Megan is 2!!!

Well, it was bound to happen -my baby is 2. I find myself in complete and utter disbelief. When did she get so big? Who told her she could grow up so quickly? It feels like I am pregnant with her instead of with her little brother or sister. Crazy how quickly time flies when you have a kid.



Not only is it Megan's birthday, but it's also the 2nd anniversary of me becoming a mother. How is something as monumental as this not celebrated? Your life, priorities, paycheck, conversational abilities, hobbies, hormones, worries, and hopes all change so much once that little one arrives. It feels like it should be commemorated somehow. Now, don't worry I won't in any way take away from Megan or her birthday celebration. I just decided to take a minute and briefly celebrate by telling the story of Megan's birth - which I'm still in awe of by the way. So here goes.....



I had contractions on and off the whole day before (June 11), but since they didn't get stronger or closer together I chalked them up to braxton hicks. On Tues., June 12 (my due date) I woke up at 2 am with contractions that were 10 mins. apart. They weren't too bad and I was able doze off in between them. Around 3:30 they started getting stronger and I couldn't sleep anymore. As I was trying to get Nathan (who is a very heavy sleeper) up I got a particularly strong contraction and was yelling, "OUCH!" as he groggily asked, "What hurts?" To which I yelled "My uterus you idiot!" Well, that woke him up! He bolted out of bed and became Mr. Attentive Husband. At some point I got in the shower and let me just tell you hot water is AMAZING. It really took the worst of the pain away. As I'm in the shower my contractions are getting closer and closer together - to the point where they were 3 mins apart. Poor Nate kept trying to convince me I had to go to the hospital. But I, being an incredibly stubborn (and potentially stupid) person, kept refusing because 1. I wasn't convinced I was in real labor and 2. if it was real labor I WAS NOT going to the hospital to only be 3 centimeters dialated. Finally, the hot water ran out and I was forced to get out of the shower. The only way Nate could convince me to go to the hospital was by telling me they had lots of hot water - so off we went. We arrived around 6:30 am and of course I was assigned to the C wing - the farthest away. (Northside Hospital is referred to in Atlanta as the baby factory, Nuf said) After 5 mins and I barely got past the A desk & a nurse realized I must have been in actual labor and kindly got me a wheelchair. When I hit the room a bunch of nurses descended on me trying to get me into a hospital gown, put in an IV, do the paperwork to admit me and I'm having contractions that are 2 or 3 minutes apart. Nate stepped in and was able to convince them to let me follow my birth plan (no IV, no epidural, as natural as possible). As soon as I got the hospital gown on my water broke and with the next contraction my body curled around itself and I yelled out, "I'm pushing." You can imagine the panic this caused the nurses. They leaned me back, found I was 10 cm dilated, and called the doctor. He came in confirmed it and said the baby was trying to come out ear first and left. The doula arrived and along with a new nurse, who liked helping women go naturally, helped me get into different positions to shimmy Meg into the correct position. At 8:11 am Megan was born. The (new) doctor put her on my chest and Nathan and I just gazed at her in amazement. It took about 5 mins. before the doula finally asked, "Well, what is it?" In our amazement neither of us had thought to look! It was very special to have this baby on my chest and just love it for itself and not because it was my daughter. That bond would come later. Nate called everyone as Meg was being weighed and measured - she was 8lbs. 3 oz. and 21.5 inches long. Very long and skinny - no sursprise since she's still very long and skinny. Of course I wouldn't let him call anyone before we got to the hospital because I wasn't in real labor so why wake everyone up? (Did I mention I am incredibly stubborn?) My mom didn't believe him at first! It wasn't until she heard the word placenta in the background that she realized it was for real!



So very long story short I woke up with contractions at 2 am, got to the hospital at 6:30 am, and delivered Megan at 8:11 am. I was able to have her completely naturally like I wanted. Amazing!



Now those of you who know Megan know this birth story fits her to a T. The girl decided she wanted out and BAM she was out. Who else but my Meg would be born on her due date in just over 6 hours? Yes, my Megan is just that determined to do things her way. I should have known when the pediatrician came in to check on her later that day and said, "You're going to have fun with that one!" She was already holding her head up and looking around while she was in her bassinet less than 12 hours old.

Fire station & a visit to the park

Thursday was a busy day. We took a tour of the local fire station, and played in the park after trying to get a pool pass for the local community pool. The fire station was pretty neat. The kids were all preschool aged so the fire fighters geared their tour way down. They even took us for a ride around the station in the fire truck! Of course, they got a call as we were finishing up so everyone had to huddle in the middle of the bay as the fire engine rushed out. The kids loved seeing the lights flash and sirens blaring.

