Christmas 2010

Christmas 2010

24 weeks

At my latest visit with the birthing center last week everything has been checking out great with baby #3! I measured right at between 22-23 weeks, the baby's heart rate was in the 160's and my blood pressure was great! I feel great as well! I remember with the other two that every morning I woke up, I could barely take a step without feeling like I was going to fall down in pain from my lower back. I have not had this problem with this baby maybe because of how down low it sits. Baby has been moving so much lately, I can't tell which way it is laying. Whether it's upside down, standing up or sitting down the only thing I know for sure is that it really likes to lay low at the bottom. I have all this extra room up top around my belly button, but never seem to feel it up there. The kids seem to really enjoy giving the baby (i.e. my stomach) kisses and stickers! Yes, stickers! Especially Junior. He loves to hand out stickers to everyone and baby always gets one...right on the belly button. That's where his kisses end up also. Gaga's kisses are everywhere on my belly! The Saturday after Thanksgiving the baby was moving quite a bit and I got Junior to come over and look at my belly and right then baby gave a huge kick that Junior was able to see and he thought that was the neatest thing! Junior asked me the other day if it was going to hurt when I pushed the baby out. I said it would just a little! His little mind is always thinking!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Gaga!

I am still having a hard time believing that our sweet baby girl is 2 years old today! Although it started out ROUGH, I hope that by the end of the night with a few presents and ice cream we made it a little nicer than it started. Gaga woke up around 10pm, just a couple hours after we put her down for the night and was up screaming in pain for the next 2 hours. She did not want to lie down, she did not want to be held, she did not want to go back to sleep. We finally calmed her by having her sit up on the couch with us thinking that maybe the cold she just finished caused her to have an ear infection. After that we took her to bed with us and she woke up nearly every hour after that to whine a little more and let us know how uncomfortable she was. That next morning she woke up with a slight fever and since we had her 2 year well check schedule the next morning after that I decided we needed to take her in just to check her ears before we tried to come in for a well visit and be turned away. Of course the pedi's office didn't open until the afternoon (trying out a new schedule so they can be open on weekends) and the earliest they could fit me in was the same time as my appointment at the birthing center. So I was able to reschedule my appointment and get the one for Gaga at the pedi. Sure enough both her ears were looking "sickly" and we were given an antibiotic and ear numbing drops. I was greatly surprised once I dropped off the antibiotic prescription they had it ready in 5 mintues! So we rushed home and got her first dose on board and put her down for her second nap that day. Later that night we went out to eat and got her some ice cream, then came home and opened a few presents. By this time you could tell she was feeling much better already and she slept great that night! Thank goodness! Happy Birthday sweet girl! We love you so much!

(2 weeks later at our rescheduled well-visit)
2 year old stats:
34-1/2 inches tall
22-1/2 lbs.

The birthday girl!

Getting her much deserved ice cream

Opening presents...

Her new baby!

Gaga's 2nd Birthday Party

We celebrated Gaga's 2nd birthday with a few family and friends at our house the Sunday before her actual birthday. As like last year, I made her another doll cake with a snowflake theme this year. We hung snowflakes around the house and wore blue shirts also. She had so much fun with all the visitors and chaos going on that day. She was a real ham opening her presents and taking her time to show everyone what she got, even holding out her cards for all to see. We saved the presents from us for her to open on Thursday, her actual birthday. Thanks to all the family and friends who came to help us celebrate our little girls birthday! Click to pic below to see the rest of the birthday fun.

2nd Birthday

Gaga's 1st Haircut

It was easy for us to determine when Junior needed a haircut (when we could see a mullet forming in the pictures we took for his first birthday). But it was different with Gaga. Being she's a girl we can let her hair grow out long. So since she's been born, that's what we have been doing. Recently we realized that the ends of her hair just looked a little sad and strangly so we figured right before her 2nd birthday would be the best time to take the plunge and get a little trim. Just enough to get off the old baby fine hair at the bottom that she was born with and to help it grow out a little more. I took her with me the day I was going to get my hair cut and have my hairdresser trim it up. She did perfectly fine through it all...it only took all of 5 minutes. She had the smock around her and sat in the chair just as still as can be. So proud of her! Although you can't tell from the before and after pictures, it does look a lot healthier and straight across the back. It was much needed for sure.

Before we started...loving her smock!

Wondering what this lady and is about to do to her

Showing me the penguins on her

Sitting so still and professional like

All done and ready for her bow to be put back in

20 weeks - Half way there!

