This past weekend Tony's brother Aaron came down for a visit. We had a good time catching up with him and Tony enjoyed having someone to play long strategy games with and to discuss movies, etc. Here are a couple pictures we took... hoping to be able to use one of them for Christmas presents for the grandparents! :)

Last night my mom, Kaiya and I went to Celebration, FL. This is a quaint upscale little village just west of Kissimmee and not far from Disney World. They have snow machines that blow snow on the hour for 15 minutes between 6-9 p.m. in the marketplace. So we bundled up (ha ha -- it was in the 60s) and headed out to see the snow. Kaiya was quite happy with the snow. She thought it was pretty amazing. It was actually foamy soap like clumps, rather than snow. All these kids here in Florida are gonna be so confused when they see the real thing. Imagine growing up thinking snow is a like unscented foam soap. :) There were horse drawn carriage rides, a huge Christmas tree and a Holiday Train and all the shops were open late. It was a fun night.

Obviously I am still pregnant. :) I don't think I am going to obey bedrest next time. Babies come when they want to -- and lying in a bed for 2+ weeks didn't seem to make a difference. Oh well... it was a good excuse to get the royal treatment and a break from laundry and dishes. :) My mom flew out this morning after being here for 3 weeks. We really had a great visit with her and the help was so appreciated. I am going into the birth well-rested because of it so that is a huge help.

Nothing much on our schedules the rest of the week. I will probably do some mystery shopping to try and make a little extra money, but other than that we are going to lay low. Well, I'm off to conquer the world while Kaiya is napping. Dinner tonight is going to be a roast in the crock pot. So nice to get it ready this morning, smell it all day and then eat without feeling like I did anything at all. Now that's a good dinner. If only the crock pot could do the dishes too.... :)

Tattoos

We had fun playing yesterday while waiting for the baby to come (or rather not come...). A friend sent me these cute belly button tattoos while I was on bedrest and so I decided it was a good time to put one on. Kaiya saw me put it on and kept giggling so I asked her if she wanted to have one too. So she picked out the butterflies and then we took pictures of our bellies. She keeps examining it and just cracking up at herself.

And then I just attached some cute pictures that Ruthie took on their walk yesterday...

Fake Out

Well, went to the midwife yesterday and I was 3 cm. She stretched me to 4 cm and was pretty aggressive trying to stir things up. I went home and a couple hours later contractions started. They were only like 8-9 minutes apart so we just kind of hung out. Into the evening they became 5-6 minutes apart and I was up until about 2:30 with them. Then I fell asleep and didn't wake up until 6. So.... we have concluded that it was just false labor. Gonna have a normal day today and hope that things start up on their own again.

Pictures

Kaiya is down for her nap. We had a busy day... strung cranberries and popcorn for the tree, organized all of the baby's clothes in the closet (so I'm a little last minute...), ate a yummy lunch (the current answer for the question: "What would you like?" is "Noo-noo" translated noodles. So Kaiya had noodles, avacado, tangerines, and bananas and I had the most wonderful salad - which is surprising because sometimes salad doesn't taste quite as good when you have to cut up all the veggies and put the toppings on yourself.), went to the park and went down the slide 2,739 times (my big girl even went down the huge curly tunnel slide by herself -- and looked at the scared 3 yr old boy like he was the biggest wuss ever).

So that is our day so far. My new printer came in the mail today. It was my after-Thanksgiving Day purchase. A whopping $25 - for scanner, printer & copier. The best part was that I was able to get the same price online with 97 cent shipping on Walmart.com and didn't have to go stand in a parking lot at 4 a.m. FedEx delivered it right on time today. So I have it all hooked up and I'm playing with it a little bit. Scanned Kaiya's 18 month pictures and the Halloween pictures I had taken. Little bummed w/ the Halloween pictures, but that morning was a nightmare and I know she had her Minnie ears on, so that's all that mattered. The black background wasn't the best choice for her outfit. It was taken at one of those new digital JC Penney studios. They have no table for the kids to sit on. So basically its Kaiya in front of this huge canvas in an open room with no door and lots of expensive equipment. Please tell me I don't have the only toddler that would be running around and not wanting to sit still for pictures? Not pretty. Forget digital -- give me the good old fashioned photo studio. However -- can't complain too much b/c of the $3.99 coupon I had. :)

