6 Months

Emma is 6 months old tomorrow. She is still on her reduced dose of Prevacid. She's on 15mg morning and 7.5mg nighttime and still eating and gaining well as far as we know. We have an ENT appointment this week with a weigh in and probably a fiber optic scope since it's been a couple months since her last one.

These last 2 weeks have been busy with preparing for the Christmas season. We finally got leave approved for after Christmas, so that's exciting. We have been decorating the house and getting ready to celebrate our first Christmas at home, although it is our 9th Christmas together. We have been practicing for Will's Christmas pageant, which was today, and I am singing in an ensemble and with the worship team next week for a Christmas special. We also had Jered's Christmas party for his command's Chief's mess last night, and our Young Family Ministry Christmas party next week. Lots going on, I feel harried sometimes, but happy. I've written our Christmas letter, but still need to take a picture with everyone...putting that off because I'm sure it will be loads of fun...Anyway, it is fun to prepare for Christmas with Will at this age. He is starting to understand what Christmas is about (Jesus' birthday) and told me the other day that Jesus "loves his heart." So wonderful to see the truth and meaning of Christmas start to become part of his life.

We are still in the midst of getting our new orders sorted out. Our New Orleans orders will be cancelled because Emma was put in Category 4 of the Exceptional Family Member program. That means we have to be stationed in only specific areas of the country until her status is changed. We need to stay here in San Diego until her vocal cords are working or she has surgery, so Jered's command master chief is helping him work with the detailer to either extend a couple years at his command or find orders with another squadron in San Diego. We are praying for this to work out soon so we know more about what our future holds.

5 1/2 Months

Emma has been very stable the last couple of weeks - we had a GI appointment this week and we are going to start slowly taking down her reflux meds. We're starting this week with decreasing her nighttime dose from 15mg to 7.5mg of Prevacid and keeping the morning dose at 15mg. If she does well, we'll try decreasing the morning to 7.5mg as well in a few weeks. She is gaining weight at a normal pace now and is right below 15lbs and very long at 26.5" That's only 1 inch shorter than Will was at 5 mos, so pretty long for a girl! She is very happy and smiles so much. She mostly loves to be with people, especially her family. Emma has really been developing a love for Daddy and wants him to hold her when he gets home from work. It's a nice development because she was such a mama's girl from birth (not that I minded the attention). She is still on the same basic schedule, but takes a shorter morning nap (1-2hrs) and a long afternoon nap (3-4hrs) and then a little bitty nap before dinner most days - sometimes she won't do that one! She wants to be a big kid like her brother I think. She goes to bed at 7 or 7:30 and usually sleeps until about 8am.

Will is such a comedian these days. He always wants to make people laugh. He tells jokes and makes funny faces. He says the sweetest things too. I can tell that he has a soft heart for me and his baby sister especially. Daddy is his wrestling buddy and portable jungle gym, and they are loving the same movies and tv shows. Will even requested to watch The Hobbit today. When I asked him if he liked Gollum, he said "He's my precious." Very funny - with the Gollum voice and everything. Will is also so smart. He amazes me. He was reading my feeding chart I keep for Emma. He was reading the numbers out loud, then stopped and asked me why one of the squares was blank because all the others in the row had been filled in. He brings me books and asks me "Can I help you read it?" While I read, he also points his finger to the words on the page as I read them, and copies what I say. He can pick his name out on the page and can read all his capital letters and most lower case ones now too. I'm excited for when we can afford to send him to pre-school because I know he will enjoy learning even more. He is so bright. He still can't draw a lick, but we have plenty of time for that later :o)

5 Months Old

Emma is 5 months old today! The last 2 weeks have gone much better than the previous month. Emma is now eating 4 times a day, nursing in the morning around 8am and in the afternoon around 4pm, and having a 5oz milk + 5Tb cereal bottle around 12pm, and a 6-7oz milk + 6-7Tb cereal bottle around 7pm. She goes to bed about 7:30pm and sleeps until 7:30-8am. Such a change from just a few weeks ago! Having the right meds and the thickened feedings have really helped her feel so much better. We are going to her Peds ENT next week and we'll do a weight check. We think she's getting chubbier every day and are hoping she's still gaining weight well (we're guessing about 14lbs, we'll see :o)). Emma is able to stay awake longer stretches now and enjoys the Jumperoo, the exersaucer, Bumbo seat and just being held and cuddled - especially sitting with Daddy, although she is a mama's girl when she's upset, hungry or tired. She is taking 3 naps during the day. Usually 2 hrs in the morning, 2-3 hrs in the afternoon, and 1 hr in the evening around 5-6pm. She is very alert and interactive. She is usually happy even if she misses her nap, which is a change from Will, who turned into a gremlin without his naps! She is a great joy and we love her to pieces!

