Happy Mother's Day!

It was so fun to celebrate my third Mother's day with my lovely family. Chloe is such a treat and I'm so proud to be her mama. Here's what we did:
I received a VERY fun surprise at 7am! Chloe bought me a delicious fruit bouquet from Edible Arrangements. Chloe and I enjoyed our fruit breakfast in bed.



Chloe enjoyed the melon...


While Mommy enjoyed the chocolate-covered strawberries!


After our yummy breakfast, we headed toward the Children's Museum for some fun!
Daddy teaching Chloe about the Great Wall of China


Mommy and Chloe tracing the outline of a brachiosaurus


Chloe "reassuring" Mommy the dinosaurs aren't scary


Taking Mommy for a ride on the city bus


A picture of me - 9 months pregnant!


And to finish off our afternoon, Chloe earned a trip to Jimmy Johns - her favorite sandwich shop. She filled up her potty sticker chart and got to enjoy the deliciousness of a cheese sandwich, salt and vinegar chips, and a chocolate chip cookie. She was so excited about earning her trip to the sandwich shop, she went potty on the toilet 6 times yesterday and is enthusiastic about being fully potty-trained! YEAH, Chloe!!!

We're so close!

This week I have been officially on maternity leave. I have gotten everything checked off my to-do list and with the exception of buying a couple of gifts, I'm all set! I had another doctor appointment this morning and it looks as though baby will be staying put for at least a few more days. I'm about 40% effaced (the cervix has thinned about 40% and needs to get to 100%), 2 centimeters dilated, and she's stationed at -1. Station is measured from minus 5 to plus 5. Minus 5 station means the baby is floating above the pelvis. Zero station means the baby has dropped or engaged well into the pelvis. And plus 5 means the baby's head is visible at the opening of the vagina (also known as crowning). Before I went into labor with Chloe I was only dilated 1 cm so this seems like progress :)
Another task I took on this week was researching cloth diapers. We part-time cloth diaper Chloe (although she's in the process of using the big girl potty!) but would really like to use cloth full time for this little one. Since we haven't had the greatest luck with cloth, I decided to purchase a trial offer through Jillian's Drawers. For $10 we can try several different kinds of diapers and then decide which ones work for us. I'm really hoping we find a good fit cloth diaper! I've heard so many positive reports from moms who use cloth full-time and along with saving about $1500 per child, it's better for environment and the baby's bottom.
As an update to the most recent post, we have decided to give birth at the hospital rather than the birth center. This was a very difficult decision for me to make as there are so many advantages to the birth center. It came down to the fact that by the time we would have switched, I was already 39 weeks pregnant, leaving me with one week to get to know the midwives and the location. Since I gave birth to my first daughter at the hospital, I'm already familiar with the location and that gives me some comfort. We had a positive experience at the hospital and I can only hope this time around, they will accommodate my wishes for the baby immediately after birth. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that the baby be placed with the mother after emerging from the womb to make skin-to-skin contact (and for all other hospital procedures to be delayed) until after the first nursing session. That is my wish as well.
Hopefully the next blog update will be some exciting news about the arrival of our little one!

(almost) 37 weeks

Well, she is moving and kicking a lot with not a lot of space to do it in! With just a bit over 3 weeks until delivery day, we are making a list of things to get done before we become a family of four. After my doctor appointment on Friday when the doctor told me, "You're in for the long haul," (meaning chances are very small that I'd deliver before my due date) I'm not feeling rushed to get too many things done yet. I'll wait for the nesting instinct to kick into high gear before finishing off the few things we have to do. I have two weeks left of work and then my plan is to work mornings for the first week in May and then baby will make her grand arrival!
I've been practicing my HypnoBirthing relaxation and breathing techniques daily in the hopes of having a natural, drug-free delivery and have finished filling out my birth plan and other various paperwork for when we are ready to go to the hospital. With a new Birthing Center that recently opened in our city, I'm contemplating switching to the birth center rather than delivering at the hospital (it's literally 2 blocks from the hospital). Hopefully we can check it out this week and make an informed decision as to where we want to deliver our baby girl. Unfortunately (and stupidly), insurance companies usually don't cover the cost of deliveries at birth centers even though the cost is significantly lower, as are the risks to the mother and baby.