And the question of the month is -- "Is that baby here yet?" As of now I am beginning reverse psychology on this baby. Come out whenever you want! January is okay. Hey -- February would be nice. Maybe a Valentine's baby? Ha ha... I have a permanent contraction that won't go away -- no pain -- just a solid rock in my stomach. So hopefully my water will just break and we can get moving. I was set up for this -- those weeks on bedrest had me really convinced that he was going to show up early. So I'm trying not to think about it too much. He'll come when he's good and ready. And meanwhile I'm getting some extra one-on-one time with Kaiya. Cause once he's here, she's gonna have to share me. So we're trying to have lots of fun.

Update

Had a great Thanksgiving weekend as I took myself off of bedrest on Friday. :) Did some walking/shopping and was fairly active throughout the weekend. I had another appointment today and found out that we have made a bit more progress. I'm now 100% effaced and the baby has moved down to station -1/0. Which basically means he has dropped a bit lower. I am now in walking mode and working on getting things going. I'll try to stay updated... no news probably means we are still waiting! :) But as far as the midwife goes we are all set to deliver at the birth center so it looks like I will get my water birth afterall!

11.3

Just got a call from the birth center and my iron test from yesterday came back at 11.3!! They still want me to take it easy through the weekend -- but I am not as restricted to the bed. I'm thinking that I'm gonna lay low until Friday and then start getting a little more active. I will be 37 weeks in a few days so I really don't think they are gonna turn me down if I go into labor. I'll have to run this by Tony to see what he thinks, but he'll probably be okay with it.

Anyway -- that is the most exciting news I have had in awhile. Thanks everybody for praying that the results would come back today and that they would be high enough. So exciting!!

Oh -- and just below is the cutest thing. I borrowed the link from a friend's blog (thanks Tara!)and had so much fun turning our family into elves. I hope it gives you a laugh. Kaiya was cracking up when she saw herself as an elf. Money Bags is still mad at me. :)

A little early Christmas cheer

This is so fun. Click the link to see our elves...

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9559185310

Well.... I have some answers, but not all the answers. And another prayer request... The office called today and my iron levels from Thursday's test came back at 10.5. .5 short of where I need to be. So I asked if I could get my blood drawn again today - in hopes that they have increased since Thursday. They said yes and sent the request to a lab near my house. I went to have that done this morning. Two requests:

• That my iron would be at 11.0
• That the results would come back tomorrow. If they don't come back tomorrow, all the offices are closed the rest of the week w/ the holiday and I have to stay in bed until Monday.

NOOOO!!! :) I want to get out of bed and have the baby. In the water... Maybe I'm getting a little too demanding! :) But anyway... these two things would be really nice.

And I'm sure you all would much rather see pictures and posts about this new baby rather than my ranting and raving about bedrest and iron levels. :)

Bedrest Day # I have no idea...

Visit to the midwife went well yesterday. I actually met with a different midwife than the one who has seen me for all previous visits. It was nice to meet her as it could be either one that delivers me. I liked her a LOT. Except for the part when she told me that it was back to bed for me. :) I am dilated at 2 still but now 80%. So... she said I have to literally be laying down all the time. She also extended the bedrest for 5 more days. Just to give me a little time to get my iron up. I will know my iron level sometime over the weekend or Monday. I go back in to see them Monday. If I meet with my regular midwife on Monday, she is oncall the week of Thanksgiving so there is a chance that she will let me sneak by if my levels are okay and deliver the baby there. But I won't know until then. My mom is here now and so I am able to take things much easier. Here are a couple belly pics taken last week after I snuck out of the house for a quick dinner out. :)

IRON

So... tomorrow I go for a visit to the midwife. They are going to be testing my iron levels, which have been gradually decreasing over the past few weeks. I started taking iron pills (yuck-o) and just added liquid chlorophyll the regimen. However... I need a little miracle for the difference to show up in my blood test tomorrow. Please pray that my levels hit high enough to be cleared to deliver at the birth center. :) Wouldn't that stink after the bedrest -- to not have high enough iron to do it after all?

