Belly pic, 32 weeks!

I'm rocking my comfy jammies. :) My mom gave them to me for Christmas...

Speaking of my mother, here is the two of us on Christmas Eve at my grandparents' house. I love my mom!

Oh yeah, I also put up a poll on the right-hand side of this page so you can take a guess as to when you think Elise will arive. This is purely for fun!

Sorry I have been MIA!

The holidays were busy, as holidays tend to be. We kept Christmas morning low-key at our house--from Santa, Andrew got several books, a few DVDs, a doodle board (you know, like an erasable one--it's like a Magna Doodle, but it's made by Parents), and an abacus. Yes, my son isn't into toys, but is a "geek" in the making, already. After that, we went to my mom's house, where we all proceeded to be spoiled with presents. She really went all out, even though all I told her I really needed was a big, fluffy robe for the hospital (I have never had a robe before!). I did get the robe, plus pajamas, plus we got a portable DVD player for trips, plus gift cards galore ($100 for a local grocery store, $50 for Friday's, $50 for Olive Garden, $50 for Subway, and $50 for Target). She is taking all of my siblings to Mexico in March and we won't be able to go because of well, having a new baby and whatnot, so she just wanted to get us something. Honestly, I would be happier if she saved her money because it makes me feel bad--she's all by herself paying a mortgage and half-raising my niece...anyway, she has a big heart and that's just how she is.

Back to reality. The tree came down the day after Christmas and got tossed into the yard (it's too hard to watch Andrew with it--he nearly strangled himself in the lights because he couldn't keep his hands off).

My cutie did play in the snow the other day!


I had my 32 week appointment yesterday with the midwife. You can skip this part if you don't want to read about the boring details of my routine appointments! Anyway, blood pressure was perfect, have gained 3 pounds in 2 weeks (yikes, but they said I'm doing perfect), and fundal height measured just over 31 cm (perfect, since I'm 32 weeks today). My midwife is so nice! We talked about gardening for like, 10 minutes because she found out my hubby is a big gardener and it took off from there (too bad DH doesn't tag along to the appointments). The heartbeat sounded just awesome--she sounds so BIG now! I am so happy that I'm measuring on track, because I wouldn't mind another cute 6 lb. baby (I'll take 7 lbs., but 9/10 lbs. frightens me!).

Also, she assured me that I can do this water birth and that I am a good candidate for it and that actually, only 4 out of 10 of their patients get an epidural, meaning 60% do not (I'm talking total deliveries, because obviously an epi isn't allowed w/water birth anyway). That gave me a lot of hope that hey--I, too, can do this.

I then met with the nurse to do the birth plan, and she gave me a pink, knitted hat--they have some volunteers that make them for all the new moms!

Finally, I met with another lady who did my pre-registration. I'm all set!

8 weeks to go before Baby is here!

Here's a self-portrait maternity photo, entitled "Womb, Revisited" (a prior one I posted was from 22 weeks and this is from almost 32 weeks)...

Happy holidays!

I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday season. I; unfortunately, have to work today, but then I am looking forward to a weekend of festivities and fun. Tonight we will head over to my grandparents' house and gather there. Tomorrow morning, we are doing the "Santa" thing with Andrew for the first time (we never had a tree before, plus he was so young in previous years). Then we will head over to my mom's house (Santa comes there too), and finally, we have my husband's family's Christmas party at 3:00 at his sister's house.

