Bath Time

Gracie and Shirley had a great time playing today. Both of them refused to take a nap, not wanting to miss a moment of the fun. They even had bath time together. . .


Hum, SJ doesn't look too happy...

After a few funny faces from Daddy, she's a bit happier,
although Gracie's a bit unsure. . .

Daddy, you're so funny!
Notice Gracie's pretty entranced by him now too.

Week 34

With only six weeks until my due date, I am a bit perplexed in my feelings. While I am exhausted and in lots of pelvic pain pretty much constantly, I kinda wish her due date was later so I can get a little more time in at work before my leave. I am excited to meet her and start taking care of her. I'm curious as to how Gracie will deal with her presence-and the cat! There's so much to think about, I'm a little overwhelmed and feeling pretty lazy by the time I get home from work.

BabyCenter Says:
Your baby now weighs about 4 3/4 pounds (like your average cantaloupe) and is almost 18 inches long. Her fat layers — which she'll need to regulate her body temperature once she's born — are filling her out, making her rounder. Her skin is also smoother than ever. Her central nervous system is maturing and her lungs are continuing to mature as well. If you've been nervous about preterm labor, you'll be happy to know that babies born between 34 and 37 weeks who have no other health problems generally do fine. They may need a short stay in the neonatal nursery and may have a few short-term health issues, but in the long run, they usually do as well as full-term babies.

Week 33

What? Seriously? I've been so focused on our family events and preparing to start working in a new district that I keep finding myself surprised when I get my BabyCenter emails. A couple months ago I was going stir crazy, wishing I was farther along; that the baby was already here. Now I'm really content. I'm sure that will change as her due date gets even closer, and I know going back to work is going to be physically challenging. Inservice and orientation hasn't been too bad, as a large portion of it is meetings and I am able to stay off my feet. I asked my doc about all the pelvic pain I've been having. I had a little at the end with Gracie, but not this early, and not this intense. He explained that a woman's pelvic bone is actually two bones that butt up against each other and when pregnant, the pressure can make those bone seperate up to a half inch. No wonder it hurts to stand, walk, move. . . It's also been causing a lot of lower back pain. These pains are my concern with starting work, I try to circulate around my classroom and not sit while kids are in my room but I'm afraid that may not be feasible until after the baby is born.

BabyCenter Says:

This week your baby weighs a little over 4 pounds (heft a pineapple) and has passed the 17-inch mark. He's rapidly losing that wrinkled, alien look and his skeleton is hardening. The bones in his skull aren't fused together, which allows them to move and slightly overlap, thus making it easier for him to fit through the birth canal. (The pressure on the head during birth is so intense that many babies are born with a conehead-like appearance.) These bones don't entirely fuse until early adulthood, so they can grow as his brain and other tissue expands during infancy and childhood.

Naughty Gracie!

Gracie has figured out how to climb her dollhouse. I was fixing dinner tonight, and when I turned around, she was laying in the attic of her dollhouse! She sure has shown that she has a stubborn streak, running back to the house every time I pulled her out. She likes to perch on the roof of the lower part on the side and wait for me to swoop in and pull her off. I toss her on the couch, making her giggle. I'm hoping our new game will at least keep her on the lower part so when she falls it won't be as far!

The pictures are of the first time she climbed up there.

The video was her second attempt, she decided to try feet first. We've used the term "feet first" with her for whenever she's getting off of anything, or down something-such as a slide. She's done really well with that, so I guess she thought it would work here too!

FINALLY!!

Seeds to a money tree!!

Chillaxin'

This is fun!

Trying to see the t.v. from her box.

Fishy lips!

Makin' Brownies with Josey

YUM!

Raspberries and Brianna

We've been giving Gracie raspberries (blowing on her tummy) for a long time now. The other day, Daddy lifted his shirt up, and I showed Gracie how to give him a raspberry. I was resting on the couch, laying on my side, trying to cool off when Gracie walked up to me and pulled my shirt up exposing my belly. She looked at me with a big smile, leaned forward and blew on my belly. Daddy laughed and started blowing raspberries too, so I had both of them giving me raspberries at the same time when Gracie suddenly stopped, pointed to my belly and said "Bri!" I don't know if she thinks we've named my belly Bri, or if she's connected the movement she's felt to something bigger.

