I'm 1 cm dilated!

35 weeks, just about. Had my checkup on Friday. I told him I had been having some weird feelings, along with the swelling of course, and since we were headed to Columbia he thought he'd better check. Sure enough I was 1cm dilated. I knew I had been feeling something that wasn't right. Now we're just hoping she holds off for two more weeks so I can finish school and she isn't so early. I went shopping today and got all the stuff I really needed to have before she arrives. There's a few things left to get but overall we're pretty ready. I tried to pack a hospital bag but really everything you need you use everyday. It's not like I won't have time to do that though. So...looks like maybe we'll have a June baby after all!

We went to Gina's Friday night, visited Grandma Jo and Poppy Saturday for a few hours, then spend Saturday night at Gina's as well, with a yummy dinner of fried potatoes and sausage. I passed on the sausage and ate a turkey sandwich instead, trying to stay away from sodium. I did try a few potatoes though and they were really good. We got home this morning around 10, not realizing it would be storming on and off all day, right when I'm coming out of the store without an umbrella! But we got the yard mowed at least.

Adam saw his first toad today. Bradley caught it and showed it to him. He wouldn't touch it but he sure enjoyed looking at it and watching it hop around the yard. He also really enjoyed lying at the top of his slide and sliding his flip flops down, for me to pick up over and over so he could do it again. Adam's also eaten like a pig today! Way more than he usually does. I'm wondering if maybe his ear had just been bothering him and now that he's on medicine he's feeling better. He's also slept really good the past two nights and is acting much better, less whiny and being an excellent listener and helper. Tomorrow I'm finishing up my last homework ever and enjoying Bradley having a day off.

We've Got a Short One!

Adam had his two year checkup today. Looking at his growth charts the doctor informed me that he thinks Adam will take after me in height--oh no! By age two I guess you can take their current height and double it to find their estimated adult height. He said Adam will probably be around 5'7" or 5'8". I guess that's not too bad but I was hoping he'd take after Bradley. You never know I guess.

He also has an ear infection, out of nowhere. I have no idea how long he's had it because he wasn't showing any signs of pain or anything. So now we're on medicine for that. The doctor made some comment about him having quite a few infections lately so we go back in a month to check his ears again. I'm praying we don't have to do tubes or anything, which the doctor said he won't say yet. However, Adam is now taking Claritin for allergies so maybe the drainage from that is causing his ear problems. The doctor didn't say that but I'm hoping that's all it is, since Adam's had a really runny nose and red eyes for the past two weeks.

I go for my checkup this afternoon so we'll see if I have any news. I'll update this post if there's anything new to tell.

Had a baby shower this morning for all the preggos in our playgroup. It was nice. I love the big get togethers and potlucks we do. We all got little baskets full of goodies too, which was nice. I couldn't ask for better friends!

Park Play and Contractions??

I think I may be having some contractions off and on this week. Not real ones but something. I'm not exactly sure what they feel like but I've had some pain and other things that I haven't felt before so I'm not sure what it is. I go for a checkup on Friday so I'll be sure to ask but I guess it's getting close enough for these things to happen. How exciting! I also have the worst swelling, mostly my right foot and my hands, but every day this week is worse than the day before. I definitely have no ankles anymore and my right foot is huge! I am still praying it doesn't get as bad as with Adam, and I guess I shouldn't complain if it's only one foot. It could be both! However, it's my hands too this time which isn't any fun either.

Adam has done a few new things this past week, since he's turned two! The other day I asked if he could walk up the stairs by himself and he walked up the whole flight of stairs on the deck without holding onto anything! He's getting better at walking down too. He'll try to walk down without holding on but that scares me. He also figured out this week at the park how to climb a rock wall and a big ladder type thing all by himself! His absolute favorite thing right now is the swings. He'll swing for about ten seconds on one swing and then have to get off to try all the others.

Adam eating a doughnut at the park.

Adam and his good friend Leah.

He climbed up this whole thing by himself! He's so cute when he does things now he throws his hands up in the air and says "Did it!" He's so proud of himself!

