37 Week Update

Feeling like I have Santa's belly these days, although it is hard as a rock rather than like a bowl full of jelly.

Just returned from the doctor. No change! Still at 1cm, still pretty high. Looks like this one has a chance at going the distance. In general, I am feeling pretty good these days. Last night was horrible though. We had an authentic Mennonite meal with some friends and I ate one too many verenika (delicious). I was up from 12-2am with heartburn that would not go away despite taking my second pepcid in 2 hours. Then, Ben woke and fussed for unknown reasons from 4-6am. He settled back in and the alarm went off at 6:30am, although Ben did sleep until 7:30am which hasn't happened in...ever maybe. I am guessing that was some practice for bringing home a newborn. Oh the joys. ha.

Here are the votes for Nate's birthday. I think it is funny that 4 people picked the 10th. The 10th is quite a date in my family (good and bad), so we might as well add another thing to remember!

December 1 @ 2am - Ray (Sorry Ray, but you are welcome to pick again.)
December 6 @ 2pm - Lauren
December 7 @ 4:17am - Grandma Sherrill
December 10 @ 8am - Priscilla
December 10 @ 11:48pm - Becky
December 10 - Julie
December 10 - Ryan
December 14 - Kelly
December 18 - Darby

By the way - I have 2 friends that are due right around the same as me. We are all expecting our second child, and all the new babies are boys. Too bad we all 3 live in different states. It would be so fun to finish up our pregnancies together and see our little boys grow up together.

Until something happens...

Decorating the Christmas Tree

Ben helped me decorate the tree this year. He loved it!

Fluffing the tree.

I laid down to get some of the bottom branches and he wiggled in and sat on me. I moved him and he did it again and again. So we got a picture.

I know this is terribly blurry, but he was so proud that he put some tissue paper in the tree as his first decoration.

36 Week Update

Ben loves giving his baby brother kisses and hugs! He knows he is in my belly when we ask about baby Nate. Now, what will his little brain think when he is no longer in my belly but screaming and getting all the attention? Hum...


We had the 36 week appointment today. I am only dilated to 1cm and not looking like much progress is happening yet. Everything else looked great though.

I am officially ready to have this baby! I still have one more week until I am full term, so I will (im)patiently wait until at least then. I keep telling Ryan that I don't see why Nate can't arrive on Tuesday, November 30. He keeps telling me to quit thinking like that or I will be very disappointed when I carry him until his due date. He's right. But, I'm just really ready. I remember feeling like this when I was pregnant with Ben.

It is time to make your guesses of when Nate will arrive. Send me an email or leave a comment of when you guess Nate will make his debut. I am 37 weeks (full term) on Monday, November 29th. I know there are many of you that read my blog, but never comment so here is your chance to let me know you read all about us! I would love to know who keeps up with us.

Lately

Ben loved the water hose in the warm weather and is obsessed with washing his hands and brushing his teeth right now! He has made up signs for both. We have found him multiple times sitting on the toilet (lid down) in the dark with his toothbrush and toothpaste in hand. So, I thought we would try some water play yesterday. He worked very hard for about 45 minutes! The only reason we had to stop was because he decided to pour water on the floor after my first warning not to. Darn. We will definitely do this again though!

I think I have mentioned before just how much Ben loves putting away the groceries. I MUST put all the bags in the middle of the kitchen floor and he puts every item away, one by one. Frig and pantry. He used to be happy just taking the cans to the pantry. Now, he insists on being lifted to the appropriate shelf so he can put it where it belongs. In the video he says "Up!" when he walks over and turns himself around in front of Ryan. Please excuse the picnic table - we were drying it off from the rain to take to the church.

I was 'that mom' a few days ago. Ben wanted to wear his rain boots, so I let him. I knew he wanted to wear them because he put them on all by himself and then proudly came to show me. So, I grabbed the camera and he was willing to proudly show me again.

One Small Step...

Yesterday evening Ben clearly and loudly asked for more "brocci" (broccoli cheese soup).

One small step for language acquisition.

And asked in front of our 4 adult and 2 toddler dinner guests.

One giant leap for the parent's ego.

He inhaled it again today for lunch.

