37 weeks with pics

This is me at 37 weeks with a very messy bathroom (Thanks Caleb) and a new haircut:


Go ahead: hate me! I noticed when I was doing my hair that I looked dang good from the back.


Caleb is helping mama pack her hospital bag. He knows me well!

Baby Update

Doctor appointment today went well. According to them, I'll be 37 weeks tomorrow, which is full term. I told them I don't want to be induced at all unless medically necessary, and she said she would let me go until 41 weeks, and then she induces no matter what. There's no way I'll make it that far though. Things are progressing already, and she even went as far as to tell me to take it easy this weekend because she's not on call and wants to be able to deliver my baby when she gets back on call.. I told her I'm not interested in having a baby this weekend since Greg is gone hunting and can't really answer his phone to come rushing home! She can just stay in until at least Saturday night when Greg gets home.

Since I'm not officially at 37 weeks yet, she said I am "threatened preterm labor" until tomorrow when I turn 37 weeks. No big deal with that though. The ultrasound also showed my placenta is getting old, which means it's about to quit working and kick the baby out. As long as fluid levels stay ok I won't need to be induced but if i notice less movements then I will need to go to the hospital and get checked out.

Progress! Baby! Wheeee!

Surgery update

We are already home from the surgery and Caleb is sleeping away. He is totally out of it. He woke up very angry from the anesthesia and it took Greg manhandling him to calm him down, and even then it was hard. He cried so much! When they brought us back for the after-surgery doc consult we could hear him screaming down the hall. Less than 5 minutes later (it's usually about 20) they came to get us to try to help calm him down. I tried to but he kept wiggling and kicking me in the stomach so I gave him to Greg.

Anyway, the surgery was successful and the doc said he had a "pretty significant blockage" so that was reassuring that the surgery was necessary. Now he has a tiny tube in place for 6 weeks. Greg said he could see it up his nose but I haven't looked yet.

The coolest part about it all was Dr. Norman prayed with us before the surgery, and it was his idea. We were both blown away and completely reassured by that. It was so nice to know that our little guy's life was in another believer's hands. God hands us such blessings as that just to keep us going forward and to assure us that we are His precious children.

Thanks for thinking of us today! It went really well, and we hope the rest of tonight goes just as well.

Caleb's surgery

We take him tomorrow for his eye surgery at 1 pm. We have to be there at noon, and he can't have anything to eat after 7am and no drinks at all after 11. Poor guy, he's almost always attached to a sippy cup so it's going to be hard to distract him for two hours. It also means Greg and I can't have lunch until he goes back for surgery. That would just be mean to eat lunch in front of him. So our plan is to give him breakfast early, then give him a haircut and a bath, then get going to the mall or someplace to get him out of the house and distracted. Otherwise he'll be hanging on the fridge door by 9 am asking for juice, juice, juice..

So pray for Caleb's surgery to go well and for him to react well to the anesthesia. And pray for me to have calm nerves about my baby being asleep without me! The hardest part is relinquishing control over my own child's wellbeing.

Caleb's black eye -- PRE surgery...

Caleb's souvenier from his head-first tumble off the couch.. this was the same day he climbed/fell/jumped/we'renotsure out of his crib. Something in his brain must have clicked over the weekend, telling him "must climb everything, must do it recklessly." crazy crazy!







There has been a lot progress in his big boy bed since then. He has slept two nights, pretty much through the night. Once he fell out of the bed and got stuck between the fooot of the bed and the dresser and freaked out a bit (who wouldn't?) and he got up at 6:30 this morning so Greg had to go tell him to go back to sleep. He did until about 7:10 too. It has helped that this time we put the baby gate up in the doorway so he can't get out of his room. At least we know we won't find him in the living room watching TV at 5:30 am (that actually happened the first time we tried the BBBed.)

