Crafty - which I am not

Recently I have decided that having a little girl is going to provide me a few different types of opportunities: pretending to be crafty, learning to be crafty, taking advantage of crafty people around me.

I have done all three this past week.

First, we had this frame. It's so cute, but I knew I wanted the pictures in it and everything was too plain and white with the black and white sketches. So, I decided to pretend to be crafty. Lots of pretend paper letters, several texts to Jen (who is artistic unlike me), and a lot of bugging Steve with questions he had no answers to later.... Ta Da! Pretend craftiness.I'm still not sure I'm totally in love with it, but it grows on me and I do think I like it.

Next, I went to the house of a lady in my ward yesterday because she made some really adorable bows for me at the Prosser baby shower. (Pictures can be found like two blogs ago.) So, she said she'd teach me how to make them. I was worried as I am not a very crafty or domestic person, but figured I might as well give it a go! It turns out, they aren't very hard at all! Now I need to buy a hot glue gun, some ribbon, buttons, and clips so I can make more! These are the ones we made together yesterday that I actually know how to replicate or base other bows off of.
And here is the one I bought just for Steve. (She used to make bows and has since stopped but is still selling what she has. She also sold me some cute headbands that these can all attach to in case our little girl has no hair...) There are a lot of Huskies fans and alums at Mabton, so Steve feels the need to represent WSU. Personally, I don't mind - and I knew he'd love it.

The last craft for this week was making some vinyl boards for our little girl's bedroom. I got together today with a girl from our ward who has a Cricut. If you don't know what these are, they are pretty darn amazing. I don't know that I'm ready to craft enough to justify one, but they are crazy regardless. She used hers and this ADORABLE cartridge to make animals out of vinyl that we could put on boards to hang in the nursery.

We are doing a bright, fun animal theme, so this is the board we made today. It will be the central mirror with a pink one on the right with animals and a purple one on the left with animals. We also painted a board green (all the same colors as our storage bins and the picture frame) that we're going to put some animal or flower or something on and then after our little girl is born we'll add her name, birth weight, and birth date. So glad that Tawnya is crafty and willing to let me use her skills to make something so cute for the nursery!

So, thank goodness for experimentation and make believe, crafty people who are willing to share their abilities, and crafty people who are willing to share themselves!

Doctors.....

I love that you can talk to two doctors who work together and get totally different opinions... That's what happened to me yesterday. I have weekly appointments now and see our actual doctor for each appointment. We haven't seen him in quite a while, and not at all since before we found out the baby is big.

So, I heard him talking to another doctor before our appointment... "That's a big baby!" Yup, he's looking at my file.

Then when he came to talk with me, he mentioned again that she was big, and that wasn't good. He said all first babies should be 6 lbs. so people are willing to go through the whole thing again... Oh well, good thing Steve and I don't want an only child anyway. But, then he surprised me by saying that last week she was around 6 lbs 10 oz or 7 lbs. Huh? We were told 8. Yes, he agrees, if we go the full 40 weeks she'll be around 8 lbs. No, we were told 8 last week and potentially 9.5 lbs at 40 weeks. Nope, he says she should only be 8 or 8.5 lbs at 40 weeks. Hooray!!! He still thinks that's big, but boy does that sound better than 9.5 lbs!

Then, another surprise. He starts warning me that since it's our first child we'll probably go to term and that now we're just waiting for contractions and waiting for labor to start.... No mention of the induction the specialist seemed to imply was coming? Nope. So as of right now, our baby is thankfully smaller than she supposedly was a week ago, but we also have to wait for her to come instead of having a countdown in mind. And that's that. We'll see if we get totally different news at next weeks appointment again...

Oh, and because I feel the need for pictures, I bought these the other day as potential coming home outfits (if she is big after all). So cute!

I love the green and yellow which is girly without being all pink.

This one may not be the cutest thing you've ever seen (although personally I love polka-dots) but, you have to feel it! Softest sleeper I've found.

Ultrasound #4 and Update

Some of you might recall that at our last ultrasound, our little girl was not so little.... As a result, we were scheduled to see the specialist with another ultrasound today to see how big she was getting, and if she was still growing healthfully.

