In My Dreams Awake

Another New Year

2012-01-04T10:26:00.000-05:00

I've let so much time pass since my last post. Thankfully, I think everybody keeps up with us on Facebook so you know we're still here and just busy, busy.

Reagan is doing well in 2nd grade. It has been a struggle at times but her grades are outstanding and we are seeing improvements elsewhere. She has lost several teeth and has another loose one! She is officially a Snaggletooth!

Caleb is finally talking and I LOVE it! He is the sweetest (most of the time), cuddliest, and cutest boy. His favorite movies are Cars, Cars 2, and Scooby Doo. We watch them frequently!

Kinley is growing up so fast. She is the owner of two bottom teeth with two tops ones getting ready to pop through any day now. She crawls, cruises the furniture, and is becoming brave, trying to stand hands-free. This results in frequent crashes so it will probably still be some time before walking. She also waves and claps! She is such a good baby and a wonderful addition to our family. I think she has the greatest laugh and such a sweet personality.

My business is doing very well! Back in October I opened in my own space and it's been wonderful! I love my little building and I have the greatest clients! There is so much opportunity for growth and I'm hoping to have a great 2012!

I will try to get together some other photos from throughout the year. Wishes for a Happy 2012 to everyone!!

Smiles!

2011-04-13T17:52:00.001-04:00

Hard to believe our Kinley-bean will be 2 months old very soon. We are starting to get some personality! This photo makes my heart melt.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Kinley Jocelyn is here!

2011-03-11T18:57:00.010-05:00

Our long-awaited addition arrived on February 26, 2011 at 8:34 am. She weighed 7lb 15oz and was 20.5 inches long.

After a few days of on/off contractions and other impending labor signs, Friday morning I woke up extra uncomfortable and agitated. Mike left for work which was becoming increasingly stressful for both of us due to him being an hour from home and us living up to an hour from the hospital. Thoughts of going into labor at home alone with the kids compiled with worries of repeat placental issues were making me a wreck. I decided to put in a call to Kaiser to explain the situation to one of my doctors and see if they would be willing to induce since I was already past my due date. The nurse got me an appointment for that afternoon. Mom left work early to take me to the appointment and help with the kids.

We got to the appointment a little early but they took us right away. The nurse came in and took me into triage and hooked me up to the monitors. They monitored contractions and baby's heartbeat for about half an hour. The doctor came in and looked at the monitor report and then checked me. I was fully expecting for there to be no change from my appointment two days earlier but to my surprise, he said, "Yep, you're in labor." HOORAY!! He instructed us to go straight to the hospital, that he would be notifying them that we were on the way. :)

I called Mike on the way out of the doctor's office so that he could meet us at the hospital. It was rush hour, no doubt!! Thankfully, Mom had convinced me to bring my hospital bag with me, just in case. So, we began the drive up. Caleb fell asleep and watching him, it sunk in that it would be the last time I saw him while he was still "the baby". (Can you say hormones? LOL)

Mom dropped me off at Piedmont Hospital at around 5:30pm and Mike was waiting for us. We said goodbye to Mom and the kids and went up to L&D. Once we got there, they took us straight to my room and got things started. I was still about 4cm at that time. I got my epidural around 6pm, was nice and comfortable, and they left us to rest for awhile. Probably around 8pm, the midwife checked me again and I was about 5cm and contractions were still weak and pretty far apart. So, they started me on a low drip of pitocin and gradually increased it throughout the night.

My epidural didn't take all the way and I began feeling some pretty intense contractions in the early morning hours around 5am after the midwife came in and broke my water. About 7am, I felt some definite movement and a little pressure. About 5 minutes later, my midwife and nurse came in and said they had seen it on the monitors. My midwife checked me and said that I was almost complete. They raised the back of my bed up and lowered the bottom so that I was in a mostly sitting position. They left me that way to "labor down" for an hour. At 8am, they came back and my midwife began "gloving up". She asked me to do one test push and then told me to stop. She and the nurse finished getting everything ready.

Once they were ready, I was allowed to push. Less than 5 easy pushes later, the midwife had delivered Kinley's head and shoulders. She asked me if I wanted to deliver the rest of her. I reached under Kinley's arms and lifted her onto my chest. It was the most amazing feeling in the entire world. I held her and she was looking up into my face and barely crying at all. The midwife then asked Mike if he wanted to cut the cord. He declined so they let me cut it instead. All in all, it was a really amazing experience that I will never forget for my whole life and by far the best delivery experience of all 3 of my babies. Kinley never went into distress, never required internal fetal monitoring, and there was no need for an episiotomy, forceps, or vacuum. :)

They let me hold her for quite some time before taking her to get weighed, measured, and cleaned up. Then the drama began. My midwife couldn't deliver my placenta. It was happening again. I tried to remain focused on Mike and Kinley and what was going on with her but kept getting distracted by the amount of blood I kept seeing in front of me. Lynette (my midwife) had the OB surgeon paged to the room immediately. Once he arrived, it was an extremely painful repeat of my post-delivery with Caleb. External uterine massage is excruciating pain. After about 30-45 minutes of massage and manual curettage, an increase in epidural, and a shot in the leg of pitocin, the doctor was able to remove all of the placenta.

Things calmed down after that and we were feeling good that everything seemed to be more controlled this time around vs. with Caleb. I ordered some breakfast and was enjoying spending time with Mike and Kinley. Once my breakfast arrived, I began to feel nauseous and weak. Suddenly, I told Mike that I was going to pass out and we put in a call to the nurse. The nurse and my midwife were in there in a matter of seconds and were tilting my bed backwards and checking my blood pressure. I felt like I was in a tunnel as my hearing and vision began to fade. I heard one of the nurses say that my blood pressure was 77/45 and distinctly remember beginning to cry. I looked at Mike holding Kinley and thought of my other two babies. I've never been so scared in my whole life.

The OB surgeon came back in and they ended up doing more massage and gave me more medications to help my uterus "clamp" as I was still passing a lot of blood. Thankfully, they were able to stabilize me and I began to feel better after some time.

Later in the afternoon, Mom and Dad brought the kids up to the hospital to meet their new baby sister. Reagan instantly loved her but I think Caleb didn't really care one way or another. Ha!

We brought her home Monday afternoon and have been adjusting well. Kinley is such a joy. She is a great sleeper and has been eating well also. She has become more alert and awake in the last couple of days and I just can't wait to see her little personality and smiles as she gets older. We are so in love! :)

Due Dates Come and Go

2011-02-23T17:39:00.001-05:00

At least in my case they do. So, today was my due date and Kinley is still refusing to give Mommy a break. Doctor said, at my appointment today, that I'm 2.5cm and 70%. She's lower than Reagan and Caleb ever were until 2nd stage labor, measuring 35 weeks.. Dr. Madden said he couldn't even feel her head through my belly, only the base of her skull. Her heart rate seemed low so he sent me to be monitored for 20 minutes. During that time, I had ONE lousy contraction. He was happy with her heart rates after monitoring and said she looked great. Next appointment is March 2 at which time they will schedule an induction but not before. This Mama wants to cry just thinking about that appointment. (And I probably will when I wake up tomorrow still pregnant.)

In the meantime, I am cleaning my house like a mad woman. No, it's not nesting. It's a diversion. I can't sit still or I will do nothing but cry until this kid comes out.

Hopefully, I will have something cheerful to report before my next appointment. :)

Here is my glorious due date photo. Ha!

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39 weeks!

2011-02-16T06:29:00.006-05:00

Well, here we are, down to one week. And I am evaluating every twinge, kick, and pain. I have some good, some bad, and some really miserable days but that shouldn't be a surprise since I've been here two times already! Yesterday was a pretty good day as I managed to pushed Caleb up and down the driveway several times in his Cozy Coupe and on Sissy's scooter and then play hopscotch with Reagan. I'm definitely paying for it this morning, though, with painful swelling in my hands and feet. For the third time this week, I am wide awake at 6 am. So, here I am! :)

I decided to do an ExpectNet baby pool again. I did one for both of the other kids so I might as well have one for Kinley too. So, please go vote!!! We want lots and lots of votes!

