Chuck E Cheese Adventure

A few weeks ago we took Addison to meet up with a friend at Chuck E Cheese. I knew she was a little young for it, but I wanted to give it go. She loves to people watch so if anything else, I figured she would watch/follow her friend around and/or watch other kids. The BEST part was Matthew was off that day, so he was able to come---always a special treat!!!

Here are some of the highlights:

• She LOVED watching Chuck E walk around in his suit; she giggled and grinned and squealed with delight the whole time.
• Ski Ball was a hit
• There was a game where you threw ping pong balls in buckets and she thought that was super duper fun
• She enjoyed following her BFF (a year older than her; about our niece's age actually) around EVERYWHERE
• She liked to hang out by the stage where a robotic Chuck E was singing occasionally
• Pizza is always a fun food for her, but she was so distracted she hardly ate!

All in all we enjoyed watching the grins and giggles throughout the entire afternoon! I was surprised Addison was not devastated when it was time to head home for a nap...although maybe she was so tired she was ready to leave. I love spending time with my lil family!!!!!

32 Weeks

It was this time in my pregnancy with Addison that we were in the hospital thinking an emergency c-section was eminent (see 32 Weeks-A bit of a doozie for the full story), so I am thankful nothing exciting has happened lately :) Although I still wonder if that dose of steroids is what made Addison so big...never know!

I feel like my tummy size is starting to even out to about what it was this time during my pregnancy with Addison.

32 weeks, 2 days with Manna

32 Weeks with Addison

A little info on Manna:

Manna is about 3.75 pounds (pick up a large jicama) and is about 16.7 inches long. If Manna is anything like his/her big sister we might can assume he/she is a little heavier and longer, HA!

Summary of 32 Week Doctor Visit:

• Heartbeat: 140's
• BP: 100/70
• Measurement: 32
• The midwife said this week, she thinks boy :)
• They have stopped internal exams (thankfully) until 38 weeks. Since I had already effaced some they wanted to monitor it until I stopped making progress and I did this time, yippie!
• Everything was fine, next appointment is in 2 weeks...I dont know what I will do when they become weekly again, EEK!

How am I feeling:

Pretty great, but I can feel my endurance is finally slowing down a bit. I am still not supposed to exercise much due to my back problems, so sometimes I feel like a beached whale. Manna is a MOVER and a SHAKER. I thought Addison kicked me a lot...Manna puts Addison's movement to shame. This thing is constantly bouncing around. We still maintain we would LOVE LOVE LOVE a big ole chunker again!!!!! I have been struggling with acid reflux and this is about when that started with Addison. I know now that avoiding dairy helps mitigate it, so....no more milk. Totally not a big deal.

Gender voting:

Get ready to head to the poles, in a few weeks I will start taking wagers on gender, birthday and weight for Manna!

Thoughts on delivery:

I decided to add this section going forward. So far, we have no reason to think we would need a planned c-section. Matthew and I both strive for a pain medication free labor and delivery. If Manna takes 36 hours like Addison, that's probably not feasible but----our goal is pain medication free as of right now. My doctor would love for me to schedule an induction right around the due date vs letting me go overdue, but they are leaving it up to us. As of now, we are going to pray that we are able to labor without induction this time but the doctor SAYS they will only let me go 7 days late this time vs. the 10-11 days late last time. I still reserve the right to change my mind about pain meds, but that is how we feel right now.

Apricot

Just a funny video of a new fruit and word that Addison likes to eat and say now. There is no word she cannot say now and three word sentences are the norm these days. I need to do an update on Addison lately, so be looking for one at the beginning of next month. So much has changed!!!!

Choose Your Own Adventure

God opens doors and closes doors throughout our lives and on Friday, August 12 I surprised Matthew with a "Choose Your Own Adventure" date to symbolism that very truth. This adventure was symbolic of how God has a glorious plan for our life and when one door closes—there is another PATH that he is guiding us to. We can have confidence that he will always open another door when he closes a door—it will be a beautiful, perfect, wonderful PATH as long as we follow him.

Here is how it worked:

• He had a set of "directions" as well as an explanation of the symbolism
• I had FOUR envelopes, which I called PATHS; these were sort of the "genre" of each activity (i.e. dinner, dessert, entertainment, etc. although he did not do that)
• Each PATH we took had a few DOORS he could choose from; he was NOT allowed to see the options he just had to pick DOOR 1, 2, 3 etc. I tried to make the DOORS have fun little rhymes and stuff.
• After the evening was over, he was allowed to review ALL the DOORS from all the PATHS just for fun.

