Just a quick little post...

Grandmom and grandpop are coming to town later today! Yay! We are looking forward to their visit, and really hoping Emily makes her debut while they are here. Since we will be busy visiting, I figured I'd take a moment to reflect since this may be the last chance I have to write for a little bit.


Before they get here today, I plan to do something fun with Ashley. I realized that if Emily does come while they are here, then this is the last official day where it is just Ashley and I at home. Life as we know it will be different soon.
First, I want to throw out a short list of my blessings since tomorrow is Thanksgiving.  Lots to be thankful for!!! 2012 has been quite a year!!! I have an incredible husband who I love more and more through the years, an amazing daughter, and we are about to welcome another baby girl into the world. I have wonderful friends and family... In addition we found out we'll be adding another 3 family members to our families...2 more babies (Cheryl and Billy are expecting a little girl, Alyssa, in January; and Andrew and Lauren are expecting a baby (gender unknown) at the end of May)... and now a future brother-in-law! Kristyn called last night to announce she just got engaged. Wow I can't keep up!!! There is also our health, our home, jobs, etc...I could go on and on. God has really blessed us, and I don't take any of it for granted. 
Matt wrote me a sweet e-mail yesterday from work, and I wanted to share part of it so that when Emily reads this someday, she will know how happy and excited her daddy was/is too.....
"Let me know how everything is going and especially how your Doctor visit goes. I hope you call me and have me meet at the hospital, haha.  If not, we are making eggplant tonight, lol."(There is this place that makes eggplant that has a reputation for naturally inducing labor for many women. Matt printed the recipe).

"I love you so much and I am really looking forward to meeting Emily and moving into this journey of life through the next step.  I couldn’t imagine life with out you by my side.  You make all these busy days at work worth it to me!!!"

We are both filled with anticipation at this point. I went to the doctor again yesterday and not a whole lot has changed--I dilated to a 2, everything else is the same. Emily must be holding out for her grandparents to get here. Haha.

Well gonna run and go enjoy my day with Ashley. Will update as soon as I can.

39 Weeks

One week until Emily gets the eviction notice!!! Lol.

 Ashley practicing her "cheese"

 Giving baby Emily a hug

 Feeling mommy's belly

 Ashley giving baby Emily a kiss

 Helping mommy take her belly shot pics

 39 Weeks!

 Our last official family shot before there are 4 of us

Here are some shots we took today at 39 Weeks.

Also something a little sweet/sappy to share. Today I went to see the last Twilight movie. There was a scene where Bella meets her baby for the first time, and they have this instant love connection. I got so emotional when I saw that scene, because at that moment it hit me that I will really be meeting my baby in just a few days, and I know that I will just be so overwhelmed with love when I meet her and hold her in my arms. Who would have thought a cheesy teeny bop movie would do it? Haha.

The Single Digits

We are officially down to single digits here....9 days to the due date. Crazy! It doesn't seem real yet.

I went to the doctors yesterday. They finally checked me. I was told I'm dilated at a "loose 1", but my cervix is 50% softened and the baby is so low that she could feel her head. I was a little surprised that I wasn't dilated more after the contractions I had, but I was very excited about the cervix thing--that is what counts more.

I am really hoping she comes early or at least on time...and it'd be nice if I wasn't in the hospital on Thanksgiving, I'd like to spend it with my other daughter and family. But, I'm going with the flow :)

As far as Ashley goes, we've had a fun couple of days. Yesterday Christi invited Ashley and I to join Eli, Katie and her parents to go to this fun art house. It's really cool--it's this house that they converted into an art shop--the house is painted with "artwork" on the inside and outside of the house. Inside they have different work stations set up with art activities. The cool part is that they encourage you to help yourself to the place and explore (the whole place is hands-on), have fun and not worry about making messes--if paint gets on the floors, walls, wherever, it's totally ok and even encouraged. It's a nice way to really get into it and get as messy as you want.
Ashley absolutely LOVED it!!! I've seen her have lots of fun doing different things, but I don't think she's ever been this engaged. We made a turkey with her hand tracing, she did bubble paint projects, and she painted like 3 paintings on an easel. We tried making a turkey out of cut out shapes, but Ashley wasn't too into that one.
Her favorite part though was dunking her hands in the water bucket, then walking over to a table and touching this decorative piece, and back. She probably did this at least half a dozen times. It was funny.
I loved watching her have so much fun. She's so cute sometimes she'll walk around with this half-dance strut thing...she was doing this the whole time as well.

