Merry Christmas

From our family to yours!

October in pictures

So, when you don't post often, you often forget lots of things that have happened.  I just went through all my October pictures and we had quite a month!  I may have 31 pictures for the 31 days of October.  You've been warned.

Mommy went to Howl-O-Scream with her friends

Looking all soccer-y

Claire and Poppops

Nate loves his bike rides with Daddy

Claire Bear is 3 months old

Daddy the Fire Fighter came to Nate's school and taught the 3 and 4 year olds about fire safety.  Nate was SO happy!

 Nate had his first school field trip.  Claire and I joined him and his class at the pumpkin patch.

 

 

How fun are slides?

 

Claire's 1st trip to the pumpkin patch

Nana and Claire

 

That's my boy!

We celebrated Mike's birthday at the fire station.  We ate a yummy dinner and we brought cupcakes and ice cream.  When Mike came home the next day, Nate showed him the special card he picked for Daddy.

Daddy and his boy

Daddy and his girl

Melting crayons onto our pumpkin

 

Nate's Halloween crafts

Trip to the farm

How freaking cute is she?

 Hmm...so Nate's class had a parade for the parents on Halloween.  They dressed up and sang songs.  When Nate saw Mike and me, he covered his ears and refused to participate.  The teacher assures us he's only shy when we are there. Also to note it was Nate's idea for the whole family to dress up like Angry Birds.  However when it was time to get into costume for school, he dressed up in last year's Buzz Lightyear costume.  Good thing I didn't stress about it.  I knew where the costume was in case this happened.

Nate was the line leader at school this day so he was super happy that he was first in line when they trick-or-treated around the church.

Gonna eat her up

Angry Bird family picture - fail.  I blame Nate.  He didn't cooperate when the camera came out.

The "Boomy Bird" according to Nate.

TMI

Hurricane Irene and the return of aunt flo all on the same day. How did I get so lucky?

Welcome Claire

 My sweet baby Claire will be seven weeks old on Monday.  The time has certainly flown by if my lack of posting is any indication.  I'm totally having Mommy Guilt as I think that I'm already succumbing to the "Second Child Syndrome" by not posting already.  I guess there's something to be said for that... it's true.  It's much harder to document everything that is going on here when there is a 3 year old in the house.

We've been having a great time as a family of four.  Nate is a great helper and is lovey with his sister most of the time.  (The other times is typical 3 year old behavior of "put her down and hold meeeeee!") Tonight she was crying in her swing while I was switching over the laundry.  Nate put her paci in her mouth and was singing "I love you, I love you, I love you...." in his little voice.  So sweet.

I'll post pictures more frequently - pinky swear!

Peace out - I'll keep y'all posted on our Hurricane experience too (electricity permitting).

I'll leave you with one of my favorite pictures. <3

Hello baby

It's been two weeks today since our sweet Claire arrived.  I will post soon...

Mikey beat me to it with this: My oh my

Surprise!

It appears to be baby time here.  I know I was scheduled for my induction next Wednesday, which is only 5 days away, but it seemed awfully scary when the docs told me today to go next door and check in to L&D.

Two weeks ago during a growth ultrasound I was told that my amniotic fluid was really low (like 1 pocket of fluid instead of say at least 12 that I should've had).  I started having non-stress tests 2x a week (which I was scheduled to start the next week anyways since I'm on anti-coagulants) and the baby has been looking great each visit.  Today's ultrasound to check fluid showed that it was still too low and it's not good for Claire to stay in there any longer.

We're still on board with an induction and not a c-section.  I just can't start that until at least noon tomorrow since I took my Arixtra shot this morning.  Even the cervix-softening meds are off the table tonight in case that would cause me to start having contractions.  I'm okay with all this especially since I need the option of an epidural and anesthesia can't hook me up until for at least 24 hours from my shot.  Okay, they actually said 36 hours but I'm in denial because I'd like to have a baby tomorrow and not Sunday.  Not that anything is wrong with Sunday, it just seems like a long damn time here in the hospital.

So guess what's been on my To Do list for the past 3 weeks?  Hmmm, make a birth plan and pack a bag.  Apparently this is what I get for procrastinating like I do! :)  I guess I thought I'd do that this weekend so the joke's on me!

So, after my mini panic attack at the doctor's office, I tried to get ahold of Mike to no avail.  To his defense he was at a fire department funeral and didn't have his phone with him.  I called my parents and asked them to drop everything and come.  My friend Medina took Nate (Thank you Medina!) and I ran home to leave a key for my Mom and grab Mike's clothes and of course my ipad and chargers.  Amanda (awesome Amanda) met me at the hospital so I wouldn't be alone.  Having her here really helped calm me down.  Matt called the dispatchers and explained the sitch (non-emergency - but track down Mike to call me) and they did track him down at the funeral.  Thankfully everyone was so understanding and helpful. 

So in a nutshell, so far so good here.  Since I'm "high risk" all the teams have been contacted (hematology, anesthesia, surgery, etc) and we have a plan together.  I'm sure everyone will be sick of my FB updates until I'm actually in labor.  Too bad.  I gotta do something and my WWF isn't loading.  I'm thinking it's bed time so goodnight all.

It may be a long wait now but I can't tell you how ecstatic I am to meet my little baby Claire. 

Love to all!  I have awesome family and friends and I'm so thankful!

Big News

The docs say they are going to induce me the week of July 11th.  Holy crap that's only 6 weeks away.

