Random Cheesiness

I got to hear my baby brother or sister's heartbeat today! It was sooooo cool! I also got my bottom left "i" tooth the other day and am working on some more...so I have been keeping mommy up and giving her practice for when the baby comes!



Mommy and I got our pictures taken yesterday. Mommy got a couple of me before the shoot...my hair is getting so long I can do two piggies now! I sure like to smell the flowers.

33 week appointment

I had my 33 week appointment today. Reece got to tag along for the first time and meet all the doctors. She is such a social butterfly. So...I was having contractions all day yesterday and through the night too. I was up at 3:30 this am and am super tired now (can't wait for Reece to nap this afternoon). The contractions were every 10 to 20 minutes and were 20 to 30 seconds long. I told the nurse practioner (this is who I usually see) and she was a bit concerned and wanted to "check" me. Apparently I am already 50% effaced...not dilated yet though. She wants me to keep a watch on these contractions and if they are getting longer in length like 40 to 60 seconds and 4 an hour, they want to see me. For now she said when I have them I should lay down and drink water. She said if they change at all from the way they have been (longer, hurt more, etc), they want to know. Otherwise I am to go back in 2 weeks (35 weeks) on Sept 11th. She also wants me to have another sonogram because apparently the measurements were way off on the one I had 2 weeks ago. Having another one should help for accuracy and they should be able to schedule something at that point. She said according to the records the sonographer documented, the baby's head is measuring 4 weeks ahead (if you know my husband's family well, you know this is probably normal...Reece's head has always been in the 90th%...poor girl)...the baby's stomach is measuring 2 weeks ahead, and the leg was measuring a week behind...as is my stomach. She thinks it was a little off due to the baby being breach and the fact that I am carrying deep (which explains the low back pain and recent nightly heartburn). The sonographer had a hard time measuring the leg due to it being breach so this makes sense to me. So in 2 weeks it's another sono and hopefully a real date of delivery!!! And we are pretty sure the baby is no longer breach so hopefully we will be able to get better measurements.

Everything else is going fine...baby's heartbeat was 133.

32 Week Belly Comparison

Here's another belly comparison...Top one was with Reece at 32 weeks...Nice and round and high...bottom one is 32 weeks with baby 2...long and low. I am pretty sure the baby is no longer breech either. I think it flipped 2 days after the last appointment. I think I can tell because I feel almost 100% better and I feel more movement off to the side and top whereas before I felt all movement down low. I have an appointment on Wednesday so hopefully they will be able to tell me. If we schedule the c-section 2 weeks prior to my due date, we are looking at 40 days left...we are sooooo excited and sooooo scared all at the same time!!!

Happy 90th Birthday, Grandpa!

Yesterday was my grandpa's 90th birthday party. My mom and uncle (grandpa's kids) threw him a surprise birthday at his favorite resturant - Hometown Buffet. My grandparents meet friends there once a week. My grandpa is a retired pastor so he had a lot of friends from his old church come to the party, as well as people from the nursing home, friends from the church they had been attending, etc. There were about 60 people there. Grandpa has done so much for so many people...it was a very emotional day for everyone including the staff at Hometown Buffet who serve him every week. My mom and uncle put together a slideshow filled with pictures of grandpa and his family. Someone spoke of things that were happening a 100 years ago (the price of things, life expectancy, etc) and told of grandpa's life. This was all very hard for grandpa as he is use to being the guy to throw these types of parties and he is not getting around too well with having mulitple strokes. But he said he had a fabulous time.

Grandpa has been such a big part of my life, mostly in a spiritual way. The example he has set and his love for Jesus Christ are amazing. He is excited to soon leave this horrible earth and see his Savior for who he has been faithful to for so many years. Grandpa was a big part of Brock and I's wedding day and we are glad we got him on video tape conducting part of the ceremony. That was very special to me and I will never forget it.

Surprise! This was Grandpa and Grandma as they entered the room full of friends and family.


Mom, Evan (my younger brother), grandma, me, Uncle Dave, and of course the honoree, grandpa - Rev Alvin Gage

Reece's new room

Reecey's new room is FINALLY done with my million finishing touches. She has been sleeping in the room for almost 2 weeks despite it not being finished. So here are many pictures of the new room in the next 2 posts (hey, it's a big room). She loves her new room!!


Big bed

Growth chart (from uppercase living) and built in desk.
Dark picture of window and little table and chairs

This table and chairs I got from a garage sale for $8 but it didn't look like this when I bought it. It had stickers and marker all over it, a huge Peter Rabbit design on the top, and one of the legs was broken. I cleaned it up, painted it, fixed the leg (well, daddy did), and completed it with this flower from uppercase living which matches the flowers on her bedding.

Reece's new room continued

31 week appointment

I had my 31 week appointment today and I finally found out why I am already sooooo uncomfortable. The baby is weighing in at 4lbs 1 ounce already and is breach!!! Based on this the baby is measuring 2 weeks ahead of schedule. The exact words from the doctor are "This baby will be nice size". Nice?!! Good thing I am having a c-section! Reece was 6lbs 15 ounces and 9 days late...soooo not sure what that means about size but he said he/she would be bigger than 6' 15. Baby's heartbeat was 162...highest yet and pretty close to where Reece's was. So I am really thinking girl now not to mention how stubborn...but will she be a big gal or what? But I have always heard boys are usually bigger...so...who knows. Please vote using the expect net link to the upper right.


Here is a picture of the face...laying horizontal, looking straight at us...look at those big eyes! I was kind of scared of this picture!

This one is the profile...you can see the nose and lips...legs bent up by the face (I think) and hand/arm over the head (I think)...these are much harder to see then the last ones.

