Little Room Left

Baby Sani at 32 wks.

Me at 34 wks....about 8 months

36 wks. along

This past Friday...38 wks...he's really getting out there!

As you can see, the time is almost here. Baby Sani is considered "full-term" at this point...so it's just a matter of time. Last Friday was my last day of work...I probably won't return until October after taking as much maternity and bonding time as I can. I am scheduled for one more ultrasound this coming Friday to check Sani's growth. One of the ways a pregnancy is monitored is by the growth of the uterus. This is measured by a good old fashioned tape measure stretched from the pelvic bone to the top of the uterus. The number the doctor reads is supposed to match up with the number of weeks pregnant I am. Well....my numbers don't match up. So last week at my checkup, I was 37 weeks pregnant, but only measuring at 34 wks. I'm measuring small (hard to believe looking at that last picture, huh!). The top picture is of an ultrasound completed in April because of this "problem" of the numbers not lining up. At that time, my son was however found to be in the 75th percentile of growth...which is great! So, I'm not concerned in the least. He moves around quite a bit throughout the day and feels like he's getting stronger. My doctor finally admitted this last week that the numbers being off is probably just me...but due to standard precautionary measures I will have another ultrasound to check out his size. So I may get to share with you yet another pre-birth pic of our son, as long as he stays put through this next week. I'm just not looking forward to drinking a quart of water and having to hold it until after the procedure. Otherwise I'm doing quite well...feeling good most of the time...working on odds and ends around the house preparing for his arrival, and trying to get as much mommy-daughter time in while it's still easy.

Visiting Great Grandpa and Grandma

In April we took a little trip to Lemoore to hang out with Eric's grandparents. Thier neighbors have some interesting "livestock" as you can see. Cadence wasn't too sure about seeing all these animals up close and personal, but she did enjoy the heavy machinery! What kid doesn't?

Shoe fetish

On the go, no time for stopping! Family cuddle time:
Yeah, I can feed myself, I even drink the milk from my bowl just like daddy!
Lately Cadence has developed a love of shoes. She will get out several pairs, and practice trying them on. And they don't have to be her own, they can be mine, daddy's, grandma's...doesn't matter too much! The cool thing is she can match her shoes without help, and some of her sandals she can put on too. She can definitely take any pair of shoes off, especially when in the car, or in the stroller. She's getting to be more and more independent!

Even more exciting is the progress in potty training. She has gone "pee pee" in the potty several times now in the last two weeks. We haven't made it a consistent thing yet, but will work towards it. Then today, my parents were over for lunch, and after we were done eating Cadence was happily playing when the we began to notice the tell-tale signs of a poop on deck. So my dad got all excited and thought this would be a good time to try and get her to "do her duty" on the pot. They disappeared for a few moments, and after hearing several flushes from the bathroom, my dad called us all in to see the most beautiful sight...in the toilet lay the poo! We all cheered for Cadence as we let her send it on to it's watery resting place. And man how much easier the clean-up of her tiny bottom was! My mom tells me it was actually my dad who first got me to "do my duty" in the pot too. I think this is deserving of some kind of title, like Poop Guru, or Potty King...what do you think?

7 months and counting....

I have officially completed my 7th month and am marching forward into the last two! Here's a picture taken this past week of me at work, barefoot and pregnant:

A Room for Two

Daddy's helper shredding styrofoam.

See, guys do read directions!
The crib is currently housing stuffed animals.


Now we just need some color on this wall!

This week we made some adjustments to Cadence's room to make way for little brother. She has been successfully sleeping in her toddler bed since Thursday, which was an easy transition for her. I have to give credit to my babysitters on this one since she sleeps in a bed for naps with them. Once the bed was set up, she ran over to it and jumped right on. Pretty cute!

Easter Day

Hmmm, what did the Easter bunny leave me?
What am I supposed to do with this?
Enjoying the great outdoors at Aunt Linda's:

If you only knew the bellyache I will have tonight!

Egg Hunt

Our church had a picnic and egg hunt this year Saturday before Easter. We had beautiful weather, good food, and plenty of fun...what more can you ask for?

Hey, anyone on the other side?
I found one!
Look, candy!
Yuuummm, chocolate!
I'm not too sure about this one...(she had just taken her first bite of a boiled egg):

Dye Job

I visited a family during Spring Break and they were just finishing up dyeing their eggs for Easter Sunday. I thought it looked like fun and the foster parent assured me my daughter would be able to do it too, so I took the experienced woman at her word and gave it a try. She was right! We had a blast and Cadence especially seemed to enjoy swirling the eggs in the color. After we finished the last egg she kept asking for more to dip and swirl.

About us these days

It's been awhile since I just gave the straight facts, so here they are:

Eric:

Eric continues to work in the vendoring field and is contracted to five "local" Home Depots. By local, I mean the furthest being 1 hour away, and nearest about 20 minutes. In November he applied for a management position, which he of course was awarded. These days he continues to reap the joys of being the fearless leader of a crew of about 8 employees. Some days are easy, some not as much, but he's definitely picking up some new skills and applying some stuff from college he wondered if he'd ever use.

When away from work, Eric is a great daddy and husband, who many nights has dinner cooking or waiting by the time I get home from work. He also is taking a weekly "social dance" class at a local community college where is gets to practice his salsa, swing and rumba skills. This is by far the bright spot in his week. Last semester he took a course in Modern Dance. He's thinking of auditioning for the biannual school performance next fall, if he's got the time.

Also in the works is the resurrection of our church's youth group. Eric helped facilitate the first meeting just last night. I would've been there too if it weren't for having some kind of cold/flu, which is why I'm not at work this moment.

