An invasion

As Katherine has been more interested in her toys and preferring certain ones, I am realizing that we have been invaded by stuffed animals. For a long time it was easy to ignore. She did not care for them and they were all neatly contained in a basket with the exception of one or two that I chose to put in her bed with her in attempts of her attaching to a "lovey". Now, however she moves them out of the said basket, onto her bed, the couch, my bed, the kitchen, the car, EVERYWHERE! I did not realize how many stuffed animals we have accumulated over the past 2.5 years until now. I know I have bought some and she has been given many others as gifts as well. It is an easy thing to give at Christmas, Valentines, Easter . . . I am resolving though to buy not a single additional stuffed animal for this child. I bought her a Bitty Baby from the American Doll boutique as a big sister gift but that is different. Every girl needs a really nice baby doll.

First Theater Movie

Tonight we took Katherine to see Wall-E at the movie theater. Just last week Sam and I were discussing that she has the attention span to watch a movie for 2 hours (don't ask how I know this, I hate to admit it). So, we wondered if she would sit through a theater movie. Sam actually suggested Wall-E since she loves robots. So, when Jen decided to celebrate her birthday by going to see that movie, we took Katherine. It was her first real movie theater experience. She did see 2-3 movies as an infant, but she slept through those.

She was such a big girl. She sat in her own theater seat for about half of the time and surprisingly it did not collapse on her. She sat in my lap for most of the other half of the movie. I think she enjoyed the movie though it was probably a little over her head. Pixar does such great animation that the robots did not appear very cartoonish. There also was not a lot of dialogue at the beginning when it was just robots and I am not sure if she got much of the actual story. For those of you with kids the same age, this would be a fine movie to go to, there was nothing inappropriate, but there are probably better movies for kids this age that they would enjoy more.

BooBoo

George, Shannon and kids came over for dinner and to hang out. It has been way too long since we have been together and we wanted to spend some time before Squeak arrives. After dinner we went to the backyard to let the kids play. Well, Katherine tripped and totally fell and did a face plant on the sidewalk. I actually heard her head hit the concrete. You have never seen a pregnant lady move so fast as I ran to pick her up. She had a blue, scraped goose egg on her forehead almost immediately as well as scraped knees and elbows. Sam went to get her an ice pack which was quite humorous and I sat and cuddled with her. She was OK and went back to play after about 5 minutes.

You would never know what lurks beneath those bangs...
Look, I have a big red bump!

I tried to take a photo of the big bump but her bangs covered it just perfectly and she was not very cooperative. She has been lucky and has not had too many injuries. I just hate it when she gets hurt. She did complain a few times tonight that it hurt so we gave her some Tylenol before bed.

Katherine's 1st Homework Assignment

That is a milestone that you don't normally see in a baby book. Katherine is attending a new "school" (really Mother's Day Out) this summer. She is the youngest in her class and some of the kids are a full year and a half older than her. It will not be like that in the fall but it is kind of fun for the summer and she is doing great. Well, Katherine came home on Tuesday with a homework assignment. They made an alphabet book where each page represents one letter. We were to go through magazines and cut out pictures that started with "A", "B", and "C" and then glue them on the page and label them. Katherine had a lot more fun practicing her scissor and glue skills than actually looking for words that started with certain letters. She is just starting to learn her letters so she has no clue about phonics yet. I would find a picture and then tell her, "Katherine, we are looking for something that starts with a b. Do you see a butterfly on this page". Then she would find it, cut it out and glue it on the page.


She did understand that she was making an ABC book for school and you can see how proud she is of her creation. If you can't tell, the "b" page is on the left with a butterfly, bunny, bear and basket. The "c" page is on the right with "crocs", a carpet from Aladdin, and a cat. This weekend we have to find pictures for "D", "E", "F", and "G".