Andrew is getting a nice "I Love you So Much" book from me and Daddy bought him a couple books off Amazon that are way above his level, but hey--I couldn't spoil his fun (one of them is about the Periodic Elements; the other is a "Numbers Fun" book that is more for a grade schooler). ;)

From Santa, he is getting three books (he loves being read to and paging through the books himself--"Andrew do it"), an abacus (he likes to count and when we go to the doctor's office, he plays with the beads), and a "Parents" brand Magna-doodle thing (so we can have fun writing letters and numbers). On the way (not sure if they'll get here on time if they don't come today) are three DVDs--two of them are Leap Frog letters DVDs and the other is Super Why (Andrew's favorite show--cannot find the DVDs in stores around here, but Amazon has them). So yeah, no toys for him (because he doesn't play with them and I hate all those plastic toys anyway) because the kid loves to learn; thus, he is getting fun learning tools. :)

I got DH a nice Columbia winter jacket. I can't wait to give it to him (he has never had a nice, new jacket of his own--he has always gotten hand-me-ups from his nephews--they are giant men who grew bigger and taller than him; his mom has picked him up jackets from Goodwill before, but unfortunately, the zippers are all broken on the jackets he has now).

Andrew loves toast: a cute dialogue...

Every morning he wants a piece of toast (or two) with grape jelly. The conversation goes like this...

Andrew: "Toast?"
Mom: "Sure, honey. Let's go make it."

Head to kitchen to prepare toast...

Andrew: "Cook it?"
Mom: "Yep, we'll cook it. Let mom put it in the toaster."

Andrew whines a little because the toaster takes you know, more than a second to make the toast...

A minute or so later, the toast pops out, eliciting a squeal of delight from Andrew...

Andrew: "Butter?"
Mom: "Yep, Mom is putting butter on the toast."
Andrew: "Wife?"
Mom: "Yep, with a knife."
Andrew: "Sauce?"

("Sauce" is Andrew's word for jelly)

Mom: "Yep, we'll put the sauce on next."
Andrew: "Cut?"
Mom: "Yep, Mom will cut the toast for you."

Andrew happily takes his plate into the living room so he can enjoy watching Super Why with his toast.

Andrew: "Mmm...good".


A side note from Daddy: one time Dad handed Andrew a piece of bread and Andrew handed it back saying, "cook".
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Also, last night we were at TJ Maxx. Andrew was in the front of the cart and I grabbed a couple pairs of warm winter socks. Anyway, we walked past the undergarments section and Andrew yelled, "BOOBIES!!!" when he saw the bras. LOL, it was within hearing range of this other young couple and the girl was laughing for like five minutes. It was so funny!

Since I can't send one to all of you...

I will just send you a "Blogcard". Happy holidays from my family to yours! :)

Passing this SWEET DEAL along to nursing mothers...

I just ordered my nursing cover (didn't have one with Andrew but would like one this time so I don't have to nurse in my car so often--this is a very anti-BFing area--seriously I have never seen another mother nursing in public, not once).

Anyway, go to www.uddercovers.com and pick a nursing cover. Plug in the code: "babykiss" and that will take off the price of the nursing cover ($32) so all you have to pay is $8.95 in shipping.

I know several people online who have already done this and received their covers and they said they are nicer than the ones the company originally offered. :)

Flickr Friday...

This is my little man enjoying his time on the potty seat with the blow dryer. Yes, it was the only way I could keep him on there. I am taking baby steps with potty training--he has to get used to the seat and hopefully the rest will follow. You are all probably aware of his fascination with his friend, "Blow Dry". :) This photo is the burden of proof (no lovies or special blankies for him; he wants nothing to do with them).


This is my hubby shoveling the driveway before I left for work on Wednesday. We got 17" total, as I mentioned before. It came in as the 6th biggest snowfall for us. The #1 slot is filled by the Blizzard of February, 2007, when we got 20". I remember it well because I was pregnant with Andrew and it was snowing for DH's birthday on 2/25. He was out shoveling and it was thundering--he almost got struck by some horizontal, purple lightning. Crazy!


And finally, this is an ornament my mother gave to Andrew. It's so cool--it lights up and changes colors from blue, green, yellow, white, to red.

Please keep my friends in your thoughts...

They have just received news that the scans done on their 2 year old son, who is currently battling cancer (Wilms Tumor) revealed a spot on his liver which could indicate that the cancer has spread. My heart is so heavy for them; please pray if you are the praying type or just keep them in your thoughts. I am just in tears over this...

