Belly Update 38 weeks

I know I just did a belly update but this one is more for me than anything. I had decided I would do a picture in each week that we have a doctors appointment. Last week I just didn't do it on Sunday, when my week turns, like I usually do. So anyway, not much is different than the last time I posted, just a few days ago. But since I feel if I don't post it on my blog it will be a forgotten memory I am going to bore you with another belly picture. Don't worry, just scroll a bit and you will find some cute pictures of Jaxson. Much more entertaining I know!

On a side note I watched the One Born Every Minute on Lifetime. It is a documentary style show about child birth but way way more real of a show. It is more documentary and less scripted/edited reality. Or at least seems that way. And I don't know if it is a great show for someone who will be in the Labor&Delivery very shortly. It sounds ridiculous but the one story of the couple that truly made me very scared and start to tear up is the one when the poor girls epidural wore off at the end. Besides having something wrong with my baby boy, that would be my biggest birthing fear. My birthplan is not one that needs to be put in writing or is very difficult for the nurses to accomodate. It looks like this:

Epidural.  Healthy baby.

So if it didn't work I am not sure what I would do. I think I better hold off on watching that show until after I am home with a baby bundle in my arms.

J-Pod

 How young is too young for an Ipod nano??? Two years old??Well, for Jaxson he has his very own Ipod nano. No, we didn't go buy our two year old an ipod.... but we let him use Dave's old ipod since he has since gotten an Ipod touch. The reason behind this was that I feel that Jaxson needs more music in his life. I am not a music lover, Dave enjoys music but we rarely are listening to music at home or in the car. He listens to sports radio and usually I listen to different talk radio shows on Sirius in the car. Elaine got him a laptop that plays games and one of them is it sings four different kid songs. One night with Elaine and he was singing along so I knew I needed to be better with music at home, he obviously loves it. And I should have known this since when he was an infant there was a CD of classical lullabies that when played no matter how upset he was he would calm down nearly instantly. We had a copy for all of our cars!

I decided to get him a little CD player for his bedroom and some kid CD's. I looked and could only find one with terrible reviews or could get him a full on boom box with giant speakers. A little extreme for a two year old I thought. But then Dave had a great idea, he could use our Ipod dock that is rarely used with his old ipod nano and we can download some CD's and some other music from itunes as his tastes change. I want him to love music, learn the words and sing along, dance around the living room. So we are on our way to a singing, dancing, ipod using toddler.

Tonight we found his headphones he used on our plane ride this spring and jammed out to some Wheels on the Bus and The Alphabet Song. :) The headphones are great because the kid ones have a limit on volume so he can't blow his little ear drums out. And now Jaxson can tune out a crying baby when needed with his new toy!

A Chili Saturday in February

We went from close to 70 last week back down to snowy 20's this weekend and thought it was a good opportunity to make some end of winter white chili. Dave got the recipe from Kristy Ennen and made a double batch to be able to freeze some for our first few weeks with bb#2.


Our chili feast was shared with some of our best friends, the Holcombs of course! This time Leah included. She has been in the midst of student teaching and hasn't been able to join as much. Today she was able to have a free evening. It was perfect to be able to spend the evening with girl talk in the kitchen, basketball talk in the living, and toddler chaos in Jaxson's bedroom. Our families are such a perfect match! This will probably be the last time we spend time with them as a family of three and I know that little Aubrey is so excited to meet Jaxson's little brother.

The night went on a little longer than expected so the kiddos decided to go to bed.... 

 With a serious case of the giggles...

Belly Update Week 37 (and 5 days)

