Playing in the leaves

I took Jeffrey to the park yesterday so Daddy could have some alone time to wrap up some school work. We're trying to take advantage of the few "park weather" days we have left before we're stuck in the house with a newborn for the winter. He had to taste test the leaves of course ;)I can't believe we made such a beautiful baby.

I think he's mastered the art of the sippy cup. Or at least he's on his way...he's finally drinking from it instead of chewing on it or rolling it around like it's a toy. Boy does he love apple juice! He's learning how to be impatient and demanding, so it's an important time to show him who is boss. But I still smother him in kisses...and he's smothering little girls in kisses. At the park and at play-dates - he seems to understand that boys are to play with and girls are to kiss.

The solid foods he happily eats now include: chicken (nuggets or baked), hot dogs, toast, peas, mac n cheese, pancakes, banana in a mesh feeder (it looks like a pacifier but the part he puts in his mouth is mesh and I put fruit in it for him to chew), french fries.
The ones he just picks at and occasionally gets into his mouth are: broccoli, pasta, and cantaloupe in a mesh feeder.









I'm still feeling decent, although my right foot has looked like a marshmallow for a couple days. So I've been trying to do housework in one run so I can sit down and elevate it for a while. Jeff has got November off from school, and I will have a little over a month off beginning around Nov 5th.

The doc I saw last week said that they want to induce me at 39/40 weeks. I totally didn't expect that, so I questioned it and he explained that being as the baby will be ready to come out and be healthy at that point, there's no sense in keeping her in there when she's putting a lot of strain on my body by increasing my blood pressure. I can't really deny that, I know high bp is dangerous, and she will be big and healthy at that point so I don't think I'll fight their decision. 40 weeks will be the day before Thanksgiving - and I'm NOT spending Thanksgiving in the hospital. So I think I'll give them the go ahead to schedule an induction for 39 weeks, which will be Nov 19th. That way we'll both be out of the hospital for Thanksgiving. I'm hoping that I'll go into labor by myself before Nov 19th. If they do induce, I don't expect it to be the nightmare it was last time, a lot of things are different this time around.

35 Weeks - Doc Appt

Jeff and Jeffrey came with me, because I was getting an u/s and Jeff wanted to see her. The NST went good...the whole time I was laying there relaxing, I could hear Jeffrey out in the hallways going "DADADADADADADADADAADA!!!" lol

The u/s went really good...they say she weighs 6lbs now! When they said that, let out a few tears. Just the thought of having a "normal" weight baby makes me so happy!!! They were going to confirm that she's "still a girl"...so the guy doing the u/s (he was a student) was looking for her lips - yes - that's what he called them. Not labia, her lips. Jeff squirmed in his seat lol
And they took a 3d pic of her face for us.

Then for my doc appt - apparently they want to induce me at 39/40 weeks, which took me by surprise because no one ever mentioned it before, I kinda assumed I was on the right path for a good, "normal" delivery, but they said that being as the baby is the cause of the high bp, as long as she's healthy and ready to be out, they want to take her out. Everyone kept saying "So we're inducing at 39 weeks..." and after a few times of hearing that, I said "Well you know, there IS a chance I can go into spontaneous labor!!"

And they want me to do another 24 hr urine test. Yay, because I really enjoy collecting it the 4 times I go during the middle of the night and keeping it in the fridge!

So hopefully I'll just go into labor like a normal person would...I don't know, I've never made it that far before! I'm not having any ctx or anything yet, but hopefully next week we'll get rolling!

Future Einstein

I think we may have almost everything ready for our little girl :) We've got the bassinet & swing out of storage, washed them both and washed the infant car seat (wish I could find the base for that but I think it's buried in storage so that's out of the question). Washed all her clothes so they're pre-shrunk and took out all the preemie, newborn, 0-3 months, and a few 3-6 months outfits just in case we're here in this condo that long (grrrrrr). The next thing on the list is to order some diapers for her. We'll be trying a different kind of diaper for her than we did with Jeffrey (partly because Jeffrey's diapers are $20/piece and won't fit a newborn anyways). Also in preparation, I bought a playard for Jeffrey (http://www.kaboodle.com/reviews/superyard-xt-play-gate-by-north-states-industries). I bought it used and off of Craig's list. The one in the picture has 6 gates, but the one I got has 12, so it's super big! It takes up almost all of the living room and there's just enough room for us to walk around it. That way, I don't feel bad about "confining" him to his crib or him jumper while I do something (ANYTHING!) and I know he's safe and happy with all his toys. I just had to get something like this with another baby coming. Jeff and I like getting in there and playing with him without having to worry about him crawling at high speed to the computer corner and getting into everything he shouldn't get into.

I'm kind of in new territory now, never been pregnant this long before! I know that every day counts and so I'm thankful for every day that she's still nice and snuggly in there! We have an u/s on Oct 23rd (the day before my 25th birthday!), so I'm excited to see how much they estimate she weighs at that point. She's very active and pretty mean sometimes. I usually have to get up at least once in the middle of the night to give Jeffrey back his pacifier (plus a few trips to the bathroom!) and I try really hard not to wake her up because it makes it that much harder on me to get back to sleep.

I think Jeffrey is showing interest in walking. He's recently started letting go of his toys while he's standing and not falling. It's just for a second or two though. And when we hold out our hands for him to grab on to and walk to us, we don't have to coax him into walking, he does it by himself :)

And last but not least - enjoy these pictures taken last night after bath time with Daddy!