Whoops

      I'm a day late. Sorry. No excuses. I just got caught up in a good book (okay, series) and spent all day reading. I'd woken up feeling sick, and Jessica still has a cold as well, so we didn't go to church, so I LITERALLY spent all day reading. Absolutely nothing got done. Well, okay, we all got fed, and I did get me dressed, and I attempted to get Jessica a nap... but yeah, that's about it.
       So yeah, other than Tuesday, this week has been pretty uneventful. Tuesday Nathaniel and I both had doctor appointments. Mine first. Mine was my regular midwife appointment. (sorry, no 37 week prego pic. I'll take one at 38 weeks) All stats were good. I'd gained 1 pound, putting me at 31 pounds for the pregnancy (I'm liking this). The more interesting stat was my uterus measurement though. Every time up until this past Tuesday, they've always said I measure right on for my week. (Which means I've been gaining about 1cm per week). However, this past time, when I was 36.5 weeks along, I measured 38 cm. Oh! It was a bit of a surprise. However, it probably doesn't mean anything except that he has dropped, which was confirmed by the fact that he is vertex at a -2 or -1. (Not quite engaged in the pelvis, but almost) I could have told you that without the midwife's help though. I can feel his head as it continues to bump the bone down there. Not so fun. The midwife seemed to think I'll go into labor within the next 2 weeks from that appointment (about 1 week now), but I don't think so. My reaction to that one was about the reaction I gave when they told me in the delivery room that Jessica would be about 7 pounds. Meaning I didn't say anything to their face, but in my head I was saying, "Yeah right, I'll believe that when I see it." Though, I'm more likely to believe this one than the weight one. I've also had 2 other people within the past week say the same thing. They look at me, and ask how long I have, and when I told them about 3 weeks, their eyes got all big and they said "you're not going to make it". I just laugh and say "yeah, I will." I think I'm pretty much about the same size I was with Jessica, except that Jacob has dropped. I know its because its all belly, and so I've got this huge belly on my little frame, and so it looks a lot bigger. But it does make me laugh.
       Nathaniel's appointment wasn't quite so good. He was meeting with the general surgeon to see what was showing on the CT scan, since it wasn't a hernia, but something was bulging. It turns out, Nathaniel has diverticulitis. (Yeah, I know, big medical word, I'll explain) So, that means that the mucosa (lining) of his large intestine has herniated through the muscles of his intestines, causing pockets (diverticula) to form. The presence of those pockets is called diverticulosis, and is very common... in people over the age of 40. Diverticulitis is when stool gets caught in them, and they get infected. (Hence the large amounts of pain, redness and heat) So, his body has, by this point, successfully fought off the infection without antibiotics (yay!) so now we just get to follow the suggestion of the surgeon and get a colonoscopy to see what the extent of the damage is. It should be that there is nothing really wrong (other than the presence of diverticula) and we'll just need to adjust his diet a little, but the infections can lead to ulcerating, and eventual perforation of the intestines, at which point (probably even with just the ulcers) they'd suggest surgery to remove that section of intestines. So, because of how pregnant I am, the cost associated with the hospital, and the way our FSA works, we're probably going to wait until after Jacob gets here to get the colonoscopy done, and then we'll go from there.

Sorry, no pictures today.

Uh-oh...

      Yeah, this week has been...interesting... to say the least. We started out looking at vans, (I believe I already said this, but it just makes more sense with us planning to continue having kids) but the van that we felt the best about on Saturday, got sold. We both had been feeling like we should put $500 down on it, but we both dismissed the feeling, and yeah, so we didn't get the best one. That's all fine and dandy, nothing much to worry about. We continued looking, browsed some sites online, but still found ourselves looking at the Dodge Caravans (Grand or not) because of overall value (especially in helping us to remove some debt), and based on the amount we'd HAVE to ask for on the Prius, we continued to look at dealerships, as they can do trade-ins. We found a couple of vans to look at, so we plodded on.
      Tuesday is when things started to get interesting. I had my midwife appointment. (which was fine, nothing wrong here)