Wow.. full term! The waiting game has officially begun. Now I realize that it could still be awhile but as the ticker on the blog ticks down the days, saying 16 to go right now, it's starting to feel real. Not that it didn't before but now I am so close to holding a new baby in my arms. And my doctor has confirmed we are head down and 1cm closer to doing just that. (I know this doesn't mean much but we are headed in the right direction) I am trying to prepare myself for the actual birth.  I have Jaxson's birthing experience so ingrained in my brain I just envision it going the exact same way this time and I need to be prepared for it to be different, and for it to be a different little bundle when it is said and done.  I am confident that it will go just as smoothly though, because if I fear otherwise it won't do me any good. One way or another the baby is going to be greeting us in person and will hopefully have a name. We have kept all names a secret this time, and I have to say thank you for not trying to get any ideas out of me too much. I am really bad at slipping up on these type of secrets so thank you for not trying to get me to break, because I probably would and Dave would be so disappointed. I am feeling good that our long name list is beginning to get shorter. And we are starting to pair firsts with middles. It's comforting knowing he might have a name before leaving the hospital. And I think Dave has got more of a 'nesting' urge than I have. He has picked one project each day... and then follows through. He got the deck all cleared from leaves and arranged the tables as they should be, he got the dog area put together for spring with a new layer of hay to try to limit the muddy paws somewhat, the basement cleaned with some storage bins organized and eliminated, behind the tv cords are all bundled nicely with zip ties. I don't know what his next project is but I am glad that someone has been 'nesting.' And I have to admit that it is actually really nice that someone else is nesting...

Just one more of week of work then I have 11 days off to relax and wait for baby boy to arrive to use up my left over PTO from last year. If I have to go back to work after my 11 days off I would be doing so after my due date. With that, realistically next week might really be my last week of work. aahh.... I can't believe it is already here! It seems just yesterday I posted this!

 

Is it possible...

It is possible that I was the most relaxed I have ever been in my entire life when I am 9mo pregnant? Yes!! I turned in my gift certificate today that Dave got me for Barry Lowe Pregnancy Massage. It was aaammmaazziinngg. My favorite part was a quite inexpensive 'half session' is an hour long. No I take that back, my favorite part was being able to lay on my tummy with his table. He made sure the cutout was just the size for my big belly. I think I seriously would have paid what he charges for the whole massage just to lay on my stomach for an hour alone. It was amazing. He has been doing pregnancy massage for 18 years and you can tell because he is really great at what he does. As soon as my time was done I quickly made another appointment before my due date. So now I am anxiously waiting for March 4th. If you are pregnant and want to relax, go to Barry Lowe. It will be the best hour of your entire pregnancy. Period.

Ice Jam

When Jaxson and I enjoyed the record highs today outside we also got a glimpse of the huge ice pieces that were floating down the river. As we made our way back to the car I made sure to keep Jaxson close to prevent him falling down the bank towards the now raging river.

The PERFECT Day!

Jaxson and I had nearly a perfect day today. Jaxson woke me up and we got ready and made it to storytime on time today. Woohoo... that alone would have made it a good day. Then we stayed and played with the puzzles at the library for awhile. He is getting really good at puzzles that don't just have cutouts that he has to really think through them. He has very good concentration and focus, and will do it over and over again until he can do it very quickly and knows exactly how to do it. His favorite puzzles was, what a surprise, the dinosaur puzzle!

We came home from the library and made lunch. The best part of lunch was Dave came home and joined us. Jaxson was excited and thought his dad was just home early but shortly headed back to work. But before he left he put Jaxson's trike in the back of my car and Jaxson and I headed to Gray's Lake.

Jaxson put on his new spring jacket, which apparently I bought just in time, and joined what seemed like the rest of Des Moines at the park. We biked around the path to the playground and Jaxson played and played and played. He went down all the slides, from the smallest to the largest, and is much more brave on the jungle gym then he was just this fall. He didn't really want to leave the slide but the idea of riding his trike was a pretty good alternative so he did without much fight. On our way back to the car we walked along the river where the river was covered with huge chunks of ice floating downstream. It was hard not to stop and watch and Jaxson was in awe as well. Jaxson decided he wanted to walk back to the car and I was so worried he was going to slip and tumble down the bank towards the river. I would have preferred him on his trike (which has a handle for me to guide him and control where it is going) but that just wasn't going to happen. We made it back to the car intact (thank goodness!) after enjoying the fresh air for over two hours and with a few pictures and videos of the incredible river of ice.

We had to stop and point at every dog. That was alot of dogs this afternoon.

