Ayden, Jameson, Ultrasound, Closet and Week #21

I had expected yesterday morning to not go well for two reasons.

1. I was going to be dropping Jameson off at Marguerite's while Ayden remained in the car. He was going to go hang out with David...by himself...for an hour before the other kids got there. He hasn't been without his brother at the sitter's in 2 years. I was worried.

2. I was then going to drop Ayden off for his first day of PreK. Was I worried about Ayden? No way. I was worried about me. I had my fingers crossed that there wouldn't be a lot of parents dropping off at 6:45am and my tears would go unnoticed.

Well, it went better than expected. Way better. When we arrived in Marguerite's driveway Ayden turned to Jameson and said, "Okay brudder. You go into Mar-reet's and I stay in the car so I can go to school.". Jameson turned to Ayden and said, "Bye-bye! Day!!!". We walked into the house, he gave me a hug and kiss, told me "Day" and proceeded to put the vacuum cleaner away. BTW - "Day" means have a good day.

After the 2 minute drive to Royal learners, I insisted that Ayden stand by some wicker furniture so I could take his picture with his new backpack. He couldn't have been less interested in having his pictured taken and only wanted to get his butt through the door. We put his backpack in his room and joined the rest of the early arrivals to hang out on the comfy couches they have in the entrance area. I had to force a hug and kiss from my baby and it was then that I started to bawl my eyes out. I hid in Ayden chubby cheek hoping no one would notice. Ayden put his hand on my cheek and said "It'll be okay mommy". Hmmmm. My soon-to-be-4-year-old was consoling me. In front of like 6 parents! I gave him one last hug, told him to be good and ran out the door to may waiting vehicle.

To make matters worse, this is a very nice school and we're paying out the rear for it. As I looked up to leave, I noticed all of the Land Rovers, Escalades, BMWs and Mercedes. I was the only Eddie Bauer Ford Expedition with more dents than a single human could possibly count (thanks to downtown Atlanta parking!). I'm sure that I've been labeled the "Crazy Mom Who Can't Leave Her Child Without Crying And Drives a Ford".

Oh well, Ayden loved his first day and I spent some quality time at work spying on him online. I love that they have all sorts of cameras inside the classroom and on the playground.

I also had another ultrasound yesterday. This one was pretty important to me. Dr. Korotkin announced at my last ultrasound that we were going to have a girl, but I needed one more confirmation. At first, Ava's legs were crossed and curled in toward her body. Great. After poking at my stomach and jiggling it all around, I got a few kicks and asked if they could look one more time. Ava had uncurled her legs just enough that Dr. Korotkin was able to see that despite my suspicions, our baby had not sprouted a penis during the past 5 weeks. He was still trying to convince me that it couldn't be "tucked" away somewhere as I was walking out the door. I'm definitely feeling more confident that Ava will remain a girl. This is a good thing, since this what her closet is starting to look like...

Hmmmm...see any pink in there?

Anyhoo, here's what's going on during Week #21!

Your beautiful little miracle-gro baby will be putting on a full ounce and a half this week (and weighing up to 16.5 ounces), but that’s just the beginning! Within the next five weeks, they’ll really be packin’ it on! For now, we’re pleased to report the addition of rapid eye movement (REM) a key component to any healthy baby’s sleep schedule. While in the dermatology department: their thin soft skin is very red, rather translucent, and a bit wrinkled. Not to worry, it’s not a premature aging disease. It's just their clever little body setting them up with extra space that will smooth out once your little one starts packing on the baby-fat. That won’t be for a few more weeks, though. So for the time being, your munchkin is still a little lean mean growing machine! The beginnings of what is commonly called “brown fat” is just starting to fill in to help your baby retain some body heat, which is crucial as they’re not yet capable of regulating their own body temperature.