My original plan was to surprise Matthew and show up at work around the time he usually leaves, but he really wanted to leave work early that day (he did not get home from work until after 7 the day prior). After stalling him as much as I could, I finally had to tell him to stay put so I could meet up with him. Below are the paths and doors he opened (doors selected are indicated by BOLD and **)

PATH ONE (site seeing):

• **Door One: National Archives (where the constitution and bill of rights is kept)**
• Door Two: Jefferson Memorial
• We only had time to see the bill of rights and constitution! People sit at those displays and try to read every faint word on EVERY page. We were just interested in seeing the signatures on some of the pages; it was neat. The rest of the museum was not as interesting and we were moving slow that day due to my siatic nerve diagnosis that day....so we were ready to move on to the next path!

PATH TWO (dinner in Chinatown):

• Door One: Matchbox 369
• Door Two: Wok and Roll Chinese Restaurant
• **Door Three: Fuddruckers**
• I was secretly hoping he would pick this door because I have been telling him how much I LOVED Fuddruckers growing up!! It does not seem very fitting to eat non-Chinese food in Chinatown, but hey----you never know where the paths and doorways will lead you!!

PATH THREE (dessert in Chinatown)

• **Door One: Dunkin Donuts**
• Door Two: Red Velvet Cupcake
• Although he picked Dunkin Donuts, we (like every time we visit THIS dunkin donunts) walked in there, stood silent for several minutes then decided we did not want anything. This is the third of fourth time we have done that exact same thing at the exact same location! It was quite fitting for the analogy we decided not to partake in any dessert...sometimes we have to know when to not even venture down a path! We listened to our full tummies and did not have dessert--just as we should listen to the Holy Spirit guiding us away from some paths and inevitably saving us from temptation or destruction!

PATH FOUR (final adventure):

• Door One: Mini Golf
• **Door Two: Target Surprise Game**
• We love playing the Target Surprise Game!!! This is where we each have a $10 limit and we have 10 minutes to separately find the other person a random surprise. After 10 minutes, we meet back up at the entrance to the mall to exchange surprises. The lil token gifts are intended to be fun and silly yet thoughtful. This time I got Matthew cinnamon toast crunch (he loves that stuff), a mini etch a sketch and a mini nurf gun; all things I thought would bring a lil life to his lab at work :) He got me a shirt to wear while I am pregnant (and shortly thereafter) that said "Kicking it with My Peeps". It had four marshmellow PEEPS on it. At first, I thought he got it because it had FOUR little chicken peeps on it to symbolize our family of four!! But he really got it because these are my favorite SUPER soft and COMFY shirts from target that I love to wear----and steal from Matthew since he has several :) Either way, it was sweet.

We had a fabulous evening and are so thankful for our friends Sheila and JohnHenri who watched Addison most of the afternoon and all night! Matthew and I are also thankful that God is in control of our lives and guiding OUR paths and opening/closing doors in order to fulfill His plan for our lives.

PS---I love you Matthew! Always, Always :)

The Set Up

Dinner

Self Portrait, of course

Can you tell we were in Chinatown??

Night Night Manna

Addison does not understand this whole having a baby business, but she does know we love my big tummy and that we call it Manna. Ever since she started to understand that, she has been giving it kisses and putting her head on it. Addison particularly LOVES to love on my tummy as we pray for Manna each night before we go to bed. Check out a kinda crude example of the beauty we get to witness each night as Addison loves on her soon to be sibling :)

31 Weeks

I am a little behind on my post; I had intended on post at 30 weeks since I would have just gone to the doctor but it simply did not happen.

Below is the profile shot that I will do every other week now. I feel like I look like a totally different person with this pregnancy than with Addison.'s pregnancy; maybe because I am so tired from being with Addison all day by the time we take these! I think I am going to move the picture location even though that will mess up being able to see the growing tummy!

30 weeks 6 days with Manna

We had been playing outside, so I am all red and sweaty!

30 weeks with Addison (aka Blessing)

A little info on Manna: This week, Manna measures over 16 inches long. He weighs about 3.3 pounds (try carrying four navel oranges) and is heading into a growth spurt.

30 week doctor appointment summary:

• BP was 95/60
• Measured almost 31
• Weight gain (believe or not) is pretty much on track not way too much and definitely not too little. I dont know the number (nor would I share anyways, lol) but they said it was in the normal range.
• Heartbeat fine, I did not ask number
• Head is sitting on my right hip
• No more effacement since last week
• Diagnosed with siatica; apparently only 1% of pregnancies cause true siatica, who knew (see more below)

How am I feeling: I am not one to announce to the world that I am in pain, but last week was quite challenging. I could barely walk all week due to my back pains which turned out to be siatica as I mentioned above. If I were ranking the pain on a scale of 0-10 with 10 being my non-medicated labor pains---this was an 8 at its worst. I was told to STOP exercising and just relax until I had a chance to see a physical therapist. Telling me not to exercise is torture!!!! I went to a P.T. and they agreed it was siatica and gave me some tips to avoid pain. I feel MUCH better now. Other than the rough week----feeling pretty darn good!!!