I'm getting bigger at a normal rate, though I jumped in weight by 8 pounds in the last 2 weeks, putting me at a total gain so far of 30 pounds. As you can see, even some of my maternity shirts are starting to be a bit on the small side. Jacob's heart rate was normal, I measured normal, blood pressure, normal... These visits are pretty easy-going for me. They also did the test for the group B strep, but I probably won't know the results for that until this coming Tuesday. That's right, I'm now on the weekly schedule for appointments. One more indicator that he's coming soon. Just not soon enough it feels like sometimes.
     No, what started our "interesting" week was that afternoon. Nathaniel was hurting (his intestines) badly enough that he asked me to come pick him up from work. He was in enough pain, that when it didn't go away that evening, he set up a doctor appointment on Wednesday, and missed work to go to it. The doctor noticed something bulging out, and thought it very well may be a hernia, so he sent him to the hospital to get a CT scan. When we finally got the results that evening, it was not a hernia (so no emergency surgery) but the lining that holds his intestines in place (as they do in everyone) is bulging, so he now has an appointment on Tuesday to meet with a general surgeon, and we will see from there what gets to happen. In the meantime, Nathaniel can barely move because of the pain, and when he does get up and walk around, he is hunched over. I'm a little worried about him, and we really wish that his appointment could have been sooner. The already 3 full missed days of work, and then the 5ish more he'll need to miss if he does end up needing surgery (as seems likely) don't help very much with me being due in a month. So, that is the main thing that made our week a little out of the ordinary. Now we just get to wait until Tuesday to see.
     Thursday we ended up finalizing the deal on a van. It is a Dodge Caravan, and it is a pretty good little van. It has minimal leg room and storage space, but we've got a few years before our kids need to start worrying about leg room, and we can get creative on packing the car when we need to. Besides, the main reason we feel we were supposed to get out of the Prius is the debt we owed on it. We cut down our debt by about $6500, which means we will be able to get out of debt about a year sooner. Plus, it also gives us an actual decent amount of leeway in our monthly budget, as it cut down our monthly car payment by almost $500. (Yes, the Prius car payment was that high) We are planning on still paying the same amount to debt every month, but if something were to happen, we do have the leeway, which is nice. So, we now owe just under $4000 on a vehicle, which means that by about August, we should own it outright. Yay!
      Friday, Jessica and I went with my good friend Erin and her son to the Living Planet Aquarium. I think I need to get one of those toddler leash backpacks, because pulling her in and out of her stroller definitely didn't work for me, and she has a tendency to get a little ornery at having to constantly hold my hand.  And, well, most of the things were a little high for her to see very well if she was sitting in the stroller.

 

So, these are the only 2 pictures I took. I got memberships, so she, Nathaniel and I can get in free through October, so hopefully we'll go again a couple of times once Jacob is here, and I'll have a toddler backpack/leash, so I can get some better pics.

 

 Jessica absolutely loved the fish exhibits. The tropical fish were in aquariums that were low enough that she could see them by herself, in her stroller.One of  her favorites was the shark aquarium. She sat there entranced for 5-10 minutes. She also loved the otters.  Her absolute favorite though, was the penguins. Well, maybe not the penguins so much as the bubbles. They would dive in and there would be a bubble stream that would follow them for a few seconds. She would see the bubbles and get all excited. Then they'd have been in the water long enough that the bubbles had gone and Jessica would say. "Where bubbos?" It was cute. Most kids go to the aquarium to see the animals, Jessica wants to see the bubbles. Yup, that's my girl.

