Picture dump....

As promised...some pictures

This is from Thanksgiving weekend....Papa and I took Em and P to John Deere Commons to see a giant combine built out of canned food....she wasn't too impressed with the combine but had fun climbing in the tractors.
P at the daycare Christmas program...snoozing!

Emily singing...she did an awesome job!
Telling Santa our wish list for Christmas...she was thinking really hard!

And videos from their program...P's isn't the best, it is video of a video, but still cute I think.

http://youtu.be/6Zs8kLo0s1k

I have more pictures but for some silly reason blogger is only letting me put 5 up, so the rest will have to wait for another post!

Christmas anticipation...

4 years ago Chuck and I were anticipating the birth of our 1st child soon after Christmas--Chuck wrote this Advent devotional for church. As we look forward to our first Christmas of parents of 2 children I think it continues to be applicable, especially as I watch Emily's excitement over the approaching holiday! May we all look forward to Christmas with her childlike faith!!

I Think I Get It Now Chuck Hilman
�You will be with child and give birth to a
son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.
He will be great and will be called the Son of
the Most High. The Lord God will give him
the throne of his father David, and he will
reign over the house of Jacob forever; his
kingdom will never end.�
I think I finally get it now.
For hundreds of years the Jews looked
forward to the day their messiah would come
and restore their kingdom. They wrote about
their desire for him to come. They prayed
for his coming deliverance. The eagerly
expected him. I think I finally understand
their sense of anticipation.
As Sarah and I wait for our first child to
be born I am beginning to understand the
anticipation felt by the entire Jewish nation
(on a much smaller scale, of course). We
have spent the last six months preparing ourselves,
and our home, for our child�s arrival.
We have prayed for our child every day. We
have put together baby things, cleaned, and
prayed some more. Sarah has eaten and I
have taken that as a challenge to eat more
than her. I think I�m winning.
The level of excitement about Christmas
is a little higher this year because I know
what it�s like to anticipate the birth of a child.
I would like to remind everyone about
how exciting this Advent season really is.
There is a reason the whole world is not excited
about the birth of our child. He (or she)
is not the savior of the world! We are anticipating
the one who has saved us from our
sins and redeemed us from the curse of the
fall!
I pray that you would enter this Advent season
with a sense of excitement and eager anticipation.

Wow...

We have a crawler! Payton has been "moving" for about 2 weeks now...but not really in any explainable fashion, until today! Today she officially did a crawl! We are definitely in for it now. I'm convinced she will go from crawling to running very quickly, if for no other reason than to get away from her sister!


In other news Emily has officially been broken of the binkie habit! It's been a month since we took it away and we've done well! She will randomly ask for it, but accepts the answer that it is broken and moves on with life! She is also virtually potty trained. We still have a poo accident on occasion, especially now that the upstairs bathroom is torn up, but we are definitely having more successes than not! Our baby girl is growing up way too fast!
Christmas is just around the corner, so I'm sure there will be a picture filled post soon!

Stationery card

Words Of Wonder Christmas Card

Don't send boring Christmas cards , personalize them at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Emily's 1st Parent teacher conference

We had Em's 1st parent teacher conference tonight and it went well :) Her teacher described her as an inigma (sp??). She said she absorbs information like crazy, even when it appears as though she isn't paying a lick of attention to what they are doing. She knows all of her letters upper and lower, can count to 18 and knows her numbers to 11! They didn't test her on sounds, but I'm guessing she would have known most of those as well. They said she loves the book center and the science center, especially the magnifying glass, so I think we are going to add some science stuff to her Christmas list. They said she has a great sense of humor and laughs at a lot of things the other kids may not get. Her weak areas are fine motor and following multi-step directions so we are going to work on cutting, writing her name and following 2 and 3 step directions.

Some funny stories--Emily usually naps in the hallway. This is because lately she's not napping and when she does it usually involves talking and singing herself to sleep, which bothers the other kids who are actually napping. Apparently one day Miss Sue sees Emily's head poke around the doorway and Em asks her "Whatcha doin?" to which Miss Sue replies "none of your business". Emily then asks "my business??" and Miss Sue says, "no, my business, you need to be on your cot". Emily says "I am on my cot" Miss Sue comes out in the hallway and sure enough, Em's toes are on her cot :)

Emily is also horribly obsessed with the calendar and weather chart, and everyday wants to be the helper. When I pick her up every night she makes a beeline for the calendar to show me the day. She plays with one of my old calendars in her room nightly and makes me be the student while she plays calendar in the bathtub at night.

One day while playing on the playground some of the girls wouldn't let Em play with them (meanies!) so Em went to tell Miss Sue--here is the conversation that ensued-
Emily-Miss Sue, they won't let me play with them.
Miss Sue-Who won't let you.
Emily-points--them over there.
Miss Sue--What are there names?
Emily--I don't know.
Miss Sue-Yes you do, what are their names.
Emily--Runs over to the girls---hey, what's your name so I can tell on you?"
Girls--Ok you can play with us.

