Baby Girl has a birthday!!

It's funny, I remember writing this same exact post about Jack a few years ago. It was a relief then and it's a big one now!

I had my checkup today. I am 32 weeks 2 days, and everything is looking great. Blood pressure was 110/70 (textbook perfect!), baby was measuring 32 inches in fundal height, and she's right on track. I am still having a lot of contractions and cramping but still not dilating at all, which is good. Doctor Gould did say that she may have dropped a bit into my pelvis, but that doesn't really mean much (except more waddling for Mommy.)

The best news was that we got her c-section date scheduled! Drumroll please... April 17 at 7:30am! Whoo hoo! (Justin jokingly asked if we could move it to 9am so he could sleep in...funny guy he is!)

I am very excited to have a "date" even though I know it could change if she decides to come early.

Jack is enjoying his last few weeks as an only child. We had absolutely beautiful weather last week and although it's turned a bit colder this week, we were still happy to enjoy a few days of springtime sun.

Jack playing out back in his "pool" (sandbox) on
a warm day!

Getting supplies for Baby Girl at the store. He helped!

Reading books to Daddy Dog and Baby Elmo
before putting them to bed in the crib. So cute :)

32 weeks!

I was testing my ability to update the blog from my phone, so I thought I would give you a pic update at 32 weeks. Eek! Please excuse the cheesy bathroom shot. Just thought you'd like to see how large and in charge I'm getting!

Recently

Recently at our house...

• I was getting Jack ready for his nap after he came home from school. I took off his socks and he started screaming in pain, saying "it hurts!! I have a boo boo on my leg!!!" I started gently pushing on various parts of his feet and legs, trying to see if he had broken a toe or something in school and I just didn't know it. I finally asked him, "point to where it hurts!!!" as I frantically checked him over. He pointed to the sock line indentations on his legs and told me: "LOOK Mommy!!! Big boo boos on my legs!! They hurt really really bad!" Hmm. A little melodramatic much?? I told him that that was completely normal and I had to take off my own socks to prove it. 
• He told me that he was "sick and tired" of his shadow following him around and I needed to "give it a time out." Yes, really.
• Some phrases that I must say all the time because they are now his: "holy cow!" and "oh man!" I guess it could be worse...
• I pulled into the parking lot at school today and walked over to the playground. What did I see? Jack, standing in a big circle holding hands with six little girls probably around age 5 or so. They were playing Ring Around the Rosie, and they were all gently stroking his head and holding his hand while they all fell down. He was in HEAVEN and they thought he was the cutest thing ever. "Oh man," are we in trouble down the road if he's this much of a shameless flirt now...
• He's become much more snuggly and kissable lately. He always asks me for "two kisses" and wants to hug and touch me at all times. He also says "I love you Mommy" constantly. All the Mommy books and blogs say this is completely normal before a new baby comes, which is good because I have to say - I am really enjoying it. :)

Ultrasound Pics!

This week was pretty crazy, but I did get a chance to have an ultrasound on Thursday. We got some great pictures of baby girl at 30-ish weeks! The technician was amazing and snapped the shots below. She is still a girl (yay!) and she is measuring just above 3 lbs now. So now you can start guessing who she looks like ... I don't see much of a resemblance to Jack. It's so strange that siblings can look different!

First- this is the ONLY picture I could find of Jack in 4D. I don't know where they all went...I hope we have the DVD somewhere!! Anyway... JACK:

Jack, approx 31 weeks, May 2009.

And now presenting...baby girl!!!!

Beautiful little face!! Baby girl at approximately 31 weeks.

Yes, she really did give us the peace sign!! She kept her hands and feet
in front of her face for most of the visit (sounds very uncomfortable to me...)
but she wasn't shy about showing off her eyes, nose and mouth.

Snuggled up against the uterine wall. She stayed snug in the same spot
the whole time. (Yes, still transverse breech.)

Grabbing at her little nose.

The normal profile shot.

Puckered lips. She did this a lot. Such a girly girl!!

Sleeping peacefully. See you soon!!

Today I told Jack that soon, Mommy and Daddy were going to the hospital and baby girl would come out then. After that, we could take her home. He goes, "Ohh that will be so fun! I can't wait to play with my trains with her!" He's so excited and it's adorable :)

If you are interested, the whole 20 minute ultrasound is posted here: [*Editor's note: It's too long for You Tube. Justin will work on compressing it and I will load as soon as he's done.]
http://youtu.be/b0IN7ZaR6pQ
Thank Justin for his awesome editing techniques!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day from our family to yours! Yet another holiday is here that is made even more special by the fact that our little man can enjoy and understand it! 

