The Circus!

My sisters think it's because I'm crazy but I think its because its the last few weeks of Will being an only child. We have done a lot of activities together lately and I hope that he has enjoyed it as much as I have. Granted, I can't keep up with him as much as I usually can and if it were not for Mom going to an activity or two, I probably would have lost my child somewhere!

He was noticeably distracted by the elephant only ten feet away!

What a talented elephant!!

This is maybe the cutest thing EVER! We look over and Will and Logan had their arms around each other enjoying the circus! Isn't that adorable!?!?

We tried to ride the elephant. Logan would have loved it and he was quite upset that it didn't happen but I kinda wonder if Will would have freaked out once it was time to get on the thing. With the intermission ending and not knowing you had to get tickets, the boys did not get to ride the elephant. We did however get up close and got to look at the big guy for a while. Standing in line for so long, I didn't even realize that there were other activities during the intermission!

After the circus was over, all the kids had so much fun rolling down the huge hill in front of the EXPO center. Will and Logan finally tried it and then it was hard to get them to get into the car! Grandma was ready to catch one!

We did miss Nikki and all her kids but being flu season, they had to stay home.

If one wasn't enough...

You stick 2 paci's in your mouth at the same time! I guess it was just one of those mornings. He really does do well for the most part during the day and usually only has it at night and naps. Although, when I'm cooking supper and he gets mad that I don't let him 'help' me get things out of the refrigerator or stir something on the stove, he gets mad and these things make me happy.

37.5 weeks

12 days left and counting!

I had my appointment scheduled for yesterday (Monday) but as soon as I got there and was standing to get checked in my nurse called saying that my doctor got called to the E.R. I knew this could happen since Mondays are her on-call days. In the two pregnancies that I have had, I have been lucky and never had this happen. Poo happens, it was just bad timing that I was already in Sabetha and wasted the gas driving over there for nothing. Oh well, so we made an appointment for today (Tuesday).

It just so happened I had a car pool with my sister who had an appointment 15 mintues before I did for my niece. That was nice! It was a quick appointment as I didn't really have any questions for her this time around. I was checked and she said that I was a 'finger tip dialated'. So, 1/2 cm? Not much but yeah for progress! Baby girl must have droped quite a bit as I was only measuring 35-36 cm. She didn't seem to be worried about this at all since I am so far along and dropping happens. Also, the babies heart rate jumped quite a bit. This entire pregnancy, her heart rate has been in the 120-130s and today it was 140-150s!

I have been having braxton hicks contractions like you wouldn't believe! 'They' say that the BH don't do anything, that they are just practice conctractions for your body. Well, as many as I have been having lately, I was going to be supprised if there was NO change from the last time that I was checked.

I'm going to leave you with probably one of the last belly shots. Dennis has always thought they were silly so IF I can talk him into taking a picture at the hospital then I may have one but otherwise, this may be it. Just for fun, I'll post a picture of me when I was 39 weeks with Will. You will see how misrable I look! He had definitly dropped and I was HUGE! I guess that is to expect when you are carring around a 9 1/2 lb kid!

Me today at almost 38 weeks (tomorrow)

Me at 39 weeks with Will. (Sorry Nikki, I tried to cut you out but after an hour of fighting with it, I gave up! She was 2 months behind me.)

Side note: If I miss spelled any words, please forgive me! If you know me, you know I am a horrible speller and rely heavly on spell check. Well, for some reason, it is not working.

Labor Inducing Gingersnap Cookies

Ingredients:

2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. ground ginger

1/2 tsp. ground cloves

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper (I only had red pepper and it tasted the same)

1 stick margarine

1/2 c. sugar (+ more for rolling dough in)

1 c. brown sugar, packed

1/3 c. molasses

2 egg whites

~Blend margarine in a large mixing bowl with brown sugar and granulated sugar.

~Missed the picture but then add the molasses and then the egg whites.

~Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt, and cayenne pepper in a small mixing bowl.
~Add the dry ingredients slowly into the wet mixture.

~Roll into balls and then roll the balls into sugar

~Bake at 350* for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown

~Cool and enjoy!

*I do not what so ever believe that this will actually set me into labor. This is the reason I went a head and made them at 37 weeks. I just thought it would be a fun cookie to try. They are actually really good. If you enjoy molasses cookies then you will enjoy these. They just have a little kick to the after taste.

20 days left...

Yep, we have the date officially set. March 12th will be little Miss' birthday. I tried my best to talk my doctor into the 5th but she said that at Stormont Vail, they will not unless truly, truly medically necessary will they induce or do a c-section before 39 weeks. It is quite unfortunate that my weeks turn over on a Thursday and not a Monday. Because of this, I'm stuck with 39 1/2 weeks for an induction date. I know that this is the best for her. She needs to stay inside as long as possible to get those lungs fully developed and all that, but, that does not change the fact that I more than a little terrified of having a recovery like I did with Will. Since I'm already having slight issues it scares me even more. I actually want to cry. But to avoid any TMI, I will go on with the appointment.

She did not check me this time and I'm fine with that, just looking forward to knowing what next week will bring. I was measuring 36 weeks and being 36 1/2 weeks she asked me if I thought she had dropped a little. I did. Actually on Sunday, I woke up thinking that she was lower. My Grandma didn't think so though, she thought she was still up high, in my ribs. I just thought that was funny... I didn't really look like Will drooped until the week before he was born though.

Other than that, I gained 3lbs in 2 weeks so that makes 33 lbs for now... I'm sure I'll stay below the 40lb mark at this point but I doubt I'll stay below the 35lb mark. You know though, those chocolate doughnut holes are so dang good!!!

I was told that even if I do go into labor early and have her in the next couple of days we could probably stay in Sabetha to have her. She said that girls tend to be a bit stronger than little boys so with an extra eye on her, she would be fine to be delivered here! But, we are headed to the circus this weekend so I do want her to stay in until at least Saturday evening!

Today, I am pampering myself!!! I am getting a pedi after work and boy am I excited!!! This is something I have only done once before and that time I wasn't as excited. I was just doing it because my sister asked me to and I really didn't want to spend the money. This time around, I'm tired, and tired of being tired and I'm ready to have this child and I can't reach my toes to paint them so I'm excited!

36 week belly pic.

Please forgive me for where I took the picture... We don't really have a good mirror to do this at home and the self timer thing just wasn't working out. So, here I am at 36 weeks. I am so very excited to be done. Today I started on the hospital bag. There's not a lot in there as of yet since I still wear my sweat pants I will take with me, but it has all baby stuff in there.

Monday is my next appointment so we will probably talk more in depth on a date and just check up on this baby girl that is trying to kick her way out of my belly. She is kind of a mean little girl for as hard as she kicks me! I'm kidding but the other night I was sitting on the couch and Dennis was at the computer. I just said "Oh my goodness that hurt!" and Dennis just sat there saying "_______, stop hurting your mother!" It was pretty funny.

Happy Valentines Day!

We didn't do much as we never do. I did however want to make a fun dessert. It was quite easy and if you have older kids, they would have a blast making them.

Start with those chocolate wafers that I use all the time. Melt the chocolate 30 seconds at a time.

Take a blown up balloon (only partially blown up, it would make a huge bowl if it was fully blown up!) and dip it in the melted chocolate.

I mixed the milk chocolate and the white chocolate just a little to have a little swirl in the bowl.

Set the balloons on waxed paper to dry. (Please forgive the messy kitchen table. I chose to use my burst of energy to make supper instead of cleaning the kitchen!)

After they are set, you pop the balloon and carefully peel the balloon away from the chocolate. A tip that would have helped me that I didn't think about was if you spray the balloon with Pam it would be easier to come off. I'm not sure if you would have trouble with the chocolate sticking though so give it try on one and see...

