A Day at the Beach

In my hopes to stay up later so I can sleep better...I thought I would post again.


25-1# bags of rice=$30
1 flat tote with lid=$12
buckets, shovels, etc=$7
1 used shower curtain=free, but originally like $2
hearing your child say "ooooh, fun" 100 times in 2 hours=priceless!

My friend Carrie made one of these for her daughter and we visited them last March...we never played in her rice box but on my way home from Forest Lake I decided to stop by a Target and pick up the supplies. I put it together for Parker and he played in it around 18 months of age. Then I got sick of picking up rice so I put it under his bed until tonight. At the original time he was too young to understand-"don't throw the rice out of the box"...which is partly my fault since I gave him this cool toy to play with. So tonight I rearranged his bedroom and he saw the rice box. So why not...I let him play in it. He played for 2 hours with rice! I cleaned his room, did laundry, organized baby clothes, remade the crib bedding (I think I am trying to trick my body into thinking I'm nesting!) and Parker just kept playing and saying "ooooh, fun Momma". I would hide random sand toys-like a crab, seashell, and a golf ball and he would hunt for them with his "bovel". Occassionally the rice would fly out of the box, but that's what the shower curtain is for. I have used that old nasty shower curtain for more projects...like play-dough. So here are a few pictures of the fun...
oooh this is fun!


I found my golf ball!





and the not so fun of "it's bathtime Parker, we need to put the rice away"


more tantrum...


the saga continues...check back with me next week to see if he is done crying

GET THIS BABY OUT OF ME!!!

Okay I am soooo ready to have this baby. Yesterday I wasn't because I didn't have any energy after barfing for 2 days! Now I feel like I could muster up the strength to deliver.

I go to the doctor tomorrow afternoon and have the check up to see if I am progressing and to have my "membranes stripped". I know gross but I am willing to try anything. We tried twice with Parker but since the placenta was still a little low it didn't work. Other people have had it done and gone into labor that day or the next...I know the baby will come when it and my body are ready but I am ready!

Parker finally seems to be on the mend today. He went to daycare...and I haven't gotten a phone call yet saying that he is throwing up. He hadn't held any food down since last Friday! No fever, no other symptoms, just throwing up. We basically stayed in the house for 5 days! Which was okay since it was -50 yesterday! I got the flu Sunday night and full fledge Monday! Wow, it does suck being this pregnant with the flu...I survived and hope it doesn't come back anytime soon.

Hopefully I am too busy to post tomorrow, but I'll let you know the progression (if there is any).

latest update

I went to my weekly check up yesterday. everything is normal and moving in the right direction! A little change has taken place so we'll wait and see what next week brings.

We are getting a little more anxious these days with the waiting. I am getting the question...are you still pregnant? a lot. Bear and I were worried about Parker's reaction when this baby really arrives in our house. We were visiting baby Brooks this week and Parker was just in awe of him. Then says "I hold it?". So we had him sit on the couch and put the Boppy around him and he cradled that little baby so sweetly. Kissed his head, touched his hair. It was so innocent. Then it was Jillian's turn to hold the baby and Parker freaked out. All out tantrum that he had him first! So we'll hope he shares his baby a little better, especially with mommy and daddy.

I did some online shopping this week, after I failed to find what I wanted at Target last weekend. My big splurges were:

• The hooter hider which is a totally cool and spendy little piece of fabric that you use when nursing in "public". I'll never forget the trip to Bemidji dress shopping for Davina's wedding when I had to nurse Parker in the bathroom at Applebee's!
• The body support for the baby's car seat. Just a little extra protection and padding to keep this baby warm-since it's -45 below zero half the time up here!
• I already had the bundle me from when Parker was born. It got us through the whole winter nice and warm.
• And last but not least-my mother in law has decided to purchase our double stroller from Phil and Ted's. This was totally on my wish list aka "I'll never buy something this expensive on my own" list. She decided since she bought Parker the crib, she needed to buy this baby something "big" meaning expensive. I tried telling her that the crib goes to this baby too and we needed nothing. But after hearing me talk about how I have no idea how I am going to walk/run this summer with 2 kids she decided to splurge. I can't wait to try it out! And for those of you who know me so well...you know the color I picked was bright orange!

