Doula Meeting

Well our Doula, Paula, was here for about 2.5 hrs yesterday. Yes it's time to start thinking about labor and all that. I have to say she is really great and we both just love her. I'm really happy that she's going to be with us through the natural childbirth process.

Yesterday she brought over her bag of tricks and we practiced some techniques that she and Jeremy will use during labor...massage, stretching, pressure points. We also reviewed the birth plan that I am to submit to my doctor. It looks almost exactly like the birth plan we made for Tessa but this time we plan to stick to it! (no meds or epidural, etc).

Tessa was here during our meeting and was actually pretty cute helping Jeremy rub my back and playing with the model baby dolls in Paula's bag. Part of her service is that she documents our whole 'birth story' from start to finish, so she was taking pics of Tessa massaging my back!

We're both feeling very positive now after visiting with her. Not only does she support me, but she'll take a lot of pressure off of Jeremy as well so he can enjoy the experience alot more. She's coming back in 2 wks to review breathing techniques and stuff with us and then of course we'll see her at 'go' time.

I found a really great article on the reasons to hire a doula, cause I know not everyone understands her role:
http://www.doulaconnection.org/why_have_a_doula.html

Cute Lil Laundry

Aw look at all those receiving blankets and burp cloths!

Well Tessa is officially moved out of the nursery and into her log cabin room, as I've been cleaning out her closet in the past day. She still naps and changes diapers in there though. After moving her stuff I washed up the few things we have for Peanut. We have 5 unisex sleepers including the one below which will be his/her hospital outfit. So either way Jeremy has a post-delivery job. If it's a boy, he and Tessa are to go to Target and buy some clothes. If it's a girl, he's to get the tub of newborn girl clothes out of munchkin-land. Gotta make the man feel important, ya know?

I must be feeling nesty cause I also updated my email contact list to send the 'big announcement' from the hospital, and made a little list of things we need at the store....a pack newborn sposie dipes, little socks and more baby hangers. Next up, Jeremy and I are going to stock the freezer with some food. I also hear plans are underway with our church scheduling meal deliveries, what a HUGE blessing that was last time!

In other news, I swear that Tessa just said 'food, I want food' while slamming herself against the pantry door. Jeremy heard it too!

Good Excuse!

Well I was hoping to drop in here and report on today's meeting with our doula, but she couldn't make it because she had TWO women in labor! Haha, I guess she's off the hook. Stay tuned....

Christmas Slideshow

Well here it is, our compilation of Christmas pictures set to music (turn on your speakers!) Actually we had put it to some of the Charlie Brown Christmas music but youtube blocked it due to copyright infringement. That's a new one.

As you can see we ended up having a nice little Christmas Day here at home even though Tessa was sick. She's doing much better now, but instead of making it to Andy's for the annual fried chicken feast, we just stayed home and laid low.

Tessa's fave new toy at the moment in the grocery cart and that Andy and Becky got her. She's got all of her other new stuff stuffed inside it and is pushing it all over the house. She got lots of great stuff, and we've already boxed up some older toys to make room. We'll pull them back out in a few months and they'll be like new again! I've also been rounding up all the infant toys for Peanut, which were all over the house. Nesting time!

Anyway, here's the video:


And just for fun we dug up last year's video and watched it. What a difference! I noticed two things..yes Tessa is alot bigger and different, but I also have about 12 more chins this year! Ugh, I'm feeling really swollen right now, like a human water balloon. It would be nice to look 'normal' again!

All I Want for Christmas...

...is a good night's sleep.

It's been a while...at least two weeks, since I've had a decent night's sleep. All the other nights I can blame the fetus but last night (Christmas Eve) Tessa was up sick. She was super snotty all day yesterday and I think she's coming down with something. She's currently cuddling in bed with her Daddy attempting to fall back to sleep.

Otherwise I'm not sleeping for two reasons...I can't get comfortable and I'm hungry. I seriously hate getting snacks in the middle of the night but sometimes if I don't I get dizzy and sick (literally). The baby requires food 24/7 apparently. I remember this with Tessa too.

