Can I please reverse time, start over from being pregnant with Syd and relive the last 4+ years so I can enjoy them again? Time is moving so fast, and although I absolutely love the stages all the kids are in right now, I miss holding each of them as a newborn, miss each of their kicks in utero, watching all the firsts of firsts. But I know I can't, and luckily we have lots of videos and pictures.

I got my second true Mother's Day gift last weekend. Last year, Syd had made a frame from popsicle sticks at school and had a picture in it of her. She didn't quite get the "wait until Sunday for her to open it" and made me open it in the car. This year, she was adamant that I was not allowed to open it, and said she was told to put it in a spot that she picked at home. I think it was almost as cute watching her counting down the days until the day as it was having the gift. Each day she would say something along the lines of, "two more days and then it's Mommy's day". When I did open her gift, she told me that she had to do the card because it was VERY special. And it absolutely was. It was two hearts with her handprint on each one, and a sting tied between them and it said "I love you this much" and it was the length of her wing span. Inside the bag was a corsage. I didn't get a chance to wear it too much that day because she wanted to wear it. I loved it though when I did, it made me feel proud that she gave it to me. The card was the best though because she had made it.

We've been painting our kitchen the past couple days. And although, it could have taken me less than one days to do it, I only could work with David taking his nap or if Joel could watch him. And I had help. 4 little hands that painted with little rollers dripping paint on the floor, getting it on themselves and their underwear (the only clothes they were allowed to wear). But behind our lower cabinets will be some of the best painting ever. I need to remember to take pictures of it before the cabinets go in this week.

I usually have a hard time sleeping if I can hear someone snoring. But tonight, I think I'll make an exception and try to enjoy it. David is snoring so loud tonight that it makes the light on the monitor light up. Not sure what is different about tonight for him, but it's pretty cute to listen to him.

I usually have the kids songs going on in the car. Rarely do I get to listen to what I want to. They do get quite repetitive and boring, but then there's time like today that remind me why I put up with them. One song that gets played is Itsy Bitsy Spider. And it's a little different version. It starts out normal, but then it goes into the spiders neighbor "Big Fat Spider" and then finishes off with the Itsy Bitsy part again. When it gets to the final verse, I hear in a soft high pitch voice from the back, "itsy bitsy spider up water spout. Down came rain..." Rylee is singing with it. She has fallen in love with this song and wants it on a lot, and now everytime it comes on she'll sing with it. But only the last verse.
One song that I have sung to all three is You are My Sunshine. And it just so happens that that song is on one of their discs as well. Today on the way to school, Syd sang the whole song while it was playing, not missing any words. Those are the reasons that get me through the whole, "can we listen to our music" question.

"I wanna go real high!" For quite a while now, Rylee has been very nervous of the swing. She'd get on it but wanted to go slowly. Meaning the swing would barely move. But today was different. Out of the blue, she said I want to go high. So I grabbed the swing and brought it back a little further than normal. "Right here?" I asked. "No higher." So I brought it back a little more and she said, "Really high." So I brought it up to about my chest and heard, "Yeah this high". She wanted to stop a couple time, but only because her hair was getting caught in her mouth. All the fear that she had before was gone. She was flying high next to Sydney and David (in his toddler seat) and they were all having a great time.

