to go to NOLA over Presidents' Day weekend. We planned for three nights of no husbands/no kids, eating great food, drinking wine, lounging around reminiscing about our days working at The Baltimore Sun, and cracking up about any and everything.

I admit, I was hesitant a little. I want to go, boy do I want to go. But I felt guilty. Three nights and almost three days of leaving Lester with the kids? It seemed so decadent! And he's never left us for that long! I felt like a bad wife and Mom.

But my girls convinced me (sent me virtual slaps in the face is more like it) that I had nothing to feel guilty about and that all would be fine. I started to get excited.

And THEN,  I realized that President's Day weekend is Clair's BIRTHDAY weekend. In fact, if I stayed until Monday (the holiday), I'd actually MISS her 2nd birthday.

Oh hells no.

I'm all for Tanika time, but I'm sorry. I just can't do it.

I think I am still going...no...I AM still going. But I am only going to stay two nights instead of three, and come back on an early flight on Sunday (Clair's birthday).

I know she won't remember her 2nd birthday, but I don't want to miss it. I won't miss it. (I might be a little hungover on the plane, but having buzzed Mommy is better than having no Mommy on your birthday, right? I'm pretty sure I read that in a parenting handbook somewhere.)

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In other news, after fits and starts and long lapses, Lester and I FINALLY found a church we like!

We went to visit it Sunday and I really loved it. I laughed, I cried. The kids had a good time and BONUS! There were free bagels and coffee afterward! My kind of church!

We have to go back  this Sunday and test the waters again, but I have to say, I'm really excited about the prospect of having a church home again. I've really missed it. And I KNOW we need it. Lordhavemercy -- do we need it!

The church is 20 minutes away in Timonium, but that's better than the 40 minutes it took to get to the church I liked in Columbia. Also, when we daydream about moving and search the web for houses we like, a lot of them are in the Timonium area. So if we decide to join this church (or at least, regularly attend) that's more reason for us to consider moving to a neighborhood in Timonium (some day).


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And in still other news, Cary and Dean's first soccer game was hilarious! Here's a photo recap:

Dean was a soccer machine. Cary was less than enthused. And Clair declared herself a part of the game (or a fashionista) by wearing a boundary-marking cone as a hat.

Lester was really great wrangling the kids and keeping a modicum of order! He's sorta a natural at this. Who knew?!

And I'm proud of all my loves -- my athlete, my grass-sitter, my cone-wearer and Coach! You guys are all perfection in my eyes.

Big Day in the Davis household!

Yesterday was a big day for the Davises.

After my appointments, the doctor called in the afternoon and said they have scheduled me for an induction on Monday, Feb. 20th!! So there it is -- Curve Ball's birthday already penciled in!

I can't believe it's less than a week away, but somehow it still seems like an eternity. Mostly because I am not sleeping hardly at all anymore, thanks to discomfort and last-weeks-of-pregnancy insomnia. So I'm exhausted all day long, no exaggeration. And consequently, I have no patience for my three guys when I'm at home. They probably think I am the world's grumpiest person.
I also keep going back and forth between feelings of excitement that my baby daughter will be here next week, relief that I will no longer be pregnant, and anxiety about all things induction-and-labor-and-delivery-related, newborn-related, and adding a third child to a family-related, too. My brain is constantly going, going, going, with so many disparate and heavy thoughts.

And of course, I'm still thinking about all the tedious leftover things I have to do. Last night, I had the beginnings of a sugar low, so I got up at 1:30 a.m. to eat a snack, and while eating, I made ever more lists of stuff to do, including things I need to finish at work, and personal things like get Thank You cards written, addressed and mailed, figure out how to put the Bundle Me on the infant car seat, and send out paper invitations to my sister's baby shower. All before Monday.
So, yes, my brain is going non-stop!

Add to the mix the fact that we also got word yesterday that Cary and Dean got accepted into the pre-school we wanted them to go to! HOORAY!! Sooooo exciting! Pre-school!

We have options, too, about how often we want to send them, which makes my brain hurt even more.
We had been considering the 5-days-a-week half-day plan, which would have them in school from quarter to 8 until 11:30., giving them an introduction to school, a steady weekly routine, and giving Michelle a very small break, since she'll also have Curve Ball now to care for.
But because there are plenty of openings, we were told we can also send them three days a week, half-day; or three- or five-days a week full-day (which would end their day at 2:30).
Three days a week, half-day would be cheaper, saving us a little money (which is always welcome, especially during the Year of Austerity).
But to make Michelle's life easier, we're now leaning toward the three days a week, full day.
This way, she'd have three days a week where she is mostly home with only one little baby. And two days a week where she has all three munchkins.

Those of you who have been through the pre-school thing before, what do you think?

• Is 7:45 to 2:30 too long of a day for 2-and-a-half-year-olds? (They'd be starting in the fall).
• Is it better for kids their age to be in school 5 days a week for continuity's sake? Or is it sorta nice for them to transition into school slowly, and still have two days at home with their beloved babysitter? (This is my line of thinking, btw.)
• If you were a sitter of three kids, who was woefully underpaid, which school scenario sounds more appealing to you?

Either way, we are quite excited about our boys going to school in September, carrying little backpacks and leaving their baby sister at home, like the BIG boys that they are!

Big boys in school! New baby girl at home! Life is pretty exciting around this house these days.

I just hope Curve Ball doesn't decide to add any more excitement by arriving earlier than Monday! Please Curve Ball, in this case, don't live up to your name! :-)

1 week or less...

I'm officially working from home this week, thanks to the kindness of my boss, who was probably tired of watching me hobble around the office, looking like death warmed over.

I had monitoring and a doctor's appointment, though, on my first day working from home, then I came home and ate lunch, so now I really do have to work.

But here's the update:

Curve Ball is acing monitoring, so no worries there.

At the OB's I got a cervix check. I'm up to 1 cm. dilated, which means my cervix is "favorable."
That means induction it is!

The docs want to schedule for the day I turn 39 weeks, which is next Tuesday, but I asked if they could do it on next Monday -- one day shy of 39 weeks -- instead. That's because it's President's Day -- and Lester is off, but Michelle will be here working.
So my work-crazy hubby won't have to take a day off and we'll have babysitting covered, at least most of the day. So it just works out. It'd be fine on Tuesday, too, but I just thought I'd ask.

The doc has to check to see if she can schedule me for one day shy of 39 weeks, because there are rules apparently about that. So we'll know later on this afternoon or tomorrow morning if we will be going in for an induction on the 20th or the 21st.

So the countdown is on! Tick tock, tick tock....

(And that's all if she doesn't decide to come on her own before-hand, just to show everyone who is boss!)