Monday, March 31, 2008

Best Shot Monday


here he is, my newest love! i simultaneously can't believe he is here and can't believe i've known him less than a week!
sprout is a sweet, sweet angel. he sleeps ALL THE TIME. as a matter of fact, he is sleeping on my lap right now.

we will say this is my best shot monday for this week. although, i must say that the picture i posted here is probably my real favorite!

for more best shot fun don't forget to stop by tracey's!!

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Meeting Brother

several people wanted to know what bean thinks of being a big sister. well, i took this picture when she saw him for the first time. i think it says it all.
she cooed and giggled and loved on him. she wanted to hold and hug and kiss him. she decided that she wouldn't hit him after all.

she is "in love" with her baby brother. how long that will last, i don't know. but so far she hasn't complained or whined about him getting attention. she hasn't gotten upset at me or her daddy. she is a really good helper. everything has gone rather smoothly.
(now picture me frantically knocking on wood)
;)

Sprout's Story


first of all, i'd like to thank everyone who said that they were hoping for a "quick and easy" delivery for me. i don't know who you talked to but they listened! ;) some how, even though sprouty was a full pound and a half bigger and his head was a half inch bigger around, he just came right out like nothin'! so thanks a bunch bloggy friends!!

we arrived at the hospital around 6:30ish. i was registered and put in a gown. got all hooked up to monitors. got i.v. (oh, that was fun, took three tries!) then the nurse checked me. "4 cm... well, almost 5 actually" is what she said. she calls anesthesia to prepare for my epidural. my back really starts to ache and i start to worry that this baby is "sunny side up" too. (but it isn't- thank god!)
they take me to the delivery room. we chat with the nurse as she prepares the room for delivery and we wait for that magical epidural. my nurse is funny and cool- SO unlike my nurse with bean!! i get the epidural and i enjoy the warm fuzzy sensation creeping up my legs. the nurse checks me, i'm a "good 7 cm". woo hoo! "call me if your water breaks", she says as she leaves the room.
mostly now we wait and discuss what to name this child since we still didn't have names picked out. the doctor comes in to introduce herself and to break my water. she is just about as cool and nice as the nurse. (my doctor was on call until 5:00pm so i just missed her) nurse and doctor tell me to call when i start feeling pressure, they will be back in 15-20 minutes. we sit and discuss names again.
the nurse comes back checks me. has me roll to one side for a while. then i roll to the other for a while. fun. i'm almost there according to her. (in my head i think she is full of it- it can't really be that close to being over with!) she checks again. she decides to stretch my cervix- there is just a "lip" left and she figures if she stretches and i push the baby down a little we can get rid of it. so i push a few times for her. she stops and says, "ok, let's push." i'm thinking, "is she for real? i can push now??" it wasn't a joke though. it is time to have a baby.
so, i push through one contraction. there is some intense pressure. the nurse tells me i'm doing a great job and grabs the call button. she needs the doctor now. (that is when it occurs to me that the pressure is the baby crowning! holy crap!)
the doctor comes in and says "how is everything going?" then she looks down at me, smirks and says, "so i bet you're feeling some pressure now!" i start laughing and say "uh, yeah, just a little!" (yes, i was laughing during delivery. crazy!) the doctor gets all set up and then it is go time.
i push through 2 contractions. they tell me i'm almost there. i push again, the head is out. the next contraction i push again, out come the shoulders. the nurse says, "look down, look down." i can see it is a boy before the doctor says anything but my first thought is, "he's huge."

his apgars were 9 and 9. his head was perfectly shaped. he looked great. it was 9:13pm, we hadn't even been at the hospital for a full three hours yet! none of our family made it to the hospital in time. it was all very surreal. wonderful but surreal.

that is the story. it is short and sweet. the exact opposite of my first birth experience. i was not unhappy with my first labor and delivery but it was difficult to say the least. this time was truly a blessing! i couldn't be happier.

Thursday, March 27, 2008

It's a......