Why me? Why now????? grrrr

Caleb decided to climb out of his crib this morning for the first time. We heard a thud, then a frantic cry. Greg ran in to find Caleb standing in the middle of the room... not where we left him!! So I guess the crib is history. I am sad! I'm not ready for this. He is taking a nap in his toddler bed right now, and I think it is going to be successful. Not that I'm happy about it. grumble grumble

Went to the doctor this morning for a routine checkup. Lost a pound again, somehow. Even after I ate a bunch of cookies and drank a lot of chocolate milk last night.. Whatever. I also found out that my doctor considers 37 weeks to be full term. That would be December 28th! Yikes. I refuse to have a baby before January. I have never heard that 37 weeks for a single baby was full term. I do not want to be induced before it's necessary, if at all. I especially want to still be pregnant for Caleb's post-op appointment on December 31. It would be easier to lug myself in the doctor's very inconveniently located downtown Fort Worth office instead of myself, and an infant carrier. Besides, why rush things in there? She will come out when she's ready, I'm sure of that. I don't want to grab her out of her comfy little home before she's ready. Anyway, that's my thing with that.

Eye Surgery

The opthamologist recommended the eye surgery. I am glad, but also sad that my baby has to have surgery! It will be an outpatient thing, but he will still have to undergo general anesthesia. They will put a stint in his tear duct that will stay there for 6-8 weeks. The plan is for the stint to stretch the tear duct out so that it won't close up again.

6-8 weeks for the follow up we will for sure have a newborn... busy times.

Caleb's eye yuck

Monday morning we are taking Caleb to the pediatric opthamologist again. He went last year around this time, when he was 10-11 months old for his blocked tear duct. They did a procedure in the office that poked it out and it cleared up for several months. Recently, (the last few months) it has gotten bad again and the last month it has pretty much been gooky every day. It *might* be related to when he has upper respiratory stuff (aka SNOT) but sometimes it's bad and he's dry. So we went ahead and made the appointment to have it looked at again. I hope they can fix it for good, I'm tired of my boy having a swollen red goopy eye all the time. People always ask me if he has pink eye. The last time we went to this doctor there were a lot of special needs kids in there and it made me feel so lucky that this is Caleb's only physical problem. I guess special needs kids tend to have more eye problems. I just feel so blessed to have a perfect little guy, and the only problem he's ever had in his life is a little eye gunk. I'll be thinking of that Monday in that waiting room.

The dreaded doctor's report...

It turned out well! I was scared that I would get in big trouble about my weight, but apparently Thanksgiving was good to me... the way it's bad to most people. I gained 9 pounds in two weeks! I did have my coat on when I got on the scale (on purpose) but still, that is pretty impressive if I can say that about myself. Last appointment my belly was measuring 28 weeks (at the 31 week appointment, so about 3 weeks behind) and this time at the 33 week appointment, I was measuring 34 weeks. So it looks like baby girl skipped ahead 6 weeks in two! She decided to have a major growth spurt in there! The doctor did say that although 23 total is not bad, I'm still a little behind so keep it up. I'll see her again on the 17th, and then again on the 27th for the GBS test. Then after that starts the icky internal appointments and once a week at that.

And they checked, and she is still a girl.

Caleb has an appointment with the opthamologist on Monday morning to get his goopy eye checked out. It has been bad for about a month now, and I really don't think it's related to sinus drainage. the last two nights he has woken up with it completely slimed shut, and today he woke from his nap that way too. I hope they can figure out what's wrong with it, and fix for good. He should have outgrown that basic clogged duct by now. It has gotten so bad that people keep asking me if he has pink eye. It's swollen a little, and irritated all around, and then there's all that nasty yellow goop. Poor baby!

Do this

32 week Belly Shot and bedding set

Here is what I look like now. It looks the same as the one I took a month ago! It's T-2 days until I get my butt kicked by the doctor. In that time I'm going to drink a whole quart of chocolate soymilk and hope for the best. I also brought home some leftover Paula Deen cookies from Aunt Shelley. They are chocolate cookies covered with powdered sugar. mmmmmmmmmmm........




In other news, I finished the bedding set I started BEFORE we got pregnant with Baby Girl. I originally made it to sell, but the quilt isn't saleable quality, so fortunately for me we are having a girl! After I've worked on it for so long, I don't think I could part with it anyway. I love the fabrics too much! I have lots of leftover fabric, so I'm going to see if I can make curtains, and a pillow and maybe a Boppy cover too. Any other ideas for things I can make? I'm especially proud of the crib skirt - I figured out box pleats all by myself! I did all of it without buying the pattern, just looking at the finished product and reading the measurements from the back of the pattern in the store. I think it turned out great considering.