Nesting?

so I had an appointment last Wednesday-just the weekly checkup. Nothing much has changed...but at least we are moving in the right direction. In case you don't want to read things like cervix just skip this post.
So my cervix was at 4 cm thick the week before and on the ultrasound. Now it was down to just 2cm! I am dilated to 1 cm-only 9 more to go! If only they were all that easy and "painless". Dr said whenever the bebe decides to arrive is just fine. I am his next patient due so now we just wait.
I would like to think I had a little nesting phase last night but I am afraid it was just my normal crazy personality taking over. Parker and I were out of town Saturday for a hockey tournament-which was a blast! And when we got home yesterday I did 3 loads of laundry, put pictures into albums, put pictures into my scrapbook called "to scrap someday when I have time album", rearranged the 2 guest bedrooms and put the crap that piles up in them away, and then took a bath and couldn't walk for the rest of the night! I started one simple project and this is what it turned in to. What I originally intended to do was laundry and get everything off of our hardwood floor so it could get replaced today. And that is what it turned in to!
The hardwood floor guy is "hoping" to rip up and replace all of the floor in one day. Now I think he is ambitious!! The hardwood floor story goes back to April...we had it installed and it was wonderful! Then August came and our fridge died for the 100th time in 6 years so we bought a new one and when the store delivered it, they broke the water line hookup and it flooded our new floor! Well we put a claim in to the insurance and then had to wait to see how bad the floor got. Well it got bad so we finally took the claim and got the check to fix it...then the floor guy went to buy the replacement pieces and the make/model is discontinued! So now we get a whole new floor, again! So for the last 2 weeks my fridge has been in the dining room/living room. Bear thinks it's nice since it's so close to the couch! Anyways, I hope today when I get home from work it is all finished and I can get back to being lazy and staying warm...

Great Grandma Ida

Barrett's grandma passed away yesterday, 1/13/08. She was 92. Born May 12th, 1915. These pictures are from the Spring of 2006. We went to visit her at the nursing home for her birthday. It was the first time she had seen Parker. She already had dementia and didn't know who the closest people to her were. She absolutely lit up when she saw Parker. She has always loved kids. Her famous quote when saying good-bye was "I love you, much, much, much" which is now a tradition in our family. She will be greatly missed by all of us, but we know she is in a better and happier place.

It's a Boy!

Not mine of course...

Welcome to the World

Brooks William

7#15oz

20.5 inches

8:16 am

1/11/08

Congratulations Derek, Regan and big sister Jillian

What sound does a Seahorse make?

While playing with play-dough today, I stamped out a green seahorse and gave it to Parker. I told him it was a seahorse...he picked it up, galloped it around the table and said "neigh". Of course a seahorse says neigh!

36 weeks and 2-6 more to go

Well, I am officially 9 months pregnant. Barrett and I went to my appointment yesterday. Just a routine check up. Same old thing. Pee in a cup (what do they need all that for anyway??), took some vials of blood, measured my huge belly, listened to the heart rate (138-149) and asked if we had any questions. My iron level came back "fine" this time. Still not in the normal range, but I have never assumed I was normal in any way before...last time my iron level was 9.7, this time it was 11.4 and normal is 11.7-15. Measuring right on as far as the belly goes. Next week he'll check me to see if I am dilating any more or if my cervix has started thinning out. Apparently the last ultrasound showed 4 cm of cervix still-which is A LOT of cervix that needs to get out of the way.

