I almost forgot...

I almost forgot some other big events this weekend. First, we are now at 24 weeks which I call our "safe week". The survival rate of premature infants born after 24 weeks has increased significantly. Knowing that our baby has a chance of survival if born now makes me feel so much better. And every week the baby stays in my belly gives him/or her an even better chance. Second, Matt and I spent Friday night registering. We started at Target and made a list of the items we liked and the prices. We then moved on to Babies R' Us and compared the items from Target. Turns out the prices were the same, and Babies R' Us had a much larger selection of course. The only thing we liked better at Target was the diaper bag, so... We registered at Babies R' Us and then went back to Target and bought the diaper bag. Matt was in charge of the gun, and has final say in all toys. It was a lot of fun, and a little overwhelming to see all that we still need!!! One thing we still need to find is a rocking chair cushion. I found one on-line that I like, but it is REALLY overpriced. JC Penny's has rocking chair cushions on-line, but I want to be able to feel it and see how comfy it really is. It's just a plain sage color, nothing fancy. Besides that, we bought our sling carrier on-line as well. We chose a Moby wrap that can only be purchased on-line. It's like a big scarf that you just wrap up all different ways to hold the baby. I can't wait until we have everything and can fell fully prepared!!!!

Will I Pop or no???

Week 24 stats: My Weight: 162 Weight Gain: 16 lbs (3 lbs less than 21 weeks) Baby's Weight: over 1 lb Baby's length: 12 inches When my belly started to grow, my belly button started to expand. It was big enough I was able to fully clean out my innyouttyitis. I thought that the belly button would expand so much that it popped into an outty. Now, it's gotten really small and kind of squished together. So I'm wondering if this is what happens before it pops. I don't mind having the big crater belly button or the little squished inny, but I'd rather my belly button stay a cute little inny and not pop into an outty. I know there are band-aid type things that you can tape over your belly button to hide it if it pops, but that seems a little uncomfortable. Let's just hope that I keep my inny and don't have to worry about it. The baby is still very active. The baby doesn't have a regular routine, but moves very frequently throughout the day and night. He doesn't move enough at night to keep me awake, so that is a good thing. The baby is also big enough, and moves enough that I get kicked and punched on different sides of the belly at the same time. Or, I'll get a thump at the top and then a thump on the bottom within a few seconds. The baby is also big enough that I can feel where he is sometimes. It's really cool to be able to move my hand over my belly and feel the one hard lump where the baby is, and then the baby moves to get away from my pushing and proding. Matt still yells at me to stop. He thinks I'm bothering the baby and that it's rude. He wants me to just let the baby be. How can I do that when it's so much fun to feel the baby????? The baby is also getting hiccups more often, but still not what I would call a lot. The baby had hiccups twice today and that was more than normal. As for our furbabies, they had their first training session yesterday and it went very well. We are using clickers and treats to train them. We began with a name recognition game and also worked on commands sit, down, and touch. Touch is a focusing techniqe that will help with walking them on the leash later on. We also got a new collar called a canny collar. It is similar to the gental leader, but much thicker and will last longer. Our dogs have already ripped quite a few gental leaders. We have a lot of homework to do, but it is fun to work with the dogs. Next week we are going to work on a command for the dogs to 'GO TO YOUR PLACE' and have them (well mainly Bella) go lay down on a spot designated for her. We are also working on the command "back-up" so that they don't crowd you when you walk in the door. Avery is doing very will with her name, sit, and down. She is very independant and not wanting to work very hard for her treat so it will take a while for her. Bella, on the other hand, is excelling at everything. She is really good at touch, but will go in front and sit facing you to get her treat. The goal is for her to walk behind you and touch her nose to your hand so that she is following you. We havent' tried her on the canny collar, but we will be taking them both out in a little bit and I will take each of them out every day to learn to walk nice only on the left side. I think both the dogs and us will be happier once we are done with this training. It will be easier for the dogs to know that we are in charge and to know exactly what we expect from them. It will take a lot of work everyday for that to happen, but we are up for the challenge. Well, that's about all for now. Hope everyone is doing well!!!

