37+ week update and Miserable Mallory

Well, two days of pre-baby maternity leave down and not much relaxing yet.

I had my weekly NST and OB appointment on Monday and I took Mallory with me. Mallory was too cute telling everyone about Baby Arlo in my tummy and alternating between telling everyone it was a boy or a girl. We got to see Arlo on the ultrasound screen but I don’t know if Mallory really understood what we were looking at. Baby is still head down (good) and was SUPER active (good for the doctors, not good for my uterus) so we got to skip the 20-minutes on the belly monitoring bands (good). No internal exam this week but Dr B said that she would get things moving for me if I wanted her to at either my next appointment or the one after (I can’t remember which one). I am happy to be  fine with will tolerate being pregnant until my due date – I would just prefer to not go a week late again!

Funny story – when my OB walked in to the curtained exam room, she started to say hi to me but then she saw Mallory sitting on the bed with me and she forgot ALL about me and said “Well, HELLLLL-OOOOOO!” to Mallory and proceeded to gush about how cute she is. That night over dinner, I was telling Rick about how Dr B reacted with the “well, helllll-oooooo” (saying it all dramatic like Dr B did) and then Mallory imitated me. I.WAS.CRACKING.UP!

After my doctor’s appointment, we made a trip to go see Rick at work. I’d been trying to reach him for AN HOUR after my appointment and finally decided we’d just head over there. Worse case scenario we’d get to see some the secretaries, etc. We were chatting with Miss Mary (they have a house on our lake in the summer time) when Rick called. I told him he was in the doghouse because he can’t be unreachable for OVER AN HOUR right now. Mallory picked up on it and told Mary that Daddy was in the doghouse. LOL.

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Mallory has been having some GINORMOUS temper tantrums the past few days. On Saturday morning when I picked her up from my sister’s, she didn’t want a diaper on and she didn’t want her clothes on so I ended up putting her in the car in just a diaper. She proceeded to scream the ENTIRE way to my mom’s house – I’m sure more than one passing car thought they should call protective services. But once we got to my mom’s, she snapped out of it and was great. Repeat yesterday morning on our way to school (albeit she had clothes on this time) and again when I picked her up from school and again at the scrapbook store. At the scrapbook store, she wanted to take her coat off but I knew we’d only be in there for two minutes so I asked her to leave it on. So when she still took it off – and then expected me to carry it for her – I told her she had to carry her own coat. Holy mad toddler. She was rolling around the floor SCREAMING and I just ignored her while I was asking the clerk for what I needed. Then another customer came in (older lady) and she was saying “oh, poor thing” and frowning at me. Hey lady – mind your own f#cking business. What you don’t know is that my kid is well aware of what she is doing and I refuse to give in. I do not enjoy listening to Mallory scream bloody murder but when it is clearly a battle of the wills, I need to stand my ground. And then when it was time to leave and Mallory still wouldn’t put her coat on, she got carried to the car – in the rain – coatless and screaming. Again – feel free to call protective services.

Then we had WW18 this morning. God forbid I suggest she let her dad help her go potty. She got so mad at me that she hit me with her bear blankie and proceeded to scream and cry. It took a good 10 minutes of ignoring her and finally gating her in her bedroom before she would apologize and snap out of it (and she is always super happy after getting through the tantrum). I am used to her having these episodes once in a while, but four in four days is killing me. It is a patience-tester, that’s for sure. We have had baby stuff out and ready for a month or so, so it’s not like all the new Arlo gear is causing her to wig out. My only thought is that the time change is wreaking havoc on her schedule? She had a hard time going down for a nap yesterday at daycare (normally I think she is one of the first to fall asleep at naptime but yesterday one of the teachers had to sit with her for an HOUR, stroking her head to keep her calm before she’d fall asleep). So there are some things that aren’t normal and I’m trying to figure it out. I am supposed to go play Bunco with the football ladies tonight but am thinking about not going. I feel like Mallory needs some normal routines at home to get back on track but I also think it would be good for her & Rick to have some time alone. We’ll see how I feel later today.

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Here is some good news: Mallory went potty yesterday before school. Then when I picked her up, her report card showed she went on the potty FOUR TIMES – and was in the same diaper I put her in that morning (she lets us re-use her diaper when it’s dry!). When we got home from school, I asked if she would go grab my slippers from my room. She didn’t come right back down but I heard her talking away so I ran upstairs (I was afraid she’d gotten into something she shouldn’t) – but instead I saw her in the bathroom trying to put her diaper back on. So she’d come upstairs and instead of getting my slippers, she took her pants down, took off her diaper, got on the toilet, went pee, and wiped herself. What a big girl! She went on the potty one more time and then we let her put underpants on…which she proceeded to pee in. ARGH!

That’s all I’ve got for right now. I have some cute video to share but need to upload it first. But right now I’m going to nap!