Monthly Update 1.22.12

Georgia had to her two month appointment this week. She got her shots, which she DID NOT LIKE, but she tolerated well: no fever just lots of sleeping and frowning at Mama. She is 12.9 lbs (90th percentile) and 23 inches long (75th percentile), so she's a big girl. Got a great report from the doctor so we are not going back for 2 months.
She is such a fun baby. She's even tempered and sweet. She loves to snuggle and is interesting in everything going on around her. She doesn't fuss much, unless she gets over tired and then she is a bear to settle down. She smiles a lot, especially when she nurses and at her brother.
Life with a newborn has been chaotic. Our house is a mess, dinners are fast and we don't get to play with Henry as often as we'd like to, but everyone seems to be adjusting well.
Henry has had another great semester at school. He had his second perfect report card last week and is being invited to birthday parties and having friend over all the time. He thinks his sister is pretty great, even if she doesn't do much. He loves to be in on every diaper change (mostly to comment on how huge the poop was) and every smile or baby cooing session, he wants to be a part of it all. He's been doing more things by himself. This morning we found him reading in bed instead of getting up to watch cartoons. He loves drawing mazes for Papa and I to complete and robots.
Well it sounds like the baby is waking up. I'll try to post more photos later.

Weekly Update 12.9.11

Georgia has spent the morning grumbling at me but she is finally asleep so I thought I'd do a quick update. She had her 2 week check up on Tuesday. She has gained 2 1/2 lbs in the past 2 weeks. She left the hospital at 6 lbs 5 oz and weighed in on Tuesday at 8 lbs 13 oz. She's still pretty mellow and sleeps a lot, but every day she seems to be awake a little bit longer. Her vision is getting better so when she is awake she likes to be moving around looking at things. Her personality is really starting to show. So far she doesn't cry at night like Henry did, but she will let you have it when you change her diaper or don't hold her the way she wants to be held. She is really interested in her hands and has been able to get her thumb in her mouth a couple of times. I was a thumb sucker until Kindergarten, so it seems fitting that my daughter would be one also. My parents spent a fortune on Strawberry Shortcake dolls to encourage me to quit the habit. It seems only fair that I should have to do the same. :) She fell asleep taking a bath this week, so apparently she has decided that she likes baths.
Henry is doing pretty well. He is keeping busy with friends and play dates and school. I think he misses some of his time with his parents by himself, but he doesn't complain much about it. He is counting down the days until Christmas. Last week we sent a letter to Santa with at least 30 gifts listed. St. Nicholas also came to our house on Tuesday. St. Nick is something that we celebrated in my house growing up. We'd leave our shoes by the fireplace and in the morning they would be full of candy and little gifts. Henry got lots of candy and swim goggles (which he has used in the bathtub every night since) and a book about super heroes. He and Papa are working on a painting for the living room. Henry designed it and I have to admit, it's pretty great. I'll post a picture of the finished product.
I am doing pretty well. My recovery with this delivery has been so fast and easy, it's crazy. I feel good and if I just got more than 2 hours of sleep during the night I would probably feel great.
Wade is doing pretty well. He is juggling work and the family, which can sometimes be challenging but his work has been so understanding about everything, he pretty much just comes and goes as we need him to. He is still playing music and stays up too late writing music, but that's just what he does so what can I say.
We have family in town starting next week until the end of the month. It's going to be so wonderful to see my sister Susie and hold my nephew, Willem.
This weekend we are going to try to get a Christmas tree and put up some decorations. I doubt we'll get lights on the outside of the house this year, but that's okay. Hope you guys have a great weekend.

Pippy's Here!

Georgia arrived on 11/18/11 at 9:02. She was 6 lbs 12 oz and 20 inches long. Earlier that day I went in for a doctors appointment and discovered that my fluid was low. It was time to have a baby. The hospital was completely full, so we had to wait until 6:30 to get a bed. At around 7:30 I had my IV in and was getting ready for pitocin. My contractions were about 10 minutes apart, not very strong at that point, but once the pitocin kicked in they quickly went from fairly easy to totally unbearable. Around 8:15 I told the nurse that I was pretty sure that my water broke and she decided that she should maybe check my cervix. The contractions were getting really strong so she brought in a birthing ball but I only sat on it a few minutes and then told her that I was ready to push. She checked me and all I remember is her saying, "I need nurses in here now, where is the doctor? We are having a baby." Waiting for the doctor felt impossible. When she finally got there she threw on her scrubs and two pushes later we had a baby. The doctor looked at me and said, "Hi, I'm Dr. Bennet. It's nice to meet you." :)
So far Georgia has been very sweet. She is awake an hour or two in the morning and in the evening and the rest of the time she naps. She wakes up about every 3 hours to nurse. She started nursing about 20 minutes after she was born and has been doing great ever since.
Henry is doing pretty well with the change. He is a little more sensitive and makes comparisons about how we treat him verses G, but for the most part he seems to be doing well. Having his 6th birthday on Wednesday really helped. He felt very special.
Wade is working from home this coming week and Henry is back in school, so things should be a little more normal for us: whatever that is now,I guess we have to redefine normal. Have a great week.

