Come on, Baby!

Saturday, June 2nd, I was having consistent braxton hicks contractions again.  I had two days of them at 34 weeks, another two days of them around 36 weeks, and June 2nd marked the start of 10 days.  I had a couple breaks though.  Two days (after the first 4), I had them in morning and then again at night, but only sporadically during the day.  Days after that, I'd have clusters of them and then an hour or two break, some more clusters, etc.  This Monday, I had a couple, but then at T-Ball that evening, I was just in general pain.  Back and belly pain and then I realized it was waves of pain and not a constant pain.  Of course that went away.  I had BHC's again all day yesterday too.

Aunty Amy picked up Maddox in the morning to go to the zoo.  Faye and I couldn't go because I had an appointment with my midwife at 1pm and they couldn't wait until 2pm to get to the zoo.  We had Clayton drop us off in Linden Hills instead and spent the day with just the two of us.  We went to Heartfelt, then Creative Kidstuff.  We walked down to Wild Rumpus and Faye chased a chicken around the whole store.  It was hilarious and she was yelling to all the kids about how she HAD to pet the chicken and if you want to, you have to do it really fast.  We bought two books and after that went to an over priced restaurant to grab a snack before we went to Lake Harriet.  We should have just checked out Coffee and Tea, or gone over to Dunn Bros.  Guess I'll remember that next time.  After, we walked towards Lake Harriet.  We went down the stairs to where the street car is.  It doesn't run until 6:30 on weekdays, so we didn't see if.  Faye had to pee, of course I asked her 5min earlier in the restaurant and she refused), so she pee'd on the ground.  Then while I was looking up where Clayton wanted us to meet him at after work, Faye climbed up the side of the wall and got stuck...  We were off after I got her down and 1.5 mi later, we were at a park where Clayton was going to meet us.  We played there for a while and then went to The Malt Shop with Clayton and then headed home.

I went straight to the bath after getting home.  My hips and pelvis felt miserable.  I got in the bath and felt just as miserable.  I didn't last long in there.  It did help my hips and pelvis, but my belly started to feel icky (well, it kind of did already, I only got 3 bites of my sandwich down at the restaurant) and then my back just really bad.  I felt so much tension and knots in there.  I normally cannot leave the bath without taking a full shower afterwards, but I was pretty desperate, so I washed my hair in the tub and got out.  After that, I was feeling even worse.  Then I felt like I was going to puke.  I got up and went potty, but didn't puke.  I sat on the couch for a half hour or more getting ride of that feeling and then about a half hour after that, I started having contractions.  Real contractions.  I was up from 10:30pm to 2:30am with contractions and a massive back ache.  I went upstairs and got juice, water, and tylenol and then laid on the couch so that I could sleep on my back.  I got to bed pretty quick on the couch.  Woke up at 5am and haven't had a single contraction all morning.

I hope these dumb things come back.

June 1st, 2012

I started my day at 4:30 AM, by waking up from being wet from the pee that my 4 year old (in 8 days) had deposited into my bed while sleeping.  After getting her up, stripping her, cleaning her, and getting new pajama's on her, she was up and wide awake.  I was not.  So we went out to the couch where I agreed to let her watch TV.  That really back fired on me because she didn't just sit there watching TV, she whined and complained about everything.  She wanted to go upstairs, she wanted to eat, she kept trying to go wake her brother up because she was convinced it was time to get up.

Not only was I forced out of my bed at 4:30 this morning, I barely got any sleep during the rest of the night.  I was tossing and turning all night.  About 2:30 AM, I got up and grabbed extra pillows to rearrange so that I could sleep in a reclined, sitting position.  My hips were killing me, my pelvis hurt, my stomach hurt, both of my hands were swollen, unable to close into even a semi-closed fist, they HURT, I could barely use the for anything (which was very helpful when I got up to take care of the wet child a couple hours later).  That still didn't help much, I couldn't keep my head in a comfortable position and I couldn't keep my arms and hands up, so that they were not dangling, getting more swollen.  I suppose I was probably meant to get up at 4:30 even if it weren't for pee.