My little girl is 4. How the heck did that happen? I remember the morning that I took the test to see if we were pregnant. I remember calling the doctors office that day to go in and get in confirmed. Wasn't that just yesterday. And now she's 4. She is turning into such an amazing young girl. She is so gentle and patient with Rylee and David (on most occasions). She's listening better every day. She's absolutely amazing.
I took her to her 4 year well check on the 16th. She was fairly shy with the doctor but did talk to him. It was awesome watching her answer his questions and have him ask his "how is she doing" questions to her instead of me. One of the questions that he asked her was if she could spell her name. She looked at me and I nodded and she said, "S-Y-D" and then stopped. The doctor looked at me and I told him we usually call her Syd. I asked Syd to spell the rest and she continued, "N-E-Y". The doctor was fairly impressed by that because most kids would start over instead of continuing. Proud mama.
She is just under the 75th percentile for height and around the 75th percentile. I asked him if she continued her height in the same area how tall would she be. He said about 5'6". So we'll see how accurate that is.
On her actual birthday she went to school and had her swimming lesson. We had her favorite dinner (as of right now): Steak and baked potato. And when we returned from swimming we celebrated with cupcakes.
We had her party the following Saturday. We went up to the rollaway in Lynnwood and went skating. I think the 2 hours we were there, we went around maybe 6 times, but she had a great time. She went around with Uncle Dood, Uncle Brian, Bampa, maybe Aunt Holly? and of course Mommy and Daddy. We then headed back to the house where we ate some spaghetti (another Sydney favorite) and she opened gifts, played, and I believe had a wonderful birthday party.

Wow. Just Wow.

Syd is SO close to being able to tie her own shoes. Are you kidding me? Where did that come from? We started teaching her earlier this year but then she kinda stopped asking so we didn't push it. Then all of a sudden today she said Mom can you help me and she had everything done except the last loop through. She did it once more tonight too. She doesn't get them tight, yet, but she has the technique and is learning it.

New Bike!

I took the kids to TRU today to get another bike so the girls each had their own big girl bike. Took them up to the park today, and they rode around two times. First time around we had to follow Syd, but the next time around Rylee wanted to lead. Syd wasn't the happiest about that because she can ride faster right now, but Rylee kept up her speed quite well. After a couple laps, they wanted to go on the slides and Syd wanted to try her hand at the monkey bars. David was very happy with this because he got to get out of the stroller and play. Syd made it across the monkey bars - first time ever by herself. I can't get over how quickly she is growing up to be a little girl instead of the toddler she was just a year ago. Knowing that in less than a year an a half, she will be going to Kindergarden. That next year at this time, she will already have been registered. That we will have to fight for her to go to Ridgecrest. But that is another story. One that will be told in about a year. For now, she went across the monkey bars by herself.

After playing on the slides and other toys for a little bit, they wanted to ride around again. They took off so fast that I had to jog to keep up with them. We got about 1/4 of the way and Rylee started to melt down. Not enough of a nap plus not sleeping enough last night plus a lot of exercise equals one tired girl. She made it though. Little by little, but she rode around the third time by herself, we got in the car and headed home.

We headed outside in the back to play for a little bit, David ended up going down for a nap allowing me to finished planting some flowers I had started yesterday before the hail storm started. Rylee went and rested on the couch for a little bit and Syd helped me get a planter ready for some flowers. After dinner tonight, the girls helped me plant some more flowers while Daddy and David watched some Elmo - his favorite show (as long as he has Daddy or me to curl up with). The girls poured in the plant food while I planted (and Syd planted some too) the flowers. It will be fun in the coming years to have the kids help out more and more with the yardwork. I'm sure they won't see it as fun someday, but to have them work next to me and with me is fun for me.

New things around

Yesterday Rylee learned how to ride Syd's bicycle with training wheels. She's 2 1/2. Amazing. Some of the time she needs a little nudge to get it going, but that is getting less and less the more she rides. Syd and I just kept encouraging her to keep pedaling and within probably 10 minutes of trying she got the hang of it. Syd is such a good big sister and helps her out when she needs it.

Syd loves to watch The Biggest Loser with us, but never quite make it to the end. Last night was no exception. During a commercial break a little over an hour into it, Daddy had to go get something and by the time he got back she was completely out. She tries her hardest but after a day at school and playing outside most of the day she was worn out.

David is getting better with his signs. Today I taught him a new one. Well a made up one. I found out that there really isn't a sign for pretzel, so I made up one and he caught on right away. Turns out he loves them too. So far, he signs: More, milk, please, thank you, cheese, pretzel. I think that's it for now. We'll see if he picks up any more this week!