Christmas is going well so far though. Tessa had fun yesterday even though she didn't feel well...she was just sorta pathetic all day. Will we make it for chicken and beer in Andy's barn tonight? It's questionable unfortunately.

Stay tuned for a slideshow of pics in the coming day or so!

Going Good

I'm happy to report that Tessa is officially sleeping every night in her twin bed. And no longer using the sneaky move from the crib. We're putting her down in there fully awake and she is okay with it. Yay! She's still waking up a little earlier sometimes but not really crying or anything.

So she must like her new place! She's still napping in the crib but we'll move her once I'm sure she's really solid in her big bed. I hate screwing around with naptime, it's my daily break too!

On another exciting note Tessa has now informed us twice that she's had a dirty diaper by pulling on her pants and saying 'poo poo'. Whoah! I guess she's more aware of her functions, which is a sign that potty training is on the horizon. I realize that poopy pants may not be as exciting to you, the general public, but it's big time stuff around here.

Christmas Dance

Enjoy this funny video I captured of Tessa dancing to the Charlie Brown Christmas cd. It looks like she's playing the piano on the window sill. Where she learned that I don't really know cause I never play our piano (maybe I should!)

33 wk check up

Nothing much to report, just one of those super short appointments. After the next one I start going every week.

So my bp was 110/70, baby's heartbeat in the 140s, and I'm holding steady at 40 lbs gained to which my doc said to 'be careful over the holidays'. I'll do my best! All is well.

Ice Day

Well we never did leave the house today. In fact I wasn't even brave enough to go down the sheet of ice that is our driveway to get the trash out. But we had fun anyway! We decided to make dough ornaments. Well I made them and Tessa played with flour.

I put a tarp on the floor with some flour and bowls and let her go to town while I shaped our ornaments. She played with it for about an hour before she was tired of it.


Then later we painted them our ornaments with water colors. Tessa didn't really get it and was upset she couldn't eat them. She painted a little bit the mostly played with her brushes and splashed in the paint water.

I have NO IDEA why this pic is sideways but it won't let me flip it. Who knows.


Tessa's only creation, I did the rest of them


The best one I think...see it's a T and B!

Dough Ornaments:
1 cup flour
1 cup salt
1/2 cup water
makes a play doh like consistency that you can mold
bake 350 for 1hr

I'm hoping we can get out tomorrow cause we have a playdate at Marcie's, we'll see!

Iced In- give me some creative play ideas!!

We've been in alot lately for one reason or another...illness, weather, etc. Well today we are actually iced into the house. I just tried to take a stack of Christmas letters to the mailbox and didn't make it. Our step and driveway are a solid sheet.

Help me beat the cabin fever with some ideas. We have our normal watercolors and crayons that we always do. And actually I have some play doh that Tessa's never tried (I'm afraid she'll eat it).

We have all the standard kitchen stuff too...any homeade toys or games that would be new and different? I know I've heard of having toddlers play with dried beans (which we have) but I'm afraid the dogs would try to eat them.

I know some of you are crafty...help!

ps- I threw up my morning banana today. I think my body was just reminding me I'm pregnant in case I forgot.

thump.

Well it didn't take Tessa very long to fall out of her new bed, even with the guard rails. I have a feeling she launched herself over the guard rails. At least it's close to the ground unlike her crib...that would have hurt alot more.

I heard a loud thump at about 6am and found her standing up in the middle of her room crying. We snuggled in our bed for a while until she started groping my face and saying 'nose'. So basically she's still waking up earlier than normal but sleeping well in her new room!

Another Fun Weekend

Saturday we babysat our nephews Mark and Bob all day and overnight. We were supposed to have baby David too the poor guy was sick. Becky was going through her Master's graduation ceremony- congratulations!

