Just Life

Just some random pictures...

Jacob was concentrating very hard on copying the picture of a baby on a box of diapers. Although he was torn between eating crackers and drawing ;)

She snuck into our room one night...she was pretty well hidden under pillows and bags!

Jacob's favorite thing to do when Binga's air mattress is up is to play with the lighted controls (for the heated mattress pad). He likes to hide under the blankets and turn it off and on. Sometimes he cranks it up to 6 and Binga gets a little hot at night! haha

We love Wacky Packs!! :)

I just love this picture. Jacob was very determined to get right down there with Daddy and "help"!
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My sonogram today showed that baby is still very happy and active (no kidding!) so the delivery date is still set for Monday! 4 days!!! Anna is so excited! We decided to get a hotel room (this was originally when the date was Wednesday and the check in time was 5:30am!!!) and take the kids swimming before the baby is born. Since I'd already told the kids about it before they changed the date, we kept the room (it's a free night with Aaron's reward points. Woohoo!). And even better? We don't have to check in to the hospital until 11:30am. And the kids are staying with my parents. Which means we should get some awesome sleep!!! :)

School Pictures & Pregnancy Update

The kids had their school pictures taken. They turned out cute!

I asked Anna if she smiled pretty for her picture and she said "kind of" :) My little girl is growing up! We're going to have to start a "school pictures wall" now!!

For those of you who really know Jacob, you know that THIS is Jacob! Oh my goodness. He did a really good job. At first he balked at standing in line but when he saw they got to stand on the red footprints, so he was all about it. Then he kept trying to hide his smile behind his hands. The guy finally had him put his hands in his pockets and this is the smirk he got. I love it!! :)

Pregnancy update...week 38!!! I have been having some serious itching the last couple of weeks (it feels like it's been so much longer than that!). I had some at the very end with Jacob, but not this severe. So I asked the doctor last week if there was anything I could do for it. She said Benedryl and that she wanted to run some blood work just in case it was something more serious. They had to draw blood to test my iron level again anyway, so she added that test. I didn't hear anything all week, so I assumed everything was fine. At my appointment today, she said she'd just gotten the lab results earlier that morning and it showed that my liver levels were elevated and I had a condition called Cholestasis of Pregnancy (click on the words to read details about it). It's a rare condition that happens only in pregnancy to few women. So she ordered a sonogram to check baby's movements and make sure he's still happy (he is) and I have another one on Thursday. I'm also to do kick tests twice a day at home (I lay down for an hour and count his movements-there have to be 10 in an hour). If anything changes there, or if the sonogram shows he's not happy Thursday I assume she'll opt for an earlier c-section. As it is, we moved the date up to Monday the 15th (instead of the 17th). So Benedryl and TONS of lotion it is. It always seems worse at night, of course. Now I've got to finish my to-do list before Thursday, just in case! :)

36 weeks

I had my 36 week appointment today. I was measuring 3 weeks behind (again), so she ordered a sonogram. Thankfully, they were able to get me in this afternoon so I didn't have to make another trip to Wichita. The doctor was concerned because of my history of low amniotic fluid (that's why Anna was 3 weeks early). Baby was laying transverse (side-to-side across my stomach) so I think that might have caused the measurement to be a little off. Anyway, we headed for the sonogram after lunch. The tech was the friendliest I've had yet. She said the fluid level was great. She gave us some other news...he's a BIG baby. Already. Goodness gracious. His head measures at 40 weeks (90th percentile), his foot is about 3" long already (that's almost half the size of Jacob's foot right now!!!!) and he weighs about 7.5 lbs!!! She said the weight could be off by a pound, but she really doubted it at this point. This kid still has 2.5 weeks to cook!! Oh my stars. How am I having such big babies?! My brothers and I, we were all under 8 lbs. 3 weeks early, Anna was almost 7lbs. 1 week early Jacob was an ounce shy of 9lbs. Who wants to make a guess at how much this guy is going to weigh?! I'm too scared! At least it'll be a c-section (his head size might have changed that anyway!).

A Day in the Life

Seriously, who needs toys?! They honestly played in this stroller for over 30 minutes the other day. And have played off and on with it since. I told Anna I was going to sell all their toys and just give them the stroller and a cardboard box. She kinda panicked! haha

For some odd reason, she ended up sleeping in front of the door for naps one day. I have no idea why. She usually stays in her bed even if she doesn't sleep.

He dressed himself. What can I say?! He refused any pants, was adamant that he wear his Lightening shoes and camo John Deere socks. Alrighty then!

She's getting really good with her bike! She also named it Abby. Alrighty then!

I've officially reached the "shelf stage". :)

Is It Still Considered a Bump...

When it's starting to obscure my access to the laptop?? The boy can pack some punches...if I were any shorter (or when he gets bigger!) he'd knock me off balance with some of them!!
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The View from Here

6 months already!! And blocking more of my computer every day. ;) He's becoming more active, but only when I'm still (and trying to sleep of course!). The kids have both felt him kick. I'm not sure Jacob really gets what's going on, but he likes to pull my shirt up & "see" the baby. He always points right at my belly button & says "baby!" so I'm hoping he doesn't think *that* is the baby!! He also insists that he has a baby in his belly, too! He comes up & pulls my hand over his so he can feel the baby kick. Anna, of course, is always talking to the baby & giving him hugs & kisses.
Everyone asks how I'm feeling & the best answer is *pregnant*!! I can't really complain too much. Aches & pains that come with the territory I suppose. At least I'm not sick. My 24 week check up is this week. Time is going too fast. Before I know it, school will start & not long after this little soccer player will be here! So far we haven't been able to agree on a name, so we'll see what happens...might have to stay longer at the hospital! :)
Sent from Jennifer's BlackBerry

Snowman...In March

While we were in Iowa for spring break, we got about 6" of snow. It was perfect for snowman-building, so Papa & Anna built one! Papa is the best snowman-builder :)

Anna says the ears were Papa's idea...

Gotta have a hat!

Ta-da! Papa unearthed some rocks for his mouth, but they fell out. I scrounged up some radishes for the eyes and pretzel sticks for his buttons! :) It didn't last long--Binga kept us updated on his demise!
"Morning" sickness has hit full force (who named it that anyway?? Must have been a man!!) so I don't promise many blog posts for a while. I was just telling Seth that the worst part about being pregnant for me right now is that I am hungry and sick and NOTHING sounds good. And not eating, of course, makes everything worse! Sprite and Jolly Ranchers have been my friend the past couple days.