The Start of More Projects

Rylee decided that the top of the playset was a good place to dump a bottle of bubbles, so even though I wasn't planning on doing it today, I ended up pressure washing the set. I was only going to do the landings, but once you get started it's hard to find a decent place to stop that doesn't look like you ignored sections. I ended up doing almost the whole thing. It looks a lot better and is safer for the kids because it isn't slippery anymore. Cleaned out the rest of the pantry with Syd's help so Joel could start tearing down the sheetrock.
The girls decide that they wanted to eat their lunch out on the deck today which is always cute because they sit right next to each other or they end up on their tummys eating. David ate about half of his lunch and then wanted down. As soon as I got him to the floor he walked straight outside and sat down next to Rylee. I brought him his plate and he continued eating. It was really adorable. Until Syd decided it would be funny to smash Rylee's sandwich. Crying started and another sandwich was made and all was right in the world again.
During nap time, Joel continued taking down sheetrock and I worked on pressure washing the deck. I am so close to finishing it and starting on the stairs. Can't wait until it's all done. Maybe tomorrow if the weather cooperates.
Syd and I colored when she woke up from her nap. Tried to explain to her that some people like free drawing and some people like to color pictures. Shes definately a free drawer.

Yesterday my mom wrote out "I LOVE YOU" on a piece of paper for Sydney to try to have her write it and she did, all by herself. I'm so proud of her!

Easter

Stayed up late cleaning and getting the baskets for the kids last night. The Bunny left three eggs at the end of our bed with a tootsie roll for each kid. Rylee didn't notice when she woke up and Syd actually slept all night in her bed so when she woke up and I went to get her, and bring her in she noticed and asked what they were. Very excited little girls opening up and getting candy first thing in the morning and being able to eat it on Mommy and Daddy's bed! Watched a couple episodes of Hello Kitty, showered, got me dressed and then all of us headed downstairs to see if the Easter Bunny had been here...He was! Besides the candy, the biggest hit was the bubbles. And the fake grass. At first we didn't let them play with it, but decided it was better to let them have fun and clean up the mess later. It's amazing what fun can be found with that stuff. The buried each other in it, and the toys, threw it up in the air, scattered it throughout the downstairs. But they had tons of fun.
My parents came over bringing little baskets for the kids and hung out for a little while before they went back to their side for a while. Becky and Randy were heading up and had planned on being here around 10:45. The kids learned that the eggs that we left out for the Bunny to fill and the ones that they colored were hidden and wouldn't appear until everyone was here and they were dressed and ready. So I took the kids upstairs to brush teeth, get hair done, and get dressed while the Bunny did his work. Then we went and played out front (since it was a nice day!!) until Randy and Becky showed up. They brought gifts as well, and the girls enjoyed opening more. David might have, if he didn't discover the dirt and a shovel out side. He started to dig and put the dirt into a pot and didn't care about anything else for awhile.
Went inside to find that they Easter Eggs magically appeared and the girls were ready to go find them! I set David on the deck and put his basket down and showed him to put the egg in it. He put a few in before he decided that I should hold him some more. Syd filled her bucket quickly then continued with David's bucket. Rylee took a break to ride her trike and then Bampy helped her fill the rest of her bucket.
After Bampa and Mame left the kids went down for their nap and I started on dinner. When the kids woke up later they went out and played and ate more candy and threw the fake grass around more. Dinner was good with my parents, even though the potatoes didn't get fully cooked, the ham ended up in the microwave - note to make sure you turn the right oven on. But the fruit was good, the eggs were awesome, and the company was amazing.

I'm back!

