So what do you do when your little chickie won't sleep? Take pictures with your camera phone of one of her awake times of course! :)
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Up all night
Rainey is still having some residual day/night reversal issues. Some nights she'll nurse and go right back to sleep, others she'll be up the whole time between 2 feedings. Tonight she's going for a hybrid: awake for about an hour after every nursing. Oh well.
So what do you do when your little chickie won't sleep? Take pictures with your camera phone of one of her awake times of course! :)
So what do you do when your little chickie won't sleep? Take pictures with your camera phone of one of her awake times of course! :)
Monday, November 14, 2011
Already?!?
Rainey is one of those rare babies that doesn't hate tummy time. Today I put her in the center of her playmat while I folded laundry/watched jeopardy and I saw her working her feet against the mat with a lot of force for an almost 4 week old. After a minute or two she had moved herself out of the center!
Then after another few minutes she made it to the carpet. Apparently scooting is exhausting stuff and she conked out right there.
I know she probably doesn't understand what she's doing, she's not lifting her head all that much (or her arms and torso) but still! I don't remember Sam getting anywhere deliberately or not this early.
Uh oh.
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Then after another few minutes she made it to the carpet. Apparently scooting is exhausting stuff and she conked out right there.
I know she probably doesn't understand what she's doing, she's not lifting her head all that much (or her arms and torso) but still! I don't remember Sam getting anywhere deliberately or not this early.
Uh oh.
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Saturday, October 29, 2011
Rainey's Birth Story
We are so glad Miss Rainey is finally here. After a bumpy pregnancy it feels so good to be holding a very healthy girl in our arms. Her newborn jaundice is gone and never got too terrible; she's also regained and exceeded her birth weight of 6 lbs 7 oz. Monday she was 6 lbs, 2.5 oz and Friday she was 6 lbs 10 oz. She's a champ at nursing and based on weighing her before/after she's eating about 3 oz at every feeding. So much about her pregnancy/delivery was different than with Sam and how well she's eating is no exception.
At her 34 week interval growth scan they picked up a couple soft markers for downs syndrome; that, combined with my being high risk, a subchorionic hematoma, and her being small for gestational age meant that they wanted us to be monitored even more frequently than the once a week we were already doing. So on Tuesday's we would schlepp to my OB's office (who was always reassuring me that the odds of anything actually being wrong were microscopic) and Thursday's I would go the perinatologist to have biophysical profiles done. At 37 weeks they decided that although she was still measuring small she was growing and there wasn't any reason to deliver her early.
Having spent week 22 on contracting anywhere between every 2 to 7 minutes consistently my Dr. and I both thought that for sure I would go into active labor before my due date. When 38 weeks came and went we were both surprised and at that point ready for anything. I'd always joked that after all the fuss she'd come late and be a November baby and suddenly it seemed like that might actually be what happened.
At my 39 week visit we decided to induce on my due date of October 20th if she didn't come on her own before. My Mom had already bought a plane ticket for the 20th thinking that for sure she'd be here by then; and her work schedule was planned accordingly. There were lots of reasons for wanting Miss Rainey to appear before the 20th: my Mom's visit, David's work, I had been in labor for essentially 4 months and I was done, and going into labor naturally would be easier on my body than an induction. I had a postpartum hemorrhage with Sam and NO desire to repeat the experience; a more natural labor would decrease my odds of a repeat PPH.
There were several times that last two weeks where I thought I was going into labor. Each time I dilated more but it always backed off. We were worried that I was going to be so used to my body crying wolf that I'd miss the real cues until it was nearly too late. Well the night of the 18th was one of those times. I went to bed wondering and hoping I'd wake up in plenty of time if it was real but not really expecting it to pan out since it never had before. When David woke me before he left for work the next morning my back and belly ached more than usual but I just pushed it out of my mind. He asked me if I thought we would have a baby that day and I said "maybe" and both of us were still thinking "yeah right". I got Sam his breakfast and went to get dressed for my weekly OB appointment and lo and behold there was blood. Apparently the aches and contractions every 5 minutes meant something else this time; I called my Dr. and she cancelled my appointment and told me to go to the hospital when I was ready. I called David who cancelled his day at work and turned around to come back home for Sam and I. Nonnie and Bubbie also packed up and headed into town to help us with Sam. We got things ready and rolled into the hospital at about 10:30. They took me back, checked things and put me on the monitors and admitted me for L&D. I got to the room and settled in around 12:30 still wondering how much of history was going to repeat itself and still in a bit of shock over the fact that the day before my induction I had gone into labor after all. My brain was all set for the induction on the 20th, I had even gone to the grocery store the night before to get stuff to make dinner that night.
My contractions were there, but irregular, so they decided to break my water and then augment labor with pytocin so that they were consistently every 2 minutes. For whatever reason my bag was nonvolatible (they couldn't break it) and so here came the pytocin. Fun. Not being able to break my water was actually a bit of a relief for me, it just seemed like keeping nature's shock absorber intact as long as it wanted to be would help keep things from rupturing/abrupting which they were concerned about. The only issue really is that without the increased hormone that comes when your water breaks I was facing a longer labor. Sam came in 6 hours and I had already been going that long with Rainey and was only at 5 cm. I waited as long as I could before getting the epidural, but around 5:30 I was 6.5 cm and concerned it wouldn't be placed in time to be working for the delivery. (with Sam once I hit 7 cm I went from 7 to 10 cm in less than an hour) For me getting it was more for the afterbirth in case I had a PPH again though by then I was hurting pretty badly and ok with getting some relief.
Getting my IV in had taken a few tries and thanks to my messed up back it took a few tries and lots of discomfort to get the epidural in as well. But eventually it was in and running. Around 6:30 I started to have this terrible pain in my left side and some serious shudders; the anesthesiologist came back and boosted my epidural temporarily which didn't do any good, he also tested me with ice to make sure it was working and it was and so puzzled he left. I tried laying on my left side which only made it worse. My inlaws left to take a nearly comatose with exhaustion Sam home at about 7:15; my Dr. came back at 7:30 to check me and the pain in my side. She saw the shudders and told me that probably the pain was my needing to push but the epidural was so deep I couldn't tell and my body was translating the feeling as the pain in my side. As soon as she checked me she new it was time and in the same 10 seconds my water broke and Rainey started crowning. Seriously?!? Sam had JUST left. Oy. She, the resident on duty that night and the rest of the birth team scrambled to get suited up because nobody thought it would be go time that quickly. A minute or two later it was push time and after 2 pushes Miss Rainey came right out. Dad never knew the gender and actually had begun to think she was a boy and was surprised to see he had a girl. They put her on my chest for a bit and let me get some snuggles while they tended to...things...and miracle of miracles, no hemorrhage. Sam's birth was this busy, crowded, frightening thing once they saw I was hemorrhaging; this time there was blood set aside for me just in case and I didn't need it. Praise God!
It's amazing how different an experience childbirth is when nothing goes awry; I wasn't throwing up, dizzy, and in general feeling like death on a plate. There were only 4 people in the room besides David, Rainey and I and my Dr. and I were just chit-chatting while she wrapped things up and Rainey got weighed and footprinted. It was quiet, calm and honestly I was so awestruck by how peaceful it all was that I didn't have the "I had a baby!" crying episode until the middle of the night while I was holding her as she slept.
When they brought her back she nursed right away for a long time (another huge difference between her and her brother) and so we had a nice long time in recovery just David, Rainey and I before it was time to go to our real room while Miss Rainey got her first bath. I was still dumbfounded by how great I felt, I ate dinner and went for a little walk and bumped into the nurse bringing Rainey back to our room. By then it was going on 10 pm so we called it a night. Like her brother Rainey pretty much hated the bassinet. She also was still gagging on mucus fairly often so I settled in for a long sweet night just holding her. I'm never sleepy after I have my kiddoes, too excited I guess, I did the same thing with Sam. Plus between nursing every couple of hours and the staff waking you around the clock there just isn't much sleep to be had. All the grands and big brother met her the next morning and were all just as smitten as David and I. Sam adores her and always wants to hold her or pet her. It's so precious. Since I delivered in the evening we stayed at Hotel Hermann until Friday morning (again, much improved from the 4 days we camped there when Sam was born). We got home, settled in, and the rest is too rapidly becoming history. :)
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At her 34 week interval growth scan they picked up a couple soft markers for downs syndrome; that, combined with my being high risk, a subchorionic hematoma, and her being small for gestational age meant that they wanted us to be monitored even more frequently than the once a week we were already doing. So on Tuesday's we would schlepp to my OB's office (who was always reassuring me that the odds of anything actually being wrong were microscopic) and Thursday's I would go the perinatologist to have biophysical profiles done. At 37 weeks they decided that although she was still measuring small she was growing and there wasn't any reason to deliver her early.
Having spent week 22 on contracting anywhere between every 2 to 7 minutes consistently my Dr. and I both thought that for sure I would go into active labor before my due date. When 38 weeks came and went we were both surprised and at that point ready for anything. I'd always joked that after all the fuss she'd come late and be a November baby and suddenly it seemed like that might actually be what happened.
At my 39 week visit we decided to induce on my due date of October 20th if she didn't come on her own before. My Mom had already bought a plane ticket for the 20th thinking that for sure she'd be here by then; and her work schedule was planned accordingly. There were lots of reasons for wanting Miss Rainey to appear before the 20th: my Mom's visit, David's work, I had been in labor for essentially 4 months and I was done, and going into labor naturally would be easier on my body than an induction. I had a postpartum hemorrhage with Sam and NO desire to repeat the experience; a more natural labor would decrease my odds of a repeat PPH.
There were several times that last two weeks where I thought I was going into labor. Each time I dilated more but it always backed off. We were worried that I was going to be so used to my body crying wolf that I'd miss the real cues until it was nearly too late. Well the night of the 18th was one of those times. I went to bed wondering and hoping I'd wake up in plenty of time if it was real but not really expecting it to pan out since it never had before. When David woke me before he left for work the next morning my back and belly ached more than usual but I just pushed it out of my mind. He asked me if I thought we would have a baby that day and I said "maybe" and both of us were still thinking "yeah right". I got Sam his breakfast and went to get dressed for my weekly OB appointment and lo and behold there was blood. Apparently the aches and contractions every 5 minutes meant something else this time; I called my Dr. and she cancelled my appointment and told me to go to the hospital when I was ready. I called David who cancelled his day at work and turned around to come back home for Sam and I. Nonnie and Bubbie also packed up and headed into town to help us with Sam. We got things ready and rolled into the hospital at about 10:30. They took me back, checked things and put me on the monitors and admitted me for L&D. I got to the room and settled in around 12:30 still wondering how much of history was going to repeat itself and still in a bit of shock over the fact that the day before my induction I had gone into labor after all. My brain was all set for the induction on the 20th, I had even gone to the grocery store the night before to get stuff to make dinner that night.
My contractions were there, but irregular, so they decided to break my water and then augment labor with pytocin so that they were consistently every 2 minutes. For whatever reason my bag was nonvolatible (they couldn't break it) and so here came the pytocin. Fun. Not being able to break my water was actually a bit of a relief for me, it just seemed like keeping nature's shock absorber intact as long as it wanted to be would help keep things from rupturing/abrupting which they were concerned about. The only issue really is that without the increased hormone that comes when your water breaks I was facing a longer labor. Sam came in 6 hours and I had already been going that long with Rainey and was only at 5 cm. I waited as long as I could before getting the epidural, but around 5:30 I was 6.5 cm and concerned it wouldn't be placed in time to be working for the delivery. (with Sam once I hit 7 cm I went from 7 to 10 cm in less than an hour) For me getting it was more for the afterbirth in case I had a PPH again though by then I was hurting pretty badly and ok with getting some relief.
Getting my IV in had taken a few tries and thanks to my messed up back it took a few tries and lots of discomfort to get the epidural in as well. But eventually it was in and running. Around 6:30 I started to have this terrible pain in my left side and some serious shudders; the anesthesiologist came back and boosted my epidural temporarily which didn't do any good, he also tested me with ice to make sure it was working and it was and so puzzled he left. I tried laying on my left side which only made it worse. My inlaws left to take a nearly comatose with exhaustion Sam home at about 7:15; my Dr. came back at 7:30 to check me and the pain in my side. She saw the shudders and told me that probably the pain was my needing to push but the epidural was so deep I couldn't tell and my body was translating the feeling as the pain in my side. As soon as she checked me she new it was time and in the same 10 seconds my water broke and Rainey started crowning. Seriously?!? Sam had JUST left. Oy. She, the resident on duty that night and the rest of the birth team scrambled to get suited up because nobody thought it would be go time that quickly. A minute or two later it was push time and after 2 pushes Miss Rainey came right out. Dad never knew the gender and actually had begun to think she was a boy and was surprised to see he had a girl. They put her on my chest for a bit and let me get some snuggles while they tended to...things...and miracle of miracles, no hemorrhage. Sam's birth was this busy, crowded, frightening thing once they saw I was hemorrhaging; this time there was blood set aside for me just in case and I didn't need it. Praise God!
It's amazing how different an experience childbirth is when nothing goes awry; I wasn't throwing up, dizzy, and in general feeling like death on a plate. There were only 4 people in the room besides David, Rainey and I and my Dr. and I were just chit-chatting while she wrapped things up and Rainey got weighed and footprinted. It was quiet, calm and honestly I was so awestruck by how peaceful it all was that I didn't have the "I had a baby!" crying episode until the middle of the night while I was holding her as she slept.
When they brought her back she nursed right away for a long time (another huge difference between her and her brother) and so we had a nice long time in recovery just David, Rainey and I before it was time to go to our real room while Miss Rainey got her first bath. I was still dumbfounded by how great I felt, I ate dinner and went for a little walk and bumped into the nurse bringing Rainey back to our room. By then it was going on 10 pm so we called it a night. Like her brother Rainey pretty much hated the bassinet. She also was still gagging on mucus fairly often so I settled in for a long sweet night just holding her. I'm never sleepy after I have my kiddoes, too excited I guess, I did the same thing with Sam. Plus between nursing every couple of hours and the staff waking you around the clock there just isn't much sleep to be had. All the grands and big brother met her the next morning and were all just as smitten as David and I. Sam adores her and always wants to hold her or pet her. It's so precious. Since I delivered in the evening we stayed at Hotel Hermann until Friday morning (again, much improved from the 4 days we camped there when Sam was born). We got home, settled in, and the rest is too rapidly becoming history. :)
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Sunday, September 18, 2011
And rain, will make the flowers grow
There was a pretty random assortment of plants in our flower beds when we moved in. My MIL has done a fantastic job moving things around, bringing starts of things and trying to bring it up to snuff.
This little plant (no idea what it is) has been hangin' out in the front yard since day one. I thought it was some type of grass or shrub, and maybe it is. Anyway, yesterday we had our first rainfall in 2 months at least, and certainly our first since we moved in 6 weeks ago. Lots and lots of rain with even more today and more expected tomorrow. YAY!!!!! We've watered when we can, but with the rain yesterday this little guy bloomed literally overnight.
Apparently plants really can tell the difference between rain and faucet water.
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This little plant (no idea what it is) has been hangin' out in the front yard since day one. I thought it was some type of grass or shrub, and maybe it is. Anyway, yesterday we had our first rainfall in 2 months at least, and certainly our first since we moved in 6 weeks ago. Lots and lots of rain with even more today and more expected tomorrow. YAY!!!!! We've watered when we can, but with the rain yesterday this little guy bloomed literally overnight.
Apparently plants really can tell the difference between rain and faucet water.
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Friday, September 16, 2011
Baby Face
We got a 3D treat today...and if you are one of those talented people who can discern baby face from surrounding, err, stuff...here's Baby's sweet little face.
Baby D has an arm swung over his/her forehead and was taking a nap...
Baby D has an arm swung over his/her forehead and was taking a nap...
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Out Back
Sam has really started enjoying the backyard. Especially with the cooler mornings we've been having. Nonnie and Bubbie brought Aunt Sisi's old (newly refurbished) swingset. He's loving it.
It's not the only thing he does out there, he still loves his green push car and chases Caspian who chases squirrels. We have mudslides, waterfalls, sand slides, (all made of dirt)...pretty much lots and lots of fun in the dirt.
Ah boyhood :)
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It's not the only thing he does out there, he still loves his green push car and chases Caspian who chases squirrels. We have mudslides, waterfalls, sand slides, (all made of dirt)...pretty much lots and lots of fun in the dirt.
Ah boyhood :)
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Wednesday, August 31, 2011
All Grown Up
The new baby is coming just in time...Sam started dressing himself yesterday. Picked out his clothes and everything. He was SO proud of himself, I didn't have the heart to tell him everything was backwards. ;)
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- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Thursday, August 11, 2011
30 Weeks!
Happy 30 weeks to the little froggie in my tummy :) Since he/she measured small at the last scan we got to see him/her again this morning. Sam had fun telling Dada everything the technicians said about the baby, even though Dada could see/hear for himself...
Head and legs are still a bit small (not overly worryingly so), but that could be for a whole host of reasons, including that he/she hasn't spent much time head down. All the organs look just fine, the brain does too, we're just going to have the itty-bitty baby my doc thought we'd have this time. Neither me or Sam for that matter were over 7 lbs so its probably another case of the crazy percentiles striking again. (Altogether baby is in the 32% which is totally fine.) His/her heart rate was 135 which is great, and estimated weight was 2 lb 13 oz, also pretty good.
This little one was surprisingly still at first, usually he/she is all over the place. Case in point: about 2 weeks ago he/she flipped head down, and has since then flipped spots about every other day. Over the weekend he/she felt like transverse (where he/she spent most of the past several weeks) was comfy, then he/she went head down again for our checkup, transverse again and last night he/she went breech and now the head is up in my tummy. I have more room than the baby is using in there right now and he/she seems to be quite happy making the most of it.
When this little one is awake he/she makes some very rapid movements, all the time. He/she likes to keep hands and feet all together for the most part, unless he/she's trying to flip and then I feel these long, hard, stretching, swiping movements in places. For some reason it reminds me of when Caspian gets stuck under the bed and has to scrape around to try and get out. During the scan he/she never stopped moving his/her mouth and sticking his/her tongue in and out. Silly baby, it was fun and funny to watch.
Here are some of the clearer pictures we got.
And as you can probably tell from all the he/she, his/her foolishness the gender is still a secret from Dada...I can't believe I've made it 10 weeks without slipping up!
Head and legs are still a bit small (not overly worryingly so), but that could be for a whole host of reasons, including that he/she hasn't spent much time head down. All the organs look just fine, the brain does too, we're just going to have the itty-bitty baby my doc thought we'd have this time. Neither me or Sam for that matter were over 7 lbs so its probably another case of the crazy percentiles striking again. (Altogether baby is in the 32% which is totally fine.) His/her heart rate was 135 which is great, and estimated weight was 2 lb 13 oz, also pretty good.
This little one was surprisingly still at first, usually he/she is all over the place. Case in point: about 2 weeks ago he/she flipped head down, and has since then flipped spots about every other day. Over the weekend he/she felt like transverse (where he/she spent most of the past several weeks) was comfy, then he/she went head down again for our checkup, transverse again and last night he/she went breech and now the head is up in my tummy. I have more room than the baby is using in there right now and he/she seems to be quite happy making the most of it.
When this little one is awake he/she makes some very rapid movements, all the time. He/she likes to keep hands and feet all together for the most part, unless he/she's trying to flip and then I feel these long, hard, stretching, swiping movements in places. For some reason it reminds me of when Caspian gets stuck under the bed and has to scrape around to try and get out. During the scan he/she never stopped moving his/her mouth and sticking his/her tongue in and out. Silly baby, it was fun and funny to watch.
Here are some of the clearer pictures we got.
And as you can probably tell from all the he/she, his/her foolishness the gender is still a secret from Dada...I can't believe I've made it 10 weeks without slipping up!
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
"Tell me more about that"
"Tell me more about that" is Sam's new favorite question/phrase. If you are a parent, or just like to laugh at them whenever you hear their kid ask "why" one hundred times, "tell me more about that" goes way beyond "why?" Why? At least with "why" eventually it will devolve into "because that's how God created this or that" or "you'll have to ask God when we pray tonight."
With "tell me more about that" it NEVER ends. I love Sam's inquisitive mind, his incredible imagination and his ability to comprehend a lot of what we're saying when we do tell him more about that. That being said, it's hard to be driving home trying to explain the aerodynamics/mechanics of why Larryboy's airplane can go from being a car, to a plane, to crashing into the ground without actually crashing because it exchanged the nose of the plane for a bore head and is drilling into the depths of Bumblyburg. (While maintaining enough focus on my driving so as not to crash myself.) I tried to just say that it was just because the car changed parts when the buttons were pushed and leave it, but he wanted to know what a bore head does. I had to "tell him more about that", and then I had to explain how Larryboy's plane can fly in the first place. Then I had to explain why Larryboy had to fly high into the air to be able to crash into the ground with enough force; and then why he couldn't just drive down. Somehow I managed to muddle through without giving him a load of bad information that would need to be corrected down the road when he's in the top of his class at the CO School of Mines, because this kid remembers everything and has brought up that specific conversation since, and eventually segued it over to Larryboy flying to visit Uncle Eric in Alaska.
BUT then I had to tell him more about that.
[P.S. If anyone out there has any statics/chemistry/physics/geology/etc. textbooks lying around, I might need to borrow them. I don't think "Physics for Dummies" is going to hack it much longer :S]
With "tell me more about that" it NEVER ends. I love Sam's inquisitive mind, his incredible imagination and his ability to comprehend a lot of what we're saying when we do tell him more about that. That being said, it's hard to be driving home trying to explain the aerodynamics/mechanics of why Larryboy's airplane can go from being a car, to a plane, to crashing into the ground without actually crashing because it exchanged the nose of the plane for a bore head and is drilling into the depths of Bumblyburg. (While maintaining enough focus on my driving so as not to crash myself.) I tried to just say that it was just because the car changed parts when the buttons were pushed and leave it, but he wanted to know what a bore head does. I had to "tell him more about that", and then I had to explain how Larryboy's plane can fly in the first place. Then I had to explain why Larryboy had to fly high into the air to be able to crash into the ground with enough force; and then why he couldn't just drive down. Somehow I managed to muddle through without giving him a load of bad information that would need to be corrected down the road when he's in the top of his class at the CO School of Mines, because this kid remembers everything and has brought up that specific conversation since, and eventually segued it over to Larryboy flying to visit Uncle Eric in Alaska.
BUT then I had to tell him more about that.
[P.S. If anyone out there has any statics/chemistry/physics/geology/etc. textbooks lying around, I might need to borrow them. I don't think "Physics for Dummies" is going to hack it much longer :S]
Friday, July 15, 2011
Noah's Ark
Sam's favorite thing to do this summer is go to Noah's Ark. It might be Mommy's favorite too. It's fenced, has plenty of lifeguards, is only 6" deep, has a snack bar (though they let you bring in your own stuff) and I can sit and 'rest' while watching him play. Awesomeness. In this crazy heat if you're going to be outside water is a MUST! :)
 |
| It took him a few trips here for him to build up enough bravery to go down the 'big' slide since I can't do water slides at the moment. Now he goes right for it! |
Friday, July 8, 2011
"Fishing"
When we go to the park, or really anywhere that there's a nice soggy, muddy puddle Sam likes to find a stick and go "fishing".
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- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Summer so far
Apparently we took our Alaska trip in the nick of time. I had trouble with bleeding for the first ~16 weeks of this pregnancy and since I hit ~21 weeks have been having strong contractions. The trip was over weeks 18-19...God's timing is perfect.
Baby and I haven't been ordered to permanently stay in bed, just to stay there as often as possible. No heavy lifting, no standing for long periods, no getting hot if possible (umm, are they aware it's summer?) and absolutely no getting dehydrated (not much of a worry, I can't go more than ~20 mins without ice water). I've been to the hospital twice, to the Dr. a lot, and things are finally hitting a sort of equilibrium. They tend to be ~3 minutes apart but I'm not...err..."changing" enough that they think I'm going into labor this week; this may just be the norm for the rest of the pregnancy. :( Problem is, that's only good for this week, next week might be a different story. Pretty unnerving when you go to your Dr. (who fortunately I trust completely) and with the doppler and measuring tape comes comments like,"Think you can make it 10 more weeks?" Umm, I'm barely at the start of 25 weeks, I don't like that math.
The good news? Well, baby is still moving well and doesn't appear to be in any kind of distress from all the contractions. Pinning he/she down with the doppler is still difficult since he/she is spinning around constantly. Baby still isn't head down, but transverse...a good thing since they're concerned the pressure of being head down might make my body go into active labor. At the 20 wk U/S baby sized a wee bit small, everything was proportional and functioning just...small, so we'll get to see he/she again in a few weeks. Meantime I'm supposed to do my best to beef he/she up ;) Sam was a small baby so likely we just make small babies, but better safe right? David has been awesome, he makes dinner when he gets home, cleans, exercises Sam since he's cooped up more often now, etc.
And Sam? Oh, sweet Sam. He's growing up so fast, although I think his imagination might be a little TOO strong. He has imaginary roads going all over the place that we can't sit/stand on or in the case of his bed cover with a blanket. Last night Bumblyburg (the town in the Larryboy cartoons) was in his mouth when we were brushing his teeth so he started crying since we were causing damage to it. Sigh. He has taken on the superhero persona of Larryboy, whose alter ego I suppose is Fireman Sam. Thomas the train is still a very good friend but we're running out of track room. He still is very regimented as to where his things go and remembering where EXACTLY he left them. Thomas ALWAYS has to be parked at the Bell Station just past the building but before the crossing; fire truck and taxi cab have to be parked, backwards, at the fire station on his mat. Sam has been very patient with Mommy too since I can't do a whole lot of active playing with him, but we read a lot and color/paint and I'll lay on his bed and watch him play trains or whatever. His current favorite book is "Bobby Bramble Loses His Brain." He's started to play tennis with Dad a little bit and is getting slightly more interested in balls, I still think we have a future runner/basketball/or soccer player...his favorite thing to do even still is just to run and run and run (which he/we call "whoodie whoodie's").
His vocabulary is also growing apace, he's dropping nearly all of his baby words now. Waffles aren't "awfuls" anymore and watermelon isn't "wi-high". He's also starting to have some crowding in his brain when he speaks and if he gets too excited will stutter a little bit. He's picked up some funny phrases like "I know it's funny but you have to stop that" and has all manner of goofy exclamations like calling people/things "silly sacks".
He's potty trained but for nap/nighttime and will put on his underwear in the morning and after his nap without being asked. For some reason the silly boy likes to wear both his underwear and shorts backwards. I asked him why this morning and he said, "because I like to." Well, at least he wears them. It could be worse. But for all his bigness he still tells me he likes/loves me all the time, gives kisses (mostly goat kisses) and hugs for free, holds hands and is as snuggly as he was when he was a baby.
The next few weeks will, in the interest of keeping the littlest one happy, be pretty uneventful. I've still been taking Sam to his Friday playgroup but that's really our only 'outing' during the week. We're due to move out of our apartment at the end of July. 4 years and 1 month after we moved in. Be praying for the baby to continue to grow and be safe (and stay in!), that we find the perfect place to move into (we're hoping to rent a house with a yard where boy and dog can whoodie whoodie to their hearts content), and that we/all of Texas get some serious rainfall as we're in a massive, oppressive, depressing drought.
Baby and I haven't been ordered to permanently stay in bed, just to stay there as often as possible. No heavy lifting, no standing for long periods, no getting hot if possible (umm, are they aware it's summer?) and absolutely no getting dehydrated (not much of a worry, I can't go more than ~20 mins without ice water). I've been to the hospital twice, to the Dr. a lot, and things are finally hitting a sort of equilibrium. They tend to be ~3 minutes apart but I'm not...err..."changing" enough that they think I'm going into labor this week; this may just be the norm for the rest of the pregnancy. :( Problem is, that's only good for this week, next week might be a different story. Pretty unnerving when you go to your Dr. (who fortunately I trust completely) and with the doppler and measuring tape comes comments like,"Think you can make it 10 more weeks?" Umm, I'm barely at the start of 25 weeks, I don't like that math.
The good news? Well, baby is still moving well and doesn't appear to be in any kind of distress from all the contractions. Pinning he/she down with the doppler is still difficult since he/she is spinning around constantly. Baby still isn't head down, but transverse...a good thing since they're concerned the pressure of being head down might make my body go into active labor. At the 20 wk U/S baby sized a wee bit small, everything was proportional and functioning just...small, so we'll get to see he/she again in a few weeks. Meantime I'm supposed to do my best to beef he/she up ;) Sam was a small baby so likely we just make small babies, but better safe right? David has been awesome, he makes dinner when he gets home, cleans, exercises Sam since he's cooped up more often now, etc.
And Sam? Oh, sweet Sam. He's growing up so fast, although I think his imagination might be a little TOO strong. He has imaginary roads going all over the place that we can't sit/stand on or in the case of his bed cover with a blanket. Last night Bumblyburg (the town in the Larryboy cartoons) was in his mouth when we were brushing his teeth so he started crying since we were causing damage to it. Sigh. He has taken on the superhero persona of Larryboy, whose alter ego I suppose is Fireman Sam. Thomas the train is still a very good friend but we're running out of track room. He still is very regimented as to where his things go and remembering where EXACTLY he left them. Thomas ALWAYS has to be parked at the Bell Station just past the building but before the crossing; fire truck and taxi cab have to be parked, backwards, at the fire station on his mat. Sam has been very patient with Mommy too since I can't do a whole lot of active playing with him, but we read a lot and color/paint and I'll lay on his bed and watch him play trains or whatever. His current favorite book is "Bobby Bramble Loses His Brain." He's started to play tennis with Dad a little bit and is getting slightly more interested in balls, I still think we have a future runner/basketball/or soccer player...his favorite thing to do even still is just to run and run and run (which he/we call "whoodie whoodie's").
His vocabulary is also growing apace, he's dropping nearly all of his baby words now. Waffles aren't "awfuls" anymore and watermelon isn't "wi-high". He's also starting to have some crowding in his brain when he speaks and if he gets too excited will stutter a little bit. He's picked up some funny phrases like "I know it's funny but you have to stop that" and has all manner of goofy exclamations like calling people/things "silly sacks".
He's potty trained but for nap/nighttime and will put on his underwear in the morning and after his nap without being asked. For some reason the silly boy likes to wear both his underwear and shorts backwards. I asked him why this morning and he said, "because I like to." Well, at least he wears them. It could be worse. But for all his bigness he still tells me he likes/loves me all the time, gives kisses (mostly goat kisses) and hugs for free, holds hands and is as snuggly as he was when he was a baby.
The next few weeks will, in the interest of keeping the littlest one happy, be pretty uneventful. I've still been taking Sam to his Friday playgroup but that's really our only 'outing' during the week. We're due to move out of our apartment at the end of July. 4 years and 1 month after we moved in. Be praying for the baby to continue to grow and be safe (and stay in!), that we find the perfect place to move into (we're hoping to rent a house with a yard where boy and dog can whoodie whoodie to their hearts content), and that we/all of Texas get some serious rainfall as we're in a massive, oppressive, depressing drought.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Jraff
Tio Chris gave Sam this neat giraffe for Christmas last year.
Most of the time he just moves it around his room or the house so that it's watching whatever he's doing. But every now and then "jraff" comes out to really play which generally goes something like this...
Boys.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Most of the time he just moves it around his room or the house so that it's watching whatever he's doing. But every now and then "jraff" comes out to really play which generally goes something like this...
Boys.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Alaska - Thunderbird and the Abandoned Mine
The morning after we got back from Denali we were sort of at a loss for what to do. The train was the big draw and we hadn't thought much beyond that. Anchorage has some museums and things but Sam was pretty excited about mountains and hiking so we opted for more of that. We live next to the museum district in Houston, but we most certainly live nowhere near mountains so for me it wasn't much of a decision. The big problem was where to go. Uncle Eric took the day off to hang with us and while driving us around told us a lot about the surrounding areas. In some book or mag David saw something about Thunderbird Waterfall so we decided to hunt it down. Totally worth it. Iguazu it is not, but it was a beautiful hike and the waterfall itself was lovely too.
David wanted to see a ghost town so after lunch at McDonald's we headed up into the Talkeetna mountains a bit more and tried to find the old independence mine. What we hadn't really expected was to find it still blocked by 1.5+ feet of snow.
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| I actually look pregnant in this picture...but my belly isn't as large as it looks. I had on a tank top, long sleeve shirt, a North Face fleecy jacket, a North Face shell, pajama pants under my jeans and Ugg's on. Pretty standard dress for me while we were there. (Which earned much eye-rolling in my general direction by my sweet, male family members.) ;) |
David wanted to see a ghost town so after lunch at McDonald's we headed up into the Talkeetna mountains a bit more and tried to find the old independence mine. What we hadn't really expected was to find it still blocked by 1.5+ feet of snow.
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| A pretty, rocky stream on the way up the mountain that I just fell in love with. I suppose I should mention David took quite a few thorns in his hand on his way back to the car after getting a good picture of it for me. The things we do for love :) |
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| On the way in before we realized just how deep the snow still was. |
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| The teeny snowman we managed to scrape together before Sam was so cold he wanted to get back in "silver car." |
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| Ominous clouds. Nearly every day we were there we could see snow falling on the higher peaks. When we started seeing those clouds Sam and I turned back towards the car and David went on towards the mine. We were NOT dressed for snow, much less a snow storm! |
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| I had questioned all of my layers after the Thunderbird hike but didn't regret it at all by the end of the day. Especially after Sam and I got back to the car soaking wet since I was able to lose a few layers and not have to sit in wet stuff. |
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| I think we might have been trudging at about .25 mph... |
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| The mine as seen from as far as David got before the drifts were so deep it just ceased to be worth it. |
As usual we headed back for the house and Grandma Audrey had yet another fantastic meal waiting for us. We were SO spoiled!
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Alaska - Part Three, Denali
The big thing we absolutely HAD to do while in Alaska was ride the train from Anchorage to Denali. It is supposed to be a beautiful ride and it really was. David didn't care what all we did up there so long as this was on the list. The line actually opened only the day before so it was still very uncrowded on board. We had plenty of room to stretch out and spent as much time as we pleased in the viewing car (it has an upper story that you can see better panoramas out of.) Here are some pictures of the ride:
After we got to Denali we checked into the hotel and explored a bit before finding dinner and going to bed early. Our bus into Denali National Park left at 6:15 the next morning ((shudder)), and we really scrambled to try and get a little breakfast before getting onto the bus. The tour bus is the only way in/out of the park. We had a fantastic tour guide, it was his 30th summer working at Denali and he knew absolutely everything...and then some.
You don't really get off the bus except for a couple potty breaks but there are a few scenic overlooks where you can get off as well. (By "potty" I mean pit toilets with 40 degree wind blowing...places. Those were very common at parks/trails up there. It's hard to run sewer lines in the permafrosted, extremely protected, middle of nowhere! Especially when its at or below freezing above ground much of the year.) If you take the park service tour bus it goes faster and they let you off for hikes and you can pick up another on the way back. The private tours are slower because they stop more frequently for animals/pretty pictures and there's more explanation of what you're looking at. They also use close up video to let you see animals that are too distant to see very clearly.
Our turnaround that day was at the Toklat River rest stop. The road the rest of the way into the park still hadn't been cleared/checked/dried. The road is two-way...note: this is NOT the same as two-lane. When you've got two buses passing each other on Polychrome Pass this becomes rather evident.
The second night we were there we had dinner at the dinner theater at the hotel. Called "Cabin Nite" the show was really fun, and Sam always gets a big kick out of shows. As a table you had to wave your napkins and yell your waiter/waitresses name to get service. It took some practice but Sam got the napkin waving down.
The next morning, after a more leisurely breakfast, we rode the train home again. We spent a long time in the viewing car on the ride home. We were hoping we might get to see Mt. McKinley on the way back since it was clearer but there was still snow up in the mountains :(
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| Excited to ride! |
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| The water was a pretty, clear green - the color comes from all the copper in the rocks. |
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| At the one stop the train made at Talkeetna the conductor offered his hat for Sam to put on. He wouldn't do it. Even now when he sees this picture he'll say, "I didn't like that hat!" |
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| Lunch in the dining car was actually pretty good. |
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| Hurricane Gulch |
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| The train as seen from the viewing car |
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| Sam lounging in the viewing car...this might be my new favorite picture of him. |
After we got to Denali we checked into the hotel and explored a bit before finding dinner and going to bed early. Our bus into Denali National Park left at 6:15 the next morning ((shudder)), and we really scrambled to try and get a little breakfast before getting onto the bus. The tour bus is the only way in/out of the park. We had a fantastic tour guide, it was his 30th summer working at Denali and he knew absolutely everything...and then some.
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| This mountain is called Polychrome because of the many colors in its rock. |
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| Ladies and Gents the State Bird of Alaska...the Willow Ptarmigan. [My guess would have been the Golden or Bald Eagles we saw on the way up and at the park.] |
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| Snow storm blowing in, it even started snowing on us a bit! |
You don't really get off the bus except for a couple potty breaks but there are a few scenic overlooks where you can get off as well. (By "potty" I mean pit toilets with 40 degree wind blowing...places. Those were very common at parks/trails up there. It's hard to run sewer lines in the permafrosted, extremely protected, middle of nowhere! Especially when its at or below freezing above ground much of the year.) If you take the park service tour bus it goes faster and they let you off for hikes and you can pick up another on the way back. The private tours are slower because they stop more frequently for animals/pretty pictures and there's more explanation of what you're looking at. They also use close up video to let you see animals that are too distant to see very clearly.
Our turnaround that day was at the Toklat River rest stop. The road the rest of the way into the park still hadn't been cleared/checked/dried. The road is two-way...note: this is NOT the same as two-lane. When you've got two buses passing each other on Polychrome Pass this becomes rather evident.
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| Visitor's center at the Toklat River |
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| Toklat River |
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| A very sunny. windy, cold family photo at Toklat |
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| The very, very, sheer drop off at Polychrome |
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| If you click on this picture to see it larger there is a Dall Sheep on the outcropping looking out over the valley. |
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| Close up Dall Sheep |
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| We saw 5 bears on our trip, they were visible from the windows as blondish bumps moving, but the cameras were the best way to see them "up close" :) |
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| Porcupine. The people sitting behind us asked Sam if he had a name...Sam said yes, it was "Porky-pine". He's not so much into naming stuff yet. |
The second night we were there we had dinner at the dinner theater at the hotel. Called "Cabin Nite" the show was really fun, and Sam always gets a big kick out of shows. As a table you had to wave your napkins and yell your waiter/waitresses name to get service. It took some practice but Sam got the napkin waving down.
The next morning, after a more leisurely breakfast, we rode the train home again. We spent a long time in the viewing car on the ride home. We were hoping we might get to see Mt. McKinley on the way back since it was clearer but there was still snow up in the mountains :(
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| Sam hadn't had "chicken" (i.e. chicken nuggets) in days and ate these tenders with great relish (and ketchup.) |
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| Sam loves to put his face against mine and push/nuzzle...aww! |
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