Kissin' Cousins

We decided to get the cousin's pictures taken all together now that they are all one. This will be one of the last chances to get just the "3 musketeers" since "round 2" is approaching. All the kids had pretty bad colds and were not feeling well but we did manage to get a couple of decent shots...but you can tell they aren't their smiley selfs!

Big Girl Bed Project - Day/Night #2 and #3

The first night sleeping in her big bed (Tuesday night into Wednesday morning) went very well. Reece slept all night in the bed but had an earlier "rise and shine" than normal - 5:30am as oppossed to 7 or 7:30. I think as soon as the sun light hit the room and she saw where she was she freaked out. It wasn't an all out cry...more like stirring and whinning. A huge positive was that she never got down off the bed. I let this go on until 6:15 until she started crying and saying "mama". When I went in and saw her sitting on that big bed, we both started crying! I laid down with her and held her and told her what a big girl she was and proud I was of her. I cheered and continued to praiser her half the morning. Then while she was playing that morning, she managed to put her crocs on both feet - and on the right feet (she has the one with the permanent strap on the back which is difficult to put on). Again, I cried when seeing this as I can't believe how big she is getting. It's all great but sad to see her grow up so fast. And bringing home a new baby will probably make her grow up even faster.

So after getting up at 5:30, Reece was ready for a nap just after 8am. I put her down in her new big bed and believe it or not she waved and puckered up for a kiss! She wimpered for a second as I walked away, but as soon as I shut the door, she was out for the count for an hour and a half nap! I was amazed. And when she woke, she never got out of the bed. I cheered again and told her how proud I was of her. She went down for her afternoon nap around 1. She did the wave and kiss and this time, not a peep. She only slept for an hour but I was still happy and proud for what we accomplished. Of course, this time when I went up to get her, she cheered and clapped before I got the chance! Last night, she went to bed without a sound and slept until 8am this morning! I actually had to go and wake her so that we could be somewhere by 8:30. We were gone all day so she did not nap at home. But tonight she was tired by 7:30 so up we went. She waved and puckered up and went right to sleep! So it looks like we have completed this big accomplishment in her early little life!

I can't help but be proud of her but a little sad too. I feel like we just kicked her out of the only room and bed/crib she has known. But she has a new awesome room and bed and in the long run it will be best for all of us.

So what's the next project for us? Potty training? The last 3 days when Reece goes...well...number 2...she shows me that she is going by squatting and pointing to her crotch. I feel like this might be an opportunity to try. Tonight I thought I caught her in time to put her on the potty, but she already went in her diaper...so we dumped it in, flushed and waved bye-bye to it. She thought that was pretty cool. Wouldn't it be wonderful to only have 1 in diapers instead of 2??? It's worth a shot I think! I'll keep you posted on that.

Big Girl Bed Project - Day/Night #1

This week since we had nothing on the agenda and I need to get Reece comfortable in her new bed (for sleeping not playing), I figured why not try today!? She slept until 8am this morning (probably because of the rain) so I figured we'd skip the morning nap and get her real tired for the afternoon nap. First attempt - 12:30ish...it only took me 15 minutes or so for her to realize I was serious and it was time to lay down. I laid down with her until she fell asleep. I have mixed feelings about this as I don't want her to get use to this but I don't want her to be scared either. I attempted to leave while she was awake and that wasn't working for me, so this worked to get her to sleep. But, she only slept 20 minutes when she saw I had vanished...second attempt - 1:15. This kid was not going down without a fight. She didn't get back out of bed but she wasn't falling asleep either. It took until almost 2:30 for her to fall asleep again. I left the room and she only slept for another 20 minutes. So I figured, why not quit the crib cold turkey - Not only naps...but bedtime. I knew she would be tired enough and I figured I could get it all done at once - instead of fighting naps one week and then bed time the next. Brock thought this sounded like a good idea but of course, it was up to me. I said I would give it 3 or 4 day/nights and if it wasn 't getting easier, then, we would have to settle for plan b...which we don't really have yet. I am up for suggestions that don't revolve around moving a crib, borrowing a crib, or sleeping in a crib.



So....where does this leave me? Bedtime - big girl bed attempt #3 - 7:05 pm. Normally, bedtime is 7:30 or 8:00 but little miss 40 minute napper was grouchy and tired and giving me all the signs of wanting to go to bed, including waving bye-bye at the stairs and blowing kisses. So we did the normal routine and up we went. As we walked down the longest hallway ever, I told Reece again that she was going to sleep in her new big girl bed. She didn't seem to make a fuss...that was until I laid her down, told her I loved her and good night. I walked out of the room and shut the door. Immediatley cries of fear came out and she got right down off the bed and went to the door hollering. I sat in the hall and waited as I heard scratching and bawling behind the door. To me it was worse than any horror movie I have ever seen/heard (I am sure she would agree). She seemed to make several attempts to go back to the bed, but to no avail came back running to the door. She was quiet for a minute or so in which I thought maybe she fell asleep on the floor...NOPE...crying and scratching again...one more attempt to the bed and back to the door again. So I figured by now (10 minutes or so), she was probably not going to manage to make it back in her bed herself so I figured I would help her. I came in and helped her back in bed...all the while her screaming and clinging to me. I laid down with her rubbed her face and belly and told her how much I loved her and would never let anything happen to her. I explained again that this was her new cool bed to sleep in (I am sure she has no idea what I am saying to her but it's worth a shot, right? Hey, I felt better anyways). She never got back up and immediately went to sleep with me there...not even 2 minutes. I think now that she is asleep and it's getting dark, she will be okay for the night. It may be an earlier morning for us but we will hopefully get through!



Here is the proud mommy picture from attempt 1