Large and Not in Charge!

Well, I'm past my due date and still very much pregnant.  I haven't had so much as one piddly contraction in the past few days.  I am large, but not in charge.  Cooper is ruling this family right now and we are all waiting for him to say "when".  I guess on Tuesday (the induction date) I get my power back, but I really wanted Cooper to pick his own birthday, but we all frankly need to get on with our lives and stop waiting around for this kid to decide he's finally ready to meet us.  I sometime think that Chase's little tantrums lately have made him think the outside world is scary and he's afraid to come out!

At my last doctor's appointment on Friday, I had no progress as it relates to dilation and effacement.  In fact, I think I undilated if that's possible!  Now that Cooper has lasted through the weekend, my regular doctor should be the one delivering me which I like.  Let's just pray I get some nice nurses!  I know they make the experience more than the doctor.  Last time I had a lady named Ms. Joyce who was wonderful!  Then in the recovery room I had a crotchety older nurse during one shift who drove me nuts.  Luckily she was one of the only ones I didn't like my entire time there!

With one day to go, Chase still has no clue that a baby is coming to invade his territory.  He keeps lifting his shirt up and showing us his belly and saying "baby", so I believe we have thoroughly confused him!  He also likes to take the baby swing and fling it from side to side, so I hope Cooper gets my genes for thrill rides, because I think he may need them!

I'm getting more and more terrified of what the first couple weeks will be like at home.  The fear isn't so much taking care of a baby like it was when we brought Chase home. I think it is the balance of two kids that scares me.  I so desperately don't want Chase to be upset at us!  Drew and I were reminded of the time that we (briefly) adopted a dog to be Weezie's sister and we very quickly learned we were not "2 dog people" and had to return the dog to the rescue group not even 24 hours later. Weezie was so traumatized by the introduction of that new dog...and quite frankly I was too!  I just don't want my emotions to replicate any part of that experience.  I know a dog and a baby are totally different, but sleep deprivation does strange things to your emotions and I'm trying to prepare myself for all the tears I'm sure to have over the next couple of weeks!! 

On a lighter note, I learned yesterday that my nephew thinks I'm having a puppy and that puppy Cooper is coming over to his house to play on Friday.  How cute is that??!!!  I'm afraid he'll be very disappointed when it's just a regular baby!

Weezie had to get her last ditch effort for attention on Sunday.  We went to McDonald's for breakfast on Sunday morning and when we came home I noticed little blood spots all over the kitchen floor.  I freaked out thinking I was bleeding, and then I checked Chase and Drew for any injuries.  Then we checked Weezie.  It turns out that she somehow managed to rip her duclaw completely off her right paw!  I think she was probably fighting with the Yorkie next door (who she hates!) and got her nail stuck between the boards of the fence when she was jumping up and down. Ugh, makes me shudder just thinking about it.  One trip to the emergency vet that involved a bone shaving, bandages, and antibiotics (and several hundred dollars) later, she is all better.  We will have to keep giving her the medicine when we are in the hospital for the induction, so Drew will be making special trips home.  I tell ya - I love our Weezie, but she has more trips to the emergency vet than any dog I have ever known!  She refuses to get sick or injure herself on regular weekdays!

Dinosaurs and Feb 14th

Last Saturday, the Children's Museum opened up their dinosaur exhibit.  Stuff like that is right up Chase's alley so we all went the first day it was open since I knew I probably wouldn't be able to go back before the dinosaurs left.

Walter and his parents joined us.  Here are some pictures from the day.

Playing in the photobooth!

Here are some pictures from Valentine's night.  I had worked just a half-day because of Chase's doctor's appointment.  We had just had Chase's new big boy bedroom furniture delivered from Pottery Barn Teen (yes, Teen! ha!!).  As you can see, Chase got the dinosaur from the Children's Museum gift shop.  We are suckers!

Feeding Daddy the "pop-pop".

Dinner.  Heart-shaped pizza!  It was my only special request for Valentine's Day!

Later on, Chase grabbed the Kroger ad and did the following.  He LOVES advertisements and looking at all the products that he knows.  He kept pointing out the milk and cheese-its to us!

38/39 weeks

This may be the last weekly update as we are now all fully on Baby Watch!  Bags are packed, plans have been made for what will happen in scenarios A, B, and C, and in general I'm as ready as I'm going to be to welcome another little baby into our house (as ready as you can be for all the fun of post-partum pains and no sleep and learning to nurse all over again!)