My awesome sister-in-law to-be threw me a baby shower last Saturday, the 12th, at hers and Casey's house. It was so much fun and so sweet of her to do! We had about 8 people, the food was great, the games were fun, and Kinley definitely got showered with gifts. She has so many cute clothes that I can't wait for her to wear and lots of cloth-diapering "fluff" that her Mommy is pretty excited about too. I think Reagan had a really good time as well. She was the photographer and seemed to be really excited about some of Kinley's new outfits with the way she "oohed " and "aahed" over some of them.
Here I am at 38 weeks:

Here are some photos from the shower:

Tomorrow morning I have my 39 week appointment. I'm hoping for good news and a baby soon to follow!

A New Year

2011-01-04T10:08:00.006-05:00

"Another year is done and a new one just begun."

Thanksgiving and Christmas came and went, and about that fast too. We hosted Thanksgiving at our house this year and I thought it went very, very well. We had tons of yummy food and our favorite people all together and plenty of room for everyone. The weather was beautiful. We ended up with way too many leftovers, no doubt, but it was a day I was sad to see end.

The preparation for Christmas was more stressful this year than I remember it being in the past but that's probably to be expected when the kids get older and harder to shop for. Ha!

With the New Year, the focus has been on preparing for Kinley Jocelyn's eventual arrival. I've been buying bits and pieces of the few items that are needed for her, which really isn't much. February 1st meant the end of our waiting period for our insurance to kick in. Hooray! It was a long wait but after my 37 week prenatal appointment today with the midwife at Kaiser, it was well worth the wait. The experience with Kaiser has been superb so far. And I welcome the pleasantness with open arms after the last months' experiences with private OB practices.

So, as of today, Kinley has finally turned head-down. She is engaged and dropped. I am 1.5cm dilated and 50% effaced. I know from my previous two that this means nothing so I'm not getting excited. The plan is to go forward with a normal delivery despite my placental history. The midwife put notes in the system and sent them to the team at the hospital as well so that all are prepared as much as possible in the event the situation occurs again, which she admitted was likely. To be honest, I am terrified but am trusting in the good folks at Piedmont to take really good care of me. Now, everything is up to Kinley. Come on baby!!

Here are my most recent pregnancy photos:

30 weeks

36 weeks

37 weeks

Another Month Down.

2010-11-14T15:01:00.010-05:00

October came and went. Our leaving Massachusetts was bittersweet to say the least and came with its share of difficulties. We are getting settled and, once again, living in a cardboard jungle. Interestingly enough, when I began this blog coming up on two years ago now, I was pregnant and trying to unpack our apartment. :)

Reagan was a flower girl in a beautiful wedding at the beginning of the month.

My last prenatal appointment was the morning before we left MA. I met with my wonderful midwife, Lisa, who was one of the midwives that delivered Caleb. I am sad that I won't get to have Kinley at Anna Jacques with those awesome ladies. Lisa gave me my records with detailed notes, instructions to send pictures of the new baby, and said I was good to go. Although I haven't met with my new team of practitioners, the pregnancy seems to be going well still. I'm getting quite big and so is Kinley. I am able to feel her kicking and rolling much of the day now and Mike has finally been able to feel some of her kicks also.

Here are some of the most recent photos of my burgeoning belly:

22 weeks.

23 weeks 5 days (decked out in my Gators gear for the FL/GA game of course.)

This is the most recent at 25 weeks 2 days. You can see the mountains of boxes in our bedroom in this picture.

Halloween was fun this year even though it took us 3 neighborhoods and driving all the way down to Hampton to Casey's house to find some good trick-or-treating for the kids. This was the first time in 4 Halloweens that Reagan has not been some kind of princess, which was exciting for me! Ha! She went as a playful kitty and was super cute. Caleb was a little red devil and he was also as cute as could be.

They both ended up with their Halloween bags full of candy and had a great Halloween night.

Both of them crashed on the drive home. :)

To rewind slightly, Mom and I had a really awesome trip to Washington, DC at the beginning of the month. After a VERY rough start, we both arrived and checked into our hotel at the Gaylord National Harbor Resort. It was a pretty spectacular hotel. We had a very nice room and after having a delicious lunch at a mexican restaurant, overlooking the Potomac River, we took a Monuments by Moonlight tour of the city. It was great! The Capitol building was truly magnificent. Once I get the "good" photos of our trip uploaded, I will post them. Some of the architecture and the monuments were too pretty for words.

The next morning, we had some really awful coffee at the hotel's coffee shop, haha! I studied and Mom lounged. My exam went smoothly and quickly and afterward, my cousin Jessica met us for a ferry ride across the Potomac to Old Town Alexandria, VA for a ghost tour! The tour was a little silly but so much fun and Alexandria was so nice! I would love to spend some more time there. Once we got back to the hotel we all had chocolate cake and talked until almost 11pm. It was a great day.

Friday was our last day (very short trip) so Mom and I decided to go back into the city and hit up the Old Post Office and the National Archives Building. Both were awesome. The Declaration of Independence left me without words to describe it. I felt humbled to have been in the presence of something so special. Humbling is a very accurate word to describe a lot of the monuments in Washington, DC, whether they are war monuments or dedications to historical figures whose anointed words are engraved in the tons of marble you see. There was so much more that Mom and I wanted to do/see but just not enough time. We are definitely planning on going back sometime in the future.

I got the results from my exam a couple of weekends ago and I passed!! I am, officially, a Certified Professional Electrologist (CPE)!! Now, I need equipment and clients! So, my project now is to write a business plan and figure out how to get funding to purchase my much-needed equipment.

Reagan is loving her new school and is making new friends. She is learning Bible stories, cursive writing, and loves practicing for their Christmas concert. Caleb loves the new freedoms he has in our new house. He loves riding his car and pushing his dump truck up and down the halls and in and out of each room. We are all enjoying being able to spend a lot more time with Mom and Dad, as they are right around the corner from us now. We've been having family dinners on Monday nights after Reagie's swimming lessons (which everyone gets to take turns attending except for me, LOL).

We are looking forward to the holidays and getting to be with family and friends for Thanksgiving for a change.

Introducing..

2010-09-28T12:14:00.003-04:00

Kinley Jocelyn Bader! We had our anatomy scan this morning and she was still a girl! The tech said that everything looked perfectly normal. Kinley was face-down and wouldn't roll over for us, so the tech was unable to get all the needed measurements. We get, yet, another ultrasound next Monday to try to collect those.

The kids and I leave this Thursday for GA and I'm hoping to find a house while we're there. Only 15 days until moving day now!!

Sugar and Spice!

2010-09-15T23:03:00.003-04:00

That's right...and everything nice! It's a GIRL! We had a very nice experience at the ultrasound clinic. They had a toy corner for the kids and they were totally absorbed in playing so that Mike and I could enjoy the ultrasound.

Our little girl was laid back and relaxed, snuggled up with the umbilical cord and using the placenta as a pillow. She was also sucking her thumb. It was very cute. She wasn't hiding anything and the tech was able to get plenty of "money shots". She is without a doubt, 100% girl.

We are undecided on girl names but have already tossed a few around. I'm sure the perfect name will come to us soon.

Big News, No News

2010-09-14T15:30:00.003-04:00

We have been eagerly anticipating today's 17 week prenatal appointment for nearly a month now. Our BIG ultrasound was scheduled for 10:30am. I barely slept last night for having dreams of what the baby would be: girl or boy! At 9am, the doctor's office called to say there had been a scheduling mistake and they would have to cancel my ultrasound. Being the hormonal mess I am right now, I burst into tears. We are rescheduled for September 28.

We did, however, get to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time which was pretty neat. Heartrate is in the 150s.

