Sunday, April 29, 2012

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

36 weeks pregnant

Photo Thoughts: I'm definitely big. This shirt I got at goodwill because I thought it was a cute maternity shirt, but I didn’t even wear it until 35 weeks because the flowy-ness made me look even bigger

Size of baby: A cantaloupe or something like that. I always have measured right on or a little big with this one, so I’m really not sure exactally.

Cravings: Oatmeal. Oatmeal in peanut butter bars, I really want oatmeal cookie ice cream from cold stone but I can’t even imagine taking Jay there after picking him up from the babysitter between 4:30-5:00 because he would be really cranky so that isn’t going to happen. Other than that the only real cravings I have been having are ice water and Sunchips. I think I am finally getting over the cinnamon roll stage:)

What I love: Being this close. Close to the end of school. Close to the end of pregnancy and eager to meet our baby boy. I am being SO productive at school, almost to the point where I am annoying to the people in charge because I am asking about things so far ahead of time (end-of the year check out sheet, CPR certification) because I “just want to be prepared in case I have the baby early”

What I'm looking forward to the most: Having Jay meet his brother. Not having heartburn anymore (being able to eat chocolate!!!)

Worries: What will labor be like this time? Will it go as smoothly as last time? Will I be able to get an epidural? How will things work if he does come early (which I kind of hope he does)? Will I be able to loose the baby weight without going crazy afterwards? We haven’t had an ultrasound since 20 weeks, so we are just hoping everything is still growing well.

What is different this time around: Jay was breech until 16 days before he was born, so a lot of the movement at the top of my stomach and crazy jabing limbs is not something I remember. At my last appointment the midwife said she thought baby’s head was down and he was sitting “low”. I felt pressure down there almost like I was bruised and she said that was probably because he was sitting low. I don’t know that he has dropped because I am not waddling when I am walking, but I do need to pee every 45-60 min and sometimes it just HITS me. I get comments at least once a week about how much better I look during this pregnancy compared to my last pregnancy. I really think the biggest changes are that: I take a nausea pill every morning, I take B6 along with my other vitamins, and I EAT instead of feeling sick and not eating. We still haven’t decided on a middle name. Hmmm….

Symptoms: By back has been hurting a bit more, but I have started icing it before bed and that seems to help. Last night I had to go to the bathroom 3 times during a 45 min. period. CRAZY. Heartburn is BAD. I had heartburn so bad at 4:30AM this morning that I got up and ate a piece of cheese before I could go to sleep. I don’t know if I got heartburn from swallowing my nausea pill with water at 2:00am or if was from something I ate the night before. NOT FUN. I don’t eat chocolate, tomatoes or tomato sauce, citrus anything, coffee, spicy anything or anything else that I think might give me heartburn. I also get a lot more Braxton hicks contractions (especially when I walk around at school or I am on my feet a lot).

Sleep: Usually get up a few times to pee and get up in the middle of the night (for like an hour or more) at least once or twice a week because of heartburn, my back hurting, or just because I can’t sleep. I go to bed at 8:30 or 9:00 most nights which is great.

Movement: A lot more movement than I remember last time, especially when I am up and moving around. I can tell space is getting tight in there as the kicks turn into shifts. Jay had the hiccups a lot before he was born, but this baby only gets them occasionally.

The belly: getting harder to find shirts long enough to cover…so glad it is almost over.

Milestones: Baby is probably big enough to be fine out of the womb…so he can come anytime.

Amusing comments from the general public: “did you swallow a basketball” (a parent of a student), “you look so cute and small from behind” (my response was…”and then I turn!”), “your going to have another baby?” (some students must think I am just getting fat if they haven’t picked up on the fact that I am pregnant yet!)

Best moments of the week: Baby loves dancing to music. We did a bit more in the nursery, but it is still not close to being done. Listening to Jay and John giggle. The best moments for me are napping on the weekends when Jay nap. At this stage in my pregnancy with Jay I was getting naps every day because it was summertime.

Friday, April 20, 2012

Jay at 21 months

There are so many things I want to remember about this last month. Jay has been growing and changing a ton and he learns a few new words each day.
This is turning into a long post...enjoy.
Jay 21 months:

He is putting together more sentences. For example Mommy: “what do you want for supper Jay?” Jay: “um hai waad dip dip hood dog” (translation: um, I want dip dip hot dog for supper) (meaning: a corn dog with ketchup).

He enjoys routine. He gives me a hug and says “bye-bye mommy” a few times when I leave for work and never cries. He enthusiastically says “mommy home!” when I pick him up from anywhere. He also knows that “daddy work” when he is not at home.

He started playing Wii Mario brothers with Daddy. He shoots spitballs and daddy picks his character up and carries him around the game. I took this picture of him wearing his helmet around the house putting change in his piggy bank a few days before, but I think somehow it resembles his love for Mario.


He gets excited to watch the “sports minute” on the news every morning (and watches specifically for b-ball)

He learned how to say “cookie”, “chip” and “toy” over Easter when Grandpa and Grandma were visiting. We had some fun with it after he learned the new word:


He spends time looking at toy magazines at the table while mommy reads grocery ads and pregnancy magazines. He specifically points out the choo-choo’s every time.