Always keep your drink options open: water, juice/water, and milk.
Also notice that they are in height order - I didn't sort them like that :)

I left the room and when I came back around the corner I found this. haha.

The Honest Truth

I don't need parents. I can do it all by myself!

I don't keep a baby book, but rather a blog. And somehow I generally remember things not quite as they were if they aren't written down soon after taking place. Since this is the place that I look back at to remember, I thought I owed it to myself and all you faithful readers to tell some honest truths about my perfect son Benjamin and our loving, adorable family. ha.

Once Nate starts teething I want to be able to remember what it was like for Ben. Teething is the worst thing to ever happen to us and it just seems to happen constantly and for a long period of time!

When Ben started getting his first teeth (always in multiples) he cried a lot and didn't sleep well.

He got a little older and was eating more pureed foods so when teething he would refuse to eat. Sometimes he refused multiple meals in a day. I made lots of smoothies so he would at least get some nutrition while on his hunger strike.

Then, he had a few more teeth and more mobility and independence. So, with teething came biting and hitting.

Now he is completely mobile and thinks he is completely independent and has some verbal skills. Therefore with teething he has instituted proficient and often over-use of the word "no" and will deliberately do what we asked him not to do or not do what we asked him to do.

All kids go through stages. No kid is perfect. Blah Blah Blah. My kid has split personalities. There is the teething Ben and the non-teething Ben. When teething, we get a totally different child that is barely recognizable and patience-limiting to say the least. When he is not teething, he is a complete joy and very compliant.

We know now that as soon as we see bad behavior, we check his mouth. We have never been wrong. It doesn't make it any less frustrating and we certainly don't allow the misbehavior when he is teething.

I will share one story so you all know how human we are and how our angel children can turn devilish in an instant. But, somehow we still love them.

Last Wednesday we were at our church plant team meeting. Our team consists of three married couples (including us) and we all have one child (Ben - 20 months, Jackson - 14 months, Nadia - 10 months). We meet in one of our homes and enjoy dinner with the kids strapped into high chairs. Then, the meeting begins and the toys come out and chaos is sure to ensue in some form or another. Last Wednesday was the first time having the newest couple (Nadia's parents) join our team as they just moved here from LA. We were praying for each other to open our meeting, Ben and Jackson were walking around with toys and Nadia was in a Johnny Jump-up thing in a doorway. It was my turn to pray and (as always) I was praying with my eyes wide open to watch my adorable toddler. About one sentence in Ben walked over to an unsuspecting Nadia and threw a hard plastic toy directly in her face. I said 'Amen' mid-sentence and rushed over to Nadia. The long-held breath and coming scream was enough to have her mother by my side in a split second to comfort her and Ben and I proceeded into the next room where he had to sit in time out, screaming his head off as if I had beat him (I wanted to, but I didn't touch him, I promise!). And that statement does not represent my stance on spanking - I'm not going there in this post. I could hear all the adult whispers of "what happened?" and "I didn't see it!" as they awaited my return to the room. After Ben calmed down and my blood pressure dropped back to near normal, we rejoined the group and Ben gave hugs and kisses as his apology to Nadia. And, while that was by far the worst thing that happened in that meeting, it wasn't the last time Ben was discipined that evening. I came home and cried and had to dig deep in my soul to hug and kiss that boy goodnight that evening. I love him all the time, but there are moments that I just don't want to be his friend :)

Hope that gave you all a laugh knowing your days of parenting are behind you or maybe it brought back a vivid memory of something similar that happened to you once. Or, maybe now you just know that even missionary kids misbehave terribly and we are all just trying our best to raise Godly children and the sin nature is alive and well from an early age!

Measurement Sono Update

Everything is right on track! Nate measured 34 weeks, 2 days and I am 34 weeks, 4 days. He weighs 4 lb 14 oz. We were able to see his little heart beating away and watch his chest rise and fall. There was nothing on the sono to make us worry.

Thank you to everyone that prayed for us. Against my normal tendencies I was not worried going in this morning. I woke up at 4am worried I would forget to drink the 24 oz of water before the sono or forget Ben's snack when we dropped him off. ha.

My next appointment is a week from Wednesday.