I'm so proud of our little peanut! I can't believe how fast she is growing up!!!

Time flies....

It is amazing how having a baby, moving and starting a new job manage to suck up all of my time! I keep thinking things are going to calm down soon, and they never do....so here's the cliff notes version of the last few months-

Payton will be 5 months old in 2 days! I really have no idea how that has happened. She is now rolling over when she wants to, giggling like a pro (especially at her big sis and chin tickles from daddy) and has just about mastered sitting up on her own. She started purreed food about a week ago, and so far has had squash, carrots, and green beans and seems to enjoy them all. She seems to love school, her teachers love to put her hair into pig tails on the top of her head, that are way too cute. Her current mode of locomotion is to lay on her back and scoot across the floor. She has a smile that is infectious and shares it quite regularly!

Emily has adjusted amazingly well to the chaos that was our lives these past few months. She started at her new school in August with Miss Sue and loves it! School is at our church, which is only a block away from our house, so in the mornings she walks there with daddy and mommy walks to pick her up in the afternoon. She is learning all sorts of fabulous things, currently she is working on cutting and writing her name. She also seems to really love calendar time and telling us the day and month. It never ceases to amaze me the things she absorbs.

Her current favorite tv show is Phineas and Ferb, which daddy also enjoys so they spend lots of time cuddling on the couch watching it. She was in her first wedding about a month ago when Aunt Martha and Uncle Nick got married, she did a fabulous job as flower girl and then was the queen of the dance floor at the reception. She still absolutely loves books, and looks forward to our trips to the library. She is a master at using daddy's ipad and can read books, watch movies and play games on it.

She went to her first birthday party yesterday for a boy from school, according to his mom he refers to Emily as his girlfriend....they had a roller skating party and watching 3 and 4 year olds roller skate was really quite entertaining.

The girls both seem to love dady's new job working with the college kids and have a great time spending Sunday nights at the Foundation playing with the "big" kids. We will definitely be in big trouble if Chuck ever leaves ministry...the girls won't know what to do without all their grown up friends!

That is the quick recap....I really need to be better about blogging because I feel like there are so many other things I don't want to forget that I am going to if I don't put it down soon!

The end of summer....

and the beginning of our new adventures. Summer has been crazy to say the least--here is the cliff notes version-

May 25th-Payton Charlotte is born--perfect and beautiful.

June 3-5-Chuck interviews for a job near Nashville, TN (I spend the weekend freaking out trying to figure out how we are going to move to TN if they offer him the job)

June 9th-Chuck interviews for a job in Macomb, IL (I'm much happier about this prospect)

June 9th-We all head to Living Springs Camp for a week of Marked Leadership camp (all means Chuck, Sarah, Em and Payton)

June 14th-Chuck accepts the job in Macomb and is scheduled to start July 1st--meaning we are officially moving to a new house this summer.

June 24th-27th-The girls head to St. Louis for Martha's wedding shower and other wedding preperations.

July 1st-Chuck starts his new job and we start bi-weekly trips to Macomb to get the house ready to move in July 14th.

July 9th-The girls go to Decatur for another shower for Martha.

July 14th-We move to our new house in Macomb.

July 15th-We head to Peoria to meet friends for dinner and find out our wonderful friends dream of parenthood has been fulfilled through adoption.

July 16th-19th-We head to St. Louis again. Chuck continues on to Nashville for training while the girls stay and play with Aunt Martha and Uncle Nick.

July 23-We go back to Geneseo for Payton's dedication and Martha's final shower.

July 24th-Chuck leaves for Nashville again, the girls stay in Geneseo for a few days to get the house ready to sell and take care of some odds and ends.

July 30th-We are all back in Macomb for a few days.

August 4th-We leave for our final trip of the summer and spend 4 days at a Lakehouse near St. Louis with all our friends and their many babies!

Wow--it's even more overwhelming when I put it in list form than it was in my head! Next up, a Payton and Emily update....and then a picture post of our many summer adventures!

Lots of newness in our life!

Since Payton' birthday there has been lots of craziness in the Hilman world...so there is lots to blog about! That post will be coming later though....this one is just to announce the new blog www.hilmanfamilyadventures.blogspot.com. I decided after P was born that it would make more sense to combine Emily and Payton's blog into one, since most of our adventures would be done together, and sadly it has only taken me 7weeks to figure out how to make that happen! Well here it is...and the next post..hopefully soon...will have everything that has kept me from figuring that out :) via pictures...lots and lots of pictures!

Emily's new role!