Today Ashley went to "school" for the day--she is doing fantastic now. Each week they say she is doing better and better and really enjoying herself now. Her friends come up and greet her when we go in, she now waves and says "bye mommy", and now I have to almost drag her out rather than her wanting to get out of there as fast as she can. I'm so happy. Her teachers are great too. I used my free time to get some Christmas shopping done for the kids. I figure I won't have much time to do it after Emily is here, so I thought I'd take advantage. I'm really impressed, even with my physical limitations and caring for another child, I've still managed to get just about everything done that I wanted to before Emily came. Makes me feel more prepared for her arrival.

I'm also including pictures from over the weekend. We bought a kite and went to fly it in the park. Ashley was a little fussy since it was close to nap time, but all in all we had lots of fun.

Emily can come anytime now!

Now for an Ashley post

Mowing the lawn

 I know it's early, but Ashley ran right up to Santa and wanted to sit on his lap, so we had to get a few pics!

 Love this

First time on the big carousel

 Weee!!!

 Having fun with sidewalk chalk

 Ashley still loves her monkeys!

 She is sooo my child...she wanted to wear her hat and gloves around in the house :)

Here are some pictures from our November adventures. The top ones are from a playdate at the Wagner's house...Ashley was having fun mowing the lawn.

The next few are from last weekend. We drove an hour to NC to this Christmas Expo event that was going on. While there, Ashley spotted Santa Clause and ran right up to him! She wanted to sit on his lap and snuggle up with his soft coat. Haha. I think she was fascinated by him. She didn't want to get off, and had a lot to tell him :)
After that we went to track down the carousel (they don't have many down south for some reason). There is this place that has a train ride and a carousel. We did both and Ashley had a fun time riding on them. The poor girl actually got sick a little bit before going on them. She was fine up to that point, and right after again, so we thought maybe it was from the car ride or something she had eaten not sitting right. We gave it a few minutes before going on to see, didn't want to upset her stomach anymore but she was ok and wanted to go. Later that day she had a little diarrhea so it must have been a little stomach bug. She must take after her daddy--she doesn't get sick too often and when she does she's a good sport about it.

The other pics are just from fun around the house. Ashley loves to draw, so we got some sidewalk chalk. She had a blast with it. She loves to go outside, and asks to go out all the time. I love being down south because we can enjoy the extended fall weather.

Another cute thing I wanted to mention while I still remember is that when we are reading, she tries to grab things out of the book--i.e. if there is a picture of something she likes, she tries to "pull it out of" the book. Too cute. She identifies so many things in books and around her now.

She got over the hump at school--she goes 1 day a week so she can socialize and so mommy can have some me time as well (although these days they're mostly spent at doctor appointments). At first she'd cry and have a rough time, but now she's like "bye mommy", having great days playing and doing crafts. I'm glad she's having fun! I wanted her to have an outlet for when the baby comes, I know in the beginning we'll be moving a little slower than she's used to.