Weekly update: 11.13.11

Not going to be a long one today folks, we have had a pretty slow week. Although we did have a bit of super exciting news on Friday when my nephew was born! I have to wait until Christmas to snuggle him but for now I'm just soaking up being an aunt for the first time. He has a ton of hair and super chubby cheeks...pretty much newborn perfection.
Anyway, I had a doctor's appointment on Thursday. We took a peek at Pippy and found that all is well. We couldn't get a good look at her face because she is now facing my back but we saw toes and fingers and a full bladder.....everything looked like it should. My doctor put me at 3 cm dilated and 80% effaced. She said my cervix is ripe and ready to roll, which I thought was kind of gross but I guess ripe is the actual term they use to describe a cervix that is ready for delivery, so I got over it. She jokingly gave me 3 days. Today is day 3, so we'll see. I am not having regular contractions yet.
Henry is doing great. He has been sleeping with me for the past couple of weeks because poor Papa cannot handle my snoring/need for 18 pillows that take up 80% of our king size bed. I have to admit I love having him in the bed with me. When I wake up every 2 or 3 hours I can just reach over and grab his little hand or snuggle up in his curly hair. I keep thinking that in a few days he won't be able to sleep in the bed next to me, so I am trying to really soak it in. Plus, an added bonus is that we both go to sleep at 8:30 every night. :) The weather has been crazy so we have had some fun afternoons at the park and a few boring afternoons stuck inside. But he's taking it all in stride. He has been carrying around a bear he got at the school open house last week and pretending that it is a baby and he has been incorporating the baby into his artwork lately, which is super sweet.
Wade picked up a laptop so he can work from home for a while after the baby is born. Which is such a relief because I was panicking a little about taking care of a newborn and a 5 year old a the same time. At least this way I'll have a few weeks to get in to the swing of things before I am on my own.
Well that's about all I've got for this week. We'll be sure to keep you posted on all things baby as the week goes on. I've got an appointment on Tuesday, fingers crossed for a good progress report. Take care.

Final countdown....3 weeks to go

We are officially full term but I get a sense that this little Pipp of ours isn't making plans to move out any time soon. We had a sonogram and doctors appointment on Tuesday and found out that she is 6 1/2 lbs, has a full head of hair (it's amazing that you can see that on a sonogram), is definitely a girl, and that her head is down low in my pelvis, so low in fact, that all the pictures the sonogram technician attempted to take looked like a kid smooshing her face against a pane of glass. We saw her making kissy faces and practicing breathing. She looked squished in there and not very comfortable. Her movements are becoming less frequent and are usually her whole body moving from my left side to my right side. She seems to prefer my left side and stays over there most of the time. She seems to sleep a lot. Let's hope that continues for years to come.
My cervix is 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced. We go in next Thursday for another sonogram and check up. I'm having some contractions but nothing regular or notable. I was thinking last night, as I lie in bed awake for hours, that it would be really wonderful if she came on November 16th. That was my Aunt Cindy's birthday, she was one of my favorite people.
But we've had a ton of other stuff going on the past two weeks. I'm sure that I will forget some of it. Another reason to make these "weekly" updates actual weekly updates.
The last week of October we had parent teacher conferences. Henry's teacher greeted us at the door by saying, "Thank you so much for bringing your child to me." I don't know if she was telling all the parents that, but boy it felt nice to hear it. She described Henry as sensitive and positive and helpful and upbeat. She told us this story,
"Last week I was feeling under the weather and I told the kids that I wasn't feeling very well. We decided that it was a good time to work on math worksheets. Henry has finished all the single digit math worksheets so I decided to introduce him to double digit math. I showed him how to do it and he completed his worksheet, brought it to the front of the classroom, came over to me, put his hand on my arm and said, "Look at that Ms. Fewins. You didn't feel well and you still taught me something new. Good job. " It made me feel so good. "
She mentioned that sometimes Henry's friend Julia gets her feelings hurt when he wants to play with other kids. "It happened a couple times last week" she said, "and Henry came over to me with Julia and said, Ms. Fewins Julia is upset, can you help us talk it out?""
He also got his first report card. He got all S's (satisfactory). They do not start handing out letter grades until 2nd grade and we found out from a friend with a third grader that the grading scale they use is more difficult than the public schools. An A is 94% or higher. I'm sure glad they don't have those standards at KU. :)
Over the weekend we went to the pumpkin patch and carved pumpkins. I promised patch pictures and didn't deliver. We actually went straight from work and I forgot my camera. Sorry. But I did get a pic of the boys carving their pumpkins. Henry and I made lots of Halloween cookies. His favorites, of course, were the ones that came over from Gigi's house. He loves Gigi's cooking. He had to work the candy corn in on the side of his mouth though because on October 28th he lost his first tooth! The tooth coming in is a big one, it looks like he might have Wade's teeth, but it's hard to tell just yet. The tooth next door is getting wiggly too, so we might have 2 missing teeth here pretty soon. When he lost his tooth I ran into the guest room and threw together a tooth fairy pillow. Henry did not use it though, he is feeling a little shy about giving his tooth to the tooth fairy and is sentimental about giving away his first tooth.
Henry had a Halloween party at school. He had a great time! He got to wear his costume to school, which was a big deal considering that every other day he has to wear his uniform. They decorated cookies and Papa got to come to school and party with him. He did not wear a costume. Here he is with his "girlfriend" Elsa. We also attended family fun night at school. Henry had a great time doing the book scavenger hunt and playing the games. It's fun to see the difference in how he feels about his school now. They had a family fun night orientation in August and he held our hands the whole time and wouldn't talk to anyone. This time he was roaming the halls like he owned the place.
Then, of course, there was Halloween. We got started a little late because we had several very cute visitors before we left for trick or treating but that was actually okay because Henry got the feel of trick or treating with out the gigantic bag of candy. Don't get me wrong, there was still plenty of candy, but much less than last year. The first two houses he really wanted me to be up on the porch with him, but by the third house he ran back and yelled, "This is fun. I am feeling super confident." He even did a "trick" for one of the houses, his attempt that the thumb trick. It was pretty funny. Henry was Optimus Prime.
Yesterday he had his first birthday party with his school friends and his first birthday party where Mama and Papa got to leave him there by himself. I could handle one of those every weekend. He played at the Gymnasium, ate cake and ran around like a maniac. He slept well last night. Today we are going to do some cleaning and try to finish up the million pre-baby projects we have left to do. We cleaned the car yesterday and put in the baby seat. I've also done 5 loads of laundry. My sweet friend Amanda gave us 3 huge trash bags full of baby clothes. This little girl has more clothes than Wade and I combined. It's a good thing that they are all so small, otherwise I think we would have run out of closet space. Well, I think I'll close this one out. We've got some coupons for breakfast bagels and free coffee (for Papa) so we're going to walk to the bagel shop on this beautiful, sunshine-filled morning. Have a great week friends.

