37 weeks

well there has been no progress according to doctor. but there was also no weight gain since last week (mine, not baby). apparently my weight gain and blood pressure could not be better. the doctor told me to keep doing what ever i am doing. i think that i have put on like 27 pounds so far.

i have two friends due 1 and 2 weeks after me and they are both mostly effaced and dilated 1cm or more. i have pretty much resigned myself to the likelihood that they will have babies before me. matt and i aren't holding our breath, but we are still hoping that he will come early so that he is here and settled before the grandparents come to visit.

i am just exhausted at this point. i have been going to bed before 9 every night - which is very early for me.

madelyn and i had a nice morning of shopping and a girls' lunch out since it might be a while before we can have a relaxing lunch together again. it was such a nice treat! love.

36 weeks

today was my 36 weeks check-up. it took the doctor a little while to find the heartbeat and that would have been a little stressful if it wasn't for the fact that he was doing all sorts of dramatic movements less than a minute before i laid back. after a few minutes she found his heartbeat and it was about 130 - good.

my cervix is still so high that she couldn't confirm for sure that his head was down - she said maybe 90% sure that it was down. i am looking at that as a blessing because there are lots of people who worry about making it to full-term and obviously that will not be something that we will have to worry about. i wasn't even half a centimeter dilated when i was 41 weeks, in full, active labor, and already admitted to the hospital with madelyn. but you never know with these things. we will see what she has to say at my appointment next week.

she did comment on how well i am getting around for being so far along. apparently i am just really good at being pregnant. now if we can just shave about 20 hours off my labor this time around...

after the doctor's appointment i took madelyn to the library to return some books and get some new ones. when the lady checking our books out asked madelyn if she was having a sister or a brother madelyn replied "baby brother." i was so proud of her for answering a stranger (she tends to clam up around strange adults). love.

some things i have learned...

here are two insights that i have recently come to that i thought i would share:

1. mylanta is the greatest!

2. products marketed as "mess-free" really mean that they are messier than the regular option.

i finally broke down and called the doctor's office about my acid reflux. they told me that i could take any of the over the counter options but suggested that i start with mylanta because it will coat my esophagus and give me the most immediate relief. while the taste and texture almost gave me heaves, the relief was amazing! i am always hesitant to take anything while pregnant, but i can pretty much guarantee that i will take it a few more times before baby boy arrives.

now for my second insight about "mess-free" products. we haven't had a lot of luck with the lidless markers and other mess-free products, but i thought that i would give the finger paints a try. i just wanted a new craft for rainy days inside. we have have had a few inside days in a row this week, so i decided to give it a go.

now madelyn had a great time, but i was a mess trying to slow her consumption of the clear gel-like paint. she didn't really get the color selection part of it because the color markers are on the lids and when they are open you can't tell what color is being selected. not only that, but it takes a little while for the color reaction on the paper to occur.

i took a picture of the three masterpieces she created in about 10 minutes and with more than half of the paint. i think that a topographical picture would have better captured how much paint she used without spreading around.

it actually took madelyn a little while to get into the finger painting. she kept asking for a brush. and, honestly, she is a much neater painter with a brush. she even understands rinsing her brush between colors - not so much with the "mess-free" paints. it was everywhere! she did do a great job wiping off the table when i finally called it quits. i had hoped to get an hour or at least a half-hour out of this activity, but didn't want it to be a one time thing because the paint wasn't really cheap.

the moral of my tale - just get the regular art supplies. maybe consider the washable formula, but skip anything labeled "mess-free".

posting note - we are heading out to celebrate madelyn's great-grandma's 90th birthday this weekend so it might be a while before i post again. unless i can find some internet access... love.

35 weeks

so i have reached another time when i have a picture of my pregnancy with madelyn to compare belly size. not that either one of the pictures are particularly great of me. it always seems like these pictures are taken in a hurry because they won't get taken otherwise. you might be able to tell that he (in the striped shirt) is sticking out more than madelyn (in the red dress) was at this point. but you can't really tell how much lower he is because of what i am wearing - you'll just have to take my word for it.



















i think that i have put on about 20 lbs. or so at this point. (i had put on 30/31 lbs. with madelyn by the end.) i probably feel the best i have the entire pregnancy so that is nice, but i am barely sleeping at night. i try not to nap during the day because that is not a habit i want to get into - i don't have the time. plus, i am getting to the point where i don't feel tired because the lack of sleep is so consistent. thankfully, madelyn has been sleeping until 6:30 or 7:00 lately.

he gets the hick-ups every evening and seems to be awake during the day and sleeping at night. overall, the activity seems very similar to madelyn so i am hoping for another great sleeper when he gets here.

lastly, here is some video of madelyn's favorite thing to do with my belly - the last is a real kiss. love.