The park was fun. It should come as no surprise to anyone that Megan is a dare devil. She climbed up as high as she could on the big kid equipment, scaled a rock climbing wall, swung on the big kid swings and had to hang from any bar she could find. Good thing I signed her up for gymnastic this summer.

Meg in the ambulance. She tried to jump out of the truck. Good thing I was nearby to grab her before we had to test the fire fighters emergency skills.

Meg climbing into the fire truck. I can't tell you how many pictures I took trying to get her to look at the camera. No such luck - this is the best I could get.

Megan on the big girl swings. Some day I think the girl is almost 2 going on 12!

This slide was way up at the top of the big kid playground equipment. And of course Megan found the bar and had to swing from it. She even tried to stick her feet over the edge of the slide to test my reaction. She wanted to jump off the side of the slide! Keep in mind the slide was about 6 feet up.

And finally, here's Megan swinging from one of the bars. She even tried to touch her toes to the bar. Sign that girl up for gymnastics.....wait already done. ;)

Meganisms: part 2

Just a few more Meganisms to add.

1. "MoMo" - Elmo. as in "I wan MoMo." The girl has suddenly developed a love for Elmo. Thank you day care.

2.. "CC" - CD. Megan loves music and there is usually some sort of children's music playing either in the house or in the car. When there isn't Megan is quick to tell you to "pay CC" (play the CD)

3. "I coo" or "I pitee" - I'm cute or I'm pretty. Nathan and I have made the mistake of telling Megan she's cute a little too often. (We just can't help it - she's adorable!) So now, whenever Meg gets dressed, especially when she's wearing a dress, she tells us that she's cute or pretty. Modest isn't she?

4. "I hep" - I help. As I've mentioned numerous times Megan loves to help.

Meganisms

Megan's speech has suddenly exploded. She's been speaking in 3 or 4 word sentences for a while, but just recently she's been asking about the names of everything and repeating it. Trying to make sure she gets it right. Now the phrases she's been putting together just crack me up. Here are a few of my favorites:
"He go Mama." (Here you go Mama) - said while she brings me something Meg decided I needed to have. It can be anything from Cameron's toy to one of her baby dolls to my book.

"I wan ogurt." (I want yogurt) Yogurt has become Megan's favorite food. She wants yogurt with every meal. Sometimes she'll tell you she wants yogurt while she's eating yogurt.

"Cho Cho wain" (cho cho train), "Big tuck" (big truck), "Sma tuck" (small truck), or "Mee tuck" (medium truck)- these are usually squealed because Meg gets so excited when she sees/hears them. We're working on the difference between big, small and medium. For a while everything was a big truck.

"Mama, I want breasts." - said while pointing to her chest as she watched me change clothes.
Followed a few hours later by "Mama, I want wear bra." which was said while I was folding laundry and she was trying to put on one of my bras. I didn't think I'd have to have these conversations for a while yet!

Gardening

We were planting things this weekend and, of course, Meg decided she needed to help. She had to wear the gardening gear that grammy put in her Easter basket. She liked digging the first hole and putting a plant in it, but had other plans when it came to planting the remaining flowers. While I planted the rest, Megan alternated between pulling up the flowers I planted and moving them around to different spots, and trying to fill in the hole I had just dug with more dirt. Don't you just love it when toddlers help?

Megan's baby had to help plant flowers too!

Here's Megan with a few of our finished planters. I was only able to finish planting the flowers because I sent Meg to help daddy plant the vegetable garden.

My Baby!

Megan has discovered dolls. She calls her dolls My Baby! (yes, she does say it with the exclamation point). Megan has given her baby a bath using a wipe, has put the baby on the potty, changes the baby's diaper, and carries the baby around using a toy carrier. It's funny how it happened. One night Megan went to bed oblivious to the fact that she even had a few dolls. She woke up the next morning grabbed a doll and started carrying it everywhere.

Here's Meg patting her baby so she'll take a nap.

Megan is trying to convince me that the baby, the carrier, the books (in the carrier) and a bottle should be allowed to go to church with us. I'm proud to say I got her down to just the baby. Go Mommy!

Meg and my baby are a little sweaty after a particularly fun game of trying to dig up plants Nathan had planted.

Teething

Megan is working on getting her 2 year molars. Nathan and I were having the dreaded working parent conversation last night. Meg had a slight fever and was extra clingy. We were trying to figure out who would stay home with her today should she still be sick in the morning. Fortunately, it turns out she wasn't sick that second tooth was just getting ready to pop out. I called day care this morning and she was just fine. Her teacher even said Meg was having a good day.


Overall, Megan has been pretty good about teething. She seems to have a high tolerance for pain, which she got from me by the way. ;) Teething never really bothered her all that much. But these molars are taking forever. It's been at least a month since we noticed that her little gums are red and swollen. I'm choosing to blame her becoming a human barnacle on the molars moving on down.