      So yeah, that was our week. Hopefully this next week goes better, and if nothing else, at least we should be able to figure out what is going on with Nathaniel's intestines. Now, a couple more pictures, as we finally brought out some of Jessica's Christmas gifts. (yeah, I know, almost a month late)

 

K, so this first one was a "jump mat" I made for her that has bean bags to toss and match with the numbers. Fun, help learn, and non-electronic; 3 of the things I look for most in toys for her. (The electronic is because most of them don't make them work for anything, all they have to do is push a button, instant gratification, etc.) So, I pulled it out, and she she pulled the beanbags out of their carrying bag, and started matching them up. She struggled with the 10 (because it has a 1, so that's where she thought it went) and the 3, which she wanted to put at the 8 or the 5. Other than that, she matched them all up by herself, and when I started asking what numbers they were, she was able to answer on most of them. I was quite impressed.

 

Then we finished putting together the slide we bought for her for Christmas. She saw it in pieces in the kitchen and knew what it was. I didn't have the box in there or anything, and the slide part was upside down, laying on the ground. We're not entirely sure how she figured out what it was, but we were still amazed by it. The face in the picture above explains it all though. I don't think I have the right words to explain how much she enjoyed it, and that picture sure does. 

 

Unfortunately, she is sick again though. She was healthy for 1 week. Literally. Then we took her to church last week, and she went to her nursery class (with all the other 2-3 year olds) and apparently one of the other parents in our ward isn't quite as likely to keep their kids home when sick, because Jessica has a runny nose, and is coughing again. Its good for building up her immune system, but still really annoying. We tend to keep Jessica home if she has even a runny nose, or has coughed in the past 24 hours, so its a little upsetting when the 1 weeks she's gone in the past, oh, month, (maybe 2) she gets sick. Oh well. We'll deal with it, and its not likely Nathaniel would have been able to sit through church today anyway, not with his abdominal pain.

Waiting...

     Yeah, there isn't a whole lot of excitement around here lately, and this past week was no different. Just getting ready for and waiting for a baby to come. 5 weeks left. I can handle this. (I hope) The main thing that happened this week is that Nathaniel and I are car shopping. After being in a car accident (4 years ago) Nathaniel has had a feeling that we're not supposed to be in the Prius any more, that we need a different car. We've tentatively looked a couple of times before, but I never knew about the "feeling". I just thought he was being a little silly, and overly worried about a small accident. However, every time we've looked, we've been very top-heavy on the car loan we have, and it wasn't going to work very well. Now, our loan is close enough to the value of the car that it is actually feasible for us to get a new (to us) car.
      We kept our budget, the amount we were willing to spend, lower than our current amount owing on the car, so that even though we're getting a new car, we'll end up closer to getting out of debt. Obviously that means that we won't get a fancy new car or anything, but that's okay. We looked around at a couple of different dealers, and we found that the best option, for us, is actually a Dodge Grand Caravan, which is a minivan. I was a little reluctant at first, because we don't actually need a 7-seater yet, and the gas mileage, (and my pride). But Nathaniel brought it home for us to test drive, and it actually works pretty well for us. The more I thought about it, (and realized it was a pride thing) the more I recognized that it was a better option for us to get a minivan. We're planning on having more kids than just Jessica and Jacob, (and probably enough more to warrant more than a 5-seater car) and the next one after Jacob will probably come while Jessica is still in a booster seat, so at that point (2-3ish years down the road) we'd need to get a minivan anyway. I don't want us to HAVE to buy another car at that point. It would be nice to have a second car by then, but not necessary, and I don't want to be in the position where we're getting a car because we absolutely have to. So, we test drove it, and it runs nicely, and handles well, plus it has a decent amount of leg room in the back, and a lot of storage space, so we're thinking that's the one we'll go for. We looked online at a couple of other 7-seater cars, and with our price range, plus the storage room, and mileage on the vehicles, we just feel that the Grand Caravan is our best option. Monday we'll be putting down a deposit on it to hold it for a little while we try to sell the Prius (as opposed to the trade-in) but we're probably not going to try for very long on selling it ourselves.
      So, that was the major thing that happened this past week, and now... a cute picture of Jessica, cause she's cute. ;)

 

So, here's Jessica, at my mom's house, feeding herself yogurt with blueberries. She was quite happy about feeding it to herself. She seems to be ahead on some things (like language) but I will admit that I haven't been so good about letting her feed herself. Its something I'm working on, but its not going terribly quickly, especially with me being tired and ornery a lot of the time because of the pregnancy. 