Week 32

I met my new doctor the week after we moved here, and I really like him. I had concerns about delivering at Hudson Hospital, as I've heard a few "horror" stories lately but meeting him and talking to my mom-in-law (who is an ER nurse there) relieved most of those fears. I figure no matter where I go there will be a few little fears in the back of my mind-it kind of goes with the territory of being in a hospital. With no email and all the chaos of moving, I haven't been completely focused on being prego so I was a but overwhelmed when I got email back and saw one from BabyCenter stating that I'm now at 32 weeks! Holy cow! This baby could be here as early as five weeks from now! (I know, technically she can come whenever she wants, but I'll be full term in only five weeks, so she's not allowed to come before then!). Brianna has been moving a lot lately, with the most movement starting when I lay down to go to bed (of course). Daddy and Josey have both felt her move, and Gracie felt her when sitting on my lap-she gave my belly the funniest look!

Here's what BabyCenter has to say:

By now, your baby weighs 3.75 pounds (pick up a large jicama) and is about 16.7 inches long, taking up a lot of space in your uterus. You're gaining about a pound a week and roughly half of that goes right to your baby. In fact, she'll gain a third to half of her birth weight during the next 7 weeks as she fattens up for survival outside the womb. She now has toenails, fingernails, and real hair (or at least respectable peach fuzz). Her skin is becoming soft and smooth as she plumps up in preparation for birth.

MOA

Gracie enjoyed LegoLand, crawling right into the cutouts where the Duplos are kept.

Playing in the arcade

Spider Stompin' game at the arcade.

Snuffy found a huge pile of Melmo stuffed animals and dove into it with hugs and kisses for Melmo.

Being tossed onto a large bean bag chair/bed.

Playing in the fountain-which she tried to jump into!

The Beach

One of the best parts of Hudson (besides the people) is the river. It's right on the St. Croix, and completely beautiful. Gracie went to the beach for the first time the other day. She was timid at first, but got very into it by the time we left.

Family Gathering

We moved just in time to make it to our family gathering at my uncle's cabin in northern Minnesota. We usually miss it because it would have been a ten hour drive from Milwaukee. It was still tough to ask Gracie to get back in the car for a long trip after enduring six hours the week before, but she did pretty good.Swinging in the hammock with Momma's cousin, Megan.

Playing with cousin Elara.

Scoping out the toys.

Kicking a ball with cousin Elara.

Playing with second cousin(?) Sam.
Hum, what would they be? Sam's mom is Gracie's mom's cousin. . .

Grandpa with his kids;
L to R,
Grandpa, Brian, Wayne, Joan, Roger, Bruce (not pictured, Sandra).

All the Great Grand Kids!
L to R
Elara (2), Gracie (17 months), Sam (3), Cole (3 months?)
(not pictured, Taylor, 2 months)

Our Backyard

Our patio overlooks the apartment's playground. At first Gracie was scared of the grass, but once she realized she could get to the swings if she walked in it she was truckin' across the little span of grass between our patio and the playground. Once she hit the sand she came to a fast halt though. She'd pick up her foot and wiggle her toes, looking up with an expression that clearly read "my feet are dirty!!" Josey taught her that sand is fun and we've since bought a cheap shovel and sand sifter that she loves.See, Gracie, sand is fun!

Let me check it out. . .

Wow! This IS fun!

Block Party

The week we moved in happened to coincide with National Night Out. Our new place is very family friendly, and had a big block party. They had hot dogs and hamburgers, prizes, and lots of kiddie fun!It took Gracie a little while to scope out the scene. There are lots of kids here!

Beach balls are fun!

Gracie even got to take home her own balloon with helium!

The fire department let kids spray the hose, and a police car came too.