BOY!
"baby sprout"
march 25th, 9:13pm
8 pounds 9 ounces
20 inches long

thanks for all the well wishes and support! i'll share the story soon i promise... it's seems i'm a little busy right now! ;)

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Soon

we will be leaving for the hospital soon. i'm close to reaching my pain thresh-hold... well, at least what i'm willing to let my daughter see. she knows it is supposed to hurt when the baby comes but i really don't want her to see how much it hurts!

contractions are still a little weird. but then again, they were with bean too. big one (lasting about a minute) then around 3 minutes later a smaller one (lasting about (40 seconds) then 2-3 minutes later another bigger one. obviously the "bigger" ones hurt more too.

daddy took a couple of mommy/daughter pictures a few hours ago but i don't have it in me to try to download them right now. sorry, the last hours of "blueberry and bean" will have to be picture-less. when next you see us it really will be blueberry and bean AND little sprout! ....unless of course we get to the hospital and they send me home! ;)

thanks for the well wishes! i'll get back to ya'll as soon as possible!

Last Sprouty Update

yep, this is the last sprouty update before the baby makes its appearance!

soooooo, yeah. today i feel like... uck. that's right, uck! not a word but a sound that best describes what i am currently feeling. i told the doctor that. i also told her that i wasn't sure if i'd had any contractions or not. (seems like if you are having your second kid you would know this, but i guess not.)
anyways, i'm now 3 cm dilated and 90% effaced. (woo hoo!) she pulled my cervix forward again and tried stretching it again to see if that would help move things along. she is fairly certain that i was having a contraction while i was trying to lie down on the exam table. she said she was very pleased with the progress i had made. AND...

she thinks that it is possible that i could have the baby today. that is right people, i said today. of course she has no way of knowing for sure but she said everything looked very favorable and she wouldn't be surprised if she saw me again. whoa!

so, today's doctor visit was a good one..... ok, except for the fact that i weighed in at 201.2 pounds. GAH! darn that easter candy! it gets me everytime!!!! ;)


(don't worry, if i go to the hospital i will let you know. unfortunately, once i'm there i have no way to let you know anything SO i guess you will have to wait 'till i bring sprout home to hear about it. sorry!)

Monday, March 24, 2008

Best Shot Monday


ahhh, the joy one experiences when one discovers that sometimes eggs are plastic and sometimes those plastic eggs contain... m&m's!!! seeing everything again for the first time is one of the greatest joys of having a child. :) and, since it is monday again (already!) we will say that this is my best shot monday.

i tried to take lots of adorable pictures of bean. bean didn't think this was particularly fun. i got pouty pictures, tongue pictures, back of head pictures, and down right silly pictures. sigh. some of them did turn out nice though. she doesn't look happy (she was ready to "hunt eggs NOW") but man does she look sweet clutching that easter bunny!

it was a good easter. we had an egg hunt. bean and i made chocolate chip pancakes (that were dyed pink... i guess i started a "thing" on st. pat's day that i may not be able to stop!). we also had dinner with grandma and grandpa and one of bean's aunts. overall, a nice family day.

this was also bean's last holiday as an only child. did i find it bitter sweet. no. i'm actually a little annoyed that the new member of our family hasn't arrived yet! i was hoping we would have him/her with us this easter... or at least he/she would be born on easter. sorry sprouty, i know you like it in mom's tum but your getting kicked out on thursday!

anyways, i hope you all had a lovely easter weekend! and don't forget to hop on over to tracey's and see what everyone else has to share this monday!

Friday, March 21, 2008

Nope, not yet!

no, sorry folks, no labor yet. just an update:

the induction has been scheduled. it will be thursday march 27th at 8:30 am.

there is and end in sight people! woo hoo!

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Gimme a Little Attitude!

i had bean try on her easter dress. i needed to make sure it would fit and all. and she really did like it. she squealed with delight when she saw herself in the "big mirror". she though she looked pretty- which she does, of course.
but when i tried to take a picture, this is what i got...


little stinker!!
she still is darn cute though, isn't she?