Happy Halloween 2010

Halloween was fun this year because Will as old enough to be pretty excited about it. For the last week or more, he's been asking me about when he gets to put on his costume, trick or treat and have a "Halloween party." Yesterday, we walked across the street to the pumpkin patch at the college. We picked out a pumpking and Will rode the kiddy train, then we walked back home. Today after his nap, we carved the pumpkin (which started out Thomas and became a face because it was taking too dang long and we couldn't find out pumpkin carving set!), then put on our costumes to trick or treat. Will was Thomas, Emma was a monkey (Will's costume from his 1st Halloween), and I was a princess. We started to go around our neighborhood at 6pm, but no one was out! We tried 3 houses and not a single one even answered the door. At the last house, the person saw us through the front window, then proceed to turn around and turn off all the lights! So we called our neighbors from our old house and they said everyone was out - so we drove over to our old street and did trick or treating there. Will got pretty scared by the haunted house, but besides that he had a great time and enjoyed getting candy. We came home to hand out candy - and we only had ONE set of trick or treaters! We knew we lived in a quiet neighborhood (mostly retired folks) but sheesh! There's only 3 houses on our street, so maybe that's why no one came. Oh well, lots of leftover candy for us!



And an update on Emma: she is doing very well with 30mg Prevacid + thickened feedings. Per the GI doc, I'm trying to do two or three 5-7oz bottles a day of pumped milk with 1 Tb cereal/oz of milk, then nursing the rest of the day. It's kind of a pain to pump so much, but it's helped her reflux so much that she's back to sleeping 9-10hrs straight at night. She hadn't been able to do that since she was 13 wks (7 wks ago!) so we're thrilled. She is happier, growing very well, and just doing so much better.

Emma 4 Months & Will Potty Training

Emma is 4 months old today. She had a ENT appointment and weight check today because her reflux is acting up again. She hasn't been eating well this week, so she only gained 2 oz since last Wednesday, putting her just under 12 and half pounds (25%), but 25" (85%)! This mommy's opinion is she needs her meds upped after gaining over 2lbs since they prescribed it, but we have to wait to see the Peds GI, hopefully next week. In other areas, Emma is doing very well. She sits well supported and can almost pull herself all the way up to the sitting position from her back - pretty early, probably because she is so light. She started eating rice cereal a few times a week off a spoon and does very well with that. She giggles and laughs and talks, but all in her own way - you can definitely tell what she is doing, but the vocal cord paralysis is very apparent when she's being verbal. But it's also adorable and even Will tries to copy her and smiles when she's "talking." She loves to hit hanging toys, chew on teething rings, watch TV (yeah, yeah, I know it's "bad"), and most of watch her big brother Will and talk to her mommy. She's the happiest when she's watching things happen around her and loves to stare at people and smiles so big. Emma is a sweet, brave girl and I love her fiercely, as does her dad and big brother.

This week Will started potty training - he's been at it for 3 days and has only had 1 accident! I think that must be some kind of record, but I'm biased of course. I think it's like walking - he didn't want to walk alone until he was 15 months, but once he started, he didn't do all the falling down that most toddlers do, just started walking one day and didn't stop. He's a big helper for me during the day with Emma. He lets the dogs in and out for the potty, feeds them, gets things for the baby, and frequently tells me, "I'm so proud of you too Mommy." He also lets me nap some mornings when Emma has had a bad night, which is wonderful and something you can't do with all 3 year olds! This is a hard time in our lives with Emma's difficulties, Jered's dad being so ill, and Jered being gone so much, but it makes me appreciate what a wonderful gift God has given me in my family. If Will wasn't such a good boy, Emma so sweet tempered, and Jered so supportive, I think I would have stuck my head in the sand weeks ago!