Mom's blog
Husband's blog

It hit!

Just like in the movie, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, we officially are in the midst of a blizzard.

Snowfall totals as of early this morning were 15.5 inches at the airport (which we live in sight of). It's still coming down and it's blowing all over the place. I saw some 3 foot snow drifts. DH and all his online weather geeks are all excited. Yes, my husband has a live webcam set up outside so those other guys can look at it and drool. Silly men! Oh well, whatever floats their boats.

Hope you are all staying safe and warm if you are in the path of this massive storm! It will be making our top ten for snowfall amounts.

Oh, and I made it in to work safely--what little traffic there was was moving along at 30-25 MPH on the interstate. I did get stuck on one of the roads by my house but some nice, helpful guy jumped out of his truck and helped push my car around the corner. The snow is DEEP! I do have some mad driving skills if I must say so myself. I'm good at getting through this. Bring it on!

Yay for a white Christmas. I don't think this stuff will come close to being melted by 12/24.

Our Christmas Tree

Yes, it's real, and it's SPECTACULAR! ;) *wink, wink if you know what that is referring to.



I took a picture of our tree in all its glory. Last night I added one more strand of lights so I was able to move the other ones a little bit closer, but I didn't take a new pic. Oh well. It's our first Christmas tree! Andrew is at the age now where he is excited about Christmas lights, Frosty the Snowman, and snow.

Speaking of snow, we are currently in a blizzard warning. Twelve to Fifteen inches of the white stuff is possible. The worst is supposed to come tonight and tomorrow, and then it is going to be really cold with blowing snow causing whiteouts. I love snow, but I will be taking it easy on my way into work tomorrow.

Stay warm!

Belly pic for 28 weeks...

Appointment update!

It went well. The nurse told me I am one of those "picture-perfect pregnancies". That made me feel happy.

BP was 106/66 (I always run on the lower side of normal).

I gained 8 lbs. since my last appointment 5 weeks ago, but she didn't yell at me because she said I'm not swelling and that I was doing great and baby was measuring on track.

She also asked me if I was having any back pain or other discomfort and I said, "no--I am very comfortable". Hey, it's the truth! I have no complaints.

Fundal height was 27.5 cm, and I am 28 weeks tomorrow, so perfect.

The heartbeat was in the 140 range.

I drank the orange drink in less than a minute and had my blood drawn an hour later.

I talked to them about my plans for a waterbirth and she said she would want me to see a midwife instead of the doctor for at least a couple of appointments--in general, doctors do not attend the waterbirths, so she said a midwife would be by me the whole time (fine with me, because they are less likely to push pain relief and whatnot). I can take a class on it if I want to--it's just an hour long.

Other than that, not too much new!

Oh, as of right now they are not allowing any children to visit in the hospital, but she said we would see how things go as we get closer to February.

Andrew's alphabet...

goes like this: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, M, X, Y; Z.

He can say, "double" and "you" but I think he honestly thinks we are wrong when we correct him and say, "W". He will keep smiling and repeat, "M...M...M". He hates "W" and even tore up that page, and that page only, in his alphabet animals book.

He will even say, "M" if we go through the alphabet and have him repeat the letters back to us, without him even seeing the letter. He can't be tricked!

It's funny and cute at the same time!

Really, though, looking at it from his point of view, it really does not make sense to have two letters in the alphabet that look so similar, one of them just being flipped.

Andrew gets so excited when we go out because he will shout out letters (just the other night, we were at the grocery store, which happens to be big enough to have aisles named A-Z, plus 1-some high up number in the 20s).

In other news, I have my 28 week OB appointment today at 3:00. It's just with the nurse, but that's okay--they are sometimes more thorough than the doctor. I have to do the GD test, but that's okay--it isn't all dreaded for me like people make it out to be (last time I chugged the orange drink and told them I'd drink another if they wanted me to). I am kind-of scared to step on the scale because I know I have gained. :(