Still Waiting

Well, here's the baby scoop: we are still waiting for this baby to come.  We get a little nervous at times as my blood pressure wants to creep up a bit, which makes my doctor want to start talking about inducing me.  However, she knows how much I want to avoid that, so as of now, I am on a sort of bedrest.  Although every time I take my blood pressure at home, it is normal, so that is good.  I think being sick last weekend (bad stomach bug- the first time I have thrown up this whole pregnancy) got me really dehydrated, and kind of spiraled me into this.  But I have to say, I feel good in general, other than being 9 1/2 months pregnant.  Ha.  Anyway, I had the doctor sweep my membranes, hoping that might help bring on labor, but nothing much has happened as of yet.  We also made smoothies from all sorts of tropical fruits (supposedly fruits like pineapple, mango, and kiwi can bring on mild contractions etc.) and did some acupressure, but to no avail.  I'm not supposed to go on long walks at this point (I've done plenty of that over the past 3 weeks anyway) and I'm really not interested in using castor oil.  So now I'm just waiting and thinking positive birthing thoughts.  :)

I stopped working this week, which was nice, and allowed me to rest quite a bit more.  I also worked on a few crafty projects this week to help the time pass and keep me distracted from wondering when this baby will come.  I sewed a diaper bag and some diaper cases, made a basic picture family tree for Gabriel, as well as some picture flashcards of family members.  He seems to like looking at those, and he can name quite a few family members.  He gets especially excited to point out both sets of his grandparents. 


I think it has been somewhat of a hard week for Gabe- or at least the last few days have been hard, as I have had less energy and he has a little cold.  That makes for a whiny baby, but he tries to be happy.  We have enjoyed the warmer weather on some days, and have tried to take advantage of that.  Gabe has asked for lots of walks ("Gok! Mama! Gok!)" outside and we have done that, although more in the evenings when BJ comes home since I haven't had tons of energy for pushing the stroller.  Other days we go out on the patio or on the lawn and blow bubbles, or do a short walk around the block and to get the mail.  I have enjoyed hearing Gabe's babbling this week.  He has been whispering to himself as he plays, something that sounds like "ti-koo-ti-koo-ti-koo".  He has also been pointing out various articles of clothing- "souz", "sass" (shoes, socks), "paaatssss" (pants) and he tries hard to say shirt and other things, but they don't sound much like the real word yet.  Perhaps my favorite word that he says (this week!) is cheese- "tziiiiz", which he says kind of in the back of his throat, over and over while he eats cheese, or if he sees a camera!  I'm not sure how he made the "say cheese!" connection at first, but we are going with it.  So funny.

He loves to pretend he is talking on the phone, and he will hold up my cell phone if he can get his hands on it, or his play cell phone, his favorite car, or anything that remotely resembles a phone- even the foot pedal to my sewing machine!

Gabe's antics keep us laughing pretty constantly; as you can tell by the amount of "Gabe stuff" I post on here, he is the main thing that is going on in our lives.  There isn't always much other stuff that is interesting to post about.  I have liked using this forum as kind of a family journal though, and especially chronicling Gabe's growth and development since I am waaaaaay behind on his baby book.

Speaking of chronicling, BJ and I had some fun reading from our journals about the time we were dating, engaged, etc. and realized that we didn't write nearly as much as we should have.  Fortunately, on a road trip we went on early in our marriage, we brought along a tape recorder and some blank tapes, and told "our story" up to that point in as much detail as we could between the two of us, filling both sides of several tapes.  A year or two ago, BJ converted the audio on those tapes to mp3s with the intent of transcribing it all some day.  This week, spurred on by reading our hilarious but sadly lacking journal entries, BJ began the process of transcribing the first tape.  Judging by the eye rolling and laughing coming from his corner, I can only assume the recording must be pretty cheesy.  I am going to go in and edit and format the document so it can be easily read.  Then we can add it to some of the other stuff I have compiled from that time period (some of our email correspondence- also pretty cheesy and entertaining to read).  Anyway, I think that recording a little bit at a time (as opposed to trying to sit down and write all at once)  is a good way to preserve some of our memories, and is possibly more motivating when you have a ton of stuff to catch up on!  Then you can have a record of what your voices sounded like, and you always have the option of transcribing it. Anyway, just a thought.  Here is one more picture that I just barely caught on camera the other day- just one more thing that represents the funny things Gabe does all day that amuses me!

The update and Gabe is 21 months old!

Ok, well, there isn't really much of an update.  This week has just been kind of a waiting game for us.  BJ had a 36+ hour day after he had to work a day, then all night, then the next day too (Ironically just after we read in 3 Nephi where the sign that Jesus would be born would be a day and a night and a day as if it were one day).
My doctor's appointment went well... nothing really noteworthy to mention.  My contractions have definitely been picking up in frequency, duration, and intensity, but not consistently.  I do have my hospital bags all packed though, with  my list of everything to grab last minute!  On Sunday I had a recurrence of my sinus infection- the one I had a couple weeks ago that the antibiotic never really took care of.  It hit me with a vengeance but I went to Instacare and got quite a strong antibiotic which helped immensely and so I'm not in any pain now.  Gabe does seem to be fighting another mild ear infection but he is doing much better and I think he will be able to fight this one off by himself. 
I am trying not to become too impatient to have this baby, and just use this time to keep preparing, spend time with Gabe, and work on some crafty projects.  We have been going on a lot of walks this past week which Gabe loves.  He points excitedly to the stroller and says "gok, gok!" (Not to be confused with "gook"- book, or "guk"- milk/ drink.)