We started the celebration on Friday night. Spencer's church had an awesome bake sale / silent auction / craft making party for families and kids, complete with a yummy spaghetti dinner. We had so much fun hanging out with Spencer and his Mommy, and a few of the other families from Apple. (And the boys ate enough cupcakes, cookies, and chocolate to last an entire lifetime!) 

I tried to get good pictures, but this was just about the only 2.5 seconds that they sat still... so here ya go.

Patiently (?) waiting for dinner.

Jack analyzing his napkin. "Mommy, what's it say?"

Checking out all the other stuff going on...

We had a lot of fun and a lot of treats!! 

On Sunday afternoon, Abby and her girls invited us to Stanford's Family Valentine's Party. We took the kids and gave the Daddies a break (to work - Justin - and study - Jesse - not sure how much of a break that was!) and headed to make some awesome crafts. It was easier said than done, even with two sets of adult hands. I got lots of cuddle time in with baby Penny (who is now 4 months old! Holy cow!) and Jack and Molly had fun running around together as always.

Baby Penny, huge pregnant me, Jack (mouth full as usual), Molly, and Abby 

This morning, I got up a little before the boys to lay out their Valentine's baskets. Justin and Jack both gave me super cute cards (Jack's was a work of art!!) and we had a few minutes to relax in bed and open our cards and presents and candy. Then, it was time for Jack to head to school for his party!

Is it sad that I bought the Dove for myself...?

 Jack ran into school without a second thought or glance at me. He was thoroughly prepared for a big party day at school today! I left him very excited for his day, and this is what I found in his cubby when I came to pick him up....

Jack's cubby. His bag was filled with Valentines from his friends!

 He told me all about his day. They had cupcakes, exchanged cards, and learned about love and the colors pink and red. (Still working on the colors thing.) He told me that he pooped and he cried (he gets so mad when he messes up at school.) He told me that he ate ALL of his lunch of chicken, rice, and broccoli (his teachers confirmed, so he wasn't lying!) And, of course, he was most excited about the bouncy house. He said that he had so much fun...which he did!!

Right after Mommy made me get out of the bouncy house. I loved it!!

So overall it has been a great day. Justin promises to be home for dinner (yay!) and I enjoyed a very relaxing morning on the couch catching up on TV. (I gave myself a break from chores today, happy holiday to me!)

In other news, when we were at Target on Monday picking out Valentine's Day gear, Jack eyed a pack of "big boy underpants." This may have been because it was a pack of Disney/Pixar themed ones, with six pairs including Buzz Lightyear, Nemo, Mr. Incredible, Wall-E, Cars, and Mater. We brought them home and he BEGGED to wear them. I have been very hesitant to put him in real underpants because while he has been doing great with potty training, I just don't know how good his control really is.

I put him in a pair when we got home at around 11am. He kept those dry until nap time, when I put him in a pull-up. (He still pees while sleeping.) He was mad about that. When he woke up, he asked to wear Nemo again. I made him go potty first, and he kept Nemo dry until about 4:45pm. He was playing with his legos and he started to pee. He cried "I'm peeing on Nemo!!!!!" very upset, and so I rushed him to the bathroom. He finished in his potty and I didn't make a big deal about it, just let him pick out another pair. He put on Wall-E (robots.) Justin came home, we had dinner, and he did great. He kept those dry until he was preoccupied in the kitchen with Daddy making milkshakes at about 7:45pm. All of a sudden he started crying "I'm peeing!!!" and "I'm sorry robots!!!" So we got him to the bathroom again.

I am not sure if he's doing well with the big boy underpants, or if he does well because I force him to pee in the potty on a timeline. I am not even really sure if two accidents in one day means he is doing well at all. But he has a huge interest in wearing them (and in keeping them dry, even if it's hard for him) so I can't really say no. He was so impressed with Molly in her big girl panties this weekend, and he definitely notices the other kids at school wearing big kid panties. I figure I will let him tell me what he wants to do, and indulge him (it's one of the very nice perks to staying home - I can do this on my timeline and let him lead me - and I am very thankful for that.) While some of you may be thinking that I should force him into underpants now and just deal with the consequences (as I probably would be, from the outside looking in), as I have to remind Justin - he JUST turned 2.5 years old. He's a boy. He's doing really well for a lot of kids his age, and he's trying very hard. He isn't losing interest (yet) and I don't want to squelch that by pushing too hard. This feels right to me, for now, so it's what we are going with .... until his little body tells me otherwise :) It may not be the recommended or "right" way to do it, but it's working so far for us!

Showing off my Nemo underpants!!

