9:25am. Just starting Pitocin. Not really anything to report. Really like my nurses. Really hate being hooked up to machines.
And because this would be a rather boring update otherwise, here’s a couple pictures of the girls taken at the beginning of April. Hard to believe that less than two months ago we still had snow on the ground.
Can’t wait to share pictures of Baby Boy too!
Hospital says there’s room, so we’ll be checking in around 7:30am and see what happens after that! Thanks in advance for all the prayers, love and support!
Went and saw the midwife this morning. They checked my vitals and ran a non-stress test for the baby. “Everything is fine,” she said, “Baby’s fine, blood pressure is fine, weight gain is fine.”
So I just had to remind her that they said the exact same thing with Alethea and I ended up being induced anyway and giving birth to a 10lb baby, 17 days after her due date.
We mutually agreed to schedule an induction for tomorrow morning. So we have to call the hospital at 6am to make sure they have a bed available, but assuming I don’t get bumped, we at least get to try to get this baby out tomorrow. We’ll start with Pitocin and hope that gets things moving. If that doesn’t work though, my midwife has already warned me that she’s not going to try anything further tomorrow, so there is also a chance I’ll get sent home without a baby.
So we have a plan, but it’s an it-all-depends kind of plan. I’d appreciate any and all prayers that things go smoothly tomorrow. And I haven’t given up hope that Baby Boy will decide to come on his own in the next 12 hours. His big sister Lydia pulled off a just-before-inducement arrival and I’m praying it’ll happen again.
So tonight will be a nice long brisk-as-I-can-manage walk around the neighborhood, followed by hanging up the art I’ve finished and framed for the nursery.
After that, I think I might scrub down the bathroom, since I’m pretty sure that’s what put me into labor with Lydia. Yup, walking, art hanging, and bathroom cleaning. I know how to party, what can I say.
Third baby. Third pregnancy going past my due date. But I am glad about one thing. I’m glad that I’ve gone far enough overdue that I’m going to have a June baby. It’s not really that important, but I grew up in a family where everyone had their own birth month, and I kind of liked it that way. So since Peter already had a corner on May in our family, I thought it would be nice if Baby Boy arrived in June. And with 12 minutes left until midnight, it appears that he will.
And bonus, the longer our little guy takes, the more things get checked off my to-do list. Today I finished planting my pepper plants, so “Plant Veggie Garden” is officially crossed off. I even started a perennial bed with strawberries and asparagus this year. The strawberry plants are looking healthy, but no sign of any asparagus yet. This is my first attempt though, so I’m not 100% confident I planted it correctly.
In the front yard, I’ve finished planting my pots of annuals.
And I also did a spring cleaning in the bean and added a few new perennials. It’s still not “done” (not sure a garden ever is done), but it’s definitely at a point when I can leave it for a few weeks to focus on Baby.
On the nursery prep front, my mom and I finished sewing the curtains and we also added a fun green patterned panel to the bottom of the existing crib skirt so that it hits the floor even when the mattress is up in the infant position.
The girls and I have been out hitting up some garage sales. In addition to finding a great deal on the newborn sleepers we needed (Baby wardrobe complete!), I found these six 12×15 inch frames, including mats, at a sale for the lovely price of $2 each.
As you can see from the nursery progress pic, the art wall isn’t done, but you’ll notice the beginnings of the art I’m working on photoshopping to go in the garage sale frames. (It’s not finalized and yes, the train is missing.)
So admittedly, the nursery isn’t quite done, but the good news is that today we finally sold our extra vehicle that has been sitting around since we bought the Pilot a few months ago. Nice to have a clear driveway again.
To summarize… plants are planted, nursery is (almost) done, and we are down to the two vehicles we are keeping. And I get my June baby. There’s really nothing left. You can come any time, Baby Boy. Any time…
T-minus one hour until the end of Baby Bob’s due date and so far he’s a no show. So in the absence of newborn photos, here are a few recent favorites of the girls.
Alethea had her first piano recital a few weeks ago. She was really nervous and expressed a lot of concerns ranging from playing the wrong notes to, “What if I forget how to sit at the piano and I sit on my knees and my legs fall asleep?!!” However, her fears turned out to be unnecessary, since she played wonderfully and amused everyone with her enthusiastic bowing and adjusting of the bench.
Lydia has been learning new skills too. She knows how to spell her name, likes to draw pictures of princesses, and can put on clothes and shoes by herself, although the shoes don’t always end up on the right feet. We might need to do a little work on measurements with both girls though. The other day, Alethea and Lydia were playing with my tape measure, checking out the kitchen wall when Alethea asked, “How many inches does this weigh?” Very seriously, Lydia replied, “That inches is three dollars.”
Both girls continue to be good eaters, although Lydia is the more adventurous of the two. Alethea adores raw fruits and vegetables though. In fact, tonight she ate her whole dinner and then asked for some watermelon and proceeded to devour 10 slices!
