30 weeks!

30 weeks

Here we are at 30 weeks for lovely Anna! Her arrival seems suddenly close....which is very exciting. All continues to be really awesome...especially now that I'm in the clear for GD! Back pain is minimal if any, sleeping well (lots of pee breaks & changing positions, but that is to be expected), & heartburn is sporadic. I have had more pelvic pain lately, but it, too, is sporadic...they are gettin' ready!!

I see my midwife on Thursday & will see her every 2 weeks until 36 weeks, when I'll start to see her weekly! Anna does a lot of tossing & turning in the evenings & mornings or anytime I am quiet & sitting. She's probably starting to get a little crowded as she is nearly 16 inches and 3 lbs! She must be head down & angled to my right side as I feel her hiccups sometimes & the most movement is down low & my upper right part of my belly....just like Eli! Sometimes this causes me to be lopsided, which is funny to see. I'll post some video of her movements in a few weeks! Here's my post about Eli at 30 weeks.

Fun 30 week fact: Your little porker is getting even cuter with increasingly pudgy arms and legs this week thanks to the ever-growing layers of subcutaneous fat. (babygaga.com)

I put together a belly flip book slide show....enjoy!!

Having fun Eli style!

Eli's time has been full of the usual: play, play & more play! Of course all this play involves learning, too :) I'll just caption each picture so enjoy!

Eli got his first slinky last week...$1 Target spot rocks!:

One of Eli's many cheesy grins:

In case you haven't heard, our boy kitty, Shadow, went to live with Grandma. Shadow does not do well in a family with young children as he needs constant love & attention. Grandma can give him that, not us! We still have our girl kitty, Mocha, who is so good with Eli. She takes all his love & some of his roughness:

Last week our toddler activity theme was "Me, Family & Friends". We weren't good about taking pictures of the activities but here are a couple.

Eli cut out of construction paper a house like this and then decorated like our house. Here's Eli holding the colored template. As you can see, he is doing more of actual coloring of certain parts of a picture and not just scribbling all over. See the green shutters/windows & door?:

Each week we do a letter....the letter "A" was from the first week, but needed more coloring last week, I guess:

Eli is in love with all things electronic: ipods, laptops, VCRs, tapes, t.v.'s, phones, you name it!! Not surprisingly, he now knows how to use ALL of the listed devices. Here's an example:



We've had some warmer weather off & on the last couple of weeks....woohoo! Although we may get a rain/snow mix tonight into tomorrow, the warm weather will stick around soon, right? Due to this, Eli has insisted on living the last couple of days outside...who can blame him! Over the weekend we visited our neighborhood park:

Big boy swing!:

Rock climbing wall:

Eli enjoys going down slides face first on his tummy:

Back to the toddler swing...he can go higher in these anyway!:

And our visit to the park wouldn't be complete with a run in the field:

And more outside time playing baseball!:

Eli is SO much better with his tricycle. He even has mastered the Roller Racer at Toddler Town. I'll bring my camera soon to shoot some video of this:

Here is Eli showing his tricycle skills:



Now back inside. Eli decided he wanted to play with his glow in the dark stars in the bath tub....what a great idea! Now we turn of the light a few times during bath to see the stars shine:

Eli also got a hair cut last weekend....he's gonna have to start going monthly like daddy!:

Here's what Eli does when trapped inside:



Lastly, our good friends brought dinner over Monday night as I think my stress about the 3 hour glucose test was showing. What awesome friends! Eli enjoyed eating with his buddies, too!:

YAY-NO Gestational Diabetes!!

The title says it all! My results came back normal....hooray!

Look forward to a new post about our little man tonight or tomorrow!

29 weeks!

Today marks the last week of the "20's" for Miss Anna....11 weeks to go! I am still happy with how I feel & while my heartburn flares up, it's bearable :) More braxton hicks, as expected, & a desire to take more naps!

Tomorrow I take my 3 hour glucose test. While I'm not looking forward to it by any means, I'm ready to get it over with. I plan to download some ipod games tonight, text a lot, read magazines, and who knows, maybe read a book?? I honestly don't read anymore, so that may be a long shot. Maybe I'll download a book on my ipod...hmmm :) I won't know the results until Thursday or Friday, so here's hoping I pass this time! More on that later....

Not much else to report, just enjoying this pregnancy and counting my blessings!! Here's the post I wrote at 29 weeks for Eli.