Fire Station Open House

We went to the Chula Vista Fire Station open house this morning with some families from church. It was really fun, especially for Will. He got to dress up like a fireman and run with a fire hose, climb in a fire engine and ambulance, ride in a fire engine "wagon," build a toy boat with Jered, and watch a helicopter landing and a pretend rescue mission.

Random Pictures from Daddy's Leave at Home

We're all enjoying Jered's time at home. I'm especially appreciative right now because Emma is eating every 3-4 hours around the clock. I'm lucky to catch 4-5 hours of sleep at night, so it's more like naps all day than really sleeping. She is finally starting to gain some more weight though. She is eating 5-8oz 7 times a day, so hopefully she will catch up soon and slow down again. Mommy could use a little break. It's nice to have Jered here to help out with meals and housework since I'm so tired. Will enjoys having him here and even the dogs got a bath today, so they are happy too! We have the Khaki Ball Saturday, then Jered is off for four days next week too. We are going to try some potty training next week while he's still here to help.

Pinning Ceremony and Family Fun Day

More pictures from Jered's Chief's Pinning Ceremony Saturday afternoon and his command Family Fun Day picnic on Sunday afternoon. It was really great to have Abby out with us this weekend. I could not have survived without her help. I should write more about all that happened, but I'm too tired right now. It's been a long 3 months. We are SO proud of Jered and glad to have him home now for 10 days. Whoo hoo!

Chief Pinning Ceremony

Emma Playing 3 Months Old

9-11 Flag Retirement Ceremony

Jered and his fellow chief selectees organized and performed a ceremonial flag burning (retirement) in honor of 9-11 today. They did a wonderful job - Jered was in charge of most of the ceremony and it turned out great! He sang the National Anthem and sounded wonderful. I'm so proud of him. It was a little sad, but mostly exciting: this was his last time to wear his cracker jack whites. New uniforms next weekend!

Emma 12 Weeks Old

Emma is doing great on her reflux medicine! She had gained 6oz in 6 days and seems like she's getting bigger each day. We're so excited that we don't have to consider a feeding tube, or even supplementing, as long as she continues responding well to the Prevacid. Her squeaking is also better since her vocal cords aren't irritated by stomach acid, and she rides a little better in the car. Very exciting stuff! Her next check at peds and ENT is the 15th, and she has a swallowing study with barium scheduled for the 17th. Hopefully all her conditions will continue to improve.

Will had his first day of Awana Cubbies this past Wednesday. He loved the class and did well during it, but was a monster when I went to pick him up - like I literally had to pick him up crying and yelling and force him into the car. I think 8:30 is a little late for him to be that active, so I will try picking him up from church at 8pm. Sometimes we let him stay up until 8:30 here at home, but we're doing quiet things like reading or watching a movie, so he doesn't get wound up. Boy, I don't want to see that side of him again for a while!

Jered has 2 whole days off this weekend!! I helped him do some work from home, but we also got some family time in, and even went to church together, yay! Less than 2 weeks until his pinning ceremony, and we can't wait.

Emma 11 Weeks Old

Emma 10 Weeks Old

This past week was hectic, with more craziness to come in the next 4 weeks. We can't wait until Jered gets pinned on September 18th. Both the kids and I look forward to seeing him more! This week he is in Boston on the USS Constitution for CPO Heritage week. It's a great honor to be selected for this and he will do some neat things like marching Paul Revere's ride to liberty and taking the ship out to sea (or harbor anyway) for a few hours on Friday before flying back home. There are pictures more of him on the Constitution's Facebook page.

Emma's 2 Months Old

A video I made this morning playing with Emma. She is a happy baby and so sweet! We had her 2 month check up and shots yesterday. Besides being small still (10lbs), which the pediatrician told me not to stress about, she is doing well. She still eats 7 times a day, takes good naps, and goes to bed about 8:30pm. I feed her one more time at 10pm, which lately I've had to wake her for, then she sleeps until 8 or 9am. Good girl! She's not rolling over yet, mostly because of the pelvic harness, and partially because we're always going somewhere and there's not much time for tummy time. She is cooing, smiling, grasping objects, and doing other cute baby things though :) Will and I enjoy playing with her a little between naps. However, if you want to hear her fuss, just put her in the carseat - she hates it - or keep her up past her naptime. Whew, that girl knows when it's time to sleep and she will tell you! Besides those times, she is very happy and content. We're so lucky to have her in our family.

