40 Weeks

At my appointment today I found out I am dilated to 2 cm, so some progress has happened over the past week. My midwife still believes the baby is going to be small but said that out of her feeling on him, doing a sonogram, and a mom's intuition, a mom's intuition always wins. I do believe (and pray) he will be a small but healthy baby. I think Sweet P wanted us to have more time to get things ready and now that we have he will arrive this weekend. We were able to find a comfy recliner for his room and finish organizing things around the house. His room is officially ready. The theme is "Baby Aviator". The bedding has a dark and light tan that was the same as Hallister's Twinkle Little Star. It also has stars in it. We just changed all the green in the room to blue. It turned out really nice. Our bags are packed and we are ready whenever he is.

21 Months Old

We decided to have some fun in the sun today and visit a Spray Park nearby. Although Hallister did not go near the water unless I took him he enjoyed circling the park by pushing his wagon with his trains. He is now really into trains and likes to watch Thomas the Train. He wakes up around 7am every morning (hallelujah!) and is sleeping through the night without waking up. His two naps have become one from 11:00 - 1 or 1:30pm. We are amazed at how quickly he learns. Before disciplining him Jonathan started to count to warn him that he had up to 3 to stop and obey. Well now when we say 1 he will say 2, so that doesn't really work anymore. The most important things we are teaching him is to "stop" and "come here", since those words can mean a matter of life or death, (for example walking in the street or a car backing up). We expect him to obey the first time and not hesitate. He does now say 'Okay' instead of 'Yeah'. I am working with him on bringing me items so that when Sweet P arrives he can be my big helper. We know he will be a great big brother. He is very loving towards other children, especially when they are crying, he goes over and hugs them to try and console them. It is hard to believe his next monthly update will include how he is adjusting as a BIG BROTHER!

39 Weeks...

Well here we are at 39 weeks and counting. I am really hoping I do not make it to the 40 weeks mark. I am still dilated 1 cm but Christy (my midwife) reassured me that things can go much quicker the second time. That was encouraging to hear. It is just too hot to be this pregnant. Plus I am tired of the looks and the comments of how big I am.....actually I am just plain tired. Chasing Hallister and trying to beat the heat every day wears me out. I am thankful for family and friends checking in on me and giving me breaks. I am enjoying my last few days of just having Hallister. It is fun to reflect back on his arrival and bringing him home. I have learned so much and I am thankful that I know more of what to expect this time around at the hospital. Although my labor did not go as I had hoped with Hall I was thankful to have a healthy son and speedy recovery. Please be praying with us: 1) that the VBAC would be successful 2) we would once again be bringing home a healthy baby 3) Hallister will adjust well to his new brother and not feel left out. Hopefully the next baby update will be our son's birth news!

38 Weeks

Time seems to be going by slow now. I can feel (and I am sure everyone else sees) that Sweet P is growing. Thankfully I don't have a job that I have to dress for every day. Shirts are now barely covering my growing belly.....baby. I am now dilated 1 centimeter so some progress is happening! The baby is moving a lot and I can tell he feels crammed. I occasionally get a stitch on my left side. Sweet P seems to be placing his elbow or hand in a certain position to cause this. Thankfully it is not on the same side as my once hurt rib, which is now completely healed. As we patiently wait for him to be born we are enjoying spending these last special days we have with just Hallister. What a blessing it is to know God is entrusting us with these two precious lives, to love and raise.

Not Ready Yet

I borrowed a friends book that talked about potty training in 3 days. I thought it might be nice to potty train Hallister before Sweet P arrives so we are not spending a ton on diapers. Well the first three ways, in this book, to tell if a child is ready to train are: they show you a sign when they need to go, they do not need a bottle before bedtime, and they wake up with a dry diaper. The first sign Hallister has had down for a while, telling us when he is about to poop or is in the process, but the other two he does not yet do. I put him in underwear one day to see if he would tell me when he peed so we could rush to the bathroom. He peed but did not seem to mind it going through the underwear. He also pees right when he gets in the bathtub. I tried dipping his feet in the bath and then putting him on his little potty, but he did not want to pee in it. We realized he is not ready to be trained yet. After Sweet P arrives and we get Hallister a big boy bed we will try again. He does look cute, and like such a big boy, in his underwear.