So, today we headed to the doctors. Instead of being her normal stubborn self when it came to the ultrasound, our little girl cooperated! Well, maybe because she doesn't have much room to run away or hide anymore, and maybe because she was asleep basically the whole ultrasound... Either way, we actually got some really neat pictures of her and got to see her cute face as she slept today!
As far as the size issue goes... Her legs were only like the 47th percentile this time, her head circumference was in the 80's I think, and her belly.... Oh the belly.... Well, her "little" abdomen registers in the 98th percentile now. Granted, they didn't tell us if she has a long torso or a wide one, but there it is all the same - 98. As a result, she has graduated! From the 88th percentile overall to the 89th. We don't make little babies in this family. They estimate her weight at 8 lbs - as of today.

But, the good news is that the specialist said she was proportionately big, and very very healthy! He thinks she'll only gain another pound and a half max since we only have 5 weeks left. She was practice breathing the whole time, and all of her fluid, umbilical cord measurements, etc. were all really good. So, we don't have to see the specialist anymore.

We didn't get to talk to the actual doctor today, but he must not be planning on inducing us really early like we thought might be the case if they thought the baby was unhealthy-big, because I have an appointment with him to talk about possible induction in mid-August. Until then, just regular check ups once a week unless our little girl decides to try to come early. Which at this point - ok by us. Healthy development, already 8 lbs, I think she'd be just fine...

Anyway, we are happy that everything is great! (minus my weight according to one nurse practitioner who doesn't want me to gain "a single pound" for the rest of the pregnancy... Does she realize my baby gained 4 pounds in as many weeks???) Enjoy the pictures!
This last picture - my favorite! This is one still shot from when we were watching the 3D ultrasound and she smiled! So precious! Steve thinks she has his nose - and she just might. I noticed the little cleft between her lips which even the specialist noted were full when he saw her profile, even before the 3D ultrasound. Either way, she looks so cute and we can't wait to see her!

Nursery

We found some really cute wall decals today at Shopko on sale, and the blank walls in the nursery had been driving me crazy! Problem fixed.
Here is what the nursery looks like now, basically done. I say basically because I still need to find and/or make (probably more like watch someone who can sew make) a cover for Steve's old recliner - I love it, it's just ugly, or... well-loved. Also, the blank spot between the recliner and the bookshelf is going to have a little stand that Steve's going to make and I'm going to attempt to paint in some cute way that will support a dowel so we have someplace to hang her dresses and coats as the room (and most other bedrooms in our house) has no closet. Beyond that, I think we're basically finished!A very handy friend from church found and fixed up our dresser for us - so great!
I also filled the picture frames we were given at our baby showers in Spokane. I like my pictures much better than the ones of the random woman holding someone else's baby.... The other frame is very cute and Disney princess themed, but this is my favorite because of the pictures in it. I'm thinking I may paint the letters some pastel colors so everything isn't white. Regardless, this is easily one of my favorite things in her room.

This picture is of one of the changing pad covers I made last week. If anyone who actually knows how to sew had seen me make them, they probably would have shot themselves - or me. But, since nobody in this house knows how to sew, they do the trick. The other one is white with Pink, green, and blue dots that make me think of bubbles.

And this is called being resourceful. Jen gave me this board to put pictures and things on when I was still in high school. I've never used it a ton - a few Christmas cards found their way onto it over the years. And then I was thinking about how some ladies at church have bow-boards to keep track of bows and pacifiers and such. Awesome! Love it in there. Now I just need to collect more cute bows.... A few ladies at church can make adorable things like this:
Hopefully I'm not beyond learning to be crafty and can make them too!

So, her room is basically done, bottles and pacifiers have been sterilized, clothes, sheets, and blankets washed and put away, bassinet cover washed and bassinet put in our room.... I even figured out how to buckle and use our carseat the other day. We are getting ready! Well, as ready as we'll ever be to have a child...