Well, enough with all that...  My wonderful husband went to Caribou this morning and got me a LARGE Dark Chocolate Turtle Mocha Cooler!  Yee!  We have a new mailman starting today.  Seems he (or she?) is here already.  Our regular mailman was normally here by 10:30 as well.  His last day was yesterday, he has retired.  This actually means absolutely nothing to me and doesn't change anything in my life, it's just something else that's brand new this month.  This also is the first day of the month of the last day of school.  Does that make sense?  4 more days of school, including today.  3 more days until my sister and the kids get to Minnesota (4, for us really... since we will not be seeing her on Monday).  8 more days until our baby is due (please come early!) and 8 more days til the pool opens, but I imagine we won't be going there immediately!  9 more days until my little girl turns 4 years old.  10 more days until T-League starts.  18 more days until my husband turns 31.  18 more days until Super Summer program.

So those are all the things coming this month, but today my big boy rode his bike to school with NO TRAINING WHEELS for the first time today!  I had my husband take the training wheels off on Tuesday morning.  It had to be done, we were getting no where.  I kind of thought that maybe Madd was embarrassed to ride his bike to school because he was still using training wheels and besides an occasional kindergartner (only occasional!), nobody else has training wheels.  Madd never wants to ride his bike to school, he'd always just rather walk.  Well, we get ready to go to school and he says "I think I'll ride my bike to school today."  Uh, sorry, but you can't!  So we went over to the church parking lot right after school and within 10 minutes, he was off.  He had no problem riding the bike, it just took a little time and effort for him to start the bike with no training wheels.  I did not want to help him hold his bike steady, etc to get started.  I was pretty confident he could figure it out and most importantly, he NEEDED to learn that HE was in control of his bike.  He needed to hold it up right.  That was the biggest challenge that we were having.  He wasn't using any of his arm muscles or anything to keep his bike straight when it was on training wheels (we had them all the way up so he'd wobble back and forth).  He also wasn't pedaling with two feet. He'd only use the one leg that was highest to push forward and let the other leg just float along with the pedal, he could barely make it up the smallest hill!

Anyways, long story short, on the way to the church, he could barely push his bike to the parking lot (you'd think it'd be easier without training wheels constantly hitting your legs and feet).  He got up and started, rode his bike around twice and then it started to rain so we went home.  He did a bit better getting his bike home, but not great.  We get to our garage door and he says "You know what I learned about bikes without training wheels?  You have to hold them up!"  THANK GOD!!!

So we went again the next evening and then yesterday, I brought his bike to school and he rode it to the park.  After the park, he rode it home and when we got home, he wanted to go back over to the church parking lot to practice some more.  He's quite nervous about riding in the street.  Especially starting out because he feels he has too little space (if he swerves out when he's first starting).  We've made great progress.  After he could get started out with his pedal in a good, high position, he worked on getting started on either leg (cause he favored standing on his right and starting his left on the pedal), then starting from whatever position his pedal was already in.  On his way home from the park, I was a nervous wreck!  Of course Faye was being a little turd, going as slow as she could, zig zagging as she walked, stumbling like a little drunk, stopping at every mailbox, pole or post on the side of the road to "measure" herself, then she found a newspaper ad on the side of the road and decided she was going to walk and read at the same time...  Madd made it up the hills and down them.  He did stop and wait for us and stayed in view the whole time.

Today, he started his bike out on the street by our house, rounded the corner and went down the hill.  He crossed one street, making sure to look both ways and then made it all the way up the hill.  Faye and I were way behind him.  We lost sight of him after he made it up the hill and rounded the corner.  He crossed that street, hopefully making sure that there were no cars coming!  When we finally made it up there and across the street, he had stopped and was waiting for us at the next street up.  He hopped back on his bike, crossed that street, went down the path at his school and to the bike rack.  I don't think I have ever been so terrified in my life!  Of course he told some 3rd grader at school his bike lock combo, so I took over as soon as I got there and changed the lock combo!  I guess I forgot to tell him what the point of the bike lock was!