23 Weeks down....17 to go

Well, there hasn't been a lot going on here the past couple of weeks. Matt has spent most of the time working in Phoenix. The dogs and I are lazy and hang around the house. It is really to hot to do much of anything around here. The baby and I are both getting bigger. It really seems that I am growing bigger by the day. The Baby also moves a lot, and is getting stronger. I can see the kicks on the outside of my belly now. Matt has been able to feel the baby more. It's hard for him because he doens't like to wait, so normally the baby kicks right when he takes his hand off my belly. We also were given a book with the Original stories of Winnie the Pooh by my sister's friend Megan. It's the baby's first book and I have already begun to read to the baby. I'm going to try to get Matt to read to the baby too, but he is really uncomfortable talking to the baby in utero. I'm working on changing that and expanding his little box he lives in.

Since Matt & I don't see each other very often, we are trying to make the most of the time we do have. Matt usually doesn't get home from work until after 7 or 8 at night, and I go to bed around 8:30 or 9pm. Matt normally works at some point during the weekend too, so spending time together is a little harder than it used to be. Last week, we had Sunday together and decided to take the dogs to Mt. Lemmon so we could all cool off a bit. Mt. Lemmon is always a lot of fun. We took a couple of hikes, found a cool new tree swing, and hit the Cookie Cabin up for a jumbo peanut butter cookie. The dogs love all the new smells of Mount Lemmon, and love to be able to run and play without any fences. It was around 69 degrees while hiking at Mt. Lemmon, but it was still pretty hot when we were sitting in the sun at the top. The trip worked, and wore the dogs out for 2 days. Unfortunatley, it didn't last longer and it is to hot to run them during the day here. We have been hitting the dog park around 7:30 but it gets dark around then and most of the dogs are gone. It will be nice when it is cooler and we can start hiking at Catalina State Park again.

This week, Matt took Saturday off and along with Cherie, we hit the Baby Fair at the Convention center. I was hoping for a lot of educational information, but it was mostly vendors trying to hock their services. They did have a lecture on safer sleeping for babies which I liked, and we talked to the Police about carseat saftey. Turns out the hospital has a class that costs $25 on baby saftey and then you walk out with a new carseat. The carseat is a Cosco brand that is both rear and front facing and is for babies from 5 - 85 lbs. We already have our infant carrier seats, but it is a nice carseat for once the baby outgrows the infant carrier. Matt, Cherie, and I are planning to attend the class next Sunday.

We also have an exciting plan for next week. We have hired a dog trainer to come to our house and teach our dogs how to be good girls!! Well, they really are good girls, but I would like to work on a couple of issues. Both dogs are HORRIBLE on a leash. We have broken many head collars trying to train them. I would like the dogs to walk nice enough that I can walk them on my own while either pushing a stroller or holding the baby in a carrier. The dogs also bark when other dogs walk in front of the house. I would like to curb the barking so that they don't wake the baby later on. Minor issues, but it will be so nice once the training is done. We will have 5 session with the trainer working in our home. I will let you know how it turns out!!!