I had my 20 week sonogram at the beginning of the week to check on baby and make sure everything is developing well. Here is what we found out:

• The baby's 4-chambered heart was pumping away at 146 bpm
• The spinal column had closed
• The placenta is posterior (meaning towards my back - same with Junior; Gaga's was anterior - in the front)
  
• The stomach was full so we know baby can swallow amniotic fluid
• The bladder was full so we know baby's kidneys were functioning
• The ventricles in the brain were a normal size
• The umbilical cord had its appropriate 3 vessels and blood flow through it was normal
• The hands and feet were accounted for

Here's what I look like from the outside

Junior loving on the baby

Gaga's turn

Here's what I look like on the inside

legs crossed with feet

hand above head

hand again above head with placenta below

profile with arm in front of face

one more profile with arm across face

Cookie Day!!!

Another Christmas fast approaching means another "Cookie Day" at my aunt's house. We made it out there the Saturday after Thanksgiving to once again spend time with my side of the family since missing them on Thanksgiving which was spent on Daddy's side of the family to bake all day and take home some delicious cookies! Although there were only 6 bakers this year, we still had about the same number of cookies placed on the table. Junior enjoyed decorating his gingerbread house that ended up looking like a church with a steeple on top, complete with a snow covered ground. Gaga's first time to be able to attempt a gingerbread tree went rather well. At the end of the night the kids entertained us with songs and dance. They were hilarious!

Cookie Day 2010

Adding to our bountiful blessings!

We found out on August 1st we were expecting baby #3! We are, of course, overjoyed to be adding to our family and watching it grow! My first appointment on August 25th was with the OB I used with Junior and Gaga. We were able to get a first look at our baby and hear the heartbeat at this time.

The first look at our new peanut @ 6weeks and 6 days (the white blob in the middle of the black hole)

When we told Junior and Gaga we were expecting another baby, Gaga of course didn't realize what was going on. Junior on the other hand had a couple of questions for us. One, would it come out tomorrow? And two, would we have to give Gaga back? That last one caught us by surprise. We laughed and told him that we would still keep Gaga and the new baby. The way he said it was so plain that we couldn't tell if he was going to be disappointed if we had to give her back or excited! I'm sure that he would have been disappointed if we said we would have to give her back. Aunt K called our house to talk shortly after we told Junior and Gaga. Little did we know that we should have told Junior not to tell anyone about the baby yet. He immediately got on the phone to talk and said, "Mommy has a baby in her tummy!" I could hear a little laugh on the other end of the line and then Aunt K said, "Were you supposed to tell me that?" Nonetheless, it was cute! We told family later by having Junior and Gaga wear big brother and big sister shirts. Most caught on quickly, but Great One had to have it spelled out for him.

I think I had been feeling baby move for quite some time, but finally pinpointed October 25th that I know it was definitely baby and not something else. I knew it would be a couple more weeks of growing bigger and stronger before Daddy would be able to feel baby and he finally did on November 8th. As soon as he can feel baby move it makes it more real to all of us.

At my first appointment with my OB she let me know that she was going to stop doing the OB side of her job and just take GYN patients. This was actually nice to hear because Daddy and I had already been thinking about using a midwife at the birthing center near our house for this pregnancy and birth that I was afraid to tell her I might not be coming back to see her. With Junior and Gaga I have pretty much had the pregnancies and births that I have wanted and planned for. It doesn't mean that I still would with this one so we opted, after much deliberation, to use the birthing center. Birthing there would give me many more possibilities of having the birth that I want including a water birth, that has always fascinated me. A few good friends have had their babies there and loved it! I have great support from them and my family which I am thankful for!

I have had a few appointments at the birthing center so far and they have been great! I am measuring right at my estimated week each time and the baby's heartbeat always sounds strong ranging from the 150's to 160's. My next appointment is next week and then another week after that is the big sono where they will make sure baby measures up to its due date and is developing normally. They will also be able to tell if it's a boy or a girl if it's positioned correctly. Before I even had Junior, I always said that if I had one child of each gender then I wouldn't find out with the 3rd one. Of course that is easy to say now because I haven't had the opportunity to find out. But I think Daddy and I are both on board with waiting until the birth to find out.

12 weeks

16 weeks

T-ball fun!

Junior loved playing t-ball this season and practiced almost every night if Daddy was able to make it home before it got dark. Daddy even pitches to him most of the time to get him ready for the next level after t-ball. The first few pictures are from a night practicing in front of our house and the last few are from his last t-ball game. They celebrated with a cupcake, t-shirt and a trophy (Junior's first one!) He is proud of it!