Emily took on a new role this week....the role of big sister...and after watching her, I am pretty sure she was made for it! Her little sister, Payton Charlotte, was born on Wednesday, May 25 (more details over here-www.asiblingforem.blogspot.com). Emily came to visit Weds. night and during the day Thursday. She loves to hold her little sister, and cover her with blankets, but her most favorite thing is to try and give her the binkie. Anytime Payton moves, or makes a noise, Emily is immediately hunting for the binkie to make it all better for her.
While they were here yesterday the hosptial photographer came to take pictures. They put baby in a basket naked and just cover them with a white sheet. Well, Emily was just insistant that Payton was going to be cold and tried repeatedly to cover her again and again. It was cute, but I am sure slightly frustrating for the poor photgrapher.
Emily also helped gma change a diaper yesterday. She was quite the helper, getting out the diaper and wipes, and of course, trying to give Payton her binkie when she cried.
She very much does not like Payton crying, and wants to make it all better for her. It will be interesting to see how this plays out when we get home. Hopefully things will continue to go as well as they did at the hospital and Emily and Payton can grow into bestest of friends.

Here is a pic from the prof. photographer. Chuck added the words with all of his photo editing savyness.

Pictures!!

The rest of the story....

Things got busy after my last post yesterday, and I didn't have a chance to do anymore updates so here is the rest of the story.

11 a.m. Starting to get uncomfortable, the nurse offers up the whirlpool tub. I never had the option of this with Emily, so I figured I would give it a go. I hang out in there for about 45 min. while Chuck goes to get lunch and decide it's probably about time to put in my request for an epidural before things get really uncomfortable.

12 p.m. I get out of the whirlpool tub and the nurses check me before anesthesia comes. I'm up to a 7 and "baby is right there". This was very exciting since it was after dinner time before I made it this far with Emily. Anesthesia comes in shortly thereafter, and the contractions are definitely starting to get unbearable. He gets all set up, gets it in and relief. Almost...for some reason there was a pocket on my right hip that didn't take and I'm pretty sure every ounce of pain radiated to that spot. Fortunately I was able to move around enough that we managed to get the drug to take there after about an hour.

1ish (I don't remember exact times anymore) The nurses come in and ask if I am feeling any pressure or urge to push. Nope...nothing at all. Baby's heart rate is decelling with each contraction so they are pretty sure I'm getting close. They check me again and I was completely dialated but still no urge to push. They decide to let me labor down for a while to see if the urge comes, and put a call in to Jen the midwife to let her know we are ready.
Jen comes over and we start pushing about 1:45ish. Of course at this point contractions slow down, so we probably spent more time waiting in between contractions than actually pushing.
The last two contractions we were very close to delivering, I had done my 3 pushes and the midwife encourages me to get one more in before the contraction ends....so I start to push again and the nurse says something (sadly I don't remember what) that makes me laugh. So then they decide that I will just laugh the baby out. Next contraction that is pretty much how it went...easy peasy...love the epidural :)

2:27 (or 2:28 depending on which nurse you ask) Ninja became Payton Charlotte.
Weight 7lbs 14 oz.
Height 21 inches
Full Head of black hair

I will put pics up later when I can get the good ones from Chuck's camera.

Baby day!

It's baby day :)
I'm going to try and keep a running record of baby day...more for me...and someday for Ninja to look back on. But feel free to follow along!

4:45 a.m. woke up to take a shower and finish getting ready

5:00 a.m. got out of the shower and realized the thunderstorm had woken Emily up and she was cuddling with Chuck on the couch. I was sad that she was up so early, knowing what that means for her day...but secretely a little happy that I would get to see her before I left.

5:45 a.m. Left the house to head to the hospital.

6:10 a.m. Arrived at the hospital and started the check in process. The nurse said they were short staffed until the 7 a.m. shift arrived and they were missing a paper from my dr. so it might be a little while before they get things going.

7:15 a.m. Lab comes in to draw lots of vials of blood. Shortly thereafter nurse Jess comes in to get things going. Starts the IV for fluids and then her and the other nurse do internals to compare notes. Jess says 3, Rosalinda says 4....I like Rosalinda's thoughts better :)

8 a.m. Start pitocin at "2". Will up it every 30 minutes, until I have 5 good contractions in 10 min.

8:45 a.m. Pit is up to "4". Midwife just came in and broke water. Starting to feel contractions a little more painfully...but nothing horrid yet. Said I am definitely a 4. Debating how long to go on before I get the epidural...since I know what is coming, I'm guessing I'll go with it a little earlier than last time, but we'll see.

10:10 a.m. -Pit is up to "10". Contractions have definitely gone from annoying to painful, but nothing I can't handle yet. Contractions are about 3 every 10 min. They want it up to 5 before they quit upping the pitocin.

And we wait!

