Developments

Very quickly, here's a recap and a bunch of pictures of some recent developments around here.

#1) Luke's robe

I finally finished Luke's new robe. The old one was way too small and he wears it all the time. He picked out a pattern and fabric he liked then waited patiently for each to go on sale at the fabric store - took a while! I made it for him last week finally - hadn't really felt well enough to cut and sew fabric for a couple months.

He's pretty proud of it and loves how long it is. I like how long it is too since it means I won't have to make another for him for several years!


Erin felt the need to join in. See brother's "I'll humor her but only for a minute" look.


#2) Baby growth

I find it amazing how much a baby can grow and develop in just one short month. Here's the first sonogram we had on February 4:


Doesn't look like much, does it? Here's the latest from March 8:

I realize these things can be hard to see but basically the first picture is the baby's side view, the second is his/her legs (they are crossed), and the third is an arm & hand/fist (kind of looks like a wave). Since I will be 35 at delivery and am high risk because of the diabetes they did measurements and blood tests for physical deformities. Results came back yesterday: risk for Down's is 1 in over 800, risk for trisomy 18 is 1 in 10,000, heart looks fine, size is a little bigger than normal but not enough to change the due date. Sounds good to me.

#3) Garage

Alec ordered a "PODS" to be delivered on Thursday. He has it for 3 weeks and has pretty much emptied out the garage into it and the shed by now. The next step is to tear off the old roof and then put a new one on over the old and new parts of the garage together. Progress.

It was pretty nifty to watch how these things are delivered. They come on a big truck and the storage container itself has a kind of wheeled frame around it. They call it a POD-zilla. The little wheels are lowered to the ground and then the truck slowly pulls forward:



After the truck is cleared of the container, the container is lowered slowly to the ground.


Then the POD-zilla is raised enough to clear the top of the container and driven back to the truck:



Neat, huh? Alec got the biggest container he could so he could put the Model A in it. That was a feat of strength in itself. It was pouring rain to start with. He had to put a small ramp over the edge of the container. Then I got in to steer, which was impossible because it was packed to the gills with stuff. He pushed and pushed and pushed (because it isn't running) and it finally went over the edge. Then it had to go up onto a board for some extra stabilization since it's so heavy. I'll put up some more pictures later so you can see how full the container is now.

#4) Quilting

I have a whole bunch of projects that have been sitting around for a while. Maybe it's early nesting, but I've been trying to finish them up lately. The first had a deadline - a birthday quilt for the "Wrapped in Hope" project my friend Carin runs for kids who have an incarcerated parent. I chose a little girl with the same birthday as Erin so I wouldn't forget. And of course I forgot until about a month ago. Providentially I had an almost finished quilt that pretty much fit the description for this little girl. The list of interests and colors said "green, pink, dress-up, make-up, jewelry" - there isn't any jewelry or dress-up but do you think this would fit the color scheme?



Here's a shot of the back. Erin wanted to be in the picture, too since I was using her bed.


The next quilt to finish is one for Mom's cousin Linda - a zig-zag made out of mostly scraps. I initially made it to be lap sized but it needs to be 60x80 so I'm adding a whole bunch of borders out of all the leftover pieces. I think it looks pretty cool.

I'm also working on a Christmas stocking for the baby since it will already be 3 months old at Christmas. With the other kids I had almost the whole year to work on it after they were born, but now I have to work ahead. It's fun quick work at night while I put my feet up.

And of course there are always various baby blankets I'm working on for the approximately 57 other people at church who are also expecting. Well, that's a little exaggeration but it seems there's a new announcement every other week.

#5) Erin

My baby girl turned 4 yesterday! We've kind of been celebrating a little bit all week. On Tuesday we had some friends over for supper. It was Shrove Tuesday so we had the traditional pancakes. After supper we sang Happy Birthday and had cake. Not exactly the most nutritious meal, I guess, but exceptions can be made for special occasions, right?



On Thursday Luke and I made brownies and brought them to Erin's school to share with her classmates. The birthday person always gets to wear a little crown and be the leader that day. They light a little candle and sing too.



And yesterday morning we opened presents. Quite a haul.


