Lots of complaining

Okay, I am so totally ready to have this kid. He moves around like a 6 month fetus, still, but there isn't room in my belly for that. It is getting painful. This morning he was tap dancing on my ribs. I can't bend forward, can't lean back, can't stand or walk for long periods, and generally am never comfortable. I feel like every morning I wake up and there is some new sign that the end is near. This morning I felt like I was trying to walk with a ball between my knees. He is definitely going down farther. Just a few more days. Once Debbie gets here (Friday, YAY!!), I will be starting my "get this baby out now" regimen. I'm thinking raspberry leaf tea, long walks with Claire, lots of spicy foods, etc. Though I think just the relief of her being here might be enough to get it started. Right now, I am still worried about Claire needing to be taken care of if I go into labor before she gets here. Shannon and Ian would watch her for us, and she does LOVE Shannon, but I don't want it to be a burden either. Shannon has been such a great help, watching Claire for me during appointments and such. I hate to take advantage. And I think Claire is getting into her "terrible toddler" stage (since she isn't really two yet). The past few days have been just...trying, to say the least. I think maybe she can tell that something is different with Mommy and that is part of the problem. I've tried to explain it to her as best I can, but I don't know how much she really gets. Plus that whole falling out of the crib on her head thing. That might have something to do with it. (If you aren't on facebook, Claire fell out of her crib Sunday. Landed on her head. But all she did was bite her tongue. Otherwise she is fine, thankfully. It was really scary.) She hasn't been eating well, but is starving and asking for food all the time. She won't sit in her booster seat at the table, her car seat, or lay down on her changing table (most of the time. Sometimes she does.) It doesn't seem like anything is hurting her. She doesn't have diaper rash or any physical symptoms of why she is acting the way she is. She doesn't seem to be teething or anything. I think she is just being a punk and starting to test limits. She has run out of the yard a few times and down the street when we are out front together. For a while, she would listen when I told her to stop. Now she just goes. She tries to get me to feed her "candy" instead of a real meal. (Her favorite thing right now is yogurt covered raisins. Anytime you pick her up near the fridge, she points up to the top where they are and asks for some. I mostly limit them to dessert.) I offer her a few different things to eat and she just says "no, no, no" to everything, even though I KNOW for a fact that she likes green beans, and crunchies (basically baby cheetos, but healthier), and raisins. And I know she is hungry. A few times she has thrown a major fit at the table, and won't eat anything, until I can finally get a bite in her mouth. Then she realizes that what I am feeding her is not actually poison, and eats it all. Or she throws a fit and won't eat, says she is done, we put her down, and she runs over to sit on one of our laps, and then will happily eat a full meal on our laps. I am really trying to break her of that. I don't have much lap left to share. I know we just both need to be firmer that she eats in her chair, not in our laps. She is still a dear child, and very sweet, and I love her. I'm just getting frustrated at the moment. At least Alann will be home a bit more and Grandma will be here soon.
I do have a funny Claire story. The other night we went out to eat at a Mexican restaurant. Their salsa isn't too hot, but it had some spicy parts to it. Claire was dipping her entire chip into the salsa and then eating it. The salsa gave her a tummy ache pretty quick. I think it made her mouth burn too. So we took that away from her and she drank almost a full cup of water. Then when we had dinner, she ate a ton of rice and beans because she was starving (another case of "I'm starving but wont eat, oh wait that really does taste good gimme gimme gimme"). The restaurant uses sliced olives for garnish. I started giving her some. She realized that she could poke the olive, and it would stick on her finger. After that, she would only eat the olives that stuck to her fingers. She wouldn't eat the pieces. It was so funny to watch her poke them and see if they would stick or not. And it kept her busy for a good long while so we could enjoy our dinners. Things have been giving her tummy aches more recently. I think maybe she is growing. She seems to go through stages. She will be totally fine for a while, then suddenly get hiccups several times a day for a few days. Then she will be fine, and then everything gives her the worst gas/bloating. I'm slightly concerned she might be allergic/ sensitive to red meat. She won't eat it. Maybe she just doesn't like it. But it's my job as mommy to worry. Last time we had pizza, she ate a bunch because she likes it, but that night had terrible gas pains and couldn't sleep well, even though we gave her gas meds. It's on my list of things to talk to the pediatrician about. That and bananas. She used to love them. Now she won't touch them. So I worry that those bother her too, like the pineapple. She doesn't get diaper rash, she just will not eat them. If she takes a bite or two, she cries a bit afterwards. I understand. Sometimes bananas hit my tummy the wrong way and make it hurt too.
So I am basically just tired of beng pregnant, ready to be done, trying to get the house prepped, and enjoying life with a toddler who wants to make the rules. Life is good though.