Speaking of the baby coming, I've been trying to savor the last of the time I have of just she and I. I know we will still have moments where she and I will have our own bonding time, but this is the last time it will ever be just her. I know I'll be juggling feedings and another baby's needs within a few weeks, so rather than rushing to put her to bed, we read a couple extra books, sing a couple songs (she loves twinkle twinkle little star at night while we look at her ladybug), get in a couple extra snuggles, etc. I am sad for this. It's funny how you can have mixed feelings--be so excited to meet a new baby and have them here, yet sad to lose your one on one time as well. I think that has been my biggest concern--not wanting to rush things along for Ashley, or push her into big girl mode too fast, and losing "her time" with me; while at the same time not wanting to miss out on special bonding moments with Emily either while she is growing and going through all the fun little baby stages because I'm chasing around after a toddler who has demands at times too. It'll be a journey finding a good balance. One thing I'm good at remembering is that there are lots of different "seasons", and the good and the bad is that nothing ever stays the same...so gotta just live in the moment and enjoy :)

Latest Doctor Visit

Well since I've been laying in bed for the past hour and half awake, I figured I'd get up and make good use of my time since I can't sleep.
Today, or technically yesterday now, I went for my routine doctor appointment. It went well. We have 6 different OBGYNs, and when you're pregnant they do a rotation so that you meet with and get to know some of the other doctors in case one of them ends up delivering your baby. Well for the past two weeks I happened to have the same doctor, but I had a different one today (Dr. Koefed, who actually was the one who delivered Ashley when she was born).
The last two appointments that I had gone to I was measuring a little smaller. I.e. when you are 35 weeks, you should measure at approx 35 inches top to bottom. The doctor wasn't very concerned since Emily was already so low--he said once the baby drops they often times start measuring a little smaller. It wasn't anything drastic either--when I was 37 weeks, I was measuring at 35 1/2. Well, when I went this time I was still measuring smaller, so Dr. Koefed had me do an ultrasound just to look at everything in closer detail and make sure everything was on track with the baby. I wasn't opposed to this at all!!! I was confident everything was fine--I've still been gaining on track, she is moving around a lot, etc. So I wasn't worried, and was thrilled to have an extra chance to get a sneak peak at my little baby!!!

First off, everything was FINE. Emily is right on track and things look great. It was so exciting to see her again too, and find out more about her. Based on the ultrasound, they were able to determine that Emily is already 6 lbs, 12 oz. Emily is still a girl, lol. They also said that she has a lot of hair! She pointed it out on the ultrasound. It's so cool! I remember being in labor with Ashley and when they'd do their checks, I'd ask them if they could tell if she had hair or not. Lol. Now I know in advance. It also makes it exciting knowing she is her own little person. Just more real and exciting :) I always love ultrasounds, it never gets old seeing your little baby in there moving around, opening her mouth, etc. It made me really excited to meet her soon.

I was so mad though, the ultrasound tech was really nice and tried to get me to see Emily in 3D. I had always been dying to do this and see the baby, especially when you're this far along because you can really get a good view of what they look like, but Emily was being a stubborn little girl and wouldn't move her hand from in front of her face. I was bummed!!! The woman was nice and kept trying for a few minutes too, but Emily wasn't having it. Haha. Guess I'll have to live with the suspense for a couple more weeks (or until she decides to make her appearance). It's funny, here she was with her hand up, and she's had her hand like that the past time or two when we did our last ultrasounds too. It must be a comforting position for her--I'll have to keep that in mind after she gets here ;)

One other bummer was that last week the last doctor said that they'd check my cervix and see if I'm dilated this time, but each doctor has their own policy and Dr. Koefed said she doesn't check until 38 weeks (and I was 2 days short). I was hoping to see if I have made any progress, but I guess I'll just have to live with that suspense too :)


Here are some pics from the ultrasound. They're not the best quality since I didn't have my CD disk with me (don't bother to bring it since they normally don't do ultrasounds after 20 weeks at my office). I took pics of pics, but you can at least get an idea.

 Side profile

 She was looking straight at us

The white spot is her hair

It was great though, loved this visit since I got to see my baby alive, healthy and well. Won't be long now!

Closer than we think??

First, here are pictures from Saturday when I turned 37 weeks pregnant. Emily has definitely dropped and you can see it in the pictures.

Last Friday I went for my routine doctor appointment. Everything was still looking good, and the doctor commented again on how low the baby's head was already.

