Your Mother Should Know

What a fabulous week we had. It was a short work/school week and we really enjoyed one anothers company. The girls' both had Thanksgiving festivities at school. Jeff took Helen to the preschool on Tuesday for their "Thanksgiving Tasting", Helen had a blast and was so excited about eating turkey.

I started my NSTs (non-stress tests) this week on Tuesday morning. It basically consists of checking in at Labor and Deliver at TMC and having a quick ultrasound to measure the amount of fluid around the baby and then being hooked up to a heart rate monitor which records the baby's heart rate and movements and makes sure that the resting heart rate is within the normal range (a sign that baby is healthy and tolerating his environment) and that the heart rate accelerates during a movement. It didn't take too long and both times I went in this week the fluid was normal and the baby is very active and healthy. I worked from home on Wednesday which was nice and peaceful.

I received the remainder of the Christmas gifts I ordered online this week including the changing table for the baby. Jeff and Felicity put it together for me Wednesday evening, after which Helen and Felicity used the extra Styrofoam to have some sort of sword battle.

Thursday morning we picked up the house and I made cranberry relish (my favorite), a sweet potato pie, and a pecan pie. In the evening I made some garlic mashed potatoes and Jeff fried our turkey. We had my parents and my brother and his wife over at 5. Normally I enjoy making the whole meal, but this year Jeff was very insistent that I give up a little control. I admit I was grateful to not have to do it all myself, I was pretty tired and soar that evening from the little bit that I did do.

We enjoyed a restful Friday and did venture out briefly in the afternoon. I had a NST at TMC and we stopped at Target so that Felicity could pick out a gift for Helen as she was spending the day with Nana and Papa. Saturday was very productive and I'm starting to feel more ready for the baby; only three weeks and two days left! I made some stocking-stuffers for the girls from something I saw on Pinterest.com, a pair of ear warmers/headbands. Jeff took the girls to dinner at his brother's house. I had to stay home because we were babysitting Saturday evening, but they had a great time.

It seemed a little harder this year to be joyous as some events that brushed our lives made some of our gratitude a little more somber. There is a family in our stake, no one I know, nor did I even recognize the name, but there was some sort of household accident that left their 17 month old baby in a coma. We learned that he later was removed from life support and passed away. My heart just ached for this family and the tears came easily even though I don't know them. Thursday we learned of a tragic airplane accident that took the life of young man (along with five others, three of which were small children) who was close friends with Jeff's younger brother, a young man we had had in our home a few times. Again tears welled in my eyes and my heart felt heavy for what it must be like to loose someone dear, especially during the holidays. My gratitude this Thanksgiving was to my Heavenly Father for the knowledge that my family can be together forever, that if for some reason He were to call one of my children or my husband home, that I would be with them again. I am grateful for the great blessing and trust that has been given to me as I've experience the joys of motherhood. I have a great love for my family, for our extended family, and for our amazing friends. I am thankful this year for those things most of all.

I made the girls pilgrim hats for dress up this week. They were quite a hit!

One after 909

So tired! We had a nice week, busy as usual, but nice. Monday we took a walk in the Rancho Sahuarita park and the kids enjoyed throwing rocks in the water, antagonizing the ducks, and climbing on just about everything. It was cool, but very enjoyable. I didn't get very far before I was too tired and need to turn back.

I was feeling pretty exhausted on Wednesday so I took the day off. I ended up making gingerbread cookies and cleaning up a little bit while Jeff and the kids were at school. I have a to-do list of all the things that I want to accomplish before the baby comes and I'm making pretty good progress. Jeff volunteered in Felicity's classroom as he usually does on Thursday afternoon. I'm grateful he has the time since I can't. He is all registered for his Spring classes and it works out pretty well for us. I'm going to have to go into work really early, around 5 AM, but it limits the amount of time the baby will have to be with someone else. It looks like he'll need a sitter on Monday and Wednesday for about 5 hours. I need to get over my emotional block and find someone willing to watch him (we're not really comfortable with him going to a public daycare).