34 week checkup

my 34 week check-up was uneventful this morning. my belly is measuring about a week ahead (madelyn was a little small to right on track). the doctor said that she couldn't be happier with my blood pressure, heart rate, and weight gain. both she and the nurse were surprised because i didn't gain any weight since my last appointment. i was surprised too because my appetite is revving up and because he is carrying so much lower than madelyn (still higher than most) i have been able to start eating dinner again.

madelyn was really excited to go and hear the heartbeat today. as soon as the doctor put the gel on she got very focused on listening. i asked her if she could hear the heartbeat and she smiled shyly while nodding yes.

i am starting to feel the need to make my final preparations - pack a bag for the hospital, pack for madelyn to stay with neighbors, get the carrier car seat in again, stock up on pumping gear, etc. hopefully, i won't be too disappointed if i make it to or past my due date. i am just so planning and hoping for the baby to be earlier. love.

31 weeks, 1 day

after many requests, here is an updated belly shot from this morning. if you look really, really closely, you can see my little outie bellybutton that i have had since early in the pregnancy. looking at the picture it looks like i am carrying pretty high, but this one is actually much lower than madelyn.

he is such a mover! where madelyn was a kicker and jabber, this boy is a stretcher and pusher. lately it seems like he is just dragging his knee or elbow up and down the inside of my rib cage like someone would drag their finger along a keyboard - ouch! he is definitely running out of room and is making sure that i know it.

it is also becoming increasingly uncomfortable to sit and work at the computer during the day - baby just doesn't have enough room when i bend over the keyboard. with maddie i would lay on the couch and work in the last month, but madelyn doesn't like when i do that now. so instead i just take more breaks and do more work at night.

the good news is that i have been able to sleep through the night for pretty much the first time this entire pregnancy! i am not dragging quite as much when madelyn comes to get me at 6am. i am hoping that this won't be short lived (i think it has been three nights now) because i need all the energy i can to make it through the day and a good night's sleep makes a big difference. love.

kiddie rooms

in an effort to not have to repaint madelyn's room (matt worked really hard on those stripes), we have been carrying around the paint swatches trying to find twin sized bedding that would match. it has taken a few months but we finally found something that would work. matt still wants to repaint the two solid pink walls but i have convinced him that it wasn't a big deal to wait. here are some pictures of her new set up - which she loves.

and in continuing the theme of 'stripes', matt has finished painting baby boy's room. we finished arranging the furniture today but still have some work to do before we are all ready. here is a picture to give a sense of the finished product...

i think that we are finally done with our major indoor projects. next on matt's agenda - back yard landscaping. love.

baby shower for baby boy

today was the baby shower for baby boy. grandma has been working hard on the shower since she got here because she couldn't stand the idea that i wasn't going to have one. she brought a suitcase and a half of supplies with her too!


last night we prepared the house (cleaning and decoration) and food so that all we would have to do after church was pick up the cake and put everything out.


madelyn likes to help and last night she was helping me vacuum. i ran for the camera when she was pulling it back and forth like i was but she had gotten herself a little stuck up against the door by the time i got back. here is a little clip because she was just trying so hard.




we had expected 7-11 inches of snow last night because of the weather forecast, but were glad to see that we only had a few (maybe 2 inches) when we got up this morning. granted, it took matt a long time to shovel the driveway before church this morning.

matt tried to get madelyn down before the shower started at 1, but the allure of cake and the sound of voices brought her out to peek around the corner to see if she could come out too. i let her come out and she ended up not taking a nap at all today. she did so well during the shower! i was actually proud of her, there was no begging or crying. this was surprising because she was obviously tired when daddy tried to put her down.

after the shower she could barely keep her eyes open while eating her dinner (3 packets of oatmeal, a plum, and some dried mango). it was so funny to watch her try to stay awake that i told matt he needed to take a break from painting the nursery to sit and watch for a while. we were all laughing so hard (as quietly as possible) watching her shovel in oatmeal with her eyes closed. she would throw a fit when the camera came on because she wants to see "maddie". to get this video i had to go into the other room to turn it on, but she saw me pointing it at her and that is why she is saying her name over and over. she was almost asleep so she is just saying her name with her eyes closed. grandma didn't realize that i was taking video and wakes her up out of this when she tries to pull the table cloth up like a "sheet". enjoy!



