January 6-13

A friend recently asked if I've noticed any difference between this pregnancy and the last one.  After a moment of thought... no.  However, I have noticed things that I forgot about returning to haunt me once again.  For example.  About halfway through my pregnancy with Olivia, I was thrashing squirming about one night trying to get comfortable.  Bryan asked what was wrong and I told him that my legs were too awake for me to sleep.  He suggested that I do a couple rounds of 6 inches to tire them out.  This worked, but took longer (and more ab muscles) than I wanted.  After that, I took to doing a few squats by the side of the bed whenever my legs bothered me.  As I was generally up to go to the bathroom at some point anyway, I'd just toss in between 10 and 20 squats before climbing back into bed.  With Reggie, the restless legs hit last week.  I had forgotten about them, but the memory quickly returned.  In an attempt to stave off the need for 3 am squats, I added them to my tooth brushing routine.  You should have seen Bryan's face the first time he saw me doing squats while I brushed my teeth.  :)  I told him about my restless legs, and he, too, had a moment of recognition.   My squats were approved as a suitable solution, and he decided it wouldn't hurt for him to do some, too.  So now squats are the exercise of choice during tooth brushing.  You should try it.  As an added bonus, you can tell if you brushed long enough by how sore your thighs are the next morning.  :-P

Olivia is now as close to running as short toddler legs with a diapered behind can get.  She walks very fast, and it's not exactly the same motion as her normal walk.  As a result of all her movement, Olivia is losing her baby fat.  We can't tell when we look at her (especially right after a meal -- she's still small enough that you can tell if she's eaten or not just by looking at how fat her belly is), but she definitely looks fatter in pictures from a few months ago.

At what age do kids start posing for pictures?  I didn't think it was until later, but Olivia is to the point where I can tell her to hold still and smile for the camera and she will.  She's not old enough to have a goofy smile yet, either.  See below for a posed picture or two.

I am now the inferior parent.  I used to be the favorite, but now I am associated with only bad things.  Diaper changes?  Mom's domain.  Bedtime?  All mom.  Not letting kids do fun things like eat crayons, have cookies for dinner, or climb on the back of the couch?  Mean mommy strikes again.  Bryan, on the other hand, is associated with playtime.  When he comes home for lunch or at the end of the day, Olivia immediately brightens up and runs (or crawls) to the door, screeching excitedly.  When I'm gone for a day and come home, I get greeted with "meehhh."  No, you probably didn't say that right.  Try again, with more whine in your voice.  I regain my favored status at church on Sunday, when I am the only correct choice and must hold Olivia for at least 85% of the service.  It must be in the fine print of my contract.

Olivia has this thing she does: if she's no longer satisfied with the food that is being offered for a meal, she shakes her head and imperiously points towards the kitchen.  The implication being, "go find me something more worthy of my consumption, minion!"  Sometimes it works (mostly when dad is home), sometimes it doesn't (more often when mom is in charge).  She tries anyway, though, in hopes that she won't have to eat whatever she has deemed inedible.

Pictures:

Trying out one of the rides at the mall.  Bryan even put quarters in for her, at which point she was promptly scared and tried to get out:

Posing for pictures:

Being silly:

She brought me each (and every) stuffed animal individually that I might arrange them all on the couch: