Jack and his best bud

Chrissy was kind enough to let me get some rest on Monday, and she took the boys to the park. They were playing "store," and it was adorable!

The video was too long so it's split ...

By the way, Jack was asking for "chocolate," at first, but it was very hard to understand him :) Then he was asking for medicine - "Justin's medicine." I guess we do a lot of drive-through picking up of medicine at Walgreens!!

They are so cute and they play together so well!

Baby Poll & Names!

Last minute reminder! If you haven't gotten your guesses in, go here to add them to the comments section. I am going to "close" the poll on the March 31, so get in on the action!!

I had a checkup today and all is well! (And quiet!) I did get the okay from my doctor to take Tylenol PM ... what a lifesaver that will be!! I am very sore at night and last night I was literally up every 30 minutes or so to pee, move, or walk around because I am sore in my hips, back, shoulders, and/or lower pelvis. I am very much looking forward to a good nights sleep tonight!

As a side note, Justin and I may have it narrowed down to a few names... but we still won't be deciding until we see her. I found an interesting article that explained why this may be a good idea (although we didn't have this problem with Jack, I think it's because his name was, well, Jack! Super simple and easy.) Don't worry, Apple and Blu are not on our list. :) How did you name your baby (babies)?? Are you happy with what you chose? Share any wisdom with us as we count down the days!

http://mommyish.com/pregnancy-health/sharing-your-unborn-babys-name-is-a-really-bad-idea-106/

And here is little man, as a "peacock" :)

Third trimester fun...

So now that we are in the home stretch (three weeks and six days from today - YESSS!!!) things are getting a little harder. I honestly don't remember this in my last pregnancy. I DO remember being at work until the day Jack was born, feeling big but great, and super excited about everything coming. This time, I am still very excited about our upcoming arrival, but it feels physically a lot harder this time. I am not sure why this is. Maybe this pregnancy is harder? The baby is bigger? Chasing Jack around is draining me? I have no idea!

The Mayo Clinic lists about a million "discomforts" in the third trimester. I think the worst, if I had to rank them, have been the sciatic back pain (it comes and goes, but when it's here, its KILLER), the shortness of breath (seriously, sitting down and trying to have a conversation is now impossible), the sheer exhaustion (no matter how much "sleep" I get - meaning how many hours I actually lay in bed, because let's be honest, having to pee every hour does not equal good sleep), and the movement of this baby. She is sharp and pointy in ways that I don't remember from before. I have a permanent bruise under my right rib from her feet jabbing away every 10 seconds, and my entire belly shifts shape when she moves her head or torso.

Anyway, I can do anything for the short term, and I feel like right now is all about survival. Jack has gotten very good at entertaining himself (which will prove well when the baby comes!!) and he keeps asking if the baby is coming soon. It's very cute :) The countdown is on and if everything goes well, we have one week until Daddy comes home from China and nine days until Pop Pop and SuSu come!! Yay!!!

Here is the latest update... 35w, 4days...

As a side note, I downloaded this drawing app on the iPad (anything to keep little man occupied), and he loves it. Last night he told me that he wanted to draw his sippy cup full of orange juice. Look at this!! What a great job he did! 

The pink part is the spout, the blue line is the cup, and the orange is...well, the orange juice. :) (See subject on table above iPad.) How awesome is he?? :)

Creative little mind.

I am constantly amazed at Jack's creative little mind. He was playing outside for a bit tonight after dinner, and rainwater had collected in the top to his sandbox. He was quietly playing so I didn't want to interrupt him (sorry for the news noise in the background) but I thought this was so funny. 

He doesn't just have a fleet of boats (leaves that he broke into pieces and "docked" on the raised parts of the plastic lid) but he also had whales (fluff from dandelions) , fish (wood chips), and octopuses (another leaf) too! He's so adorable :) 

Here's the continuation...all the boats went to the "island" and then he needed a pirate. But he got very distracted by a bug :) 

So lucky.