Time to pack the bags

This is what the midwife told me yesterday. Tomorrow I am considered full term so we need to be ready. Yikes! While that is so exciting, I do not yet feel ready. This baby is much easier to take care of where she is than when she comes out. So, this weekend my projects include packing, getting my phone and email lists together, and getting everything ready for Katherine to spend a few days away from home when the baby comes.

I think I have put off the task of packing because last time I did it at 37 weeks with hopeful anticipation that Katherine would therefore come soon. When my due date came and went with no Katherine it was all the more disappointing. Maybe I don't want to jinx it, hoping that by not being ready Squeak will come?

So everything at the midwife appointment was great. I took Katherine with me this time and she behaved so well. I was really glad and treated her to a smoothie afterwards. We have been reading some books called Waiting for Baby and My New Baby, so she knew what to expect at the doctors office. She impressed the nurse when she knew what the stethoscope was when they took my blood pressure. She helped midwife Jane measure my tummy and she listened to Squeak's heartbeat.

Sam and I have discussed that we are so glad that Katherine will be almost 2 and a half when Squeak arrives. I am sure we could have handled kids closer if that is what had happened but when she was turning 2 I did not feel like she would have been ready. Being a little older she really seems to understand what is going on. She is excited about baby sister and cannot wait to hold her and meet her. She seems so much more able to entertain herself and is so independent compared to a few months ago. I am glad that we waited a little longer than the original plan because it has been so much fun to enjoy Katherine by herself for the past few months.

I am experiencing weird feelings around this though. I often grieve the loss of Katherine being my only child. Is that weird? Did any other mom's out there feel this? I am sad for her and how her world will change so dramatically in the next month. I am sad that she will no longer get mom and dad's undivided attention. I am selfishly sad that I will not be able to spend as much time with her while I am having to spend so much time with Squeak, especially at first when all I will be doing is nursing. I so enjoy Katherine and spending time with her. As she has gotten older and her personality has really started to show we have so much fun. I hate that she may be hurt and not understand why mommy cannot do all the things she used to do. (FYI - just writing this has actually made me start to cry!)

I know that I will love Squeak as much as I love Katherine. I cannot wait to meet her. I also know that one of the greatest gifts I can give Katherine is a sibling. I cannot wait to see them become best friends as only sisters can. It just pains me to think of the pain that Katherine may experience before she is able to enjoy her sister.

Final touches

If any of you have done any home projects, you know that there are some things that kind of linger on unfinished for awhile. While we may not have the rest of the house put back together yet, I think we are finally done with the bathroom remodel! It feels so great. Here are a few of our final touches.
It has always bugged us that our small shower has no shelves and we had to use a cheap shelf hung from the shower for all of my bottles. It is in horrible shape, looks bad and has stuff fall off all the time.
Sooooo, we had them make some shelves to be installed in a corner. This was a splurge that I really wanted. The top shelf is large enough for all of my bottles. I have a hook for my washcloth and razor and the bottom shelf (which currently has Katherine's letters on it) is to prop my leg for shaving. No longer will I be falling over while trying to shave.


The final project to be completed was my scrapbook armoire that turned the dressing room into a craft room. I am soooooo excited about this. I do not know why I did not think of it earlier. If any of you have a dressing room that takes up space but is not being used, I recommend turning it into a craft or office area.

Here is the outside of the piece. It is cherry stain with brushed nickel hardware. I need to put a plant on top to make it look a little more homey in that area.
Here it is open. You can see there is storage on the doors for all of my tools, shelves for albums, photo boxes and larger tools, and a rolling card for paper and other things.

I like that when the work space tray is pulled out there is a lot of work space and everything is right there. But I think that my favorite thing about this scrapbook armoire is that when I need to stop working, I do not need to put everything away. During Katherine's nap I was able to almost complete one page. I heard her waking up and in less than a minute I had pushed the tray back in, the roller cart under the desk and closed the doors. Everything is ready for me to start working again. Best of all, she has no idea of the treasures behind those doors!