On the side of really BIG news; Mike was offered and accepted a position at The Crowne Plaza in Atlanta. He starts on October 18th, so we have very little time to gather up everything and head south. We are all very excited about the move and all of the upcoming opportunities.

Also, my application for the CPE (Certified Professional Electrologist) exam was accepted! Mom and I have arranged to meet in Baltimore and spend some girls' time exploring the Nation's Capital around my exam time. I'm so excited and can't wait until it's time to go!

I will post more updates as they come! Here is a photo of my giant belly at 16.5 weeks. :)

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Exciting Things and Jumping Beans!

2010-08-22T17:27:00.007-04:00

The week started out less than spectacular with morning sickness taking out its fury on me, and Caleb's diaper rash returning even worse than before.

Wednesday morning, Mike had Interview #1 of his summer-long job search. It seemed to go well and we are awaiting the call for Interview #2 with the same company. I am crossing all my crossables that everything goes well.

Also on Wednesday morning, I had my 13 week prenatal appointment. Due to Mike's interview going longer than expected, I went to the appointment alone, which was a disappointment because we were supposed to get to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time. Well, hearing the heartbeat was not meant to be. My midwife searched for a good 10 minutes and it was no where to be found. To ease my worries (even though she said the morning sickness was sufficient evidence that all was well) she sent me over to the ultrasound lab to check on things. Yay for ultrasounds!!

The ultrasound tech was so great! She found the baby right away and let me watch for a good half an hour. Baby looked awesome! He/She was bouncing all around in there, rolling, flipping, and just generally showing off for me. I was sad that Mike and the kids had missed it. The tech took about 12 pictures for me to take home, all of which turned out really great. Before leaving, I got to set up my next appointment for September 14. Before that appointment, we will have our BIG ultrasound and find out whether the belly bean is a girl or a boy! I can't wait!!

Here are some pictures from the ultrasound:

Here is Bean, chilling out. I love how you can see both legs and the little nose. :)

Here is Bean arching his/her back and reaching toward the mouth. You can see tiny fingers!

In this one you can actually see the baby using my uterus as a launching pad! See the bent knees and the teeny foot at the top? :)

And here is the baby saying, "Go Junior" with his/her arms up just like big brother!! The baby is turned away in the photo. You can see the spine from the base of the neck to the rump, a femur bone of the thigh, the arm, hand, and tiny fingers!

Caleb had a word explosion this week! He went from a handful of words to closer to 10! He can say cracker, here, look, No, pap pap (pacifier), bear, Buzz (Buzz Lightyear), thank you, here you go......Those are the only ones I can think of right now. Some of them are undecipherable to people other than me and Mike but words, nonetheless. :)

And on the last exciting note! I completed my final two theory courses for school! Tomorrow morning I will go in to meet with Mary and calculate my remaining hours, if any. I am so excited and can't believe I finished by my goal date. When school started, the goal was to finish by the end of August. I'm pretty proud of myself and Mike and the kids for my being able to do this with the limited physical support that we have. We are a pretty awesome team!

And speaking of the team....tomorrow is mine and Mike's 2-year anniversary! We both decided this morning that we couldn't believe it was 2 years. Seems like an eternity! LOL!!

Pink or Blue?

2010-08-14T23:47:00.003-04:00

Just for fun, last night, we bought an IntelliGender prediction kit. I know of several other women who have tried them just for fun and some of the predictions have been correct. According to an article on CNN Health, IntelliGender claims between 75-80% accuracy. Even so, the instructions clearly state not to paint any walls or invest serious emotional or financial stake in the results of the test. It is supposed to be for FUN. :)

Ours predicted........GIRL! Mike seemed a little bummed because he will now be outnumbered. Ha! Either way, let the name debate begin!

Just to get out of the house today, I took the kids down to Winnekenni Castle to play on the playground. It was a beautiful evening on the lake. Caleb had a great time in the swing, giggling and laughing the whole time. Reagan made a few friends and became captain of the playground ship, giving out orders and making kids walk the plank. At about 75 degrees, it was perfect weather for driving around with the windows down (one of Reagan's favorite things to do). When we got in the car to leave, I rolled the sunroof open and Reagan said, "Ah, isn't this the light, Mom?" Hahaha!

It will be a pretty uneventful upcoming week minus our 3rd prenatal visit on Wednesday. I am looking forward to this one because we should be able to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time. And perhaps we'll get to set up an appointment to verify IntelliGender's prediction! We shall see.

Here is Caleb on the swings tonight. :)

Blueberries, Baby, and Road Trips

2010-08-11T09:49:00.009-04:00

With morning sickness being less of a factor during the last two weeks, August has shaped up to be a great month for us. Reagan started ballet and swim lessons at the YMCA this month and is really enjoying herself. Mike has been fortunate to have a couple of Saturdays off which we have taken advantage of and gotten out to enjoy the beautiful New England summer.

The first Saturday, we drove up to Hampton Falls, NH to the orchard where we went apple-picking last Fall. It is the end of blueberry season up here and we picked a giant basket full of blueberries. The bushes were full of plump, juicy, beautiful blueberries. Reagan and Caleb both ate their share of them while at the orchard. It was a beautiful, cool day and we all really enjoyed being out on the farm that day.

Our NT Scan which was scheduled for Friday, the 11th, went very well. We all got to go together to see the baby, who was mostly sleeping from what we could tell. This baby seems to be very laid back like Caleb was. Toward the end of the scan, the baby kicked a few times but that was about it. The doctor said that all of the measurements looked normal and Baby was measuring about 4-5 days ahead. The ultrasound tech even let Reagan use the wand to find and see the baby and press the button to take a picture of her very own. I got the results from our scan back yesterday and all was negative for Down's Syndrome and Trisomy 18. Here is our favorite picture from the scan which was taken at 11 weeks 2 days.

This past Saturday, after Reagan's ballet lessons, we piled into the car and set off for Maine! We took the coastal route from Massachusetts and drove up the coast of New Hampshire and crossed the NH/ME border on Rt. 1 in historic Portsmouth, NH. It was really beautiful! Portsmouth is a classic New England fishing town with towering church steeples marking the humble skyline.

The moment you cross the Piscataqua River Bridge into Kittery, ME there are giant lobster-shaped signs everywhere you look and seafood restaurants on every corner advertising the best lobster rolls in New England. It was about 5-10 degrees cooler in Maine than it was when we left home in Massachusetts and the smell of cedar and the sea was abundant. Cruising along in the beach-goers traffic with all of the windows rolled down and the sunroof open was a little slice of heaven.

About a half-hour into Maine, we arrived at York Beach and made the turn up a crowded coastal road to Nubble Light. It was beautiful! The lighthouse, itself, is on a private island surrounded by rocky New England coast and the Atlantic Ocean. Reagan enjoyed watching the artists with their canvas, easels, and paintbrushes and jumping from rock to rock while Caleb seemed fascinated by the waves and the seagulls. I think I could have found a quiet rock facing the waves and spent the entire afternoon in peace.

We heard rumors of a famous ice cream joint while at Nubble Light, so after spending about an hour at the lighthouse, we got back in the car and went in search of Cape Neddick's famous ice cream. It didn't take long to find it as there was quite a crowd! And it really was as good as we had heard. We explored the coast for a while longer before heading home, made a few discoveries (such as Perkins Cove, which looks like the perfect place to go on vacation), and decided we would definitely go back for a longer trip and go further north up to Acadia National Park. I already can't wait for our next road trip! Leaf-peeping season is creeping up and I can't wait to drive up into Vermont to see the beautiful maples!

Our next prenatal appointment is a week from today, which is also the first day of the second trimester! Hooray for milestones! I will have updates then and hopefully some more adventures to brag about. :)

It's a....Gummy Bear!