Tonight Dave is grilling and our window is open with a slight breeze. Perfect, even if it is just a tease for now. :)

Ticklish Toddler

 I will take a back massage any day of course, but really love having my back tickled. My mom would do it sometimes when I was younger but it isn't that easy to get Dave to do either a massage or tickled. Awhile ago Jaxson was cuddling with me and I tickled his back. Now he asks me to tickle his back everyday, from the morning until bedtime. I have now started to do it only before bedtime, with the lights off to start to get him to calm down. And he will lay down on my lap for just about as long as I will let him. He loves it so much that at storytime today at the library he was listening to the story and laid down on my lap and told me to tickle his back. I guess he got this one from me. And last night he asked to tickle my back and I think Dave could learn a thing or two from him, he did a pretty good job!

Big Boy Helper

Jaxson and Dave put together bb#2 new bookshelf. Jaxson was the big brother helper and nailed it all together, and had a blast doing it. He is always anxious to help, I hope that willingness to be flexible and helpful lasts at least throughout our first year with bb#2. Everyone cross your fingers!

He gave it a try with his toy hammer and it didn't work so well...

So he moved on to the big boy hammer and went to work.

Belly Update Week 36

We will be seeing the doctor every week from now on until I have a second little one in my arms. How exciting and nerve-racking! I have been feeling pretty good only with a few more aches and pains and harder to move and sleep with a nagging headache... so basically just pregnant! I have become one with Tums, a problem I didn't have have with Jax and beginning to wonder what the heck I will wear in the morning and wishing it was summer to throw on a easy to wear dress. I guess only 4 more weeks or so. I have one big thing to look forward to which is three weeks of work then a whole week off. Which for me a week off means 11 days in a row! I had PTO running out I had to use by March 12th, of course, so I will be one giant pregnant lady, hopefully relaxing, but probably in a nesting frenzy. I did have the nesting urge terrible with Jaxson! I was throwing everything away, nobody could stop me. Reading about it I thought maybe it was a myth, but oh no oh no, it most definitely is not! I just hope I have the energy to go with the urge so actually do it because we could do some spring cleaning anyway. :)

We got the nursery put together for the most part. We changed it up a little bit with monkeys! Dave made a new bookshelf tonight and I will sort through Jaxson's books and find the 'baby' ones to put in our new little guys room. I also packed my hospital bag besides those last minute things and have the plan to get Jaxson taken care of pretty well hammered out.  So we are ready to have a baby, and I am certainly looking like I am due in less than a month. :)

Click here for week 34 to compare!

FunnyBone

Dave was lucky enough to get another email with 6 free passes to the funny bone again. We got the email on Wednesday so sent out a few invites and luckily Kyle and Brittany could join us. Since they were giving out free tickets at such last minute it made me wonder if it was because the comedian wasn't going to impress. But I was wrong! The headliner was Ryan Hamilton and was actually really funny.

But I have to say my favorite part of the whole night was finally being out with someone who likes desserts! I like desserts 365 days a year but have to say that people are much more accepting when you eat a ton of sweets when pregnant. I like to take advantage. Dave doesn't have a sweet tooth, and I found out the same for Brit. Well, Kyle has the same sweet tooth as me. He even described the same singing that occurs when you cut open a molten lava cake and the warm gooey chocolate oozes out from the middle that I hear! He ordered two different desserts to share and it was amazing! Who needs appetizers anyway?? I always thought that dessert should come first, that way there is no way to run out of room for dessert. :)

It was a good time and glad friends were able to join us!

Look at the Baby!

I have a cute story about Jaxson that I almost forgot to blog about so want to make sure I do before it escapes my brain. Which has been easy for things to do lately with my major case of pregnancy brain.

Jaxson has been being cuddly lately and was lounging on the couch with his head resting on my lap. All the sudden the baby decided to squirm around in there a bunch. I told Jaxson, "look, look at the baby, he is moving in there!"

Jaxson quickly jumped up and looked at my belly. Then he lifted my shirt and put little face so close to my tummy his nose almost touched. He kept staring for a few seconds. Then he put down my shirt and looked at me with such a inquisitive look and said, "I don't see it." haha.. it was hilarious. He was truly trying to 'see' the baby. I wish I had a video camera going at that moment but of course those priceless moments happen when you don't expect. Luckily I have this blog to be able to remember them all, and share them with you. :)

Here Wii Go

Jaxson and Dave played their first video game together tonight.  ****per correction of Dave, they have played Ms. Pacman arcade game together which apparently counts as a video game*****And I have a suspicion it will not be the last. Dave was playing Mario Galaxy and Jaxson was player 2, were he could assist in getting the coins. Although he mainly just pushed buttons and laughed a lot he loved it. And I think Dave is glad he has a reason to play video games every once in awhile.