This was just cute. He loves nature. Every afternoon after his nap and every evening after dinner we spend outside (weather permitting!) I'm hoping this continues as Adam gets older and he's not into the video games and such as much. Since Adam isn't close to the farms and outdoors like we were as kids at least we have a decent yard he can play in, which is important to us.

I also love his new found interest in bugs. He really wants to touch them but when I tell him it's okay he just wants me to touch them, which doesn't happen! He has touched a caterpillar and roly poly bugs but there are these worm/centipede things that he won't touch. I'm definitely not touching those!

Happy Birthday Adam!

Adam turned 2 yesterday! His party turned out to be a success and I think he enjoyed it. Lots of friends came as well as some family. It's really hard to believe it was two years ago I was in the hospital having him. Time is flying by!

Blowing out the candles.

Getting messy eating cake and ice cream.

Swinging on his new swing set.

Then today we had a birthday party to go to for our friend Carter who also turned two. It was a fun but exhausting weekend! I'm glad Adam has so many friends though and I wouldn't go back to before I joined this playgroup!

My sad news is that I finally had to take my wedding ring off. It really is upsetting to not be able to wear it, for some reason, but it was getting stuck on my finger pretty good so I figured it was time to take it off until the baby comes. My swelling has been much worse since yesterday. Maybe because it's getting warm this week or just because I'm getting close to the end--only 6 weeks to go! Not only are my ankles fat but this time my hands are pretty swollen too.

This week ahead is fairly quiet I think. We're going to the park tomorrow, a playdate on Tuesday for all the May birthdays, have a playdate here on Thursday and a busy Friday: doctor's appointments for both me and Adam and a baby shower for all the pregnant moms in the playgroup. Should be a fun week! I say that's not busy and compared to what we're usually doing it's not! I also have a test on Thursday that I really have no idea what it will be like but then I only have two weeks left so I'm kind of to that point of not caring! I so, so, so want to be finished with school!

Adam also finger-painted for the first time today! He did really good. He especially liked making handprints.

Ultrasound

We had our ultrasound to check on the baby today. The spot in the heart that was indicating down syndrome is gone and the doctor said everything looked good. She weighed in around 4 lb 12 oz and is on track for the due date of somewhere around June 28-July 1. She was lying on her belly so we couldn't get a good look at her face. She is head down already and is pretty much lying straight up and down. However, I feel her on both sides of my belly all the time so I guess she rolls around a lot! We didn't get to see as much as I had hoped but it was good to know that everything is okay. Adam went along because he has a runny nose and I didn't want to make Brady sick (Adam's best friend who was going to hang out with him today while we were gone). He didn't do too bad.

Speaking of which, Adam had a temp yesterday of 100 (not really a fever but a little high for normal) and has a very runny nose so I'm praying he doesn't get sick for his party Saturday! I think it's just allergies maybe because he doesn't have a fever today and I have a runny nose too.

Adam went on the potty chair--kind of!

So I let Adam run around this morning without a diaper, as I've done a few times this past week. He peed on the floor once but I decided to let him keep his diaper off because it wasn't very much. I was back checking my email and asked him if he needed to go pee pee to which he replied "yes" and took off running for his potty chair. I stayed back on the computer thinking he wouldn't really do anything. About 10 minutes later I go out there and there is a wet spot on the carpet right by his chair BUT there's also some pee pee in the potty!! Not much but there was a little in there. So, he tried! I was so excited! Maybe he'll get the hang of it now if I just keep his diaper off in the mornings before we leave for the day. He also peed on the floor a couple times after that but I'm trying not to force it. If it happens now that'd be great, but I don't want to push it too hard and make him hate it. That was our exciting moment of the day!

May 11

Saturday was Adam's birthday party in Pilot Grove. He really got into it this year blowing out candles and wanting cake. He even opened every present by himself.

We told him to pose like this but it's really true that he's into money! He loves it! Every night we go over his "chore chart" and he gets coins for every thing he did that day to put in his piggy bank. Bradley and I like it because it helps us talk about his day and he's getting old enough to have a little allowance. Especially since he's interested in it now.

