Weekly Update 9.19.11

The boys are on a bike ride which means that I can type this post without a tiny person hanging on my arm. I do still have the tiniest person kicking me in the bladder, but that cannot be helped for another 9 weeks. That's right, we are in the single digit weeks now. I am feeling okay. Not as good as a month ago, but not as bad as 5 months ago. The baby's kicks are getting pretty serious. When I feel a kick I can't help but give her a few taps back and she usually kicks me again in the same spot. The heartburn and sleeplessness is back and now that it is getting cooler outside I am really feeling sorry for myself that I can't have a nice warm cup of coffee in the morning. But I can't really complain.
The baby is almost 16 inches now and about 3 lbs. She is going to be gaining about a half a pound a week from now on so I imagine that those kicks will lessen as she fills out and there is less room for her karate style antics.
This week has been nice. We've had amazing weather again. In fact, it's actually kind of cold. I'm wearing a sweater today and on Thursday and Friday I had to send Henry to school in pants and a long sleeved shirt. Unfortunately, I haven't gotten him any winter school clothes yet, so I guess it's already time for another round of uniform shopping.
Picking up Henry has become one of my favorite parts of the day. Imagine it, a group of 5 and 6 year old kids, all perfectly lined up by the door waiting to come out and all their parents standing outside, happy see their kiddos. Little girls walking out in their navy blue skirts or khaki jumpers and little boys with their flat front khaki pants and polo shirts nicely tucked in, all with their backpacks on their backs, excitedly walking out the door in search of their parents. And then, imagine a tall blond boy, a full 6 inches taller than any other kid in the line. His polo is untucked and covered in yellow and blue marker spots, as are his hands and you can barely make out where marker spots have transfered over on to his face. One of his backpack straps is pulled over his forehead, the other is wrapped around the top of one of his arms and all of the papers that should be in his backpack are in a wad in his hand. He runs over when he sees me and we stop for a second so that he can show me all the artwork, schoolwork, handouts and the library books from the day. Then we walk across the park as he tells me about school, usually starting with whatever game he played in PE. Friday it was cops and robbers. He liked being a robber (of course).
My coworkers threw a shower for me on Thursday. It was short and pretty low key, just like I like a shower to be. People brought some yummy food and gave me some lovely gifts. It was fun to celebrate with old and new friends.
The cool breeze last week reminded us that we wanted to put a screen door on our front door. Wade went out on Sunday and found a basic one and he and Henry put it on this morning. Henry LOVES helping with projects. He loves to use the tape measure and the tools. The door looks good and the breeze this morning was wonderful. The cat likes it too. Today Henry and I are going to start sanding down his bedframe, bake some pumpkin bread and plant some mums. I'm looking forward to the house smelling like fresh air and pumpkin bread.

Have a great week friends.

Weekly update 9.11.11

Hello people. I need to apologize right up front, I am going on 3 hours of sleep and just worked a 9 1/2 hour day, so there is a strong possibility that this post may be rambling, thank goodness for spell check or you might not be able to read it at all. Last week was great. The weather was perfect, it was box fan in the window kinda weather.
Saturday we headed out to Mass St for the band day parade. I was super excited that I remembered my camera until I realized that Henry was making this face for every photograph. I'm not sure what that's about. The first band was the KU band, they played the fight song and got everyone pumped up. Henry says that the KU band was his favorite because they had a girl in front throwing a baton. It was pretty amazing. Then we headed over to our favorite burger place for some veggie burgers and chili dogs. I had to beg him to make a normal face for this picture. So I guess this is his "appeasing his mother" face. I'm sure I'll see a lot of it in the years to come. And then it was back home for a quick shower to get ready for a wedding in KC. Henry had a good time at the wedding but he refused to go up on the dance floor to dance, he claimed to be too shy. Instead, when the music hit him just right, he would dance on his chair, which caused sort of the opposite response he was looking for as more and more people came over to watch his dance moves. He ate 3 pieces of cake and still managed to fall asleep 20 minutes after we got home. Sunday was a slow day. We went to breakfast our our favorite breakfast place and then Henry headed over to Aunt Kelly's to play for an hour while I went to the store. We brought a very late birthday gift over to Gigi and Grandpa's and visited with them for a while. We blew some bubbles and cleaned the house a little....standard weekend stuff. So here's what's up with the fam:

Henry:
School is going great. Maybe a little too great. When I came to pick him up today he walked over with a smile that I haven't seen before. I quickly found out that Elsa gave him two kisses on his cheek today and that he was feeling VERY romantic. Oh dear. He is walking around the house spelling words and speaking in Spanish and singing silly kid songs that all of us sang in grade school (trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat). He has been making mazes for Wade and I and I have to admit, they are pretty tough.

Wade:
Work has been crazy for Wade so he has been working a TON. That's about all I have to say about it. Nobody likes it when Papa isn't home.

Laura + Baby:
We are doing pretty well. I had my 29 week appointment last week and everything checked out great. The baby's heart rate was 140 and I'm measuring right on track. The doctor gave me the paperwork to register at the hospital which threw me for a loop. Time is just going so fast with this pregnancy. I guess we are almost to week 30, counting down to single digit weeks. The baby is kicking a lot. Big kicks and little tickles. She likes to get going around 3 am and keeps going on and off until my alarm goes off at 5 (hence my lack of sleep last night). But I'm not complaining, I love those little wiggles. Well, maybe not the ones that involve her using my bladder as a trampoline, but all the other ones.

Well, I guess that's all I have for this week. Henry is hanging on my arm asking me every 2 minutes if I am done yet and it's driving me bonkers, plus he keeps wiping his nose on my arm. Little boys are gross (oh great he just read that now he is licking my arm. Seriously.)

Have a great week.

Weekly Update 9.5.11

We have been pretty much out of commission this weekend. Henry brought the sore throat/sniffles home from school this week and shared it with the whole family, even Grandpa. Fortunately, Henry started feeling better on Saturday, right about the time that Mama started feeling bad. It has been a challenge for two under-the-weather parents to keep up with him, but we've managed. And I can't complain too much because we got to have the windows open all weekend and had some of the nicest weather we have seen in months. We did venture outside long enough to check out the monarch larvae that has been chewing up our geraniums. We had 14 caterpillars in the yard on Saturday, today we have 4 and lots of brand new monarchs hanging from our peonies bushes. Tonight I made a big pot of lentil soup and homemade biscuits for dinner; I am attempting to raise my iron level without having to take those nasty iron supplements...and plus it's just good get-better food. Hope you guys had a great weekend. We'll have a better update next weekend, I promise.