Two were for Luke since Aunt Kelly sent his presents now - the best present ever for him. A spy gadget set & "night vision" goggles. He's been playing with them non-stop and even wore them to Target yesterday (where he promptly felt goofy & embarrassed for wearing them in public). He's been having fun setting up the motion detector in hidden places and then hearing it when we walk past.


Erin got some new furniture for her doll house and a whole bunch of new clothes. Good thing since she doesn't need more toys but she will definitely be too big for a lot of her clothes this spring and summer.




Well, that was longer than I anticipated but it's been a long time coming I guess. Probably next up will be pictures of the garage and maybe a new bunk bed in Luke's room. Time to get the 4-year-old out of the crib, don't you think?

Just in case you still wanted to see

Remember the wall in our bedroom Alec painted? The one he put our names on? The one that looks like this now?

Now you can finally see what Alec painted. I give you permission.

No problem (kind of)

Today Luke is taking a nap in his new room and bed. I waited until almost 2:30 so he was good and tired (nap time is usually 2:00 and he's always ready to climb into bed by then). He got up once and said, "I wake up now," but I put him back in and he went right to sleep. I hope that's all it'll take!

Remember "Big boy in a little bed?" Now the picture looks like "little boy in a big bed."


We have a bed rail that I tried to put together, but the stupid thing is so tight I couldn't put the last screw in. I'll let Alec do it tonight. So far, I haven't heard any bumps of little people falling out of bed. Here's a closer picture of the sleeping beauty:


Like the paint job and wallpaper?

Here are some pictures of the new carpet. At last! It is so quiet up there now - I love it!

The stairwell:


The closet (my side):


Alec's side:


Our room - even the cats like it!

The vacuum is there because carpet is very messy to put in. I've already changed the vacuum bag since it was so full of little fibers. I still need to do the stairs but I'm waiting until Luke gets up.

I already took out all of Luke's clothes from the dresser and will put them in his new one later. I filled the nursery dresser with baby clothes - no more boxes and bags and I feel a lot more ready.

Speaking of ready, I saw my OB again today. She scheduled an induction for 2 weeks from today, the 16th, but then told me she didn't think I would make it to then. I am just over 2 cm dilated (up from 0 in one week's time is pretty good for week 37, I guess) and I have been having a lot more and stronger contractions. Last night they hurt quite a bit. She said she was sorry to rejoice in my discomfort but that was great news.

Not Yet

Today I had my first exam where they check to see if I'm dilated at all. The doctor was surprised that the baby's head was down - it's still so far up she couldn't feel it yet (I can feel it on my legs when I sit!). She said I'm closed up tight and thick.

We talked about inductions a little. She said since I'm on a medication, they don't go past the due date. I guess with diabetes it typically gets worse during the last few weeks and since I'm already taking something for it they don't want to push it. She said if I'm still around at week 39 (I'm 37 now) we will schedule an induction for 2-3 days before my due date.

Baby here in 2 1/2 weeks MAX!

I also got a haircut today. It's amazing how a good haircut will make you feel a lot better about yourself. It doesn't hurt that I also LOST 5 pounds in the last 2 weeks and had a really good nap this afternoon. I'm feeling pretty good right now - good enough to eat a Reese's peanut butter cup!

Use your imagination

Today I saw Dr. Kramer again. The baby is now about 6 lbs. 7 oz. (plus or minus a pound, the tech said). She also could not stop commenting on how much hair the baby has. She could see it waving around in the amniotic fluid.

Here's a picture - I'll give you the big version this time. You'll have to try hard to see it and I'll try to explain the picture a little. There is a semi-circle with just black under it. That semi-circle is the outline of the baby's skull. See where it says "hair" with an arrow? All those little stick-uppy lines are hair - also the fuzzy white all around the semi-circle. It's way more than we even saw on Luke's sonograms so maybe I'll get some use out of all those little hairband thingys I got from a friend.



I asked Dr. Kramer if he would induce me if I went overdue like he did with Luke. He said, "No. You're not going to be late." When I asked him how he knew he said, "Because I'm going to induce you at 40 weeks." OK, then. We will definitely have a new baby in this house in no more than 23 days!