Yesterday, since I had my doctors appointment I decided to take the whole day off from work and pamper myself (and run errands). I started off by slacking in my morning routine and taking Parker to daycare late. Went to the doctor, then Bear and I went out for breakfast-which felt really good to just go somewhere together. Just the two of us, have an adult conversation, and not have to cut up anybody else's food. Funny how breakfast can make you feel like you are on an actual date-which I admit, we have slacked in the "taking time for each other department". Then I had a facial and got my eyebrows waxed (that part is never fun but needs to be done). My pedicure has to wait until next week or the week after-I don't want to have my nails painted and then it all be washed off by the time labor rolls around. A girl has got to have skinny, shaped eyebrows and hot pink toenails when she is in labor. After my facial I ran all my errands, which involved wiping out on Main Street-meaning sliding into the splits and landing on all fours with my 9 month ass sticking up in the air! I am fine and I pray nobody saw me go down. I secretly have a very bad habit of laughing at people when they wipe out (once I know they are okay). Especially when they scramble to get up and look to see if there were any witnesses. I however, was far from scrambling, it was Bambi (pregnant Bambi) trying not to fall down again. Anyways, after running errands I had my hair highlighted and cut. Then off to the chiropractor. Which felt soooo good. He fixed my hips! Temporarily, I already know, but they do feel better. And how cool was it to lay face down on my belly for 20 minutes! Awesome little contraption that table was! Then 4:15 rolled around and back to reality. One of the errands was to pick up supplies for homemade spaghetti. Which means prego sauce doctored up with fresh mushrooms, Italian sausage and a Zantac. Accompanied by deli garlic bread and salad. Yum!

Cute thing that Parker did when I got home was say "mommy pretty" and rub my hair! How sweet is that? I asked Bear if he told him to say that. Which he then admitted that all he said was "mama's hot". Now how sweet is that? My wonderful hubby still thinks I am hot? After 10 years and 30 pounds?!

Here is the latest belly evolution picture and a few from my home photo shoots.

And a picture of Parker-because he is so cute. My little GQ man.

And a messy one, well because boys are messy. His nice white turtleneck is covered in chocolate milk and cheetos residue. The bleach pen is a wonderful invention!

Survey about your First born

Survey about your First Born~
1. Were you married at the time? yes.
2. What were your reactions? Excited, cautious, nervous, thankful, scared
3. How old were you? 24
4. How did you find out you were pregnant? Night time nauseous and breast tenderness, took tons of tests that all turned up negative until a week and a half later it finally gave me two lines!
5. Who did you tell first? Bear, who said…we’re having a baby? When? (November, I said)…but that’s deer season! We’re having a baby???
6. Did you want to find out the sex? Nope! Neither of us wanted to, it’s against the rules. You can’t return or exchange the baby anyways, it’s non-refundable! Do you people open your Christmas presents early and rewrap them too? Okay enough on that…
7. Did you deliver early or late? 2 days late-but was in labor on my due date
8. Did you have morning sickness? Yeah. Nausea at night-only threw up once-when brushing my teeth.
9. What did you crave? Ramon noodles-or just the really salty water in the beginning. Pomegranates, grapefruit and bananas (which I hate unless I am pregnant apparently)
10. Who irritated you the most? not as much who but how and what “they” said…are you having twins? You’re having a girl, it’s all in your butt! How much weight have you gained? Are you still pregnant? I got really crabby at the end.
11. What was your first child's sex? Boy
12. How many pounds did you gain throughout the pregnancy? 40 pounds
13. Did you have any complications during your pregnancy? Low lying placenta
14. Where did you give birth? Falls Memorial Hospital
15. How many hours were you in labor? 16.5 hours. I started having contractions at 1pm, November 10th at home during Days of Our Lives. I thought (and now know I was right) that I was leaking amniotic fluid on Monday the 7th, went to the clinic Tuesday-they tested and said yes and no. 2 tests came back with different results. They sent me home. Thursday I go to the clinic @ 3 pm for a non-stress test and count contractions, they check me again and the 2 tests came back both positive and I was dilated to 3 cm. Got to the hospital @ 5:30 pm, labored and dilated all night, hit 7 cm at 6 am, got a shot of morphine in my back (intrathecal) and got to 10 cm in an hour, pushed for 2.5 hours and Parker was born at 9:26 am Friday, November 11th, 2005
16. Who drove you to the hospital? Bear-drove the whole 9 blocks
17. Who watched? Bear and my mom each held a leg. Friend Lisa was my pushing/delivery nurse, Dr. Stone delivered and a few “training” nurses were in the background watching.
18. Was it natural or c-section? Natural
19. Did you take medicine to ease the pain? I had an intrathecal
20. How much did your child weigh? 7lbs 11oz
21. Did your child have any complications? Not really-wouldn’t eat/latch on for days/weeks! Checked him for tongue-tied but he wasn’t…eventually he ate.
22. What did you name him/her? Parker Anthony
23. How old is your first born today? 2 years 2 months