I can't tell if it's the angle of the pictures or not, but Cooper sure looks like he dropped a ton since last week.  I wouldn't be surprised, because he sure felt like he dropped a lot!  Moving around has gotten a lot harder and getting dressed and trying to balance on one leg while putting pants on is one of the hardest obstacles I have all day.

At my 38 week doctor visit, my regular doctor was on vacation so I visited instead with their nurse practitioner.  It was also my lucky day because she had a nursing student following her around that day, so I had an extra participant in my weekly visit.  The nursing student measured my belly (I was measuring at 39 weeks) and she listened to the baby's heartbeat.  It took her about 5 minutes to find it though!  Then came the cervical check and I was just praying the nursing student wasn't going to be doing that part!  I know that having that whole area manhandled too much might bring on labor and at that time I was NOT ready to go to the hospital!  Thankfully the nurse practitioner did it and I wasn't progressed enough to let the student get an opportunity to use me as one of her tutorials!  I would have died!  The nurse said I was close to 3cm dilated and 70% effaced.  At my 39 week appointment with my regular doctor, she said I was between 2 and 3cm dilated and 50% effaced.  That shows how judgmental some of these measurements are.  So basically no progression from 38 to 39 weeks.

I've now gained close to 50 pounds this pregnancy, which is 10 more than last time.  I feel and look as if I've gained about 80 though.  I've now got an extra chin, new tiger stripes all over my belly and hips (I get stretch marks very easily anyways!), and feet so swollen that they are tender to the touch.  Just for "fun", I measured around the widest part of my belly and it measured 50"!!  It'll be funny to compare that to what I am when I come back from the hospital!

Of course as soon as we are getting extremely close to the due date, all the boys in the house ended up getting sick!  Drew started out with a virus that gave him a sore throat and that eventually turned into a gross cold.  Chase got sick last weekend and ended up going to the doctor on Tuesday because of a gross cough and a very runny nose.  Chase was on antibiotics (for like only the second time in a year - one benefit of the ear tube surgery!) for 5 days, but the runny nose still hasn't gone away.  I'm hoping he gets better soon because I would hate to have to keep Cooper and Chase away from each other the first couple of days!

Also, I don't know if you can tell in the picture above, but I did something very controversial (or at least to my mother!) on Saturday.  I colored my hair for the first time ever!  The gray hairs were just getting to be too much for me and since I'm going to lose all my hair in 3 months anyways (the post-partum "shedding" hit me big time after Chase was born), I figure I should at least like my hair these last new months that I have some and I don't want to look back at Cooper's newborn pictures and just see the wirey, little gray hairs all over my head!

Here's a picture of me with Chase at 38 weeks.  And not the last time that Chase will probably "sit" on his brother!

My Bu-ay!

Well, I guess it's been about 2 weeks ago now since my birthday.  Chase's present to me was that he said birthday really cute and made me melt over and over again!  Also when you sing the happy birthday song, he gets embarrassed and covers his eyes!  I don't know what that is about!

Here is a picture of him eating a cupcake for breakfast!  He asked for these cupcakes constantly the week of my birthday.  He never had one with frosting.  I don't think I could handle that type of energy level!

Here is him saying birthday.  SOOOO CUTTEEEE!!!!!



And look at this necklace my sister got me.  I just love it so much!!

Some of Chase's last days as an only child

Gosh!  Why do I have to feel guilt about making Chase give up his role as the baby in the house?  Everytime I drop him off at school in the morning, I never know if that is the last time I'll get to see him when he is my only baby (I've really been overthinking things lately!).  I don't feel like I've been getting to spend my quality time with him lately, which has also made me feel bad.  I have another 8 days of work, so I'm really hoping Cooper stays put until late February so I can enjoy as much one on one time with Chase as I possibly can before life gets turned upside down.

As I've been noting in some of my other posts, Chase has been getting much better with his words and saying lots of new things everyday.  He's still not putting any of the words together or attempting any sentences though.  One of our new favorite words Chase says is "rabbit" (I made a conscious effort to only teach him the "adult" forms of animals - dog, cat, rabbit, etc - as I thought it would be less confusing than distinguishing between babies and older animals!).  It comes out like a really quick "babbit".  So cute!

Some of Chase's favorite things right now include:

• Taking over my new computer to watch all the Toy Story movies.  He now would rather watch stuff on the computer than on the TV.  He has now also somehow learned to start the movies on his own.  Oh boy!
• Playing with quarters.  He loves to dump a roll of quarter all over the floor, to stack them back up, to look at the "birds" on the quarters, and dump them all over the floor again (and leave them)!  I would introduce him to the other coins, but since they are much smaller, I'll wait til he is a little older!
• Playing with my velcro hair rollers!  I think he thinks they are Legos since they are brightly colored and nest within each other!
• Playing in my makeup drawer!  I've recently organized it (as part of my nesting weekend this past week) and he loves to go in there and pull out all my makeup brushes and shake all of my makeup containers.  This wouldn't really be a problem except that I use that powdered makeup and he keeps attempting to take the lids off.  I'm going to have a big, expensive mess on my hands soon!
• Raiding the panty!!  This is a relatively new hobby of his since he discovered the joys of cookies.  He is constantly trying to raid the pantry to cookies, fish (i.e. any cheese flavored cracker), wheat thins, fruit gummies, etc.  He will also throw a big ol' fit if we lock the pantry up and he can't get into it!
• Dancing!  He loves to move and groove right now!

Recently we've noticed that Chase likes to be a little prince charming.  If I'm taking a nap (which is rare lately...UNFORTUNATELY!!), Drew will sic Chase on me when it's time for me to start waking up.  Chase will crawl on top of the bed and hover his face over mine.  He'll giggle and then he'll give me a big kiss on the lips.  If I pretend I'm still asleep, he'll gently use his fingertips to pick at my eyelashes to try to raise my eyelids.  I have no clue where he learned that, but it's so hilarious!!

He's really starting to like books now and will actually have the patience to sit and listen to an entire one!  He is usually making animal noises throughout the books and having a great time!!

Chase's new room should be finished soon.  I finally ordered the furniture this week and it should be here within the next week.  I just need to order some artwork for the walls to make it special!  I realized the other day that Chase is about to get a new room that is bigger than any room I have ever lived in before!  I hope he enjoys it!!  We also just recently ordered a baby video monitor for his room (with a second camera for the baby's room).  When that is set up, Drew and I will be able to tell when Chase gets out of bed or is getting into trouble up there.  I'm sure we'll see some pretty comedic things on that monitor before too long!

Here is a picture of Chase after attempting to eat a big powdered donut on Saturday morning.  He never ended up eating it because it was just too much for him, but he did enjoy several donut holes!!

By the way, Chase totally poses for the camera now (assuming he isn't showing off and running all around the house!)

36/37 weeks

I only have another 2 1/2 weeks until the new kid on the block is due to make his entrance.  The whole uncertainty of the timing has me a little on edge to say the least!

Apparently I didn't take weekly pictures of my belly with Chase this late in the game last time, so I don't have any comparisons!

Starting last week, my doctor began checking my dialation and effacement.  At 36 weeks, I was between 1 and 2 cm dialated and 40% effaced, baby was head down, and up high.  At 37 weeks, I was 2 cm dialated and 50% effaced, baby was still head down, but lower.  These are similar numbers to when I was pregnant with Chase.  We also started talking about an induction date if Cooper doesn't come on his own.  I am thinking about February 28th, because I just don't think I could handle a February 29th birthday and a March baby just seems so unusual since I've been thinking February this whole time! My doctor does think I'll go on my own though and earlier than my due date, but she also said that last time! :)

My doctor keeps talking about how this labor will be shorter than with Chase.  With Chase, from the beginning of the induction to the end, it took 11 hours.  One of my baby books said that second babies come about 4 hours sooner.  That would mean if I was induced again, Cooper would be here around 1pm.  I know you can't plan anything about a birth, but that freaks me out for some reason!

I can tell that my body is getting ready for this birth suddenly.  Between 36 weeks and 37 weeks, I have been able to tell a big difference in how my hips and joints feel and how Cooper is definitely lower than last week.  I definitely sit down and get back up like a big ol' pregnant woman right now!  Also, since my 37 week exam, I've been have lots of Braxton Hicks contractions which sometimes are so tight that I can barely breathe!  I'm also paranoid that my water is breaking about 5 times a day!  I just hope to God that doesn't happen when I'm in public anywhere!

To help me get some of my nesting urges out, my Mom came over on Saturday to help me purge the house and pick things up off the floor (since bending over is not my strong suit right now!).  We didn't tackle a ton of rooms, but somehow just reorganizing some cabinets and straightening a few rooms, we managed to fill up an entire outside trash can!  I'm hoping I have another two or three weekends to be able to knock out even more of this!

We have also finally installed the infant car seat in both of our cars.  Check!  The next immediate task on the list is to finish packing all our bags for the big day.  Cooper is done.  I'm about halfway done.  And Drew and Chase haven't started!

More Random Comments

Since I don't have any structure to this blog anymore, here is my catchup of various stuff since December.

We are now formally pursuing speech therapy for Chase.  We had an appointment with a therapist in mid-December who agreed that it would be good for him.  If you imagine the scale of "normal", it's about 3 inches tall.  Chase is about half an inch below the bottom end of normal.  She said based on that, they wouldn't necessarily recommend therapy, but when I mentioned that he doesn't say two word sentences and he tends to shorten his words, she thought it might be a good idea.  We are now just waiting to get a good consistent appointment time with the therapist.  Her schedule is crazy busy.  The only weekly available appointments were around lunchtime, but that just doesn't work when you have two working parents and when work is 30 minutes from the daycare and a daycare that is about 30 minutes from the clinic!  We are hoping that within the next month or two something opens up to accomodate us.  If not that may be ok as well since Chase had made so much progress over the past 3 months, but I still want to give him every opportunity to do well!

And speaking of Chase's speech, he said his first 2 word "sentence" on Saturday.  Drew was taking him to his room for a nap and Chase was saying bye to me on his way out.  He said "Bye-bye Mama!".  Yay!!!  We were so proud!  I'm hoping that just opens the door for him and he can start putting his other words together as well.  He has also starting showing off his ability to say his grandparents' names.  I've known he could do this for a month or so now, but he would never do it on command before.  He's also pronouncing his words better and saying two syllable words correctly.  His favorite new word is cookie.  Because we love hearing it so much, we also give him cookies when we hear it (which is why it is his favorite word!).  His other favorite words are food related as well.  Milk which also sounds like the word "no" sometimes oddly and "pop-pop" meaning anything sweet on a stick!

Buzz Lightyear has all of a sudden become his favorite toy again (and "security blanket").  He has been obsessed lately and insisting on being with him all day and night.  He's had many epic tantrums lately over us taking it away so he could go to school or go to sleep.  After the battle I had with him Friday morning at school, the new rule in the house is that Buzz must be hidden each night so he can't take Buzz with him in the car in the morning!

With Cooper's arrival soon (which Chase is still blissfully unaware of), we have started to transition Chase to a big boy bed upstairs.  We first started with naps upstairs, but we've only been successful with him staying and sleeping in bed once.  On the weekends, we let him sleep upstairs at night.  The first night we had him upstairs, we both heard a big "plop" upstairs around 11pm.  Drew ran upstairs to find Chase standing beside the bed in the dark looking confused and staring at the light on the baby monitor.  We still aren't sure if he fell out of bed or not (he has a toddler rail on the bed, but I suppose it's still possible to fall out of bed!).  Drew picked him up and put him back in bed and he slept there successfully the rest of the night!  He's slept upstairs another handful of times and done great.  Naptimes though aren't getting any better.  He likes to talk and play during the first hour of naptimes, so his crib is much better for keeping him confined during his playtime.  We don't quite know how to handle his extra freedom upstairs just yet!

I ordered him is big boy bedding over the weekend and now I just need to wait for a coupon code to PBTeen before I order his actual bed and dresser.  I hope to get that ordered in the next month or so.  I'll definitely post a picture of his room once everything gets in order (maybe by April or so!).  We have lots of big expenses in 2012.  I'm still trying to process all of money we've spent lately!!

I haven't used my camera in ages, but Drew has at least taken it upon himself to shoot a picture or two.  Here's one from late week of Chase saying "cheese" while eating dinner.

35 weeks

Last Friday, I was officially 35 weeks pregnant.  Here's a little side by side picture of Chase and Cooper in belly.

I'm now about 35 1/2 weeks pregnant and I believe starting tomorrow have 30 days left til my due date!

That is just unbelievable!

I'm trying to just soak up the present and these last remaining weeks of being a family of 3.  That's a little hard when working busy season hours, but I'm trying my darndest.  Speaking of work, I now have less than 4 weeks left!  Yay!!

I haven't weighed myself in a good week or so.  I think I'm to the point where I'm no longer curious to see my weight because I know it's above a certain amount and I just don't want to see the numbers!  The joys of pregnancy that I've been blessed with lately are incredible heartburn (with Chase I had heartburn the ENTIRE 9 months...with Cooper I've just recently been getting hit pretty hard), swelling feet and ankles (I had to buy cheap Target shoes this weekend a size larger than normal just so my feet would fit in shoes at 7pm), back pain from sitting all day, and random hours of insomnia throughout the week (I catch up on a lot of DVR between 3 and 5am!).

Even with all of that though, I do love being pregnant! But unless we win the lottery in the next 2 years, this will be the last I experience this, so I'm just relishing in all of these random side-effects of growing a baby!

I still have the platelet issue, but my doctor doesn't seem all that concerned because my platelet levels have been stable over the past month.  She is going to check them again at 37 weeks.  If they drop significantly, we will have the option of inducing early so that I can guarantee at least the option of having an epidural (which is a nice option to have). 

We are getting a little more prepared for Cooper's arrival weekend by weekend.  I finally packed Cooper's stuff in a hospital bag, but our bag is still void of my and Drew's stuff.  Chase doesn't have a overnight bag started either.  We put up the pack n' play in our room over the weekend, but the infant car seat is still sitting in a corner of the garage.  I have Cooper's newborn clothes washed, but they are back in a Rubbermaid bin waiting for Chase to be officially moved upstairs.  I think it's just harder to get ready for #2 because you are just much busier with life and taking care of #1!

Christmas 2011

I figure it's about time that I post our (few) Christmas pictures!  I love my new computer, but it has taken a while to get my programs and settings all switched over.  Plus, my new computer desk is on backorder for another week, so I'm not all organized yet like I would hope to be (our dining room is my new makeshift computer room!).

So Christmas was wonderful!  I feel as if it passed by as quickly as it came.  Unlike previous years, our stress level about trying to be everywhere at the same time was much, much lower this year.  The only frustration came from Chase not napping on either the 24th or 25th, so that made for some very long (and cranky) afternoons.

We had a very relaxing day at home on the 24th and our only scheduled activity that day was Christmas Eve service at church.  Well, Drew might say that this was the most stressful part of the entire holiday season!  Unlike in previous years, there was no childcare during the church service.  Had we known in advance, Chase would not have come with us because he was a big ol' ball of overtired energy!  We were dropping candles, crayons, pencils, and papers all over the floor of the church.  Chase would say "uh-oh" each time and then try to crawl underneath the pews to retrieve everything.  Poor Drew was sweating the entire time and was worn out the entire rest of the evening!

By the time we made it home, Chase was done for the evening and was immediately put to bed.  So the cookies we bought for Santa were never put out.  Drew and I ate them the following day though.  They were the big soft sugar cookies from Target that have frosting and sprinkles on them.  Drew has a co-worker that calls them Crack Cookies.  They certainly are!! :) Sorry Santa!

Drew and I woke up at 6 the next morning and showered and got fully dressed by 7am!  I had never felt more like an adult than actually getting dressed that early on Christmas morning.  We saw all the stuff that Santa had brought and we were so excited for Chase to see it that we actually had to wake him up at 7:30!  He was a tad bit grumpy at being woken up, but he quickly forgot about all of that once he walked into the living room!

Chase must have been very good this year!  Santa brought him a big slide, some dinosaurs, a latch puzzle, and a Blues Clues stuffed animal.  Also in his stocking Santa left him some Pocoyo bath squirters, goldfish crackers, and Oreos!

Chase was overwhelmed with all of the new stuff, but to stay on schedule for the day, we needed to quickly open all of the presents that we had bought him!  We gave Chase an alphabet puzzle, some more play food, and the entire Toy Story movie series.

This alphabet puzzle kind of trumped all the other presents for a good while.  He LOVES puzzles!!  Also, I must brag that Drew thought I was crazy for picking out this puzzle, but Chase mastered it by the next day.  My mom gave Chase a USA puzzle (and thought I was crazy for suggesting it) but Chase has almost mastered that one too!!  My two year old knows where North Dakota and Indiana are (but still can't speak in two word sentences...go figure!).

We saved the Toy Story movies for the "grand finale".  He was SO excited.  He loves these movies.  He calls Woody "Hat".  I would write here what he calls Buzz, but it's just a noise that sounds like Buzz flying, but I have no clue how I would spell it!  Today in the car when we were watching it, he was narrarating the movie Chase-style.  That involves saying "Yay!!! Ooh!! Hat!!  Choo-choo!!  Uh-oh!! Dog!!! Choo-choo!! Hat!!  Uh-oh!!! (insert sound for Buzz)!!"

His shopping cart is now officially full of food!  I think I can lay off buying him more food now.

When you get Oreos in your stocking, you must immediately eat the Oreos.  Same rule goes for goldfish crackers (not pictured)!

Here is where pictures pretty much stop (like last year!).  After opening presents we went to Nini and Papa's house and ate breakfast and opened presents.  Chase got a ton of good stuff there as well.  An art/magnetic easel and all sorts of magnets that help Chase practice his words (and he's picked up lots of new words since then because of the magnets!), a big Mr. Potato Head, a Blues Clues book, and a Hot Wheels track.  Chase has loved all of these new toys.  He could literally play with these toys all day long if we would let him!

Also at Nini's...cake pops!  Chase loves anything on a stick and these are no exception.  The cake pop got all over his face though!  Also, he now calls suckers "Pop-pops".

After Nini and Papa's we headed to my sister's house for lunch and to open presents.  From Gigi and Pawpaw, Chase got a huge beanbag chair with his name on it (it's not pictured here because Chase actually got it the night before!).  He also got a talking fire engine, a magnadoodle, some stuffed animals, and an Auburn racecar for his Hot Wheels track.

At Sherrie's house, Chase absolutely loves playing in the cousins' playroom and going through all of their toys.  He can sit and go through a basket of random cars and action figures for just hours and hours at a time!

The only pictures I took here were trying to get all of the kids together for one picture.  Not entirely successful, but they are all in the same frame, although not all in focus nor smiling!

And not to be forgotten, Cooper got some Christmas gifts as well. He got some fresh onesies and gowns so he won't have to entirely rely on big brother's hand-me-downs and a baby book!  He also got some Auburn gear to wear!

Random Holiday Pictures

I have been awful with taking and uploading pictures lately.  One because I never get upstairs anymore and two because our computer is filled to brim with pictures and my editing software crawls at a snails pace on our computer.  Well the Santa for adults (the FedEx man) is coming early tomorrow to drop off my Christmas present - a new mack daddy computer that should have enough RAM and Gigabytes to make me happy for several more years!.  Cannot wait!

Anyways, I saw some old pictures from around Thanksgiving on my camera that I wanted to share.

The day we were putting the tree up, we put an old tree skirt on Chase as a cape.  Here he is reading his peek-a-boo Christmas book!

Also, while unpacking our Christmas stuff from last year, we found the train that Aunt Elizabeth got Chase last year.  He loved it, but didn't quite get the concept of being "gentle" with it!

 I thought it would be fun to decorate (and eat) sugar cookies.  Chase didn't take to the decorating.  Instead he scooped up sprinkles and shoved them as quickly as he could into his mouth!  He appreciated the cookies more after they were already decorated and ready for him to eat.

Enchanted Forest

Chase got to finally visit Santa this morning!  Unlike last year, we somehow went during a time when barely anyone was there.  Last time, we had to wait in a long line to visit Santa.  This year - no line!  We were in and out of there in 40 minutes and that includes a confusing 8 minutes trying to go up one floor on the elevator! :)

First off, here's the whole reason why we went!  Santa was adorable and Chase was perfect!  This picture was on the first try folks!  We couldn't have been more pleased!

Chase didn't tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas because he still doesn't understand anything about Christmas, but he did point out to Santa the tree and duck that was in his workshop!  He also started to ride Santa's rocking horse when we left, but I had to get Drew to pull him from that as the other children were starting to get their picture with Santa! :)

Chase chatting with Santa!

Here are some other pictures from the Enchanted Forest.  This is the same snowman Chase posed with last year.  He did NOT want to stop and get his picture taken though.

He loved the trains this year.  I think we spent a good 10 minutes just watching them go around and around.

 

30 weeks

The way I'm updating this blog, I probably won't have another baby update before this child gets here. 

Here's a 30 week picture.

This picture just shows you the difference 3 years, 10 extra pounds, and what staying up til 1:30am in the morning most weeknights does to a person!!

I haven't compared my weight gain with Chase and Cooper in a while, but I think I'm gaining more this time.  Apparently sometime over the past month or two, I gained like 7 pounds in a one month period.  Then at my last doctor's appointment, I had lost a pound.  Overall though, I've gained almost 28 pounds I believe (as of today anyway...I'm 31 weeks today).  I've been so tired and so overworked though that I just eat about anything and everything when I get a chance to sit and chill out.  That's not a terrific thing to do, but it's how I relax!

I passed my glucose test on the first try this time around, which is fantastic because that 3 hour glucose test was a NIGHTMARE last time (I was sweating and crying in the lobby of the doctor's office because I felt so sick!).  They did tell me my platelets were low.  By the way, never Google "Low platelets" and "Pregnancy" because only scary things come up.  My doctor doesn't seem very concerned and thinks they will be at an appropriate level during childbirth.  I'll still be having my blood tested at least every month going forward to monitor my levels.

I haven't done much of anything on my list to prepare for Cooper.  Since Thanksgiving my whole household organization thing has gone out the window.  It's just hard to find the energy to follow an even simple cleaning list when you don't get home until 9pm and still have several more hours worth of work to do when you get home!  So therefore I'm determined next week (my only remaining 5 days off until CCH gets here) to get everything in order.  Baby clothes and gear need to be brought out of the attic, furniture needs to be ordered, closets need to be cleaned out, baseboards need to be dusted, blah, blah, blah!!  Luckily Drew has now finished his Master's program so he will no longer be MIA on weekends and certain weeknights!!  We have lots to do!

What We Did On Our Thanksgiving Break

Wednesday

Drew and I were off work and Chase was in school.  I have no recollection of this day at all except for a haircut I had late in the day.  Magical.

Thursday

Thanksgiving lunches with both sides of the family.  Food was delicious however, unfortunately my pregnant belly doesn't hold as much food as an unpregnant belly.  I could only manage an additional helping of dressing.  Sherrie and Patrick - I need that recipe.  It was delicious!!

Chase went the whole day without a nap and did fairly well.  We tried to put him down for a nap at 10am, but that was a big fail.  Between lunch #1 and lunch #2, he literally caught about 1 minute of sleepy time.  He didn't really eat the entire day.  I think his Thanksgiving lunch consisted of milk and rolls (he's been VERY picky lately).  For dinner, we stopped by McDonald's and got him some familiar food (nuggets and fries) and he gobbled it up before an early bedtime!

Friday

No Black Friday shopping for us, unless you count one puzzle I bought Chase on Amazon.  Instead we took Chase to see his first movie - Puss in Boots.  He did very well considering he was one of the youngest kids in the theater.  He talked a little during the previews and "wagged" his finger at the green rating screens during the previews (for some reason, he wags his index finger a lot at TV's lately!).  He doesn't quite weigh enough to keep the movie seats in a down position.  He had to sit on the edge of the seat or he would scoot back and say "Weee" each time he seat started closing on him.  He held my hand during the first part of the movie while saying his words when he saw them on screen.  Moon.  Mooooo (for when he saw cows and boars). Duck.  When he got restless, we gave him snacks or Drew held him in his lap.  Drew got lots of kisses from Chase during the movie.  I was jealous.

Here's a picture taken before the movie started.

Saturday

We started decorating for Christmas.  Drew brought the tree downstairs the night before and I started on it shortly after waking up.  I SLOWLY put the tree together (I wasn't feeling it!).  Chase likes to grab the ribbons off the tree this year and he's broken just one ornament so far.  I've already ordered another corral type baby gate for the tree this year (we are using the one from last year to block the dining room and stairs).  Drew put out the inflatables.  We don't have any other lights going on this year so far like we usually do.

Later in the day during the AU/AL game (which ended like we expected), I started "nesting".  I cleaned random drawers in the kitchen and I created a home management binder to help us keep track of all the various things going on and I created a cleaning schedule and a dinner plan for the week (I was going to do it for 4 weeks, but I ran out of ideas by the time I got to Wednesday).

Chase was a WILD man all day on Saturday.  He had tantrums randomly throughout the day.  Luckily unlike the past several Saturdays, Drew was home with me to help (thank goodness graduate school ends for good for him next week!!!).  Chase learned to get a running start and fully clear the sofa in our living room when jumping on it. 

Sunday

Nothing interesting to note on Sunday.  Drew and Chase went to church while I cleaned the bathroom.  Chase and I took naps during the day and overall it was a relaxing, cold, rainy day!

Randomness

I'm about to try to catch up on a month of stuff.  In no particular order:

We bought our new car last weekend.  It was the most stressful weekend of my life.  I can see where some people might enjoy the "game" of buying a new car, but Drew and I are not those type of people!  I, the one in our house to hates to do anything by myself and just recently in the past 8 years became able to go through a drive-thru by myself, had to take the lead in the negotiations.  I wasn't awful at it, but I definitely wasn't good at it either.  I did cry though and freak the salesman out.  Maybe I am awful at it!

The minivan is amazing though.  Drew is the primary driver.  I took it out for the first time on Saturday and I was a little freaked out the entire time.  I could drive it if I never had to actually park it anywhere and if I never had to change lanes.  I think sedans are more my speed.

Here it is!  We got it in a dark gray color.  We can't wait to take it on a trip somewhere!

Late last month, Chase had his follow-up visit with TEIS for his speech.  He didn't qualify for the free services because he was only 25% behind in speech, but not significantly behind in any other areas.  Between the time that the first TEIS lady came and the second one came, Chase had been making some strides in speech, but he's definitely not where the guides say he should be.  I am planning on taking him to a private speech specialist while I'm on maternity leave.  I would love to do it now, except I'm working 50 hour weeks now and will be working 55+ hour weeks in January and February, so there is just no time in the day to try to find a place and make appointments right now. 

We credit Chase's improved speech with all of his puzzles.  He is fantastic at puzzles and he now knows to say or make the sound of all his puzzle pieces.  He knows his shapes, animals, and vehicles.  He also knows what numbers are, but he calls them all "two".  We have flashcards as well that show all sorts of different things and he knows almost all of them now!  I got these for him around 18 months or so and he had little to no interest in them at first, but now he likes going through all of his flashcards and saying what is on them.  He does the same thing with his shopping cart.  He'll lift all the food up and make us tell him what it is.

Lately Chase's new loves are Blue's Clues and Pocoyo.  He knows most all choreography from Blue's Clues and loves to laugh at and dance like Pocoyo.  He's also been saying "Weee" and "Whoa" a lot!  Whenever we spin him around or if he's sliding his socked feet on the tile floor (which he LOVES) he'll say Weee and whenever Drew opens the minivan doors automatically, he'll say Whoa!!  He loves playing with his Matchbox cars, puzzles, play fruit and veggies, and his riding cars (he can zoom across the house!).  He's also learned to use his play hammer in workbench and will sometimes hammer the crap out of his workbench!  He loves Cheezits and we have to hide all snacks now because he will hunt them down and raid the pantry if he finds them.  He loves to color and draw!  He LOVES to play our Google Image game where we show him various pictures from a Google Image search and he tells us what he sees.  I've been meaning to videotape this because it is just so cute how excited he is when he plays his.  He's a big talker now, although most of the time we don't know what he's saying...but it's progress.  We've been teaching him who Santa is and what Santa says.  Chase doesn't say "Ho, Ho, Ho" though.  Instead he says "Who, Who, Who!".  It's very cute!

11/11/11

The last in the "1" series for the year!

Here's a messy faced little boy eating a popsicle and watching Pocoyo!

Baby Update

I'm currently just a little over 24 weeks pregnant with baby Cooper (yep - that's his name now!).  I thought I would post a belly picture for those of you who haven't seen me lately.

I'm up about 20 pounds from week 1, which is consistent with where I was with Chase as well - although looking at the pictures, I don't know where that 20 pounds was hiding with Chase.  I look like I'm up about 50 pounds compared to last time!!

I Photoshopped the crap out of my face in my current picture and I still look awful!  Oh well!  The swelling has begun again.  My feet are getting tingly and my wedding ring barely fits in the morning.  Cooper is kicking and moving and with the exception of a few minor scares this past week, everything is fairly uneventful.  I'm already starting to "waddle".  I "waddled" a ton with Chase too.  I don't carry the extra weight very well! :)

On the agenda for the next few weeks, we need to come up with a middle name for little Cooper and we need to find a big boy bed for Chase so we can start thinking about his new room.  Cooper will pretty much have the exact same room as Chase...I don't think I have the time or energy or desire to spend the extra money on anything new or different for the nursery!  All extra money will go to our new car which we will probably get in the next few months.  All I want for Christmas is our Odyssey and a new computer!! :)

11/1/11

Chase doing his FAVORITE thing the morning after Halloween - Puzzles!