Final pregnancy update

I had intended to update yesterday after my drs. appt, but she gave us some fabulous news, that caused me not to have time to update. Before we get there, we have to recap Friday.
Thursday and Friday I had some changes, and some contractions and we weren't really sure what they meant, so after work I stopped in at L and D to make sure everything was ok. Nurse Betsy checked me in (another H.S. acquantance) and got me all hooked up to the monitors. H/B looked great, I was indeed having contractions, but nothing significant. They decided to do an amniosure test to make sure I wasn't leaking fluid, and while she was at it she figured she would check me again. I was 2cm and 80% effaced, so progress had been made since last time. Amniosure came back negative so I was sent home. As I was leaving she told me she would be shocked if I made it to my due date.
Sat. we went to the fitness center and I walked 2 miles on the treadmill, then we took Em to the zoo and walked some more. By the time we got home that afternoon I was wiped out...but no sign of baby.
Monday morning I had an appt with Jen the midwife. I saw Laura first and as we were chatting she asked me how I felt about induction. I told her I was all for it, but figured that was all the farther we would get. Jen came in and did an internal, said I was just about a 3 and stripped my membranes. She then said, "well I don't think I can do it tomorrow, but how does Weds. look for having a baby?". I'm pretty sure my jaw dropped to the floor! Never in a million years was I expecting that. I of course quickly agreed and she went to call the hospital. So...we are on the schedule for 6 a.m. tomorrow morning to start the lovely pitocin drip! I went in to work today to try and get things finished up, I of course didn't get it all done, but got a good chunk of it done. Tonight will be spent trying to get the house in order and cuddling with Em as her last night as an only child! Tomorrow we will be a family of 4!!

wow...long time

I could have sworn I updated after my 36w appt...but apparently I didn't so I have a lot to catch up on!

Today is 38w3d
Your Baby:
◦Is officially a little chunkin, at well over six pounds and 19 1/2 inches long.
◦Is also officially considered “full term.” In other words, he or she is STRAIGHT UP FREELOADING from here on out.
◦Is practicing making fists and fetal breathing in anticipation of life outside the womb.(www.alphamom.com)
She is the size of a watermelon...yes watermelon!

weight gain:I've been holding steady my last 3 appts at 27lb gain...and since it's safe to assume baby is growing, that must mean mommy is shrinking :)
Maternity clothes? sadly I am starting to outgrow some of them....although I have found a new love in Chuck's t-shirts!
Sleep: still not too bad, other than the fact that I go to bed at the same time as Em and wake up at least twice a night to pee.
Best moment this week: Chuck coming home from Nashville so he is now in the locale and we can have baby!
Stretch Marks: same ole, same ole
Movement: Yep, she did give us a couple of scares last week when she was being lazy, but has definitely picked up again
Food Cravings/Aversions: ice cream...ninja loves ice cream! Fortunately the girls at work humor me so I get it a lot at lunch time and chocolate milk...luckily Chuck likes to make it for me :)
Gender: girl
Belly Button in or out? not really either--it's kind of flush with my stomach at this point
What I miss: being able to move easily--it seems to be getting more and more difficult
Weekly Wisdom: Enjoy every minute, because it is going to be over before we know it!
Milestones:almost down to single digits...and I think everything is ready enough that we could bring baby home without stressing

Other updates-
At my 36w appt. my midwife had to do the group b strep test which involves a swab "down there" so since I was already naked she went ahead and did an internal check. I was 1 cm and 70% effaced at that point. We didn't do a check last week, so I am hoping for one tomorrow to see if anything is happening.

I was unable to stop working as planned---my district won't allow me to use sick days unless I have a medical excuse and my dr can't give me a medical excuse if they don't have one. My midwife has been very apologetic my last 2 appts when she tells me everything looks great. As much as I would love to stop working, I would much rather have a healthy uncomplicated pregnancy and have to keep working than stop because something is wrong.

With that being said, I would be more than happy for Ninja to make her appearance at any time so I can stop working!

Next appt. tomorrow...hopefully I will have something exciting to report!

Baby update--
◦Is over five pounds now, although these weight guesstimates will start getting very useless very quickly over the next few weeks.
◦Since most of your baby’s organs are fully functional and major developmental milestones behind him or her, the next month is all about weight gain. And since “normal” weights for newborns these days can be anything between six and 10 pounds, it’s hard to predict how big YOUR baby will be from here on in.

Total weight gain: I actually lost 3 lbs according to the scale at my drs. office on Monday....not sure how that has happened...but ok. Total gain 24lbs.
Maternity clothes? very definitely
Sleep: yes....I would enjoy more of it though
Best moment this week: This moment right now laying on my couch with a 3 year old cuddling on me. Or maybe it was yesterday on the car ride home when she sang me the donkey song :)
Stretch Marks: same ole, same ole
Movement: Yep, still way more than I ever had with Emily.
Food Cravings/Aversions: ice cream...ninja loves ice cream! Fortunately the girls at work humor me so I get it a lot at lunch time :)
Gender: girl
Belly Button in or out? still in--but I'm not sure it's going to stay there
What I miss: a good night's sleep
Weekly Wisdom: Things may not always go as planned, but there is always a silver lining.
Milestones:35/35 today! 35 weeks and 35 days left :)

And in other news--some new belly pics!