Addison wanted to join the picture fun!! As soon as she saw us pulling out the camera she starting saying CHEEESE and flashing her big goofy posed smile.

Food Strike

I am going to start sharing my experiences instituting the wise series in our family a little bit better going forward. I will probably organize and re-organize the blog labels as time passes, so bare with me. Additionally, when Manna arrives I HOPE I am able to write about not only the newborn experiences all over again but also about the transition from one to two children. With that, today i would like to discuss the topic of FOOD STRIKES.

"On Becoming PreToddler Wise" focuses on ages 12-18 months. I did not know this book even existed and the timing of my discovery could not have been more perfect. During the 12-18 month age babies really begin to start exerting their will...in everything. This is particularly noticeable after they master walking, which for us was not until 14-15 months! Food strikes is one way that children will exert their will.

A FOOD STRIKE is when a child completely refuses a previously favorite food; I mean they will not even TASTE it. When this happens you have two choices:

1. Give in and give your child something else to eat even though you already spent time and thought preparing what you already gave them. Risk? You may create a picky eater. Remember, who is in charge here? You or a one year old? A one year old is clearly not capable of making sound, logical decisions.
2. Persevere by teaching the child obedience (discussed in my experiences below); remember it is BIG PICTURE here. Obedience at the table translates into other areas like SLEEPING for those of you struggling with that :)

Before I proceed, remember that it IS natural for children to begin developing preferences but as you may recall this scenario is about a previously FAVORITE FOOD. Pre-Toddler wise recommends working to feed your child things that they find enjoyable, which I agree with completely. But this does not mean offering five different things at a meal until you finally find something that tickles their ever changing pallet. Use your judgement whether this is a battle of wills or an off day.

Here is our story....Addison loves cream of spinach with lentils and brown rice. She always gobbles it up. One evening at her usually dinner time, she saw them and rejected them before they were even heated up and in front of her; she showed NO signs of illness either. These were all the clear signs that it is a battle of wills.

First we gave her the benefit of the doubt that she was just not hungry yet. We gave her no more milk and nothing else to eat for about 45 minutes. Next we sat her in the high chair in the most secluded area possible, put a reduced amount of food in front of her and we sat at the table ignoring her. She signed all done a million times, did anything to get attention and yes she cried. We stayed to supervise ensuring she did not break any rules (throw her food, pick up her bowl, etc) or choke of course. She carried on for an hour and as quickly as the crying began, it stopped. As if making peace with the food, she stared at it, picked up her spoon and at all of it. We praised her and praised her for obeying. We gave her the remaining components of her meal which she ate gleefully.

I wish I could report that all battle of wills have ended, but that is not the case. She still pushes it, but so far has not held out an hour. Everything we did was at the prompting of the pre-toddler wise book and I am SO thankful we tried it AND even more thankful it worked. Much to my surprise, the turn of events was EXACTLY like the real-life example given in the book.

I have so much more to say on the food topic, but I will continue my thoughts in another post later. I hope at least one reader is encouraged by this story---encouraged that the principles of the wise series do work AND that these small learning opportunities payoff in the long run.

28 Weeks, 4 Days Doc Visit Review

First of all, I am SO excited that Matthew's cousin is expecting HER second baby in March!!!!! We are so happy and excited for them...AND that means there will be another one close to Manna's age when we visit Matthew's family, so fun!!

AND we have another friend who is expecting a baby in January---they have a daughter the same age as Addison. SO fun, our kids will all be in the same grade!!! So happy for them!!

On to the 28 Week Doctor visit summary:

• BP: 110/60
• Completed 1 hour glucose tolerance test
• Results for the glucose test should be back in 2-3 days--no news means I passed
• Heartbeat normal (did not ask exact number)
• Measuring 4-7 days ahead (aka measuring more like I am 29 weeks not 28); interesting because until this appointment I was measuring slightly behind. Maybe it IS a big baby, but who knows---it's all a guessing game really.
• Not dilated but just a teensy bit effaced; apparently that is normal with "two pregnancies so close together", I seem to hear that a lot :)

We start going to doctor's visits every other week now, yikes! Luckily, the appointments happen to fall on Matthew's day off so at least Addison will not have to attend all of them.

We are so excited to meet Manna yet---we are relishing every moment of sleep, quietness, structure and time as a family of three as possible!!!!!