I think Gracie's favorite was the bouncy house. She probably would have stayed in there all night if we'd let her. Some of the bigger kids were getting a little close though, so we felt we needed to pull her out for her safety.

The Move

To call our recent move smooth would be like calling a porcupine soft. For the most part, if it could go wrong-it did. Nothing major, thankfully, but enough to make us a bit more stressed than necessary. I write this all with humor, as it is pretty funny. . . now. It all began when we went to pick up the truck. . .

The plan was for Rich to drive the truck, as driving a 16' truck is pretty much torture to me. We were informed that only the person who's name is on the credit card that rents the truck can drive it, unless we paid an extra $20 per driver. That made me drive the truck alone for six hours, while Daddy and Josey took the screaming baby in the Saturn, and Rich drove the van with no air conditioning and a whining cat. I think we were all tortured in our own way!

We all got to Hudson fine, and my mother-in-law got the key a day early. My plan was to set up the crib and spend our first night in the apartment, to make it easy on Gracie. We ended up at my in-law's and it got late visiting, so we stayed there. Friday we unloaded the truck in record time, thanks to lots of friends and family that came to help. As soon as they all left, I started putting Gracie's curtains up (they leave a blue glow in the room, so I figured they'd make her feel like she's home) when I heard Josey say "Um, something's leaking." Daddy and I went into the hallway to find about 2" of standing water in the hall, bathroom, and entry to the master bedroom. He got the leak (coming from the tank of the toilet) to stop while I ran down the hallway to see if the landlord was still around. She wasn't. I called the "emergency" number, which is a pager (who uses pagers?) several times, but never got a call back. After mopping up the water and putting fans on the carpet, we went to our upstairs neighbors, who we had already met and been told to come to for "anything," to ask if there was any other way to get a hold of the property managers. He paged them from his phone too. We ended up at grandma and grandpa's again that night, and Sunday night. Monday the manager was very upset to hear about our weekend, and was very prompt in getting maintenance to help us out, and he checked in with us every morning until it was all taken care of.

My friends and family have been amazing at finding us new-to-us furniture so we wouldn't have to move any of our junky stuff from our old apartment. My brother's family got us a couch, loveseat, dresser, and crib, Jon and Carrie had an entertainment center, and my in-laws gave us a computer desk and another dresser. Jon and Carrie delivered the entertainment center about a week after we moved in, and our t.v. was about 2" too big to fit in it! We traded t.v.s with my in-laws, who have our second t.v. (we don't need two!), and Daddy keeps telling me he downgraded for me. I am quite appreciative, as the new set up has glass doors on the bottom so Gracie can't get into all the electronics.

I called for cable and internet and had an appointment a week after we moved in for installation. I opted out of paying for installing internet, as I can easily plug in a modem. We were excited to have it set up and hurried home to wait for the cable guy. We waited. And waited. And waited. He no showed. I called the company, and they said they had another appointment a week later. I lost my cool. I explained that this was their fault, not mine and I therefore expected to be taken care of the next day, for free. Funny, they suddenly had an appointment anytime I wanted the next day. After the cable guy left I started installing the internet. Imagine my frustration when I discovered that I needed an install CD that they didn't give me in order to complete my installation. Maybe they could have mentioned that on the phone?

Of course, in the middle of all this our van started overheating. It needs a new water pump, so we are down to one vehicle for now. I find all of this funny now, but at the time it really felt like "what else can happen!" I think we're getting settled now though. I have yet to get the dressers here, so there's lots of clothes all over Gracie's room, and I still have some boxes of books to put on the shelves. Our new place is smaller than the old one, so we've needed to get creative with our storage but when we went in after the Great Flood to sign the lease we learned that the apartment comes with a garage! So far it's empty, so it's an option for storage if we get too frustrated.

Our patio overlooks the playground, and Gracie has already learned that grass and sand are fun! She was a bit scared of them at first, but we got her a shovel and sand sifter at the dollar store and she sits for hours digging in the sand. It also has a big slide and swings that she loves. Stay tuned for pictures of her playing with Josey.