Sometimes it is hard for me to believe that we have lived here for less than a year. Jack and I followed Justin out here to California on May 8, 2011 - which seems like a lifetime ago, but in reality was only 10 months. In the time since, we have learned a lot, and we have also made great friends.

I talk a lot about how well Jack and his best bud Spencer get along, and about all the fun things we do. But I am also truly grateful to have a good girlfriend in Spencer's Mom, Chrissy. We get along really well and while yes, we are linked by our boys, we really like hanging out with each other too! She reminded me of that friendship this Saturday when I was truly suprised and honored by a special baby shower at her house.

I always joke that she is so much more creative than me because she is a teacher, and she proved it! Look how beautiful everything was...

I couldn't believe the turnout - 8 other women plus the two of us came to help celebrate. I didn't even know that I knew that many people! All the moms from Jack's preschool co-op group came, as well as other moms that I've met randomly or through Chrissy since we've been here, and some of Justin's coworkers as well. I was so grateful for all of the amazing presents ... I have lots more super adorable pink things now! And Chrissy put on such a beautiful party. The snacks were amazing (thanks Spencer and Gordon for your help!!) and all the moms had a great time hanging out, chatting about babies and birth stories and lots of other mommy things. I got too caught up in talking and laughing to take any more pictures, but it was a very special day and one that I will always remember. Things have been so hectic with Justin traveling, all of the weird things that have happened to us, and being so wrapped up in Jack's daily life that I really appreciated a day to focus on the little one that is about to grace us with her presence. :)

So thank you especially to Chrissy, and also Gordon and Spencer and Justin and Jack, for a very relaxing and truly special day!!

We wrapped up Saturday by getting back to reality. We had a nice family dinner at Chipotle (Jack's favorite!) He ate a lot, and we saw one of his friends there. They ran around a lot while we chatted with her parents. We got out to the car, and Jack had another coughing fit... which ended in him projectile-vomiting his dinner all over Justin and his carseat. Oops! We figured that once again it was just the activity, the cold weather, and the coughing that got him. We went home, cleaned up, went to Target for a few last minute things, and then saw Justin off to China (again) for the next two weeks. We keep joking about keeping the baby cooking for the next two weeks, no matter what... it's a funny joke but also scary! Let's all keep our fingers crossed.

Anyway, Justin got on the plane and Jack and I went to bed. He slept okay - nothing unusual. But he woke up this morning clutching his ear without the tube (his left) and screaming that it hurt really bad. He didn't want to eat anything and by 9am he was sobbing uncontrollably and I couldn't really make it stop. I rushed him to the walk in clinic down the road, figuring I could get him in there the fastest. The doctor saw him right away, took one look in his ear, and said "yes, it's all red and he definitely has an ear infection. You said that tube fell out a week ago??!?!" Yes, sadly. It's true.

So with a screaming, sobbing Jack, off we went with our antibiotic prescription to Walgreens. The pharmacist was super nice and cooked up his medicine right away. She made it flavored with grape, which he usually loves, and recommended some other things for me to help him. (Aunt Courtney - we LOVE Walgreens!) We came home, I forced his medicine into him, and he fell asleep immediately. He took almost a four-hour nap and woke up in a much better mood, but still pretty lethargic. We will see how tomorrow goes... I have to call his ENT for a follow up first thing. Yay, ear infections again! I hope that if he needs repeat surgery for tubes, we can get it done in the next two weeks.

So now we countdown and wait for Justin to come back. We always miss Daddy, but we miss him A LOT this time!!

Some stuff.

Let's see. What's happened this week? Jack's cough got worse (much, much worse), and then it got better. He can sleep through the night again (Mommy is very grateful.) He went to school on Thursday but it wasn't a very good day - he didn't eat any lunch and they said he cried a lot. Last night I had horrible sciatic nerve pain again, but it went away a little overnight. Today, Jack and I had a very lazy day at home. We did wash, watched a few movies, and made a quick trip to the library for more books. (Side note to Mommies with boys - McDonalds just released their new Happy Meal toys, and they are transformer cars!) We watched some of FSU's basketball game, but Jack fell asleep for a 3 hour nap. We just got back from meeting Daddy for dinner at Apple.

