Big girl.

Something about being in the last month of this pregnancy is making me nostalgic, probably the awareness that time will only speed up with the addition of another child. It hit me this past week that when people ask how old Miya is, we no longer refer to her age in "months" as we have pretty much her whole life. It was always natural to respond with oh she's __ months. Now we just say...."oh she turned 2 in March" or she'll be 2 1/2 soon, or in the especially frazzled moments "she's 2". I just have such a hard time believing how big she is getting and I just keep feeling that I not only want to soak up every moment with her, but also realizing how much I want to document so I can remember all this fun stuff!

What she is saying: (or should we say what is she NOT saying...the talking seems to never stop :))

- "Make baby Micah dance!" She somehow finds some amusement in me moving my belly so she can see micah "dance"

- "Oh I love lemolade, I will have mommy's lemolade!" Referring to my water with lemon in it :)

- "Hug Mommy...I NEED to hug Mommy" usually said with urgency, and usually during a time where she is being asked to do something she doesn't want to.

- "Jesus pweas help Miya...I'm pwaying!!" Bless her heart Miya has been saying these little short prayers on her own these days and the funniest part is she realizes she is saying them and all the sudden stops praying and yells "oh I'm pwaying!!" as if it catches her by surprise, or she wants to make sure Mommy and Daddy know.

- "I need to go poo poo!" (repeated over and over and usually with tears and holding on to mommy and or daddy with a death grip) not to be confused with the casual "i need to go to potty", in this instance this is her "catch phrase" when she is terrified of something and wants one of us to save her. She will repeat this over and over and over usually followed by "I need to go home". A few of her BIG fears/dislikes lately:

• airshow and any loud airplanes
• any sudden loud noises
• fireworks
• parades
• clowns

I feel like there is more but those are the major ones for now. Why she chooses this phrase when she is afraid? We think she believes that if she says it we will remove her from the situation or person that is scary to her.

- "Papa you want to go to a baseball game? yeah yets go to a baseball game" a girl after her daddy's heart.

- When I put her down in her big girl bed she has learned to say "don't get out until mommy comes to get you!" amazingly she also tells on herself when she doesn't obey this rule by immediately saying when I come in to get her "Miya get out."

- "Chawge!" she is in love with the "charge" cheer at baseball games, in fact she sometimes wants us to cheer it while she is on the potty.

- "I wuv baby Micah, can I hug him?" followed by hugs and kisses to my belly.

- "I'm fwimming!" still love how she still sometimes replaces her "s" with a "f" sound. She is referring to swimming here, her favorite summer activity thus far.

- She understands consequences at this point. When we ask her what happens when she disobeys she replies with " Miya gets an ipapwin" pronounced just like dicipline but missing the d and with the "w" sound replacing the "l" sound. Silly girl.


She has been so affectionate and silly. I love this age so much, even in though it truly is the most exhausting stage of motherhood so far. She says so many funny things and does so many funny things. Trying to soak up all this 1 on 1 time we have before Micah comes.

A few other quirks I want to remember:

• She insists on sleeping with 15+ stuffed animals and dolls. She is literally surrounded by them all
• She loves fruit and many times will choose fruit over other forms of dessert
• She has just started to name her stuffed animals and dolls and carry them around like they are her babies
• She likes to carry funny little random toys and place them at funny places all over the house, bathroom, steps, foyer, underneath furniture. It makes for a fun treasure hunt at the end of the day after she goes to bed.

She is also 90% potty trained. Basically completely trained during the day (woohoo!) and still working on nighttime. But truthfully, having her trained during the day has been awesome now that she finally gets it! But getting there was quite the challenge. Figuring out the right routine and helping to work through her fears of public bathrooms. But I am happy to report on Wednesday for the first time EVER Miya actually went potty in a public restroom! It was such a triumph, after MONTHS and MONTHS of her refusing to even want to sit on a public toilet, let alone even enter a public bathroom, she not only sat on the potty but actually went. We made a huge deal and she got ice cream afterwards. It makes it so much easier when we are out and about now.

That's it for now. I will do a pregnancy update after my 36 week appointment on Wednesday. Hard to believe I am that close!