Weekly Update 10.16.11

It's been a month, not a week. Sorry about that. We've been super busy with things like: Pretending to be pumpkins Golfing Go-karts Bumper cars Getting lost in giant haunted mazes

Napping
Sewing
Feeling fall breezesAnd getting ready for our baby girl to arrive But all that fun stuff aside, it has been a challenging few weeks. Gigi and Grandpa were in Europe for two weeks which gave Wade and I a taste of what it would be like to be a split shift family. It was hard. Upon returning from his trip, Grandpa came down with a stubborn case of pneumonia. Send prayer and good thoughts his way, please. And while you're at it throw in a few for Nana who is also recovering from surgery.
Okay, let's break it down:

Papa: Papa is currently napping in the other room. He continues to be super busy at work, staying late and working on the weekend occasionally. He is still playing music and working hard to do all the things that I can't do (the list is long) to get our house ready for the baby.

Henry: Henry is doing great at school. He was in a play last week: Noah's Arc. He was the dove and did a very nice job! His school is right across the street from a park, so we like to go to the park everyday after school for a little while. (Henry just entered the room, and has some things to say) - Also, I was in parade 2 weeks ago and I got lots of candy. I liked it a lot. It was fun. I have been building a super mega bionical, or some people might say a Lego robot. He has intelligence of a 10, very smart, very tough because he is the leader, very strong, he has awesome weapons and that's it. Grandpa has ammonia. But I think he's starting to feel better because he set his oxygen to a 2. I can't wait for Halloween. Who0Oo0Ooooo..... (that's a ghost sound, scary!) I am going to be Optimus Prime and I'll have tons of candy that I will cut in half with my battle sword. I mean, it's not real, I'm just pretending that it is a real battle sword. I am reading a book about how my body works. It's 330 pages long. I've read 23 pages to my Mama. We have learned about eyeballs and hair follicles. I'm excited to learn about the bones, muscles and the body parts. That's all I have to say.

Mama & Baby: Mama and the Pipp (that's what we call her for now) are doing fine. I'm feeling those last month of pregnancy pains. By the end of the day my ankles are swollen and I'm asleep by 9 every night and up every few hours to use the bathroom, but we are healthy and happy so I really shouldn't complain. I start going to the doctor every week next Tuesday. So far we're measuring right on track, so I doubt that we'll get to have another sonogram before she's born, which is kind of a bummer, but that's okay. She's kicking like crazy and I spend far too much time watching my belly roll from side to side or feeling her hiccups. I can't wait to see her and get to know her even more.

THE END OF THE STORY. TO BE CONTINUED.....*

* Said by Henry. Have a great week. I promise to be back next week pumpkin patch photos. : )

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.