Here is a video of him riding Wednesday.  He gets hard to see when he gets farther away (video was taken on my phone), but he is doing amazing!  Especially for a kid that has NEVER been in love with riding a bike.

I'm so dang proud of him!  Of course now I'm going to be constantly nervous because he'll be riding his bike around and there is no way I can keep up with him.  I'm 39 weeks pregnant, tomorrow, and well, I won't be jogging postpartum either, or with a baby strapped to my chest!

Now we just need to get Faye up on her bike!  We bought her a 12" Pinkalicious bike with a baby carrier in the back (for princess Aurora), cute little tassels, and a little zipper bag on the front.  She wanted a bike for her birthday, she picked it out (the $80 one and not the $60 Princess bike with the baby carrier carriage/basket on the front...).  She sits on her bike, refuses to pedal and then yells and cries "No bike for my birthday!"  Tough luck, kid!

Baby Names

29 Weeks & 2 Days = +30lbs. Sick. 10 Weeks and 5 Days to go and I have already gained ALL of the weight that I gained with my last pregnancy.

28 Weeks 2 Days

Thought I was updating belly pics more often, but there is only one! If we're friends on Google+ you'll be able to see them all ;)

These are from today. 28 Weeks 2 days. Didn't have the greatest shirt on for this, but I tried to make it work.

Baby Names... Again!

Names that we took off the list are:

Corbin
Finnegan
Connor

Names I'm not so sure of:

Rowan
Oren

MY favorite names:

Eero
Soren (I like Søren)

with the middle name of:

Eero
Russell
William

MY favorite name combinations are:

Søren Eero
Eero William

Other choices are:

Soren William
Soren Russell
Eero Russell
Rowan William
Rowan Russell
Oren William
Oren Russell

Oren Eero and Rowan Eero sounds weird to me...

Girls names that we got rid of:

Gwendolyn
Elizabeth

Names we still like:

Elise
Jane
Orla
Lorraine

with a middle name of:

Elise
Lorraine

Name combinations that we like:

Lorraine Elise
Orla Lorraine
Jane Elise

(In order of MY faves).

Tea Party with Faye!

I bought Faye a Green Toys tea set for Christmas and this is the first time we've remembered to use it.  We're having Apple Raspberry Juice!

Newborn Essentials

Layette: Baby's First Clothes

• 6 undershirts that snap on the bottom or tie on the side, commonly called "onesies" (3 in three-month size and 3 in six-month size)
• 3 to 4 infant gowns with elastic bottoms or draw strings. These make for easy diaper changes. All you have to do is pull the gown up over the belly to change the diaper and then pull it back down when finished. There is no stumbling around trying to snap the gown back together, which is especially nice when it's 3 a.m. and all you want to do is get baby back to sleep so that you can get back to sleep.
• 6 sleepers/stretch suits (3 newborn to three-month size and 3 in six-month size). These are nice to put baby in during the day, but are not essential items. When buying these, make sure you get the kind that zip up the front. These are easier to get baby in and out.
• 3 to 4 pairs of booties or socks with stretch elastic band at cuff
• 3 to 4 receiving blankets
• 1 blanket to cover swaddled baby in crib
• 1 sweater and hat

Bathing Baby: What You Need

• Baby bathtub (sloping with foam pad or flat with molded sponge insert)
• 4 terry cloth bath towels (hooded towels are OK, but not necessary)
• 4 to 6 washcloths
• Tearless shampoo
• Baby soap. Many brands make baby shampoo and soap all in one.
• Brush and comb
• Rounded-tip nail scissors or clippers. Baby's nails grow quickly and can scratch his or her face.
• Bulb syringe nasal aspirator. These are used to suction excess mucus from baby's nose and mouth (the one you receive in the hospital is a keeper!).

Make Your Preschooler the Official Photographer

Give your child a camera and ask him to take a picture of the new baby every day, once a week, or even once a month. Then put the pictures in an album and talk about all the changes he notices. Does your little shutterbug remember the baby's first smile? First laugh?

http://www.nickjr.com/home-life/bringing-home-baby/