2010-07-29T08:59:00.003-04:00

Our ultrasound last Wednesday showed a super cute belly bean with a heartbeat, flickering away at 177 bpm! The baby is measuring perfect in terms of dating. The overall appointment was worry-free. On August 6 we go in for an NT Scan and will hopefully have more cute pictures to share!

At 10 weeks now, the morning sickness seems to be letting up a bit. I was actually able to do a little bit around the house yesterday. With Mike's help in the kitchen this week, it's looking less like a bomb went off in our apartment. Reagan's bedroom is an entirely different story, however. Ha!

Summerness....

2010-07-18T14:55:00.005-04:00

Well, there was no wishing for warmer weather this year up in New England. We have definitely had our fair share, or more. The majority of this month we have had temps in the 90s. With it being so hot, it actually helps me to feel less guilty about feeling so rotten that I can't take the kids to the park and the beach like I had planned. Morning Sickness has a full hold on me with this pregnancy and I'm miserable about 90% of the time.

We had an unplanned last minute trip home to GA over the 4th of July weekend and were pleasantly surprised at how mild the weather was! We had a really great week with the exception of Reagan and Mike being sick part of the time and Caleb repeatedly bumping his head! We were all able to go to Nash Farm and watch the 4th of July fireworks show, which was a lot of fun. Caleb was mesmerized by the fireworks and seemed to really love it. The day before we left to come back to MA, Mike and I took the kids to the Georgia Aquarium and had a really wonderful day. It was my first trip there and I was really impressed. It is always sad to leave and I miss everyone but it sure is nice to be sleeping in my own bed again!

School is winding down for me and I have mostly online theory hours left to complete. This comes just at the time when Summer is really ramping up for Reagan, who completed her first week of Art Camp last Friday. She is having a blast making new friends and doing all kinds of arts and crafts projects, while enjoying lots of outdoor play as well. They put on a play Friday in which Reagan had the lead part for her group. They put on a mini production of 101 Dalmatians and Reagan was Pongo. She also had a solo during the singing portion of the presentation. I have no idea where she gets her courage from but she showed no signs of stage fright whatsoever. She has one more week to go and will then, hopefully, be starting swimming lessons and ballet/jazz lessons at the YMCA!

Caleb is doing pretty much what he always does. He has learned a few more tricks such as blowing kisses and throwing his arms up to let us know he's "done" but he still only has one word (uh-oh) and I'm not sure if he's in any hurry to learn new ones.

I am very excited for our first ultrasound of our new belly bean this coming Wednesday! I will be sure to post the ultrasound photos as soon as I get them. In the meantime, here are some photos from our trip to Georgia and the Aquarium.

Other photos from this month:

And just for fun!

Make sure you vote in the poll on the right side of the page!

Clearblue....yep, Easy!

2010-06-21T19:53:00.002-04:00

Isn't that a pretty sight? There is something very thrilling about seeing the word vs. two pink lines.

Still not much to report. Morning sickness seems to be ramping up and I get pretty tired late in the afternoon. Other than that, I feel great. Reagan is very, very excited about getting another baby. Although, this time she wants a little sister. She comes up with little girl names on a daily basis and runs them past me. :) At the top of her list right now is: Selena Gomez. Ha!

Sweet Surprises!

2010-06-20T12:40:00.002-04:00

We are extremely excited to announce that we are expanding our family by two feet!

Not much to report right now. I'm feeling great and will try to keep the updates coming.

One whole year!

2010-06-17T18:47:00.002-04:00

Well, I've proved that I'm not that great at keeping this thing updated. Perhaps I can be consistent with every 6 months! To recap: Reagan turned 6 in March and Caleb celebrated his 1st birthday earlier this month. We took a huge family vacation to California in April and spent the week at Disneyland. We had a great time! I started Electrology school in April as well and am a little more than half way done now. Expecting to complete all of my hours sometime in August. I am loving every minute that I am at school.

Reagan's last day of Kindergarten is next week. They have been visiting the 1st Grade classrooms and preparing the kids to go into the First Grade. Reagan is excited about attending all-day school in the Fall. She is signed up for Art Camp for two weeks in July. She lost her first tooth last month and has a couple more that are loose! The tooth fairy left her a dollar and her reaction was, "That's not a whistle!"

Caleb has been walking for a couple of months now and has six teeth. He still doesn't have any words but Reagan has enough for all of us. :)

Here is our last 6 months in photos! Enjoy!

6 months! Wow!

2009-12-08T21:12:00.000-05:00

Hard to believe, but Caleb is 6 months old now! And all about the same time he has started sitting up, rolling over, eating solids, holding his own bottle, and is very close to crawling. Today, he even tried to pull himself up on the sofa and his crib!! My sense of urgency to childproof the house was reinforced when I saw him reaching up. Haha! His 6 month well-baby checkup was last week. He weighed 21.6 pounds!!! He is a BIG boy! He also is the proud owner of a new tooth. I can't wait to get a toothy baby picture. :o)

We had a very nice Thanksgiving. Reagan helped me bake all day long and Mike was able to make it home for dinner. Although Caleb was asleep, it was nice to have a Thanksgiving Dinner, just the three of us, since Mike usually is working the majority of the day.

We just got home from a 4 day trip to Washington to visit Mike's family. We had an excellent time. No one was ready to come home. I'm hoping to have some photos to post of the weekend soon. We took the kids to Zoolights on Friday night and it was spectacular. We made homemade Italian Sausage on Saturday and that was quite the event! And mmmmmmm, it was yummy!! Reagan had a blast with her 3 cousins and was sad to leave. We came home to about 3 inches of snow on the ground. Supposed to get more in the morning. Reagan had so much fun making snow angels when she got off the bus today. We had a snowball fight which was pretty fun too (I won). ;o)

A week from tomorrow, however, we will be heading to GA for a Christmas visit. I'm super excited to see everyone and get some Gulf Shores time in. Caleb will surely be crawling all over the place by then. It will be hard to keep up with him!

I just finished watching Charlie Brown's Christmas Special (one of my favorite things about the Christmas season) and am now decorating our Martha Stewart tabletop Christmas tree as it looks like a "real" tree is once again not in the cards. Here is to hoping that next Christmas we will live somewhere we want to call "home".

I hope each and every one of you reading this has a magical Christmas season and gets to be "home for Christmas"! :o)

And another month..or two..

2009-09-26T12:43:00.000-04:00

I haven't been doing a very good job keeping this updated lately. Busy is an understatement. But it's also a very good thing.

Reagan started Kindergarten on September 8. It was a bittersweet day for me but she is having a great time and learning so much. She has reading homework every night and family projects to work on every month. She seems to like it it really well and has a crush already. His name is Hayden.

Caleb is getting huge. Our little chunky man will be 4 months old soon. He started "talking" last week when Mom and Dad were visiting from GA. Still not rolling, but he has started scooting.

Mom and Dad came up last week for an eight day visit. Over the weekend we all drove up to New Hampshire for a weekend trip. It was a great weekend! I had so much fun. The leaf peeping left some to be desired since we were a little early for that, probably only by a week, unfortunately. The weather was beautiful. We stayed in Littleton, NH a few miles from Franconia Notch State Park in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. It was really beautiful there in the mountains. We had an excellent dinner at a really cool little Mexican restaurant in Littleton, called Alburritos. The live music was wonderful and completed the atmosphere. It was so much fun.

Saturday, we got up early and headed to the park. We did some hiking in the park along the Pemigewasset River that was spectacular. Sunday, we rode the aerial tram up Cannon Mountain. The views were beautiful!

It was a really great weekend and I was sad for it to be over. Here are some photos from Reagan's first day of school, our New Hampshire trip, and others from the past month or so. I'll try to update more often.

A month later...

2009-07-07T12:17:00.004-04:00

I know this is long overdue. Life has gotten busy to say the least. Caleb is now a month old! Doesn't seem possible. Funny how much you forget about that first month after a baby is born. Needless to say, I believe they are repressed memories. Haha! It has been rough, it has been fun, it has been exhausting, and it has been exhilarating. Now, at the one month mark we finally get the rewarding smiles and coos. My heart melts several times a day now and flutters every time I see his adorable chunky face.

