Sweet Success

We finally figured out something that works for us and Abby when it comes to bedtime! Last night she was asleep, in her own bed, within 15 minutes of her and I starting the bedtime routine. And, since I didn't have to pick her up to move her, she stayed asleep for over 11 hours before I had to wake her up. Finally, an early and uninterrupted night!

Abby and I enjoyed playing with her friends AJ and Baby Abby this morning. I especially enjoyed having their mom Andrea over to visit. We all had a good time and got some laughs out of watching two almost two-year old girls figure out how to play together and have a good time. Lucky for all of us both Abby and AJ are good at sharing and pretty laid back, so they do really well playing together. Abby even managed to eat only her snack and not steal AJ's when she had demolished her own crackers and cheese.

We are still working on potty training, but haven't had much success lately. She is just not willing to go on her potty right now, so she holds it until the diaper is back on and then goes almost immediately. She defintely is aware of the moment that she goes and wants changed almost immediate most of the time. I just wish we could translate that into wanting to go in the potty and communicating before the peeing happens. Oh well. She is pretty young for potty training, but she is also smarter than the average bear.

New Baby O. seems to be doing just fine. I am not enjoying my diabetic diet regimine, which will hopefully be for nothing once they do the glucose tolerance test in a few weeks. I always enjoy my plates of rabbit food as Steve and Abby eat their yummy macaroni and cheese for lunch. I have been having a lot more joint, tendon, and muscle pain than I ever experienced with Abby's pregnancy. I seem to have about 10 minutes of activity in me before I get some pretty substantial and long lasting pains that will linger for the better part of a day or two. It makes it pretty frustrating trying to get things done. I basically have come to the conclusion that I am going to be uncomfortable almost every day for most of the day - there is no way around it when you have a toddler to chase.

It's Good to be Queen

Abby took a nap in her queen sized bed for the first time today. After last night's disaster trying to get her to sleep in her toddler bed, I decided it was time to move her into her big kid room. I'm hoping this way I will be able to lay down next to her in her own bed and get her to sleep without having to move her once she is sleeping. Nap time went pretty well. She took a shorter nap than she sometimes does, but at least it was a nap and in the bed.

Abby had lots of fun helping me move her clothes into her new big room and dresser. She found a pair of Levi's jeans that she was so excited about. She wanted to change her pants right then and there, so we did. She is still confused about the empty dresser in the little room with the crib.

Yesterday we got our exersaucer back to use for Baby O. Abby decided to climb in to test it out. Unfortunately for her she couldn't climb back out. We had some good laughs before we rescued her. Now the saucer is down in the basement where it can wait safely for Baby O.

Stuck Inside

Abby is bumming out because we got stuck inside all day. First we had to watch the Lions, who actually won for the first time in Abby's lifetime. She did her touchdowns like a pro, right on cue. Then we had a yummy warm apple pie to eat and naps to take. By the time we had time to go outside it was raining. So we missed out on playing outside.

Abby has been really busy this weekend and so have we. We had the Angel Food delivery on Saturday, so that sucked up our morning, then we watched Michigan win again, which made for a very happy family. And we had dinner with the Drocktons. It has been a busy day. We are going to need a long nap tomorrow.

Daddy Date Day

Steve had today off, so Abby got to go on a lunch date with her daddy. She also got to have her first official happy meal (I have ordered them for her before and gave her one nugget and some fries and had the rest myself). She ate almost the entire meal! And had some frosty. She has gone from picky pants to bottomless pit in the last few weeks. Most of all she enjoyed spending time with daddy today on his day off.

Abby is all ready to watch college football tomorrow. Last night we made her little people do the sign for touchdown and she was very impressed. We had to make them all do the touchdown before we could stop playing with the doll house. Besides playing with the dolls and doll house, Abby has been doing a lot of coloring lately. She is getting very good at holding the crayons and coloring, albeit outside of the lines. She is pretty insistent that only she and daddy can color in her books. I am apparently not allowed to participate. And for those of you keeping track, Abigail is definitely right handed. And she holds her crayons the weird way that I hold a pencil (resting on the ring finger instead of the middle finger). Guess some things you just learn from watching your mom.