everyone had a very nice time at the shower and you will get to see the great onsies and bibs they made for baby boy when he gets to wear them (there are some really good ones!). surprisingly, madelyn made it all the way to her normal bed time without any major meltdowns. i just don't want her to get used to not napping... love.

baby brother

we went and bought paint for the nursery this weekend. madelyn was really, really excited to help daddy paint. i don't think that daddy was that excited about it, but he did let her pretend to help while he did his prep work. (the paint on the walls is the old paint job, not the nursery colors.) here is some video for the sake of video because she wasn't as talkative as i was trying to catch in the first place. she was talking about her paint brush all day. she has been telling me all day today that she is going to "paint today". i told her that she has to wait for daddy for painting...

she is starting to talk more and more about her "brother". although when you ask her what's in my belly she says a "baby girl" and will not change this answer even when corrected.

i had ordered some spring/summer maternity clothes and threw in a little boy outfit too a few days ago. when it arrived on monday i opened it with madelyn and she grabbed the boy outfit out of the box and said "brother". then she took it to his room and put it in the closet. i did not give her any idea that there was anything in there for her or her brother so she surprised me here again. love.

24 week check-up

today i had my 24 week check-up. i am happy to report that baby boy is doing great and we are to the point that he could survive if i were to give birth so that is always nice to hear - not that i want to have him any time soon. i think i only gained 1-1/2 lbs. over the past five weeks for a total of about 12 or 13 lbs. it is hard to keep track because they don't really talk about weight or even say what it is.

matt had a work thing today and couldn't make the appointment - the first he has missed - so i had arranged for one of the neighbors to watch maddie before music class while i went to the doctor. the bad news is that about 10 minutes before i had to leave for the appointment i found out that the neighbor's son got croup overnight and she couldn't watch madelyn. normally it wouldn't be a big deal (and it wasn't really a big deal today) but madelyn slept until 8:30 and we needed to leave around 9:00. so i had to hurry her along and throw a waffle and banana in my bag for her to eat quickly while we waited for my appointment.

she has been getting up at 5:30am since the time change! luckily, i have been able to persuade her to go back to bed and the past two days she has slept until at least 8am. so this morning i let her sleep thinking that it wouldn't be a big deal to take her breakfast over to the neighbor's when i dropped her off. oh well. we got to the office and i went to give my regular urine sample. and madelyn helpfully poured it down the sink while i got the label ready for it. that would have to wait until after the appointment...

madelyn did really fantastic during the exam and told the doctor that she wanted to hear the baby's heartbeat. while we were waiting for the doctor madelyn kept saying "doctor coming". she was sitting on my lap being very snugly, hugging and kissing me sweetly. it was so nice. when she told daddy about the appointment she said that we went to the "baby doctor" - she came up with this on her own we have never said this to her.

next we had to stop by the lab to pick up the drink for my glucose test at my next appointment. i guess madelyn remembered when i gave blood there last time (which had reminded her of her own blood draw) because she would not even come through the door. she was crying to go and get in the car. she was even pulling on my hand to get me to leave. after assuring her that we weren't giving any blood just getting some drink she allowed us to go inside. i have already told matt that he has to come to the next appointment because madelyn was not going to be able to handle my blood test.

we survived. love.

pregnant belly

i finally look pregnant enough to have a stranger acknowledge it! when greeting those seated around us at church this morning i got a "congratulations" from the woman sitting in front of us and it made my day. with maddie it was a man sitting next to me on an airplane to be the first stranger to make a comment. i always like knowing that i have passed the 'fat' look into a pregnant look.

since i look pregnant now, i had matt take a picture for me to post. it isn't the greatest picture of me, but i was just trying to let you see my belly today at 23 weeks, one day (i don't have one with from maddie until 26 weeks so i will compare the two then).

matt was feeling a little better today so i convinced him to go to the outlets for some baby boy shopping. it is the first time we have purchased anything for our baby boy to come. and we purchased a lot. we had coupons and there were great sales. we actually got more for maddie than for the new baby. we got maddie a lot of winter clothes on clearance for next year and a few summer items. the best was that we found cute "little brother" and "big sister" shirts (you will have to wait a few months to see them).

