Girlie Girls

Well... Abby's baby is a good wiggler, kicker, and flipper. SHE also knows how to do the touchdown symbol already (we saw her do it at least 3 times). That's right... Abby is getting a little sister. She was very excited to see her baby on the ultrasound and was actually pretty good for the hour long scan. I'm not sure that ultrasounds normally require an hour, but with the amount of flipping our ninja was doing it took a long time to get all the measurements and pictures they wanted. And we found out this will be a second large headed child (her head was measuring one week ahead of schedule). Must be this will be another big brained child.

Now it is on to the big project - picking a name for the baby girl. We had our boy name set in concrete, but we haven't quite figured out what to call a little girl. We would be happy for any good suggestions, but remember that the initials need to create a word (like Abigail Grace Obreiter - ago). That certainly complicates the process, along with the fact that I have tons of cousins and all of our favorite names have been used by at least one of them. Abby suggestions so far include "Boy" and "Maize".

The Big Day

Tomorrow is the 20 week ultrasound and (hopefully) the big revelation of Baby "Ninja"'s gender. Stay tuned tomorrow night (probably after 8 pm) for the big reveal :-)

Abby Knock Up Door

We left Abby with her friend A.J. today while we were at a funeral. On the way in, Abby helped knock on A.J.'s door and then she said to me "Abby knock up door." I could hardly keep from laughing. She is quite an observant little lady.

Not much else is going on. We are just working on laundry and packing. Abby is reading me Hop on Pop (only the big words, not the whole page). So on this page above, she would read me "Hop Pop" and then I'd read the rest. She is pretty smart to have memorized the big words on almost all the pages. That and we read this book almost everyday.

Playing By The Door

Abby stayed with her favorite baby sitter Kitty tonight and they had a very interesting time. Apparently the whole two hours we were gone they spent playing with various toys, books and puzzles, but only sitting next to the back door. Weird...

We will begin the packing and getting ready for our trip down for Thanksgiving tomorrow after we attend the funeral for our friend Dan. He was an amazing person and a great example of living the Christian life, even with his medical issues and other challenges. We aren't looking forward to the funeral tomorrow, but we know our friend is in Heaven and is finally healed.

While we are at the funeral, Abby will be playing with her friend A.J. and A.J.'s grandpa (who she calls Apple). I'm not sure how Abby will react, but she will certainly be happier there than she would be at a funeral or staying at Steve's office with his assistants, which was our only other option. And now... on to little people time. Abby is a very demanding task master.

Oh Well... Go Blue Anyway!

Abby was hoping to feel like this after the Michigan/OSU football game. Unfortunately...
she felt more like this.

But she did enjoy wearing her Michigan warm-ups (Thanks Grandpa Scott!) and she looked good doing it. Now that football season is over for her, Abby is going to have to start learning her basketball lingo, since touchdown really won't work when watching Michigan Basketball with daddy or Michigan Hockey with Grandpa Scott.

We've been really busy, but we are still finding time to squeeze in some random fun. Like colored water bubble baths and Veggie Tales movies. Abby also has been working on not throwing her food onto the floor - Friday night she had 3 time outs for doing that trick before she was excused from the table. I'm pretty sure she only ate about 3 bites of dinner that night, and she did about the same at lunch today. She has suddenly developed an aversion to eating what I put on her plate, but has no problem eating the same foods if we take her out to eat. Weird...

Sweet Victory

We only had 10 minutes of crying and door pounding before she gave up and put herself into bed. When I was gone Steve got her to sleep at nap time almost instantly, no crying... I don't know how he did it. He must be the baby whisperer.

And since we got Abby into bed I've been cleaning up around here, since it is a big, huge mess! So far I've managed to clean off the surfaces, which seem to be super clutter catchers. And I realized that Abby stole one of the votive holders in my 5 candle holder, so I have 4 of 5 glass pieces... ugh - that thing could be anywhere!

And now... back to cleaning since it is going to be a crazy, busy, and emotional few days. Yesterday we lost a friend we had made up here, so there will be a funeral to attend. It is of course Michigan vs. Ohio State weekend and the Lions vs. the Browns, so there will be football viewing parties to host. And it is an Angel Food distribution weekend (we are almost done with the project - after December we will have our weekends back). So, needless to say we will be busy and won't have much time between events and such to clean back up.

Napping Battles

We are having a nap time power struggle for the last few days. Today I am letting Abby stay up as late as she can handle to see if that will make her so tired she falls asleep without the massive amounts of crying and door pounding. She's asking to take a nap now, so we will see how this experiment works...

Our Baby - Week 19

How your baby's growing:

Your baby's sensory development is exploding! Her brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch. Some research suggests that she may be able to hear your voice now, so don't be shy about reading aloud, talking to her, or singing a happy tune if the mood strikes you.

Your baby weighs about 8 1/2 ounces and measures 6 inches, head to bottom — about the size of a large heirloom tomato. Her arms and legs are in the right proportions to each other and the rest of her body now. Her kidneys continue to make urine and the hair on her scalp is sprouting. A waxy protective coating called the vernix caseosa is forming on her skin to prevent it from pickling in the amniotic fluid.

from (http://www.babycenter.com/6_your-pregnancy-19-weeks_1108.bc)

Today Abby says our baby is a boy. She has been talking to the baby a lot, so the baby will probably know her voice very well by the time it arrives. And it will probably know the words "no" and "time out" too since Abby has been having a very defiant week this week. Hopefully it is just a product of the two teeth that are coming in right now. Or maybe it's something in this house, since Maize has been growling at Abby a lot more lately. It may be time to get out of dodge for a few days.

Test One - Passed!

I officially passed the first glucose challenge test, so as of last week I hadn't developed gestational diabetes. There will probably need to be a re-test in about 10 weeks, but it's nice to know that I can enjoy some yummy holiday treats without worrying about my blood sugar. And I think tonight is going to involve some ice cream in celebration!

Abby had a great play date with her friends Little Abby and A.J. this morning. We really enjoy the ability to play with other kids (and she also enjoyed playing with their puppies Maggie and CoCo). Abby and I are thinking about heading out to finish up some Christmas shopping today - we are over halfway done and hoping to be all finished before Thanksgiving. Abby has been thinking really hard about what to get for her Aunties and Uncles now that we have all of her cousins' shopping done.

Veggie Tales Dance