Tiska

Oma brought Q a new baby which Q named Tiska. She loves her new baby, and is very excited Tiska can even go in the bath!

Here is Tiska and the rest of Quinn's babies--Pink Baby and Blue Baby! Q has been practicing her "mommying" skills and we're confident she'll be a good helper for Bacon Bit. I am sure she'll have us all in line as to exactly what Bacon Bit needs. :)

Sometimes it's just easier to give in.

Around here everyone gets excited when the trash truck visits.....

My little trash-truck sentinals, on patrol waiting for that great noisy diesel to make the rounds!

39 weeks....and still simmering!

Today at church someone asked if the baby was still cooking, and my mom said at this point it's simmering. :)
We've made it to 39 weeks in fine form....still feeling well, getting around well, a decent amount of energy, and no major complaints. I have gotten out of bed early a couple mornings to come down and try sleeping in the recliner and then on the couch for a little bit cause my body just seems to get tired of laying in bed after several hours. But other than that, all is well! I'm not even crazy anxious for the baby to come....feeling pretty calm!

Thursday was my 39 week OB visit. Mom came with me and brought Q in the room so they could hear the heartbeat. Nothing else newsworthy from the visit. My midwife is predicting I'll go into labor about the same time I did with Quinn--plus or minus a couple of days. But she said be prepared to go to 41 weeks....so we're not getting in any hurry! I go back this Thursday.

We sewed the baby's crib sheets--two of them--yesterday. I am doing navy and a goldish-yellow for the nursery colors, though we're waiting to set things up until we see if it's a boy room or a girl room....But I did choose a yellowy-goldish damask fabric and a yellowy-goldish berry print fabric for the crib sheets and Mom made them for me. They're super cute, I'm very excited to see them on the crib!

Other than sewing, we've done some cooking/baking (stocked up my freezer with yummy pumpkin chocolate chip muffins), a little shopping (though I can't find the diaper bag I want ANYWHERE....), some swimming, and lots of chilling out, and even a Sonic happy hour trip, though we're saving the rest of our Sonics for when Opa arrives (on Thursday....Quinn is having a hard time waiting that long....).

The baby's hiccups have been increasing in frequency. Not much kicking this week, but lots of shifting around, which makes my tummy quite unsymmetrical. I've had maybe a little bit more Braxton Hicks contractions, but nothing organized yet.....just a random smattering, especially when we go walking.

Last night we met my sister and her fam for dinner and Bacon Bit and Big Sister Quinn got some new goodies from them. Opa also got Q a big sister doll that Quinn named Tiska. I'll try to snap some pictures soon!

Meeting baby Nolan

I remember the night Trent called to tell Matt they were expecting a little one...Matt and I were smiling at each other when we heard the news, because we were also expecting, but hadn't told anyone yet. So we were excited to hear that their little one was scheduled to arrive just two weeks after ours....Well, Baby Nolan came early and Quinn and I went to meet him yesterday! He is sooooo cute--he has a crazy amount of hair, and Mayra let Quinn brush it, which was a big hit! There was an offer on the floor to take him home with us, and both Quinn and I were saying, "yes, yes!!" Quinn has been very interested in Nolan since we started showing her his first photos the day he was born...which prompted us to get out her baby book and look through it. Then she was so psyched to go to "her hospital" and see Nolan, and she stayed pretty interested in him while we were there. Of course she wanted to hold him and hug him and kiss him, but I only let her touch his feet. Soon enough she'll have her own baby to love on! It was fun to see her so interested in the baby! Almost as interested as she was in the peanut m&m's that Trent's niece and nephew were sharing. :)

(tks Trent for the pic...he sent it to Matt on his phone cause we knew Matt'd be jealous we got to go to the hospital while he was at work...)

38 weeks and finally counting down

I have had a really busy month of July doing lots of photo sessions! Yesterday was my last one pre-baby and Matt was sweet and came along to help carry my gear (and he even stepped in to snap a few "crouching" shots to save me the trouble). I've finally gotten to the point where shooting photos is a little tricky because it involves a lot of up/down, scoot, sidestep, sidescoot to move around finding the angle I want....and let's face it, I am not scooting so effortlessly these days. :)

