102 Weeks

Carmen is sick again!  Damn daycare!  A friend told me that it took 2 -3 months of daycare before her daughter stopped getting sick.  I guess it is going to be the same for Carmen.  She has a cold again.  But on the bright side, she had a really good day there on Tuesday, and even lay down and napped for 45 minutes! They told me they were all very excited and even took a photo :)  

We had a fairly quiet week, with a few visits to some parks, some painting and playdoh sessions, and an overnight stay at Carmen's grand parents' place.  Now that it is coming down to the wire baby-wise, my parents have been kind enough to take Carmen off our hands for a while, to give me some rest.  I am exhausted, my feet are like balloons, and I have a very ungraceful waddle to my gait.  Pregnancy can be so undignified!

Cute video of Carmen dancing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMrs9MkeTqg&feature=youtu.be

Playdoh time

Carmen's home-made head band

 Playing with balloons - her new favourite activity

 She prefers to wear her helmet backwards in the house

101 Weeks

We have had a happy week, no illnesses, and lots of fun.  Carmen cried a fair bit when I dropped her off at school on Monday, but Tuesday was much better.  She still did not sleep on Tuesday - she did sit on her bed for nap time, but when they asked her to lie down she said no.  She was very tired, and apparently whenever they weren't looking, she would lie down and put her head on her pillow, and then whenever they looked over at her she would sit bolt upright.  They told me she is very cunning :)  On her school days I pick her up early so that she gets dinner early and is in bed by 6pm, because she is so exhausted from lack of sleep.  This makes school nights good for me too!

Carmen is being a little naughty these days, particularly with me (perhaps only with me).  I will ask her a question and she'll just look at me and smile.  She won't sit still for meal times, and whines and complains A LOT!  We have started counting to 3 and doing time outs with her, putting her into her bedroom for 2 minutes with the door shut.  It is working a charm.  The funny thing is, when I go in to get her after her time out, she is always standing in the same spot with a little grin on her face.  But the bad behaviour is over, so I don't think it matters that she actually enjoys her time out!

This week I took Carmen to visit with her little friend Hunter and his twin baby siblings.  She held one of them on her lap, but I don't think she gets the connection yet that she is going to have one of her own soon.  Carmen also had a surprise visit from one of the neighbourhood kids, because apparently Carmen has the best play room in town.  And then on Saturday we went to the Scarecrow Festival in Milton with her grandparents (whom she has officially named Lolo and Dida), and then on Sunday while I worked, Carmen and Jeffrey had a daddy daughter day and went to the beach.  So all in all, a busy and happy week :)

Carmen enjoying her mummy's "green smoothie"

Surprise visit from Feine

100 Weeks & 23 Months

This week-end we hit 100 weeks and 23 months - this means only one month to go until my due date.  Scary!

Carmen came down with a cold and missed school on Tuesday.  She is at the tail end of it now, so it hasn't been the best week, more-so because she passed the cold on to me, and my mother!  I was sick all week, and still am not in the best of shape now.  I guess this is my punishment for sending her to day care!  She went again this morning, and was so horribly upset when I left, it was awful.  I cried all the way into town.  I called them about 40 minutes later, and she was still upset.  But when I picked her up this afternoon she was happily playing.  She still hasn't slept there, but at least today she sat in her bed and read a book - this is progress.  They said they thought she would fall asleep sitting up and then just keel over, but it didn't happen.  She is very stubborn!  Her speech has become very good, and she surprised us this week by counting to 12 without any encouragement from us.  She has also become obsessed with pickles.  She just absolutely loves them, to the point where it is the first thing she says every morning, or whenever she is fussing and we ask her what she wants, the answer is always, "Pickle".  I don't think they're the healthiest snack, but I guess it could be worse!

This week-end we went to a photography exhibition at Cupitt's Winery, and we took some amazing photos. We had such beautiful ones of Carmen against this totally scenic background and crazy sunset.  Lovely close-ups and beautiful landscapes.  And then when I went to download them onto my computer, there was an error on the camera card and all of the photos were erased.  So, we don't have great photos for this week-end, just two photos from this morning right when we were leaving for school (which is why Carmen looks distressed - she kept saying, "No school.  Home." and breaking my heart.

