tales from a far-land

As of my weekly OBGYN appointment this morning, this baby is showing no signs of leaving the womb any time soon.  Apparently, he is enjoying his current living situation even though there is not much more space for him to occupy.  I am starting to feel like my ribs are going to explode.  Plus, my hips are pretty sore and my waddling is really starting to look more like a duck than a human being.  Anyway, here are the stats as of this week's visit ... no real changes from last week.  Only weight gain and there is no more room to grow.  Ughhh ... Projected Due Date: August 9th Total Weight Gained: 23 pounds Baby's Heartbeat: 148 Fundal Height Measurement: 38cm Typically, it should match your current week of pregnancy. Effacement Percentage: 50% (Same as last week) This is how thin your cervix is. Dilatation: 1-2 centimeters (It was the same last week) How far your cervix has opened. 10 centimeters being the widest. ***Next update will be...

Here I am -- due date, 4 weeks and counting.  I have reached beyond the pivotal week 36 in my pregnancy.  This begins my weekly prenatal visits.  As of today, my OB/GYN said this little one could come any day now.  However, there was no real change in the baby's statistics from last week, so I am skeptical that our little baby boy will be making an appearance in the upcoming week.  In the last couple of days, I am starting to feel what I think are Braxton-Hicks contractions, but who knows, especially since nothing changed from last week.  I guess, we are just in "wait and see" mode.  This pregnancy has been definitely different than with Madilyn.  He feels much bigger and slightly more uncomfortable than she did.  Plus, he is a *mover*.  He is constantly changing his position and kicking his little legs.  My heartburn hasn't been too terrible, but I have been surprised at my lack of app...

Our family has been keeping exceptionally busy this summer.  Besides moving into a new house.  We have had a couple of summer visitors -- Josh's parents and Miss Kathleen.  Why they visited us in the middle of the summer, we'll never know, but we enjoyed spending time with them.  Madilyn also participated in swim lessons at the city pool for the first time.  She didn't really enjoy the lessons at the public pool even though she loves swimming at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  Oh well, we'll try again next summer.  And we escaped the mid-summer heat by traveling up north to Munds Park to spend the 4th of July at my parents' cabin.  What a perfect way to spend the long weekend!  Here are some photos from our summer adventures: Sandy giving Madi a haircut at the cabin Grandpa & Madi sharing pita chips  Lynsey & I at Riordan Mansion in Flagstaff  Aunt Lynsey & Madi  Mommy & Madi on the 4th of July  T...

As we wait to introduce our little baby boy to this world, what better way to capture this moment in time, by having maternity photos taken.  Especially in the middle of July!  That is why we were so excited to find a photographer with a unique, journalist style.  We didn't just want traditional maternity photos.  We wanted something creative and different.  Enter Vanessa Gibbs of Bliss Boutique Photography.   She has done an amazing job of capturing our family at this moment in our lives.  Madilyn was in a *special* toddler mood this particular morning, which I feel Vanessa captured especially well.  Below is a link to a sneak peak of our photo shoot.  We cannot wait to see the rest of them.  We will be sure to share those as well.  Click here to see the "sneak peak" -- http://www.blissboutiquephotography.com/?p=8324

We are happy to announce we are the proud owners of an amazing new home.  With the pending arrival of our second child, we began to search for a new home about nine months ago.  Yes, nine *long* months ago.  As a couple, we quickly realized that we did not always have the same vision for our future home.  That is until we found this one.  From the first walk through, we both knew this house would be perfect for us.  It provides enough square footage for our growing family so we will not have to *ever* move again.  It was turnkey ready which was especially important to me knowing that we would be soon busy with two kds under the age of two, but it still provided the man of the house with several "honey-do projects" to work on for many years.  It is located in an excelling school district.  Plus, one of its best features, it sits at the bottom of one of Phoenix's mountain preserves.  We are so lucky and have such an amazing view....