Alethea’s favorite activities currently include drawing, singing, dancing, and playing princesses. She sometimes combines the the singing, dancing and princesses by belting out tunes from “Frozen” with great gusto. I’m thinking she might end up on Broadway someday. Although the weather has taken a major turn for the better lately, she’s not a huge fan of being outside now since she doesn’t like the mosquitoes and is absolutely terrified of bees and wasps.
Lydia also enjoys drawing, singing, and princesses to some degree, but she loves being outside and has an affinity for nearly every living creature. She enjoys helping me in my garden, most especially if we dig up earthworms. You should hear her giggle in delight whenever we discover one. You’d think we were unearthing kittens. She always insists on holding and talking to them.
My favorite part about being mom to these two beautiful girls is that they are truly the best of friends. I know having a baby brother around is going to shake things up, but I hope nothing will ever change the fact that, despite the occasional squabble, these two would rather be with each other than with anyone else.
We are all excited to become a family of five. Alethea and Lydia agreed today that they want their brother to come so they can see what he looks like. I promised them that he’s coming soon. You hear that, Baby Boy? Soon!
Will be updating as soon as there is anything to report. Stay tuned!
Yesterday was Peter’s birthday, so we had people over for a joint Mother’s Day/Birthday celebration. It was a nice time spent with our families. However, since it’s a bummer to always share your birthday, we went to a Twins game last weekend, just the five of us (Bob was there too even if he couldn’t see what was going on), for a Birthday Only celebration.
The girls were really excited at the prospect of going to a game, and even reluctantly consented to wearing pants. (They almost always wear dresses or skirts, because they insist that’s what princesses wear.)
It was a 1:10 game, so we got them a each a kids meal for lunch on our way in. The hot dog, chips and small drink bought us 2.5 innings in our seats.
I knew the girls would be excited to see T.C. I was hoping he would show up on our side of the stadium about mid-game so we’d have a distraction to look forward to. Unfortunately he came at the bottom of the 1st, which means we spent eight innings answering the question, “Where did T.C. go?!?” We couldn’t have asked for better weather though. It was actually a little hot sitting in the sun.
A bag of kettle corn bought us another inning and a half, after which we took the girls up to the concourse to get out of the sun and walk around a little bit. We spent several innings in the shade, during which time the girls found themselves in need of the family restroom multiple times. Twins runs scored when each parent was in the bathroom with the girls… Elise 4, Peter 0. Apparently me not seeing the good parts is key to the Twins winning. But at least they did win, and we were back in our seats to watch the fireworks go off.
Then there was taking the obligatory down-by-the-field photo. (They are smiling so nicely because a lady heard me trying to coax them to smile and told them that she bet their Mommy would give them a dollar if they smiled. Clearly she doesn’t know their Mommy.)
Since it was kids day, they were invited onto the field to run the bases. They were excited about it at first, but much less so when they realized they weren’t going to be allowed to run all over the grass.
Then it was time for the long walk back to the parking garage, which proved to be a bit too long for one little fan.
But that’s okay. With no major melt-downs we are calling the outing a success.
Happy birthday, Peter! There’s no one with whom I’d rather spend my all my Twins games (which roughly translated means, I love you very very much!)
Today I am 37 weeks pregnant. Just three weeks left until my due date, May 29th. Of course, I can’t know if Baby Boy will show up early or not. I’m 1-2cm dilated, but my midwife says that doesn’t necessarily mean anything. In any case, I’m physically ready to be done, but my to-do list is still quite long, so I’ve been trying to knock out as many things as I can before returning to those sleep deprived newborn days.
Of course, it’s harder to knock things off a to-do list when you’re nine months pregnant and your belly closely resembles that of a giant teddy bear…
I shouldn’t complain. I feel very blessed to be expecting a healthy full-term baby boy. I’ve gained less than thirty pounds and can still wear my wedding ring, which was not the case at this point with either of the girls. This pregnancy still feels harder to me though. I don’t know if it’s because I’m over 30 now, because it’s the third time around, or because I’ve got two other kids to keep up with, but yeah, I’m exhausted.
Alethea and Lydia seem more or less ready to make the transition to a family of five. They enjoy giving my belly kisses, and telling perfect strangers about their baby brother who is coming. Alethea has really been on board from the start. I think she’s so confident in managing her sister that she figures it can’t be much more work to be in charge of two. She seems very eager to be Mommy’s helper.
Lydia on the other hand, up until about a month ago, kept telling me that she did not in fact want a baby brother, she wanted another sister. Fortunately, that has ended and more recently she has started saying things about helping her brother walk and discussing where his car seat will go in our new-to-us larger vehicle that we purchased to accommodate three car seats.