Quick Belly Update

So, I realize it's been a while since I've posted any pregnancy pictures. Mostly, Steve and I have just been crazy busy lately. I'm in my last week of swim lessons, and this week has been much calmer than the last few as parents try to squeeze in private lessons before vacations and before I stop teaching. Steve has started summer school and football practice, although football is only a mini camp which ends this week as well. Then we'll get to see each other more frequently than on the weekends and late at night when we're both exhausted!

We had a doctor's appointment Thursday which seemed to go pretty well if not perfectly. There was some protein in my urine, which can be a bad sign, but not enough they were worried. Honestly, we think that it was because we jumped from 60s and 70s to 100s here last week. And I had so many lessons, appointments, etc. that I was never home and probably didn't drink enough to be honest. The heat also resulted in my having balloon feet (not really that terrible, but since I hadn't swelled at all up until then....) for a couple of days. They are better now and only swell a little. The doctor said that if my blood pressure were bad with swelling and protein they might be concerned, but my BP is great, so they think all is well still. Even though I continue to barely measure my weeks, baby girl is still growing well and her heart beat is always very loud and strong! She continues to move more and more - mostly rolling, pushing, stretching, turning, etc. I don't think where I measure small and she measures big there's enough room for her to really wind up to hit or kick me much anymore...

We also had the baby showers for my side of the family in Spokane this weekend which were great! We now know what we have left to get to prepare for this little girl and have gotten everything washed and put away so that we will hopefully be as ready as we can be when she arrives. Only 6 more weeks! So crazy!

These pictures are at 33 weeks (one week ago). The first is on my way to my doctor's appointment, and the second is after Steve and I got home from getting my ticket reduced at court... I know, what fun occasions...

Too Many Pictures of a 1 day Trip

On July 2, Steve and I decided to drive to Tacoma. Why? Partially because we thought we were going to make a bunch of summer trips this summer, but due to work schedules for both of us and less money for some strange reason (you could ask our doctor where that money has gone) we haven't made a single trip yet. Also, because we were going to have a last hoorah weekend in Seattle for just the two of us at the end of June when we were going to see U2 in concert, but Bono had emergency back surgery and that got canceled. Mainly, because we both like zoos, there are two in the area to choose from, and I only had a couple weeks left of travel time before I can't really leave the Tri-Cities area and then we will be traveling wherever we feel like toting a baby. So, we drove over Friday night, and Saturday morning got up to go to Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium.

What follows is: a ridiculous amount of pictures from a zoo, because I'm the one posting this... And just think, because many of the animals were in aquariums, we didn't even get good pictures of a lot of what was there! We took a lot of little short videos, but videos are a pain to load... So take my word for it that the fish tanks, shark tank, seahorses, sea dragon, etc. were really neat! Now, for the parade of pictures.

