It's official!

Well we did it! We signed the lease this afternoon claiming our home for the next two years. Anyone willing to let a family with 4 kids, a dog, a cat, and two rabbits rent their home is the kind of landlord we need! Our new house is really nice and will have a lot more space than our current place, and it's in a nice, quiet, kid-friendly neighborhood. I'm really going to miss this crazy old house though! We've been here for two years now; this is where Coral went from tiny toddler to big strapping preschooler. This is where the kids got their first swingset that my dad built for them, and this is where we brought Hobie home when he was just two days old. I guess we'll be making lots of new memories in the new house!

I also just realized that I'm planning to start school in just over a week. I have to go buy a few supplies, and I'm just about finished with my lesson planning for the first six weeks. It's going to be tricky packing and doing schoolwork but I don't feel like delaying the start of school until after we're all moved in; I like having that flexibility later on if we want to take time off around Christmas or a vacation or whatever. I'm hoping we get our workbooks in for Alexei next week! If not I have a 4th grade English book calling his name - I'm sure he'll be thrilled. I think getting back to school and a schedule will benefit Ibis, and I know Coral is looking forward to some pre-K lessons.

exploring the big yard when we first moved in here, September 2008, Coral had just learned to walk!

Not a creature was stirring, not even a...

Oh wait. A Hobie is definitely stirring! 10:30 on a Friday night and here I am sitting with the little guy while everyone else is tucked in bed. Well, technically Alexei & Ibis are camped out on his bedroom floor in their homemade forts - wonder who will last the night. Nothing says good night's sleep like the hard floor. Personally I'll be thrilled to stretch out in my own bed if I can ever get a certain someone to give it up for the night.

What a loooong week. I am not much of a multi-tasker so I've taken to writing down lists of things to accomplish during the day. Not really daily chores, but extra things I need to tackle like finding a new 4-H group, updating craigslist posts, and renewing my domain name for my website. I start feeling so overwhelmed that it gets tempting to sit in the glider and crack open a good book and forget about everything on my plate for the day. Sometimes I think one of the biggest ways schools (and parents) fail their students is by never letting them set their own schedules or make their own decisions. You get to adulthood and suddenly there's no lesson plan written on a chalkboard or grade given for meeting a deadline. I think personal responsibility isn't taught anymore; I know I struggle with it sometimes and I see friends and family around my age doing the same. I never neglect my kids but it gets really easy to neglect the things that are outside of the immediate needs of the house. This includes my personal friendships, and I am really trying to work on that!

On a happier note, I sold 3 things on craigslist this week and made myself $50 towards a new camera body. One was a baby gym that Hobie was developmentally past using; another was his infant bathtub, also past use; the third was his Rainforest Jumperoo. I admit the third thing was a bit of an emotional struggle for me: although Hobie hated it and never played in it, we bought that for Coral when she was 6 or 7 months old. She was such a tiny little thing in it, and we had to place a pillow on the floor under her feet at first. She absolutely LOVED the jumperoo and it made for many happy memories. It was one of the few things that she could accomplish gross-motor-wise in that first 18 months of life, and to see her have a bit of normalcy after such a struggle was a real shining moment for us. I'm going to miss you, Jumperoo!

a little baby Coral the day we bought her big present

the M family photos

hat a great day for photos, and a great family! I had the opportunity today to photograph a darling little boy and his adventures across the park. His expressions and big blue eyes were too cute! I especially loved his determined look, which included a tongue peeking out from the side. He warmed up quickly and was so excited to play - I think the only thing that drew his attention away from the big slides was a pair of sandhill cranes! As a fun bonus, baby brother is due later this year and we got a few shots of our expectant mom looking pretty with dad. Here are a couple of my faves from the day!

Moss Park photo goofery

Hobie's getting old enough for the baby swings - what a fun new photo prop! Moss Park's "secret" campground playground is perfect for these photos with the beautiful pine trees and quiet setting. Oh, and the happy baby too!

31 weeks and going!

Had another uneventful appointment with my OB today. Little guy is 31w4d today and everything is still looking good. I'm a big fat 191 pounds but that is in keeping with what I should be gaining. Blood pressure was 110/70 which is fabulous. Pee was clean. The baby's heartrate was perfect and we're still just sitting around waiting to see what will happen next! I go back in 2 weeks provided nothing happens between now and then.

30 weeks!

I actually had my appointment with my OB last Tuesday and everything was looking good - blood pressure is still reasonable at 120/77, I'm measuring about a week ahead by fundal height, and baby's heartbeat sounded great. The happiest part was my urine is still clean - who knew that would be a cause to celebrate LOL Then this morning I had my appointment up at the hospital with the perinatologist for the Level II u/s. My BP was nice and low at 122/60. Baby is looking great, his heartrate was 143, amniotic fluid was good. The placenta is at 4.51cm and it looks healthy and bloodflow is adequate. They pegged his size at 3lb, 12oz which is 67th percentile. Coral was born at 30w1d (two days earlier than this 30w3d u/s) at 3lb, 3oz so if they're correct he's a good size! Other than that, everything is good! I'm at 189 pounds, yippee. I hit the big mark on Saturday at which I had Coral, and it feels like such a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders that we got past that scary milestone.

Oh yes! And my blood sugar number was a nice low 92 from the previous visit's screening. Thank goodness!

playing catchup!

I had my high-risk appt today with maternal/fetal medicine up at the hospital. The tech was super nice and printed me off so many cute pictures of his feet, and face, and boy parts He is measuring great at 2lb 2oz and everything looks perfect with him. My blood pressure is still really good - it was 106/68. The tech did get a measurement of just over 4cm on the placenta which is good! MUCH better than last time! I see my OB next week for my regular appt (and glucose screen...joy) and I want his opinion on some things.