31 weeks on June 1st

The baby's room is coming together nicely.  The furniture is finished.  The clothes are being washed.  Now to finish up with the decorating part - curtains, art work, etc. Got a couple of prints on Etsy and now I'm in search of frames.  

Love this!  From Lisa Leonard Designs

I'm having a belly cast made and decorated next week and I'm really excited about putting that in the room as well.  The ladies doing it make such pretty creations.  You can check out some of their designs at Modern Maternity - VB.

So, it's getting close.  I'm excited/anxious/nervous tummy-ish.  Normal, I'm sure. 

I'm also starting to feel exactly how big I am too.  Good thing it's only 95* with the same amount of humidity here.  Otherwise, I might also be a raging bitch.

On pregnancy...

First and foremost, my pregnancy is going so great that I feel like I might jinx something just by saying that out loud.  I can't believe that I'm already 27 29 weeks along.  It's flown by.  I'm not ready for it to end.  I'm sure I'll be singing another tune when it's 95+ degrees outside.  But for now, I just want to savor it.  We never thought I would be pregnant.  Didn't even think it was possible.  Now I have moments that I'm already sad because I know it's the last time.

I love my belly.  Maybe it's because this is the first time I've ever NOT loathed my stomach.  I've always (ALWAYS) been self-conscious of it.  Now I just want to flaunt it.  I like that it's getting bigger.  I touch it all the time, especially when I'm out in public as if saying "HEY EVERYONE!  I'M PREGNANT!  LOOK AT ME!"

I love feeling baby Claire kick me.  It took a long time to feel it (21 weeks) since my placenta's up front against my abdomen.  Now I feel it all the time.  Mike just felt the first kick two weeks ago.  On Mother's Day, I had my first alien belly experience and it was so cool.  I laid down and for 15 minutes watched my stomach move all over the place.  After one big kick, I pushed down and she kicked back in response.  It was awesome.

Over the past week, I've started feeling like a tank.  I'm really tired if I don't space out activities throughout the day, etc.  My biggest complaints are heartburn, arm numbing, excruciating hand pain, and moderate left foot pain.  I guess that's minor compared to the whole creation of life thing going on inside of me.

Mike and I took the tour of the L&D at the hospital on Saturday.  Still super nervous about the whole birthing thing, but I am feeling more at ease knowing where I need to be, seeing the floor, knowing where to park, etc.  Yes, as if parking is going to be MY concern when I get there. 

Nate has continued to be my big helper.  He helps me with my (anti-coag) shot every morning and my prenatal vitamin every evening.  He's really been great.  I think he's going to be a fabulous big bro but I know we're going to have some jealousy issues.  I'm sure all kids go through that, right?

So, here I am.  Only 8-ish weeks left to go.  I am stoked that the nursery's coming along quite well.  We had our bi-annual trip to Mecca (I mean, IKEA) two weeks ago.  So, now we have the dresser for the room.  Crib's up and the changing table just has to be re-painted.  I love the wall color - thanks Mikey!  Clothes (from my awesome friends and family) have been sorted by size and just have to be washed.  I'm so excited!

Here are a couple of preggo pics - just because I love preggo pics.

23 weeks

27 weeks

Psst - it's GMBOA time again!

Go check out Rainyday's post to kick off the GMBOA giveaway!  Follow the rules, enter to win, and good luck!

Sweet boy

Last night I was lying in bed with my What to Expect book open.  Nate was next to me.  He saw a picture that looked something like this:

This is our conversation:
Nate: That's Claire in your belly.
Mama: Yep, Claire's in my belly.
N: I wanna be in your belly.
M: You do?
N: Yea. I'm too big.  I need to get small so I can go in there and play with the toys.
M: Really?  What kind of toys do you think are in Mama's belly?
N: I don't know.  Probably baby toys.

I thought it was so funny that we relayed the story to Daddy a few minutes later.  Nate informed us that I probably have "bathtub toys" in there.  What a cutie.

I love my life.

Happy Day

Nate and I had a relaxing day today.  Nate woke up and found that the Easter Bunny left him a basket.  He loved his new light up toothbrushes and his jelly bean filled eggs.  We also got a new Cat in the Hat book that I'm sure we'll read tonight. A cute little story is that Nate calls jelly beans "Sweet Rocks".  He's watched The Ant Bully on Netflix (a million times) and that's where he learned it.  Sweet rocks just sound better than jelly beans, don't they?

Protecting his identity. Forget you just saw his face one picture prior.

We had our friend Rebecca and her boys over for brunch - it was delightful.  I was feeling fancy with my grape juice and ginger ale cocktail.  It's the pregnant girl's mimosa.

Cheers!

When my sister and her girls were here on vacation just a few weeks ago, we also had an Easter celebration.  We had a nice dinner with all the family , the kids decorated eggs, and we had an Easter egg hunt.  They were some mighty happy kiddos.

Molly

Jill

Nate

On the hunt

Checking out their loot

Jill made cute faces on all the eggs

Last weekend we also headed to a park for some Eggstravanza-tastic fun.  Nate loved the bouncy house (he was first in), the petting zoo and he took his first pony ride.  He LOVED it (although it lasted like 30 seconds).  His horse's name was Rocket.

According to Nate, this is the REAL Easter Bunny.  Her name is Polka Dot.

 

Here is our 2011 attempt at visiting the Easter bunny.  Very timid and shy.  This was as close as he'd get...after much prodding.  Hope you and your families had a great day!