No Joke!

It's true! Steadman Baby#2 is on the way! I'm due on April 20th, 2012 and am currently 11 weeks along. I've been sooo sick this time, although I was soooo sick with Diana too, so I guess it's really nothing new, it's just so bothersome. My doc had to prescribe me nausea medication this time, and it has helped a lot, it just doesn't eliminate my nausea, unfortunately. Luckily, i should only have about 3-5 more weeks of nausea until I'm completely passed that stage, and I'm soooooo excited to get over the nausea! Other than that, everything is going great with this pregnancy and my belly is already popping out all over the place! I'm excited to be giving Diana a sibling and buddy to play with, it will be so good for her, I know it. I'm really excited to find out what I'm having this time, so Mike and I decided that at 15 weeks we're going in to a 4D ultrasound place to find out the gender early, because honestly, i can't wait longer than that! We've taught Diana to point to my tummy when we ask "where's the baby?" and she's now gotten to the point where she'll point to my tummy on her own and say "baby!" She loves babies so much, I'm so excited to have another one in my home, although I know it's going to be a LOT of work!

I'm so excited to be able to share this news with everyone now! We tried for 4 months before we got pregnant with this one. Yes, four months is not long at all, and we are extremely blessed to be able to have another, but it was very hard waiting even 4 months, especially because Diana happened so quickly. Again, Mike and I feel truly blessed and fortunate for the opportunity to have another child, and I thank my Heavenly Father each morning and night for this wonderful new gift, as well as for my sweet Diana, who brings me many laughs and tears. I'm so excited!!

By the way, the picture was done by (and completely the idea of) my oh-so-awesome sister-in-law, Ally! She's truly talented and I'm so thankful she's related to me!! :)

18 months

Diana turned 18 months on August 26th, and is now a serious "big girl"! So much has been going on with her lately, here are her updates:

• She's in Nursery now. She started three weeks ago (they took her a week early-YAY!) and unfortunately (for her) has not been doing as well as I thought. I thought she'd take to it like a fish to water, but apparently since it's RIGHT during nap time, she's a bit of an emotional wreak. Example: they were playing a game where everyone would put a ball in the bucket and then the teacher would dump them back out. Well, apparently when the teacher dumped them back out, Diana had a serious meltdown, do they nixed that game and kindly let Diana put as many toys in the bucket as her little heart desired. Sheesh! I know that with time things will get better and she'll have no problems.
• She's now in a "big girl bed". We switched her crib to a toddler bed three days ago and it was the best decision we could make! I thought for sure that she wouldn't stay in bed, that she'd find some way to fall out, and basically that I would be regretting it...but it was the exact opposite! She acts just like a big girl in her bed. When it's time to go to sleep, she's good and stays in bed. I thought this was because she's used to the crib so didn't realize she could get in and out as she pleased, but not so...the other night, about 10 minutes after I put her down, I went to check on her and she was sound asleep in her bed. As I was leaving, though, I noticed a few extra toys in her bed. Apparently, she felt that I didn't give her the right toys to sleep with, so took it upon herself to go get the correct toys and hop back into bed. This girl seriously makes me laugh, when she's not driving me up the wall!
• She says over 40 words (and does 7 sign language signs), and so well! The only hitch is that she still decides that there are times (many times) when she'd rather not say any real words at all and would rather say a bunch of gibberish or monkey noises to get her point across. She is very ADD, so she gets impatient many times and doesn't want to take the time to use her words to get her point across, and with me being ADD, it drives me crazy. Oh well, I know she'll eventually abandon her make believe words forever, but for now I need to learn to just be patient.
• She loves to point to her belly button, her eye, and her nose. She also points to her bottom and says "pee pee" when she needs to go #1 and/or #2. She says poo poo, but likes to say pee pee instead to label her southern bodily functions. Unfortunately, she's a curious girl and likes to try to look down our shirts and point to our privates through our clothes, declaring "pee pee!". We're still trying to teach her not to touch other's special parts and not to show people hers. Yikes. She also likes finding ours and other's belly buttons. She loves belly buttons.
• We're still trying the potty training, though unfortunately not with enough zeal to get the job done. I admit I don't put her on as much as I should. I have the bad habit of getting distracted and forgetting. She does ok on the potty (she used to do better, and actually is starting to do much better), but we still have our work cut out for us. She's pee pee'd many times on the potty, and yesterday, for the very first time, she went #2 on the potty! We were SO proud of her, and she seemed pretty proud too, though a little freaked out at first. We're hoping this, along with many other things she does, is a sign that things will change for the better soon in the area of potty training. She really is so ready, she's just a little stubborn, so it's been tough!
• Her personality has really blossomed 10-fold. If she doesn't like the noise, or what you're listening to, or how loud you're being, she'll stick her fingers in her ear. She role-pays more with her toys and dolls, like she's in her own little world. She lays in bed with them at night, laughing and telling them stories before she finally passes out. She teaches them to wave "hi" and "bye" to others. She makes her toy monkey jump around and make monkey noises, and then she laughs at him. She gets a million more times animated when she talks, and she's always been super-animated when she talks, flailing her hands and arms about and scrunching her face. Now she adds a lot of puckered-lip talking, a lot of staring at you from the corner or bottom of her eye as she tilts her head away from you, and she does a lot of cheesy, fake laughter as she dramatically slaps both hands over her mouth and leans forward, like she just told the best joke ever.
• She had her first experience of talking on the phone with Daddy the other day. He was working late and she was being a crab because of it. On his way home, Mike called to let me know he was on his way and why he had to work two hours late that night. As I was talking to him, he heard Diana full-on freaking out in the background, so he asked to speak to her, and the moment she heard his voice she got the biggest smile on her face and immediately stopped crying. Apparently, she was just missing her Daddy. Now, she likes to take my phone from me when I'm not using it, put it to her ear and say "Hiiiiii!" and have big, long, gibberish conversations with the imaginary Daddy on the other line. It's so sweet, I can't help but laugh. She so loves her Daddy most!
• She can dress herself, all by herself, and she's pretty good at it too! Now, she's not a pro, she still needs help getting everything in the right place, but she's almost to the point that she doesn't need my help at all anymore. AWESOME! Oh, and she LOOOOOVES to dress herself, always has. When I ask her what she would like to wear every morning, she runs over to her closet, puts her hand to her mouth and says "ummmmmmmmmm..", like she's about to make a REALLY hard decision. ;)
• She loves the color pink, dresses, her swimsuit, and shoes. Ah yes, she is SUCH a shoe girl. She likes to try to put them on herself, and she likes to try to put everyone else's shoes on too and stomp around in them. I'm convinced she likes shoes because they mean she's going somewhere. She likes pink, and I don't know why. Her room is mint green, cream, and chocolate brown, I hate the color pink, but somehow she always wants the pink clothes, the pink toys, pink, pink pink. Man, she so does NOT get that from me! She always wants to wear a dress, and not just a dress, but her fancy church ones, and in the middle of the week. It's fun telling her 'no, those are for Sunday' and having her scan her clothes a million times, but still go back to those dresses at least 5 more times, like maybe I'll magically change my mind. She does the same with her swimsuit, and every once in a blue moon I'll relent and let her have her way, since she goes through about 3-4 outfits each day, as she's a very messy girl.
• She's developed an unfortunate habit of kicking and thinking it's hilarious. Her cousin is a rough kid and likes to play with her sometimes when we get together to eat, and through their playing she's picked this fun little habit up. We're having a really hard time teaching her its not ok and it's DEFINITELY NOT funny to kick others, especially not in the face. I have a feeling we've got a long way to go.
• She definitely in the middle of her terrible twos, although she's still many months away from actually being two. She throws horrible, HORRIBLE tantrums when she can't have her way, she flails around and slaps me repeatedly, she throws herself on the ground and screams "NO, MOM! NO!!". Its humiliating for me, as well as frustrating. We're working on a solution for discipline, as these tantrums almost always happen in public, and conventional discipline tactics don't work for my child. Another long, long road.
• She still LOVES babies, puppies, and kitties, and gives them all kisses and loves whenever she sees one. She still loves to wear jewelry and parade around once she has it on.
• She's a pro at using silverware when she eats, and has found that her new favorite breakfast is a big bowl of oatmeal.
• She is a pro at drinking out of a cup and very much prefers it to a sippy cup.
• She still loves to go for walks, whether she's in the stroller or walking along with us (or, should I say, waaay in front of us).
• Her favorite things to do are going to Smith's or Target and watching Cartoons (oh, and being a drama queen, too).
• She still loves to bush and style everyone's hair, including her own.
• She loves to sit down on the baby potty when Mommy sits on the big potty.
• She loves to help do laundry, load and unload the dishwasher, and sweep the floors.
• She still loves to walk around on her tip toes, to dance to everything, to brush her teeth, and to play on the computer.
• She likes to climb up on the piano bench when Mommy's playing and play along.
• She still loves car rides.
• She's getting SO much hair!
• She still LOVES showers and baths
• She LOVES and insists on receiving head, foot, and back massages. She'll go so far as to pick your hands up and place them on the area that she wants massaged, and if you don't massage her, she flips out. Yes, I know, so subtle and polite.
• She loves to get right up in your face and smirk at you with a super-cheesy smile until you smile back.
• She still loves to give kisses and snuggle for no reason at all.
• She has 12 teeth now, and teething has NOT been kind to us.
• When she gets angry, she hits her own face. This habit really bugs me and hurts my feelings, but for some reason she does it every time she gets super-angry.
• She likes to gross me out and stick her fingers in her nose until I say "ewww!" and then she bursts out in hysterical laughter.
• Her most favorite bed-time book is the "Belly Button Book".
• She still loves to play Angry Birds on my phone and still laughs hysterically whenever the birds make a huge mess.
• She's still a major drama queen and loves to turn on the waterworks whenever she gets a chance. But, she's still my most favorite little drama queen ever!!!