madelyn was so cute while shopping. to my surprise, she picked up a headband and put it on her head at one of the stores. i don't know how she knew that it should go on her head, but she wore it all over the store and for several more stores to come (after we purchased it - of course). she was so content for the entire outing (about 4 hours of shopping and store hoping) and had fun walking around and hiding in the clothing racks. at the carters store she played with a block table while we shopped. when we told her that it was time to go, she carefully took apart all the towers she had built and put them back in the bucket in the middle of the table. i was so proud of her for cleaning up what she had been playing with before we could leave. she even told us when she needed to have her diaper changed. needless to say, she fell asleep the second we got in the car after lunch to head home.

her behavior has been a dream since she started feeling well again, but she has been getting up very early (for her) in the morning. she has been getting up between 6:00 and 6:30am (instead of 7:00 - 7:30). on saturday morning she got up early and instead of coming into our room like she normally does she went downstairs to see the dogs. i could tell that she sounded far away, but i was surprised to find her in the basement happily playing.

in other stair news, i have been meaning to post for a while now that she can walk up the stairs holding on to the railing all by herself. she still prefers to hold our hand while going down the stairs but, as you can tell in the previous story, it is not necessary for her to get down. she will try holding the railing for a few steps, but i think she just gets a little nervous and wants to hold a hand and/or slide down on her bottom.

i was all ready to post when i got one more video to share. madelyn asked for paper to color with markers (this is unusual since we haven't used markers in a very long time). i had gotten some new washable markers at the dollar store so i decided this was the perfect occasion to give them to her. she was being so careful with them that i left the room to talk to matt for a minute. she was still doing so well at recapping the markers and putting them away that i had to get some video. love.

boy, oh boy!

yes, we are very happy to share that we are going to have a boy this june! he is very active and very healthy. out of consideration for him i will not be posting the money shot of his boy parts. lets just say that the tech assured us there was no doubt about him being a boy. and even without any training, i could clearly see that this baby was a boy - we got a great profile view too.

madelyn didn't really care too much (there was a large basket of toys in the room) until the end when she stood on the chair next to me and pointed at the "baby" saying that "yes" she could see him moving. she kept looking back and forth from my belly to the screen so i think she was a little confused about what was going on. she did give me a lot of hugs during it though.

for some reason i was much more emotional this time than i was with madelyn. i think that i was just so happy for matt - he really wanted a boy this time. he was even looking at the boy bedding at babies-r-us this weekend.
mostly, i am just happy that he (the baby - not matt) is healthy and all his measurements are right where they should be. i could feel every kick that i saw on the screen and he was moving around the entire time. apparently he favors his belly. the tech had a really difficult time getting him to roll over for the heart pictures. unfortunately they switched machines and we were not able to get a video like we did with madelyn. oh well.

so there is our news (with pictures). now i need to finish up my packing and get to the airport. love.

kicking

baby 2 was very active last night after i got home (from a "mom's night in" in the neighborhood) and matt finally got to feel it moving! i was actually feeling kicks or something of that nature that were very strong so i interrupted his falling asleep so that i could share. and then this morning i could actually see the kicks as the baby moved around. there is definitely no shortage of energy or strength with this baby!

madelyn was a very active mover, but it seems like this baby is even more active if that is even possible. love.

baby 2 on the move

since i haven't really posted anything about the current baby, i thought i would give a little update. this baby's movements are different than the early movements i felt with madelyn, in a good way. this baby is very active - so was madelyn! but madelyn felt like being poked or kicked from the inside right from the beginning. none of this "butterfly fluttering" business everyone is always saying that it feels like at first.

this baby feels more just like moving or activity. no butterfly fluttering or poking/kicking like madelyn. i have been feeling it since the end of week 13 and on saturday night felt it on the surface of my belly for the first time (at 18 weeks). i get excited about that because i know that matt will be able to share in feeling the baby move soon. i meant to check my journal (aka pre-blogging), but i think matt felt madelyn for the first time at 22 weeks. saturday was the first time that i have even tried to feel the baby move with my hand so who knows if i would have been able to feel it sooner or not. either way i can feel it now and can't wait to share with matt.

so there you go. i guess that there won't be much more to share until the ultrasound (now scheduled for february 9). we (okay me) are just dying to know whether it is a boy or a girl! love.