In baby news, I had my 38 week checkup and everything is still going well. No developments really. Baby has been positioned correctly (back up along left side) at the last couple of appointments, although I know he/she also shifts over to the right side frequently in the evenings because we see that little bootie pressed up high under my ribs. I've been having lots of Braxton Hicks contractions--I was actually having one while a student nurse was trying to listen to the baby's heartbeat on the Doppler, so she had to stop and wait for it to finish so she could listen. :)
Bacon Bit's started having a regular case of the hiccups about once a day, often at bedtime. We've also been able to feel elbows and legs pushing out--you can actually grab your fingers around them somewhat. I think the baby is trying to let me know he/she is a little squished in there, because I feel lots of legs pushing out the top of my belly while arms are pushing down below. I have noticed a shift to a lot more pressure downward toward my legs in the past week, so hopefully that is baby getting in position to come out! Often the sudden baby movements will send a crazy spark down my leg nerves or shove some organ aside that is quite painful. This little one packs a punch!!
I have had a few rougher days this week. Seems I just can't quite get the amount of sleep my body wants and I am just soooo sleepy all the time. I have also tapered off my ambitiousness in getting things done this week....still have lots I'd like to get done, but far less energy to do it. Guess my body is realizing it's 9 months pregnant. :)

I made a mega Walmart trip this week to get all the last few things we needed before baby comes. It made me smile to put that package of Newborn diapers in the cart. We're doing cloth diapers this time around, but I wanted one pack of newborns to bring the baby home in and just to use in case the cloth diapers won't fit under some of the newborn outfits we have. We usually do our Walmart trip once a month, and typically Matt and I go together, which is necessary when you buy that much stuff! This time he took Q and I went to the store by myself. You should have heard the man in line behind me huffing and having a big fit about how much stuff I had in my cart. And he stood there and frowned and huffed at me even when I was on my knees pulling out the toilet paper and papertowels I had wedged under my cart. What a gentleman. Anyhow, of course the MOST important part of the Walmart trip was my snacks for after labor--Dr.Pepper, Oreo and Cheezits. Now that I have those, I am totally ready. :)
My mom gets into town on Wednesday night, so we're all looking forward to that! Quinn is counting down the days on her fingers and has all sorts of things she can't wait to show Oma....most importantly her new pool tricks like kicking on the kickboard all by herself.
Some of our good friends are having their little boy induced on Monday, so Trent and Matt are on one last "pre-baby" movie man-date tonight.
I think I've finally gotten to the point where I'm ready for this baby to come. I am so excited to see his/her little personality--even more excited about that than to see if it's a boy or a girl. It's hard to imagine a baby that isn't Quinn in our house, so it's fun to try to predict what this one will be like. We're hoping for one a little more......chilled. :)
And that's what's going on around here!

Look what trick Grandbob pulled out of his sleeve....

Cloth napkin cat ears....nothing like some good dinnertime entertainment!!

Super 8

Our other anniversary tradition is to take a photo of ourselves with something that shows the number of years we've been married. We kinda spread out our anniversary celebrating this year--we went to the B&B last weekend since our anniversary was Tuesday night and I had a photo shoot that evening so we weren't really celebrating on the actual day--and then last night we finished up the celebrations with dinner and a movie out together. Matt suggested we see Super 8 since the name fit perfectly with the occasion. So here we are with our "8 picture."

The baby bump...a little off kilter.

Bacon Bit likes to keep my tummy as un-symmetrical as possible these days. He/She prefers to hang out with a bootie pressed up against my right side.

The ocho

Every year Matt and I take a little trip together for our anniversary--our goal is to explore some new part of Texas we've never been. Some years we've gone far, and others have stayed a little closer to home. This year we weren't up for a big trip with the baby being so close to arriving, so we wanted something fairly close. We found THE BEST PLACE EVER! It's called the Honey Farm and it's in Old Katy. It's BEAUTIFUL out in the country where this B&B is located--about an hour drive from us. Everything about it was perfect....the grounds were covered in fruit trees, citrus trees, and gorgeous oak trees. The landscaping was amazing, of course I had to walk all around and look at all the plants, the vegetable garden and herb garden.... There was a hammock, huge porch, little pond, and TONS of animals. It was exactly what we wanted for our night away...so relaxing!

The farm is a working honeybee farm...however this year with the drought the bees are just working to survive and haven't produced any honey. But we did get a tour of the bees! And in our room there were homemade soaps made with the honey and beeswax from the farm!

We had a great little suite to ourselves (the picture above is the big house--we had a detatched suite.)

Friday night we dropped off our stuff and went out for dinner and a movie. Then we came back and ate ice cream in our room!

The outhouse...that has a real flush toilet inside. Of course we had a bathroom in our suite, but this was funny!Baby turkeys
geese, chickens, ducks.....birds galore!Saturday after breakfast (which was YUM! and included farm fresh eggs and fresh fruits and veggies) the hostess asked if we wanted to take Tina the Llama (yup, seriously, that's her name) for a walk. Of course we did!
You had to pull really hard on her leash to keep her walking--she kept wanting to stop and munch grass.