As I stated in my last post, we had been looking for a new preschool for Madilyn to attend since we were in the process of moving closer to downtown Phoenix.  Well, we found one and Madi enjoyed her first day of preschool three weeks ago on Monday, June 13th.  She is now the newest student at Anderson Prepatory Academy in Moon Valley.  Josh and I are very pleased with this learning instituion and their educational philosophy.  Madilyn has adapted very well to her new surroundings and teachers.  They have stated she is their ideal child, "Miss Happy-Go-Lucky".  Daily we received a journal report which gives us a glimpse of Madi's day.  So far, she has learned the following: Letters X, Y and Z Colors blue, yellow and green Shapes of cube, cylinder and rectangle And her numbers 1-10 A song that I have not deciphered, as of yet.  She just sways back and forth, singing "oh way, oh way, oh way ..."...

So, Friday was Madilyn's last day at daycare with Yolanda.  We have been looking for a new home closer to downtown and we knew this change was probably very close to happening for our family, so we decided that we should start looking into a preschool in the same location for Madi and for the new little one arriving in August.  It was a very hard decision to make.  Change is never fun!  Yolanda has become part of our family.  She is Madi's "Nana" and Josh's salsa distributor and my confidante.  There is no one more that I could have trusted with my first baby at six weeks old.  One of the things I will miss the *most* are my Madi text updates.  Here is the last one I will ever receive from Yolanda ... she sent it Friday morning.  "My last sad face while she waits for her oatmeal :) Going to miss this routine it happens every morning :) "  I cannot believe how deprived sh...

Yesterday, I went to visit my OBGYN for my 30 week check up and 3D ultrasound.  Josh joined me for the ultrasound.  The main purpose of the 30 week ultrasound is to check the weight of the baby.  Well, guess what?  The baby already weighs 4 lbs., 10 ounces.  This is already a BIG baby.  And I still have 10 weeks to go.  Honestly, I am a little freaked out.  The baby is supposed to gain one pound a week during the last month of the pregnancy.  If that is true, then I will have well over a 9 pound baby and that doesn't even account for the six weeks in-between.  Yikes!  I'm scared! So, while we were in the ultrasound room, Josh and I went back and forth on whether or not we wanted to find out the gender of the baby.  I wanted to find out this time since we didn't find out last time.  Josh, on the other hand, still wanted it to be a surprise until the actual birth.  We continued to waiver back ...

Last Tuesday, Madilyn visited her pediatrician for her 15 month old check-up.  She is developing normally and the doctor was very happy with her growth and development.  She received a couple more vaccinations and only cried for a short bit, especially after Mommy rewarded her with Cheerios. Madilyn's stats as of this visit were: Head circumference - 18" (52nd percentile) Height - 30" (31st percentile) Weight - 22 pounds (62th percentile) Here are a couple of photos that I took while we were waiting for the physician.  Of course, in the last photo, she is munching away at some Cheerios.     Here are some of Madi's favorite things to do right now: Go outside.  Always!  As soon as we get home, she wants to go outside.  She even has started to mimic me by watering the potted flowers with her sippy cup. Throw things.  She thinks it is hilarious to play throw and catch.  She loves to throw balls, stuffed animals, blocks and then see...

Baby is the Size of:  An eggplant Projected Due Date: August 9th Baby's Gender:  Unknown Total Weight Gained: 18 pounds (All gained in the past 12 weeks) Baby's Heartbeat: 138 beats/min Fundal Height Measurement:  31cm (typically, it should match your current week of pregnancy, so as you can see, this baby is already a little bit larger than expected.  Yikes!) Development Tidbits:  Baby's lungs are mature enough that, if born right now, she has a pretty good chance of surviving (with help from medical technology). It's skin is still pretty wrinkly (one byproduct of living in amniotic fluid) but will smoothen as fat continues to deposit. I had my 28-week check up yesterday and everything is normal.  Actually, the visit was short and sweet.  My doctor called me a model pregnant woman.  The baby's heartbeat is strong, my weight gain is optimal (even though I feel as big as a house) and my blood pressure is average. Honestly, I canno...