Since I last posted, a few things have happened. Syd turned 3!! Rylee started to actually talk more! David is sitting and eating food, well rice cereal, but food. The weather is turning nice and the girls are loving going outside. David loves hanging out in the bjorn. We try to go to the zoo once a week sometimes we miss a week, but so far we're doing pretty good. Routine is right after Rylee's morning nap we hop in the car and drive down there. I have their lunches packed so when we get there, I get them in the stroller and they can start eating while I'm getting everything packed up and David in the carrier. Then we're off to see the animals. Their favorites so far are the Giraffes and the Hippos. Mainly because we see them often and the last few times we've been the hippos were out of the water. Monday is suppose to be a nice weather day and we're heading off again. Hopefully Sheri and little Ryan will join us.
Syd had her 3 year check up (back in April) and she did awesome. A little shy are first but then completely warmed up, sang her ABC's for the doc, said her shapes, everything that she should be doing. The doc suggested that we get a speech evaluation done for her since her enunciation is a little off - he thinks because of her teeth more than anything. So today, I gave a call to the elementary school and started the process.
Syd also had her preschool open house last night. She got to show us around all the different rooms, some of the art that she made, and the playground outside. It was amazing watching her feel so proud of her school and how wonderful it was to share that with us. She only has one more day of school this year and next year she will go three days a week.
Rylee has become quite the little comic. She loves to dance and jump and run. One of the shows that they like is called Imagination Movers and they sing a song in one of the episodes called "Your Most Shakeable You" and she asks for this song so we can all dance and shake to it.
Today she came in from outside pointing to her mouth and saying yucky. I asked if she ate something and she nodded. I asked what she ate and she stuck out her tongue a couple times and made a funny sound, smiled and then ran off. She loves to read and being read to. She will just grab a book and sit down somewhere and just flip the pages. She also loves the website that we go to everynight and morning (starfall.com) and go through the alphabet. She is quite impressive knowing quite a few of the letters already.
David is growing so quickly. He's already six months, sits pretty well on his own, very close to rolling, loves being adored by his sisters. When we dance and shake to "Shakeable You" he's in the bjorn and Syd will dance in front of him and he just giggles watching her. He loves being carried in the bjorn and being able to watch instead of being set down.
He started rice cereal this week and is doing very well with it. Having some pooping issues getting use to the new food, but it'll come in time. I mashed up a tiny amount of Rylee's banana today and he loved that so I have no doubt that when we start others he will devour them.
I think that's a pretty good catch up for the last month and a half. Good night!

Review

We had a family get together a week ago (28th) to celebrate Bobby getting home from Iraq. I took the kids over to see him before the get together. Syd let him hold her. Absolutely amazing. We walked out and saw the horses and Syd sat on one. Both the girls fed each horse and were not scared at all. They both wanted to feed the goat too, but he is mean and doesn't like to be around people. For the get together, we all went bowling, all 25+ of us, and then came back here to eat and play Bunco. Some of the little kids stayed downstairs and watched TV and played.
Syd's birthday party is coming up on Saturday so this week, we'll be getting things ready for that. Syd found a party hat at Target that she really wanted.
Yesterday was really nice and we went to the zoo. We bought a membership because I think we are going to go quite a lot this year. What's funny is that we would get to an animal show the girls, and Syd would say OK lets go see _____. It was like she was trying to see all the animals so she didn't really "see" any. It was still fun, Joel's allergies started to act up but for the most part he did really well. Along with the membership, we added on a membership to the Seattle Aquarium. I'm excited to take them there. Little nervous to take them by myself for the first time, but we'll make it.

Uncle David

It's sad for me to think about not having David around most of my life. It's sad that I (or anyone else) got to see the man he should have become. It's sad that he didn't get to see how Dan and I turned out. But it's more sad for me, to know that my children will never meet him on Earth. They will never get to kick a soccer ball with him, or throw a baseball with him, or play chase.
They will know him. They will know that he loved kids, soccer, and baseball. They will know that he was an amazing artist, and that at least Syd is (so far) following in his footsteps with that (along with her daddy's and Bampa's). They will know how much he would have loved spending time with them. They will know as much as I can tell them. But I need help. I've blocked out so much from my childhood that I need help remembering.
Tomorrow would have been David's 32nd birthday. Happy Birthday David. I love and miss you more than I can express.