Besides the new vehicle, we’ve also managed to acquire a fairly complete first year’s wardrobe for our little guy. We have a couple wonderful neighbors who were getting rid of their baby boy clothes and gave me first dibs on them. Between that, the things we already owned that were gender neutral, some gifts, and a few Target clearance finds, other than getting a few more 0-3 month sleepers, I’m about done with the “Find Boy Clothes” item on my to-do list. And everything is even washed and put away! Sweet little hats that probably will never fit my baby’s head… awwww…
As far as the nursery update goes, I’m not as far along as I’d hoped I’d be, but we have made some progress. I bought the airplane fabric I was eyeing and my mom came over and helped me turn it into drapes, or rather, I helped her turn it into drapes. (Let’s just be honest about who did more of the work.) I also went to Home Depot and bought galvanized pipe to make a curtain rod, which I spray painted last weekend (never fear, while wearing an OSHA approved respirator). Now we just need to get the rod and curtains up, then pin the curtains at the correct length, take them down to do the hem and put them back up again. Sounds fun, right?
So not too much has changed in the nursery. I have gotten most of the girly accessories out, although I still haven’t made any decisions on the artwork situation, hence the continued presence of that bit of pink.
I did find bookends on eBay to fit the new theme. I love them, but I just can’t decide if I leave the current paint job or do something else. Spray paint them a solid color, perhaps bronze? Paint just the red parts with a color that better matches the rest of the room? Maybe go bold with a fun green to liven things up?
So that’s where things stand at 37 weeks. Just for fun, and because I’m running out of mental decision making energy, leave me a comment and let me know whether I should paint the bookends and if so, what color. Opinions please!
This is a little later than I had intended, but I must share the details from Alethea’s 5th birthday party. As requested by the birthday girl, we went with a Clifford the Big Red Dog theme. Some people who heard about the theme choice expressed surprise that Alethea was still interested in Clifford. While it’s true that all things Frozen have recently become her obsession, Alethea still has a soft spot for Clifford in her heart.
Using my selected color scheme of red, yellow, blue, and white, I practiced my Photoshop skills and was pleased with how her invitations turned out.
The cake table was covered with deliciousness including chocolate and lemon cupcakes, dipped pretzels, little cups of puppy chow, and the birthday girl’s request… a giant bone shaped cake.
My friend Jen made the bone cake and another friend, Erica, made the cupcakes. Pure homemade scrupmtiousness all the way around. And did you see that I snagged a red “5” candle at Party City? I couldn’t believe my good luck that the number I needed was in the perfect color! 
Clifford and his stuffed friends all attended the party. The paper hats were another Alethea request. A little tricky to get them to stay on, but don’t they look festive?
Alethea joined her pals up on the mantel for a quick photo op just as the party was starting. (I found out that it’s hard to locate a red dress for a little girl in the spring, but was fortunate to track down Alethea’s party outfit on eBay a few weeks before the big event.) If you look closely at the pictures, you will notice that Alethea’s memory table this year featured photos from each of her past birthdays. Also, if you’ve got an eye for such things, you may notice one of the home improvement projects that has been keeping me busy this spring. I’ll give you a hint, it rhymes with shmantel.
The party menu consisted of, what else, hot dogs, with plenty of toppings and sides. I did silverware wraps to make it easy to create a custom hot dog and carry utensils at the same time. The favor bags contained a variety of Clifford items (stickers, pencil and party blower) as well as generic items that fit the color scheme (bubble tube and candy).
After everyone had full tummies, we moved on to opening presents. Alethea seemed to enjoy all her gifts, but Aunt Leah scored major points by giving her the light up LED unicorn Pillow Pet that she’s been asking for since December. I think she’s a rather homely unicorn myself, but Alethea is over the moon about her, and has lovingly dubbed her “Glowy”.
Once all the presents were opened, it was time for the cake. Alethea blew out all the candles and then decided that she wanted part of the paw print for her slice, which she ate along with a pretzel, some ice cream, and a cup of puppy chow. Sugar rush!
And that’s how we celebrated Alethea’s Big Red 5th Birthday. It sure was a good one, although I can hardly believe I’m the mother of an almost kindergartener. Where does the time go?!?!
PS. To view more BobbleHeadBaby celebrations, visit my Parties Page!
Oh, her eyes, her eyes
Make the stars look like they’re not shining
Her hair, her hair
Falls perfectly without her trying
She’s so beautiful
And I tell her every day
When I see your face
There’s not a thing that I would change
‘Cause you’re amazing
Just the way you are
And when you smile
The whole world stops and stares for a while
‘Cause, girl, you’re amazing
Just the way you are!
Happy 5th Birthday, Alethea Margaret!
We think you are truly amazing, just the way you are!
Love you forever and ever,
Mommy & Daddy
Our Easter weekend was quite nice. Saturday included a little egg dyeing. Once again, the wire whisk trick worked like a charm, not one cracked egg.
After the girls finished their eggs, they rushed down to the playroom to gather some coffee mugs, a carton of eggs, whisks and bottles of dye. Apparently their stuffed friends wanted in on the egg dyeing action.
Sunday started with getting dressed up for church. The girls were unbelievably excited to finally don their special outfits. They’ve been begging for days to wear these dresses!
After church we had a little egg hunt in the backyard.
And then was our feast (ham and all the fixings), after which the girls eagerly dove into their Easter baskets.
To top it all off, the girls spent the rest of the evening outside playing, because the weather, at long last, was absolutely perfect.
Hope your Easter was wonderful too!
He is risen! He is risen, indeed!