I think I've officially had to retire the Ninja in Training shirt. I had several requests back when we announced the gender to see the Girl Ninja shirt in action, so I figured this would be a good shirt to move to!

Zoo!!

Last weekend it was finally warm enough to take Em to the zoo! All winter long, whenever we have driven by the zoo she asks if it is warm enough to go see the animals. When I tell her no she will tell me, "animals sleeping inside to keep warm". So she was very excited that it was warm enough and the animals would be out. As soon as we got there we had to ride the train, I am pretty sure it is her favorite part of the day. We got there close to closing time, so after the train we hit the highlights (elephants, giraffes, and big cats) and picked up some other animals along the way. She was especially fascinated by the goats this trip and spent about 5 minutes looking at them and talking to them. Here are some pics from our day! And a bonus I found when getting the zoo pictures--Emily doing the chicken dance--you just have to smile :)

Belly pics...

It has been a while since I've posted belly shots..and I happened to pull my ninja in training shirt out today...so I figured I might as well do them. I am pretty sure today will be the last time I wear the ninja shirt...it is definitely getting to be on the short side! So here it is---33w2d-




P.S. Ignore the mess on the floor--Em was in the room this morning, and we had company today, which means only the "company" rooms got cleaned! Maybe tomorrow!

Our own personal highway clean-up crew

Emily decided that she and Grandma needed to go for a walk this morning. They got out the door and headed up the hill of 1200E for a change of scenery. Shortly after going around the corner Emily sees a bottle in the grass. She picks it up and tell gma, "garbage, you carry it". So gma takes the bottle and they continue on their way. A few more steps and another bottle. Em picks it up and repeats "garbage, you carry it". Gma realizes where this is going so she tells Emily that they don't have a garbage bag, but if they leave the garbage by the side of the road they can pick it up on another walk. So Emily very carefully continues down the ditch, picking up all of the garbage and placing it on the side of the road. Once they get to the top of the hill gma decides to see if she can find a garbage bag. She finds a house with someone home, rings the doorbell, and explains to the lady that her granddaughter would like to pick up garbage, but doesn't have a garbage bag to put it in. The very nice lady gives them a bag, and back down the road they go. By the time they get to the house the garbage bag is overflowing!! Em and gma put it in the trash can, just in time to see the garbage truck come to empty it!
She was quite the proud little girl :) I'm guessing this story can be attributed to wonderful training by gpa....he is known for picking up trash when he sees it. Now he has a helper :)

32w4d

Another boring update--sorry for no excitement, but I'm thinking that is probably a good thing.
Highlights from today's midwife appt.
** Apparently my belly is measuring ahead of schedule as it was last appt. She said if it is again next appt they will send me for an u/s to check baby's size. She said baby doesn't feel abnormally large, so it could just be the position she is in is making me measure larger. As much as I'd love another u/s, I really don't want to try and birth a large baby!
**I asked about getting written out of work before my due date, she said they will write me out any time after 36 weeks..all I have to do is tell them when :) Right now I have 2 goals..the 1st is May 6th--because that is my student teacher's last day, and it just doesn't seem nice to abandon here. My 2nd goal is May 13th, to have a week to transition my kids from student teacher to long term sub. At this point I am pretty comfortable going out at that point..we'll see how I feel in a few weeks!

Baby update--
◦Is about three pounds, 11 ounces and 16 inches long.
◦Is starting to get pretty crowded in there, so you may feel more subtle, rolling-type movements instead of sharp pointy kicks.
*This is also my favorite baby center week....baby is a jicama :)

Total weight gain: do I really need to continue reporting this?? I think I will take a pass this week.
Maternity clothes? very definitely
Sleep: not nearly enough...last night I think I was awake more than I was asleep!
Best moment this week: I went to the fitness center and walked 2 miles--it was nice to see I was still capable of it..even if my time left something to be desired
Stretch Marks: same ole, same ole
Movement: When she wants to...I think she is already working on messing with mommy!
Food Cravings/Aversions: cereal--still...in fact I'm thinking about getting some right now!
Gender: girl
Belly Button in or out? still in--but I'm not sure it's going to stay there
What I miss: having energy
Weekly Wisdom: 7 weeks is so long....yet so short at the same time!
Milestones: hmmm...not sure on this one...maybe something will come to me??

Big Sister!

Last night we took Em to the big sibling class our hospital offers. Of the 5 kids there, Emily was the youngest by several years, so I was a little concerned with how she would do, but she did great! They had a baby doll that the kids go to practice holding and changing the diaper on, we got to tour the floor and they learned about how the baby grows in mommy's belly. I'm not sure how much Em learned about baby growing, but she sat front and center and listened to the whole thing...so maybe she absorbed something in there? She loved the baby doll part....she was pretty much a pro at holding and changing diapers :) And made herself quite at home on the tour of the rooms. When we left we talked about how her new baby sister would come from the hospital and she seemed pretty good with it...we will see come May how that actually plays out :)

She also told Martha and I that she will feed the baby cheeseburgers when she comes :)

Here are some pictures from our class....