Dreams

Syd woke up from a bad dream tonight. And it took her a long time to wake up. She was bawling in her sleep. I finally got out of her (and I'm still not sure how accurate it is) that no one was in her dream but her, and Mommy and Daddy didn't get her. She did say while still in her sleep, that she wanted to go home. I hate that she has bad dreams. And she actually gets them quite often I think. I know somedy she'll understand but trying to explain to an almost 3 year old that they are just dreams and not real is hard.

Rylee hasn't been feeling 100% lately. She has had a flare up of eczema. She gets it all over except her face. Her thighs are really bad so I've been putting Cortaid on it along with tons of lotion. On top of this, we think she's trying to cut another tooth. And today she had Diarrhea and she threw up. Fun day for her. Luckily, she's still in a great mood, just more tired acting than normal. But she's laughing with Syd and loving all over David.

David got a new toy today. I found an exersaucer off Craiglsist for him. So far the girls like it better. He's not grabbing for stuff yet so he just sat there looking at everything. Meanqhile the girls played all around it and pushed every button a few times.

I am updating the photo albums again. I'm way behind. The last time I printed pictures for them was last July. Not good. I did an upload tonight of August and September and I need to go get some more albums. By the end of the week, I'll have September put away, and then onto the next two months. I figure 2 months at a time is do-able.

Off to bed I go before David wakes up hungry. I figure I have 15 mintues.

Doctor Doctor

Heading to the doctor again today with David. His nose seems so congested and we are a little worried about his breathing at night because of it. Of course I made the appointment yesterday, and last night was better. His passage ways in his nose seem so small so we're still glad that he is going in.

Syd had school again yesterday. She has a hard time telling me what she did. I thnk it's usually because she's so tired when she gets in the car she doesn't really care. But she went to the art room yesterday to paint. I did get that out of her.

Rylee decided it would be nice to help me eat my dinner last night. So she sat on my lap after she was done and shoved food into my mouth. Quite funny.

Braved the mall

Since Joel's been really busy doing remodeling and we don't really have an area yet that's good to put up the backdrop, I decided to take the kids to the mall and get their pictures done. Syd has been really reluctant to smile for ANY camera for a while now, but in the past week that has changed. It was funny to me that we walked out our door 45 minutes before the appt, to go to a place that is 15 minutes away. I arrived at the Picture People, 5 minutes before the appt. I had to get David in the wrap, Syd had to go to the bathroom...twice (I made her go in the car instead of fighting 3 kids in a public bathroom - hint for all moms, if you have the space keep a toilet in your car), then into the stroller, and made our way.They did awesome. Rylee wandered around a little but we got pictures of the 3 of them together, and one of each of them smiling.

We then headed down, with David in the stroller for the first time, to the playland where Rylee and Sydney played for a good 30-45 minutes. They both fell asleep on the way home and stayed asleep once I moved them from the car to the house.

All in all, a good day.

Syd's Cute

I let Syd play on my computer at night. She has her own site that she plays on, www.starfall.com She does pretty good on it and is trying the harder levels. She doesn't really understand all of them but they are fun for her. There was one "book" she was reading and it asked her who she would give all the stars to? She replied to it and said, "Daddy."

I then asked she would give the start to Daddy? And she told me, "But I don't have any stars," and then gave a me a sad face.

Maybe now?

I keep telling myself I need to get back on and update this and keep it updated. Maybe now I will. It's been long enough, 17 1/2 months. A lot has happened since the last post. We had our second child, a girl who we named Rylee. She was born on Sept 26th (her uncle's 29th birthday) weighing 8lbs 4oz. Syd and Rylee are wonderful together at times, and bicker at other times. Like most sisters I'm sure. I think at the time of my last post I was about a week and a half out from surgery. I think at that point, I was still scared that it might be a girl. I was scared of having two daughters. I was scared that they would have too much rivalry and not be friends. Then one day, I was shopping at Target. I saw an outfit and thought, wouldn't it be cute to have them have matching outfits. And with that, I was at peace with having a girl. A simple thing like an outfit. I don't even remember what outfit it was, or even if I bought it. But it calmed me.