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Easter Eggs


yesterday (before the fever hit) bean and i dyed easter eggs. she seemed to enjoy it last year so i was really looking forward to doing it again. and since i have no idea when sprout is going to decide to make an appearance, i figured we better get our easter preparations taken care of!

she had quite a lot of fun picking out what colors to make. deciding what mommy should draw and write on each egg was important too. we made and egg with her name, one that said "i love mommy", one that said "i love daddy", one that said "magpie" and one that said "little babers"- because the baby needed an egg too don't you know! it was a good time and a lot less messy than it was last year!

we also learned that yellow and blue make green. she wanted sprout's egg to be green but we hadn't made green dye. so i told her to make it yellow then we'd put it in the blue and see what happened. she was a little skeptical but did what i said. she was quite pleased when the egg turned a soft green color! hooray!

as for the sickies that have hit our house.... bean's fever is basically gone now. she still isn't eating much- i think she may have a stomach ache, but i'm not sure. but i think we are on the mends..... oh gosh, i hope i didn't say that too soon!

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

The Sickies

bean is officially sick. i really didn't think much of her runny nose when it started on monday. i mean, toddlers get runny noses and 90% of the time it doesn't bother them a bit. i still didn't think anything was terribly amiss when she started coughing monday night. runny noses sometimes have a cough attached to them, especially at night. so no big deal, right?

well, this afternoon, after dying her easter eggs, she sat down with me and snuggled up real close. she felt warm. no, she actually felt hot. oh dear. i hunt down the thermometer. she has a fever- 102.5. lovely! just what i need.

we go to the computer to look at pictures- this usually cheers her up. after a while i notice she is awfully quiet. yep, you guessed it, she was sound asleep. this is a child that DOES NOT nap- EVER. clearly, she is NOT well.

she sleeps fitfully for about an hour. i make her some dinner of which she eats very little. she asks to take a bath. ok. so, she splashes around a bit. then i get her dressed in cozy jammies and try to think of something relaxing to do. i almost suggest tv- even though she has already watched a fair bit today- because i'm at a complete loss. then she says, "mommy, i want to go to bed. i'm tired. i don't feel good."
WHAT??
it was 6:25. she normally goes to bed at 8:00. she has NEVER asked to go to bed- especially not early. she must feel REALLY bad!! so, i started the bed time routine. i turned out her light at 6:50. she has been asleep for close to thirty minutes now.

what now? i'm praying she wakes up feeling better. i'm praying that she sleeps soundly until morning. (and i'm praying that i don't get whatever it is that she has!)

Sprouty Update

well, it is that time of the week again. the time when you find out more about my cervix than you care to know. ;)

anyways, there really isn't much change. i'm now a full 1 cm dilated, still 80% effaced, and baby is still at -1 station. i'm not really encouraged by that. sigh. but at least things changed a little, i guess. the doctor did pull my cervix forward and try to stretch it- and boy did that feel good! ahh!- to see if that would help. i guess we will have to wait and see on that one.

as for the induction it is in the process of being scheduled. it will either be the 25th or the 27th. the reason is the baby seems like it may be big. i had trouble delivering bean (she was delivered via vacuum) and she was only 6 pounds 15 ounces. a bigger baby may present even more difficulties. i really want to avoid a c-section if at all possible so we are going to try it. the doctor also said it is very common to go into labor after scheduling an induction, so we are hoping that sprout decides to come out on his/her own in the next couple of days and i won't even need the appointment. ;)

so that is that. by next week we should be a family of four. wish me luck!! :)

Monday, March 17, 2008

Happy St. Patrick's Day!


happy st. patrick's day everyone! bean and i celebrated with a green breakfast this morning. we had green pancakes and green grapes, yummy! bean loves to cook and was especially excited about stirring the batter after i added the food coloring. she loved watching the batter slowly swirl into the color green. here she is pictured waiting for the pancakes to "bubble" so she can tell me to flip them over. she is a very good helper!

then the very best part- eating the green pancakes!! bean learned that adding green didn't change the pancakes- they still tasted as delicious as always. as a matter of fact, she ate two! :)

this second shot here also shows her "nasty head wound" that she got saturday. it doesn't look like anything at all now. but on saturday (when it happened) it was a doozy! just ask her daddy!!

hope you all have a great st. patty's day AND we'll just call this our best shot monday too while we are at it! ;) stop by tracey's for more best shot fun!!

