Doctors Appointment

I am now going every 2 weeks to the OB/GYN for check ups and then in ~1 month, I will go to weekly appointments. Everything seems to be happening so quickly now -- I want it to slow down and I want to enjoy each moment more.

The good news: I DON'T have gestational diabetes. I had that with my first pregnancy and I figured I would have it again, but luckily my placenta is working better this time and everything looks good.

I went to a different doctor today as my doctor was on vacation. I was hesitant about going to a different doctor, since I have such a long relationship with my current OB -- previous pregnancy, miscarriage, this pregnancy and it's ups and downs. I had a choice to go to another male doctor in the practice (there are 5 doctors total) or a female that I saw before in my 2nd pregnancy (the miscarriage). I haven't heard anything positive about the other male doctor. I saw the female doctor in my last pregnancy at 9 weeks -- everything was fine at that point, but it was the next week that I found out I miscarried. I know it wasn't her fault that I miscarried, it's just hard to get over that experience and I remember not liking her too much at that appointment anyway. So, it was really the 'lesser of two evils' I needed to choose from. I tried to postpone my appointment until next week, but my doctor wouldn't let me go that long -- in case of problems, etc. So, I choose the female and told myself I'm not superstitious, it wasn't her fault I had a miscarriage and it wasn't anything she did or didn't do that caused me to go through that experience.

She was very friendly and just did the normal thing -- blood pressure (106/63), weight (we won't go there!), measurement of my stomach (right on track at 30 weeks) and the heart rate (the baby wouldn't sit still long enough to get a 'number'). Then, I reminded her that I don't want to know my due date and I said, "yes, I know I'm crazy, but don't tell me".

That's when I started liking her a little bit...she said, "Oh, I don't think it's crazy, I think it's actually a really good idea -- if you were delivering naturally you wouldn't know your exact due date either."

YES -- this has been what I've been saying the entire time!!! We really started to bond at this point. My regular male doctor put a sticky-note in my chart saying, "Don't tell patient her due date, she doesn't want to know". He told me my date was under that sticky-note. So, I told the female doctor today that my due date was under that note.

Curiosity got the best of her and she lifted the note and guess what was underneath -- ANOTHER STICKY-NOTE stating, "Don't tell her her due date!"

HA!!! My doctor has such a great sense of humor and he knew other doctors wouldn't be able to not peek.....well, serves them all right for wanting to know my due date!

So, I still don't know and the excitement continues to build....

The Reilly Christmas Movie

I didn't have the energy or creative 'juices' to create this movie with music and cool effects...sorry, it's a bit boring...but, gets the pictures out there for you all to see and enjoy!

It's a compilation of all our Christmas events -- from putting up the tree to the various family gatherings. We are still trying to get ourselves together and re-group and get back on a normal schedule and routine...it gets harder as the preschooler gets older (or maybe it's just a 3-year-old-thing?)

This is what happens when you get a real Christmas tree and the tree decides it's not happy being straight:

The tree fell over onto the coffee table sometime two nights ago. We didn't hear it fall, but the hubby found it tipped over when he got up in the morning. This was the temporary fix: a ladder propped up against the tree. I then asked my husband, "What should we do?". His response: "Paint the ladder green and hang some lights on it!"

Fun with Grammy

Board games are a huge HIT around our house - I found this wonderful Strawberry Shortcake board game at a re-sale for a whooping 25 cents! But, lately when playing the game, the preschooler wants to wear her Dora glasses:

Grammy doesn't have Dora glasses, so she just wore her regular glasses

the classic look: Dora glasses, footed pajamas and Spiderman slippers!

Questions and Answers

Have you seen those t-shirts that mothers-to-be are wearing that say, "baby on board" or "baby mamma" or "earthy momma" or whatever catchy pregnancy phrase is of the day?

Well, I need to make a t-shirt that says:
Answer #1: no, we don't know what we're having -- it's going to be a surprise
Answer #2: yes, there's only one baby in there
Answer #3: I'm due March 9th

I swear that's EVERYONE'S questions: "What are you having?", "You look big, are you sure you're not having twins?", "When are you due?"

#1: Everyone is surprised and shocked with my answers -- we want the sex of our baby to be a surprise, what is so shocking about that? I mean, yes, we know we're having a baby -- that's no surprise. My doctor said that only ~5% of his clients/patients DON'T find out the sex of the baby....now, THAT shocked me! Babies are babies -- they have all the same basic needs when they are born: food, clothes, love, diapers -- boys/girls -- it doesn't matter. There are only a few good surprises in life -- this is one of them and we're going to live it up as much as we can!

#2: Yes, I know my belly is big. Yes, I know I've gained weight (currently more than I gained with my first). Yes, my belly sticks out there and is nice and round. I like food-- what can I say? This is the ONLY time in my life that I can really enjoy food and not really worry about my weight -- I mean if I gain the recommended 25-35 pounds, fine....but, what's another 10-15 pounds when you're talking pregnancy? Luckily, I have no issues with body image and concerns about what I look like -- I like myself just the way I am (okay, well most days at least!). I will worry about the weight after I deliver this baby.'