Will is 3!

Will's 3rd birthday was Saturday. He got to meet with a couple of friends at Baskin Robbins on Thursday and exchanged presents. Sunday evening, we had pizza and cupcakes with the friends he didn't see on Thursday. We spent most of his real birthday at a chief-selectee's picnic in northern San Diego. Will had fun running around the playground, although Jered had to work the whole day so we missed him. Jered and I got him really cool expansion packs for his train table, so Jered and Will spent a couple of hours putting together the new tracks on Saturday night. He also enjoyed opening his cards and gifts from friends and family around the country. This is the first year Will has been really excited (ahead of time) about his birthday. He actually understood how old he was going to be and what day his birthday was. It was so exciting for me to see him looking forward to his birthday. It made me realize that he really is a little boy now, no baby anymore. Sunday I got some cute pictures of Will holding Emma in his lap. He was very sweet and cuddly with her and held her correctly to support her head. I was proud of him - he has only held her once before, so I guess he's getting used to her. He loves to talk and "play" with her, but usually tells me "No thank you" when I asked him if he wants to hold her.

Emma 7 Weeks Old

Today Emma is 7 weeks old. In the past week, she's been through a lot. We spent Monday at the hospital, where Emma was put under general anesthesia for a laryngoscopy and MRI. Both showed no abnormalities except what we already knew: tracheolmalacia, laryngomalacia, paralysis of the vocal chords and Stridor. Since there was no additional problems, the doctor thinks she will grow out of these conditions with time. He said he might have to trim her epiglottis in the future, but will wait to see how she grows. We were there in the Pediatric ICU overnight and went home Tuesday afternoon. Friday we were back at the hospital to visit orthopedics and get an ultrasound of Emma's hips. She has hip dysplasia and has to wear a pelvic harness for at least 6 weeks. At that time, we'll get another ultrasound and see if she's improved enough to take it off. She is such a sweet sweet baby and still so good. The night before she got her harness, she slept 11 hours straight! Wow, what a girl :o) A good thing that happened for Mommy this week is I finally got my wedding rings back on and some of my normal pants, including a pair of size 4 slacks! I've lost 33 lbs, and still have 17 to go, but things are on the downhill slope finally. Yay!

Emma 6 Weeks Old

Emma is 6 weeks old today! Where does the time go? She is still a very content baby, growing well and very happy. She is wearing her 3 month outfits now and starting to fill out a little, although she still looks small to me because Will was such a chunker. Emma is still sleeping 7-9 hrs at night, eating, then another 3-4 hrs. So she goes to bed around the same time as Will, and wakes up a little after him, which is nice for me. Tomorrow is Emma's laryngoscopy and MRI. We are hoping that both show that nothing is wrong that she won't grow out of. We are praying that the anesthesia and procedures are not hard on her and that she will recover very quickly. Emma and Mommy will be staying at the hospital overnight Monday. I used our nice Nikon to take these pictures of our pretty little lady. I don't know how she can look just like her brother, but also like such a beautiful girl!

Emma 5 Weeks Old

Some pictures from bathtime and Will making his own lunch. He's very into "cooking" right now and always pulls up his step stool to the counter. He says, "Will help me!" (translation - "I want to help you"...as opposed to "Help you" which means he wants you to help him...LOL).

Emma's 1 Month Old

Today Emma is 1 month old. She has been smiling a few times (real smiles that is) since she was 3 wks old, but today she suddenly seemed to master the skill and was smiling over and over again while we played with her this morning. I thought the cutest was when Will came over to hold her hand and talk to her - she turned towards him and smiled really big! Luckily I had my phone camera out already and snapped the pic quick! There's also a couple of pictures we took of Will and Emma on the couch this weekend, and Will at a playdate this morning at Hannah and Hailey's house. I couldn't help myself and made a collage of Will and Emma both at exactly 1 month old showing off their first smiles.