Silly Faces

The other morning I was putting my camera away and Jaxson asked me to take a picture. He asked me to take a picture!!! This never happens. He isn't quite to the "hide face from camera" stage yet, but he isn't as cooperative as he was when he was younger, that is for sure. So of course I obliged to taking pictures of him on Sunday morning. I asked him to make different faces and he did it. I know I am biased, but I don't think I have seen anything cuter than my silly, sad, happy, sneaky little Jax.

 

 

Complete and Absolute FREAK OUT!

Jaxson had a complete meltdown tonight in the bath tub. Usually bath day is Sunday so maybe having a bath on a Monday night threw him off but whoa...

So we filled up the water and it was a little warm so we cooled it off while getting him ready to get in the tub. As soon as he put his feet in the water some little fuzzies that were on the bottom of his feet from his socks went into the water. He was wearing navy socks so they were dark fuzzies. And he freaked out! I mean, scream bloody murder like he got a part in the next scream sequel. Wow! At first I had no idea what he was freaking out about, I thought the water was too hot but I kept checking it and it was totally fine. Then he pointed as one got closer and literally tried to climb up the side of the wall yelling mommy! mommy! I was able to most of them but even the two that I couldn't get he kept his eyes glued to the fuzzy and would not stop crying. So we did soap and shampoo quickly and got him out. He never even sat down or stopped crying the entire time. When he takes off his socks, which is rare because he is constant that he must have socks on, the first thing he will do is try to get all the fuzzies off, but he has never acted scared of them. He is now tucked in bed and I am going to see what to do when they a toddler is really scared of something. Do you protect them from it all the time?? Do you make them face their fears to try to encourage them to overcome it?? I feel ridiculous that I am talking about overcoming a fear of sock fuzzies in bathwater. And I thought his first fear would be something common like scared of the dark say.. guess not!
 

Malled

On Friday I met my dad for lunch but unfortunately for him I had a few errands to run as well. One in particular was very important... my eyebrows needed to be shaped! So the boys got taken to the mall, my dads worst nightmare for the most part, and my appointment was running a little behind. Jaxson wanted to play in the kid area so they went down there. I called to just to check up on them and my dad said Jaxson refused to play so they were just going to cruise around. When they did arrive back after I was done Jaxson ran full speed up to me with a bag in his hand and a huge smile on his face. He quickly grabbed his new toy out of the bag and was so very proud. My dad said they went into the toy store and he had to look at each toy before he made his decision. He still plays with it everyday putting his "guys" (toy figurines) on the horse and they gallop around the house and on the couch.

Compare Bellies

I wasn't nearly as good at taking belly pictures with Jaxson, probably because I didn't have my blog yet! But I have been doing it every week that I have a doctors appointment this time around. Michelle said she was wondering what I looked like at this time with Jaxson so I went back into my archives (there are alot of pictures to go through!) and found some pictures of roughly the same time frame.

This was at our engagement party and was taken 4.13.08 which would have made me approximately 30 weeks.

This was at my baby shower and was taken 5.29.08, so would be roughly 36 weeks or so.

And this one was taken on 6.21, one day after my DD so I was 40 weeks and 1 day pregnant. I feel like I already look this big at 34 weeks now. ugh... 

Crunch Time

So this weekend I am 35 weeks. Yikes.. as in I am almost going to have two children! Yikes! I mean... February is feeling like it is almost over and it is only 2.2. But that means that is only 26 days left, and then tomorrow there will only be 25 days.. and then... well you get it! As you can tell I am getting a little anxious that I have spent the last 35 weeks twiddling my thumbs and now it's crunch time. My list is a mile long and I would love to get a few crossed off this weekend.

I need to make sure the nursery is put together. And I am feeling the need to paint or rearrange slightly so it feels new and different for baby #2. This baby already gets everything a hand me down from Jaxson, I am feeling a little change would make me feel like this baby boy isn't just getting seconds.