5 Months after Rylee was born, I found out we were pregnant again. We did want to have a child sooner rather than later, but this was a shock to us. But we were ready for it. We found out the day after my birthday. Two days later I woke up in the middle of the night and was miscarrying. I didn't even know how far along we were. Joel and I discussed it and decided that the timing was right and we were going to try again. Amazingly enough, we got pregnant again the next cycle.

The baby was due around the middle of December. Everything was going fine with tthe pregnancy, just like Sydney's and Rylee's. September 19th we headed down to Vancouver to see Dan and Heather and help celebrate Dan's 30th birthday. We had fun at a nearby park. I started having contraction. Since I never really had them with the other two, I thought they were braxton hicks contractions. I sat down and rested the rest of the time. We got ready to head back and they still were going so I timed them in the car. 2 minutes on the dot. Got back to Dan and Heather's house and I went to the bathroom. I was spotting. Not a lot, but enough. We decided instead of staying the night, we'd drive back home and talk to my doctor. Doctor said turn around and go to the nearest hospital.

Salmon Creek Legacy here we come. And stayed. For 3 nights.

Copy and pasted this from Joel:
L&D (Labor and Delivery) checked Mickey out and said that the baby was all good, however, she was having contractions at a regular rate. Every other sign of a baby wanting out wasn't there, so it was determined that the contractions needed to stop.

The first med didn't work, and the second one was also having no effect. I don't quite remember what those meds were called, but Mickey has all that paperwork and can add that in later. The 3rd med to try was what they called the "big guns" - magnesium sulfate. It was to be given over the course of two days, and then the following 48 hours were when they would watch to see that it had worked and the contractions had stopped.

This was all Saturday. We were both scared, confused, worried, and probably lots of other things that I can't find words for right now. Mick's folks were also down, and they, along with Dan and Heather (they live in Vancouver - helpful) took our daughters to their house to get some good rest.

Mickey and I both rested as much as we could Saturday night. We were tired from the events of the day, and even though we'd rather have our daughters with us, it was nice to get a decent rest without being kicked in the head during the night, unlike Dan :)

Sunday morning came and we were happy to see that the contractions had slowed down a LOT. It wasn't a complete stoppage, but I think at one point there was a least 20 minutes between a few contractions - HUGE improvement.

I was found that when Mickey and/or the baby was sleeping, the contractions would slow down / stop. Excellent. This also meant that during the night, Mickey and the baby sleeping gave the uterus a chance to calm down / heal.

The chances of us using terms like "emergency delivery" and "NICU" have gone WAY down, which is very nice. Our biggest concern today, Sunday, was to keep ourselves entertained. Luckily, family was here, I have my laptop, and there is a TV in the room with cable. Sweet.

Since the meds need time to go through her system, and then the wait period needs time as well - we're looking at being able to head back north Tuesday night - if EVERYTHING GOES WELL. Any hiccup in the plan would cause our stay down here to be longer.

Mickey was just allowed to eat, finally, since Saturday around 1:00pm, and it's now Sunday at 5:30pm. Dinner is, in her words, "actually pretty good." If I would have gone that long between meals, I probably would think the same thing :)



We got to leave Tuesday morning, drove non-stop up north and I ended up with an appt that afternoon. No restrictions but just to take it easy. Though, that didn't last long.

October 2nd, I started bleeding and contracting again so off we went to the hospital, though it was my hospital. Joel fainted because of no food and lack of sleep. Admitted again, but we both got wheeled up to the room. Got an MRI, and other tests. They determined that I didn't have accreda (placenta growing into the uterine wall) but most likely I had an abruption (Placenta tearing away from the wall). I was put on modified bedrest. Need a nanny - Enter Jaimie. I came home (yay!) the night before she started for us. She was wonderful with our kids. With me.

Honestly, I'm not sure on all these dates now. Amazing. But we had so many trips to L&D that 4 months later, they have all merged together.