In the afternoon we made Christmas cookies which was alot of fun and definitely time consuming. I convinced Jer to use tubed dough and frosting in a can, much to his dismay...but I think it was a good call given our varied skill levels.

We made cookies while Tessa napped and frosted when she woke up. She liked 'frosting her cookie' (aka eating frosting) for about 5 min and then was over it.


Our beautiful creations! As you can guess the giant hand, 'pig and cattle farmers' and such were Jeremy's. Mark made a pretty cool snow monster and I helped Bob make the giant m&m snowman on the left. Did you know frosting comes in a aerosol can? Fun stuff!

We got baths before dinner cause everyone was sticky. The boys loved the big tub and jets. Tessa stayed in with them for a little bit but we didn't get a good pic with all three. Surprisingly she wasn't at all interested in their unique anatomy.

The boys were pretty excited to sleep in Tessa's 'log cabin room'

Sunday Jeremy got to join Andy and Mark on one of their railing trips. One of those yellow rail cars belongs to Andy and they rode the rails with Santa Claus, making stops along the way. Jeremy had a really good time, while Tessa and I opted to stay home and be lazy.

Success Again!

Well mostly. We did the sneaky bed plan again last night and she slept in there all night until 5:30 at which point she was awake and crying 'sooozzzyyy' (snoozy, our word for sleep). So she finished the morning off in her crib cause I wasn't ready to get up just yet. Thursdays are her 'late night' since we have small group so in the interest of sleeping in later than 5:30, I think we'll go for a full night in the crib tonight. Baby steps right?


Tessa's been watching alot more TV lately, a sure sign that Mommy is slowing down. The only shows I record for her are Sesame Street and Jack's Big Music Show but I've also been getting all those Christmas movies they are showing on ABC. Here her and Daddy are watching Charlie Brown Christmas. Yesterday we watched 'Olive the Other Reindeer'. Holy crap that movie is cute, I highly recommend for grownups too. I love that Olive's best friend is named Martini.

I got an outfit set for her new baby that came with a paci and surprisingly Tessa knew just what to do with it (even though she gave up pacis at 8 months old). She walked around like this all day yesterday..sheesh!

The clothing set also came with tiny diapers to change. They are real diapers with tape tabs so of course once the tabs wear out you can buy more doll diapers at Target. Seriously...I'm going to buy sposie diapers for a doll? Yeah right. My friend Marcie is going to help me make tiny cloth ones to fit the doll so Tessa can change it. More accurate anyway right?

We went to our normal library time this morning and Santa was there handing out candy canes. Tessa was pretty freaked out. She clutched so tightly to my leg I couldn't walk. When he offered her a candy cane she held out her hand but wouldn't get any closer. And that was it for our run in with Santa this year, haha.

Success!

The sneak attack sleep plan was a good idea. I moved her into her big bed at about 8:30, once she had been asleep for well over an hour. She didn't even notice.

I was afraid she was going to get up during the night and realize she was in a strange place, but she didn't wake until 6:15! Good thing too, Mommy was tired. I know I have to get used the idea of waking in the night again, but I'm not ready just yet.

Granted 6:15 is about an hour too early, she did attempt to go back to sleep twice and we didn't actually get up until like 6:40. The first time I heard her on the monitor saying 'babeeeeee!', so I put her baby in bed with her and she went back to sleep. Then of course I heard 'Momeeeee!'. Yes she finally calls me by name, that started about 2 wks ago.

The cool thing is she never tried to escape her bed!

We're going to do it again tonight!

Sneak Attack

I'm starting to wonder if naptime is the best time for the initial bed transition, given that she is still so awake and aware of her surroundings.

She such a good and sound sleeper at night that I'm going to go with Erin and Melissa's suggestion to let her fall asleep in her crib tonight then move her into the bed later so she wakes up in the bed in the morning. My thought is that if we do this a few times she'll start to see this is a cool place to sleep, then I can start putting her down in there.

Luckily she never wakes at night so I'm hoping my plot will work and not lead to middle of the night confusion. We shall see!