Cranky Pants

If you want to be in Abby's gang you'll need to practice the gang sign. It probably won't take too much practicing before you get it right. Abby kept practicing last night long after we told her that double picking your nose is not a good idea.

Abby has been super crabby today. I'm not sure if it is related to her molars coming in or if she is just being in a foul mood today. Either way we are not having very much fun today. We have been outdoors trying to get as much work done on the yard as we can before the weather gets bad. I've dug out a whole lot of day lilies and peonies and have been ripping the ornamental bamboo out by the roots. I'm hoping that ripping it out will keep it from coming back. Abby's been enjoying digging in the dirt with her bucket and shovel. She is keeping the ground nice and loose.

Abby has a new favorite movie, Pocahontas. We've watched it twice in the last 24 hours. Steve and I laugh and laugh at her while she watches it. She can't quite say Pocahontas, so she calls it "pokey-gun" and actually watches very intently for such a small girl. I'm hoping she has a new favorite movie soon or I will know every line to Pocahontas within the week.

Our Baby - Week 11

How your baby's growing:

Your baby, just over 1 1/2 inches long and about the size of a fig, is now almost fully formed. Her hands will soon open and close into fists, tiny tooth buds are beginning to appear under her gums, and some of her bones are beginning to harden.

She's already busy kicking and stretching, and her tiny movements are so effortless they look like water ballet. These movements will become more frequent as her body grows and becomes more developed and functional. You won't feel your baby's acrobatics for another month or two — nor will you notice the hiccupping that may be happening now that her diaphragm is forming.

(From http://www.babycenter.com/6_your-pregnancy-11-weeks_1100.bc?intcmp=timeline)

The countdown ticker says we have 203 days left until our due date, but luckily we really have less than 200 days to go. We won't have an official c-section date for a few months, but Dr. Mackie told us at the last visit that it would be around 1 week before the due date. We are looking forward to that day with great anticipation - Abby can't wait for her own tiny baby to love.

Tent Maker

Tent Maker
Originally uploaded by Jen O.

Abby and I had fun yesterday making a tent to play in since it was too wet to play outside. We spent quite a lot of time playing with the tent, which had a bed and chair. The video clip got cut a little short, so you all miss the part where I ask Abby if she is sitting on her baby, which she was.

We had good weather today so we went to our playgroup at the park. Abby enjoyed playing with the other kids and riding down the slides. Then we met Steve for lunch at McDonalds, which I think was the highlight of her day. She is getting to be such a great eater so we will be ordering happy meals soon. Today she demolished a 4 piece chicken nugget and small fry. Last night she had two helpings of "pig" (pork roast) and carrots. She is definitely making our days fun!

Happy first day of fall :-)

Abby's New Play Space

Abby has been busy using her new back yard, so we have been busy supervising her back yard experiences.

She and Maize have had a good time exploring their new boundaries. They really like going to the farthest corner of the yard and sitting together. Weird, I know.

They also have been on the lookout for all the neighborhood cats and have enjoyed spying on them from the front door. This girl and her dog spend a lot of time together.

Fenced In

We got so busy yesterday that we didn't take time to write about our wonderful new child and dog containment system that was completed in the backyard yesterday. In fact, Abby and Maize spent over a half hour exploring their entire yard before I could get them to even consider coming inside. And when we did come inside Abby had a major meltdown because she didn't really feel like being inside quite yet. This afternoon, if it warms up enough, we plan on doing some major playing out there and will try to get a few pictures of the new fence while it is still shiny and new.

Passed Out

Abby and I were both passed out for a part of this afternoon. Her's was the good passed out - the 2.5 hour nap in her toddler bed kind of passed out. Mine was the blacking out while having blood drawn kind. Not good. That's about 5 minutes of my life that I will probably never recall.

We had our first OB visit for baby number two. This child is much more cooperative than Abby. We were able to hear the little squirt's heart beating away - something that we couldn't do until well into the pregnancy with Abby. If it weren't for the fact that they were drawing seven vials of blood and causing me to pass out it would have been a great appointment. The worst part is that they didn't get all the blood they needed for all the tests they wanted to run, so at some point, probably the next visit, I will be stuck again. This pregnancy thing is for the birds.