28 months

Katherine you are now 28 months old. Where has the time gone? You continue to amaze your daddy and me with all that you are saying and doing. This age is both the most fun and in many ways the most challenging as you are gaining new language skills and independence. These are often very enjoyable but often they can lead to disobedience and discipline. No one likes discipline but it is necessary.

This month I have seen your little brain working overtime as you process things. You have been asking who, what, and where for some time. Those are pretty straightforward and easy to answer. Sometimes though it can get a little annoying when you ask over and over "where?" even when I answer the question. You love to ask, "What's that?" and "What are you doing?" Now you are asking how and why questions which can be more difficult. I love your curiosity though. Tonight daddy was putting more dirt in the hole left when our tree was cut down. You asked "Daddy, what are you doing?" He told you and then you said, "why?" several times. He did a great explanation of the storm, why we cut down the tree and the decomposition of the tree roots. You better be careful when you ask your daddy "why?" you might get more of an answer than you were wanting.

You are becoming more imaginative. You tell long stories about what you have been doing and sometimes you insert funny things to see if we are paying attention. You are also becoming more imaginative with your play. You love to play with your doll house and with your play kitchen. You make me peanut butter and jelly, waffle, pizza sandwiches and cake soup! You are also really enjoying playing with your baby doll and pretending to take care of her.

I think that this month you have started to have dreams at night and at nap. There have been a few times when you have woken up crying differently than usual and when I went in your heart was beating fast. When I asked if you were scared you would say yes. I hate that you sometimes wake up scared. You also have some fun dreams too. The other day when you woke up from nap you were all excited to tell me about the 2 bears that were going up the ladder and one fell and bumped his head. Since we have no books or movies with this story I asked if you had a dream about it and you seemed to understand and said yes.

You are still learning the concept of sharing. Sometimes it comes easily and sometimes we have to work on it. One area of sharing that you have down is sharing food. At dinner you will give mommy something to eat from your plate and take something from her plate. Then you say that we are sharing. The problem is that often I don't want what you have given me and do not understand that sharing your peas with me in order for me to share some fruit with you is not an even trade.

You can be a pretty silly girl. You are always doing silly things in the car. Last week you decided to use your feet to hold your sippy cup. When we draw we will sometimes trace your hand or foot. The other night you wanted me to trace your head and then your bum. You stood up and put your head on the paper to trace. It was pretty silly!

You like having your desk in your room and you now are drawing pictures purposefully. You pulled out your blue crayon and drew a lot of lines and told me it was the ocean. Then you drew some circles in the water and told me they were fish. It was the first picture you drew where what you said you were drawing actually resembled what I was seeing. You are good at drawing lines and circles as well. This is a photo of you having your "little lamb" draw a picture for you. She was drawing grass to eat.

The other day you surprised me. We keep your Little People Farm in the hall closet. You went to the closet and undid the rubber band that "baby proofed" the cabinet all by yourself. I guess there is no point to having that anymore except you seemed to think it should be there when I tried to leave it off. You took out your toys and put the rubber band on and then went to play with them. 15-20 minutes later I was in the kitchen and I heard you asking for the rubber band. You had put all the pieces back in their bag and put the bag back in the cabinet. I was so proud that you cleaned up your toys on your own without me telling you to. Cleaning up toys has not been your strength, especially without being told.

As with most kids your age, you have a few sounds that you say incorrectly. I have been paying attention to some of those to make sure that they do develop. I am excited that you are now correctly saying your /k/ at least half of the time. This means that you now say "Kafrine" instead of "Fafrine" when someone asks you your name.

You have done a great job in your big girl bed. Even after we took off the bed rail you only fell out of bed once. Your daddy and I both really enjoy snuggling in bed with you to read books and have both been found guilty of falling asleep with you in bed (in fact, I think daddy is there right now). You love this and do everything you can to get us to stay with you. Sometimes it means that your bedtime gets later and later but it is so tempting for both of us to spend that extra time with you, especially knowing that in a month we will be splitting our time between you and baby sister.

