Monday, September 29, 2014

33 Week Pregnancy Survey-Baby O 3#

How far along? 33 Weeks
Total weight gain/loss: Not sure this week! I will check next week ;)
How big is baby?  This week your baby weighs a little over 4 pounds (about the size of a pineapple) and has passed the 17-inch mark. He's rapidly losing that wrinkled, alien look and his skeleton is hardening. The bones in his skull aren't fused together, which allows them to move and slightly overlap, thus making it easier for him to fit through the birth canal. These bones don't entirely fuse until early adulthood, so they can grow as his brain and other tissue expands during infancy and childhood.
Maternity clothes?  Most of the time!
Sleep: The same!
Best moment this week: Getting stuff done around the house, Ava Anderson party, visit from my friend Jessica, MOPS playdate at Koetsiers, a "Bonanza" at Gray's school, and a playdate at Marci's. Not too much happened last week and it was nice!
Movement: Yes, a lot!
Food cravings:   Thai food, pumpkin pie and vanilla ice cream, orange juice, cinnamon rolls, water....I am always so thirsty!
Food aversions:  Nothing that I can think of. 
Gender:  It's a surprise! 
Names:  We have a few in mind. 
Labor Signs:  Just a lot of Braxton Hicks and sometimes they are pretty painful.
Symptoms:  My pelvis is really hurting lately and my breasts are getting more tender. I know, all really fun stuff, but just keeping it real! Ha!
Belly Button in or out?  Definitely out now!
Wedding rings on or off?  Still on, yay!
Stretchmarks? Yes, from before :)
How are you feeling?  Pretty good for the most part!!  Tired though...
What I am looking forward to:  Finishing up house projects, Graydon turning 4 and our weekend in Traverse City with family.  Hopefully another even at ArtPrize sometime this week.
What I miss:  Feeling like the day goes by in a flash!
Weekly Wisdom:
  Can't waste a minute....
Milestones:  7 weeks or so to go!
Pregnancy Moments with Chris and others:  My Father in law told me that I already look like I'm ready to go into labor. I was like gee, thanks Bob... :P Apparently he forgets how big you get at the end!  

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Graydon and Preschool 3-K

A couple weeks ago Graydon started preschool and so far he loves it! It is only two mornings a week, Tuesday and Thursday, from 9:00 am to 11:30 am.  His teachers names are Ms. Becky and Ms. Kim, and so far they tell us that he is doing really well! He is stubborn sometimes though and tells them when he doesn't want or like to do something, such as get paint on his hands, or eat M&Ms (I know, weird right...?! lol)  But so far, so good!  I think it has been really great for him. He has brought home a few cute projects so far, and every Tuesday brings home a new book to keep for the week that he takes back the following Tuesday.  I am going to be volunteering and bringing treats coming up on his 4th Birthday, so I am looking forward to seeing how the dynamic in his class is and how things flow! Here are some pictures from his meet and greet day, along with the first day of school! His was so excited and didn't seem scared a bit...we were very proud of him!

Meet and greet day:





First day!










Nora-18 Month pics

Here are some updated pictures of Nora lately!














Nora is 18 months old!

Oh my goodness....this sweet girl...she so has our heart and easily captivates our attention! Her spunky little personality and big cheesy grin gets to you so quick!  There are so many things that I want to say and write about her so that I do not forget...it's hard to know where to start!

Stats wise, she is 26 lbs. and 10 oz, which is 89%;  33 inches tall, 80% and her head comes in at only 50% at 18.25 inches.  We call her our little chunkamonk and we love her chubby cheeks, chin and thighs!
We wears 24-2T size shirts. Some 24 month pants are still a bit big, mostly in the waist and length but fit her great in the butt.  She is wearing 5-6 size shoes and boots. Her hair is finally long enough that I've been pulling it back into little ponytails or pigtails and I actually just cut her bangs for the first time yesterday! She wears size 4 diapers.
Her favorite outfits that I love to dress her in right now are her striped Wild at Heart with the gold heart shirt, any sort of leggings with her gray boots or little black dress shoes, her yellow shirt with the girl on the bike on it, and she just transitioned into some big girl pjs that are pink and have hearts on them. They are flannel and the shirt buttons up...Chris says she looks like a little old man and it's adorable! 

Nora is a pretty good eater. For breakfast she loves yogurt, cheerios and fruit, also pancakes or french toast. She loves to drink milk and water and juice occasionally.  Her favorite snacks are pretzels, goldfish, fruit, fruit snacks and applesauce. She is not a huge fan or sliced turkey or ham, but loves cheese, bread, pasta, cottage cheese, chicken noodle or tomato soup, steamed mixed veggies, hot dogs, chicken nuggest, mac n cheese.  I am constantly trying to introduce new foods to her!  She also uses a spoon and fork really well but still also uses her hands for things. Also need to mention how much she LOVES smoothies, especially from Costco (just like her big bro!) and of course, fruit snacks as well! She knows right where they are and likes to go and get them, haha!

She is a great sleeper and typically sleeps from like 8:30 pm to 7 am along with a 2 hour nap in the afternoon depending on how active we have been that day. She does great sleeping in her crib but I'm pretty sure she would love sleeping with us every night if we let her!

She loves to copy everything that Graydon does and is pretty smart! She loves to play with and carry around her "babies". Her and Gray both love to take toys from one another which is sort of aggravating and starts a lot of little fights but I think that is normal between siblings. We are constantly working on "sharing!"

She is great about brushing her teeth and washing her hands and also loves bath time.
Lately she has been teething and has at least 9 teeth all the way through!

She is learning new things very quickly and says a lot of new words now, along with trying to say more new ones daily. I would say that she can say at least 30-40 words!  Her favorite words or phrases are:   Hi, bye bye, no or no no, yeah!, night night, mama, dada, Niles, gogurt, please, get down, get out, milk, beep beep, book, baby, toes, shoes, socks, poop, oww or owie. The last two weeks she started putting words together, and will say things like yes please, no night night, bye bye dada, Hi Tucker (that is our little friend). She will also name animals and the ones she is best at is duck, quack quack, puppy ruff ruff, kitty meow meow, monkey ooh ohh ahh ahh, horsey and if she sees a dinosaur she LOVES to go ROAAARRR!! It's hilarious. I know this is a lot more that I am just forgetting! :)

Some other little things are that she knows most of her body parts, she can go up and down the stairs really well and loves to run. She will help Graydon pick up and put away the toys and can stack blocks along with starting to do some bigger block Melissa and Doug puzzles.  She loves to jump up and down, and dance, along with listen to music. She points to pictures and can name or recognize family members along with animals. She loves books right now and loves to read as well!

Nora definitely likes to watch TV with her brother. She loves Curious George, Daniel Tiger, Sofia the First and Thomas the Train. Graydon wasn't really into TV much at her age, but I think she watches it a lot more than he did because he is older now so she does what he does etc.

Nora can be outgoing and say hi to everyone we pass in the store when she wants to be, but is mostly shy especially if caught off guard. She has been doing really well lately when we put her into the nursery at church or at MOPS and does well playing with the other kids as far as I know. No crying lately when we drop her off, so that has been great!

Speaking of crying, she is definitely starting to throw some little fits her and there and exerting her independence of when and what she likes to do and when she doesn't etc! She also likes to scream and shriek at times.

We haven't really started potty training her much yet, and I think I will wait until after her second birthday, although she will grab her diaper and say poop sometimes!

I think that is about all for now regarding Nora! :)

26-32 Week Pregnancy Survey- Baby O 3#

How far along? 32 Weeks
Total weight gain/loss: 178.5 lbs  +9 lbs in the last 6 weeks or so.  ( I weighed 173 with Gray and 167 with Nora at this point!)
How big is baby?  By now, your baby weighs 3 3/4 pounds (about the size of a large jicama) and is about 16.7 inches long, taking up a lot of space in your uterus. You're gaining about a pound a week and roughly half of that goes right to your baby. In fact, she'll gain a third to half of her birth weight during the next 7 weeks as she fattens up for survival outside the womb. She now has toenails, fingernails, and real hair (or at least respectable peach fuzz). Her skin is becoming soft and smooth as she plumps up in preparation for birth.  - Baby Center
Maternity clothes?  Yes, definitely. And all maternity tops are fitting great now. I'm getting BIG! lol
Sleep:  I still sleep pretty great for the most part. But I have to have the wedge under my belly, and pillow between my hips and legs. I wake up a lot on my back. 
Best moment this week: The last six weeks or so:  Dinner at our friend's Joe and Erica's farm. Jazz at the zoo, Unity Festival with my cousin Erica (soooo much fun!), Chris's birthday weekend in Ludington/Suds on the Shore beer fest and staying at my friend Lauren's house. Meeting up with Heidi and Erica at the East GR Library, morning playdate at the mall with Lyn, Elliot's birthday party, Nora turned 18  months old!!! Labor day party at the Marsh's, cookout with Chris's fam for Labor Day, GRAYDON STARTED PRESCHOOL!!  Brooke's volleyball games at Aquinas, Pedicure and shopping morning with Lyn, Beth Moore bible study started, MOPS started!!! We finally got the dining room painted and most of the bathroom, just need to finish trim details. We were models for a photo shoot for 30 minutes.  And that is about it!! Lots of stuff going on. And FALL/Holiday time is finally here...our most favorite time of year! :)
Movement: Yes, and sometimes it is a bit painful.
Food cravings:   I know there have been things here and there but the only real consistent thing is water or juice...I am so thirsty all the time! I still love like chocolate, ice cream etc. And crave salty stuff sometimes, or savory things. It all just depends! 
Food aversions:  Nothing that I can think of. 
Gender:  It's a surprise! 
Names:  We have a few in mind. 
Labor Signs:  Just a lot of Braxton Hicks and sometimes they are pretty painful.
Symptoms:  Well definitely getting bigger. And of course the BH along with getting more uncomfortable, having to pee a lot still, starting to waddle sort of... :)  I think I may be starting to get a big swollen too.
Belly Button in or out?  Definitely out now!
Wedding rings on or off?  Still on, yay!
Stretchmarks? Yes, from before :)
How are you feeling?  Pretty good for the most part!! 
What I am looking forward to:  Finishing up house projects, Graydon turning 4 and our weekend in Traverse City with family.
What I miss:  Feeling like I have ANY amount of free time, hence not keeping this blog updated!
Weekly Wisdom:
  Nap if you need it. Sometimes you just have to give in.
Milestones:  8 weeks left, craziness!
Pregnancy Moments with Chris and others:  Can't think of any right now besides my friend Dana telling me that I really popped since the last time she saw me! :)

26-32 Week Belly Pics

Time to get caught up....again!! :) Life with kids is busy busy...I have good intentions with my blogging but sometimes it just doesn't make the cut in our daily life! I am so behind on so many posts!

26 Weeks

27 Weeks

28 Weeks

30 Weeks 

31Weeks

32 Weeks