35 and 35

35 weeks preggers and 35 days to go....

look they are still there! barely but I can see them. I got a gift certificate for a pedi for Christmas from my awesome brother-in-law and am going to use it soon, since I cannot reach my feet to comfortably paint my own damn toenails. Pathetic!

I have heard that there are pressure points in our ankles that are connected to the uterus...when if massaged can help stimulate uterine contractions. I am going to ask my doctor about this at my next appointment (Jan 10th) and see what he says. I may tip my pedicurist extra if she massages my feet and sends me into labor!

These days I am feeling totally enormous. I have heard "you've dropped" multiple times a day for the last week. Or "you've really popped"! Well that's what 9 months of pregnancy does to you! My hips are in so much pain that I can hardly walk normal. If I sit too long and then attempt to get up and walk, I break into the full pregnant waddle. It takes a few minutes to walk out the kinks and to be able to successfully stand up straight! I tried cross country skiing one day (thinking I am superwoman nothing will stop me) and could hardly ski, let alone shuffle my feet the next day-which I tried to pass off as walking! Other things I will not miss once this baby gets here is the heartburn and of course the constant peeing! The last ultrasound the tech pointed out that the bebe was head down, showed me the cervix, the bebe's head and then my bladder! No wonder, there is nothing between the two! Except pressure.

There is however, good to this whole experience. I love the movements the bebe has. That is my favorite part by far. Unless they hurt! This bebe is either way more active than Parker was or I am paying attention more this time around...which you would think with the first pregnancy you pay attention more and this time around I am waaaaay busier with daily life. I also love how Parker kisses and talks to bebe "Ella". He'll put his little hand on my belly and say "wake up" to it so he can see it move. He is so convinced he is getting a sister and has taken to naming her Ella that if you try to tell him otherwise he gets a little defensive! He came up with this name at daycare, we cannot figure out where it came from-there are no cartoon characters named Ella. My sister thinks an angel told him it was a girl and that he is trying to tell us that! It is going to be so fun to see him interact with the real bebe.

We keep playing the name game, obviously Ella has grown on us. He could have picked Dora, Spongebob or Wiggles for a name! We have a few people who have given us ideas. Nothing is set in stone, we really need help with boy middle names!

The list is still made up of: Emmitt, Liam, Audrey Ella, Audrey Jean, Audrey Piper (my new fav), Isabelle/Isabella (could be shortened to Ella)...which neither of us really like the name shortening thing. Name the baby what you are going to call it! Which my mother reminded me by calling me my given name Rebecca. I looked back at Parker's baby book and the name list for him was: Olivia Audrey, Lane William, Parker Anthony, Lillian Jean (Lily). Barrett was the one who actually named him. He had Parker picked out from years ago. From time to time people call Parker-Carter mostly and randomly Tucker and Hunter! Who knows why...

Tammy and Derek came up with these: Tammy's-Bennett and Carter. Derek's List-Sergio, Raphael, Antonio Lopez De Santa Anna (all one name!), Sandra, Hope, Gabriel, Angel, Scarlett, and Rose.