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Sometimes the weekend isn't so relaxing....

it started saturday morning. the husband decided to take the bean to the recycling dumpster with him. woo hoo! i get a little break. she helped him load the car and i... well, i'll be honest, i went back to bed. a while later i hear this from the hall: "um, honey. we had a little accident and need some first aid."
so i stumble into the bathroom then turn back to reach for the girl. i'll say they had an accident! bean's hair, face and coat are covered in blood. delightful, what a way to wake up! so i wash her face and hair with a wash cloth while telling everything is just fine. it is just a little cut but when you cut your head it bleeds a lot because there are lots of blood vessels in your head (yeah, too much information for a 2 1/2 year old, i know. but she was going to ask why and i find it easier to just give her a reason, even if it is one she doesn't really understand completely!) we got a band aid on it and then i took her coat to the laundry room to see if i could get the blood off that.

the story is that daddy was letting bean grab small bags of recyclables from the car and run them to the dumpster where he would lift her up so she could throw them in. she was LOVING it. well, on the way back to the car she tripped and landed smack on her face. apparently we don't have a first aid kit in our car (yeah, we are on top of things aren't we) so the only thing that daddy could find to slow the bleeding was the lambswool padding on the dogs car harness- yes, i'm sure that was oh so clean BUT you gotta do what ya gotta do. then he brought her home for me to deal with.
what i find so odd is that i never freak out when i see blood all over my kid. i just calmly clean her up and talk to her in a soft voice. i would think that i would panic, but i don't. why do you suppose that is??

in "me" news.... the weekend is also much less relaxing when you are nauseas, crampy, and achy all the time. no contractions that i have noticed. just a general feeling of complete yuck that has lasted for about 2 days now.
sprout, if you are listening, it is time to come out! mommy wants to feel good again and having you in my arms instead of my belly is probably the only way that is going to happen!!

Friday, March 14, 2008

Look what bean learned today!


she can make the letter "e"! hooray! the coolest part is that she did it mostly on her own. she drew a line and asked me how to make it into an "e". i told her she had to add three lines and pointed to where they should go. she just went and did it, just like that. of course, a couple times she added a few too many lines or the lines weren't quite in the right spot, but i think this is pretty darn good for a 2 1/2 year old.
why the letter "e" you ask? well, it is the first letter in the name she goes by. i think she wants to write her name. she almost knows how to spell it, so writing it would be the next step i guess.
she is quite proud of herself right now. we had to email this picture to grandma, nana and daddy at work because she wanted to show them her "e's". i'm pretty proud of her too! :)

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Good Intentions


good intentions. i'm sure bean was full of good intentions when this conversation occurred.

i was reading her a bed time story when i let out a very large yawn.
"you yawned mommy!" she declared
"i'm sorry honey, mommy is just really tired tonight. i'll try not to do it again, " i reply and start back into the story.
she lays her hand on my leg and says, "don't worry mommy. i'll sleep good tonight. i won't wake up in the night time. i won't wake up too early. i'll sleep good for you." she smiles up at me nodding her head.
"oh honey," i say, "that is so nice of you." i give her a hug and kiss. we finish the story and our bedtime routine. she falls asleep rather quickly.

oh yes, good intentions. but not good follow through....
no, she didn't wake up in the night, but she did wake up at 7:15am. and since she has been sleeping until 8:00am since the time change, 7:15 felt awfully early to mama! i might be yawning at story time again tonight. hmmm, i wonder what she will promise me this time? ;)

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

GAH!

due to a slight misunderstanding by the husband and a computer error we nearly lost 3 months of pictures of bean a few days ago! OMG!!! i thought i was going to die!
i think i recovered everything. i think. i'm not 100% sure... well, i'm fairly certain that i recovered all the originals- i'm not sure i have all the edited versions. sigh. but the originals are what is important, right?