Anniversary Trip

Our actual anniversary is July 9th and we will have been married 5 years! Since we will be a little busy with a newborn at that time we decided to celebrate early. On Friday (June 4th) we left later than I had wanted to but thankfully did not run into much traffic. Once we got close to the hotel we got a little lost. Thankfully the GPS on Jonathan's Iphone was a tremendous help and we found the hotel. We always stay at La Quinta because they have free breakfast and we are enrolled in the rewards program, so we get emailed discounts and once we get so many points we can redeem them for a free night's stay. Well right when we pulled up I could tell the hotel was not what I had in mind. Even though it was an Inn & Suites it looked old and run down. We got checked in but needed to shower before going to dinner. I realized we had no towels. The front desk person said they were in the drier and would take 30 minutes. So we waited on towels and showered. As we started to get ready I saw a bleach stain on the front of the shirt I had borrowed from a friend. Jonathan realized his pair of black socks were different socks, different thicknesses, and one had a hole in the toe. We just had to laugh wondering what else was going to go wrong. Thankfully I had grabbed another nice shirt as we headed out the door. We enjoyed a nice seafood dinner at Pappadeaux, which was not crowded, and we managed to make it to Wicked at 7pm and get a great parking spot. It did not start until 8pm so we walked around and found our awesome Orchestra seats at the very back, so no one was behind us. What made the show even more interesting was that two understudy's were filling in for two pretty important parts, one being the Wicked Witch. She was so good, I cannot imagine how much better the regular person sings. The show was awesome. I was so glad Jonathan enjoyed it, not being a fan of musicals. We had listened to the soundtrack on the way up so that he would understand more of what the story was about. Saturday morning we got to sleep in until 9am. I can't remember the last time I did that.....college maybe. Something I was looking forward to at breakfast was yogurt and muffins, neither of which this La Quinta offered. We had to wait on coffee to be made and there was only one waffle maker. We were thankful though for a free breakfast. I enjoyed bagels and cereal, and Jonathan a Texas shaped waffle. We had no plans for the day, which was very rare for me. I usually have a set time for things and a plan mapped out for the day. It was a different feeling not knowing what we were going to be, but nice and relaxing. We headed to Northpark Center mall, not too far away to walk around. Since we got there by lunch time we headed to the food court. I spotted an interesting place labeled Which Wich. It was pretty neat. You wrote on a bag which sandWICH you wanted and checked off the toppings, similar to Subway but better. We enjoyed our sandwiches and strawberry shake, then decided to see Robin Hood. After the movie we drove around a found a nice park by an airstrip. I fed the ducks some crackers and Jonathan enjoyed seeing the planes land. We headed back to the hotel to freshen up before going to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, which Jonathan had never eaten at before. I ordered Herb Crusted Salmon and Jonathan Filet Mignon. Oh how good it was. Thankfully Waco doesn't have one though or we would go broke. We then enjoyed a scrumptious Reese's Peanut Butter Cup cheesecake. I am so glad we split it! We then went back to the hotel STUFFED, ready to relax and wade in the indoor pool. Much to our dismay our keys did not work on the side door to get in the building or for our room. Another strike against this hotel. It was just crazy how things kept messing up, but we didn't let it get to us. It was actually pretty funny. We then headed to the pool, which turned out to be only 3'4", so wading meant getting on our knees. The hot tub was out of service, not that I could get in it, but it would have felt nice on my feet. Jonathan then noticed a light floating in the pool but still attached to the wall of the pool. Thinking that is not very safe we headed back to the room to relax. Sunday morning we got up and headed to the church plant from the original church that we met at. Jonathan's best friend, Thomas, and my roommate from college, Johanna, attended there with their spouses. We enjoyed visiting before church. After church Thomas introduced us to a roofer who was going to be heading to Hewitt due to the recent hail damage in the area. He wanted to see our roof and give an estimate. We were thankful for this connection and left church looking forward to seeing Hallister. It was a wonderful trip. We are so thankful for Hallister and now look forward to being parents of TWO children.

37 Weeks

It seems like yesterday I was just writing my 36 week update. The baby's heartbeat was 144bpm today. He did measure 35 for the fundus height (rather than 37), but my midwife was not concerned. This means he has dropped, which is good, and that he is still small. I tested positive for Group B Strep, which does not affect me, but does affect the baby. When I am in labor I will be given an antibiotic through my IV so it will pass to Sweet P, and we will just need to stay in the hospital a full two days for him to be monitored. I am not dilated.

We are so excited about our (early) anniversary trip to Dallas, and will post pictures when we get back. We are going to see WICKED! tonight, tomorrow just relax with no agenda and SWIM, eat at the Cheesecake Factory, and Sunday enjoy visiting the church where we met and our friends there.