No more bottles, no more high chair

Gabe has officially kicked two hard-to-break habits over the last few weeks - all thanks to trips to Grandma & Grandpa Flatau's farm. The first habit he kicked was the bottle. Apparently the grandparents never offered him a bottle and he never requested it! Who knew it could be that easy? Before he came home I removed the rest of his bottles and we haven't had any trouble.


The next habit he kicked was the high chair. I'm still not sure why he like it so much...
Grandma & Grandpa got him this fancy little chair that matches our table. While he was gone this past week I put the high chair in storage and he hasn't missed it a bit. The following are a couple of pictures of him eating supper in his new chair.

WooHoo!

I just returned from seeing my doctor and he says I don't have to take the medicine and I can go back to work whenever I feel like it. I am so glad my doc doesn't get so worked up over all this stuff. He seemed to disagree with just about everything the other doctor did - that doesn't mean the other doctor was wrong he just had a different approach.

So I will stay home from work today and return to a normal schedule tomorrow. Of course now I must get the replacement help lined up in case this baby doesn't stay put until at least 39 weeks like I have been trying to plan.

Preterm labor is the pits -- Part II

It happened again. Contractions that wouldn't stop! Ugh... I spent about 4 hours in the hospital in New Ulm, Minnesota yesterday to be evaluated. Fortunately the contractions weren't amounting to much in the way of "dilation" so they let me go home on some oral medication. If you recall from my pregnancy with Gabe I had a similar episode but it was earlier in the pregnancy so I was hospitalized: http://cpandp.blogspot.com/2006/12/preterm-labor-is-pits.html


Today I follow up with my local doctor and I imagine we'll have more of a plan what to expect over the next few weeks. He may adjust my medication somewhat which could be good because the current meds (terbutaline 5mg TID) make me feel pretty jittery and tachycardic.

Gabe is up visiting his grandparents in MN again so I am able to rest today and tomorrow. He was so excited to go to the farm again. I am certain he won't miss us at all!

33 weeks pic

This picture was taken on the 21st at 33 & 1/2 weeks (that is out of 40 weeks in case you didn't know the normal gestation period for a human). Today I am 34 weeks. One more week and if labor starts the doctor will do nothing to stop it! That will be a fantastic milestone to reach.

I feel pretty good... just big and I have been feeling more fatigued lately. I got out all the baby clothes. Holy smokes we have a TON! I have done 2 full loads and have about 2 more to go before we are done. We have a few things left to do such as get the crib ready, pack a bag for the hospital and get the car seats ready.

13 Pancakes (mini ones)

Since Gabe has come home from Minnesota we have noticed that he gets REALLY crabby when he is hungry. I wonder where he might possibly get that from? He is a bit of a picky eater so it's sometimes hard to get him something he'll eat enough of to fill his tummy.


Pancakes are hit or miss with him but I built it up as something great with the added incentive of "dip" (syrup). We started out with 4 pancakes and he kept saying "more pancakes". The final count was 13 and he was still asking for more.


He would put his face on the plate and lick the syrup off while I warmed more pancakes in the microwave. The feast was concluded with a handful of marshmallows and a trip to the bathtub to wash all the syrup out of his hair and off his face & hands.

Mommy's Playground

Today Gabe and I visited one of the best playgrounds in town (there are a lot of them) to enjoy the warm weather. I noticed this plaque and hadn't realized before that the playground was dedicated to Jennifer Ruzicka. She was a pharmacist that worked at my pharmacy before we moved to Humboldt. She died suddenly of a brain aneurysm leaving 3 little girls and her husband (a local doctor) behind. Such a sad story but was fun to play there and honor her memory! Her husband has since remarried and her little girls have a great mommy again.

Gabe enjoyed the swings. The weather was so warm (about 90) so his face was all red.

I took 56 pictures while we there and only got these few really good shots.

It was a fun time - both of us were worn out from the sun and wind. Gabe got to come home and take a nap and I had to go to work.

He's Back

After 2 weeks in Minnesota Gabe made it home last Friday. He's been fun to have home and while we don't think he grew much during his 2 weeks away we have noticed a significant improvement in his speech. He articulates so well and says some really funny things. The plumber was here yesterday and for some reason Gabe thought his name was Mailbox so he kept saying "What mailbox doing?" or "Hi Mailbox". I tried to explain to Gabe that the guy's name was not mailbox but he just didn't get it!

All is well...

After some testing today for the little baby all is well! His heart rate is a little lower than they would like but he was kicking the crap out of the monitors (being naughty the nurses said) so they weren't concerned since he is so active.

32 weeks.....

Once again, this is the best picture we were able to get. Actually the nakey belly shots were better but I promised uncle Mikey there would not be anymore nakey belly shots.

I am currently 32 weeks into this pregnancy and am looking forward to the baby's arrival!

I've still been having some contractions (like I have for the last 2 months) and the doctor (Aaron thinks I have a crush on him) was a little concerned about the heart rate so tomorrow I have some testing to see if everything is OK!

What I do...

when Gabe isn't home:

I take pictures of the food I cook. Oh yea, and I cook. This pizza has hummus for the sauce, mushrooms, green onions, garlic, and mozzarella cheese. It was OK -- better left over the next day.


Laundry. Lots and lots of laundry.


Take pictures of my crazy dog sleeping. I can't believe he was comfortable like this! What a silly dog.

No Gabe :-(

I'm just letting y'all know that there are no new posts because Gabe has been in Minnesota ALL WEEK! He had to go up to help Grandpa Flatau and Uncle Jon get the corn planted and take care of the baby cows.

He plans on staying in Minnesota next week too.... We are missing our boy like crazy but know he is in good hands! I'll post some pictures of something this week... Maybe my belly. It's gettin' big.

Ready, Set, GO!!

Gabe and the neighbor boys, Payton & Mason, have been busy racing the last few nights! Although it looks like Gabe is "winning" in this picture Payton always won because he actually knows how to pedal....


Here the two brothers are in a dead heat... Oh wait... I don't think they had started yet!

On your mark........ set..........

GO!!! Gabe, we said GO!

Mud Hole

After Aaron washed his car there was a great mud hole for Gabe to play in.

He was upset in these pictures because of how dirty McQueen was. He kept saying "clean it off!"

Muddy face!

This picture is self-explanatory!

New Blankey

Gabe got a new blanket with Lightening McQueen on it! He likes it a WHOLE bunch and has been sleeping with it.