baby watch

 

my last pregnancy photo.

ever.

wahoo!

 

its 6:30am and i can't sleep even though

i totally should be racking up some extra hours

while i still can.

especially since i'll be checking into the hospital today.

say whaaaa?

technically, i'm not due for another week

and my induction wasn't scheduled until next thursday,

but we had a slight change of plans.

 

i had a doctor appointment and ultrasound last thursday and

i was still measuring about 4 weeks off.

they wanted to measure the baby to make sure

she was doing just fine in there.

turns out, she was measuring off too.

her little head, arms and legs all measured about 37-38 weeks,

but her body/tummy was only measuring 35 weeks.

it concerned my doctor and made her think that the baby

wasn't getting the nutrients she needs.

she wanted to go ahead and induce me.

ahhhhhh!

she called labor and delivery to see if they could get me in,

while i was sent back to the ultrasound room

to do a biophysical on the baby.

that's where they check the baby's heart rate, breathing, movement, and cord flow.

we had to do this with brette too and she passed all

four tests within minutes, even though they give the baby 30 minutes.

well, this little one took her time.

it was a loooong ultrasound, especially trying to entertain

brette while laying there.

at 30 minutes she still hadn't passed all four tests,

but she did a few minutes later.

i didn't think that was a good sign,

but my doctor said it was close enough,

and since labor and delivery was already overbooked,

they decided to push my induction until after the weekend.

so here i sit,

on a tuesday morning with my bags packed,

waiting to check in tonight.

they're going to have me come in at 8:30 so

i can start taking cervidil through the night and

then we'll start the action induction wednesday morning.

hopefully, if all goes right in the world,

i should be holding my new precious baby girl

sometime tomorrow.

(the sooner, the better).

i'm asking for prayers and good thoughts for tomorrow.

lots of them.

i'm a little nervous about my next fews days,

but hopefully i'll be posting precious hospital photos soon.

unhelpful

i have off so many days in a row during the week

that i could REALLY get a lot done around here...

if i weren't just days away from having a baby.

 

spray for weeds?  ronnie doesn't want me breathing that in.

mow the yard?  its kind of a bumpy ride and hurts my back.

paint the trim?

spray paint a light fixture?

paint our little kid's table?  sorry, no painting for me.

basically i'm stuck cleaning house,

doing laundry or running errands.

of course, these things are necessary,

but it kills me that i can't get all the other stuff done.

especially when we're so close to having this baby

and all i want in life is to get. shit. done. before she gets here.

 

oh well.

i need to let it go.

 

i DID manage to pack my bag, brette's bag, finish a few freezer meals

and make the sweetest little thank you's for the hospital,

which makes me feel a little bit more ready.

 

 

my bff also cut down one of her trees and saved me a stump

which is now currently living at my house.

my dad has agreed to make the stump side table his new project,

so i'm excited that its actually going to get done for the nursery.

 

and last weekend brette and i spent a couple days at my parent's

so ronnie and two of his friends could work on

finishing up more of the downstairs.

i'm happy to report that all of the baseboards and quarter round is up

and all of the walls have been primed.

 

 

i think the next step is spraying the trim and painting the walls.

if only that was a super fast and easy job,

but i know it will take time too.

 

in the meantime,

i'll play with brette and wait for this baby to make her arrival.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

long hair, don't care

the heat index is 111 and

its nice to find ways to keep my hair up

and out of the way.

normally i'm a girl that LOVES to wear her hair down,

 so when my friend at work showed me

a girl she follows on instagram for hairstyles ideas,
 i decided to give it a whirl.

i started following her and i've tried a

few of her suggestions.

 

my two new favorites:

1 - dutch braiding the front of my hair.

(dutch braids are the same as regular braids except

you reverse the way you bring a piece to the center.

it really makes your braid bigger.)

 

 

2 - pull through braid

(this is really just a bunch of ponytails,

which makes is super easy AND fast.

i like it because it looks different than normal.)

 

 

instead of me trying to explain the methods,

i thought you might just like to see the video.

 

 

 

enjoy!

hope you get some good ideas.

 

 

 

daddy and brette

with me being HUGE

i've relied on ronnie a lot

to take over with brette when i literally

just want to lay there.

 

in fact, most of these pictures

i'm pretty sure i'm either on the couch

or in bed.

don't judge.

i'm freaking 9 months pregnant.

 

but aren't daddy - daughter moments the sweetest?!

 

please excuse ronnie's legs...

 but they were both in white t-shirts and undies.

 

 

 ronnie worked out of town

and brette was happy to see him get back home.

 

cuddles after her bday party.

and no, i don't think ronnie is that gray-headed.

maybe its the light?!

i don't know.  it freaks me out.

 

riding her horsey before bed.

again, sorry for ronnie's lack of clothes.

sheesh.

 

 

ronnie will have to keep this up

once the baby gets here because if anything,

i'll need more help

so i'm happy to see how much brette loves her daddy. 

 

 

 

summer livin'

even though the weather hasn't really cooperated

this summer, brette and i have got our routine down.

mondays are with mimi and papa while i work.

tuesdays my mom watches brian's girls,

so we normally spend the morning with them.

wednesdays we do laundry and go grocery shopping.

thursday we clean and run any other errands i have.

friday i'm at work and she goes to a sitter.

and in some ways, i feel like MY summer is about to be over.