We have been spending alot more time in there and she really likes it. We also go in and check on 'baby' and make sure she's tucked into the bed before naptime, which she also enjoys. Our past few days have just been so off schedule that I haven't attempted naptime in there. But tonight is the night for the sneak sleep attack!

What a Weekend!

We had a fun weekend around here and man am I tired! Yesterday Mom and I went to see Twilight in the afternoon. Yes I admit to being one of those crazy Twilight fanatics but I will say I think the movie was not nearly as good as the books. The movie came across overly cheesy if you ask me.

Last night Blythe came over to babysit Tessa and we took my parents to go see the Lion King (on stage). It was so amazing. I've seen alot of plays and I think this was really the most impressive as far as visual affects and stunning costumes. So good!

Then this morning a couple of my old highschool friends and I met for our annual Christmas shopping trip. Eventhough I was only shopping for presents for Jeremy and Tessa's stockings, I ended up going overboard. I haven't bought Tessa any toys since her bday in April so I got a little overly excited in Toys R Us...so many cool things she would like! Her stocking is going to be stuffed I think.

We had such a good time shopping....I think each of us laughed until we peed at least once. That's what I call retail therapy. Jeremy manned up and babyset Tessa eventhough he was sick. What a guy.

Tessa is now into loading all the manger people into the bus and driving them around the house. She's like baby Jesus's personal tour guide.

Showing off her favorite body part, her tummy. If you're not careful she'll lift up your shirt and check yours out too.

some cool old ladies

For anyone banking the sex of the baby based on my belly shape...here's my 32 wk profile

Look I made a slideshow of our Thanksgiving pics! Jer wanted to do it with his fancy software but I was able to whip it up on slide.com in a lot less time. If you hover over the pic you'll see a caption (not all of them have captions though).

We got some pretty awesome pics of our trip! Of course most of them are of Tessa :)

Big Girl Bed Attempt #2

Well today Tessa lasted about 15 min in her big girl bed today before making some noise. She laid under the blankey with baby who we 'put to sleep' and I thought we were golden...then I think she sorta woke up and didn't know where she was.

We'll get there!

Beginning to Look Alot Like Christmas

We are done decorating for Christmas and the house feels all nice and Merry. Note our little green stocking. We had it for Tessa two Christmases ago! (when she was in utero)

Tessa's doing okay with the big tree. She really wants to mess with the ornaments but is starting to get the idea that she's not allowed to. She has her tiny tree with wooden ornaments she can play with, but she seems sort of indifferent to it.

What she really loves this year is her Little People nativity. We spent all day yesterday trying to locate baby Jesus who was at the bottom of the toy box. She really loves the animals the most. We also bought this two Christmases ago and it's finally getting some play!

I don't really remember the manger scene looking like this....

After naptime today we spent a good 30 min in her new room playing with some toys and rocking on the horse. I also put her new baby in there and she helped me put her to sleep many times and I made her leave her in there cause 'that's where baby lives' We'll see!...

Big Girl Bed Attempt #1 failed

Well we tried naptime in the big girl bed today and failed. Mommy gave up after about 25 min of crying and kicking. I'm pretty sure the big mistake was leaving her rocky horse in the room where she could see it. She was pretty snoozy and I actually closed the door and left but then she started screaming 'horsey horsey!!". I removed it from the room and that just made things worse.

So we'll try again tomorrow sans rocky horse. She's really into caring for her baby dolls so I thought we might practice putting one to sleep in that bed. Any other great ideas?

It should be noted that Tessa is normally an easy and routine 2 hr napper. For her to throw a fit at naptime is not normal so this is new territory for me. After our 25 min tantrum I took her to her crib where she let out a deep sigh and closed her eyes. She's pretty happy in her current bedroom. Hmmm...

30 wk checkup

All is well.....blood pressure nice and low, baby heart rate strong, and my weight gain is ugh as usual. Oh and I passed the sugar test from last appointment with flying colors. Back in two weeks!