Then you fill your beautiful blown of whatever you wish. We had some strawberries in the fridge that needed eating so we had ice cream and strawberries! So pretty for a Valentines Day dessert!

What I do with the left-over chocolate is fill a candy mold with the chocolate and enjoy! I'm an anti-food-thrower-awayer so I use whatever I can without throwing it away.

35 week update on baby #2

Well the appointment was on Monday at 34 1/2 weeks but today marks the start of my 35th week. That means that in two weeks, she can officially come when ever she so wants! At my appointment on Monday I was poked and prodded just a bit more. You know, because I haven't been poked enough. So, I had blood drawn and I had the Group B Strep test done. I actually tested positive this time around for the GBS. This really is no big deal, I just have to have a round of antibiotics right before she is born. It really is just interesting how you can test positive with one pregnancy and negative the next or visa verse. Since the doctor was down there anyway, she checked me and said that I'm not dilated any but my cervix is soft and not high, that it is medium position. All of this is very good news. The news that something is happening but not before it should! And she is still head down!


I have officially gained 30lbs. With only 4 1/2 weeks to go before baby day, I am hoping to stay away from the 40lb mark. Again, I say I HOPE to stay away from that mark but I'm really not doing anything to prevent it. I actually just made brownies, rolled it out and spread marshmallow fluff and rolled the brownie into a log. It was delish!


I was measuring 34 weeks. That is half a week behind from where she should be but its all normal. I had to look back at my blog from when I was pregnant with Will at this time to see where he was measuring. I think that the way the baby is laying depends on how they are measuring because Will was only measuring half a week a head right around this time and then later he was a week and a half a head. We have gone from behind a week to up two and a half weeks and back down again. It makes me giggle a little that my doctor doesn't think this little girl is as big as Will was. Call it Mother's instincts again but I just have a big hunch that she will be just behind her brother in weight. The reason it makes me giggle that my doctor says she doesn't think that this baby will be all that big is because she said the same things with Will. That she didn't think that he would be a 9lber. Don't get me wrong, I trust my doctor in every aspect of the word, but I think in the matter of the size of a baby, Mother's instincts are better than a doctors, even with ultra sound technology. I have read stories where an ultrasound guessed a baby to be 11lbs and once the delivery was over, the baby was 7 or 8 pounds.

Here is to the next four weeks to go by quickly!

New hobby fun!

I don't remember if I mentioned that I have started a new hobby. For the longest time, I never cared to learn how to crochet. My sister tried to teach me once but if I remember, it was in a car and well, I really didn't care all that much. I thought it was awesome at all the things she could do with crocheting, but I just had no desire to learn. Seriously, have you seen some of those booties?!

Well, I have started to learn. I really have no idea what I'm doing so I just have to ask another crocheter and follow what they say. This is the first scarf and stitch that I did. It took forever! I apparently wasn't doing it correctly so that is why my stitches were so close together but it does look neat and it stays together so, it works! I was tired of doing this stitch so I just finished it off and made a small infinity scarf.

This was supposed to be a double stitch but because Tara taught me over the phone one night, I skipped one step to the stitch so it turned out to be a double half stitch. (I laugh that it's called a double half stitch but yet it isn't a single stitch!) It's okay though, it is a stitch that I needed to learn anyway.

Once I learned the true double stitch, I tried out a baby hat! I love it!!! I have to admit, this was not the first hat I tried to make. The first one will be a doll hat, if that it was so small. So, I did it again and this time it worked. After looking up the correct measurements of a baby hat, I now have one that SHOULD fit this baby girl once born.

So, here are my starter crochet projects! I'm pretty excited about how they have turned out. While not many of them turned out the way I planned, it still worked out! I'm excited to start a new project and learn so much more. Crocheting is fun and fast once you know what your doing.

Mom needs to learn...

To put her make-up in a very high place!

He did pretty good though, actually got half his eye lashes covered! Shhh, don't tell his Dad!