Now that everyone is caught up with our very exciting week (ha ha ha), here are a few random things from lately...

A few months ago, one of our local libraries advertised a class for Mommies and kids ages 2-3. Chrissy and I happened to be there with Jack and Spencer, so we signed up for the lottery (they only took about 15 kids total.) We were both lucky enough to make the list! Every Monday in March, from 11:00-12:00, we meet with an area professional for a little talk about age-appropriate topics, and then the kids get to play "supervised" for a little while.

The first Monday's topic was Speech and Language. A certified speech pathologist met with all of us and talked to all of the kids. I am happy to report that both Jack and Spencer excel in this area and we have nothing to worry about! Here are some milestones that a 2.5-year-old should meet:

1. Use about 450 words. Yes, I think Jack has this covered. Especially because he does things like, lately, introducing himself to every single person he meets by saying "Hi, my name is Jack Crosby."
2. Gives first name. See #1.
3. Understands simple time concepts like "last night" and "tomorrow." Yes, he definitely understands them, even if he doesn't want to. He gets really mad when he knows something fun is happening in the near future and I tell him it's "tomorrow." He says "no, not tomorrow, TODAY!!"
4. Refers to self as "me" rather than by name. He always says things like "here me am!" when I am calling out looking for him around the house.
5. Talks to other children as well as adults. Chrissy and I joke that Jack and Spencer have their own little conversations without us all the time. It's hilarious to hear them try to explain and work things out between themselves!

So overall, it was a good reinforcement that Jack is doing great for his age. This past Monday's topic was Literacy. It was about teaching your young child to be a successful reader. According to the professional, there are six early literacy skills that children should have before they enter school:
1. Vocabulary - knowing the names of things. Most children should enter school knowing between 3,000 and 5,000 words. (I honestly don't know how you measure how many words your child knows, but I think Jack knows a lot.)
2. Print Motivation - this reflects a child's interest in and enjoyment of books. It involves being read to, playing with books, pretending to write, and liking trips to the library :)
3. Print Awareness - includes learning that writing in English involves basic rules such as flowing left to right and top to bottom, and that the print on a page is what is being read by someone who knows how to read.
4. Narrative Skills - being able to understand and tell stories. Jack has this covered. He comes up with some whoppers :)
5. Letter Knowledge - includes learning that different letters have different shapes, and different sounds attached to them. Jack can recognize some words, such as his name, and certain letters...but he has a long way to go!
6. Phonological Awareness - ability to hear and manipulate the smaller sounds in words. A child who understands this can play word games like changing the first sound in a word: "milk, nilk, pilk, rilk, filk..."and understands rhyming words. Jack thinks words that rhyme are funny, but I am not sure if he "understands" them.

Anyway, next week's topic is Nutrition, which I think will be very interesting! Especially because Jack eats great one day and horribly the next, which I assume is normal, but I guess I will find out :) I am once again so thankful to be a part of such a great community that offers things like this!

We need more excitement. Life's too boring around here!

Hi everyone! Because life is never dull in the Crosby house, here is the latest update. 

Sunday morning we dropped off my giant jug of urine (EWWW) at the hospital, had some breakfast, and came home and had a pretty relaxing day. I was feeling much better and we all got lots of rest, which was very much needed! The time change messed up dinner and bathtime a bit, but I think that happened to everyone with kids :) 

Anyway, Monday morning when we woke up, Jack had a very runny eye. One of his eyes wouldn't stop leaking tears and goop, and he just generally told me that he felt blah (actually he said "my nose hurts and my throat hurts and my eye hurts".) So I looked in both his ears, didn't see anything but wax, and called the ENT. He was scheduled for an appointment next week but they moved him up to see him yesterday.