Me:

Yes, right now I'm fighting a cough and runny nose. But typically I would be in Visalia for work at this hour. I continue as a Social Worker for Tulare county and assist families in the process of adopting. I've done this for two years now. It's been a good place to be and I'm surrounded by peers with babies and young kids so we are able to swap stories and advice on a daily basis. We of course get all our work done too.

As you know, I'm beginning the third trimester of my second pregnancy. Our son is due June 7th. The pregnancy has been uneventful to date. Although I have to say even I've been surprised at how many pillows it takes to get a good night's rest.

I am also getting involved in the church youth group, although I'm not sure to what extent at this time as I'll soon have two little ones that will need even more of me devoted at home. I also continue to teach k-5th graders on Sunday mornings. We've definitely had some fun moments, and I've been realizing more and more I do enjoy teaching....but don't think I could handle it on the daily.

Cadence:

She's currently a little under the weather too, and was kind enough to share her germs with me this weekend. She's talking more and more, can identify many colors and shapes, can climb just about anything, and is just an amazing ball of energy! She does however enjoy her animal puzzle and drawing. She's gotten pretty good at the puzzle, actually, and can match the animals to each other and to their places, but still needs some help getting them all in. She is also mastering the art of disrobing herself, thankfully, besides a few belly flashes, this hasn't happened in public. Oh, she also tries to dress herself once in awhile, which is particularly amusing when she tries to walk after stuffing both legs into one pant leg. Oh, and we successfully weaned her from her pacifier, which was surprisingly easy.

The phrase heard most often in our house is "No, uh-uh." One of coworkers said this is a good thing, expressing the word no is a sign of healthy ego development and individuation (yes, psycho babble, I know). I have to say that little ego of hers tends to be more and more at odds with my much larger ego. Take today for instance. Imagine trying to pry a defiant toddler out from behind a couch. Couch is about 5 feet in length, with about a 1 foot gap spanning the length in which said toddler can crawl back and forth. First strategy: Ask the toddler to kindly remove herself from behind the couch. Result: "No, uh-uh" (said smiling with direct eye contact). Second strategy: Tell the toddler to remove herself from behind the couch. Result: "No!" (and did she just laugh?!). Third strategy: Try to grab the toddler gently and remover her from behind the couch. Result: Toddler crawls to the other end of the couch with spidey quickness. Forth strategy: Try to grab any appendage or article of clothing that presents itself and drag toddler from behind the %&#!* couch. Result: Toddler is finally produced after some contortions on the part of mom and promptly receives a small thump to her forearm for her defiance. Mom then puts herself in time-out in order to catch her breath and purge all expletives from her mind before joining the toddler in her room to attempt putting on shoes and socks in order to make it to an appointment on time. Oh, and be sure to imagine doing all of this with something akin to a basketball lodged in your gut.

So that's us in a nutshell.

Little helper

Cadence has a keen interest in all of our activities these days, whether it's sittin' on the pot, or doing household chores. She loves to get a close view on how we do all the things we typically find mundane. For example, she loves "helping" me do laundry. She helps push clothes into the dryer for me, which isn't a bad thing since it's becoming more awkward to bend down. But her favorite thing is to get to sit on top of the dryer and peer into the washer as it fills with water and I load it with clothes. Recently we both discovered she can get up there all on her own, with the right conditions in place. So, if mommy leaves a big enough stack of clean laundry sitting by the dryer, she can use that to climb into the laundry sorter, and then nimbly scamper onto the dryer, but only if the laundry sorter isn't empty, that is. So since this particular day the first section of the sorter had already been emptied, I thought I would take advantage of Cadence's predicament and get a few photos before heaving her back out.

Now entering the third trimester...

It's official! The final "stretch" lays ahead. Everything continues to go smoothly and the little guy's kicks get stronger each week. We had another ultrasound just this past Saturday which estimates he is about 2.5 lbs now. In the next three months he is likely to triple in weight! Just as long as I don't do the same...

A friendly hello to little brother

27 wk. tummy

28 wk. old profile

It's a....

The ultrasound tech was nice enough to put little captions on some of the pics for us. So the first one is cool as it does show us the sex of the little guy, but then in the background you can see the silhouette of two little fists, a nose and a mouth. That was the best look at his face we got though, since he seems to be taking after his daddy already and slept like a rock through the whole procedure. He barely moved a muscle, and stayed curled up in a tight little ball. Hopefully he'll continue that kind of sleep outside of the womb.

Here's the creepy ghost-like shot of his face and belly. You can faintly make out elbow and fists as well:
Here's a whole-body profile, which reminds me of a fossil..hopefully he'll grow into his head a little in the next few months:

A bigger me

Not too many people look forward to a growing midsection, especially with all those New Year's resolutions. But for natural reasons, I am one of the few that doesn't mind, at least not too much, that my tummy is slowly pointing the way ahead more and more clearly. It's hard to believe I am nearly half-way through this pregnancy already at 19 wks. (about 5 mos)! So far things have been smooth and easy, aside for about a month early on when food wasn't settling quite right (still no puking though, hooray!). My tummy is growing at a faster rate than the first time around, which I hear is normal. Next Saturday we have an ultrasound to make sure all the right parts seem to be in place, especially the ones that will tell us whether or not to expect a little boy or another little girl. Until then, the daily pokes and prods from the little guy or girl are a fun reminder of the life growing within.

Big sis saying hello:

The great outdoors

Right around New Year's Eric spent an afternoon relieving our Orange tree of its burden of fruit. Cadence was happy to be daddy's lil' helper and even climbed to the top of the ladder all on her own (with close supervision of course). I documented the day with Eric and Cadence's Christmas gift to me, a new digital camera! As you will see, even towards the end of December, the trees were still turning in color and working on shedding their leaves. I love California!

The tree is fighting back in this one:

Making friends with the neighbor's kitty:
Kitty's gesture of friendship:

A beautiful winter day: