Baby Shower

Tonight I had a super fabulous time at my baby shower, hosted by Jenee' and her mom Karyl. Once the guests had arrived Jenee' started off the games by dividing us into two teams. One person from each team was given a sippy cup full of cranberry juice and the person who could drink it the fastest declared the winner. Apparently it is harder than it looks, as both women never were able to completely empty their cups. Rachel won that round.


Then it was time to eat. Jenee' had made a pesto pasta dish with baby red potatoes and string beans. It was delicious. A side salad and rolls rounded out the meal.


The table was decorated with baby shower items from Hawaii - Karyl had picked them up while she was over there. Boy do I feel special :)

After dinner we played some more games - Jenee' had put together a pyramid diaper cake with all kinds of neat things (25 total) and we had 1 minutes to look it over. Then we had 1 minute to write down everything we could remember seeing. I think Tiffany M. won that prize. The other game we played was guess how many socks would be given - Valia won that one.


Then it was gift time. Everyone was very thoughtful and generous and I now have a lot of really neat items for baby girl when she makes her appearance.


Jenee' had the cake made to match the shower plates and it was a really good chocolate cake with a custard filling.

My sincerest appreciation for all the work and energy that went into this - it was a beautiful shower. The time spent chatting afterwards was also such a blast. I can't remember the last time I have laughed that hard. Thanks to everyone for making my evening special. :)

Misc. Photos

One day Levi put together this bridge and was quite proud of himself.


The next day we made pizza for dinner and Levi helped me put on the cheese. Notice the flour all up his sleeve. I think he tried to eat about as much as he spread on the pizza! :)

Moving along

Well sorry to my faithful readers, I feel like a real whiner lately.

Last night I thought for sure I was going into labor. Contraction after contraction, so frequently it was hard for me to tell where one began and the next one ended. My belly was tight as a drum most of the evening. And boy was I crampy!! I laid on the sofa and watched a 2 hour show with Matt about "Big brother, big business" - it is really quite fascinating and scary if you have the time to watch it. I even called my mom and put her on alert - poor woman didn't sleep too well after that!

After that I was tired so I went to bed about 10:30 - early for me. I slept quite well and got up and came into work today. False alarm. Well at least now I can look forward to a shower after work tonight. Thanks Jenee! :)

38 week appointment

This week my appointment was on Wednesday afternoon. That may be a mean trick, to weigh me after lunch! Any rate I had a 2 lb gain this week. Everything else checked out normal. BP was good, I guess better than last week, whatever that means. Urine was normal. And can I just say that asking a pregnant woman to perform the 'clean catch' method is a JOKE!? Whatever! That has quickly become my least favorite part of these weekly appointments. It is nigh impossible.

Moving on...ahem...baby's heart rate was 144-146, sounded good. Uterus measured 41 this week. Hmm. Must have been wrong last week since the baby seems to have shrunk LOL. She is still at -2 station. Cervix is just starting to roll and is 2 cm dilated. I asked Dr Karmy her guess on the size and she would not give me any numbers. She said the baby may seem big right now because she is still not in position. That was disappointing. When I was pregnant for Levi she guessed he was 7 1/2 lbs and what do you know, he came out at 7 lbs 5 oz. Well maybe next week I will ask her again, if I am still pregnant. :)

Not a whole lot else to report on. I asked her how the last ultrasound checked out since I never did ask about that before when it was done. She read through the report and everything looked perfect; baby's measurement, amniotic fluid amount, placenta location, etc. She also said all the measurements were within 2 days of each other with the due date so it should be accurate.

I am at the point now where I am fairly uncomfortable. I do not have much range of motion in my ankles in the evening from the swelling. There seems to be a foot lodged permanently in my right rib cage, which leaves the skin above it feeling numb. My belly is very heavy and stretching out - might as well have a bowling ball in there!

I am still trying to walk as much as I can, usually fitting in 1-2 miles on my breaks at work. This results in a couple Braxton-Hicks contractions which soon pass so I'm ignoring them.

