The Point of No Return

(Look at this face. Can you imagine she can scream like any of the best horror movie queens?)

Every night, just after dinnertime, Megan enters what I call the Point of No Return. She gets so tired and it's like a switch is flipped and she becomes a crying mess. I get her ready for bed--whether or not she'll scream in the bathtub is a coin toss--and then hold her in the rocking chair, where we read, say prayers, and sing songs. At some point, she quiets down and cuddles with me in my arms. (I have to say that's the greatest part of my day--that and when I'm singing to her and she looks at me like she couldn't imagine how lucky she is to have me as a mom. I need to keep a mental picture of that in my head and save it for when she's a moody teenager!)

When it's time to get into bed, I stand up and move toward the crib. And the wailing begins. This has gone on for a couple of weeks now, and the window of screaming appears to be shrinking. When she first started, she could scream for up to 45 minutes. Tonight, she did about five or so.

I'll go in once to make sure she's okay if she's really screaming like crazy, but I try not to. If I do, I'll pick her up and cuddle her. If she quiets down (which she usually does), I call that her "critical error," because it means she's perfectly fine and not in any pain, so back down she goes. And the screaming commences.

I know it's all for the best, and that she needs to learn to fall asleep without me, but I have to say, it's a real test of my will!

11 Months Old!

Megan turned 11 months old on July 2. Hard to believe she's almost a year old!

Lots of stuff going on this month. She's becoming more mobile--although scooting appears to be her method of choice--and she's babbling like crazy, even adding "bye-bye" as a word.


And she's tried new foods. Egg yolks, strawberries, cheese blintzes, cantaloupe, and avocado. She really liked avocado, but as you can tell from the picture below, she go quite messy! (Her runny nose didn't help matters...)

Here's Megan about to give her daddy a kiss!

Guess What?

Megan's going to have a little brother or sister!!!!!!! Due January 12th, so probably late December, given Megan's early arrival.

And no, this wasn't an in-vitro baby. Apparently the fertility doctor did one heck of a job with my reconstructive surgery!

We're very excited. We were waiting to see if this would happen, and it did! How about that?

I'm 95% thrilled and 5% terrified about how I'm going to manage two kids 17 months apart. But as P.C. said, two years ago we didn't even know if we could have one! So I guess, like with one, we'll figure it out.

As for Megan, she's currently going through the "I'm going to scream every night when you put me to bed" phase, which is a real test for us. Poor thing--she screams like a crazy person, and when I go in there, she quiets down and then screams harder. Fun! I just keep telling myself that it's a stage. It's a stage. It's a stage. The good news is, she's getting really verbal and wanting to stand up and she just keeps changing every day.

In the picture above, the baby (We're calling it "Sprout" this time around) is facing front. While we were looking at him, his top hand was waving. So funny!

I'm so happy to share the good news!!!!