Boring update :)

Your Baby:

◦Weighs about three pounds and is 17 inches long. Since most full-term babies are between 20 and 22 inches long at 40 weeks’ gestation, your baby will pack on more pounds than inches in the 10 weeks or so.
◦Is starting to get a little crowded in there, but still has room to wiggle and roll and punch and kick.
◦Despite all the movement, it’s still damn near impossible to tell what position your baby is in for sure (head down, breech, transverse, etc.), but it’s also still too early to be worrying about it. MOST babies settle into a head-down position around 36 weeks, and some still manage to flip themselves around after that.

Your baby's about 15.7 inches long now, and she weighs almost 3 pounds (like a head of cabbage). A pint and a half of amniotic fluid surrounds her, but that volume will decrease as she gets bigger and takes up more room in your uterus. Her eyesight continues to develop, though it's not very keen; even after she's born, she'll keep her eyes closed for a good part of the day. When she does open them, she'll respond to changes in light but will have 20/400 vision — which means she can only make out objects a few inches from her face. (Normal adult vision is 20/20.)


How far along? 30weeks 4days
Total weight gain: as of today 22 lbs total... I am very close to surpassing my weight gain with Emily...but am ok with it...hopefully it comes off easily!
Maternity clothes? Yes--and thanks to a wonderful friend I have oodles of spring tops now, so not nearly as much shopping will need to be done!
Sleep: Not too bad...not great...I've started having really weird dreams at night that I'm not really sure what to think about
Best moment this week: Watching Em at the big Sibling class...it almost brought tears to my eyes watching her hold the baby doll and talk about her baby coming home.
Stretch Marks: same ole, same ole
Movement: All the time! I told the midwife that it feels like there has to be at least 3 in there with as quickly as she can poke and prod all over my stomach! I should probably regret posting this last week, cause since then, baby girl has been messing with me and giving me all sorts of lack of movements scares!
Food Cravings/Aversions: cereal--anything sweet...and oddly...chocolate milk...this is odd because I don't usually like milk at all!
Gender: girl
Belly Button in or out? still in--but I'm not sure it's going to stay there
What I miss: being able to move with ease, it's definitely getting more difficult.
Weekly Wisdom: It is going to be over before I know it!
Milestones: single digit week count down has begun :)

Almost single digits!

In weeks that is. This Thursday will mark 30 weeks which means after that we have single digit weeks left :)
Right now I am officially 29w 3d. Here is what is happening....

Your baby now weighs about 2 1/2 pounds (like a butternut squash) and is a tad over 15 inches long from head to heel.

Your Baby:
◦Is big and strong enough to resemble a sinister alien thrashing around your abdomen, as my husband kindly pointed out recently, upon noticing a rouge pointy elbow jabbing up and down around my belly button.
◦Is sucking up every drop of calcium you can provide as his or her bones continue to harden and become more…uh…bone-like.
◦DID I MENTION THE POINTY JABBING? WITH THE SHARP LITTLE BONES?

You:
◦Might start noticing a resurgence of first-trimester-type symptoms like heartburn and other gastrointestinal issues. Things are getting a BIT crowded in there, and the lack of room means slower digestion and more gas and constipation and woe.
◦Are gaining weight. I don’t know or care to look up what the “recommended” amount is at this stage, but most likely you are starting to notice a steady upward movement of that little thingie on your doctor’s scale. If you’ve been using pregnancy as a dietary sweet tooth free-for-all, now might be a good time to start reining it in and focusing on healthy foods and portions instead of “BABY NEEDS CAKE AND A TUB OF FROSTING ON THE SIDE.”
(from alpha-mom and babycenter)

How far along? 29weeks 3days
Total weight gain: at my last drs. appt I was up 20lbs total.
Maternity clothes? For the most part. I still have some tops I can wear, but the pickings are getting slimmer and slimmer. I think it's time to do some spring shopping very soon!
Sleep: Not too bad...not great.
Best moment this week: Spending the weekend with girl friends getting rejuvinated and spiritually filled.
Stretch Marks: Nothing that looks too bad
Movement: All the time! I told the midwife that it feels like there has to be at least 3 in there with as quickly as she can poke and prod all over my stomach!
Food Cravings/Aversions: cereal--if I could eat cereal 3 times a day I would be a happy girl!
Gender: girl
Belly Button in or out? still in--but I'm not sure it's going to stay there
What I miss: sleeping all night long
Weekly Wisdom: Enjoy every moment
Milestones: Passed the gestational diabetes test! Failed the iron test. 2 week appts are in full swing...so hopefully that means more updates...but no promises!

Emily's 3rd ER visit in 3 years...

We seem to be averaging out to 1/year, although trips 1 and 2 occurred in the same night, just different hospitals. Oddly enough, all 3 have been to ER's that are far away from our house (like hours and hours).