Baba & Meemaw Visit

This past week, Baba and Meemaw (my parents) have been visiting with us. They flew in last Friday and we had lots of fun while they were here. On Saturday, we drove up to Julian and walked around the shops and had some yummy food and homemade apple pie. Sunday, we went to church, and the following week we went to Will's My Gym class, library storytime, and even got to meet with my mom's cousin Henry and his wife, Barbara. They live here in San Diego and my parents hadn't seen them since my baptism 28 years ago. We met them at Sea Port Village for lunch, then walked around the shops and took Will on the historic carousel. It was sad to say good-bye this morning and I will really miss having my parents around (and not just because of all the help!). The positive thing I can say about it is that Will (who was trying my patience the last week) is "magically" back to normal and has been his usual sweet self all day (now that there's no audience - what a ham!). We also found out while my parents were here that we have orders to New Orleans for next February or March. This might change if Jered gets promoted, but otherwise we are headed back down to the South in less than a year! I'm ready for Southern food, family, but not the weather! It will take some getting used to again to have such hot summers.

Emma is almost 4 weeks old now and she's still a content, easy baby. Her only fussy time each day is still in the evening around 7 or 8pm, and she's in bed before 10pm every night. She's been sleeping 8 or more hours each night, feeding around 5:30-6:30am, then going back to sleep. She eats about 7 times a day. Emma takes pretty long naps most of the day and is usually content when she is awake. She loves to look around at the house - especially the ceiling fan, the back door, and Will. Today she almost got all the way rolled over from back to tummy! I know that usually babies go the other way first, but with all the activity since she's been home from the hospital, she's only had tummy time practice two or three times! She's been making cute cooing noises and "talking" to herself and others. Emma also had her first bottle at the restuarant last night. She did pretty well, but I need to get some more for newborns because the milk came out too fast for her. I can't believe how fast she is changing - probably because there is so many other things going on I've hardly had time to keep track of the last 4 weeks! She's a beautiful, sweet baby, and I'm so thankful that we were blessed with her.

2 Weeks Old

Emma is 2 weeks old today. It seems like she is growing and changing already. She has been such a good baby. She sleeps very well during the day and night. She usually will eat around 11/11:30pm and sleep until I wake her up at 5/5:30am. Then she goes back to sleep for another 3-4 hours, which makes her wake up time between 8 and 9am, just like Will. During the day she eats every 3 hrs, sometimes a little closer together before bedtime. She will take a nap for a couple of hours after she eats and hangs out for a few minutes, looking around. She tries to hold her head up by herself already, which I remember Will doing pretty early too. Will is doing a great job as big brother. He helps me with the baby by getting her diapers and wipes, talking sweetly to her, kissing her, and checking on her when I put her down and to make sure she is still sleeping. If she cries before she falls asleep, Will tells me, "Baby can't sleep right now."

Before Abby went back home on Saturday, we were able to take Will and Emma to library storytime on Thursday (Emma's first library trip!), to see Toy Story 3 at the theater, and out to eat again. She is really getting out and about at an early age! My parents are flying in from Texas on Friday (yay!) and Emma's 2 week check up is on Thursday.

Father's Day 2010 & Emma's First Week

We celebrated Father's Day today by taking Emma out for the first time. We went to church, then to King's Fish House for lunch. She was a very good girl and slept the whole time we were gone from 10:30 - 3pm, wow! I woke her up to feed her after lunch, but she went back to sleep while she was eating. Abby took Will on a "train" (trolley) ride around the outdoor mall after lunch. Tonight, Jered made ribs for dinner. I felt bad that he cooked his own father's day meal, but he enjoyed using his new grill that we picked up Friday. These are pictures from Father's Day and Emma's first week of life.

Welcome Emma Grace Hanschen! Our Birth Story

Emma Grace Hanschen was born on Sunday, June 13th, at 5:38pm at San Diego Naval Medical Center. She was 8lbs 3oz, 21 inches long. She has a full head of dark hair and dark blue eyes. She looks so much like her brother Will it is uncanny!