Updates: At his two week appointment he weighed 8lb 8oz, a pound and two ounces above his discharge weight! We are exclusively nursing so that was affirmation that we were doing very well. He was diagnosed with a little bit of baby reflux and given some Zantac, which now, almost 2 weeks later, seems to be helping a lot.

Yesterday was his one month appointment. My little chunky man now weighs 10lb 8oz!! He gained two whole pounds in two weeks. Knowing that he's doing so well and gaining well renews my determination to overcome difficulties with nursing (of which there have been many). I don't think I ever knew how difficult nursing could be or what kind of obstacles there would be to overcome. Kudos to anyone who has stuck it out! My original nursing goal was 4 weeks. It was a proud and happy day last week when I met my goal. Ideally, I would love for my new goal to be 4 months but realistically I am taking it one week at a time. However, keeping the 4 month goal in mind, I am likely to reach it. I'm a pretty determined individual. :)

Mike's parents came to visit last week and spend some time with Caleb. Reagan loved all the attention. On the Thursday they were here we took a road trip up into New Hampshire to a town of Meredith and Centre Harbor on Lake Winnipesaukee. It was absolutely gorgeous and I wish I had been able to take pictures. It wasn't a bad drive though and I can't wait to go back on a more beautiful and sunny day. We have had a long stretch of yucky weather.

This weekend we will be enjoying the company of Rachel and Jason. We're hoping the weather will be a little nicer for them. It is Tall Ships week in Boston so I'm also hoping to get down to the city and see some of the beautiful ships.

At the end of the month we are all (Mike included!) going to Georgia for a visit. We will be there the 31st - 3rd. I'm very excited to go home and show off Caleb and introduce him to PaPa, Uncle Casey, Uncle Mark, and Aunt Lisa. I'm also looking forward to a very relaxing and non-hectic long weekend.

Here are some of our latest photos. Enjoy!

And my favorites!!

Caleb Michael is finally here!!

2009-06-13T11:59:00.004-04:00

Understandably, this has taken awhile to post. My last post left off with our Sunday NST. Mom flew into MA on Wednesday, June 3 (to help with the baby we didn't have yet). So, Reagan and I woke up and rode into work with Mike. We had a delicious breakfast at the hotel and got to meet several people that Mike works with. The ladies in HR were amazed that I was "dressed and walking around"! Hahaha! Even being a week late, I didn't feel too terribly bad, just overdue. After Chef kicked Mike out of work and told him not to come back that day, we went to the airport to pick up Mom. We spent some time walking around Target and picking up a few items for the house and then went to Friendly's for lunch. We had a nice afternoon and then decided to have chinese food for supper. We ordered the General Tso's a little spicier than we normally do. It was so good!

At 4:57am, I woke up to my first contraction. Convinced it was probably nothing but unable to go back to sleep, I decided to take a bath. No more contractions during that time. But once I got out and went into the bedroom they picked up again and slightly more intense. Mike woke up and saw me leaning over the side of the bed and asked me what was going on. I told him I thought I was in labor finally and he jumped into the shower 'lickety split'! I got dressed and went into the living room. I was going to try and have some water and just "labor at home" for as long as possible. Reagan woke up and wanted some chocolate milk and cartoons. That's when the contractions became almost unbearable. I felt very ill and went into Reagan's bathroom and made her go wake Mom up. Reagan kept telling me that I couldn't get sick in her bathroom. Haha! Mom came in and got me a washcloth and called the Birthing Center for me. At that time, my contractions were anywhere from 3 - 5 minutes apart and extremely intense.

I did very well on the way to the hospital, listening to my Hypnobabies, and breathing through my contractions. When we got to the hospital and made our way up to L&D, they put me right into a room and skipped triage completely when they saw me have a contraction. When my midwife finally made it in to check me, I was 5cm. A couple hours later, I was still at a 5 and in complete agony. According to my midwife and nurse, the way my pelvic bones and hipbones are rotated, the baby's head was resting on my bone and every contraction was pushing him into the bone. I opted for the epidural at that point, which turned out to be a good idea. I had them put it on the lowest dosage so that I could still feel my contractions but was able to relax during them as I had been taught in my Hypnobabies. At that point, I began to make progress again. 1 centimeter an hour.

At one point, the nurse decided to have me flip to my other side to see if it would help me progress. When they did this, Caleb's heartbeat dipped significantly. The room filled with nurses and they had me flip back over and they had to place the internal monitor on Caleb's head. I began crying because the same exact thing happened with Reagan 5 years earlier. Once they got him and me stable again, things were better for a little while. The next time they checked me, I was at 9cm and I asked them to turn off the epidural so that I could push. The nurse wanted to flip me again. The same thing happened again except much worse because the next thing we knew, there were about 7 nurses and doctors in the room with us and everyone was in a panic. They gave me a shot of something to stop my contractions because they thought it was distressing the baby. The shot made me feel terrible and they got me back on the side that Caleb seemed to prefer and eventually things settled down and we were both stable again.

When the nurse came back in, I asked her for some water and she told me that they weren't going to give me anything until the doctor had been in to see me. She indicated that everyone thought the baby wouldn't tolerate me pushing since he didn't tolerate the contractions and that they would probably be prepping me for a c-section. When she left the room, I began to cry uncontrollably. I was very scared and upset that she had brought it up to me before the doctor had even been in. (Mike snuck me some sips of water, too. He was my hero!)

The shot began to wear off and my contractions returned and were intense and regular again. The nurse came in and thought they should turn my epidural back on since I was having to breathe through contractions again. My midwife, Lisa, came in and checked me before turning my epidural back on and determined I was a 10. She got my other midwife, Susan, and we decided to do a "test push" to see how well Caleb would tolerate it and also to see if he would descend since he was pretty high up still. Blessedly, he tolerated me pushing VERY well and came down beautifully!! 25 minutes later, I had my beautiful son on my chest and in my arms!! It was the most amazing experience of my whole life. I have never been so happy to see anyone.

Then things got scary. My placenta wouldn't detach and they were having to do some really horrible and painful massage to try to deliver it. When an hour had passed and they had made no progress, they made Mike leave the room and took the baby to the nursery. There were nurses and doctors everywhere again. My epidural got turned back on at a very high dosage and the anesthetist put some medicine into my IV and I was OUT. They had to manually remove my placenta. When I spoke with my midwife later, she said that a 'retained placenta' was a very rare occurence but once someone has it happen, it is very likely that it will happen again. With Reagan, I had a very small chunk that was retained. This time it was the whole placenta. I, apparently, lost tons of blood, and they were monitoring me to determine if I would need a transfusion.

They finally allowed Mom and Reagan to come in and see me and they brought Caleb back in as well. I began feeling better pretty quickly and they said I stabilized very nicely. Saturday morning, my midwife said that they wouldn't be doing the transfusion and Mike and I were allowed to take Caleb home on Saturday. I am supposed to be taking it very easy for another week due to the blood loss I had but I feel good most days and am doing very well.

Mom extended her stay and went back home on Monday. We were sad to see her go and wish we could have spent more time with her while she was here. We're so grateful that she was able to come and stay to help us out with Reagan and be here for such a big event. It was a blessing that she was able to be here for it.

So far things are going very well at home. I still haven't been able to sleep in my own bed but I'm hoping for soon! Overall, he's such a good, easy baby. A few rough nights are par for the course, I suppose. We have been out with him a few times and he does so well. Last night, Mike took us to Salem Beer Works, a very cool microbrewery in Salem, MA. It was a beautiful day and we took backroads all the way and saw some gorgeous scenery. Caleb slept through our entire meal, which was delicious. I got to have my first beer since becoming pregnant and enjoyed some really great hot wings as well. We have been wanting to find a good Brewery since we left the island and I think we found it. (It still doesn't totally compare to Kona Brewery though. C'mon, it's Kona!)