This weekend was YAR, which is a big youth retreat we take our kids to every year. Chuck and I are part of the leadership team and this year I decided to take a personal day so we could go down and help get ready on Friday. Friday afternoon Em and I were getting ready to go from one building to another so I went into a side room to grab our coats. Em came running towards me as I was holding open the door, and as she typically does, got to running to fast and fell forward. Unfortunately this time, she broke her fall with the edge of the door and her head. I quick scooped her up and went to find Chuck. At this point I was thinking it was a "simple" goose egg to the forward and a very scared little girl. Once I found Chuck we pulled her off my shoulder to exam her face and were shocked to see it covered in blood! We had no idea where the blood was coming from so we started to wipe it off and discovered a decent size gash on her forehead. By this point Gma Peggy had come in and immediately took charge (cause she is amazing like that!) She took Em to the sink and ran her hands under cold water (apparently this calms children down...who knew?), so we could better exam her forehead. Upon further examination Peggy says "if it were my child, I would take her to the ER". Umm...you don't have to qualify that Peggy..if you say take her, we will take her, no questions asked. I see in Chuck's brain he is trying to figure out how he is going to get everything done that he needs to have ready for the night session, fortunately our friend Susie also notices this and offers to go with me. It's a good thing she did...I'm not sure I could have done the ER trip on my own.

We get to the ER and upon seeing Em's bleeding forehead they quickly get us checked in and into a room. It isn't too much longer the dr. comes in to exam her. He seemed to be a good dr. but definitely not a pediatric specialist! He says definitely stitches, as well as x-rays to rule out whiplash. We wait about 30-45 min. for the xray tech during which Em falls asleep, since all this drama occurred very close to nap time. We wheel her to the xray room and Susie graciously agrees to stay with her, since I couldn't. Susie and the 2 techs do a fabulous job of getting Em calm and cooperative in a very scary place for a 3 year old.
We head back to the room and are told it will probably be 15-20 min. because the x-rays have to be sent to Springfield to be read. Finally the dr. comes back in and is ready to do the stitches. It takes a nurse, Susie and I to hold her, and there is lots of screaming from one unhappy little girl. After 4 stitches the dr. says we are good to go, and tells the nurse to stick some neosporin and a band-aid on it before sending us on our way. I am pretty sure they had to go to the store to buy the band-aids, because this seemed to take way longer than it should have. But finally the nurse comes back. She also brings steri-strip with her, and asks "are you planning on taking the stitches out yourself?" Ummm....no!?! Apparently the dr. somehow got the impression we would be....nope..definitely taking her back to a dr. for that procedure!
Once Em gets her band-aid it is off to Dairy Queen for some ice cream to make everything all better! By the next morning you wouldn't have any idea Em had stitches in her forehead the way she is bouncing around! We go to Dr. Petre on Weds. for a follow-up and hopefully to remove the stitches.

Here are some pictures of our excitement--


Waiting in the ER...not a happy girl!


Several hours later back at camp sporting a pink bandaid!


The next day sans band-aid...our happy girl is back!

Where does time go?

I continue to be a terrible blogger..and have not been able to keep up with my goal of blogging weekly. Now that my grad classes have started up, and Em's music class is going, we have very few nights that we are home! So..I will try to do better, but in the meantime, an update....with pictures!

26 weeks (actually 26weeks and 4 days...but who's counting)

Baby-
◦Is almost two pounds. Celebrate this milestone with a two-pound box of chocolates. You know, in order to really get a good VISUAL. (also the length of a English hothouse cuccumber (not sure how that is different from a reg. cuccumber?)
◦Remember those early bubbly butterfly kicks? Yeah. Those have been replaced by something akin to a rabid mongoose flippin’ out inside a burlap sack.
◦If you DO occasionally feel smaller, rhythmic movements in your belly, it’s probably your baby hiccuping. Babies actually get hiccups from late in the first trimester on, but most women don’t pick on them the second trimester or later.
◦All five senses are fully developed (from alpha-mom.com)

How far along? 26weeks 4days
Total weight gain: at my last drs. appt I was up 17lbs total.
Maternity clothes? For the most part. I still have some tops I can wear, but the pickings are getting slimmer and slimmer. I just pulled out the box of maternity clothes and discovered several shirts I had forgotten about..so that excited me immensly, as I was getting very bored with the 10 or so tops I currently was cycling through.
Sleep: Not too bad...not great.
Best moment this week: Hanging out with the Kingma clan and getting to show off my baby bump to them since I don't see them often!
Stretch Marks: Nothing that looks too bad
Movement: All the time! Ninja is a wild child for sure! There are times when it feels like he/she is trying to push out of my stomach to the point that it hurts!
Food Cravings/Aversions: food in general...I'm hungry alot lately!
Gender: Keep reading....
Belly Button in or out? still in
What I miss: oddly enough...I've been craving Subway and Arby's lately...
Weekly Wisdom: It will all get done....
Milestones: Since I last posted we have reached viability (24 weeks) and will venture into the 3rd trimester next week! Also looking forward to my last 4 week stretch between appts.