We went to the doctor and he said that Jack had an infected / blocked tear duct and a cold, but it was probably just a virus that would run it's course. He looked in his ears and saw all the wax too (Jack takes after his Mommy - he's a champion earwax producer!) So the doctor, who is awesome, took Jack back to this surgery chair in the back, and cleaned out his ears. All the wax came out of the right one with no problem, and his tube was in and clear. 

On the left side, well...the tube had fallen out. It was buried in the earwax and laying in his ear canal. The doctor cleaned out his ear, pulled out the tube, and inspected his eardrum. Surprisingly, the eardum was clear, healed, and without a hole. No infection and it looked perfect! Here's the evidence that he gave Jack to take home to Daddy...

Gigi ... we are keeping this for the scrapbook :)

 Anyway, so now baby boy has one tube in the right ear and a normal left ear. We will see how things go - hopefully, just maybe, we won't need another set!

Monday afternoon, Jack got bored and it was raining. Justin bought a birdhouse kit for us to do, so I pulled it out and put it together for little man to decorate. He made every single mark on this house by himself ... didn't he do a great job?!

Picasso? Matisse? Monet? Hard to decide. 

Today dawned cold and rainy again. Jack had a rough night coughing a lot, and woke up telling us his head hurt. Combined with the fact that his eye was still draining and he was generally very runny, we decided to keep him home from school (sigh.)

He slept in and then went to the doctor with me for my checkup. Of course it's the day that it's raining, the doctor is running late because of surgery, and the heater in their office is broken in the ON position, making our exam room about 15,000 degrees. Anyway, eventually the doctor came in. My blood pressure was surprisingly good at 135/80, and we had a long talk about the dangers of preeclampsia and what it could mean if I develop it suddenly. My lab work from this weekend came back completely normal (yay!!) and she said "I don't want to put you on bedrest, but I DO want you to get more rest during the day." I started laughing - I mean really, how is that possible with a 2-year-old?? But I told her I'd try very hard.

She wants to monitor my blood pressure every week, so I go back next Tuesday (and every subsequent Tuesday until baby comes.) I can't believe it's so close...and yet, so far away!!

Phew! I wrote another book. I hope that I have nothing more to say this week and every day passes very quietly :)

NOT FUN

We had a great day at the beach yesterday, and Jack and I came home pooped. Daddy brought home a quick dinner and we all went to bed early. It was so nice!

Fast forward to about 3am. I woke up, went to the bathroom as usual, and thought I was going to die. It literally felt like I was peeing out needles. I had a horrible burning sensation in my bladder and I knew immediately that I had a urinary tract and/or bladder infection.

I tossed and turned uncomfortably until Jack woke up. Then I woke Justin up and told him that I either had to go to the urgent care clinic or call my doctor because I was in so much pain. I think he believed me - I was kind of white and nauseous from the pain.

I called the on-call doctor from my OBGYN practice, and she told me that as a precaution, because I was so far along, they wanted me to go into labor and delivery to give a urine sample and for them to check on the baby. She said sometimes women weren't aware they were in labor, and attributed random pains in the lower abdomen to other things (like UTI's.) I was pretty confident I was right in my self-diagnosis, but I went in anyway.

Jack and Justin had a great morning hanging out together getting doughnuts for breakfast,

going to Home Depot and getting flowers and seeds, and working on the garden.

 I spent the morning like this:

The good news was that the baby looked great on the monitor!

They took a urine sample, and off it went to the lab. In the meantime, they monitored my blood pressure, which was sky high. It stayed that way for a good 2 hours as I met with more nurses, saw my doctor, and had a bunch of blood taken. The doctor did this test where she hit my back to check for tenderness, and one side was SUPER tender and sore. Doc assumed this meant the infection had gotten into my kidney, which could have been contributing to my high blood pressure and (possibly) protein in my urine. 