One thing I do have a lot of now is anxiety. I am starting to remember what labor was like, and I am not sure I want to do it again, but oh wait! It's too late to turn back now! So I hope for the best - a quick delivery. Let's just get it done. My biggest fear is to have my water break at work - or worse, in a model's home. So lately I have found myself checking out the nearest exit, tile flooring, etc. Where can I run to if I think I might have a problem?

Groan. 'Til next time...

Fun at the park

Today we met up with Tiffany and JD and their twins, Thomas and Taylor, at the Alumni Car Show. Afterwards we walked over to the WWU park to let the kids play. They all seemed to have a great time, and we adults were able to catch up, as we haven't visited in quite some time.

The only drawback was that a group of older kids showed up and were a bit wild. I was curious as to what the attraction must be for kids of that age, to want to play in a park geared for younger kids. Our toddlers were quite enamored with these older kids, no doubt curious about everything they did (running up the slides, going super fast in the merry-go-round, all the "dangerous" stuff...)




Thomas and Taylor can reach the pedals, and showed Levi how this toy really works...

55th birthday

Today was grandpa Jerry's (Matt's dad) 55th birthday. We slept in and then spent the morning baking and cooking goodies for the potluck/party. I made an easy enchilada casserole and black bottom cupcakes. Matt made deviled eggs. We had also purchased some Vernor's as that is Jerry's favorite special beverage. We barely got the food cooked in time (ok so we were a little late) and then had an enjoyable afternoon with family over at Venetha's.

My mom also attended, and had fun playing with Levi and his 'kitty' that he discovered there. After lunch most people left, but Levi and I took a short stroll with Jerry and Gail. He has learned to roll over and over and enjoys doing that in the grass now. It was a really beautiful day.

Inevitably, after all this excitement it was nap-time for both the guys. We went home and while I think Matt got a nap, Levi did not. He went all day without one minute of rest. We blew bubbles outside and looked at books until it was time to go to the WWU Alumni's spaghetti feast at Merchants. This was coincidentally the same time as Levi's normal bed-time, so we took a stroller and his night-night blanket and hoped that perhaps he would just crash. Well there was a very loud jazz band (they were enjoyable) and we sat with Tim and Laura right up front so there was no sleep for our kid until we got him home. Next year we will have to plan ahead for a sitter and make it into a date night!

Belly shots

Finally got around to downloading the card from the camera again - here are a couple pics from April 19th.


Levi listening to his little sister


Levi trying to pick her up. Ugh!!

Goodbye Apricot Tree

Today Warren and Johnathan were kind enough to come over and remove an apricot tree for us. Here are some pics.


Levi and I watch the men hard at work.


I forgot to mention that Levi has attended one Kidnastics class and is signed up for the quarter to go twice a week. Here he is showing off his headstand skills.


All the guys making quick work of that tree.

Glad it's Friday!

Well it's been an interesting week. Wednesday was not a good day.

To start things off, apparently I chose the wrong toilet in the ladies room and it overflowed on me, I have never had that happen before but on the bright side I did learn how to shut off the water LOL

Waiting outside for Matt to pick me up at lunch in the beautiful weather I felt something bite me in the side. I still don't know what it was but I sported a welt for the rest of the day and it was itchy!

Levi got into the cupboard while we were preparing lunch and thought it would be a good idea to eat a lot of salt. Oh dear. About 20 minutes later he threw up all over the laundry room. Poor little guy, it scared him. He said "momma, what happened?!" Oh the smell was horrid, as it usually is when people lose stomach acid.

I think the smell got to Matt, he threw up not much later also.

The whole time I was totally paranoid about Listeria since yesterday we all ate some raw Brie cheese off the rind without thinking about it while Matt prepared our anniversary dinner of fondue. I wasn't very hungry over lunch and didn't eat much, but thankfully I didn't throw up or exhibit other symptoms of Listeria.

The rest of the day I believe was uneventful.

Thursday was much better. Everyone back to normal, except for a cold we have been fighting. Thursday night Matt took Levi to the model train meeting (which he looks forward to and asks about all month long) so I had time to just take it easy. Played some facebook games and watched a lot of television. Ahhh....

Last night and today I have been having a fair amount of Braxton-Hicks contractions. I am hopeful this means things are progressing to an earlier delivery than the due date. Time will tell... :)

37 week appointment

This past week I have gone back to feeling really uncomfortable, just feeling really heavy with child, and not sleeping well at night. In fact, last night I had gotten up to use the bathroom at least 4 times by the time 4 am rolled around. I remember 4 am distinctly because I shot up like a bolt from a horrid charley horse in my right calf. I hate those things, and haven't had one in a while.

The water retention in my feet seems even worse, I had bought a new pair of shoes and they are not slipping on now like they did a week ago, I have to wiggle them to get them off. Sigh.

Well onto the news from the appointment. Weight gain: 3 lbs (total now: 40). I swear it is all in the baby and my feet. I can no longer brag about no stretch marks because last night they appeared. Why all the bad news hits when I am already programed to be an emotional wreck is a mystery to me! Dr Karmy came in and we listened to the heartbeat and she was at 143. Then time to measure the fetus - 43 cm. Wait a minute, what?! Last week I measured at 38 cm. Dr Karmy raised an eyebrow and asked "Bigger baby?" The pelvic exam revealed nothing new. Baby is resting at about -1/-2 station, cervix long and thick, dilation 1 cm. Nothing new and nothing that would give us reason to think she is coming early. (Although judging by leap in measurement I would welcome her at any time now!) C'mon girl, engage!!

Levi was overdue for a nap during the appointment and made a ruckus banging his feet on the floor or walls, collapsing on the floor, shouting, and just general misbehaving. Although as we left he commented that he wanted to eat macaroni outside.

Tidbits

One thing I forgot to mention in the last blog about our trip north to Spokane was when we drove past the Boise Cascade plant, Levi pointed to the plant and said "Look, smoke come out!" Then to our surprise he said "Smells like dirty diapers..." Yes, we agreed with him, it does stink.

Today I noticed he is starting to recognize proper sentence structure and use it more often. For example, he used to say "Levi want car," always referring to himself in the 3rd person. Today he said "I want to go outside" which was neat to hear. There was some slight confusion when Matt had gone out to run some errands, when he walked back inside Levi asked "Did I miss me?" and Matt said "What? Did I miss me?" And Levi corrected himself and said "Did you miss me?" It is just amazing how quickly kids pick up on things.

Sometimes too quickly however! I have becoming acutely aware lately of how often O.M.G. is used in television these days - when Levi started saying that. We have been working with him on it when it comes up. Today he heard it and said "O.M.G. - lady not say, say Oh my goodness!" So I was proud of him for pointing that out to me.

This evening we spent the last rays of sunshine outside in the yard, blowing bubbles and then I realized I needed to water my garden (ok, the 4 raspberry sprouts and the 3 strawberry survivors from last year). So I set up the sprinkler. Levi was delighted. He was under it as it came on and he had a huge smile on his face - came running out from it and said "I need umbrella!" I said "OK! Let's go get one!" We tromped into the house and I found one and took it back outside and showed him how to open it. He gleefully took it over to the sprinkler and it took a couple tries before he figured out how to angle it right so he wouldn't get drenched, but he had a great time. I was cracking up laughing hard because he looked so funny under that umbrella, just like a mushroom since I could only see him from the waist down.

Sacred Heart

Today was the day we have been waiting for, for months and months. Our appointment with Dr Starr at the Spokane Sacred Heart hospital. Check-in was 8:30 am with surgery scheduled for 10 am. Very strict instructions to not give Levi any food after dinner the preceding day, and nothing but water and apple juice up until 6:30 am - after that he could not have anything. So for dinner I wanted to be sure he ate plenty, serving him his favorite food - breakfast. I made biscuits and gravy and fried eggs and raw carrots for color. When Matt got home from class he made him some more food, french toast! We wanted to be sure he was not starving the next morning.

We awoke at 4:30 am and headed out of town by 5 am. We got to the hospital with a little time to spare. Upon check-in the nurse took a photo of us as a family to include with his file. Levi said "no picture!" and covered his face with his hands. He was not too happy about that for some reason. The waiting room(s) were very kid-friendly and Levi had so much fun playing he did not want to go to be weighed/measured. His nurse was Harriet and she was British. We continually got a kick out of her phrases. "Gee, Harry, that was really keen!" and so forth. The staff were really wonderful, distracting him with all kinds of things when he started crying and stressing out.

After the initial check in with particulars we were taken to a room where we answered more questions and waited to meet the rest of the staff who would be assisting today. The Anesthesiologist was a nice guy and gave him something to calm him down and make him a little loopy before it was time to take him away from us. I appreciated this because he was very calm and happy after that. I was an emotional wreck the whole time, trying to hold it together (not too well).


After they took him we headed down to the cafeteria for some food. Then back up into the family waiting room. After a little while one of the nurses came in to let us know they had started the surgery and that he had been sedated with no trouble. The after another half an hour or so (seemed like an eternity) Dr Starr came in to explain some things to us and then she took us to see him. He was not yet awake and looked so sweet and peaceful laying there. The nurse explained that they typically let them wake up on their own, as patting or nudging them can disorient them and make it worse. It didn't take very long and he came around. It was such a relief to have my boy back.

We had to wait about half an hour, the nurse offered him a popsicle and he was glad to have that. Then she got him some animal crackers and watched for signs of nausea. He did just fine. After that she got him some apple juice. Right before they released us she removed his IV. We filled his prescription at the hospital while we were there.


After that we were all starving and Matt has a cousin that lives in Spokane, so we met up with them for lunch at the Olive Garden. Their little boy Andrew is almost one now, so Levi got to sit next to his 2nd cousin at the table. They checked each other out but otherwise didn't interact much yet.


Driving home we saw a couple of trains, so Matt would pull over so Levi could watch them go by. Then he would say "catch train dada!" and we would drive again until we got ahead of it and could pull over once again.

Matt stopped at the train store on the way home to pick up some things and in the meantime Levi found Oma's sunglasses and put them on, showing off his 'bling.'

We are glad to be home and so glad this whole ordeal is finally over.

36 wk appointment

Today was my 36 week appointment.

The first good news of the day was that I have only gained 1 lb in the past 2 weeks. Wahoo! Weight stabilization... a sign that we're getting close?

Blood pressure was normal and looked good. Pelvic exam revealed that baby is at -2 station, cervix is thinning (I think she said 50%) and dilation is 1 cm. Uterus measured at 38 cm. Heart-rate was 154 bpm. Matt asked Dr Karmy if it appeared that the baby was on schedule for delivery. She replied "I think it will be about like last time." Which was... 2 days early. We'll see.

She asked about questions or concerns and I told her that I have been having a fair amount of cramping, which is normal. I also mentioned the pain in my foot (arch) and she asked me if I was wearing good shoes. Well, probably not good enough. I got myself a new pair this weekend - Airwalk slip-ons which are comfortable and big enough for my swollen feet.

Now that I am in my last month of pregnancy I will be going in once a week to see her.

Garden

Last night Levi was eating some left over olives while standing in my shoes. I thought it was too cute so I had to get a photo. Unfortunately he had most of the olives eaten by the time I found the camera! At one point he had one on every finger.

Today after work I had a plan for a project that Levi could help me with while Matt was at class. A lady at work was giving away some raspberry plants so I asked her for some. She brought me four. When I pulled in after work Levi and Matt were out in the back yard, just hanging out watching chickens.



We got to work. Levi had his little mini rake and trowel, and I had a shovel and metal rake. I wish I had taken a before photo. I have not done anything with my garden since I planted it last year. So there were old rows of chard to remove and weeds and big bunches of grass. Levi had a great time pointing out the worms and digging alongside me. We were able to get all four plants in the ground before I ran out of energy. The pic above is Levi helping to move all the junk we removed from our garden plot.

*Side note, the Levi-brand jean jacket is from great-grandmother Lille and the wheelbarrow he got from grandpop Jerry at Christmas - see we are putting them to good use!*


Afterwards Levi jumped in the wheelbarrow and wanted me to push him around the yard. I did a little bit but it is sure hard to bend over that far, let alone as a big pregnant lady! :-)

Ramblings

Today we had a bit of an outing. I had put a laundry organizer on cragislist and got 4 inquiries within 12 hours. Everyone interested was in Pasco, so we decided to take it up there with us as we also had some gift certificates to spend on the kid(s). At least selling it paid the gas to get up there and back.

We stopped in at Olive Garden to see how long the wait was. Not bad, only 15 min, so we decided to stay and eat there. One older man was waiting ahead of us and then about seven more people came in the door to meet him. They started complaining about how long it was taking for them to get a table. It was explained to them that a group of elderly women were at the large group table and they could not ask them to leave so this new group would have to be patient. They were a very rude bunch, threatening to send the older guy to talk to these elderly women to get them to leave. As we were seated, I saw this group of elderly women, one even had an oxygen tank, they were elderly indeed.

Our meal was great, Levi had the pizza and only ate about one slice. He also enjoyed the olives & croutons from the salad and a breadstick with a glass of milk. Matt ordered a Sprite and Levi wanted a sip of soda. He took one and then held it in his mouth awhile, started making faces and then slowly spit it out into his milk. Yuk! At least we have him trained well enough now not to spit it out on the table. I ordered the eggplant parmesan and it was good, Levi had a couple bites of it as well and liked it. After our meal I could not resist ordering dessert. Normally I am a chocolate fanatic but they had a new dessert menu and something there caught my eye. The Lemon Cream Cake. This is worth the astronomical price they charge! Matt said it reminded him of Entenmanns coffee cake and I would have to agree. It is not very tart and with the cream center and powdered sugar topping it is not unlike the wonderful Cheese Filled Crumb Coffee Cake that my parents would provide to us as a special treat Sabbath mornings as a kid. The meal was not without incident, as Levi started getting antsy at the end and knocked over his milk (an honest accident) and what a mess that made!

After eating we went to Toys R Us to spend some gift cards. I pondered over the toddler beds but Matt doesn't think Levi is quite ready for that so I looked around for a Bumbo Baby Seat. The only one they had was blue. I asked the salesgirl to look in the back for a more girlish color. She gave me a hard time and asked me "are you sure it's a girl? Yeah, but are you sure?" and then had to tell me a couple stories about family members who were told they were having girls but she and her mom knew that they were really having a boy and they had a boy after all. She was sure a kick in the pants. Matt found some cool Lego stuff for Levi in addition to some more wooden track for his train table and I am not sure what else we got but we spent up that gift card in no time! :)

After this it was starting to get dark so we headed home. I still had to feed horses tonight. I had planned to be back to town by 8 pm but we really didn't get back until 9 pm. On the drive home Levi decided he was finally hungry so he scarfed down two more pieces of his pizza and another breadstick or two.

On the way out to the barn we saw a cop on the side of the road with his lights on. We were pointing out the policeman to Levi and then he turned his lights off as we drove past. Then he pulled out behind us and Matt said "Watch this, he is going to pull us over for that headlight." Sure enough. He didn't waste any time turning his lights back on. Oh shoot, I realized that since we have had this truck up for sale and parked around town I had taken everything out of it, including registration and proof of insurance. WHOOPS! The officer walked up and seemed a little young and nervous. He said "Did you realize you had a headlight out, that is why I pulled you over." License, registration and proof of insurance please. Well Matt had his license handy but of course we had nothing else to give him. He said he would give us a verbal warning on the headlight but that lack of insurance is a ticket of $550. Then he went back to his car to call it in. He came back after everything checked out and said "You know, I am letting you off but this could have cost you about $700-800 worth of tickets tonight. I could write you one for lack of registration for $120. And no proof of insurance is another $550. And then the headlight..." he repeated himself to be sure we understood and then he told us the road was clear, we could pull out as there wasn't any traffic coming for awhile. Interesting guy. And to think I just pledged $12 after being harassed by the Washington State Fraternal Order of Police. At least they mailed me a sticker.

In pregnancy news, my legs and ankles and feet are quite swollen by the end of each day. It is such a strange sensation. In fact I typically notice it about lunch time, when I try to put my shoes back on and have to wrestle with them. When I walked into work this morning one of the ladies said to me "You're getting close." I said "well..." and she said "It looks like you've dropped." I said "I have?" Funny how people notice things about you - or think they do. I told her when Matt shaves his head it takes me about two days to realize it because I just am not an observant person. If I did have a "lightening" I would not have noticed that either. But now I am paranoid wondering if she is right. The girl did not thrash about today as usual. She has been pretty darn quiet. Oh, there was some action at lunch and a few kicks after dinner but nothing like the fight club that it has been in there.