B and i are on the run a lot.

we go.

we do.

we see.

we rarely spend a whole day at home.

time seems slow when there's not a lot to do,

so i like to keep busy

and i think brette likes it too.

with a new baby on board, i'm probably

going to have to get a lot better at coming

up with fun things to do at home.

i recently bought a bubble machine,

sidewalk chalk, play doh, finger paint and a magna-doodle.

hopefully these things will entertain brette on

the days that i don't feel like loading up both

girls just to get out of the house.

if you have fun suggestions,

send them my way.

i'm going to need them.

 

here's a little look back into our summer...

lots of neighborhood walks.

 

hiding in my bathroom cabinets.

because, she's always had a thing for bathroom cabinets.

 

swimming with her cousins.

 

field trip days when my dad, my mom

and i all have off.

three on three is totally easy.

out to lunch after deanna rose.

 

running errands with one toy.

she chose conduit.

ronnie was proud.

royals game for the 4th

and more swimming with madeline and eden.

 

we've had fun.

and i've loved my last few months with just one kiddo.

i'm definitely going to miss that freedom.

i can pack B up and take her anywhere,

and i know we'll get back to that,

but for awhile,

i'm going to have to learn a new normal.

 

 

 

home stretch

we will be seeing big changes in the next few weeks

and i'm a little shocked that we're already done with the first week of july.

i feel like i wait and wait and wait for my due date to come,

and then all of a sudden i'm almost out of time.

probably because i'm getting nervous.

and with only 19 days left,

i have a few more things to check off my list.

1 - i'm packing my bag for the hospital this week and i need to pack one for brette too.
ronnie's sister has offered to take her for us so ronnie and i can focus on our newest little one.  i volunteered my parents to watch our dogs, so i guess i better pack their bag too.  just in case i end up going in early.

2 - i need to buy a baby book.  i can't believe i forgot one, but i have a few keepsakes from the shower and it reminded me to add this to my list of "must haves."  along with that, i need to charge up our camcorder.  i really want to record brette meeting her sister and some of our "first" moments together.

3 - i'm going to try to make a few freezer meals.  nothing extreme like a did with brette, but something to have on hand just in case i'm too tired to care about food. and that means, i also need to get ronnie to plug in our deep freeze.  its still sitting down in the basement, not being used, but i need that bad boy up and running.

4 - i'm really proud of myself because last week i organized her closet and washed all of her clothes, blankets, and burp cloths.  i also ordered her monitor with a sa-weet gift card from my aunt and cousin, but i need to grab a few diaper genie refills, baby clothes hangers and a sound machine.  easy. easy.  my cousin also ordered me another round of my triangle decals for the changing table, so that's on my list to finish too. that only leaves me with curtains to find, but i'm in no big rush. that's more for my enjoyment.

5 - come up with clever thank yous for the hospital.  i LOVE people visiting me in the hospital.  it was one of my favorite things when i had brette.  getting to show off this beautiful new baby? i can't wait. and if you remember, i made little peanut m&m thank you's so i didn't have to worry about it when i got back home. it was such a relief to check that off my list before i ever got there and i want to come up with something just as cute this time around.  time to search pinterest.

6 - and last is the house. not much i can do, but i have a list for ronaldo. i really thought we would be done by the time this baby came, but i should know better.  ronnie pace does not match my expectations.  i'm heading down to my parent's this weekend to give him and a friend some uninterrupted time to get a least a little more checked off.  i'm really hoping that all the trim will be finished and the walls will be primed. and if i get really lucky, i'd also like the pendant lights to be hung over the kitchen island, but i won't get greedy.

and that's it. 

if i can get that done,

then i think i'll actually be ready.

 

well, as ready as you can be.

taco 'bout a party!

an inside look at super cute

birthday party over the weekend.

 

since my family lives close,

but not s u p e r  close i wanted to make

things a little bit simpler for them

by having my baby sprinkle and

madeline's and brette's birthday parties all in one day.

that way they're not traveling 2 or 3 weekends in june

with back to back parties.

plus since madeline's and brette's birthdays are only

11 days apart, my brother and i decided to combine

them from here on out.

it's easier, its cheaper and its super cute.

(we plan on doing this with eden and baby #2 too.)

and we only invited family,

because that put the party count over 20 already.

whew.

 

this year's theme was a

fiesta!

 

i picked it because both girls eat

mexican food so well and a

taco/nacho bar sounded easy.

we hung balloons, streamers, a few

piñatas, i busted out my sombreros from

kassie's wedding and called it a day.

it was bright, colorful and really easy.

when we were in mexico last year

i bought brette a little dress and

my friend let me borrow one that she bought her daughter,

so both brette and madeline had dresses on from mexico.

so cute.

 

we set the time for later in the day to give me

some extra time in between my baby shower and the party,

plus i wanted to give the girls a chance to nap so

they wouldn't be grumpy.

it worked out really well from 4-8.

we served up our mexican feast,

opened gifts,

had dessert,

busted the piñata

and hung out with family.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

for dessert i went back to what both girls eat the best which is

ice cream!

i had my dad make some of his famous homemade ice cream,

bought a bunch of toppings and brownies.

then i added a few boxes of popsicles, push-up pops,

ice cream sandwiches and drumsticks just

to make it extra hard to choose what to eat.

i think i went a little overboard,

but you really shouldn't send a pregnant lady

down the ice cream aisle to "pick up a few things."

 

 

 

 

both senoritas had so much fun

and i know they felt super special to

have so many people come help them celebrate turning

five and two.

 

 

 

i can't believe they're already

that old.

isn't cousin-love the sweetest?