so, for the past three nights i have reorganized, burned to cd, labeled the cds, and copied to an external hard drive all of bean's photos. this took a while because i was pretty far behind on archiving. (i'm now exhausted) i will not let this happen again! i have a system of sorts in place now- it seems pretty complex compared to what i used to do (which we will call the "deal with it when you have time" system) but i think i can handle it.

public service announcement: i highly recommend that no one else use my former "system" when dealing with their digital photos- unless of course you like having panic attacks. ;)

Baby Love


here is a picture that shows the monstrosity of my tum. admire the hugeness! it weighs a metic ton.... ok, so maybe not but it sure feels like it when i'm lumbering around the house!

bean likes to hug her baby. she talks to her baby. she likes to say, "daddy, look at mommy's big baby belly!!" (gah!) she declared yesterday "i think babers is ready to come out." unfortunately i don't think babers was listening.

i'm not sure she completely understands what life will be like when the baby comes home. she knows it all. baby sprout will sleep in her old crib in her old room. baby's don't talk, they can only cry. baby's don't eat food they only drink "special milk". she will go on and on telling you about all the stuff about babies. my worry is that she won't let daddy help her with anything. when i remind her that the baby will need mommy sometimes and daddy will have to help her she tells me that "daddy can take care of babers and you can take care of me." i have a feeling we are going to have an interesting first few days at home learning how to share mommy...
i'm really not all that worried about how she'll treat the baby. my concern is how she is going to react to me!

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Nothing to report

sprout is happy where he/she is apparently. there has been no change at all. everything is exactly the same. it all looks good, of course. but still.....
this is very depressing to me.

i loved being pregnant when i was pregnant with bean. i was happy, relaxed, nothing really bothered me.
this time around- i'm irritable, uptight, impatient, and totally stressed out. everything is much more uncomfortable. i yell at my daughter over ridiculous things and then feel horrible. i'm so tired and cranky and i take it out on my husband. gah! i'm really starting to dislike myself.

you would think i would be getting nervous about the baby coming. you know, how to handle two kids at once and all that, but i'm not. i just want it over. i know it is only 16 days 'til my due date but that seems like a life time to me. is that pathetic or what?!?

so, we wait. we wait for a week and see what (if anything) happens.
yeah, waiting sucks.

Fort!


yesterday there was no school here (because of the snow, obviously) so daddy was home. when daddy plays you get to do things you don't normally get to do, like build snow forts!

i was tired and had to make dinner so i didn't get to enjoy the outdoor play this time. i had no idea what they were going to do but i was ever so curious when they went into the garage to "look for something". turns out they just needed a "mold" to build their fort and a bucket worked perfectly. i'm SO glad i made daddy take the camera out with him. othewise i never would have gotten to experience this! see that little face peeking out! akkk, i might die from the cuteness of it all!! ha!

i'm so glad they went out to play yesterday. the snow is melting quickly. the temperatures will be in the 40's today and tomorrow and in the 50's on thursday. sigh. our yard will be back to muddy swamp land and my house filled with muddy dog and toddler prints in no time at all!

Monday, March 10, 2008

Best Shot Monday


here is my best shot of the week. bean in her butterfly princess dress and wings. it is a little blurry, but i think that it makes the picture better. a bit more on the dreamy side, perhaps?

it is hard to get her to dress up. she would rather throw all the clothes on the floor and play in the empty box. i sometimes wonder why that is. maybe she is "too busy" to bother with the clothes. maybe she doesn't think she needs to dress up to pretend? i don't know. what i do know is she looks simply adorable when she does dress up and i feel like i must take pictures. you know, to hold that moment forever....

if you want to see what every one else is up to this monday, stop by tracey's and check it out!