So the chlorophyll is interesting... it is really supposed to do wonders for blood and when taken in conjunction w/ the iron pill it should give me a good boost. And thankfully it doesn't taste bad at all. I put 1 tablespoon in with a glass of ice water and it is like drinking cold tea. It is flavored with mint, but I think it tastes closer to chamomile tea. So that is nice -- no gagging while choking the stuff down.

Anyway... that's it. Just need a little miracle for my blood. :) I'll let you know what we find out after the visit tomorrow...

Kaiya's Elmo

Here are a couple pictures of Kaiya with the huge Elmo that Nanny sent her. We joke with Tony's mom because she hates our cat, but he seems to love everything that she sends us. The Elmo was no different. We thought about just posting this picture with the caption...

Well, Kaiya didn't really like the Elmo, but Money Bags did!

But of course -- Kaiya LOVES Elmo too. :)

Bed Rest Day #4

I wanted to post a quick update and some fun pictures. I took these before getting my prison sentence and now I have time to post them! :) The first pictures are of the entrance to our subdivision.

The pond we walk by...

The strange ducks that are in the pond.

Our house

This is how I found Kaiya after a nap the other day. Stripping her self down. She has the snaps figured out, but she hasn't been able to get her legs or feet out yet. In this picture you can see her hair bouncing up and down because she is jumping like a monkey in her crib. She thinks she is hilarious... and we think so too. :)

I'm feeling well and we are managing pretty good around the house. Ruthie is off for the next few days and so she is going to be helping out quite a bit. She's currently grocery shopping with Kaiya right now so the house is very quiet. I've been reading a very interesting book called the Gift of Pain by Dr. Paul Brand and Philip Yancey. It is about a doctor's lifelong work with leprosy patients. I read it while pregnant with Kaiya and provided some good perspective on pain. We think pain is so horrible -- but a life without pain is even worse. I'm only about halfway through... but enjoying it again a second time. I figured now is a good time to be reminded that I should appreciate pain. :)

Bed Rest Day #1

Went to the midwife yesterday and found out I'll be on bedrest for the next 2 weeks. *Sigh*

I am currently 1-2 cm and 60% effaced. So... in order to deliver the baby at the Birth Place in a water birth I have to make it to 37 weeks. Because Kaiya came early and was ok, the midwife said that she would let me squeak by at 36 1/2 weeks. So I have to make it to November 20 in order to deliver there. I really would like to... so hopefully this little guy will stay in for a bit longer. Otherwise we'll have to go to the hospital where they don't allow water births (grrr...). Here's the link to the center where I'll be having my baby: http://thebirthplace.org/

Now the big question is: How do you do bedrest with an active 20 month old? Challenging -- that's the only word for it. She's pulled on my hands a few times today and said -- Up! Up! Trust me... I would love to be up. Ruthie and Tony both work full days today, but Tony has some time off this weekend and then the great thing is that with the exception of a 4-hr shift on Sunday, Ruthie wasn't scheduled to work until Friday. And... I my mom is coming down next Thursday afternoon to see us until the end. So I think we'll do just fine.

I think I'm still gonna mapquest directions to the hospital. Hmm... I better figure out which one to go to. :) just in case...

Catching up

It is the time for catching up. Catching up on everything possible that I can think of before Baby #2 arrives! :) Today Kaiya and I tackled Tony & I's room. I'm totally taking advantage of her little legs and ability to bend over since bending over is becoming slightly challenging lately. I promised these pictures forever ago and hopefully over the next week or so I can show you the whole house! :0) So... this is the Master Bedroom:

This shot is taken from the door leading into the room. The door across the room is on my side of the bathroom.

