Baby Andrew!

Andrew Aaron
June 21, 2009
7# 9 oz., 20 inches

a few minutes old...

getting a little help to get started in the world....

first time being held by his big brother.....

relaxing with Grandpa....

relaxing after his first bath at home.....

just arrived home from the hospital....

first kiss from big brother....

37 Weeks

This is where Gabe sits when I hold him. I pretty much never hold him anymore because this is not comfortable for me and if I'm sitting there is no room on my lap. He has to sit next to me.

I'm assuming my poor posture is due to the weight I am carrying out front. The tank top I have on is a maternity top. This is how all my shirts fit with the exception of 3 that are still a little loose on the belly (because they are all extra larges).

My belly makes a very nice arm rest for me or anyone in need of one. I love this picture but wish I had clean clothes on! I have my 'painting pants' on (see post below).

Bubble Boy

Cute bubble horns on Gabe....

The ugly curtains are GONE

The Living Room:
These were the 'best' curtains in the house when we moved in. At first Aaron didn't mind them. I hated them all along!

BEFORE:

AFTER (3 photos):

For some reason it took us almost 2 years to think of putting up these kind of blinds. I dare say this is some of the best money we have spent in a long time!

The Den (or office):

These were far & away the WORST curtains in the house. What else can I say? The picture explains it all.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

The Dining Area:

We did 2 things to improve this area. We replaced the ugly curtains and painted the wall a dark brown. It's a nice 'soothing' color scheme (we think).

Wall Color Before:

Curtains Before:

Wall Color & Curtains After:

I am the coolest mom!

That's what I tell myself when I let Gabe eat cake and drink pop for breakfast. We had this today. I didn't figure it was fair if I eat cake and drink pop and make Gabe eat cereal and drink water. So we both had 2 pieces of cake and split the diet dr. pepper.

Worn out!

We have been having babysitters come over to our house lately to watch Gabe. On Tuesday he wouldn't take a nap because Sara was here. This is what happened after she went home and he was left with his boring, old parents....


Note he is holding *three* Lightening McQueen cars in his hands.

My flowers....

.... have been destroyed.

I only planted 8 petunias (hey it's hard for a lady with a huge belly to get down that low for some planting) but they were looking mighty fine! Then one day a few were outside of the pot but I was able to replant most of them. I blamed it on a squirrel or a rabbit because it wasn't totally destroyed.


Then this happened:

I have come to grips that MY DOGS did this. ARGHHH! I guess at some point we'll replant some flowers and maybe try to hide the dirt from the dogs (wood chips or something?) to take away the digging temptation. Oh well, they were pretty while they lasted!

Animal crackers, smiles, and a fancy chair

Gabe's GREAT uncles sent him a treat in the mail this week. It was a box of animal crackers that he thoroughly enjoyed. See below:


This is the "show me your teeth" smile.


In the following pics I was doing my best to get him to laugh. It worked.

Suitcase for the hospital....

I finally got around to packing a bag for the hospital. When Gabe asked me about the suitcase I told him we would take it to the hospital when we have the baby. He wanted to open up the suitcase because he thought the baby was INside the suitcase.
Then he climbed inside and curled up. For some reason I don't think bringing Gabe to the hospital would help me out much when the time comes....

Baseball!

Gabe asks to play baseball a lot. Here are a few pictures of his "skills"...........


At least he is starting to hold the bat with 2 hands. He can connect with the ball on most occasions but his swing is interesting!


I'm not sure if he's left or right handed yet. He was clearly favoring his right hand a while back but now he switches it up.

Random Pics from MN

Driving with dad makes Gabe crazy....

A whole mess of cute little gray kitties at the farm. Gabe loved them!

This is where Gabe sleeps when he is at the farm.

35 Weeks Pic

I have made it to 35 weeks! I've been feeling pretty good this week just more & more tired. And my stomach muscles don't work at all because of my 'big' hernia/diastasis. Basically my stomach muscles are spread about 4 inches apart from each other above my belly button. It may require a surgical repair sometime after the baby is born. We just have to wait and see what it does after the pregnancy.

We are looking forward to having this baby.. My plan is for an induction at 39 weeks.. but babies don't usually follow the plan set out for them so we'll have to wait and see. I am very much looking forward to the experience of having a baby in a small hospital (one nurse, I'll likely be the only patient delivering, one doctor - the same one I've had all along). We should get lots of personal attention without the annoying big city/big hospital procedures. I think there were about 10 or more people in the room when I had Gabe.... 3 doctors, a couple of nurses, some other people I didn't recognize....

Getting clothes ready, Part I & Part II

We have very similar pictures from both pregnancies of me getting the little baby clothes ready.

PART I

This was taken when I was about 36 weeks pregnant with Gabe (approx. Jan 15, 2007)

PART II

This was taken May 24, 2009 at 33 weeks pregnant.

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.