baby preparedness

we have been talking with madelyn about a baby coming to live at our house since her "big sister to be" shirt got here and we started telling people. she knows that she is going to be a "big sister" and that a baby is going to come to our house, but i don't think that she truly understands what that means - yet. with the ultrasound coming up in a few weeks, we have been talking about "boys" and "girls" and identify them when we read books or draw stick people. we also talk about how madelyn and mommy are girls and daddy is a boy. off and on we have been asking her about what kind of baby she wants to come and live at her house. for the first few days she would say a "girl", but now she gets excited about a "boy". we will see soon enough about whether or not she gets her wish, but here is some video of her preference.

during lunch today madelyn was standing her 'peas' (crunchy cheetos-like things made from peas and rice) up on her sandwich and then eating them. she had two of them standing up on her sandwich, but she ate one before i could get the camera. i just thought that it was pretty funny because she has never put anything in her sandwich before and they were standing up so well.

i spend a lot of posts talking about what madelyn can say lately that i have been forgetting to mention the things that she can do, so here is a quick list of the latest.

- she can now close her eyes without using her fingers to keep them closed. it has made for some really funny faces at meal times.

- she has realized that she can walk backwards until she runs into something. this has become a sort of game. she will almost moonwalk backwards until she trips or hits a wall and busts out laughing.

- spinning in circles until she is dizzy is another favorite 'game'. she spins and spins and then stops. she holds really still and gets a silly grin on her face while she enjoys the dizzy sensation. it cracks us up.

- she has learned that it is fun to open the closet doors, get inside, close them, and wait for us to find her. luckily she is really noisy about her hiding or i might have really had trouble finding her in the coat closet the first time she did this.

- this one isn't really a "doing" story, but a "saying" story. she calls her favorite toys to "come" when she can't find them. the funniest is "bob" because she often calls him "bobby". when she can't find him she yells "bobby!" in a way that reminds me of how whitney houston is always parodied yelling "bobby!" (i have never actually heard whitney do it, just seen parodies). it makes us laugh every time.

my goal is to take maddie somewhere fun tomorrow. we will see what happens because it is still going to be pretty cold. she was asking to go for a "walk" this morning, but i couldn't because of my meeting schedule. i am determined to get her out for some fun of her own. love.

bagel as big as your head

we went to the doctor's office for 15 week check-up on the sibling-to-be today. for the first time ever my doctor gave a heart rate (and everyone always seems to ask me) so i will note it - 155 (i think - now i am not sure...). we get to try and find out the sex on feburary 10, so we are pretty excited to start the preparations after that!

after the doctor's office we stopped by a local library so that i could pick up a book for the neighborhood book club (like i need one more thing to do, but i love to read and could use some adult interaction). we also picked up a few books for madelyn. we ran into some of our neighbors in the children's section and madelyn's "hi"ing proved to be too much for her friend today. she would burst into tears whenever madelyn would do it after the first two times she said "hi" back - madelyn just kept coming back for more. and then madelyn was playing with a barn and animals with another girl who was at least two, if not three. that girl's mom kept telling madelyn not to push (madelyn wasn't "pushing" more just trying to move closer for a better view of what the other girl was doing/looking at in the barn. i was watching.). i wanted to say that she is only 18 months and doesn't know that she is doing anything wrong (not that she was). our neighbor couldn't believe that the other mom was scolding maddie. oh well. this is the curse of being tall, madelyn, get used to it. i don't get upset about it and just had maddie move on to another toy (since the other girl was pushing madelyn) until they left.

the picture is from sunday and i just thought that it was funny to see her eating such a huge bagel. and she ate the whole thing too! i think she had some banana with it (matt was handling breakfast). she has an appetite this one...

this video is from yesterday. it shows how madelyn gets things to show the dogs while i am sitting in the office working. i got some video because she was cracking me up with calling the dogs ("woof") because she wanted to show them her "dough boy" (grandma works for general mills - owns pillsbury). "dough boy" was a new word/phrase/name for the day and i think that is why she was more excited than normal about the figure. she is also wearing her padres hat that was a huge find at a local marshalls last year. she requested to wear it and was very proud of it. she even stepped up on her stool in the bathroom and turned on the light to get a look in the mirror.

this one is from last night as she was getting ready for bed. daddy called me to come and see this. of course i brought the camera...

now, he says that he knows the paint is wet in the video, but after the video cuts off he told me that he thought it was all dried up on that roller. he is putting up some magnetic paint base for our new playroom and madelyn went in to check it out. apparently she opened the door, walked in and started painting. i am not even sure she has seen us paint before.

well, that is it for today. i am pooped and still have some work, work to do before laundry. love.