And now for pictures--1st--the gender reveal--we decided after finding out the gender we would wait to go public until Em's birthday party, so we could share it with everyone at the same time. We wanted a way to tell everyone, without taking the focus from Em's special day, and Chuck came up with the idea of t-shirts with a design that would indicate boy or girl ninja. He has a good friend that designed this image for us...it was definitely a fun way to share with everyone!




2nd--a belly shot--I've been slacking on these as well--here I am today--hopefully I can work on getting some pictures of Em's pregnacy to use as a comparison.

Emily is 3!

Emily's 3rd birthday was a couple of weeks ago...I can't believe my big girl is growing up! We celebrated with a family birthday party and had a great time with Hilman's and Leader's! Some of the presents she got were legos ( a new fav. in our house!), clothes, books, car seats (not fun..but very practical and needed!) a zany zoo toy, and some glow in the dark bracelets. Some highlights of where Em is at now at 3 (more for my benefit 3 years from now when Ninja is this age and I want to compare..sorry if they are boring)

**potty training--Em will sit on the potty willingly. She will go potty quite regularly and loves "going" with someone. She will sit on her potty while mommy or gma sits on the big potty. She is still unphased by a dirty diaper though, and has never once asked to go potty on her own. Dr. thinks we are well on our way though, and thinks she will be there within 6 months.

**talking--Em is talking up a storm! I can't believe just a year ago she wasn't talking at all. She asks for what she wants, tells us stories, and even talks on the phone.

**favorites--Some of Em's current favorites--books, going to the fitness center to play (and guilting mommy into working out), helping cook and take care of the animals, doing things herself (her fav. phrase-"me, do it!"), and tickles on the big bed with daddy (which are really more like tumbling!).

**eating-Em pretty much will eat anything. Meat is probably her least favorite, but will devour veggies, fruits, pasta and cereal. Milk is still her beverage of choice, although she enjoys juice as well. Again with eating we hear "me do it" alot!

**binky--agg...the dreaded binky! Before her 3rd birthday we spent a lot of time talking about getting rid of the binky and how big girls didn't need binkies. We had been to the dentist and he had told her she needed to get rid of it, and she said regularly "Dr. Tom says no binky!". So the night before her birthday we made a build a bear binky bear, gave a binky to the binky fairy and thought we had it made. She went down for bed willingly, and then fell apart! Every night for the rest of the week she was up after midnight, still getting up at regular times, and not napping. She had only been using the binky to sleep so this was the only time she was bothered. The following Fri. we had her 3 year appt with Dr. Jim, so I asked him about it. He said if it was causing her that much stress and anxiety to let her have it, as long as it was only for sleeping. I almost hugged him! So we are still using the binky for now...maybe we'll tackle it again later....maybe she'll take it to college!

So that's where she is at...and as a reward for making it this far..some pictures from her birthday party!

2011 Blizzard!

The 2011 Blizzard hit last night and dumped a mere 16 inches of snow on us...as well as lots of wind...which left some fabulous drifts. Here's a few pics of our driveway and Em enjoying it!

Emily's new room!

Emily moved into a new room over Christmas break...we painted and bought all new furniture for her. She loves her new room and will play for hours in it. I finally got around to getting it clean enough that I could take pictures to share.

Lots of updates!

It's been a couple of weeks since I last updated...so there is a lot to report! First off--the update-
Week 21 (we are actually about 21 1/2 weeks, but we'll go with it)
Baby is about 10 1/2 inches long, head to toe. (about a banana)
Passes time by sucking his or her thumb and even opening and closing his or her eyes. And you know, elbowing you in the vital organs.
Is like, kicking for serious now, and the movements cannot only be felt from the outside, they can often be seen. (alphamom.com)

How far along? 21weeks 4days
Total weight gain: at my drs. appt last week I was up 14lbs.
Maternity clothes? For the most part. I still have some tops I can wear, but the pickings are getting slimmer and slimmer.
Sleep: With the lovely cold Chuck and/or Emily shared with me, sleep is difficult, between not being able to breath and not getting comfy it is not enjoyable.
Best moment this week: Last Thursday's ultrasound
Stretch Marks: Nothing that looks too bad
Movement: Yep, pretty much every day now, Ninja is much more of a mover than I ever remember Em being!
Food Cravings/Aversions: food in general...I'm hungry alot lately!
Gender: Known...but not sharing yet!
Belly Button in or out? still in
What I miss: sleep
Weekly Wisdom: Enjoy the small things!
Milestones: Our big u/s was Thursday...that was definitely a biggie!

And now for some pictures! My 20 week belly pics..I figure I will continue to take belly pics in the Ninja shirt until it's not possible anymore, for comparison purposes. Then...some ultrasound pictures of ninja, the profile shot and arms.