#3: I'm due March 9th, but I'm having a scheduled c-section -- I had a c-section with my daughter and I'm going to go that route again. I had no problems with a c-section and I know no different, so I'm going with what I know and what I'm comfortable with......but, then the question comes, "so when are they going to take you?". Now, you will find out how odd I really am -- I don't want to know my c-section date, even though it's planned. (do you find that surprising -- see #1, I don't want to know the sex of the baby either -- I like SURPRISES!) Ideally, the doctor's office would call me 1-2 days before the scheduled c-section to tell me, "you're having a baby tomorrow!" Then, I would get all excited and ready. Really, if I was delivering 'naturally' I wouldn't know the exact day and time of the delivering of my baby, so why should it be any different with a c-section? So far, my doctor has me on the schedule and my manager at work knows the date (so she can schedule coverage for me while I'm on maternity leave), but I am telling people to NOT tell me if/when they find out my last day of work. I REALLY don't want to know -- I want to build the excitement leading up to the delivery of my baby.....like I said, there are very few HAPPY surprises in life and I'm making the most of this one! :)

So, if you see me soon -- you have all the answers and please ask me a different question! (and don't tell me if you know my scheduled c-section date)

Christmas Tree

We went to get the Christmas tree this weekend. This year, I wanted to get a real tree and cut it down ourselves. First, just for fun and the experience and second, for the 'earth-friendly' thing to do -- I didn't want a tree shipped up from North Carolina that had been cut over 2 weeks ago, just sitting around waiting for someone to but it. So, we headed out to where we picked apples this fall and enjoyed the experience, that's for sure:
Here's our tree, strapped to the top of our car! (I can't get this photo to the end of this post....)

This girl LOVES the snow, we found out -- she didn't want to get into the car when we were done!

After we picked our tree (photos are not in the correct order!), we went to the 'barn' for donuts and hot cider -- YUM!

Riding the tractor out to pick a tree to cut down....

How tall am I?

I'm about as big as this tree!

Okay, so after riding out to the part of the tree farm where we could pick and cut our own, we found out that all the big trees had already been cut down for the season -- there were only 5 foot trees left.

We saw some pre-cut trees when we first arrived, so we thought we would go back and look at those and choose one to take home. We choose one, paid our money and got ready to go and get some hot cider and donuts while they wrapped the tree to put on our roof of the car. I asked the guy before we headed up to the 'barn', "These trees are cut from your farm, right?" "Oh no, they're shipped up from North Carolina"!!!

So much for the 'earth-friendly' attempts at Christmas this year!

My Teachers

Well, not really my teachers, but the preschooler's teachers:

Jeffrey (our friend - the babysitter's son, Mrs. F and the preschooler)

Mrs. C (the teacher's aide)

and, of course, Mae Mae.

We were at the preschooler's school Chirstmas program last week -- 60 kids sang songs on stage. I didn't get any good photos of them singing -- we were sitting too far back, but I did get these photos at the 'cookie party' after the singing. My daughter was about to break down once she got on stage and saw all the people watching...I thought she was going to burst into tears, but she held it together. She then sang so well -- signing the songs (they all learned sign language to go along with the songs) and everything!

Door County -- recap

We made arrangements to ride the train downtown Chicago to meet daddy at work and then head to Door County...too bad our train was canceled and we had to wait 2 hours for the next train....but, we had fun on the ride anyway!

riding the train...

All the preschooler wanted was "be by Lolo"! (her aunt) She started crying each time she couldn't be by Lolo!

Walking around in the snow....at that time, we didn't have snow at home yet.

The preschooler insisted on sleeping on the top bunk in the 'bunk room'. We all shared a room this visit, since all the other rooms were taken -- by Lolo & Fuzzy and my parents. I was very nervous to let her sleep on the top bunk, but she did a great job!

We spent a good time at the end of the trip trying to take a family photo for our yearly Christmas card...this was one option....you can really see my growing belly in the picture!

The preschooler was tired of taking pictures, "I won't smile!"

Again, all she wanted was a photo with Lolo!

We found a nice park, on a crisp day -- who cares how cold it is outside when you can go down the slide, right?

If you take enough pictures (like I do), you'll eventually get a good one!

We had a GREAT time -- next time we travel up there, we'll be a family of four....

Learning to Spell

We're learning to spell at our house. Well, that is the preschooler is learning to spell (mommy and daddy pretty much know how and we have spell-check to make sure!)

While we were in Door County, we did a little shopping and at one of the little shops there were these letters - and as you can see, the preschooler took to them right away!

"Mommy, Daddy & Pocitey" Do you know who Pocitey is? Well, he's our cat: Pooh Kitty. Interesting how she spells it, but it really makes sense, doesn't it?

Happy "belated" Birthday

Happy Belated Birthday, Daddy!! (we won't mention your age.....)

We celebrated the Thanksgiving holiday in Door County with our family, so this year we also celebrated by husband's birthday there. Daddy let the preschooler help him open presents (just so she wouldn't get upset that it wasn't her birthday). It's really all about her right now -- it's an age/developmental thing that is sometimes hard on the adults! :)

He also let her blow out the candles on the cake....