Here is a shot from the opposite side of the room. The door on the right is the door into the room, the other door is the entrance to the bathroom on Tony's side. There is the pack'n'play all ready for the baby!

Master Bath pic from my door, you can see Tony's closet and the shower hiding back there.

From the other side. There's my closet and you can just barely see the toilet. My favorite part of course is the tub.

So... that's my room.

I'm tackling all sorts of projects in anticipation of this baby. Yesterday I made a boppy cover! The two covers I have are a bit girly so after a trip to JoAnn Fabrics we have a boy boppy cover. I haven't put the velcro in, so I won't post a picture yet... but it was quite an accomplishment for me.

Here are some more pictures just catching up on our past weeks. My mom and sister came for a visit. It was relaxing and fun to enjoy Florida with them. We spent an afternoon at the beach -- her are some pics. Kaiya was such a pro this time -- not wanting much help in the water. She's been quite independent lately.

Sandy Behind Shot


Sun Bathing just like Aunt Bekah

Halloween Pictures

Our Halloween festivities started Sunday night with pumpkin carving. Kaiya was pretty unsure about it as you can see here... she's really checking this thing out. Tony started by putting his hands in and saying -- "Ewwww... Gross.... It's slimy!" I imagine a little boy after hearing daddy say that would have dug both hands right into the pumpkin. To a little girl however, this means -- there is NO way I'm touching it now. Instead Kaiya looks at me and as I see my pumpkin carving dreams screeching to a halt I say -- "Awesome. How fun -- Cool Kaiya, why don't you try?" After I dig my hands in and Tony keeps digging her curiousity got the better of her:

And she liked it! Okay... she REALLY liked it!
With each handful she pulled out, she started to raise it to her mouth. Our kid LOVES food. She will try anything just hoping that it will taste good. After three times of raising her fistful of pumpkin to her mouth and then deciding against eating it, she just had to try it. This is the after taste:
Here's Kaiya on Halloween in front of her pumpkin. Decided that in honor of our year in Florida we would have a little Minnie Mouse. I made her costume this year -- with a little help from Mimi. :) Those pattern instructions are hard to understand! And had to have my mom put in the zipper for me too. It turned out great! :) And she was so cute. She kept her ears on most of the night -- those were a special treat from Downtown Disney. Thanks Mimi & Papa!
Before trick-or-treating we drove to our church where they had a party for kids. This is the candy walk and a bunch of seniors formed a half circle in chairs and each had a big bowl of candy. She was amazed that if she stopped in front of each one they would dump a handful into her bag. I thought it was such a cute idea -- I know the seniors got a kick out of seeing all of the kids. Aunt Ruthie helped her through the walk and she was so polite saying, "Ta-tu" after each one gave her candy.

Here are a couple shots at the church. What a cute little Minnie Mouse.

At the church they had several rooms with special games. This was a treasure chest to dig in. It was full of oats and treasure. Like I said -- the kid loves food. So she finds a coin, scoops up some oats and...
...pours the whole thing into her mouth. Hilarious.
When we got back from the party, Daddy was home from work and ready to take Kaiya trick-or-treating in the neighborhood. Kaiya got the hang of it after two houses and had lots of fun.
She would knock with Daddy on the door and then peer in the windows on the side of the door to see if anyone was coming. She even mastered saying "trick-or-treat." Very cute.

Tony and I were tired by the end of trick-or-treating. :) Daddy helped carry her quite a bit and I pushed the stroller when we had several houses to pass before getting to one with the lights on. We joked that this was true child labor. Because Kaiya got to taste a "Smartie" but that's it. Mama & Daddy have enjoyed the rest of it. Isn't this wonderful? And next year we'll have two! :) ha ha...