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...

Compass Movie

Twice in one day. Amazing huh? :) Kaiya's taking another wonderful nap and so I have a little freedom before cleaning my bedroom takes me prisoner...

I thought I would post this link just as an FYI. I received this same link from more than one person today via e-mail. Which makes it blog-worthy.

http://snopes.com/politics/religion/compass.asp

First Beach Trip

We've lived here 2 months and finally made it to the beach! Tony had a free afternoon last Saturday and even though it was overcast we thought we should take advantage of it while we could. The waves were extremely rough and so we were soaked head to toe by the time we left. Kaiya was very nervous at first but once Tony held her in the waves she decided it was fun. She kept saying -- "More!" "More!" And when the water would hit her Tony would say, "Whoa Kaiya!!" Pretty soon she started exclaiming, "Yai-Ya!!" each time she went through a wave.






It was fun and needless to say we didn't hear much from her on the way home:

And for the record -- it took me 3 washes to get all the sand out of her hair. :)

A Mom's Day...

This is a forward that I received a few weeks ago. I wanted to post it for you - it should make you smile... at least a little bit. :)

The "poppy"

The week after we got back from Indiana, Kaiya started pretending to go potty on her little potty seat. I took the following pictures during her playtime before going to bed. She's gotten good at playing by herself lately, so when I wandered past the bathroom and found this, I had to get my camera. At first she didn't realize that I was taking pictures. After snapping a couple shots I asked her what she was doing and she said, "poppy" -- which translates to potty. :)

If you look closely you will see a little wad of toilet paper in her hand. And notice of course that she is fully clothed in her pajamas while using the poppy.

Love the expression here. Like -- get a life mom. Can't you find something better to take a picture of? Can't you see I'm on the poppy?

And of course, can't forget to wipe! :)

And now we must flush...

The day after the potty pretending, Ruthie sat her on the potty while getting her bath ready. A minute or so later Kaiya said: All Done! and stood up. Ruthie looked down and Kaiya had tinkled in the potty. We had a big party in the bathroom. It hasn't happened since then, but we go to the potty several times a day anyway just to see if she can do it again. It's probably her second favorite thing to do -- next to eating, of course. :)

And mama's favorite part is her announcing in public restrooms exactly what I am doing. :) There is no decency anymore... It's quiet in the public restroom and the minute I sit down Kaiya says loudly, "Poppy?" "Yes, Kaiya. Mama's going poppy." "Poppy!!!" Repeat at least 10 times.

Indiana Round Two

Here are a few more pictures from our trip. As usual, I didn't take enough.

This is Kaiya with Boston.

Kaiya w/ Nanny (Tony's mom)

Kaiya is very into buckles lately. Like the kind on the cart in the grocery store. She can just sit and buckle for hours. The only catch is she can't unbuckle them yet. So she'll get it buckled and then we hear: "HELP!" Which translates to: "Come as fast as you can and unbuckle this please."
The night before flying out we stayed with Austin and Kristina who live in Indianapolis. They don't have a crib, but had a crib mattress that we bumped up against the wall (w/ blue blankets). This was a new one for Kaiya. I wasn't sure how she would do b/c she is a major thrasher in her sleep. I put her down, she went to sleep and when I went to check on her before going to sleep myself, this is how I found her. In the middle of the floor between her mattress and mine! :)
Sweet little thing. I pulled her up into my bed, put a pillow on the other side of her and we made it through the rest of the night.

Indiana

We're back! Kaiya and I flew back to Florida last Friday and have been working at getting caught up on everything that piled up. Bills... Laundry... Ironing... Tivo... :)

The trip was nice and relaxing for the most part. We spent time with friends and family that we don't see often anymore. I'm gonna post these pictures in phases... so here's phase one. The rest will probably come in the next few days.

Caught Kaiya playing by herself. It's just cute to see her entertaining herself and beginning to pretend. And she would rather be naked lately than have clothes on... it's strange.

My friend Bethany and her daughter Enna came all the way from St. Louis to spend a couple days with us! It was a great way to break up our trip and so fun to visit and have the girls play together.

This is Kaiya with Uncle Brent and Aunt Bekah. Posing in front of Brent's new beast blazer truck. Kaiya is way into trucks, so she had to get a close view of it. He bought it when we were home -- Just in time for hunting season!

Just a cutie pic of Kaiya in a basket. We had a girls night with Rachel Kratzer, Jen South & Molly Ryall -- all went to high school with Tony and married Tony's friends. Anyway... Kaiya and I had yummy salads with them and hung out for a couple hours. Kaiya played with Jen's little guy Boston. Pics of that to come... in phase two. :)