34 weeks...6 weeks left...

      3, if you're only counting until he would no longer be a preemie. Yes, at this point, I am counting down. Unfortunately, this pregnancy has come with a lot more discomfort than previously experienced. All things considered, I've had a very easy pregnancy, it has just been harder than I was used to/expecting. Basically, consistent pain/soreness everywhere from my ribs down. But I'm not going to post about all of that. I'm healthy, baby Jacob is healthy, and not only that, we're up and about, so I am very blessed. However, 6 weeks left, and I still don't have anything prepared for him. I figured I'd wait until after the holidays, and then suddenly, there were only 6 weeks left. So, now I get to re-arrange my house, and find all of my baby stuff again, and get it organized, and then go through my baby clothes, and find what gender-neutral things I have (since I didn't tell people ahead of time that Jessica was a girl), and then figure out what I still need to buy. Too bad Jessica keeps me busy most of the day, or that wouldn't be all that hard. ;) Oh well. We'll get it figured out. If nothing else, newborns tend to stay wrapped in blankets anyway. ;)
      So, there were a couple of things worth mentioning this week. Monday was my mom's birthday, and we had a great time partying with the family. We played a game called bananagrams, which is basically speed scrabble, until everyone got there, and then we ate and opened gifts. Mom got a game called "Just Dance" for their Wii, so then everyone migrated downstairs to the media room, and had a grand ole' time playing that. My favorite was when the grandkids started dancing.

 

It was so much fun to watch all of them. 

      Tuesday I had my midwife appointment. Everything is going well as I said previously. We're both healthy. I've gained 22 pounds total (which I think is amazing), and my blood pressure is about where it normally is, on the low side of normal. I measured right on (as far as uterus size) for my 33 weeks and 4 days appointment, but again, they could not tell if he was in a vertex or breech position. I laughed at that. Apparently, a big head, and a skinny bum are in order again for this child. However, this midwife said that it was only partially because of that. She said it was more because of how much he moves. (which I could have told you. He sure is active.) So, with me getting ever closer, and so the extra room for turning diminishing, she pulled in an ultrasound unit, just to be sure. He is indeed in a vertex position, so all things good there. His heartbeat looked normal, and then they checked 1 more thing. Something was noticed on my original, 20 week ultrasound that I hadn't mentioned before. I didn't want anyone worrying un-necessarily, and the midwife wasn't worried about it. My placenta was located very close to my cervix, only about 2 cm away. At 20 weeks, and with the fact that most of the time, placentas will move, because the uterus stretches out away from the cervix, it wasn't much of a worry. (and as she said at this appointment, "what are we going to do, deny you a vaginal delivery?... No.") However, since she had the ultrasound unit in the room, she decided to check, just so everyone could be more comfortable, and yes, indeed, my placenta has moved up away from my cervix, so that is cleared as well. 

So, here I am at 34 weeks pregnant. Definitely feeling ready to pop, even though I know I shouldn't be wishing for that yet. Aside from the things around here not being ready for a baby, there's the fact that lungs and brain are the last things to develop, so I want to give him as long in there as he needs. (even if that does take to the outside range of normal at 42 weeks) I just really hope he only spends, at the longest, the same amount of time in there as his older sister, who only came 1 day "late". 

      Much of the rest of the week was relaxing (except for yesterday, which, while fun, was full of driving around, and visiting people, and so was not relaxing) and not very eventful. Yesterday, a good friend of ours was blessing his twins, so we drove out to Tooele for that, and then another good friend is moving to St. Louis, so when we got back, we went to a farewell party for them, and spent the evening with them. Lots of good friends, food, and fun. So yeah. That was this past week, and this next week should be just as uneventful, if not more so. I'm sure I'll find something to write about though. ;)

Late, and tired.