Daddy pitching and holding Gaga (so talented!)

Gaga taking a turn (She's quite good!)

Daddy's turn...show off!

Great swing

Nice follow through

Last game...1st baseman ready for the ball

He gets a hit!

Waiting on first base

Team picture with coaches and trophies (back right with eyes closed...oops!)

Halloween Festivities

What a whirlwind of activities we had starting a few days before Halloween leading up to it. It started out on Thursday with a Halloween party at Junior's school complete with a parade of all the kids in their costumes, games and a snack.

*Side note...Junior actually really wanted to be a trash man for Halloween and after I told him that I did not know how to make that happen, he had to choose between two other costumes we already had from my aunt. He was going to be spiderman up until the last minute when he decided that the SWAT team costume, to him, looked like Luke Skywalker. His best friend from school is really into Star Wars and teaches Junior all about it. His friend was going to be Yoda so therefore, Junior thought he could be Luke Skywalker. So this is what he really thinks he was for Halloween!

Saturday after a morning t-ball game we headed to the pumpkin patch and Nana joined us. We took pictures, rode a hayride, rode a train and bounced on a few bounce houses. Then went to my parents house to put Gaga down for a nap and then on our way home stopped by my company's "Family Day at the Park", same as we had done last year. We met up with one of my co-worker's, her husband and one of her kids. We played a few carnival type games, trick or treated in the suites upstairs, went through a bounce house obstacle course a few times, ran the bases on the field and watched fireworks at the end of the night. We were all exhausted by then! What a day!

Then on Sunday, Halloween, we enjoyed having our good friends, the H family, over for lunch and to watch a little football while all the kids played. For a while they all played baseball outside with the dad's and gave Mrs. H and I a chance to talk. It had been too long and was great to catch up! :) Later that night the same co-worker that met up with us at the ball park the night before, invited us to go trick or treating with her in her neighborhood. Junior was a pro saying "Trick or treat, please" and "thank you" at every house. He also was extremely good about asking when he was able to pick out his own treat if a certain piece had peanuts in it or not. I'm so proud of him! Gaga caught on quickly and you could just see her thinking, 'this sure is easy, all I have to do it go up to a house and they give me candy!' She never missed a beat wanting to walk all the way never wanting to be carried! I was able to get her to say "trick or treat" and "thank you" about 90% of the time and it sure was cute to hear! A couple of times her pumpkin was getting heavy and she was dragging it on the ground. We asked if we could take it from her to help her carry it and she replied "Noooo." Then we tried to at least take some of the candy out and put it in another bag to lighten her load and she replied "hey, hey, hey!" and was very worried she wouldn't see it again! Too cute!

All our pictures from the festivities are below!

Halloween 2010

Heard Museum

We all took our first trip to a local museum, actually it was Daddy and Junior's second trip. We enjoyed seeing different snakes and frogs (yuck!), unusual animals you don't find in your local zoo, and walking a trail that had movable dinosaur replicas that also made sounds. We took a picnic lunch and although the weather got cloudy at one point, it never rained on us while we were outside.

Picnic lunch (we needed our energy before the walking trails)

Walking trail with our very own 4-year-old tour guide (he studied that map intensely telling us where we needed to go at all times)

One last photo stop with the T-rex (could not get Gaga to look at the camera, she was too busy making sure the dino was not going to get her...she did NOT like the trail with dinos).

Finally, got her to look!

Baptism Day

We celebrated Junior's baptism day with a gift from his Godmother, reminiscing with pictures from that special day and the lighting of his baptismal candle. Happy 4 years, Junior!

Thanks Godmother, Aunt K!

Looking through pictures from his baptism. Love Gaga's expression!

Lighting his candle

And blowing it out

Courtyard Carnival

Our parish holds a carnival every year in the courtyard full of games, bounces houses, food and music. The kids really enjoyed it this year because the older they get the more things they can partake in.

Bean bag toss...one of the only games Gaga could really participate in...well, this and the duck pond, but she didn't want to put the ducks back after she picked one.

Gaga and Junior in the bounce house. She did NOT enjoy this.

Junior did though.

Junior in action at the football toss

Getting help from Daddy at the 'free throw' booth...notice his arms are forward and the ball is above his head? The next throw actually went forward!

Junior showing off his snake he won at the 'go fishing' game.

Junior, snake and fire truck