This coming Saturday is his party here at the house with his friends and some of my family. I'll be getting ready for that this week trying to get the energy to clean house. I've been really uncomfortable the last few days. Had some weird pains Friday and am just getting big I guess. I'm not sleeping at all so it doesn't help that Adam is up usually by 6am every day. Sometimes 630, but that's too early for me. We have our ultrasound Wednesday so I'll try to post something then and let everyone know what we find out.

Mother's Day was quiet. I slept in until 730 while Bradley and Adam made me a card. Then we headed to church, got Adam a hair cut (finally!), and just hung out at home. I took a nap when Adam did and we went outside for a little while, in the cold dreary weather. I did a little homework this morning but that was it. I was really pretty lazy which ended up probably being good for me. I needed some rest! So Happy Mother's Day to all of you out there!!

May 8

Adam smiling big for the camera.

Adam sitting on his new swingset. It's not quite finished--Bradley has to get it leveled and put the swings on but Adam enjoys it already. It's going to be so nice to have this in our yard to play with this summer.

I'm now 32 1/2 weeks pregnant with 7 1/2 weeks to go! She's sure getting big. We go on the 14th for another ultrasound to see if we can find anything more out about the down syndrome sign. I'm excited to get to see a baby at 33 weeks. Usually you only have one ultrasound at 20 weeks and that's it until they're born. It will be fun to have more pictures of her at about 5 pounds! They should be able to tell me how big she is...how much she weighs and other measurements...as well as maybe an updated due date. My doctor has said July 1 but the first ultrasounds we had said June 28.

We're going back to stay at Gina and Brian's tomorrow night. They just bought their first house and I'm so excited to see it! Saturday is Adam's birthday party, with family. Then we're headed back home after the party so I can hopefully enjoy a relaxing Mother's Day! Although it will probably be spent doing homework, but hopefully sleeping in one day, as Adam has been waking up by 6am every day this past week.

Happy Mother's Day to all of you Moms out there!

Cinco de Mayo

Here's Adam and me at our Cinco de Mayo playdate yesterday. He had a blast getting wet in the water table, playing in the sand box, hitting the pinata and eating candy, listening to Spanish music, and getting that nice sombrero to wear home! I enjoyed some homemade limeade (no margaritas for us preggos!), excellent chips with cheese dip and salsa. I even ate guacamole which I thought I didn't like and really enjoyed. Maybe my tastes are changing...

Here's Adam checking out the pinata. He wouldn't hit it when it was hanging in the air but once it was on the ground and no one was watching he tore into it!

32 weeks

Here I am at almost thirty two weeks. It's only been two weeks' time since my last picture but it sure seems like I've gotten a lot bigger! I'm getting more and more excited about our baby girl's arrival. It doesn't seem that long ago that Adam was a baby--I can't believe he's almost two! But then I see a newborn and look forward to holding them again. I'm a little nervous about how it's going to be with Adam at the same time though. He's so attached to us and wants me to hold him all the time lately so hopefully he learns fast and realizes that he's going to have to be my helper instead of my only baby! Bradley's taking a week off of work though to help him get adjusted so hopefully that will make the adjustment a little easier. He knows the baby has a room and a bed now and is in my belly but I'm not sure how much he really gets. I'm also having a hard time thinking about being in the hospital for two days and away from Adam. But...it's only two days and then we'll have a wonderful addition to our family!

Bradley is putting together Adam's swing set tomorrow, with the help of his dad of course. I'm hoping it doesn't really take the whole eight hours that it says it will take two people! I'm sure Adam will be out there all day "helping".

I have my first test next Wednesday. It will probably take the entire three hours we're given but then I'm halfway done...down to four weeks after that. I'm getting in that mode of slacking off, knowing it's my last quarter ever. That's not the best thing to do, I know, but I'm not sleeping well or feeling the greatest so I'll do what I can and not worry about it.