We hope that everyone is having a wonderful Valentine's Day! Lots of love from your friends out west :)

Jack Now

Once again, SuperMommy Brooke Jarrett has inspired me to do a "Jack Now" post. Jack and her son, Reed, are about the same age and it really makes me laugh when I get a chance to compare all the crazy and funny things the boys do!

• Jack is sitting next to me as I write this post. I asked him, "Jack, what are your favorite things right now?" He said, "My grandparents." (No lie!! They must have been talking about families in school today. How adorable!) The conversation continues: me: "So what are your other favorite things?" Jack: "Trains. And cars. And race cars. And waffles!" 
• One of his new common phrases: "Mommy, I need you!" Since he's become the potty champ, he likes me to wait outside the bathroom while he does his business. When he's done (usually taking all of 1.23 seconds), he yells, "Mommy, I need you!" He also says this when he's going to bed. Hmm. Too cute to ignore. 
• His favorite things to watch these days are Octonauts (the new show on Disney Junior, it's really good!), Wonder Pets, Special Agent Oso, and all the Pixar movies. 
• "I'm okay!" This is his response when you yell to him "Jack, what are you doing?!" It usually means he is NOT okay and that something is in danger of getting very messed up.
• He loves to do things that I do, including cooking, washing dishes, laundry, baking, and shopping. It's fun most of the time, but not when I am in a hurry, since it means I have to do everything twice. 
• I must have complained once that Target was too busy when we drove in the parking lot, because now he makes an assessment of any store we go to. "Mommy, it's not too busy!" or "Mommy, look at all these cars. It's too busy!"
• His sleeping patterns have gone from bad to worse. He was such a good, disciplined little sleeper and now he's all over the place (literally.) I have moved into the guest room for various reasons, mainly so that Justin can get some sleep since I am up approximately 4,500 times a night. He always starts out in his bed, but depending on the frequency of his crazy screaming night wakings, he's usually on the floor in my room or the bed / floor in Daddy's room by the morning. I am trying to cut myself some slack. The doctor said these night terrors / sleepwalking episodes will end at some point. He sometimes wakes up and sometimes not. I always try to put him back in his own bed at least once, sometimes 3 or 4 times. But sometimes I am just too tired and I give in. Sometimes I sleep in his room with him. Between Justin being on China time and trying to get back to our time zone, and me being pregnant and up all the time, we spend a lot of time cuddling on the couch or watching TV late at night / reading books and up early in the morning. It's insane. I do feel fully prepared for newborn-hood again though, because an every-3-hour schedule HAS to be better than this!! At least we both take good naps ... I feel bad for dear ole hubby!!!
• Jack loves school. I knew this would be the case, but he is doing really well and always comes home with something new. He started saying "eye" and "love" all the time, and I couldn't figure it out. Today I went to pick him up and saw this on the board. They were doing all kinds of Valentines Day associations, making heart art projects for Tuesday, and they must have read a lot of books about love. Who knew he would pick up Chinese so easily? They are having a big party with lots of cool stuff on Tuesday, and a coffee for the parents too. I can't wait to see everything they've done!
• "I'm a big boy!" He says this literally all. the. time. I think he gets mad because I obviously talk about his baby sister, and then I make a random comment about how he's my baby boy and he gets so angry! "I am NOT A BABY! I AM A BIG BOY! I HAVE BIG MUSCLES!" 
• He's still in 18-24 month clothes. Some 2T stuff. Poor kid :)
• He likes to make me "coffee" in his play kitchen. For some reason the kid is obsessed with coffee, maybe because he knows I am not a normal human being in the morning before I drink it :) Anyway, I said "cheers!" before I took a fake sip earlier today. This started a whole act about doing "cheers" over and over. He had fun doing it with his sippy cup with Daddy at dinner too :) Here is the link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CDRtPT2LsI&feature=youtu.be 

oh baby

29w+5days

Today I had my regular checkup at the doctor. First, all my stats were good - still haven't gained much weight (now around 13 lbs total, even though it feels like much more) and my blood pressure was 110/80. The doctor came in and I told her that I'd been having a lot of contractions - some minimally painful and some really painful, to the point of having to breathe through them. She did some checks on me, and found that I was having some contractions then. She checked the baby, and her heartbeat was good and strong at 150 bpm. My doctor decided to send me over to the hospital for a fFN test. 

I wasn't too worried, because everything was as it should be, and I didn't have any warning signs - no bleeding, no fluid, etc. I also was excited to see the inside of the hospital as I now know where to go for various things. I went to the lab, got my test done, and gave some (more) blood. They also checked the baby and I got to see her sweet little face again! She's definitely transverse breech, with her head under my right rib, her butt under my left rib, and her back pressing directly up against my ribcage. She's exceptionally high and her little feet have plenty of room to play with my bladder. My doctor supposes that this has something to do with all the contractions and pain, as carrying transverse babies tends to be extremely painful.