Sunday, March 09, 2008

Oooooh! Pretty!

what do you think of the new look?? my friend mommee (who is obviously very cool) did this for me in her free time. free time!! i don't know where she found that! all i did was ask her to teach me how to do it and a couple weeks later i get this in my email! isn't she just the coolest!

thanks so much!!! i love it! i feel so much cooler now!

now, mommee, in a few weeks we will have to add pictures of sprout ya know.... ;)

She LOVES it!!


well, i took bean out and threw her into the snow for a photo op..... she didn't want me to take her out! she loved being in the snow up to her waist! she kept reaching down into the snow and throwing it up into the air. she was giggling uncontrollably. every time we pulled her out she wanted thrown right back in. it was pretty fun watching her and hearing her voice echo across the whole neighborhood.

later in the day, daddy helped bean make some delicious snow ice cream. we added chocolate syrup and peanuts, yummy!! sometimes daddy does have some pretty great ideas. ;)

we took the yard stick out to the the most level portion of the yard and took a reading of 15 inches. the deepest drift we measured was 28 inches. it was still snowing at this point so i think it is pretty safe to say we got at least another inch, if not more. it is the most snow we've seen in a long while- especially in MARCH. ;)

we went outside twice yesterday. and you know, as soon as she woke up this morning, bean was ready to go out again! so, it looks like we are playing in the snow today. hope you are all having a fun weekend!!

Saturday, March 08, 2008

Winter Storm!


this is the magpie looking at me saying. "holy crap woman! i know you said it was snowing but HONESTLY! how am i supposed to go to the bathroom?!?!? heck, how am i supposed to get to the yard?!"
poor magpie! i guess i'm going to have to drag daddy out to dig you a path to a place you can "do your business"!

yeah, we got a march "blizzard". the winds are not quite strong enough to be a real blizzard but when you open your back door and find a drift this big you can call it whatever you want! ;) you can also see that the snow is still falling steadily so it isn't over yet! i really want to bundle the bean up and drop her into the snow for a few pictures! how funny would that be!

here are a couple more shots- one that shows how deep that drift of snow really is and one that shows how much the snow is blowing....

oh and a big happy birthday to mommee- she turns 25 today! and boy, i'm sure she is really happy about all the snow she got as her gift! he he he!

Friday, March 07, 2008

Snow...

the snow started. it is blowing. it is getting a little slick on the roads.

we are expecting blizzard conditions, 8-15 inches of snow accompanied by some pretty strong winds, over the next 24 hours or so. so, what do you want to bet i go into labor tonight? wouldn't that be FUN! i don't feel like i'm going to but, you just never know....

the fact that i said to my mother a month ago "watch we will have a blizzard in march and that is when i will have the baby!" makes me worry just a wee bit! ;) ha!

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Sprout....

after saturday's post a few of you wanted to know what i thought about sprout's gender. do i think sprout is a boy or girl? hmmmm.

to be honest, i really don't have any idea. i've spent 90% of this pregnancy referring to the baby as a "she". does that mean anything? probably not. i mean, i have a little girl and a female dog. my guess is that saying "she" is just a habit. the fact that when i imagine the baby it is a girl is probably for a similar reason.

i don't dream about the baby. i had one baby related dream with bean and 2 with sprout. all the rest of my dreams are weird and involve lots of people from my past mixed with people from my present (that have never met). it is quite odd. my baby related dreams involve me being pregnant and having the baby kick me and you can clearly see the shape of the foot coming out of the side of my belly. creepy! so, you see, i haven't dreamed the gender of the baby either.

something somewhere inside me keeps me thinking girl though. but that could just be the fact that both bean and her father have expressed interest in this child being a girl and i don't want to disappoint them. (yeah, can you believe that daddy has actually said he wanted another girl!) to be honest, i guess i have to say that part of me really wants another girl too. would i be sad if i had a boy, no! but gosh, i love being the mommy to a little girl!

if you ask our family.... i think 90% of them will tell you boy. but i think that is because there are no grandsons/nephews on either side of the family and they all just want one. ;)

i'm trying to keep my mind neutral at this point. i don't want to find myself in tears in the delivery room because the baby isn't who i thought i wanted them to be. (obviously, god is giving us the baby that we are supposed to have!) whoever is in my belly is perfect the way they are and we will love him/her with all of our hearts! we will just have to wait a little longer to find out "who" they really are. :)

so there you have it. a wishy washy post in which i say virtually nothing! ha! but if you have any advice (especially if you have experience with this!) on the decision i have to make (from this post) feel free to leave a comment. thanks!!