It was my off Friday, and busy as usual. I had a midwife appointment in the morning which went well. They did another blood draw since the consulting physician wants to do a hemoglobin screen to look at glucose levels over the last three months, they are still convinced that diabetes is the cause of the baby's extreme size. I have another ultrasound (our 5th I think) on the 30th to continue to monitor the baby's growth and they want me to start non-stress tests (NSTs) twice a week until I deliver. One at TMC, the other at the birth center. I'm hoping I can continue to juggle all this and work until December. After my appointment I met Jeff and my mom at the primary school for the kindergarten assembly. Felicity was receiving the Owl of the Month award (basically student of the month) and her teacher invited us to be there. She was very excited, we are very proud of her. Jeff and I had lunch with my mom after and then headed home to get some chores done.

While Jeff and I were cleaning up, Helen took her pre-school napper into the kitchen to play with it and ended up sound asleep on the floor. My children will sleep anywhere! We brought out all the infant toys and cleaned them up. We also got out the baby bath, swing, and some other things and cleaned the "garage storage" dirt and dust off of them. You would have thought it was Christmas seeing how excited Helen got about each "new" toy to be pulled from the container.

I made a birthday cake for my dear friend Jan's daughter this weekend and it didn't turn out quite the way I wanted it to, but the kids really liked it. She had a Dinosaur Train themed birthday party and the girls had a blast. They really enjoyed getting their faces painted and jumping on the trampoline.

After the party we stayed and helped clean up and then had pizza with the Bryson's. The kids played and we adults watched a movie while I finished up the blessing blanket I have been crocheting for the baby. He now has a blanket and booties to be blessed in, I have his outfit cut out, I just need to sew it. It's on my very long list! I did get to mark some other things off the list though. We bought some of the last necessities we needed this week including a changing table and diapers and wipes. It's the first time I've bought diapers for a new baby, with both girls we got so many at my baby shower that we didn't buy diapers for the first 6 months!

We had a lovely sabbath and enjoyed time together as a family. We even made some more Christmas cookies. I'm almost done with my Christmas baking, I think the fudge is the last thing I need to do, aside from decorating the cut out cookies and the gingerbread men.

We decided that we would host Thanksgiving here after all. I promised Jeff that I wouldn't try to do it all and only picked a few of the menu items to make and asked my family to bring the rest. We're looking forward to that, as well as a short work week! We hope everyone has a wonderful and happy Thanksgiving this week, I'm certainly grateful for my family, for all our great friends, and our extended family whom we love dearly.

I Will

So this week did not go the way it was suppose to! It's a big week for us, my birthday on Wednesday, our anniversary on Saturday, and Labor Day in between. Orignially we had planned to enjoy a weekend get away, just the two of us. A few years ago for our anniversary we stayed at a bed and breakfast in Snowflake, AZ and went to the Snowflake temple as part of our quest to do service in each of the temples in the United States. We had a wonderful time and wanted to repeat the experience, only this time planning to do a cabin in the Salt Lake valley. Alas, being so close to my due date and it being dangerous to go into labor, we were advised not to make such a long trip away from home. Ok, plan B. My parents were to take the girls Thursday night and all day Friday and we were going to go out to dinner and movie and then take a day trip to Mesa. Well, we ended up watching Gabrielle Thursday night so no dinner out, no movie. Friday morning I popped into work early in the morning to tie up a few loose ends. I was in charge of a catered lunch later in the afternoon and I was handing it off to a collegue who had agreed to take over for me. Yeah, so much for that, he called in sick and I had to stay and take care of the meeting. I got home around 2:30 which was too late in the afternoon to make it to Mesa. Jeff and I instead went to a matinee and then picked up the girls from my parents house. Oh, well! I hope to make it out to dinner and to the temple before the baby arrives.

Speaking of baby, as of Monday I have 20 work days left and only 5 weeks until the baby's big day. We are so excited, and not quite ready. The girls are excited as well. We had a very productive weekend and were able to accomplish a lot. I got the girls winter clothes out and packed up the summer things and clothes they have out grown. We finished the chair rail in the baby's room and cleaned up the house. I've made a lot of progress with Christmas preparations and baked pumpkin bread and cut out cookies. I also wrapped all the gifts I've bought so far.

On Monday we had a Family Home Evening lesson about the importance of families and after, we put the baby's crib together as a family. The girls had so much fun and were actually pretty helpful. We made the crib up too, although we'll have to take the bumpers and blankets out and wash them since the cat was under the impression that the crib was for him and everything is now covered in black cat hair!