This link is a great slideshow of the various positions (except it shows transverse as back-down, while our baby is definitely back-up.) Jack was frank breech, meaning that he made a "V" shape in my tummy. While both positions are technically "breech," this one is much more painful for Mommy!

Anyway, I got a call back from the doctor this afternoon saying that my fFN test was negative (yay!!!) and everything else looks completely normal. I suppose I will just be suffering through these contractions for the next 10 weeks :)

In the midst of all this excitement, we didn't verify my exact c-section date yet. It will be the week of April 16, if we don't meet baby girl sooner!

Superman, among other things

Jack is getting pretty creative these days. While yes, he got in trouble last week for drawing on the couch, I still let him play with markers because they let him be artistic. I walked out of the room for three minutes on Sunday, and Jack decided that he wanted to make himself "Superman," complete with a yellow mustache. (Because yes, apparently Superman had a mustache.) I asked him about the colors on the tops of his feet, and he said "that's my fur! It keeps my feet safer!" Okay....?? So here's a picture of Sir Artiste right after his masterpiece...

Notice he's holding legos. That's his "gun," which Superman also apparently has. He took those in the bathtub the other night, and lined them all up on the edge of the tub. He then carefully and gently started filling each little hole on each lego with water. I asked him what he was doing. He replied, "I'm making cupcakes! Now they go in oven." I was speechless! Where did that come from?? So creative!

He does random funny stuff like this all the time, and it reminds me how truly different their little minds work. He's taking everything very literally lately, so if you say something and it's not exactly 100% right, he is very insistent on correcting you. ("No, Mommy, that's NOT a bird, it's a HUMMINGBIRD.")

In other news, I have hit my third trimester! Yay!! I have my 29 week appointment tomorrow, and then I start going every 2 weeks until 36 weeks, when I will go weekly. I am excited to enter this next phase because it means she is almost here. :) And no, she still doesn't have a name...we will tell you when she does, but we are pretty sure we are going to the hospital with a list of names and deciding then. If Jack had his way, she would be "Garbage Truck Crosby." :)

I just found this on our camera. I don't remember
when it's from, but it's pretty cute :)

Til later.!

Potty training...a dirty job, but someone's gotta do it.

We have rapidly moved from just generally being interested in the potty to actual, real potty training - with results! This has all been led by Jack - I didn't want to push him before baby came, since he's already going through so many changes. I didn't pressure him, didn't put a label on the process, and I was happy to oblige if he asked but I wasn't going to force him to use the potty.

He's had his little Elmo potty in our bathroom for a long time (almost a year now.) He would use it from time to time, but usually just said "no, I don't have to go potty" if you asked him. We were at Target the other day, and he saw a coloring book with a poster, stickers, and a whole story about Elmo learning to use the potty. He immediately asked for it, and we've been using it for two days now with great success!

Our chart after two days. Keep in mind that he was in school
most of the day Thursday, and it's not yet noon on Friday. Pretty good!

 He loves the idea of getting stickers each time he goes, and I had to explain that you only get stickers if you ACTUALLY put something in the potty (otherwise he'd just ask to go over and over again!) He did great, and spent all day yesterday dry as a bone. We aren't nearly ready for overnight training yet, but this is a very good start.

He woke up this morning and asked to use "Daddy's potty." As you probably know, Justin has been in China for a few weeks now and he is coming home tonight. I think Jack is so excited, he can't wait to see Justin and share his newfound skills. However, Jack is still very small for his age and he has a lot of trouble with big potty seats, both at our house and out in public. He either falls in, or has to hold onto me, which means he can't aim if you know what I mean. Anyway, after a very successful morning constitutional on his Elmo potty, off we went to Target (again) to get him a little seat for Daddy's potty.

He picked this one out himself, and it's awesome because it comes with a little hook to hang it on the wall. So now he can do pretty much everything by himself - I just have to get him a better stepstool for that bathroom.

They do teach him to use the potty at school, and take him to use their bathrooms at regular intervals. He's exclusively in pull-ups now (no more diapers!), even at night. I don't make a big deal if he has an accident or uses his pull-ups, but he gets upset and tells me immediately after he's wet. The next step will be a weekend at home in nothing but underwear...everyone tells me cold turkey works the best. Maybe in March when Justin's in China again, Jack and I will focus solely on potty training. It's just hard now because it's cold outside, and we have all carpet in our house (eek!)

I am so proud of our little man - he's growing up right before my very eyes!