It's time to go put some lunch together for all of us. Today is Mike's last day at home as he will be returning to work tomorrow. I'm a little anxious about being alone with a newborn and a 5 year old, especially for the hours the Mike has to work, but I'm sure we will be fine. Amazing how much more confidence you have the second time around. Also amazing is the amount of love that I feel for both of my kids now. I was worried during the pregnancy how I would be able to share my love or have enough for two but I found out immediately that my heart is just overflowing with more love for both of them.

Here are some photos that we have of our little Caleb Michael so far. I will try to update as often as I can, though I'm anticipating not having as much time as I did before his arrival. :o)

Not a May Baby

2009-06-01T08:50:00.004-04:00

Mike took the day off yesterday and went with us to the hospital for our post-dates Non- Stress Test. At 10 am they hooked me up to the monitors and recorded Caleb's heartrate for almost an hour. They said he responded well and sounded beautiful. My midwife checked me and I was still at 2.5cm and 50% just like Thursday, so no progress. She may have gotten things going though, so we will see what happens. She said that everything seems ready, I just need to get some good contractions going. As of now, I still have 3 more appointments for this coming Thursday. Another NST, an ultrasound, and my 41 week check.

Things are picking up some this morning so I'm crossing my fingers and trying to be hopeful. I sent Mike to work anyway even though he hung around a little longer than usual to try and be sure. We're all so tired of the 'waiting and seeing' game. Funny how I knew from the very beginning of this journey that I would most likely be having a June baby but I was still holding out for a May baby. It took until right up to the end of the night for me to accept that my May baby would be a June baby. We will keep everyone updated as the week goes on.

Here are some photos from the weekend. First one is of Reagan riding her scooter. We had some beautiful weather this weekend.

This picture is from last night. We made brownies with Reese's peanut butter cups pressed into the brownie mix! Mmmm!!! This is the result of Reagan licking the wisk. :o)

40 weeks....and counting?

2009-05-27T17:25:00.002-04:00

Well, I made it to my 40 week appointment today. After the events of the week I was expecting to have made progress but it wasn't as much as I was expecting. I am 2.5cm dilated and 50% effaced. He did drop another cm lower so was still measuring 37 cm like the week before. She said he seemed nice and comfy in there so she ordered a Non Stress Test (NST) for this Sunday, although she believes that everything is fine with him. In addition to our NST on Sunday we get to go back next Thursday, June 4, for another NST, and ultrasound, and a 41 week check. In keeping with sounding completely redundant and ridiculous....we're really hoping we don't make it to that appointment as Mom is due to arrive on Wednesday, June 3, to help us with the baby. It would be helpful to have a baby when she gets here.

All that said, I am trying very hard to keep my spirits up and have faith that my body actually does work properly and knows what to do. It is very easy to get discouraged and weary. If I thought it was hard last time, it has to be harder this time to be telling my 5 year old day in and day out that "Mommy can't do that", "Mommy can't bend down to wash your hair", "You can't sit in my lap", "Mommy is so tired", or "Mommy is really much too big right now to spend too much time waddling around outside". I am so tired of telling her that "when the baby gets here" (complete the sentence). We're all tired of waiting for Caleb to get here. So he needs to come on.

Lots and lots of photos!

2009-05-25T15:22:00.003-04:00

Mike had Saturday and Sunday off this past weekend! It was the first time since we moved here that he had two days off in a row other than the weekend we went to Washington for Easter. It was so nice having him with us for two whole days. Saturday we worked hard to get everything ready for the baby's arrival. We cleaned the Pack n Play, aka Caleb's bed, and the swing and got the house all cleaned and set up. We installed the car seat and got caught up on laundry. We are officially ready in every way for him to finally get here. We were really hoping it would happen over the weekend but to no avail. Today is looking hopeful but we still know it could be another week or so.

Yesterday, Mike uploaded all of the photos from his camera to our computer. There were a lot of them and they go back to our honeymoon. So, I put some slideshows together to show off our pictures. I will put a wedding slideshow together as well for those who didn't get to come to the wedding and would like to see those photos. The first slideshow here is from the week of the wedding while Mom and Dad were visiting the island. We took Reagan to the park up in Waimea.

I added some photos to the slideshow from our Easter trip, which you can see by clicking on this link. Mike was able to get a photo of each of the kids looking like a deer in headlights. Pretty funny.

These photos are from our Honeymoon, Day 1 & 2.

These are from Honeymoon Day 3.

These are from Honeymoon Day 4.

Not much else to report right now. We are hoping that Caleb will grace us with his presence this week as we're all anxious to meet him. We will keep everyone updated in the coming days.

39 week appointment...

2009-05-22T12:02:00.006-04:00

Well, I really have nothing new to report. Reagan and I went to my 39 week appointment yesterday and Caleb measured 37cm which means he is still dropped 2cm and continuing to grow. His heartbeat had slowed a little bit more from the previous two weeks to 130-131. The midwife said that was a great sign of maturity and that he could be ready to come any day now. That was the extent of the appointment. She told me that if I was still pregnant by my 40 week appointment they would threaten Caleb with eviction and order a Non-Stress Test (NST) to evaluate his living conditions. I really hope he comes before then because I really don't want to go through any of that. I think it's unnecessary. It would be extremely nice for him to come on out this weekend, though, since Mike is taking Saturday and Sunday off of work. It is the first time since we moved to Massachusetts that he has taken two days off in a row!

After the doctor's appointment, Reagan said she wanted to go to the McDonald's with a playground. So, we drove over there and had lunch and she got to play outside. She had her first-ever ice cream cone and never even tasted the cone. It got up to 91 degrees here yestersday and her ice cream was melting all over the place! Haha! She said she didn't want it anymore and threw it away. I think she thought it was more trouble than it was worth. Mine, however, was absolutely wonderful and I ate every single bite of it. I'd kinda like to have another one right now!

We did some shopping after that over in Methuen. I got some new jar candles from Bath & Body Works; their Slatkin candles are the most wonderful candles I've ever had. Reagan got some sandals and two pairs of flip flops for summer. They are very pretty and she loves them. She is my girly-girl! She'd rather have clothes or shoes than toys just about any day.

My next appointment is Wednesday, the 27th. I hope I get to cancel that one! I'd love the next update on this page to be full of pictures of Caleb's little face. We shall see. Here are some photos from yesterday.

38 Week Appointment

2009-05-12T16:56:00.011-04:00

It has been another week. Reagan and I drove to Newburyport this morning for my 38 week appointment. Everything is still going great. The midwife seemed surprised that Caleb had already dropped, he is measuring 2cm behind which means that he is still growing but has dropped 2cm. His heartbeat has slowed slightly which she said was a sign that he is maturing. Along with other signs and symptoms, she said he could make his appearance any day now, which also means that he could hang around for another 3 weeks so I'm not getting my hopes up. Ha! 39 week appointment is next Tuesday.

I put a poll on the right side of the page under the Caleb section, so go vote. Here is my huge 37.4 week belly!

After the appointment, Reagan and I went back to the park at Georgetown to play on their wonderful playground. It was such a beautiful day and since we had the car we hated to waste it. Reagan learned how to swing all by herself today! I am so proud of her! I will try to post the video.

Here are some photos from our family day out yesterday, as well as Reagan by the pond at the park today. Mike treated me to a pedicure yesterday afternoon (probably my last one before the baby comes) and then we went out for supper at Friendly's (one of our favorite places to go because the ice cream is so good!). Reagan had hot fudge on her face, hands, and even her shoulders! Haha!!

37 Week Appointment

2009-05-06T12:01:00.003-04:00

Things seem to be moving right along. Caleb was measuring one cm less than last week because he has dropped 2cm, according to the midwife. That's good news! She also said that, as of now, he's "sunny side up" but not to be concerned because he still has time to turn. It was a pretty uneventful appointment; we mostly discussed protocol for when birth begins as I'm now considered to be "full term".