So leave a comment on what names you suggest.

Also, if you haven't made your guess yet on expectnet do so soon, I will be locking the game on the 15th of January. http://www.expectnet.com/games/BebeOle

Christmas 2007

Christmas with a 2 year old is very....busy! It started out on the 23rd with the Christiansons, the 24th with me cooking dinner for my in laws side and to church to sing, the 25th out at Ray with my side of the family. Throw in there no naps, too rich of food and waaaaay too much stimulation for a 2 year old's sensory system. Each day was filled with opening gifts-which Parker likes to do-but he is also at the stage where he wants to sit and play with what he got, not move onto the next gift as fast as possible. It would take all day to open that stuff if we let it. Which next year, I vote we do. I may stay in my pajamas until noon or longer! It was all just a little too hectic.

But amongst all the chaos, there are the perfect moments that make Christmas memories so special. We did get to actually see Santa stuffing our stockings. We heard the "ginkle balls" on the door jingle and big boots stomping off snow downstairs...Barrett, Parker and I had just finished reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and we all crept downstairs to see the big guy stuffing our stockings full of presents! Parker was so intrigued. He did manage to stay quiet the whole time staring in amazement! He watched as Santa ate the cookies and drank his milk and take the carrots for Comet...and he heard him exclaim "Merry Christmas to All and to All a Goodnight!" Then Parker questioned..."Papa?" We couldn't believe that he may have actually recognized that voice? We may not be able to fool him next year. We all tiptoed back upstairs and to bed...It was so precious!

Next Christmas-we will have a 3 year old and a 10 month old? CRAZY!! Parker walked at 10 months which totally freaks me out this time around-having 2 kids into everything.

Christmas favorites this year:

Spending time with all our family, the good food, seeing excitement in a child's eyes, singing Silent Night by candlelight at church, looking at the Christmas tree lit up Christmas Eve, driving around looking at lights on people's houses, seeing how Parker rearranged the Nativity scene daily, getting my golf membership for next year from my wonderful husband who realized on his own that mommy still deserves time alone!

after all the gifts-the kid likes the cardboard house daddy built for him!

the Daddle-which is a saddle for dads to wear like a backpack and the kids get a horsey ride around the house, complete with stirrups and saddle horn. (Notice how it is NOT called a maddle-I carried him for 40 weeks, I am not crawling around on my hands and knees with this thing strapped to my back!) This is a gift only a childless uncle would buy for his only nephew-thanks Blake! http://www.daddle.com/ Barrett actually has given a few rides but I can hear his knees popping over the complaining..."daddy's wrists hurt, daddy's knees hurt, etc..."

Papa Don got Parker his very own pair of hockey skates-Grandma Janet supplied all the Bronco gear. We took him to open family skating over the holiday weekend and he absolutely loved being on the ice and at the hooooockey arena. (I spell it that way so you can "hear" him say it. Anything with an "o" in it that sounds like "ah" gets drug out extra long when he talks. Like "hooooot" and "hoooockey"). He was Bambi on Ice but still had a smile on his face! We put his skates on and he walked around the locker room on the mats just fine, sat down and could get back up all by himself, but wow, when he got on the ice it was legs everywhere! It wasn't until we had to leave that he threw the tantrum and gave us the big tear show...along with refusing to take off the helmet!

Smashing the gingerbread house at Grandma Audrey's...can you believe she paid $25 bucks for this work of art and then let the grandson's beat it to pieces! Yeah, I guess you can, can't you? That's Grandma...

Fun Gifts

A Nemo hat handmade by Emma (two sizes too small) we'll save it for the new bebe

Cozy Coupe Car from Nicker

A "new/used" kitchen complete with fake food, oven mitt, and miniature whisk!

A comfy chair and ottoman-Uncle Bart taught Parker how to "get comfy" in it! Now look how he sits in it.