Pictures of Chloe's new room

The before pictures: Will's Office



The after pictures
Chloe laying on her new bed


Book shelf


Full view shot


Night-night

33 week update

With such a busy spring (which included the husband and I taking a romantic weekend getaway to Chicago, me taking a 3 credit class, Chloe moving into her own big girl room, and lots of play time indoors and outdoors) I haven't had time to update the blog. I'm officially on Spring Break - thank you, God!!! Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy my job, but this break is a very needed one for both the kids and the teachers.
Update on the baby: At my 28 week appointment, along with the glucose tolerance test (everything came back clear!), I had my follow-up ultrasound to ensure the placenta was positioned in the right place. The tech measured and said it was 8 cm away from the opening of the cervix which is perfectly fine for delivery! I was so relieved!!! I also had her double check to make sure the baby is a girl and yes, all girl parts! We have a named picked out but you'll have to wait until she's born to know what it is :) After a blood draw, they discovered my iron count was too low so I have to take an iron supplement everyday in addition to my prenatal vitamins. This has helped my energy levels tremendously! Last Wednesday I had another appointment and everything continues to develop on target. Baby is very active (around 5:30 every morning I'm awoken by kicks and flips and the activity continues throughout the day) and she is already very schedule-oriented, much like her daddy.
Update on the toddler: Chloe is just the sweetest little toddler I've ever met! She's so caring and loving and she makes us laugh every day. I'm so lucky to be her mommy!! We have started potty training and that was going well until last weekend when we hit a bump: she refused to even sit on the potty. She does really well if we let her run around without any bottoms on and she will run to the potty to do her thing. She's very good at using the potty until we put underwear on - then she thinks it's like a diaper. We're still working on that. She recently moved into her brand new big girl room. Daddy moved his office downstairs and Chloe moved into what was his office. We (okay, not me, but Will) painted the walls pink and found green room darkening curtains from Target. Will and our friend, Andy, carried a closet/wardrobe up from the spare bedroom for Chloe to use and I have moved almost all of her clothes, books and toys to her new room. It's very cute and girly and we have a few finishing touches to put in there. I'll post some pics when I upload them from the camera.
We are just enjoying life and spring and playing outside and going for walks and I'm enjoying pregnancy and watching our new little one grow. She will be here soon and we are all getting very excited to meet her!

24 weeks and cooking!

After we had our ultrasound at 20 weeks, the doctor called me several days later to inform me I had a low-lying placenta. It is nothing to be concerned about (or so the doctor says) and she told me that she finds low-laying placentas in 5-10% of pregnancies at 20 weeks but most (90%) correct themselves. So I have to go in for a follow-up ultrasound at 28 weeks to make sure it has, in fact, corrected itself. It happens when the top of the uterus grows faster than the bottom but as the baby grows, it evens out. Worst case scenario, if it hasn't corrected itself, it can develop into placenta previa and then I'll have to be restricted movement and they'll have to take the baby at 37 weeks.
At my 24 week appointment yesterday, she said everything looks good, baby is measuring right on track. Baby Sister (that's what we call her because we have no name yet) is a bit over 12 inches and more than a pound. She is moving all the time (!) and is already waking me up at night with her circus antics. At my next appointment I'll have the glucose test and the follow-up ultrasound. I'm excited to see my little girl again!

My kind of Art!

For Christmas, Chloe received a wonderful present from her favorite auntie - bath crayons and bath paint! For a girl who LOVES to paint and do craft projects, this is the perfect gift! While Chloe explores her creative side, she can do so in the tub where clean-up takes 5 seconds - this makes it the perfect gift for Mommy too. In the past month, Chloe has been busy painting and coloring on the bath tub.

She has also taken an interest in body art.

The only downfall is that I can't get her OUT of the tub!