The first animals we saw at the zoo! But these ones got out!Gotta love meercats. They had some little guys too, but they were too quick to get any clear pictures of.Ever seen an all black lemur? We surely hadn't. But there were two in this enclosure with the standard colored lemurs. As you'll see, the other lemurs were a bit cold as when we first got to the zoo it was morning and cloudy and cool. (My pregnant self thought they were crazy and that the weather was perfect!)Wallaby! So cute - and pudgy.Horseshoe crab. Don't ask me why, but ever since the first time I saw one of these guys, they fascinate me.We stayed at the shark tank for quite some time, and even got to see the sharks get fed, but it was really busy and the glass made pictures nearly impossible. We took lots of video instead... Here's one picture of one of the toothier sharks. There were a variety of sharks in the tank.Random LARGE fish with really neat, elaborate coloring.I love the teeth on this guy! Parrot fish eat coral, so they need them, but it still looks crazy to me and his colors were amazing!Random fish, crab, and anemone at the aquarium.Easily Steve's favorite part of the whole trip. This is a Gyrfalcon. It never ceases to amaze me how much intelligence is in the eyes of raptors. This one is no exception, and at one point gave me quite the look for walking all around its cage snapping tons of pictures. What a beautiful bird!Primates! These guys were so animated and just funny. Some of the positions they were in were almost too human, and Steve and I both loved the sideburns look of the black one.I was so excited to see the clouded leopards! But, they were being cats. The other one is sleeping next to this one - about 25 feet up in the air.Gotta love primates. We had one that was really active, and the other.... not so much. The last photo Steve had me take for him to use in his classes when he talks about primates and humans. But I really like the way the picture came out, so you all get to see it too.River otters! I love these little guys! So active and fun and curious and mischievous! We watched them run across the grass, eat some plants out of the water, chase after and bite at the porcupines sharing their enclosure (the porcupines were really concerned....) and then lay on their backs and play with little pebbles. So fun!Porcupine! Now you see why this guy was obviously undisturbed by the actions of a trouble-making otter...Tapir. I always love hearing people come up with what animal this is. There are signs, but the lady next to me was very seriously telling her daughter about the hippo in this photo.Mama. Kitty.... So pretty! This tiger actually has two brand new cubs! Unfortunately, (and good for the zoo) you can only see them on a tv screen by her enclosure as they're too young to be out and are closely supervised instead. We were impressed, as we always are at zoos, when we saw how many species breeding/conservation plans the zoo was a part of.African elephant. Here he's stepping on the wire. Next he multi-tasked by stepping on the wire and chewing on the beam right next to his trunk in this photo. Obviously an exciting day for him.The penguins were really ambitious...Harbor Seals. They were really fun to watch under the water. We only got video of that, but I love the way they move one half of their back fin and then the other back and forth like window wipers. Puffins are so neat looking. And thanks to a random porcelain dragon Julie wanted for years, they always make me think of her. Just thought I'd share...Otters! Soooo cute! They were being lazy and just floating on their backs half awake, but still cute!
Kind of a lame picture, but out of FOUR polar bears, this was the only time we saw any of them out in the open, and then even this one went into hiding.Arctic fox! They were so cute! This first one was not very happy with the second (who kept running past him just to mess with him). In fact, the last picture is of the one yelling at the other...Reindeer! I think this one is on injured-reserved for the North Pole due to how incredibly tangled his huge antlers are. This picture actually makes them look really, really good...Musk oxen. Loved hearing the different names people came up with for what he was - and having a lady tell me I had a good eye for spotting this beast.And, by law - every zoo must have a few free-roaming peacocks. Here is one of the two we saw.

We still had some time before we had to head home, so we braved Seattle and went to the Pacific Science Center. We meant to take pictures of the Space Needle while we were there, but never did. Just like we meant to take pictures on the way home through Rainier National Forest as it was so beautiful on the way over to Tacoma. But we didn't end up going home that way... Oh well... As soon as we walked in we enjoyed (especially Steve) the information and displays on evolution and on "Lucy". Steve had me take lots of pictures of the different bone comparisons and graphs of human evolution to have for helping him teach evolution in the future.

Next, he had to wait his turn in a line of kids to play with this big weight on a fulcrum.
One of the things I remembered from my only other time to the science center with my Dad many years ago - naked mole rats! They're so ugly, but so neat...
There were tons of little displays for you to sit down at and try. This one is Steve working on a task that simulates impaired drivers trying to multitask.Another animal. We already knew about this one, and have seen it a number of times, but never any so big! They're called axolotls. The cool thing about them is that the frilly shag things around their heads are actually external gills. Maybe this isn't very cool to you, but being either a biology teacher or the wife of said teacher means that we think they're pretty dang neat.

Steve enjoying another booth - this one on hearing. You got to listen to a woman read a children's mystery story in a really over-the-top voice!They also had the giant robot-dinosaurs. We've seen them a number of times, so I only took one picture and am not posting any, but here is how I compare to the footprint of a duckbill dinosaur. And yes, Steve had to help me get up after taking this picture...
Probably the neatest part of the science center is their butterfly house. They have TONS of different species of beautiful butterflies just flying and landing around you!
Probably my favorite of the ones we saw.



Unfortunately, apparently not every kid learned as we did in kindergarten to look with our eyes and not our hands... The butterfly house loses several hundred butterflies each week. Fortunately, they also have several hundred others come out of their chrysalises each week.Hard to believe, but this is what the inside of the wings of the first spotted butterfly looks like!
All in all, Steve and and I had a great day. We were both exhausted when we got home, but it was a great last hoorah for us until we can travel again - as a party of three!