Here is a video of Carmen counting to 12 (for all who didn't see it on Facebook):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_2XpqquJlY

99 Weeks

We have had a good week.  Carmen did fairly well at school, but didn't nap, so I picked her up early and napped her here at home.  Today when I took her, she didn't even cry when I left - such an improvement!!  But then she still didn't nap there.  She decided that she wanted to colour in instead, so for the sake of peace and letting the other kids sleep, they let her.  This meant that this evening I had to deal with a toddler who for the first time had missed her nap.  She was fine until shower time, then she turned into a total monster.  She threw the worst tantrum I have ever seen!  She didn't want to take her jacket off, then she didn't want to get in the shower, then she clawed at the door the whole time she was in there, then she didn't want to get out of the shower, all the while she was kicking and screaming and slashing and wailing.  I gave up and left her in the bathroom, and her dad found her sobbing on the floor.  Needless to say, she went to bed early :)  She has also caught a cold again.

Anyway, Carmen's Uncle Sting came down for a visit, but we forgot to take any photos.  The weather has been lovely, so Carmen has been to different parks, and out for walks too.  I am really hoping this mild weather is a foreshadowing of how our winter is going to be!

Slippers on the wrong feet!  Blame Dad for that one.

Pimp Daddy Carmen

Her new friend

Playing Humpty Dumpty

98 Weeks

Carmen went to school on Monday for three hours, and they said she had a good day (despite the fact that she was screaming and slashing like a wild animal when I left).  Then she went back on Tuesday for three hours, and they said she had a fantastic day.  So, it gets better and better.  However, they did say she is very set in her ways and they could foresee a lot of trouble getting her to nap there.  So, that is the big hurdle for tomorrow, to get her to sleep at her school.  But I am so glad she enjoys herself after her initial meltdown when I leave!  It makes the time that she's away much easier knowing that she isn't upset.

We have had a good week, with all illnesses finally over.  The weather has been crisp but beautiful, so we took Carmen on a picnic at the park at Burrill Lake.  She loves that park - she can feed the ducks there.  However, she did consume a lot more of the bread that we brought than the ducks did.  Her speech is improving every week, and she said her longest sentence today: "Carmie's pants keep fall down".  They keep falling down because she lost weight with her gastro, and she is definitely a skinny minnie.  Also, she is pretty much potty trained, during the day at least, with only a few accidents all week.  I never knew it would be so easy!

Making a sculpture (wearing her dad's helmet)

 Feeding the ducks

97 Weeks & Mother's Day

Well, the big news this week is that despite Carmen's bout of gastro (she's just getting better today), she decided it was time to toilet train!  It has only taken a couple of days, and today she had zero accidents.  She is still in a nappy at night time, but that is all.  I can't believe it was all so easy, and I am very happy that it has happened before the baby arrives!  She is going back to school tomorrow, so we will see how she goes there (both emotionally and with the potty training!).  I am still only going to take her in for 3 hours, but hopefully every time will get better and better.  She is going back on Tuesday for another 3 hours, fingers crossed.

Today was Mother's Day, and the little miss was rather fussy.  We went out for morning drinks with my parents, and Carmen was a little grouch.  After a long nap she was much better this afternoon, and we went for a nice walk.  The weather has been amazing, so we are making the most of it.

96 Weeks

Well, this week has been full of ups and downs!  I took Carmen to day care on Monday,Wednesday and Friday just for a little play while I stayed with her.  Meanwhile Jeffrey and I were horribly sick with Carmen's cold.  Carmen seemed to really enjoy herself at 'school'.  So, it was a good week.  Then on Saturday Carmen seemed rather ill-tempered and seemed to have a bit of a tummy bug.  Then I knew she was sick when she threw up copious amounts of undigested food!  We still managed to go out for a walk though.  Then on Sunday she still was a bit sick, but her spirits seemed OK, so we took her to the park. However, she was barely eating anything. Yesterday (Monday) she had her first real day at school (again!), but this time in with the bigger kids.  She was fairly upset on and off, but they said it was nothing unusual or traumatic.  She was only there for three hours.  She refused most foods yesterday (you'd think this would be a clue).  I took her back to school today for another morning, but as soon as I got home, I received a call from them saying she had diarrhea so bad that she needed a complete wardrobe change, and that they had taken her temperature twice with 2 different thermometers, and her temperature was only 34.5 degrees (94.1 for you Yanks), which is hypothermia!  So I ran up and got her and took her to the doctor who said she has gastro. (This was all an hour and a half before I had to go back to the doctor for my anti-natal appointment!).  And to top everything off, while she was at school yesterday, our car broke down, and we had to deal with getting it towed and serviced.  We got the car back already, and it was just a minor fix, so that is one good thing!  I'm hoping the week ahead goes better.

Three short videos from this week:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDcxK1ziHD4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBvwe7IBmpU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cd9bJco9G8U