On our days off he can go through MANY activities (that last about 10-15 min. each) which is very fun and exhausting at the same time. We cut pretend fruit, bake real food together, play in the sand, swing on the swingset, have snack, play shape sorter, ride bike, play barn animals, watch elmo, play drums, play ball-hoop, have a tickle fight, have more snack, AND TAKE A NAP!

Today started the trend of him doing something cool (like walking up his slide) and saying “daddy watch” and “mommy watch”. That is sure to be a never-ending cycle!

Loves to “wok” (rock) with daddy. He typically goes into John’s room in the morning (when it is time to wake daddy up), finds the button on his alarm clock to turn on the music and rocks out to daddy’s music. Tonight he was rocking out to 311 with daddy by watching youtube videos when he bolted for the living room to find his “tar” (guitar) so he could be like the guys in the video.


Jay doesn’t have a little brother to play with yet…but when we go to play in the backyard around 1/3 of the time there is a bunny to chase. This video was shot after he had already been around and around the play set 6 times chasing the bunny. Normally he is beaming from ear to ear as he chases the bunny around. (Also they were testing the tornado sirens this day and the dogs in the neighborhood were not enjoying it.)


I don’t know that he really understands that he is going to be a big brother but we watched this video last night of a friend in Spain who is letting her midwife draw a picture of a baby on her very pregnant belly and he seemed to get it a bit more. He was also using my large belly as an arm-rest during the video.

He loves bath time so much he cries for a few seconds every time we get him out.

He begs to watch the “mon-key”’s in the movie Rio at Ahh-dii-saah’s (Alysa’s) house.

Goes to bed in 1 min. flat with milk, monkey a lullabye and a few “ni-nigh’s”

He stays in his bed nighttime and morning almost all the time.
He still dislikes getting his diaper changed, but can be persuaded by “elmo diapers”.

He calls his babysitter Kristie “cookie” (instead of “doodie” which was his original name for her).

Loves to drive the car while it sits in the garage. In a period of 24 hours John and I both let him play in the car and he got a hold of loose change and stuck it in the air vents in both of our vehicles. Needless to say…the rest of the loose change is now in his piggy bank instead of in our cars:)

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Jay's 17-19 month video

Now that he is 21 months old I have finally finished his 17-19 month video. He has already changed so much since these were taken:)

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Fun with Grandma S.

Grandma took these pictures of Jay this week. Looks like they have a lot of fun together.

Monday, April 9, 2012

Whirlwind Weekend

We had so much fun this past weekend.
My parents came to visit, and we did some shopping, the guys put together a playgroud set, went to an easter egg hunt, participated in our Easter service at church and had a fabulous easter dinner with family.
The first night Jay got a special surpise from grandpa's workshop...but I forgot to download the pictures, so more BARN pictures to come.
Each morning he could care less about mommy/daddy, he wanted to see "papa" or "maaama" and giggle.

Here are some random snippets:
Jay LOVED the easter bunny.
We didn't know what to expect when the city of Milliken offered an easter egg hunt in our nearby park.
It was awesome. Jay got to find eggs in the 0-24 month category so he had an advantage:)) At first he was just excited to run so he ran all the way to the back where no one was finding eggs (which also gave him an advantage). It took us a while for him to actually want to pick up the eggs, because when he shook them they didn't shake much so he didn't think there was anything in them. (Really they had tons of candy in them). Mom and I emptied the eggs and put smarties and gummies in each one...and the adults are enjoying the chocolate and hard candy.
Each kid also got a ticket for a prize (I got jay a kite)...and Jay found a SILVER egg in the category, so he ended up with a special prize...(a laugh and learn little dog thing that makes sounds). I'll post more later, but he had to go to the easter bunny to get his big prize...turned out he thought he was so cool. He kept saying "buddy" (instead of bunny) and follwing him around.



Jay was very excited to watch Daddy and Papa work outside, and the minute we let him out he wanted to "hep" (help).
I remembered that I had purchased a toolkit from a goodwill 1/2 price sale last summer, so I got it out of the "toys for later" shelf and he got to "drill" like Daddy and Papa.



He was also excited to "sli" (slide)...
and "wing"..."mooor weeeee" (swing...more weee (push me higher))
His other favorite activity on Sunday was doing ANYTHING with "un co chaa" (Uncle Chad). He shot a lot of "ballhoop"s (baskteball) and did a lot of swinging.
Happy Easter!

On Sunday afternoon I crashed because I was so exahused, so I spent some time laying around on the couch for a bit. Now, I go to bed early!

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

A start on the Nursery

Ever since I decided on a theme for the nursery, I have had a lot of fun with the fabric I found, and some creative ideas from other people and from pintrest.
I started by ordering fabric online.
Then I ordered a sheet on Etsy.
Then I bought some T-shirt frames when they were on sale at Michael's (and I had 20% off frames +15% teacher discount).
I wasn't sure what I was going to do next, but when I was at the ARC I saw some girls in line behind me buying records. I went and found some that I thought would be good colors for cheap. My sister inspired me to put them in the frames.



Then I used a BOGOfree coupon from Walgreens, and developed the pictures I edited in Photoshop as 8x10's.
(I turned this...
Into this)


This weekend we move the room around, make curtians and put pictures on the walls:)