She surprised us by coming about a week early. I started having contractions about 10min apart at 2am on Sunday. I kept waiting for them to go away, and tried taking a shower, walking around, lying still, but they stayed consistent and got stronger and closer together. I finally gave in and called Labor and Delivery after about 5 hours, with contractions being about 5-7 min apart then. They told me to come in whenever I wanted. I put it off a little longer, then called our friends the Strouses to see if they could keep Will. They said yes (of course they are so sweet) and so we packed up the car and dropped him off, then headed to the hospital.

At the hospital, they checked me at 10:30am and told me I was only 1.5cm dilated still after 8 hrs of contractions that were then about 3 min apart. They told me to go walk around for a while and come back. We walked around the hospital campus, ate lunch, visited my friend Sara (who just had her baby a few days earlier and was still at the hospital, so cool!). We went back in about 12:30pm and I had gone from 1 to 6cm already! They checked me in and got me set up in a room. They asked me if I wanted an epidural, but I decided to wait as long as I could. They were shocked that I was talking and laughing and texting my friends and family still, and thought I would be “huffing and puffing” already. I waited until 3:45pm when I was 8cm then got the epidural. I’m so glad too because very soon my contractions started lasting 3 minutes each, ouch! At 4:30, I was 9cm and they broke my water at 5:10. They said, “This is going to be quick,” and sure enough Emma was at 5:38pm. I only had to push for 8 minutes. The doc said I was helping them out because they were very busy, haha. Since I only had the epidural in less than 2 hrs, it wore off very quickly and I was able to get up and walk around on my own about 2-3 hrs after the birth. I felt so much better than I did after Will’s birth and continued to improve really quickly. A funny thing - our friend Kendra texted us around 3:45 that Will said the baby would be born in 2 hrs. Wow! He was only minutes off!

They took Emma to the NICU around 8:30pm because she had rapid breathing and was “squeaking.” She was there for 3 days. The hardest part was the first day when they wouldn’t let me feed her at all, she was on IV fluids. Finally they had ENT pediatrics come check her out and they said she has Stridor breathing caused by tracheomalasia, which she should grow out of on her own. We will have ENT follow ups just to make sure. She also has a little looseness in her hips, so we have and ultrasound follow ups with orthopedics to check on that.

It was so wonderful when they finally let us have Emma back in our room at 3:30am Wednesday morning. She was wonderful in the hospital, no fussing at all. We had to wake her to feed her, she would sleep 4+hrs if I didn't wake her up to eat! She does eat well though - she only lost 4oz in the hospital, so is already almost back at her birth weight. Little chunker. She is a sweetheart and has won us over already.

Will was extremely happy and excited that Mama and Baby Sister were coming home today. He has been very sweet with her, kissing her many times, trying to hold her hand and share toys with her. I haven't been able to get much of that on camera though because he leaves as soon as he sees me with it! Grrr, hopefully soon I'll get a great photo for her birth announcement with the two of them. Abby is flying in tomorrow morning and we look forward to having her help as we adjust to family life with 4 Hanschens.

38 Weeks - OB check up

I went in for my 2 week check up today. First the doc listened to the heartbeat, which was normal, then she measured me - 40wks fundus height. She then palpated for the baby's size and position. This is what she said, "Oh wow, you are all baby...this baby is not petite. Your son was 8-4? This one is already 7.5-8lbs...this is not a small baby..." LOL. Then she did an internal check - 1cm dilated, 50% effaced, Emma has dropped, and baby's head is low enough to feel that "she doesn't have much hair," which I also thought was funny. I didn't know you could feel that before they are born. I was the same amount progressed with Will 5 days before he was born, and also didn't drop with him until a few days before he was born, so hopefully Emma will not make us wait a whole lot longer. Although it would be good if Abby could get here first - she's flying in a week from today, June 17. My next appointment is June 16 and we will discuss induction then for after my due date, considering the baby's size already and Will's size at birth.