You have begun to show an interest in learning the shapes of letters and numbers. You have been able to say your ABC's and count to 15 for some time but you have not been too interested in identifying their shapes. I have had several people comment that you are so smart and could learn them in a week or less if I drilled you on them. I decided not to do that though because there is really no reason to force a 2 year old to learn unless they are interested. It has nothing to do with when you will read and even if it did, you are only 2. But, now you ask me to draw specific letters and you ask me to identify certain letters. For some reason, your favorite letter is "p". You know that Katherine has a "k", Nana has an "n" and Pops has a "p". You have found a great online alphabet animal game (Thanks Holly and Bree) and you always like to play it in my computer.

I have started to notice a little loss of that sweet childhood innocence where everything in life is good. It shocked me a little when reading the fairy tale of the Little Mermaid (original, not Disney version) and you pointed out the sea witch and said "oooh, she's ugly". I wondered where in the world you learned the concept of ugly and even that word. At the pool this weekend there was a girl who was about 5-6 and kind of obnoxious. You told Nana that she was not nice. Obviously you are going to learn that there are evil things in this world and I want to help you to navigate through that discovery, I was just a little taken aback at the realization that you are aware of these things and you are attaching vocabulary to the concepts. Sometimes you don't know the word, such as "mean" but you do understand the opposite of "nice" is "not nice".

Along with your continual acquisition of new vocabulary words, I am starting to notice your intonation and expressions developing as well. There are so many times that they way you say something will make your dad and I just crack up laughing. I love all of the phrases that you say that I know you directly pick up from me, daddy or Nana. Some examples are: just a minute, be right back, in a little bit, go ahead, I don’t want to, no big deal, that’s silly, and ummmmm no.

Your "unca wheel" (Uncle Will) was in town for work a few weeks ago. You were able to spend more time with him than I was because you were staying with Nana and Pops while daddy and I were out of town. You love your "unca wheel" and have a lot of fun with him. Of course while he was in town we had to go to El Fenix. You enjoyed playing with him by the fountain before we went home.

You are getting a lot of time in the water this summer between spray parks and the pool. Each time you are more and more comfortable with getting wet and exploring. You still do not like going under but you are more interested in playing on the steps, jumping off the side and swimming with mommy. This week at Robert's pool you fell into the water out of the inflatable boat. Luckily I was standing by the boat when it happened so you were right back out of the water. You were both scared and thought it was fun.
You are excited about baby sister coming soon. You play with and nurture your baby doll so well. You are also pretending to be a baby a lot. Yesterday you pretended to be a baby by laying down on the den floor and getting under the area rug. Silly girl!
You love to talk on the phone but your conversations can be pretty difficult. Usually they require the adult on your side of the phone asking you questions so that you can tell the person something on the other side of the phone. This week when you were on the phone with Nana she asked you what you were doing. When you were done answering her, you asked, "Nana, what you doing?" Daddy and I looked at each other in amazement because you were actually keeping a phone conversation going without our help!

Like I mentioned before, we have to discipline you at times. One of the new areas that we struggle with is that you have learned to open the car door. For some reason our car does not have the child proof locks. Sometimes I will unbuckle you so you can climb out and you will scurry to the other side to open the door. You have been told that you will automatically be disciplined with no warnings if you do that. It is soooo dangerous.

You are enjoying sharp objects now. You are obsessed with trying to use a knife at the dinner table to cut things. We have 2 sets of toddler silverware that I let you use but sometimes you try to use our cutlery. You also are learning to use scissors. Again, I have a pair of child scissors but am scared you will find and try to use my scissors. I am trying so hard to keep you safe!

You have really gotten to where you love to watch TV. I was so intentional that you not watch it until you were 18 months old and we were in Norway. It seems that the older you get the more you are interested. Also the more pregnant mommy gets the more she is willing to let you watch it. I have to set limits on how much time you can watch TV or you would be there all day. I never want you to spend too much time in front of the TV or computer because there are so many other activities that are better for you and your growing mind. Your favorite shows are Sesame Street, especially the Elmo section, Bernstein Bears, Little Einsteins, Curious George, Blues Clues, Veggie Tales, Dora, and Clifford. At least they are all good programs.