 Yesterday we went for a drive and were listening to the Remember the Titans soundtrack when Gabe found his new favorite song!  When Gabe wants something, and sometimes when he's whining he says "nananananana...?" -so when he heard that in a song (Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye by Steam), he started laughing, rocking back and forth in his seat, clapping, and singing along which really made us laugh.
Gabe has gotten a lot better at going to sleep at night and at nap time.  We've been able to put him down for bed after our nightly routine (diaper/ jammies, brush teeth, sing songs in the rocking chair, drink of water, say prayer) while he was still awake for quite a while, but up until a few weeks ago, I was still rocking him all the way to sleep for his nap.  Now he is quite the "big boy" as he goes to sleep on his own after a few minutes of rocking and songs at nap time.  Occasionally when he is tired he will even sign "sleep".  A lot of the things he signs are now accompanied by the word itself, which is fun to hear!  Of course he has learned a lot of words without signs too.  My favorite words to hear him say are "cute", "cool", "shoes", and "love" (and "mom-my" of course!).  Anything that makes an identifiable sound is referred to by its sound instead of its name.  He loves splashing in the water and arranging his toys on the side of the tub at "baaaff" time.  He does not love the post- bath routine so much.  He tends to have dry skin and gets some eczema patches, so we put on lots of lotion and some hydrocortisone cream first thing after drying off. 
 

We usually have some reading time every day- initiated by Gabriel- he brings me book after book after book, and sits quietly on my lap (mostly!) turning pages, pointing to things, babbling, and sometimes requesting to read the same book several times in a row.  Gabe still loves cars and dogs (toys, the real things, and the sounds they make) above almost anything else.  He seems to be amused by poking my belly and saying "babeeeeeee" or "saaaaaaaahhhhhfffff" - soft.  We're trying to do our best to prepare him for having a baby brother, but I don't really think he has any idea of how life is going to change!  I'm sure he will adapt quickly though.  We are going to try to have him spend some time with his favorite people- aunts and uncles and grandparents!  All grandmas and pas are "baba" right now, and he greets them with hugs and kisses- "mmmmah!"
I am excited for the weather to warm up more so we can do some fun things outside.  Gabe is up for pretty much anything outdoors, and he especially enjoys going for walks to see the creek or the cows (and any other animal we encounter), swinging, going down slides, running around on the grass, and last summer we discovered he loves swimming and is fascinated by bubbles, so we will have to try to do lots of that this spring and summer.  We are all ready with his swimsuit/ rashguard, hat, sandals, sunscreen, and lots of energy (Um, him, not me, currently)!  Let's get to it already!

The last two weeks

I haven't been very good about updating the blog lately, and since this is our family journal in a way, I guess I had better repent of my lazy ways and give an update on the last couple weeks.


My family came to visit us during their spring break 2 weeks ago, and we loved having them stay with us!  We did a lot of shopping (only a little buying), visiting with extended family, the boys played tennis and racquetball, some of the family went skiing, others took advantage of my mom's awesome hair cutting skills, we watched some funny and some lame movies, ate lots of yummy food, went on a few walks, put together a package to send to Tayler, visited my Grandma C a few times, got to hear an old time band perform, did some baking, had my parents come visit me while I was working at the Celebration of Light Health Fair, and just generally enjoyed each other's company.  Gabe loved all the attention, and started saying "baba" for grandma and grandpa (sometimes bapa).  We were sad when they had to leave.  Looking at pictures later, Gabe called Anna "La-la", Cara was "Ya-ya", and he just smiled and laughed when he saw Collin. Gabe still sees Marissa all the time, and sometimes he calls her "Eetsa" but usually when we ask him to say Marissa he just claps and says "aaaaaayyy" (yay).

We had a little scare this week when I went to the doctor and found out I had 2+ proteinuria, which meant that I had to do bloodwork and a few other tests to make sure I wouldn't need to be induced early or put on bedrest (for preeclampsia, the same problem I had when I was pregnant with Gabe).  However, we found out that the tests results turned out just fine, and I am still up and around and the baby is fine too.  So no worries there.
I started having contractions a lot earlier with this pregnancy, and especially the last week or so they have really picked up, but I don't mind, since I am already dilated a few centimeters and 75% effaced (sorry if that is TMI).  Also, baby is head down, so things are looking good all around.  We have just about 3 1/2 weeks left until the baby is due, and we have been trying to scramble and get the last few things ready.

We enjoyed Easter Sunday watching General Conference and spending time with family.  We had a yummy breakfast that Marissa and Richard made, then in the evening we headed over to BJ's parent's house for a family Easter dinner which was delicious.  We took a few pictures of Gabe in his new Easter suit- see the web album below.  The kids had an Easter egg hunt, and Gabe found about 6 eggs then lost interest and just wanted to eat his banana pudding with vanilla wafers.




This week we are back in the routine of work, work, work.  I usually like getting back to things on Monday, but man, I am feeling more tired every day.  It's hard sometimes to feel motivated to get myself going.  Here we go anyway!