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Beautiful Day


yesterday was a beautiful day. yesterday it was 65 degrees. bean tried to do the tricycle again. she still can't really do it. she is getting real close to learning to peddle though. we also did some chalk drawings and took some of bean's babies out for a stroll. it was nice.
except for the wind. bean does not like the wind blowing her hair around. she doesn't want hair on her face. she kept asking me to hold her hair down while we were drawing and walking her babies in their stroller. ;) silly girl!

today it is currently 31 degrees. it is also raining- a lot. my backyard looks like swamp land.
bean could not figure out why she couldn't wear a short sleeve shirt and her "hoodie-hood" today. why on earth should she have to wear her winter coat?!?!

don't you just love it when the weather plays with your kids mind?

Weekly Sprout Update

i'm back from the o.b. not much to report. you guys didn't do a very good job on that homework i gave you... you were supposed to send me dilation and effacement vibes!! ;)

baby appears very healthy still, even though there has definitely been a decrease in movement. seems sprout is running out of room. heart rate is still in the 150's.

pretty much no change for me though. still less than a centimeter dilated and baby is still sitting at -1. the only change to note is that i'm now 80% effaced. i'm pretty bummed. why? i don't know. i was hoping for a little more progress. i shouldn't be surprised though. when pregnant with bean i was 2 cm and 80% for a whole month. why do i think things should be so much different this time around??

as for induction, i can't be induced before 39 weeks- no medical reason to do so at this point. so the earliest it can be done is march 20th. the only other day available is my due date. so, now i have to decide. do i want induced? if the answer is yes- do i want to try to go early or do i want to wait and evict sprout on his/her due date?
hmmmmmmmm........ i guess i have a week to figure it out.

seriously, my next appointment is in a week. remember, think dilation and effacement! :)

Monday, March 03, 2008

Best Shot Monday


here is a shot of "super bean" from the past week. who knew that blankie was so versatile? i mean, it is great for sleeping with, helping you stop crying, and companionship while watching tv BUT who knew it also made a great cape?! she ran around the house for quite a while with that soft white blankie tied around her neck. then she needed a rest (plus blankie had come untied and was starting to fall off!) and i got this shot. nothing amazing but it is a sweet shot. maybe the last time she plays "super bean" as an only child?

that has popped into my mind several times in the past week. "this could be the last time we do (insert activity) before the baby comes." "this could be the last time she (insert another activity) as an only child." it isn't a sad thought. it is exciting to know that baby sprout will be here before too much longer. it is another chapter in our lives and i can't wait to start it!!

as always, don't forget to stop by tracey's and see what everyone else has been up to. you won't be disappointed!! :)

Saturday, March 01, 2008

Oh dear.....

oh i really did it this morning! i accidentally referred to sprout as a "him". this upset my little bean quite a bit.
"no mommy, babers is a girl! you called her "him", him's are boys," she tells me.
"honey, we don't know what baby is. baby might be a girl or baby might be a boy. we won't know until the baby comes out," i gently explain.
"i think babers is a girl," she says.
"well, what will you do if baby comes out and is a boy?"
"i probably will hit him," she says. (what?!?! this is a surprise. she doesn't hit and knows we have rules about hitting.)
"no, you cannot hit the baby. that isn't nice. and it isn't the baby's fault that you didn't get what you want. we don't get to choose what kind of baby we get. i think that you will love a brother just as much as a sister," i tell her.
"i don't think so mommy. i want a sister girl baby."

the conversation went on like this for several more minutes. i finally just gave up. she won't stop expressing animosity for the possible baby brother in mommy's tummy. her mind is made up, baby IS a girl and there is no changing it.
you don't think she'd really hit the baby, do you? nah, she'll love the baby once she sees it...... right?