You love your puppy. It is funny now that you are older that you are telling Hooligan what to do and you try to discipline her. You tell her "get down", "on the carpet", "good dog", "stay" and "no kisses". She does not always obey but then again, she does not always obey me either. The older you get the more Hooligan enjoys you because you can pet her and play with her.

You love to sing and we are constantly singing in the car. I have made you a CD with all of the classic kids songs. Your favorite is the ABC song, I'm a little teapot, and Old MacDonald. I am so glad I made the CD because I was getting tired of trying to remember more songs. I am working on a Sunday School version but I don't have as many good CD's.

Katherine, you are a constant joy. I am so enjoying seeing your personality and character develop. You will be such a great big sister. It is hard to believe that next month when I make your 29 month post you will probably be holding baby Squeak. Even though you will have tough times adjusting to having a sibling, know that your daddy and I love you very much.

Babywearing

At the NASA center in Huntsville, AL

This is an entry for the June Babywearing Photo Contest at Peppermint (a great online and DFW resource for baby carriers). This month's theme is dad's carrying babies. I am so lucky that Sam is such a helpful dad and he carries Katherine almost as much as I do. The only reason it is less is because I am with her more.

I am so excited about baby Squeak arriving in a few weeks because I will be able to try out a lot more baby carriers. With Katherine we had a few but I was a little timid for some reason. Then when she was about 15 months we bought the Patapum. I LOVE IT. This is a back carrier but not bulky like the hard frame backpacks that most people have. I love that it folds up small enough to keep in the car and even carry in the stroller. I like having options. She is 28 months old and still gets carried in the Patapum several times a week. I love that it keeps her with me and allows me to still use my hands. It keeps her safe (several photos are from very un- childproof outings). It also allows Katherine to see from an adults eye level. We have used it for walks around the neighborhood and walks across Scandinavia. I have been through countless airport security checks with her on my back. It is the best $$ I have spent on a baby item.

Anyway, here is a tribute to Sam, my baby wearing husband.

At the Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen





On a boat visiting the fjords of Norway

In the Vasa Museum in Stockholm
In Helsinki in a full snowsuit, hat and mittens
In Colorado at Bishop's Castle

Whose Birthday?

I am a little behind on some posts because I forgot to get the pictures off of our smaller camera.

About 3 weeks ago we had another birthday in our family. Here are the cupcakes from our birthday celebration. Can you guess whose birthday it was? No, it was not Katherine's though Dora and Diego cupcakes would be great for a toddler. I took Katherine with me to buy the cupcakes and this is what she picked. The others were girly and she was not interested in a neutral sheet cake.

The birthday boy was Pops! He was happy to have Dora and Diego cupcakes and actually ate the monkey ( I don't remember his name).

Right now all family birthdays are fun for Katherine. She always gets to help blow out the candles and open the presents. Isn't that fun for her? Really the rest of us are more indifferent to getting older. She has no clue that a birthday is about getting older, she just knows that you get CAKE!

Katherine gave Pops nuts for his birthday and here they are sharing them. I know it is a random gift but Pops always asks for consumable items for his birthday because he has everything he needs and does not want to clutter their house. So, he gets nuts, wine or cheese pretty much for everything.

Clean Up

I realized that I spend too much time on the computer. One of the culprits is reading blogs. It is a serious way for me to have some down time. I don't read and don't have the energy to exercise at 8 months pregnant. I have then all added into my google reader and I log on a few times a day to catch up on my reading. So, this afternoon I went through and deleted a lot of blogs from my reader. Don't worry friends and family, I left you all there. I was deleting photographers, quad families (except for my 2 favorites) and what I call random mommy blogs. I still have 135 subscriptions but a lot of those do not update frequently. I tried to delete those that were clogging my reader and keeping me occupied on insignificant stuff. I did not check how many I had before but I would guess over 200. Hopefully this small housekeeping item will free up some time. If not, I will continue to slash and burn. I continually complain that I do not have enough time to get everything done so I need to try to get rid of those things that drain my time.

pam·per

–verb (used with object)
1. to treat or gratify with extreme or excessive indulgence, kindness, or care: to pamper a child; to pamper one's stomach.