I have been suspecting that Emily may come soon. Between her being so low, and I haven't been feeling too hot. With Ashley I remember feeling real good right up to being induced (probably because I hadn't had a lot going on with my body since Ashley wasn't close to wanting to come out on her own). This time I've been achey, having pains, hip and back issues, etc.

Well last night we actually had a false alarm. I wasn't feeling great during the day and looking back on it, I think I was having some contractions throughout the day but nothing real noticeable. They started off feeling like period cramps. Around dinner time though I started noticing it more. I had contractions around 13-15 minutes apart. I figured it was time to totally get the bags packed just in case.  By 11pm, the contractions were closer together, about 7 1/2-8 minutes apart, and the contractions were lasting 1-1 1/2 minutes and more intense. I was getting more severe period cramps, and my stomach was hardening. Emily was moving a ton too, like she was trying to wiggle her way out....lol.  For the next couple hours they were pretty consistent. Some were even getting closer to 5 minutes. We had contacted our doula and she thought it sounded like labor, and we were even contemplating bringing Ashley over to Matt and Christi's house and heading to the hospital. I kept worrying about Ashley--I didn't want to wake her up and move her until we definitely needed to, but at the same time I didn't want to wait too long to get to the hospital.

We decided to try to sleep some until they were consistently 5 mins apart or less. They seemed to taper off while I was sleeping. This morning I'm still not feeling great, but the contractions have stopped coming consistently. I still get one every now and then, but nothing major. I called the doctors office and they said that what we experienced is actually pretty common, and can be a sign that the real deal is coming soon. They said to drink lots of fluids and take it easy. I was hoping they'd suggest me coming in to check for dilation/contractions but they just said to call if/when things change. Sooo, depending on what happens, I may or may not get a chance to update again.

Halloween 2012

Yesterday was Halloween. We had such a blast!!! It happened to fall on the 1 day I work, but I kept the day short and rushed right out of there. I hit a major traffic jam coming home (which we normally never have)--grr--but still made it in time for the festivities.
Yesterday at work my wonderful coworkers (Beth, Wendy, Ella Walker, Katherine, and Kathryn) came in to throw me a little "shower". They had gotten a small lunch and had gifts for Emily. It was sweet.
Halloween was so much fun this year. I have to say, we are blessed to live in such a great neighborhood. We have really wonderful neighbors and a nice "community" feel. Daddy had Ashley all dressed and ready to go when I got home from work. We went down to our neighbor Kenia's house, where a bunch of our neighbors had gotten together to have a BBQ together prior to going out. These included Kenia's family, Beth and the girls, the Rinkers (who moved but came back to visit and celebrate), Scott (Leann was working). and 1 or 2 other families that I don't know as well. Our goal was to trick or treat together, but everyone's kids kinda took off in different directions so we got split up.
Ashley had a BLAST Trick or Treating. It was such a fun age--she's old enough to walk and run around, she was so happy and excited to be dressed up and see others in costumes, she is fascinated with pumpkins and Halloween decorations, etc. She wasn't old enough to say Trick or Treat, but she had the "thank you's" down, and knew to reach for candy and put in her bucket. We also know a majority of our neighbors real well, so they loved seeing Ashley all dressed up.
 When we came home Ashley decorated her pumpkin. I was disappointed because we had gone to the pumpkin patch a couple weekends ago. The guy working there was saying they had difficulty with their harvest this year, and had to get pumpkins in from somewhere else this time...well they were junky. I had put our pumpkins outside for decoration (uncarved), and they rotted. Luckily the little baby pumpkin was still ok, so we gave that to Ashley to color/decorate. Then after Ashley's bedtime, daddy painted my belly as a pumpkin, so that made up for us not being able to carve our pumpkins this year. It came out SO cute! The paint set didn't have black in it so it was a little faded which was a shame since daddy did such a great job! But so cute.

Definitely a Halloween that I will look back on as one of my favorites. Such fun! Here are some pics!