So after our exciting afternoon - I had to call Steve at work and tell him to come drive me home because I didn't want to risk passing out behind the wheel - I've been relaxing and trying to get rid of the killer headache that passing out created. Abby has transitioned to the toddler bed like a champ, although our baby sitter did peek in on her this afternoon and found her sleeping on the floor. She moved her back into bed and Abby slept another hour and a half after that. Yesterday she walked up the stairs all by herself and crawled into her bed. I tucked her and Pooh Bear in and then was promptly told to go away. We are very happy that Abby is enjoying this new big girl bed.

Our Baby - Week 10

How your baby's growing:

Though he's barely the size of a kumquat — a little over an inch or so long, crown to bottom — and weighs less than a quarter of an ounce, your baby has now completed the most critical portion of his development. This is the beginning of the so-called fetal period, a time when the tissues and organs in his body rapidly grow and mature.

He's swallowing fluid and kicking up a storm. Vital organs — including his kidneys, intestines, brain, and liver (now making red blood cells in place of the disappearing yolk sac) — are in place and starting to function, though they'll continue to develop throughout your pregnancy.

If you could take a peek inside your womb, you'd spot minute details, like tiny nails forming on fingers and toes (no more webbing) and peach-fuzz hair beginning to grow on tender skin.

In other developments: Your baby's limbs can bend now. His hands are flexed at the wrist and meet over his heart, and his feet may be long enough to meet in front of his body. The outline of his spine is clearly visible through translucent skin, and spinal nerves are beginning to stretch out from his spinal cord. Your baby's forehead temporarily bulges with his developing brain and sits very high on his head, which measures half the length of his body. From crown to rump, he's about 1 1/4 inches long. In the coming weeks, your baby will again double in size — to nearly 3 inches.

From: http://www.babycenter.com/6_your-pregnancy-10-weeks_1099.bc

Toddler Bed

We had a rough first night for the toddler bed and an even rougher nap time, but Abby is making up for that with her sleeping last night. She is still in the bed and working on her 9th hour of sleep!

Night one lasted until 2:30, when I woke her up by getting up to use the bathroom. I got her back to sleep in the toddler bed for about an hour, then she woke up again and ended up in our bed. To her credit she is getting two molars in (they are breaking through enough to feel) and they are cleaning the blast furnaces in Soo Canada during the midnight hours, so it basically sounds like a plane is taking off from our front yard all night long.

Nap time is going to be our biggest challenge with the toddler bed. We normally either let her fall asleep snuggling us or get her pretty close to asleep at night before we move her, so that transition goes fine. Her normal nap routine used to involve just plopping her wide awake in her crib and she would settle herself down and be asleep within a matter of 5 minutes. That obviously doesn't work when she can just let herself out of the toddler bed and start playing with her toys. So, we will have to do some more thinking on how we are going to get nap time to work.

Graduation Day

Tonight Abby is graduating from crib to big girl toddler bed. We are getting an early start so that she can get into and out of bed without assistance well before her new baby is born. She was so excited when she realized that the front of her crib wasn't keeping her in bed anymore. She even called many times for Maize to come and check out her new bed.

We are finally getting rested up from our big trip around Lake Michigan. I don't think we will try another extended driving trip for a while - 8 hours in the car yesterday was a bit too much. We had a lot of fun along the way though and enjoyed seeing friends and family.

Part one of the trip was spent in Hastings, Michigan. Abby and I spent 6 entire days there. We got to see some old high school friends, friends from Sault Ste. Marie who had moved back to Kalamazoo recently, and of course our family. By the time we left Hastings Abby had seen almost all of her grandparents and great grandparents. And she was also the proud owner of lots of new outfits, a giant stuffed dog, and a cool 2 kid stroller. She had a lot of fun playing with her cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents and second cousins. And she also helped catch her first snake.