Reagan loves going to the appointments. The midwives let her measure my belly and use the doppler to find Caleb's heartbeat. They say she's a "pro" and she has so much fun. Last week she told us that she wants to be a midwife when she grows up. :o) I think it's a great idea!!

After the appointment we went to Cracker Barrel for lunch/breakfast. It was SO yummy!!! Best meal I've had in awhile. Reagan made a friend at the table next to us. His name was Hunter and he was also 5 years old. They had a big time and I think Hunter developed a little crush on Reagan. He told her how pretty she was and she giggled. Very cute. When he was leaving, they said bye to each other and he said, "Bye, Reagan, I love you." Hahahaha!!! It was very funny. Reagan came over and whispered to me that she didn't love him but that she would when she married him someday. OH MY!!! Mike and I agreed that we shouldn't tell PaPa about it because Hunter might become the Hunted. LOL!!

We did some shopping after lunch. We went to our mall in Nashua for the first time and it's a very nice one. Reagan wanted to go to the Disney store, so we agreed to go back one day (just us girls) and spend as much time as we want.

So, today is back to the norm. We will be getting all the final preparations made for Caleb's arrival and then we just wait. I think Reagan and I will be going to Target tomorrow to purchase any final items we need for the baby. Next appointment is Tuesday, so will update after that.

Baby Shower

2009-05-03T21:58:00.007-04:00

We had a virtual baby shower today for Caleb. Thank you to my incredible Hostess, Chrissy. It was a lot of fun even if it didn't turn out the way we had hoped. We all got in a group chat and Mom watched me open gifts via live webcam and typed commentary for everyone else. We got a lot of really nice things for the baby and Reagan even made out pretty well! I won the baby shower game The Price Is Right: Baby Shower Edition. Woohoo!! Go me! Virtual cocktails and toasts were enjoyed by all!

Tomorrow, Reagan and I are hoping to meet up with our Mommies group for an afternoon of play after baby shopping with our 10% off registry coupon! Fun! Tuesday we go back to the doctor for my 37 week appointment. I will post updates after the appointment.

By request, here are some photos of me on "baby shower day". I am 36.4 weeks today. I'm not sure there's much room left for him, he might have to come early. (PLEASE!!!!)

36 weeks....

2009-05-01T12:05:00.003-04:00

We had our 36 week appointment yesterday and all is well. Caleb's still measuring right on target (36 weeks) even though my weight gain was up 6 pounds from 2 weeks before (officially more weight than I've gained throughout the entire pregnancy up to this point). I am feeling every one of those 6 pounds too!! I've made 1cm of progress so far and I probably won't let her check me again until closer to 39 weeks. We go back on Tuesday for our 37 week appointment.

After we left the doctor's office we drove down to Stoughton to the IKEA store. We got two shelving units for the living room which should make several more of our boxes disappear! Woohoo! The "nesting" bug seems to have settled in a bit. I got some of our photos and artwork hung up a couple of days ago and clothes put into Space Bags (they really work!). I pulled out the carseat, baby swing, and stroller and, with Reagan's help, have been cleaning them and washing the pads on them. We are getting things done! Hopefully, we will be totally done in a week or so and, after a hefty donation to the Salvation Army, we will be ready for Caleb Michael to make his appearance. Mother's Day would be nice! :) Wishful thinking, I know. Ha!

Here is a photo of Reagan on the way to IKEA yesterday. Kids can get comfortable anywhere.

Spring finally arrived!

2009-04-27T09:58:00.010-04:00

Hooray! Reagan and I were beginning to believe that Spring would never happen in Massachusetts. Saturday morning we drove to Georgetown to meet a Mommies and Kiddies group. The park had a fabulous playground right next to Pentucket Pond. There were khayakers and people fishing and Reagan decided that she wants to go khayaking too. The weather was absolutely beautiful and temps were in the 70s. Reagan had a wonderful time and we got to meet a lot of really nice people.

Mike got to leave work early and we picked him up from the train station around lunch time and went to Target to do some shopping. We are busy making preparations for baby Caleb and got the majority of things we will need for my hospital bag. It feels so real now that I have a pack of diapers in the bedroom at the changing table. Ha!

Yesterday, Reagan and I went outside and enjoyed the weather once again. She rode her scooter for about an hour and we scoped out the pool area which is now uncovered and getting cleaned and prepared for swimming season. We were both very excited about that. Today we will be doing some more organizing, unpacking, and rearranging. We still have quite a bit to do to get our home ready for baby. And we are coming down to the end!

We are hoping to have another playdate with our new Mommies and Kiddies friends tomorrow afternoon and then our big 36 week appointment is Thursday. Hopefully, Mike will be able to come with us to this one. We will let everyone know how that one goes. Fingers crossed that the good news keeps coming! Here are some pictures from our fun weekend!

34 Week Checkup

2009-04-16T17:10:00.004-04:00

We had our 34 week appointment today and Caleb is measuring right at 34 weeks. Growing perfectly. The midwife said that he is still head down and engaged. We go back on the 30th at 36 weeks and then every week after that until he makes his appearance. Almost there!

Here is a photo of me at 34 weeks.

Our Easter trip

2009-04-15T15:16:00.008-04:00

We are finally back home from our trip to Washington and have had a day to rest up. Well, all of us except for Mike. The trip out on Friday was mostly uneventful. We arrived in the early evening just in time to enjoy dinner with the family and do a little bit of catching up. Saturday morning, we took the kids to an Easter Egg hunt at the country club. They had a great time. There was a table set up for decorating masks and Easter cookies. The kids got their pictures made with the Easter bunny and I'm hoping to get a copy of that soon. Reagan wasn't scared of the Easter bunny at all but wanted to know why he couldn't talk and why his mouth wouldn't move. Ha! After pictures, the kids got to go outside and hunt for Easter eggs. Reagan found quite a few eggs and even hit some others up for some of theirs. (Geez!)

After that, Mike took me to get a pedicure and then we headed downtown to get ready for the wedding that we were attending that evening. We checked in at the lovely Fairmont Olympic hotel and went upstairs to get ready. Such a beautiful hotel! It was nice to be there again as we stayed there exactly two years ago this month. The wedding was very nice and Courtney looked beautiful. Mike got to see a lot of friends that he had not seen in a very long time and I got to meet a lot of them for the first time. I enjoyed two very teeny tiny sips of champagne during the toasts and we believe Caleb to be a fan of the bubbly!! He began kicking and squirming wildly and then had the hiccups for half an hour! Hahaha!!

Easter morning we checked out of the hotel and met the family at the country club for a yummy brunch! The rest of the day was lazy and enjoyable. Aunts, Uncles, and cousins came for Easter dinner. It was so nice to see everyone and spend time with the family.

Our flight back home on Monday was a completely different story. We got stuck in San Francisco for about 5 hours and did not make it home until 2:30 in the morning. It was a very rough day but we're all glad to be home now. Kai was super happy to see all of us. Reagan has been playing and watching movies and I've been resting up. We go for my 34 week checkup tomorrow and am hoping it's all still good news. We will keep everyone updated.

Here are some photos from the trip. I will have more to add to this once I get the photos from Mike's camera uploaded. He got way better pictures of the Easter Egg hunt than I did.

Hope everyone had a Happy Easter!!

Easter eggs!

2009-04-09T19:13:00.002-04:00

Reagan and I have been busy trying to get all of our clothes washed and suitcases packed for our trip to Washington tomorrow. In between, we managed to dye some Easter Eggs. It was fun until she decided to hide the eggs herself and find them. She can't find one and now we have a stray egg somewhere in the apartment. Oh, the joy!!!

Reagan's favorite new game!