In case you can't tell from the pictures, the colors are pink, light turquoise, dark pink and yellow. The turquoise is nearly impossible to match - I've already figured that much out. The lighter pink should be a pretty generic color to match, and we could definitely use some more pink crib sheets. ;)

All that BG's room needs now are name letters for the wall.... if only she had a name. sigh.

update on our Hope baby

*head down!
*lost a pound at the last appointment, for total of 14. Got warned, hehe.
*no name but I'm thinking of her as Hope, either as a first name or a middle name..
*feet in ribs.. not fun but thankful it's not a head
*wore a dorky maternity support belt today and WOW did it feel better. A bit contricting when I bend over but i shouldn't be doing that anyway. :)
*back to school, and I sat more than ever. I counted and if I lifted every kid everytime it would be 35 lifts a day, minimum. Trying to limit myself to 5-10!
*Heartburn!
*falling arch in right foot. Tape helps.
*32 week appt Monday, hopefully won't get a slap on a hand or a kick in the butt for not gaining more.

We have a big boy

Caleb slept in his big boy bed last night for the first time. he has never really shown interest in it, but when Greg put him down Caleb climbed up into his toddler bed like he knew what he was doing. So G put the blankets on him and left the room. He slept all the way through to 5:30 am when he started crying, Greg got up (good husband!!) and C was on the floor next to the bed trying to get comfortable and crying because he couldn't. G put him back in the bed and covered him back up, we didn't hear anything until he ran into our room at 6:31, one minute after the alarm clock went off. That was a weird sound. He has never been in our bed before so him running into our room in the dark scared us both to death. He was just following the voices I guess, since we were awake talking about how great he did last night!

I'm staying home with him today because he still has 100.8 fever. Neither Greg or I slept very good last night because we were sleeping with one eye and one ear open listening for Caleb to get up. So that makes two nights in a row of bad sleep and it's taking it's toll on me. I think we will watch Baby Eintein all day and mama will lay on the couch! And eat the rest of the brownies...

just stuff

i am trying to keep up with this stuff myself, so why not write it down.

Total weight gain at 28 week appt: 15. about 5 under "normal" but everyone knows I"m not normal.

no ill effects from the flu shots. Praise the Lord! I was nervous about it myself.

Caleb's paci is gone! Last tuesday, a week ago yesterday, they all mysteriously disappeared when he went to school. He has asked for it a few times and was looking for it when he got up yesterday, but he understnads when I tell him, "You are a big boy now, and big boys don't have pacis." Amazing!

Baby girl's favorite position is diagonal. Not sure if there is a medical term for that, but her head is in my right side ribs, butt sitting on my right hip area, and legs out across and tickling my intestines on the left. Not ideal and very strange-feeling. Turn baby turn!!

Caleb's favorite "word" of the week: dubadubadubaduba. I think that's a developmental language stage becauuse I have noticed several kids in my class doing that same exact thing. It's really funny and cute sounding. Imagine saying it with your tongue sticking out. That's how he does it.

battery almost dead, and I"m out of gas.

Baby Girl's 28 week checkup

Went in for the glucose poisoning this morning. Got to see baby girl again on the supercool 4D machine, and everything looks great except the silly little booger is breech (still). I already knew she was, else what could that large balloon-y thing be lodged under my ribs? The doctor already mentioned the scary word: "C-section" but said she would schedule it at 36 weeks if she hadn't turned by then. I'm desperate to avoid that if I can, and she gave me the name of a chiropractor in Coppell that can do some magic to try and turn her. The only problem is she won't let me see him until 36 weeks because one of her patients went into pre-term labor after seeing him.. but I'll still see him if it means no surgery! My biggest hangup about delivering that way is the sheet they will hangup in my face and having my arms tied down. Not the recovery time, the scar, the stitches, etc. Nope, I just don't want my view blocked.

So that's that. Caleb's getting a flu shot this afternoon, I'm getting one for the first time ever tomorrow morning. Very nervous about that!

Caleb at 20-ish months

Caleb is finally saying a few actual words. His list is up to five now: Mama, Dada, Byebye, moo, and the latest and greatest: poopoo. He jabbers constantly and does signs for more, milk, eat, and waves byebye. I know it seems like he should be doing more talking but his doc says he's perfectly fine for now, just a typical boy. So here's a video of Caleb saying his words, one of him speaking Calebese, and one of him discovering that spitting is funny.