They also offer horseback riding...but for some crazy reason they thought that taking an 8+ month preggo wasn't a good idea. Imagine that. :) Next time.......I hope we get to go back someday....
And I got to take home one of the melons from the garden!

Thanks to Aunt Karen and Uncle Jim who kept Quinny for us overnight! She had a great time, too!

37 weeks and enjoying the homestretch.

I always try to convince my maternity portrait clients to take a bare belly photo during our sessions, even if they just keep it for themselves. I think it's fun to see how big that belly can really stretch a few months/years down the road when you've forgotten, and just a great memory to preserve.
So...today Matt snapped some belly shots for me.

I am still rolling along (waddling along?) and can't complain about how the end stretch of my pregnancy is going. Really my only discomfort is that I haven't been sleeping very well. I've had to supplement with a couple of naps this weekend...Saturday and today. I just keep waking up a gazillion times in the night to reposition. I think I may have to go on a nightly Benedryl to see if that will help. Other than that, no heartburn, no swelling...Bacon Bit is taking it easy on me!

I'm still feeling pretty nesty and have been tackling some organizing projects--cleaning out drawers, closets, etc. The majority of baby stuff is now ready! Quinn has had fun playing with the carseat--Blue Baby is currently sleeping in there. Matt's work had a little baby shower for him on Thursday and we were excited that Bacon Bit got a little "Froggy Baby" towel just like Q's, but smaller. :) I've been working on a few little sewing projects for Bacon Bit, and got fabric for the crib sheets my mom is going to help me sew.

I have my last two photo sessions schedule tomorrow and Thursday, and then I am calling it quits till the end of August. I'll be busy photographing my own little loves!

My current craving has been Twizzlers. Matt even made a Twizzler run for me last night. :) And Gatorade. I feel so thirsty sometimes that only Gatorade seems like it'll do the trick.

Today Quinn told people at church that there's a sister in my tummy and it's a boy. And we tried explaining to her that if Bacon Bit's a girl, she could wear the clothes Quinn has outgrown. Not so sure that is sinking in. :)

Our morning

I've been trying to get in a rhythm of giving Q some independent work at the table in the mornings while I work on things like grocery lists, writing cards, etc. Here's what she did today--bear patterning and bean scooping.

Can you guess what we did not get around to yet? Ummm yes, hair brushing and getting dressed.

Learning to Tea Party

Q is starting to get into playing "tea party." Today I showed her how to set up a tea party for she and Alie.
tablecloth--check
set the table--check
music--check
pretty scarves for Q and Alie--check
gingerbread cookie and dog biscuit--check

We haven't ventured into putting liquid in the cups yet. For now we'll keep that to her bathtub tea set....but soon, maybe!

Enjoying Grammie and Grandad

Quinn's great grandparents recently moved really close to us! Like behind our fence in the apartments next to us!
She's loving getting to spend lots of time with them. Tuesday we took Grammie to the dentist so they cuddled up for a good story while we waited for Grammie's turn. Q helped open all the doors for Grammie, held her walker to help her along (with lots of reminders from Mommy to "go slowly"), and pushed the elevator buttons for Grammie.
Thursday Grammie and Gradad babysat Q for the first time! They watched her for about 2 hours while I went to my OB appointment. The majority of their time was spent eating in the cafeteria--jello and cake, according to Quinn--and Q loved all the attention she got from all the residents! When I picked her up, at least a dozen random people we passed said, "Bye, Quinn!" She had apparently made lots of friends!!
Q makes at least one piece of artwork for Grammie and Gradad every day and always asks to go visit. So sweet!

School

Here's a picture of Q with her teacher, Ms. Nataly, at the award ceremony on the last day of summer school. And her handprint project she made for Daddy for father's day....cleaning off my camera today, can you tell? :)

Cow Appreciation Day

Last Friday was Chick-fil-a Cow Appreciation Day. We went when Q was 10 months old, and last year when she was 1 year old, and so this was our third time to go! Our friends we were supposed to meet ended up having a strep party instead (boo) so it was just us two girls. Q loved seeing the princess cow and the fireman cow and there weren't too many kids dressed up at the location we visited, so Q was something of a little celebrity! We got the greatest service! Someone got Q a highchair, put her in it, carried all our stuff (free food!) to the table, set up her little place mat, got us refills, cleaned up after we finished....It was great! Q has always loved the Chick Fil A cows, so she was so excited to see that BOTH cows were out making the rounds this day!