21 Weeks and counting......

Week 21 Stats: My Weight: 165 (YIKES!!!!!!) Weight Gain: 18 or so pounds Baby's weight: 13 oz last monday Baby's Length: 10 1/2 inches Baby's Heartbeat: 150 bpm (higher when it's moving) I love being pregnant, I love my "little" belly, I HATE looking at that scale. Talking about the weight gain during pregnancy is one thing, gaining the weight is completely different and now I'm scared. I don't want to gain so much I look like a beached whale, and I want to be able to loose it when the baby's born. Overall I eat very well. I crave salads and veggies and eat a lot of fruit. I've never been big on milk, but I've tried to make sure and drink some everyday. I eat cereal for breakfast and really only drink water. I've even done better at making it to the gym and working out. I do have my moments ( I'll explain later), but I hope that in the end I can maintain a healthy diet and that my weight stays manageable. On to our centering appointment yesterday. It was pretty fun. There are 9 couples signed up for the class, and 6 couples showed up yesterday. We meet every 4 weeks until September 29th, and we meet every 2 weeks until delivery. At the beginning you pick up your own chart and take your own weight and blood pressure. We meet in the lobby of the birth center and there is a mat set up for the belly checks in the corner. The midwife does some belly checks at the beginning while everyone is chit chatting, and then the rest on break. We had the first belly check last night. I lay on the mat and the midwife first listens to the heartbeat and checks the belly and then goes over the chart for weight gain and blood pressure. The baby was VERY active yesterday. The midwife had to chase the baby to find the heartbeat. We could also hear when the baby was moving and you could hear the heartbeat increase when it was moving and then back to around 15o when it stopped. Afterwards we sit down and have a "discussion" type of class. There is also a nurse there to help with the classes. During the class we will cover all the topics in childbirth education. Last night was "common discomforts in pregnancy". Ha ha ha!!! OK, back to food and weight gain. As I said I eat a lot of veggies. Last night I was craving veggies so I had a really good salad and some cottage cheese for dinner. Later, after the class I was hungry and really felt I needed some protien. We stopped at the Burger King drive-thru and I had a Whopper Jr. It was REALLY GOOD!!! ...but not enough to fill me up. We made it another 10 miles before I had to stop at McDonalds for a double cheesburger. Matt thought it was funny and was laughing at me. I thought that was ironic since he ordreded another one too!!!! The McDonalds people thought it was funny to see the Burger King bag still on his lap. As I said, I have my moments :)

Busy Daddy!!!

I wanted to take a minute and give Matt some of the credit he deserves right now. I mentioned before that Matt's boss found a new job and his last day was July 25th. Matt spent that week in Phoenix, working long hours at the office and then more hours at the hotel. Last week he commuted to Phoenix every day. He would leave at 6:30 in the morning and return around home 7:30 - 8 o'clock at night. Again, last week he had more work to do once he got home.

Instead of a nice relaxing weekend, we did respite this weekend. Respite is kind of like licensed babysitting for the state. This weekend we had a 9 year old girl named Skye stay with us. Her Mom dropped her off on Friday evening and picked her up on Sunday afternoon. Matt is not as enthusiastic about respite as I am. That is why I was so amazed at how well Matt interacted with Skye. He involved her in our conversations and joked with her. He played Rockband with her and we all went swimming. Matt cooked us dinner on Friday night, and on Saturday it was his turn for dishes so he and Skye worked together. Skye enjoyed her time with us, and we enjoyed her, so she will be staying with us one weekend a month from now on.

If Matt hasn't won any brownie points so far, it just gets better. Matt woke up early Saturday morning and went to my Mom's house to work on her wood floor. My Mom is replacing the carpet in the bedrooms with a wooden floor. Matt and Tyson finished one of the two bedrooms a couple of weeks ago, but Matt finished the floor of the second bedroom mostly by himself this weekend. Jaime stopped to pick Jake up at one point and helped with cutting, but otherwise it was just Matt. We all offered to try and help but he didn't think we could do it!!!

On top of all that, Matt has been a wonderful husband lately. I'm really wondering what happened to the real Matt and who this new guy is. Matt has helped with laundry and other chores around the house without me asking. I even started the laundry and asked him to collect the towels from downstairs. Matt came upstairs and took over sorting and did the laundry himself. Matt has left himself notes to remember when to take the garbage out and even remembered to give me a receipt after using the debit card!!! I almost fainted!!!

I'm sure you can all tell how much Matt deserved his well needed nap. I just want to say thank you to Matt and let him know how much I appreciate the hard work and time he is putting in, and the help he is giving me around the house. He has definitely proven that he will be a wonderful father!!! Love you honey!!!