I need to figure out what we need for our hospital bags. Then I need to get what we need for those bags together. I realized last time I didn't really have a bag packed and it was such a pain to try to think through labor pains about what you will need. I of course forgot most things and brought many things that I definitely didn't need. The only difference is this time I need to make sure Jaxson has a bag ready to go too.

I need to make sure that my pump has all the parts and need to get the new parts that need to be replaced since I used it last with Jax. I had to use it in the hospital last time so it needs to be all ready to go.

I need to make sure the car seat is cleaned. Not sure I ever did anything with it after we upgraded to our convertible. I am sure that it has a stain from spilled juice.. or two.

I need to clean the house. I need to turn the house upside down and what falls out I just throw away. I am feeling like the closets are too full and the baby isn't even here yet.

I would love the babies closet be set up with shelves that will help create so much more room in there. ... dave....

Have to get my eye brows waxed! Sounds ridiculous but if a girl isn't going to be wearing any makeup laying in a hospital bed you better at least make sure you don't have a bushy unibrow... Because you know there will be cameras, lots of cameras.

I want to start making some meals and freezing them for when we get home from the hospital. I am lucky to have a husband who actually cooks but the less time he has to spend shopping and cooking means the more time he has to help me. Any suggestions on what would freeze well??  the only ideas I have are chicken and noodles, chili, some meatballs for spaghetti, and manicotti. And what type of containers should I put them in to freeze?? This is a project that I will work on over the next few weeks. As we make dinners I will just make extra and then freeze half of it. And should I cook everything before freezing or leave it completely uncooked? Like the meatballs??? Hmm....


 Oh yah.. and we need to find a name. We have no idea on a name. That is probably pretty important. Ok.. I am officially stressed, I should go to bed now. Maybe I will dream up a name... 

Shuffled

We were invited over as guinea pigs to Kyle and Brit's last Friday. She asked her pregnant friend to come over to try some different foods they are going to make for Kyle's big St. Patrick's Day bash he has every year. Twist my arm, you want me to come over and eat. Ok! Dave didn't complain either since at a dinner we had with them a couple weeks earlier Kyle mentioned his new shuffleboard that was delivered that day. After we downed some green finger foods we headed downstairs to the shuffleboard. I have never played the game before and wanted to take a couple practice throws. Our first game we played couples, and to nobodies surprise Brit and Kyle won. Dave wanted to take a handicap since he knows that if HE had a shuffleboard in his basement he would be getting in some serious practice. We decided to switch and play boys against girls. Of course nobody was expecting the girls to take home the prize that is why after we won the first game the boys said they wanted best out of three. Well boys, turns out that the girls are pretty darn good at shuffleboard and won that second game without much competition. I am sure they are claiming beginners luck or whatever else they could think of as their reason for losing to girls.

jaxson got a few practice throws in in between games and I was pretty darn good actually. For a two year old anyway...

PS. Two pictures of me in the same post. Unheard of! Thanks to Kyle, who is a blog reader, who took my camera and said I am taking your picture because you never get in any. The only thing I will do different going to Kyle's is making sure I look a little more put together since I know he will be stealing my camera!

Caught!!

Lately Jaxson hasn't been as cooperative with eating dinner as he has been always before. He will say "no dinner" or just sulk in the corner. We talked last night about cutting out snacks before dinner once Dave and Jaxson get home from daycare. With such a little stomach we don't want to waste precious real estate with junk food. So today Jaxson was eating some dinner and I innocently asked what he had for snacks. Jaxson quickly begins to tell me he had

1....... 2...... 3..... COOKIES!!! 

 Caught! Jaxson doesn't realize he bit the hand that feeds him... feeds him cookies anyway. Dave quickly corrected Jaxson and mentioned it was only two, not three. But said that he won't be doing that again since someone can't keep secrets. haha. And now I know where all my Dunksters have been going. Just an FYI, Dunksters are knock off Oreos... but seriously way better because you can 'dunk' them in milk way longer than regular oreos without them falling apart and at half the price. Now that is a slam dunk. (don't judge, I'm pregnant)