Introducing

Baby Jonathan!

Born December 4, 2008, 8:00am
9lbs 5oz, 21 inches long

We are home and doing great and loving life with our new son! The girls are totally in love with him! Hopefully I'll be able to blog more soon, but since we just got home, I'm going to go enjoy some time with my new family.

The Magic of Christmas

I'm normally one of those people who complains that Christmas comes too early. Who am I kidding, I'm still that way this year. Add to it the fact that I am hugely pregnant and have a miserable cold -- I'm sure I was beginning to look a lot like the grinch.

Nacho decided that we should put our tree up this past weekend just to make sure we actually got it up since the arrival of this new one will undoubtedly throw any plans out the window. We would like to keep things as normal for the girls as possible since their world is about to be turned upside down and decorating the tree is something they love...and it's important to me that we all do it together. I personally thought it was a bit early to be putting it up, even if Thanksgiving is later this year, until we went to the mall on Saturday and Santa was already there. If Santa has arrived, then the tree is fair game!

When we got home from school yesterday, Lexi ran into our house, looked at the tree and started yelling "Christmas is here! Christmas is here!" She begged me to turn the lights on, which I was happy to oblige. Both girls sat there and stared at the tree, talked about who's ornaments were who's, played with these musical present boxes they have...for an entire 30 minutes! They didn't care there are no presents under the tree yet or that we're not doing any other decorations this year. They are totally taken with our tree. When I look at it through their eyes, it's not so bad that Christmas comes earlier each year.

On a funny note, we may have confused Lexi a little bit. Way back when we found I was pregnant we told them that the baby would come after we put our tree up, trying to give them a general frame of reference. I didn't realize she was taking things so literal already because yesterday morning when she got up she asked me if it was time to have the baby now since we put our tree up. All I could tell her was I sure hope so!

Pictures of my beautiful girls

Just because I can :)

Baby update

Just a very quick update - I'm 36 weeks today, which means that I've got 4 more weeks left if I make it to my due date. I don't know where the time went because after months of it seeming so far away, it's now right around the corner. I had a dr's appt yesterday - everything is looking good - blood pressure, weight gain, baby's heartrate. She did say that the baby is very low (and still head down - yay!), but no progress yet. Which honestly doesn't mean much since it was the same with both girls and I still had both of them early.

I think right now Samantha is the most anxious waiting for the baby to get here and wants it here NOW! Trying to explain to a 4 year old that I don't know the exact date the baby will get here is hard, but at least now we're counting down in weeks (and even days), which makes it a little easier. She's also now decided she thinks we're having a girl. Alexandra says she wants the baby here now too, but I'm not sure she really understands what she's asking for. But they have both been busy making lists of all the things they're going to help with and going through all their old toys deciding which ones would be good for the baby. Having them this excited makes things so much easier!

So we're still on baby watch. I have an appt next week and if anything changes at that one, I'll be sure to update.

It's been awhile

I realized I've been slacking on my blog, but things have been crazy around here and not in a good way. I honestly don't have the energy to go into all the details right now, but we've all been on a roller coaster regarding my grandmother's (Nana) health. Halloween was looking very dire for her when she got rushed the ER because she was unresponsive, but by the end of the weekend looked like things were turning around, despite the pneumonia they deteremined she had. She was sent home earlier than expected from the hospital and into skilled nursing at her retirement community and things were going really well. That was until this past Sat. when things seemed to be going south again. We went to see her on Sunday and I'm pretty sure she didn't recognize us, even though she was thrilled to see people. And she wasn't making one bit of sense when she talked to us. The frustrating part (more for her, I'm sure) is I could tell she knew she wasn't getting out what she was trying to say. They started an IV because her labs (sodium in particular) were bad and an hour later it was like a whole new person. There had been some talk about readmitting her to the hospital if her labs didn't get better, but as of the last update she's still in skilled nursing, so that's good. She hasn't been eating for awhile now, so the IV is essential. But they can't keep the IV in forever and until they can get her eat something, it looks like it's she's going to stay on this roller coaster. Which means that all of us who love her will stay on this ride with her.

My ballet days are over!

Since Lexi turned 3 over the weekend, she finally gets to move up into the 3-4 year old ballet class, meaning my days in the Mommy & Me class are done. When I asked yesterday about her moving up the first week of November, I was told she could move up any time. That would have been helpful to know the times I asked/confirmed before and before I had her dressed and at the studio for her original class. But hey, at least I'm out of it one week before I thought I'd be. Then, even though I've asked at least 3 times in the past about room in Sam's class and was assured there was plenty, when I tried to enroll her in it yesterday, I was told it was full. Luckily the lady took pity on me and agreed that squeezing one more child in the class wouldn't be that big a deal. So next Thursday, I only have to go to the studio once!

And this couldn't have come at a better time because my doctor informed me at my appt. on Tuesday that I need to stop overdoing it and start taking it easy. I don't know how that's possible with two preschoolers and the holidays coming up, but I'll do my best. The appt. was boring, which is good. She let the girls help her measure and do the doppler to hear the heartbeat. I truly appreciate her getting the girls involved because even though they're both excited, every little bit helps. If I go to my due date, which I didn't with either girl, I've got just under 7 weeks left. It's going by fast! Oh and still no names yet. But we might be making some headway there.

Lexi had her 3 year appt. and is doing great. She's hit all the milestones for her age and is advanced in some. She was less than cooperative with the hearing & vision tests, so we'll go back in a few months for those. He said most kids this age are the same way though. She's 38. 5 inches (77%) and 34lbs 4oz (81%)....so she's solid, but perfect on the BMI scale at just above 50%. Oh and we all got our flu shots...well shot for me, mist for the girls. They were thrilled to skip the shots and thought it was hilarious that mom had to get one.

Is this election over yet?

I know this is a historic election and I do realize the importance of it, but I am so tired of it. I'm tired of how ugly it has become, not just between the two candidates, but between their supporters. People who in any other situation are great friends, yet you bring up this election and you'd think they hate eachother. When did it become so personal? When did people stop being able to discuss issues without it turning into personal attacks. The great thing about this country is we're allowed to have different views and vote based on those. I'm tired of the non-stop political ads, both for president and the propositions. I'm tired of every piece of mail we get being a political ad. I'm tired of listening to news, which is so biased in so many ways. I'm tired of the candidates not giving straight answers. I'm tired of watching people become so divided. I just hope the next week and half goes quickly and that people are able to come back together after this election, even if their candidate is not the one who wins.

Speaking of which....although I realize for the area I live in, I'm in the minority with my vote for president, you can kindly stop forwarding me emails about how horrible he is - especially when the majority of it isn't even factual. And I'm not going to change my mind. And I couldn't even if I wanted to, which I don't, because I mailed my ballot in yesterday.