Fun 29 week fact: "Your little monkey has been peeing into their amniotic sac for a little while now (this is why potty training takes a while) and if you didn’t know, actually swallows it along with the rest of the amniotic fluid. Although the concept is nasty, their urine is sterile and as part of the amniotic fluid base, is replaced several times throughout the day." (babygaga.com)

Eli at the Olympics!

Last week, Eli's activities had the theme of the Olympics! Some activities included:

1) Coloring the Olympic flag
2) Making an Olympic torch out of a paper towel roll & construction paper:

3) Making snowflakes:

4) Pretend play that included:

*Pretending to do skiing (socks on tile or wood floor), curling, bobsledding (push kids in a laundry basket), figure skating, and more.

*Pretending to be Olympic runner carrying torch & run around house using torch made during art

*Races for such as running backward race, or a crawling race.

*Doing a simple obstacle course for your child.

5) Fun with colors:

Colored Ice: Put some water and food coloring into a small ziploc bag. Let it freeze. After it has frozen, take it back out and talk about what happened to the water. Let the bags sit out and melt, talk about how the ice turns back into water.

6) Nursery Rhyme Olympics by acting out nursery rhymes

And of course, a week about the winter Olympics wouldn't be complete without eating some snow!!:

This week we are doing Me, Family & Friends. Eli continues to be hit or miss on whether he likes & wants to do the activities, but it's still fun! Today and into next week is supposed to weather in the 50's....yay!! Soon we'll be spending the majority of our days outside...woohoo!

Glucose testing & 28 week appointment

Well, sadly, I failed my 1 hour glucose test that I took on Tuesday. What this means, is I'll take a 3 hour glucose test this coming Tuesday. This test entails me fasting for 8-10 hours (overnight, thankfully), going to a lab, getting my blood drawn for a base line, drinking an even MORE concentrated glucose drink, waiting an hour, getting more blood drawn, waiting another hour, more blood drawn, waiting one last hour, and getting more blood drawn. Blood draws=FOUR!! If 2 of the 4 blood draws are high, I will be diagnosed with gestational diabetes. This article sums it up.

So, the test will not be fun in itself as my midwife said I will start to feel pretty crappy due to a sugar rush on an empty stomach, and then come down from the sugar rush and feel exhausted. She recommended I bring a protein bar to eat after and then eat protein for lunch right after. I'm concerned about passing out, to be honest, due to having passed out before after fasting for a blood draw. Granted that was a long time ago, but being pregnant and doing this makes me nervous.

I won't go into detail about what would happen if I were diagnosed as having Gestational Diabetes, because I hope I won't have to!! I did talk to my midwife about the next steps so I am more educated about it just in case. If you are interested, here's an article about the condition.

In better news, Anna checked out great today! Her heart rate is 157 bpm, I'm measuring right at 28 weeks, and I only gained 2 1/2 lbs. since my last visit with a total weight gain so far of 29 lbs. My midwife is fine with the weight gain so far & I know weight gain starts to slow down towards the end, so here's hoping I don't go over 40 lbs. gained!! I also got my Rhogam shot today....fun times!

I'll post again later this week about our Eli....so check back!

28 weeks....3rd trimester!!!

Yay for entering 3rd trimester for lovely Anna!! When I entered 3rd trimester with Eli (see here), I commented that I couldn't believe we were already in the final stretch. I feel the same with Anna, but know I'll be more "ready" for her arrival....a little less anxiety of the unknown, I guess. I also am very much looking forward to introducing Eli to his little sister....imagining the moment already makes me teary eyed!

I'm still feeling really good these days...but that darned heartburn is kicking my butt!! I used to get it just in the evenings, but the last few days it's been off & on all day!! Yuck! Not one specific remedy has worked, but tums may become a close friend. I see my chiropractor tomorrow and my midwife Thursday so we'll see if either have any ideas. Speaking of my chiropractor....still no back pain! SO awesome. I do have some pelvic pain on the same side I did with Eli, so it's obviously pregnancy related. I'm sure I'll need a full adjustment tomorrow because the timing seems to be right on with how strong my pelvic pain is and when my chiro appointment is....coincidence??

Tomorrow I also take my glucose test...wish me luck!!

Fun fact for 28 weeks: She can blink her eyes, which now sport lashes.

28 weeks