But on November 14th, around 1:30, I started to bleed. A lot. 911 was called and I was taken to the hospital. Jaimie was amazing. She calmed the girls as much as possible, called everyone, made sure things were okay. For this, I am forever in her debt. Joel met us at the hospital after going 90 on 405 and passing a porshe. We were taken into Triage found out my doctor was out sick. I had another doctor from the office though and he was great. He said we should take the baby now, even though I was a day shy of 35 weeks. The baby would go to the NICU. My parents arrived and my mom was allowed back. About 2 hours after I started bleeding, our son David was born, at 35 weeks, weighing 7 lbs and was 20 inches long. David spent 10 days in the NICU getting his breathing regulated and learning to eat, but has done amazing since being home. He is now 3 1/2 months old, weighs almost 14 lbs.



Now, I promise it won't be another 17 months until the next one...

Been a while...

But I'm back. And so is Joel. He got back on Thursday and it's wonderful. I know he's going to have to go away again, but I think we're going to try to make it so the kdis and I can go too, for at least part of the time...especially if he's gone for more than a week. Not sure how that will be though taking two kids on a plane for that long and then trying to get around the city with them by myself. But we'll see.

Kids. Yep, less than two weeks until we are a family of four - officially. We got the okay to have Syd stay at the hospital overnight with us. My mom is going to take her part of the day to parks and to lunch and whatever else, but at night she'll be with us. Hopefully everything will be okay. We bought her a little fold out bed that she will sleep in (again, hopefully) at the hospital. She loves it so far and slept half the night in it down at Randy and Becky's house.

Went to the fair on Saturday. Syd went down the big slide with Joel. She looked kinda scared coming down, but when they got to the bottom she had a huge smile on her face and waved to all of us. Randy tried to take her down but she didn't want to go at all. Maybe next year.

While Joel was away, Syd started to not want to go to her room for nap time and bed time. I think ti was after I broke the light (oops) and I told her not to come in. Didn't think about it at the time, but I think she kinda got scared of her room. She does fall asleep without much of a fight once we leave the room, but as we put her in her bed and until we leave the room she is crying. I hate it, but usually within five minutes she's asleep. Last night she woke up around 2 and I brought her in our room, hopefully she'll make it through the night tonight.

10 more nights until we go to the hospital...

Catch up

Yesterday Bamma, Syd and I went shopping at the North Bend outlets. Got a ton of stuff for Syd and some nursing clothes and a new pair of jeans for me. Syd did incredibly well. We left the house a little after 9, Syd had about 10 minutes of sleep on our way out. And then stayed awake the whole time. She stayed well in the stroller or walking with us. One time, she just started saying Honey Honey, and we looked around and saw Silver Liberty, just like Honey's. She connected the two. Amazing child we have.
When we were in the 2nd to last store, she finally fell asleep as I was holding her. Everytime I tried to set her down in the stroller, she would start to cry and scream. So I carried her. When we were in our last store and Bamma was going up to pay, I headed to the car to get her in the carseat. She wanted nothing to do with that. It was a battle for almost 10 minutes of her crying and just clinging to me. I felt so bad because she just wanted to be near me and I had to get her in the carseat. I finally won and she cried for a little longer, but then didn't fall back asleep. (40 minutes of nap total for the day)
We got home, ate some dinner, took a shower and I got her to bed around 7:30-8. I hopped into bed not long after that.

Today, we headed out to see the doctor for my 36 week appt. Heartrate was good, in the 130's. My BP was good: 120/78 and my urine was good. Got the group B strep test done and will get the results back in a week. Baby is still fairly high (not in my opinion but s/he is high where it counts) so Joel and I are relieved because he doesn't have to fly home on a moment's notice. Only 9 more days until I see him again. I miss him lots.
Steven came by tonight for final plan reviews and to talk house stuff. I can't believe we are going to be submitting the plans on Thursday. It seems so unreal that the house we all know is about to change so much. I really want to devote a wall to a picture timeline of how this property has changed throughout the years.