Anyway, they kept preparing me to stay the night if my blood pressure didn't stabilize. They let me settle into the bed and order lunch (side note: this hospital has amazing food, and you order it like take out from a restaurant! I am now very excited about my first meal post-c-section and I can't decide what I will have!) :) I enjoyed a quiet few hours hooked up to every type of monitor, reading my book quietly, and eating a very good meal in peace. Overall it was a pretty sweet morning, even if it was a scary reason to be there.

My blood pressure finally started to fall, and the doctor finally gave me the okay to be discharged around 2:00pm. She is still concerned about the possibility of preeclampsia, so she ordered me to collect ALL of my urine for 24 hours and come back at 10am tomorrow morning to drop it off and for another blood test. While I am very thankful to be home, I have learned two things: 1.) 24-hour "bed rest"with a toddler is darn near impossible and 2.) collecting your urine in a big tub and storing it in your fridge is really gross.

Anyway, I am sure that the results will be fine. I go back tomorrow and then I have another doctor's appointment on Tuesday to be checked again in their office. Mostly, I am super excited to have two doses (and counting) of antibiotics in me and not feel like I am peeing razor blades anymore!

Half Moon Bay, CA

First - a reminder. Go HERE and post your baby poll answers if you haven't already!

Now that that's out of the way, here are some pictures of our day today. Chrissy and I took Jack and Spencer up to Half Moon Bay, because it was forecasted to be a gloriously warm day. We were blessed with blue, clear skies for miles. The beach wasn't crowded and the boys had plenty of room to run, run, and run some more!

I am still constantly amazed at the beauty of California. It's so different from where we grew up - mountains, valleys, raw landscape, and a much more powerful ocean. The waves were crazy and the water was freezing cold, but that didn't stop the boys - Jack especially. He loved the freezing cold water on his feet. The only hiccup of the day was when Jack fell down in a wave and got sand in his eyes, and then rubbed them with sunscreen hands. After flushing them with some fresh water, he felt better and was back on the move!

Gorgeous! It calls to my heart - I am such a beach baby!!

 The boys wore their bathing suits for about 2.5 minutes because poor Spencer's suit wouldn't stay on his butt. After that they were in sun shirts and swimmy diapers, which were adorable. :)

Jack holding onto his girlfriend Chrissy's hand - so happy! 

Mommy trying to make me be still and pose. No thank you. 

Dig dig dig.

Making "letters" in the sand...I think this was J.

Me still obsessed with the beautiful water. It was so clear.

"Racing" up and down the dunes...somehow Spencer always won. :)

Their little footprints!

Testing out the water, with sand from head to toe!!

Throwing sand in the water, then running away. They had so much fun!

Needless to say, we will be going back. What a beautiful, tranquil place! Jack is still napping (it's 5pm!) and I am so sore I can barely move, but it was so worth it. They loved it!

Baby Poll

Okay, ladies and gentlemen, it's getting very close! I am 33 weeks, 3 days pregnant now - and for all of you that are still blissfully unaware, a pregnancy typically lasts 40 weeks, but a baby is considered "full term" after 36 weeks. My official due date as of my last appointment is April 23. I should include that my c-section is scheduled for Tuesday, April 17 at 7:30am - so if you pick that time, it means you think I will make it to that date.

So let's hear your predictions! I did this with Jack and it was really fun. There is a button at the bottom of each post (ahem, Justin) where you can leave Comments. Just put your answers there. If you leave your answers anonymously (meaning you don't have to sign in), at least leave your name so that I can add you to the chart I will make.

Here are the questions. This time I promise I will supply a prize for the winner(s)!

1. When will baby arrive? (Date, time.)
2. What will her stats be? (For those of you curious, Jack was 6 lb 8 oz, and 20.5 inches long.)
3. And the best question of all ... what will her name be?? (First and middle.) I am mainly asking this question because we are still open to suggestions.

I am looking forward to hearing your predictions!!

Learning to be a great big brother.

Yesterday, we attended the "Sibling Class" at the hospital. We talked it up all week and told Jack he'd learn lots of cool things about the new baby coming soon. He was really excited and very attentive, even though he was the youngest in the class by at least a year! 