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a couple more pics of the month:

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I really can't figure out how this happened:

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Baby girl Rice will play sports

Just assuming, since she kicks like a pro already. I feel tons of kicks and bumps and rolls all hours of the day. She wasn't too happy about me getting kneed in belly twice today. Mama wasn't too happy about that either, but the poor toddlers didn't know they were kicking Caleb's little sister!

I have lots of Braxton Hicks contraction too, and I can't remember if I had this many and this early with Caleb. I'm thinking no. Then again, this pregnancy has been a total different ballgame altogether.

If there are any questions, YES we have names. No it isn't a secret but we haven't decided on one yet. We really haven't talked about it much, but we do have a favorite. A fun guessing game: the initials of our top fave are CHR. The R is a given, and some of you know the C, but the H might be a little tougher. Hint: there are none of this H in any of our families that we know of. Same goes for the C.

It's a.......

beautiful little GIRL!!! We got a great ultrasound DVD with 3D pictures. And here they are, with a few of the big brother-to-be.

Pretty little feet:


3D Face profile and elbow:


3D face:


And the big brother:

posing on the fireplace



Big shoes to fill

Laundry Fun



Riding the cow in Southlake


Little Chauffer

20 weeks and counting

Halfway there! It has gone by fast, and BOY has it gone by slow. 6 more days until the big reveal (assuming this kid isn't shy like Caleb wasn't) Anyone want to make bets on the gender? Come on, you have a 51-49 chance!

Leave it in the comments.

16 weeks

I went to see the doctor today for my 16 week checkin. I gained another pound, so that makes a total of TWO! ha! Anyway, the darn nurse wouldn't even look closely to see the sex, saying it was too early. I thought I saw a boy part but she said it was the cord, so have no idea. I will say though, that this baby's profile looks very much like Caleb. I told the screen, "Baby, you look like your brother!"

Greg and I are both recovering, suffering, etc., from a staph infection. His is worse, all up his left forearm. Mine is in a terrible place though, on my hands and wrist and FACE. I also had a battle with Impetigo last week, also on my face. Talk about ugly, and itchy too. No idea where we are getting these gross skin diseases, but I promise we clean our house and bodies regularly!

Aww, Caleb is awake and crying to be let out of his bed.

Jennifer thought I should write about this ;)

Last night Caleb did the cutest thing and made his Daddy so proud! In the bathtub Daddy asked if he was ready to get out and Caleb did not give any indication he was until he started picking up all his bath toys and putting them into the storage bag that hangs on the side of the tub. He picked up EVERY toy in the tub (and there are about 398 of them) and when the tub was empty of toys he gave Greg a serious look and did the sign for all-done. Then he promptly stuck his leg over the side and tried to climb out. Greg was so proud of the communication that Caleb displayed!! He's a smartie!

We have also begun the climbing stage. The other evening we were getting dinner on the table when Caleb sauntered in to the kitchen a climbed into my chair (had never done this before) and very easily got in it and sat there with his hands folded patiently up on the table, sighed, and sat there like a miniature man waiting for his dinner. Greg and I just stood there and laughed for several minutes. Then we decided that the high chair is history and he gets to sit in his big boy booster chair now. It was another unexpected milestone!

I finally gained some weight!

3.5 pounds in two weeks to be exact. Yay me, and yay for Boost High Protein shakes!