      Yup. That describes today. I got up later than my usual, and heck, writing the blog post today instead of yesterday could also be considered late. Plus, we got Nathaniel out the door very late for getting to work on time. And tired... Well, lets just say that I'm still recovering from the working on getting Christmas prepared (since October-ish) and having family in town for the past 2 weeks. Loved every minute of it, but very definitely threw my schedule out of whack, and destroyed Jessica's schedule. She's still dead to the world at this moment (8am) when her normal wake-up is at 7. Not that I'm complaining. I'm hoping to have her all caught up on sleep, and so actually going to sleep when she needs again, by the end of the week. That would be nice. We'll see what happens.
     This past week was actually fairly relaxing for the most part. I didn't have a thousand things that still needed to get done, and Carley (my sister-in-law) came over and helped me out a lot as well. Plus, Jessica and I even had a day where we sat there all morning and watched a movie. It was nice. New Year's Eve was really busy, because it was also a payday weekend, so grocery shopping was in order. But Oscar, Carley, and Ethan came over and we played games until... *cough*3 in the morning *cough*. That is probably the main reason why I am currently still sleepy-tired (not the body-tired, that's from everything combined) because we had church the next morning at 9am.
      Okay, now for some pictures, and then some stories, if I can remember any.

 

Watching "Nightmare Before Christmas"  with Aunt Carley, as a way to keep the munchkin away from the guys' board game with little pieces. So very sleepy.

 

One of Jessica's favorite things this past week has been to play with the Legos with "Chis-an" and "Ma-i" (Tristan and Mauri. Tristan is her cousin, and Mauri is Tristan's cousin, though not technically related to us specifically)

 

"Mom, I'm so tired, and the lights outside are too bright" Driving home from "Grandma Kim's" too late at night, as was all too common. Makes for a darling picture though. I looked back and she was covering her eyes like this. Loved it!

 

These next few are from yesterday (Sunday) so you're getting a bit of an extra treat. Normally any pictures from Sunday wouldn't be posted until the next week. I had set up my hymn book so as to practice the piano for my calling to play in church (in the young women's group).   I had walked away, and Jessica climbed up on the bench, and I just thought that with the shiny black piano, and her fancy new dress (courtesy of Aunt Carley). it looked very much like I was getting an impromptu piano recital. Had to take pictures.  

 

Later that day, at Grandma Kim's again. We went out with Aunt Carley to visit Polly (a goose) and the chickens. And of course, we HAD to wear the bunny hat (a new favorite) also courtesy of Aunt Carley. 

     So, those are the pictures from this week. As far as stories go... Well, Jessica and I watched "Singing in the Rain" in Thursday, and Jessica loved it! She was glued to the TV a lot of the time, and then during some of the songs (Specifically "Broadway Rhythm" she was dancing to it as well. Friday, Nathaniel and I were able to get in a lunch date while Jessica was taking a nap. (Thanks Mom!) We went to lunch at Tucanos, and their food was fabulous this time. (we've had it not so great before) However, in a combination of eating too much (all-you-can-eat, what do you expect) and eating far more meat than my body is used to anymore (seeing as we don't eat meat very much) I was down and out for the rest of the day.Yesterday morning, Jessica has a book in her hands that we had given her for Christmas (and only read 2, MAYBE 3 times since then) and was "reading" the pages. She was saying the words correctly, but I think she just memorizes quickly. Definitely going to be working on reading with her this year, and recognition of letters and numbers.
     I think one of my favorite stories happened last night though. We had gone up to Salt Lake to visit my grandparents, and were stopping back by to see Oscar and Carley one last time before they headed back home to Seattle. So, we were coming the opposite direction than our usual, and it was dark outside. We came to our turn, and Nathaniel said "is this the right one?" I said "I think so..." Jessica said "I see Os-ser, Car-ee!"  From the back, in the dark, she recognized where we were, and where we were going. That seems very unusual for a 2-year-old, but I don't know. We'll see what happens. ;) But I'm done, and she's awake. Good timing.