I picked up a new book to read...well ok it's an older book that was in the free pile at work. I didn't take it at first because it is called The Girlfriends Guide To Pregnancy by Vicki Iovine. I figured that having already been through one pregnancy and about 8/9ths of the way through this one it wouldn't offer me much. But it has been entertaining. She and I disagree on a couple things - mainly using drugs for delivery, I know it's possible. She doesn't see the point of trying. But she is quite humorous and this book is a good read, esp. for the first time mom wondering all those questions you don't want to bother your doctor with. It is not a technical book at all, rather a funny look at your changing body. It's a book I would pass along.

Enough rambling from me for now.

Spring has sprung, and this and that

I am very proud of myself. I have managed to walk about 2 miles a day the whole past week. Even with the rain showers and wind. Today was beautiful and almost seemed too good to be true, I noticed one temperature gauge downtown said 69 degrees. I got off work a little early so Matt could make it to his class on time. Levi was still napping when I got home so I laid down and put my feet up and caught the end of Judge Judy. My feet swelled up pretty quick after lunch today and I noticed I am developing a new pain from my arch up into my ankle on my left foot. Here's hoping that recedes quickly.

Last week on Monday I took Levi to the park. I was sure he would have enjoyed that today as well but he is on the second day of having a really bad cough and I didn't think the other kids would appreciate his germs, so we ran other errands instead. (Although I hate having him sick, he is old enough now for this to be a good learning opportunity to learn to cover his mouth when he coughs) First we stopped by the hospital to pick up our disc with his xrays on it of the nickel in his throat. Here is the first xray showing the general area of the nickel.

This is a side view, they decided they needed an additional xray to determine exact location of the coin.


Here's the final film showing the coin in his stomach.

After the hospital I asked Levi what he would like to eat for supper. He said "um...heart candy....or m&ms!" Never leave meal choices to a toddler! I was kind of in the mood for hot dogs so I asked Levi if a hot dog sounded good. He said "yes!" so off we went to Andy's to pick up a few things. We ended up getting grapes and a mini watermelon and strawberries in addition to the hot dogs. Levi loves fruit and I like to have healthy snack options.

Silly kid!

This morning Levi decided to try Matt's glasses on Buddy. I say they fit pretty well. Perhaps the aging dog could use his own pair.





Buddy is very patient.



Once he's had enough he gives a few licks and walks away.

It's a beautiful day

Today the weather was gorgeous - sunny and warm after many cold rainy days. Oma called us about noon and we decided to get together for lunch and a trip to the park afterwards. Matt made the dough for pizza and we enjoyed that, Levi even spelled p-i-z-z-a for Oma!

After we ate, Matt went on a motorcycle ride with his aunt Tina while mom and I walked with Levi in the stroller to the WWU kid's playground (exactly 1 mile). He had a great time running around and going down the slides. Mary Burt was there for a little while with her kids and Stephen tried to initiate a game of tag with Levi, but Levi wasn't quite fast enough to keep up with a 4-yr-old. :)

After awhile we all got tired and headed back home. The walking was great but since then I have been really stiff and have a lot of pain when I get up from sitting. I may have overdone it today. I started out the morning by feeding horses and mucking stalls. Then jumping in and out of that suburban is really taking a toll on me. I think I have been trying to use muscles that don't exist! :-o

This evening we also visited with the Roods over at mom's house and that was nice.

We have developed a good bedtime routine for Levi and it has really seemed to help him get to bed easier. First we read a book or two, or three, depending on what time it is. Then we go to the bathroom and brush Levi's teeth. After that he gets to "rinse and spit" which he gets a kick out of. Then I get him changed into his PJs, he goes out and says goodnight to daddy and then I tuck him in. He typically goes to bed about 8 pm now. It is nice to have him on a schedule.

Tonight we read his Planets book and to my absolute ASTONISHMENT he named every single planet as I pointed at them without any kind of prompting from me. Holy cow! It is so fun to watch his little brain work. He will be outthinking me in no time.