What Caleb's been up to lately

It's been an entertaining few months on the couch. Caleb has been steadily learning new tricks while I layed around feeling terrible. He is such a sweet baby, he hated for me to feel bad and was very curious why I was looking in the toilet so much! He even liked to help me feel better by flushing it all by himself. We recently got out his toddler rocker chair and he quickly learned how to climb up in it and lounge. He has gotten interested in Baby Einstein DVDs lately (hint, hint, we only have three) and his attention span is growing.
He loves to wear shoes, and knows that when we put on shoes we're more than likely going outside or to the car. So he knows the drill quite well. He loves to drink out of straws, especially mine. We almost always have to get him his own cup at restaurants so he can act big. He loves books, especially interactive ones like flaps. We don't have any touch and feel books so I don't know if he would get into that.
Today we got some baby signs flash cards (for me) so I can teach him to sign. I resisted for a while but after I instinctivly did the "all done" sign a couple fo times and he caught on quickly we decided signing might be a good thing. Especially if eliminates some of the whining and noise. Before bed tonight Greg and I both said, "NiteNite" and did the sign for sleep and he was already trying to do it himself. It is so crazy how he understands what we are saying but just can't say it back yet. Maybe the signs will help bridge that communication gap.
His appetite has turned toddler in the last two weeks. He eats a few bites for breakfast and lunch and sometimes will eat a full dinner, sometimes not. I'm not too worried because he could stnad to lose some of that belly. He is defintely thinning out and getting a bit taller, because all of a sudden he can reach the ice/water dispenser on the fridge and push things into the kitchen sink. We have to keep the fridge locked so he doesn't douse himself with water constantly.
Our son is NOT a climber, for which I am glad. He can get up on the couch if he wanted to but he refuses to try. I guess he is just not a risk-taker. It's one thing I don't have to worry about, lucky me! Once he is up on the couch though, he likes to bounce and jump and laugh. It's too cute. I also taught him a very bad habit of sticking out his tongue out and he loves to do that now too. It's a constant source of entertainment.
Well, it's past my NiteNite time now.

The coolest thing you've seen all week

Well, it's the coolest thing I've seen all week. Except for my toddler sitting still in a rocking chair. That was pretty cool.

This is a 3D ultrasound of our baby. I was amazed at how much detail there is to see at only 12 weeks. Notice how you can see the backbone, and arms and legs, and even a face profile. The little dark spot in the abdomen is the stomach bubble. The doc said it's bladder was empty at the time of the ultrasound. How she knew that is beyond me, but still very cool. You can even see a little "part" down there. Go ahead, it's okay to look! The doctor says it's undefineable at this point but it will, ahem, define itself in the next couple of weeks. I think with this technology, we might know the sex of this little alien within a month. I don't get 3Ds everytime, but I do get 2Ds which is atypical in itself. I doubt the 2D can pick up the sex until the standard 20ish weeks, though, so it's luck of the draw for me. I can wait until 20 weeks, I guess..

Oh, yeah, and the nurse laughed at the baby's skinny butt. I thought they were all skinny at this point, but apparently this one is skinny enough to be funny. They said it was a cute butt, but I need to eat more. I said, "give me drugs to calm the nausea and I'll be glad to oblige." They did, and I have. Yay!

Is this an alien? Yes, right now it is.

Faux-Toes, but not fake phalanges

Random recent pics of Caleb being Caleb:

This is a very typical funny face.


As is this:




Caleb's Church Dedication:


Talking with Pastor Gregg


And children's pastor Toby. (I have recently come to realize that I more often than not make horrible ugly faces in the general public. Why hasn't someone told me this??)

pics

darn it, no time, but here is one pic. I'm still uploading the rest. i promise to finish later!!


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News you can use

We have news!

I'll be adjusting the title of this blog to "About the Babes" in a few.

heheheheheheheeeeee

New Robeez

I also found these the other day and Greg told me I had to get them! Cute huh!

I might be crazy, but it's worth a try anyway.

In my effort to save a little money and, I don't know, help the world a little I guess, I'm going to try out cloth diapers for a while. Ok, STIFLE that "Gross!" and swallow it. I've already heard it. Let me just say, after doing some research and asking a bunch of questions, it's not that gross really. And there really are people who do it. Although in this disposable city that I live in I'm sure it's few and far between. I'm not going to list all the benefits, just believe me, there are several. I will show you one.




It's CUTE, right? I am not going to be using those burp rags with pins. Only the best snappies and velcros. I haven't gotten any in yet, but I ordered several and I can't wait to try them out.

So on to non-bodily-function talk, here's another video of Caleb's new trick. He does love to walk!! Doors are fun too.




We are still working on those last two molars and they are making Caleb very sleepy and a bit grumpy. I'll be glad when those boogers come through so he'll start eating more. Poor guy hurts to chew so he just wants to suck on his milk cup.

Pics from Easter

Unbelievable how flippin cold it was!! Not fair.


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