This week has been a week of pampering in more ways than one! On Tuesday when Katherine was at MDO I went to have a pedicure. I don't do that very often but it is summer so I am wearing sandals and being 8 months pregnant there is no way to paint my toenails myself. I chose bright red. When I got home, I realized that it really had been a long time since my last pedicure because Katherine has no recollection of my toenails ever being colored and she thought it was quite funny. Now, whenever she sees my feet she says, "Mommy's toes are red. Nana's toes are red. Katherine's toes are pink. When Katherine is bigger she has red toes too!" I told her we would paint her toenails when she was older. I have no desire to start that at this point.

Today was another day of pampering. Again Katherine was at MDO. So, I scheduled a prenatal massage at a maternity store and spa in town. It was so great and I highly recommend it. For those of you who have recently had babies, they even have a 4th trimester treatment. I have had a number of massages throughout both pregnancies and this was one that I was very impressed with. It was a Christmas present from my mom - Thanks mom.
I have also pampered in another way - this week I have stocked up on some Pampers diapers for Squeak when they were on sale and I had coupons. We do plan to use cloth diapers again but not exclusively and not at the beginning. I bought 2 big packs of newborn size and one huge box of size ones. I put one pack of newborns in the diaper stacker and I was shocked at how tiny they were. I do not remember them being so small with Katherine. I guess I am so used to my big girl now. Here you see a newborn diaper next to one of Katherine's few remaining diapers. She has been potty trained for 3 months now and when we quit using diapers she was still only in a size 3 diaper. For size comparison I put one of the newborn size diapers next to the baby doll that I bought for Squeak to give Katherine. It looks like it would almost fit the Bitty Baby.

I am coming along on getting ready for Squeak. All of the clothes are washed with the exception of a few that had stains I need to treat. About half of the blankets and burp cloths have been washed as well. The cloth diapers are in the washer right now. Today Madi came over and helped me put away all of these newly washed items, clean Squeak's room of all the clutter and hang pictures on the wall.

This is the view of the room that you all have seen before. We are keeping the blue and white toile. I have kind of given up on "officially" accessorizing with another color. I bought a piece of blue and yellow floral fabric and did not like it. I will just use things that I have and see what happens. The left corner had the rocker when this was Katherine's room but we have moved it to the other side now that there is not a twin bed in this room. I imagine that this corner will be filled with toys since my goal is to have more toys in the bedrooms and less in the den. Above the crib we will put the name but since we don't have the final name chosen yet . . .

My mom found the pictures that were in her room as a little girl. Since toile seems kind of vintage to me I thought it might be fun to use Nana's pictures. I remember the two above the changing table from my grandparents house. I always thought they were reproductions of some impressionist but they are actually done by a local artist who died a few years ago.

This corner has two more pictures of my moms. I still need to work on this area as it seems too cluttered to me right now. Madi and I just kind of took everything that I had set out as possibilities and placed them. I think it is too much though.

36 weeks

I had my appointment yesterday with both my midwife and my OB. I still have no idea why my OB requested that we all meet together. The midwife said that she has only done this a few times with higher risk pregnancies. The good thing was that Sam came with me so that he could meet them both.


Updates: I gained 2 more pounds so a total of 24 pounds. Blood pressure it good. Fundal height (belly size/growth) was 36 cm so exactly what it should be at 36 weeks. Lastly, my Group B Strep test came back positive. So, the issue of whether to take antibiotics or not based on my 8 week test is no longer an issue. I will have IV antibiotics when I get to the hospital.