It is such a neat program that they put on. We got a quick hospital tour, which saved Justin and I from doing any type of pre-baby class ourselves (it would have been the only reason to take the refresher course for us - we feel like pros now! Ha ha ha.) Anyway, the teacher of the class was great - she was very patient as the kids all yelled out hilarious answers to all of her questions. ("Does your Mommy sometimes say that she can't pick you up now because she's carrying the new baby and she's really tired?" One kid, sounding very ticked off: "Yes, my Mommy sleeps on the couch ALL THE TIME and she likes to sleep A LOT.") It was really cute! 

Here are a few shots we snapped of Jack. It was pretty hands on for the parents so we didn't have a lot of time for photos, but we got some of the funniest stuff :) 

We started by learning the benefits of drinking a lot of water (?) - I think this was just a way to keep the kids entertained with a free book until everyone arrived. 

Jack inspecting his book about water. 

After everyone got settled, we read a book about how babies live in Mommy's tummy until they are big enough to come out. We watched a quick movie about how sometimes having a new baby at home makes you feel mad or sad, or left out of all the excitement, and that was okay. We all went around the table and showed off pictures of the kids as babies and talked about how much they had changed, or how much they still looked the same. 

All the kids got to "introduce" their new baby brother, sister, or surprise. Jack very clearly said he had a baby sister but when the teacher asked if he knew her name, he said "I don't know. Go go?" Like - my parents are too silly to decide a name yet and I am tired of this discussion! It was pretty funny.

We learned that babies sleep a lot, eat a lot, and cry a lot. We learned that we have to be very quiet when baby is sleeping. (And sometimes we have to let Mommy sleep too.) 

After a bunch of round table discussions like this, we got our hands on some real babies (dolls.) We learned that we can ONLY touch the baby if Mommy or Daddy said it's okay. We learned how to hold the baby...well, sort of. 

So far so good! Support her head, hold her tight...

"Hey Mommy, look at her eyes!!" Poke poke. Oops.

"She's hungry! FEED HER!!" As he shoves his hands in her mouth. 

Here is where he gently sang, "go to sleep, go to sleep"
like I sing to Jack at night. It was super cute until he
suddenly yelled "WAKE UP BABY!!!!" after that. Again - oops....

 After learning to hold the baby, we got little "diaper bags" with clean diapers, wipes, and a blanket. We practiced changing the baby, wiping the baby, and swaddling the baby. Sadly, Daddy and I needed a refresher on that (how is it possible that we forgot?!) Anyway, Jack loved it, although he kept taking off her diaper and poking her umbilical cord belly button. :)

Then we took our tour of the hospital. We saw the rooms where Mommy would be resting when we came to meet the new baby. They were as nice or nicer than my room at Newton Wellesley in Boston, which was a relief. It was, however, quite humbling? Scary? To see all of the equipment again, from the IV poles to the beds with all kinds of crazy medical stuff. It made it all a little more "real" to me and I think I started to panic. Jack loved it though and asked if we could watch the TV in the room. So funny, little man :)

After that, we went back to the classroom and made cards for our new baby. They said "Welcome New Baby" and "Happy Birthday Baby" and we put stickers and colored with crayons. Jack was excited to bring them home and I know he will like giving them to the baby.

Daddy helping. 

Making my card :) 

Overall it was a great experience for all of us. We are very excited about baby sister (still nameless!!) coming super soon!

Visit with Aunt Cara and Gigi!!

Here are a few shots from this week. We had a great time with Gigi and Aunt Cara - they spoiled Jack like crazy and Mommy too!! (I haven't had to make dinner or do the dishes once!! Sweet!) 

Anyway, here are a few shots. We enjoyed our visit and look forward to seeing them again soon!

Smiley little man.

His impression of baby sister??

Jack's best bud Spencer.

WHOA MOMMY!! Your belly is "so big!"

Baby kisses.

Lovin' on baby sister :) 

I love snuggling Mommy's belly.

Trying for some pics with Daddy. Didn't work too well.