I know that I am not the only woman in the world who's had to deal with going up and down the stairs with a toddler while nine months pregnant, but my God! Alliclaus is still dreadfully slow going up the stairs on her own and doesn't know how to go down them by herself and while I would like to say that I just never have to take her back and forth because Andrés is always here by my side, that would be a wishful delusion. So I've been carrying her up and down the stairs at least a couple of times a day. Now that the contractions are a little stronger and the baby is attempting to engage in my pelvis, the added 25 pounds I'm carrying up the stairs are creating the horrible sensation that every step I take may break my water and cause the baby to fall out. (I know that's not really how it happens, but it is decidedly how this feels.)

So I'm letting Alliclaus go up the stairs on her own in spite of the fact that it means I'm on the staircase for upwards of five minutes at a time and just praying that she doesn't wake up until Andrés comes home. When that doesn't work, I carry her down the stairs as quickly and carefully as I can and hope for the best.

We're pretty close to making a decision to move into an apartment in another part of town in February. We're doing it mostly because it will move us close enough to my work that I would be able to come home to breastfeed, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't thrilled at the prospect of no more stairs. I can't believe that my laziness has reached this degree, but I am going to blame it on the pregnancy and believe that the laziness will go away with the heartburn and the backaches once this baby gets born.