2009-04-05T13:17:00.001-04:00

provided by: www.glittertools.com

32 week checkup

2009-04-04T20:45:00.004-04:00

Reagan and I went in to see the midwife yesterday for my 32 week appointment. Reagan was the big helper and got to measure me and check Caleb's heartbeat. All was great news. Caleb is still measuring exactly perfect and has a great heartbeat. He gained 2 pounds over the last 2 weeks (which I'm sure is why his mother can no longer sleep and has a constant backache) and finally put his head down. The results from my bloodwork all came back perfect and my blood pressure is still perfect. All in all, a great visit. We got the "go ahead" for travel this upcoming weekend, so will be traveling to Washington for a wedding and to visit family for Easter. Reagan is very excited about this!

Reagan and I worked hard on Thursday to get some more of the apartment unpacked and set up. She and I assembled, cleaned, and set up our dining room table and have enjoyed eating at it together. We still have some work to do but are definitely making progress.

New Belly Shots

2009-03-31T13:07:00.002-04:00

Here are the latest photos in the belly shot collection. I also added them to the slideshow from the 15th with all of the other belly shots! More to come as the belly becomes a rather large source of entertainment around here. Yesterday, Caleb was throwing a party and Reagan and I were watching him. She got to feel him wiggling around and kicking up a storm and watch my belly wobble back and forth. She rubbed the belly, bent down, and said, "Caleb, stop wobbling all over Mommy's ladder." HAHAHAHA!!!! Too cute.

Monsters vs. Aliens!

2009-03-29T23:30:00.003-04:00

Mike had the day off today, so we loaded up in the car and went to see Monsters vs. Aliens in 3D. The movie was very cute and funny. The 3D is such a fun experience! Milkshakes, popcorn, and fun were had by all.

Mike had to take the picture so he made me put his glasses on Caleb. :o)

Single Digits

2009-03-28T12:19:00.005-04:00

Halfway through the 31st week and I'm both excited and anxious that the countdown has entered the single digits. 8.5 weeks to go!! We still have quite a bit of unpacking to do in the cardboard jungle that Mike calls our "Fire Hazard". We don't have the first thing set up or purchased for baby's arrival and at times it makes me panic. But I know that it will all come together.

We go next Friday for our 32 week appointment and are hoping to get the "OK" to travel west for a wedding and to visit family. Looks like Mike will be heading out without us if I'm not ok'd to travel; so everyone keep their fingers crossed for me!

Well, not much to report. We're just waiting for the arrival of spring up here in New England. Poor Reagan stands at the backdoor and asks, "Mommy, is Spring ever going to get here?" We have noticed a slight warming trend (meaning a couple of days in a row with temps reaching the 50s). Ha! Last night the crickets came out and Reagan loved it until it was time to go to sleep. :o)

I will post updates in the upcoming week after our 32 week appointment. Maybe some new belly shots are in order.

In Memory of Ty Cobb, very loved and very missed.

Day at the Museum

2009-03-20T10:23:00.003-04:00

We had a very enjoyable family day yesterday. We all got to sleep in which was fantastic! Mike made bacon and eggs for breakfast before we loaded up and went to the Museum of Science. We had a great time. All of the exhibits were interactive (Reagan got to push a lot of buttons) and interesting. I was hoping there would be more dinosaurs and weather exhibits for Reagan to enjoy but she still had fun. There is a frog exhibit there until the 25th that was the main purpose of our visit and it was awesome! It was by far my favorite part of the trip. I think Reagan's favorite part was the Mythic Creatures exhibit. She got to see how dolphins jumping through the water can look like a sea serpent. We read about all kinds of legends of dragons, mermaids, griffins, giant squids, and other wild things. Her favorite was the giant statue of a unicorn.

After the museum we went to pick up Mike's car which is now as good as new. We had a fun dinner together and then went to Costco for churros!

All in all, it was a great day; the kind that you wish you could have together every day. Reagan and I were wishing that Mike could stay with us again today. But it's back to the day to day. We dropped Mike off at the train station this morning and will be cleaning and unpacking boxes for the remainder of the day. Only 10 more weeks to get things in order! Come on 'nesting'!

30 weeks today!

2009-03-18T11:37:00.005-04:00

Hooray for the homestretch! We met one of our midwives yesterday at our 30 week appointment. I am measuring right on for 30 weeks so the midwife is not concerned at all about my weight gain at this point. I passed my glucose screen with flying colors; 105 and they like to see it under 140. Great news!

Reagan thinks that 5 years old is so grown up. She has a new sense of independence and wanted to do a lot of things yesterday on her own. And she acted very grown up for what she had to endure on her 5th birthday. After leaving the doctor's office yesterday we experienced car troubles which found us at the Subaru service dept. for an hour or so. To my delight, they had a Keurig and a fine selection of coffee for me. And for Reagan, an arts and crafts area with all kinds of activities along with free popcorn. She had a great time and was so good while we had to wait. In the midst of our misfortune we found several things for which we were very lucky on St. Patrick's Day. 1. We were fortunate that Mike was with us and the one driving when the car had issues. 2. We were fortunate that the car made it all the way to the dealership so we avoided having to call a tow truck. 3. We were fortunate that all of the car rental companies didn't have cars and the dealership loaned us a courtesy car to drive until the repairs are made to the car. The whole experience changed the way I feel about Subarus. They were so kind to us and made what could have been a very negative experience into more of a positive one.

So, in the 2009 Subaru Forester, we were able to complete our plans for the day. I got my stolen cell phone replaced and we took Reagan to Chuck E. Cheese to celebrate her birthday. She had a blast! She ran from game to game in wild excitement. We got some tokens and showed her how to play some of the games. Mike got to fly an airplane and Mommy got to play skee ball. After pizza, we let Reagan play until all the tokens were gone. She ended up with over 100 tickets and was able to pick out her prize. It ended up being pretty enjoyable fun for everyone and didn't cost very much. Reagan was upset that we couldn't go back this morning after dropping Mike off at the train station. Ha!

Reagan's turning 5!!

2009-03-16T21:28:00.002-04:00

Nothing too exciting for today. Had my first appointment with our new doctor's office and did the glucose screen. My first appointment with the midwife is tomorrow and we should know the results from the screening then. :::Fingers crossed::: Fortunately, Mike has the day off tomorrow and is going with us. 30 weeks this week, so we're in the homestretch now!

And speaking of tomorrow, it is also Reagan's 5th birthday!! It doesn't seem possible that it's been five years already. To celebrate, Mike and I are taking her to Chuck E. Cheese's. She's never been before and is pretty excited. Mike also took Thursday off and is taking us girls to the Children's Museum in Boston!! Should be some good times; we'll try to get plenty of pictures.

Getting started

2009-03-15T08:01:00.009-04:00

Well, I'm making progress at least and progress is good. I'm sure I'll get better at this as I go.

Since this was originally supposed to be a website for the pregnancy and the baby, I will start there. As I've been constructing the blog, however, I hope for it to be more and will continue to work on it. Not sure how much I will get up on the site today as it is my turn in the family to have some kind of cold virus. Ick....

I put together some slideshows that I hope will work, and if they don't, I will figure something else out. The first one is a collection of photos from throughout my pregnancy so far. I noticed when putting the slideshow together that almost all of the belly pictures I have were taken by myself. Ha! I will have to tell Mike to get on the ball.

Here is a slideshow of all of the photos from our 24 week 3D ultrasound.

Total Frustration!

2009-03-14T11:20:00.005-04:00

Ok, so here goes nothing...literally. I don't even know if this is going to work. Trying to set up a simple website to keep family and friends updated on us and the upcoming arrival of the baby has been exasperating! Grrrrr!

Perhaps if third trimester hormones weren't so rampant currently, I'd have the patience to figure this stuff out. As it is, however, I do not have the patience. Maybe some more coffee and some food will remedy the situation. Scratch that....maybe ICE CREAM will remedy the situation.

Here's hoping that by the time anyone reads my ramblings I will have figured out how to use a template without crunching the whole page and maybe even added some photos or something. Ugh!