Several people have asked me about my birth plan so I thought this was a good time to fill you in on what we are planning. With Katherine I had a c-section 3 days past my due date. This was because we found out at that time that she was breech. When an ultrasound was done to confirm this, we also discovered that my amniotic fluid was low and Katherine was small for a term baby. So, I was scheduled for a c-section that day.


At my post-natal appointment I asked my OB about a VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean) for future pregnancies. He told me that their practice did not do them but that I was a great candidate for one if the baby was not breech. So, it has always been my desire to have a vaginal birth rather than a scheduled c-section. I know that not all people who have had c-sections in the past desire a VBAC and that is fine. If I had a long hard labor that ended in a c-section I might feel differently but I had not a single contraction.


I joined a yahoo group for people who have had c-sections and learned a lot. Most importantly I learned that I am so lucky to not have negative feelings toward my birth with Katherine. Some of the women in this group are still dealing with issues related to their c-section 20 years after the fact. Sure, I regret that I did not have the labor and delivery that I had hoped for but given Katherine's position, I truly feel like my c-section was necessary.


So, with this pregnancy I have been preparing to avoid a c-section. I started by switching my practicioner since my former OB does not do VBAC's. I am seeing a midwife who practices at a hospital. There are two midwives in a practice with about 8 OB's who are all supportive of VBAC's. I absolutely love my midwife and the difference in how a midwife and an OB practice. I have also been seeing a chiropractor who specializes in maternity patients. I began seeing her long before I was pregnant and now see her weekly. There are chiropractic techniques that help your body encourage a baby to be in the proper position. Who knows if Squeak would have had a tendency to be breech or not, but she has been head down since at least 28 weeks. Since that is the reason for my c-section, having her head down makes things look very good for a VBAC. My chiropractor is also a doula and recently completed her midwifery training. She will be my doula and attending the birth. A doula is a professional labor assistant that helps out during labor and delivery.


A lot of people have asked me about having a natural childbirth. That was my goal with Katherine. I took the Bradley classes and had every intention of having an intervention-free, medication-free birth. I still would love that but this time my goal is really to have a VBAC and avoid major abdominal surgery. If I end up with an epidural but avoid surgery, I will be fine with that. There are a lot of reasons why I prefer a natural childbirth that I don't need to go into but I would certainly like the freedom to walk around and labor and deliver in different positions. Having an epidural confines you to bed. I think with a VBAC, it is important to have as many options available as possible and being flat on my back in bed may not allow me to be successful.


We are getting so excited about Squeak's arrival as my due date is only a month away. A friend had their baby this week and I was able to hold her only about 14 hours after birth. I forget how small they are. I have been busy washing all of Katherine's tiny clothes and reminiscing when I put them away. We still have not settled on a name. We are down to three choices. We don't share, so don't ask but do pray that we settle on one soon.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's day to my dad, Katherine's Pops, and to Sam. Saturday we joined my parents a the pool at their country club. I grew up going there and probably had not been there since I graduated from high school. They are in the process of renovating the kid area to add a spray park. That means they took out the wading pool and there was only one kids pool. It was barely shallow enough for Katherine to walk by herself and she preferred being in a floaty or held by one of us.

Katherine in the pool with Pops and Daddy

Sunday we went to church. I made sure I got a photo of Katherine with her daddy before church because I knew that those cute pony tails would be gone by the time we got home. Sam was awakened by Katherine bringing him a present. After lunch they spent a little time together in the office where she gave him a bag she made at school full of pictures and goodies.

Yes, Katherine is learning to use scissors - watch out.

For dinner we took a picnic to a local park. It was a really nice night. Sam and Katherine had a blast on the swing going really high. I love the looks on her face in these pictures as she is so excited.

I am so lucky that Katherine has such a great daddy. He loves to spend time with her and he jumps right in to help out in any way that I need. I can really tell how much she loves her daddy when it is a week that he is working late. She will ask for him over and over because she misses him.