After our days in Hastings we headed over to visit Great Grandma Lorraine and Great Grandpa Harley in Blissfield, MI. Abby got to hang out with some of my friends from law school and work. She was on her best behavior. She also got a special treat when Grandma Lorraine took her to the Toledo Zoo for the second time this summer. Although some of the exhibits she would have liked this time around were closed (she loves elephants and turtles right now), we still managed to have a lot of fun. It's amazing how much more into the zoo she was after only 3 months. And the zoo was pretty empty that day, so we managed to fit it all in, including the train ride, before lunch. But I think Abby had more fun just playing at Grandma and Grandpa's house than she had at the zoo. She especially enjoyed watching out their windows for kitties. Unfortunately one of the grouchier cats in the neighborhood was the one she managed to trap long enough to pet. She ended up with a little bite (it didn't break the skin, but left one of the weird scratches that bleeds under the skin) and spent the next 4 days telling us about the "bad cat" that gave her an "owie" and she wanted to make it "go away". I must have heard that series of phrases 100 times. She still repeats them randomly and the owie is all gone, so she can't even see the reminder.

After the time in Blissfield we packed up for the drive to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We left Thursday early in the morning and spent most of the day in the car driving really slowly through construction in the Chicago area. We were both glad we live in the middle of nowhere after that drive. We got checked into our hotel without much fuss, but our first room had a plugged sink, so they had to move us down the hall. To compensate us for the inconvenience we got two warm chocolate chip and walnut cookies. That's the kind of compensation that always makes a pregnant lady happy. The only downside to the move was that we changed sides of the building, so we had a quiet alley and parking structure out our window instead of one of Milwaukee's main streets. I'm sure most people would have appreciated the quieter side of the hotel, but Abby had been enthralled with watching all the cars go by, so we were a little bummed out that one good source of child entertainment didn't work out. We spent that evening walking around downtown Milwaukee and Marquette University and enjoying the beautiful fall weather. The riverwalk was really nice, but we were disappointed by the lack of resturants and shopping that was child friendly in the downtown area. On Friday Steve had to attend the class at Marquette, so Abby and I enjoyed the pool and explored the library. She swam for almost 2 hours with me (45 minutes in the morning and a whole hour in the afternoon) and also went swimming again when Steve got back to the hotel. Friday night we checked out the Indian Summer Festival and pow-wow. Abby is for sure a lover of pow-wows. She was entranced again by the coustumes and dancing. She must have said pow-wow 50 times while we were there.

Saturday we loaded up and spent 8 hours driving back home. We weren't sure we could make the trip in one stretch, so we had a back up plan in mind if Abby didn't do well. Fortunately for us she rode like a big girl and only got fussy for a short period of time. She enjoyed watching the trucks and tractors out the window, watched some movies, and spent almost an hour laughing at the fact that she could poke herself in the eye with her big toe. I'm glad she still finds little things like that exciting. She rode so well that we were able to make it home in time to watch the 2nd half of Michigan's glorious defeat of the Fighting Irish (Go Blue!) Abby even spontaneously did the sign for touchdown and screamed out touchdown when Michigan scored their winning points. Steve's been training her well.

New baby seems to be doing fine. I've finally gotten past the morning sickness and have been feeling better, althouh I am still quite tired during the day. I was sure feeling it yesterday with all the riding and sitting. My whole body was aching by the time we got home.

Milwuakee

We've made it to Milwaukee and Abby and I have been enjoying the city and the hotel's pool today while Steve is in his class at Marquette University. There are so many beautiful buildings, including the public library. Abby and I explored the children's library today - which was about 2 times the size of our entire library in Sault Ste. Marie. Heading toward home tomorrow :-) We miss our dog and our beds!

Vacationing

We are all enjoying our mini vacation all around Lake Michigan. Abby's been having a great time with Grammy and Grandpa (both sets and some greats too) and her aunts and uncles. We will have lots of stories to share later :-)

One Baby On The Way

The ultrasound was conclusive - only one baby on the way! We are very excited about that. Our due date is basically the same, so we are right on track for another tax day baby. They made us some pictures on a disk, but we can't get them off to share - sorry! Our computer is too old to run the program that would allow us to save or print the pictures.

Abby did a great job at the appointment. She initially cried a bit, mostly because she was so sleepy and wanted to cuddle with mom and not sit on dad's lap. She eventually ended up falling asleep. And then she came home and crawled right into bed without any crying about nap time. She is sure a great kid.

And now... on to packing for our little adventure around Lake Michigan. We are heading to Hastings tomorrow, on to Blissfield on Monday night or Tuesday morning, and then to Milwaukee on Thursday and back home through Wisconsin on Saturday. Should be fun!