Friday, February 27, 2009

Welcome Justus Gary!

Congratulations
to Nate and Caryn on the birth of
~
Justus Gary Gilbert
~
Born at home this morning 8:30am
Weighing 8lb 14oz.
~
Great job Caryn!

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

39 Weeks

Today is 39 weeks for me. Baby is still in the belly. I think the baby has dropped a little more since standing up and walking has gotten more uncomfortable -- I've gained a little bit of a waddle at times. I'm still having very few contractions so I'm guessing that, in the past week since my doctor appt. when I was not dilated at all, I probably am still not dilated much if at all. I know things could happen quickly in the next week but at this rate I'll be headed in for that March 6th c-section. We'll just continue the wait & see process. It is pretty nice to know though that one way or the other, 9 days from now it will all be over, baby will be on the outside, and I get my body back!

Monday, February 23, 2009

Ski Fun: Trip #2

Matt (right) with his friend Aaron last Friday on the slopes --


Thursday, February 19, 2009

Sing For Your Supper

Cookie of the Day

Here's a good resource to help get your kids all sugared up!

Martha Stewart's Cookie of the Day

Straw Discovery

The little girl has finally figured out how to use a straw. Life will be so much easier at restaurants now! For the past, oh I don't know, probably the past year, I've tried to introduce the straw to her at different times. She'd either chew on it or blow into it. Just couldn't get to her to grasp the concept of sucking on it. Earlier this week I got the straw cup out to try again and this time she seemed to get it. Now I'm using this cup every day with her afternoon snack so she gets practice. She's also begun drinking out of an open cup by herself. After she brushes her teeth, I give her a little bit of water in a cup. I started just holding the cup & giving her a couple sips of my water, but she tried it herself and is doing pretty well with it (rather than just dumping it down the front of herself like she used to do when she'd try). My little baby is growing up!

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Pock-a-Rosey

I taught Madison 'Ring Around the Rosey' and she is just fascinated with it. She'll take my hands anytime there's music on, thinking that any music = "all fall down". She'll also do Ring Around the Rosey by herself. She watches her reflection in the dishwasher, walks/dances in a circle, then plops to the floor. Tonight while changing her before bed, she was singing "Pock-a-rosey, pock-a-rosey, pock-a-rosey." Is that too cute or what. ;-)

Valentine Tots

We had a really fun Valentine's Day this year. The focus of Valentine's Day sure changes with kids, that's for sure! Not a romantic outing but instead a little tots Valentine's party. I think we had about 10 little kids, ranging in age from 3 months to 5 years. It was a little crazy -- but that's life with little kids! -- but overall it went very smoothly and everyone had a great time. (A big thanks to my sister for doing a bulk of the planning and to my parents for letting us use the big room in their new addition.) Here are some photos of the fun (and the rest are on Picasa) --

Playing a bean bag toss game



The kids exchanged Valentines they brought. They decorated little bags to put them in before the exchange.


Plenty of babies on hand...



...and more to come in a few weeks!

Lunch included heart-shaped pb&j and jello jigglers
The kids watched Horton Hears a Who (the old cartoon) after lunch to give the moms a 20-minute window in which we could eat our lunch in peace!
Then more games - Bowling...
...and playing Angelina Ballerina
The littlest party-goer. Katrina is getting so big!

Monday, February 16, 2009

Rub-A-Dub

Rub-a-dub dub, a little girl in the tub --

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Tributes and Milestones

Anyone else use Google.com for their searches? Anyone else notice that Google decided to pay tribute today to Darwin for his 200th birthday... when it's also Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday? Nice to know who they think is more important.

I like the title of Ray Comfort's new book -- "You Can Lead an Athiest to Evidence, But You Can't Make Him Think."

My milestone celebration today is not a 200 year mark but a 2 and 3 week mark. I've been sick for 2 weeks now... not that I'm celebrating having a cold but after 2 long weeks, I finally feel like I'm almost better. Still have some of the congestion coming back now & then but at least I can sort of smell now. I'm also now 3 weeks from my due date, so technically, it could be any day. While I realize I could go early this time (I was a week overdue last time), I personally don't see myself going into labor until at least March. Maybe it will be a February birth, but I don't know, I just doubt it. But despite my intuition, I have my list for the hospital put together & need to start actually putting those things into a bag to have ready. I also had the brilliant notion at the store the other day that, oh yeah, it probably would be a good idea to buy some newborn diapers! I'm a little slow but I get there eventually. ;-)

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Light In The Tunnel

I think I'm finally seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. This cold hit me so severely this time - knocked me out for the past week. I'm still very congested, can't taste much and can't smell at all, but for the first time in a week, I have a little bit of energy today and have been able to get on my feet. Being out of commission for a full week when you have only one month left to get ready for a baby is pretty frustrating! I haven't been able to taste or smell ANYthing for days now -- that's getting old. It has proven to be a problem too, especially when I haven't been able to smell a poopy diaper and Madison ends up walking around in it for like an hour before I happen to peek in there. Eew! Poor thing.

Madison came down with the cold yesterday. She is congested, sneezing & has a runny nose today but is otherwise, surprisingly, in good spirits. Hopefully it'll just be a 'little' cold for her instead of hitting as hard as it did with me. So far Matt has been healthy - pray he remains so!