Saturday I met one of my best friends in the world for lunch in Tucson. We hadn't spent time together in quite awhile and it was so nice to chat and catch up. Life just isn't complete without friends. Since friends came up, I have to mention that Saturday was the anniversary of the day I married my best friend. We have had probably the happiest year of marriage so far this year and I feel blessed to have him as my eternal companion.

I Me Mine

We had a peaceful week. Halloween was a lot of fun. Jeff took the girls out with Victor and his girls to trick-or-treat in the neighborhood on Monday night. I stayed home to hand out candy as my waddle has become very pronounced and I would have held up the group. We had a lot of kids come by this year! It seems the year before last when we took the girls out door to door, there was hardly anyone participating, this year they both came home with a bucket full of candy. There were a few teenagers not in costumes, and a lot of parents with infants holding open bags for candy.

Work was relatively quiet this week. On Tuesday I had my photo taken with the VP of Engineering in recognition of an award. The group picture they took of all the awarded was a head on picture, so it looks like I'm incredibly fat, not pregnant. You can imagine how thrilled I am to have that go up on the company home page this coming week!

Felicity lost her first tooth this week and was very excited. It was her lower left incisor and it had been loose for some time. As it turns out, she bit into a tootsie roll from her Halloween stash and the candy pulled the tooth out. I was sceptical it was ready to come out, it seemed a little early to me, but low and behold there was it's replacement poking through the surface. The more I thought about it, I remembered that Felicity had got her first tooth, that particular tooth, when she was only four months old, so I shouldn't be so surprised she ahead of the game in that area. Helen had a crazy hair day at school and enjoyed me putting her hair into little pony tails all over her head, and Jeff finally had grown tired of pushing his hair out of his face and got his bi-anual hair cut!

Friday morning I had an ultrasound to gage the baby's growth so far. The technician was just amazed, she measured everything three times, and the baby weighs six pounds six ounces. To give that some perspective, I officially have 8 weeks left to term and a baby at this gestational age, on average, should weight about 3.75 pounds. He's very healthy and happy, she got a great image of his adorable little face (he looks like Felicity did in my opinion), and of him waving his hands. They were going to send the results to the consulting OB and the midwives and get back to me. I then met Mom and Grandma for breakfast and did a little shopping at the thrift. Then I headed to the midwife's office for my regular 2 week check up. My glucose results were back, and as usual, were completely normal; no gestational diabetes which is always their first thought when considering the size of my babies. They did talk over my ultrasound results and want me to visit with a nutrition specialist and start a diabetic diet even though my blood sugar levels are normal. It shouldn't include finger sticks, but will mostly be a low carbohydrate, low sugar diet. I have to admit that I'm not really that happy about it. I, like many women, feel like I've been on a diet my entire adult life. Pregnancy is the one time when I eat conscientiously, but not necessarily on a restrictive diet. Alas, I'm willing to do what is best for the baby, although I have fears that I will suffer through the last few weeks on this diet to no avail and still have a big baby! We are so in love with him already.

After my appointment I met up with Mom and we went out to run errands. The midwife prescribed me an orthopedic brace to help with the discomfort I've been having. I have had a lot of pain and pressure in my lower abdomen along with sciatic pain because of the weight of this pregnancy (on top of the baby being large, I have too much fluid as well). So our first stop was to a prosthetic/orthopedic medical supply office where I was fitted for the support. It is a little complicated, but it has really made a difference, especially at night, giving me some extra support. I made some more progress with Christmas preparations. I have almost all my gifts bought I just need to start wrapping them and boxing the ones that are going to be shipped. I am almost finished buying for the girls, I think I have a few things I want to make and then I have to come up with something for Jeff. The girls helped me make a batch of cut out cookies and pumpkin bread from our Halloween jack-o-lanterns.

Saturday, we worked on the baby's room. I made a valence for the window and Jeff hung the chair rail. We spent the rest of the day getting chores done and other mundane tasks. I wish we had been outside more, it was a beautiful day with lovely temperatures. Here's a picture of Helen playing in the baby's bouncy seat that a friend gave us.

I have a lot of preparations still to make and the time just seems to be flying by. We feel so blessed and excited to be parents again.