38 Weeks - Jered's Birthday

This week we celebrated Jered's 33rd birthday. He had a really funny schedule all week and ended up working on his birthday, Sunday, but when he got home, we had our friends the Hegards over for grilled ribs and birthday cake. It was great to catch up and the boys had so much fun playing together. Jeffrey and Will are in the same Sunday School class and Will loves having him over, especially because all his other friends are girls! We are now less than 2 weeks from Emma's due date and getting excited (and tired for me!). We have everything set up now, even got my car in the garage today. We did a huge grocery store trip this week and the fridge and freezer are bursting with stuff that Jered and Abby can make while I'm having the baby. I have a doctor's appointment on Thursday and I'm hoping to find out if any progress is going on. I have regular contractions every night for a couple of hours and some erratic ones during the day, so I'm hoping maybe she's getting ready to be on time like her brother!

37 Weeks - Memorial Weekend

We had a wonderful 4 day weekend, meaning Jered was actually off for 4 days in a row! We got a lot of cleaning done in the garage on Sunday, enough so that we can probably park my car in the garage soon, which will be nice with the baby coming. I also got all of Emma's clothes put in her dresser (0-6 mos filled it up!) and the rest sorted into bags by size in the closet. We also set up the bouncy chair and the swing and got the bassinet set up in our bedroom. Will helped me go through his toys and pick out ones for the baby. He would say, "This is baby one, Mama" and drop it into her toy basket which will stay in her room.

Today we celebrated Memorial Day with a bunch of friends from church at a park in La Mesa. It was a beautiful day, about 70 degrees, cooler in the shade (I can't believe I had to wear a sweater!). The kids had tons of fun on the playground and riding their bikes. Will started to pedal his tricycle for the first time! He saw Hannah pedaling and started doing it right away. We are proud of him! Jered grilled some brats and played with Will. I mostly sat in a lounge chair in the shade because my feet were extremely swollen. I was wearing a sweater, but my feet still looked like sausages, so I guess it's not just the heat that causes swelling! Oh well, 2.5 weeks left we hope :)

We also took Will to the movies for the first time this afternoon. We saw Shrek 3 (which was really cute) and we all enjoyed it. Will watched the whole movie and stayed in his chair until the last 5-10 min, when we let him get up and stand in front of his seat. He enjoyed the movie and kept asking for "more videos" on the way home. What a great weekend!

36 Weeks

I had a OB check up today (36wks 5days). Everything is going well. Emma's head is still down and she's in a good position. They did a quick ultrasound just to verify that. Her heartbeat was in the 140s and my fundal height is still measuring just a week ahead, although she's usually 3wks ahead on her ultrasounds. Just like Will! It's still too early for them to check my dilation or effacement, but I have a follow up appointment for 2 weeks from today and now another appointment for my due date, June 19. If she hasn't come by then, they will go ahead and make an appointment for induction so she doesn't get too large (since Will was already over 8lbs at 40wks). The doctor said it's good that I've been having regular contractions every day, hopefully I will be already dilated some before real labor begins. I also had a meeting with a hospital administrator to sign and turn in my pre-admissions paperwork. Getting close now, only about 3 weeks to go, we hope! Jered is home from his latest trip, although still at work right now. He has long weekend for the holiday and Will and I are so excited!

Cute Pictures

I got some cute pictures of Will over the "weekend" (Monday and Tuesday for us) and today when we had our friends the Melchers over for lunch after My Gym class. We got Will a back pack and a soccer ball this weekend. He earned the soccer ball by going pee pee on the potty, and Mommy earned the back pack by carrying all his stuff the last 2 and 1/2 years, haha. I figured he was old enough to carry his own things like pull ups, wipes, milk and toys when I take him to day care, baby sitters, or church. The other pictures are from today of Will playing with Charlie, his friend from class, and Violet, her 6 week old sister. He loved the baby and laid down beside her and held her hand, stroking her tummy and head. He was very gentle and genuinely entralled with her. He kept covering her legs with the blanket because he said, "Uh oh baby's cold!" It was adorable, and a good sign for the near future, I hope! Will also read his first word today. I about fell out of my seat. We were watching Super Why and the word STOP was on the tv. They said, "What does that spell?" Will said, "Stop!" To test it out, this afternoon I got a toy with the word written on it (but not a stop sign, that's cheating, lol) and he read the letters, "S-T-O-P" I asked him what does that spell and he said, "Stop!" Pretty cool, so proud of my smart boy :)