36w3d

Here's Dylan at 36w3d!

While I realize these are taken from different perspectives, I definitely think I look bigger with Dylan than I did with Marissa at 36 weeks:

Doctors, Doctors and More Doctors!

Yesterday was filled with lots of doctor appointments (in the pouring rain, no less).  Fun!

To start, Marissa had her 15 month check up.  Everything is looking good, the doctor wants to see her gain a little more weight, so we'll be trying to increase her healthy fats and proteins...it sounds like peanut butter and guacamole are in order (two of my favorites). :)

Here's her 15 month stats:

Height - 30.5 inches - 34th percentile
Weight - 20 pounds 6 ounces - 13th percentile
Head - 17.5 inches - 18th percentile

She got 3 vaccines and goes back in 2 weeks to double check her double ear infection.  She finishes her round of antibiotics tomorrow so hopefully everything will be nice and clear at her follow up appointment.


Remember the nasty cold, virus, ear infection, high fever, etc. Marissa had?  Well, part of her sickies was a red eye.  The doctor confirmed that it was not pink eye, just a part of this virus/what-have-you that she's been fighting.  Well, my sweet girl was kind enough to share it with me.  My right eye has been red, it doesn't really hurt and isn't goopey or crusty, just red and irritated.  I stopped in to see an eye doctor yesterday and he confirmed it is not pink eye, just a viral thing that will go away on it's own.  No antibiotic needed.  So that's good but now I have to wear my glasses until it clears up.  Oh joy!


After the eye doctor and making several returns at Wal-Mart, Lowe's and Target, I headed to my 36 week appointment.  Everything is looking great.  The doctor is happy with my blood pressure, weight gain and baby movement.  Dylan's heart rate was 130 BPM.  I had my first internal and I'm a "finger tip" dilated and 50% effaced.  I had my GBS+ test done and will get the results at my next appointment.  I also had my last blood draw to make sure everything is looking good.  The doctor doesn't think Dylan will be making an appearance anytime soon, unless something drastic changes.  So that's good news!  Still holding out for our 2012 baby, much to Danny's dismay (he really wants that tax break).  Apparently a co-worker told him that there is a grace period for adding a dependent after the new year.  He believes it's 7-10 days but we need to research it more to find out if that's true or not.


I got the Christmas tree up yesterday and a few decorations.  I'm keeping the decorations to a minimum this year...so, what you see is what you get!  I don't want to deal with the fuss of trying to put everything away after having a newborn and dealing with all those delightful postpartum hormones.  As bad as this sounds, I almost wish I could just hunker down until the baby blues/crazy hormones settle for a bit.  While having visitors to help and see the new baby is great, functioning on little sleep, dealing with nursing a new baby and entertaining guests can be a bit overwhelming.  Sometimes just being able to nurse on the couch without an audience and nap when I need to is a life saver for my sanity!  Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a bit...umm...OCD?  I need order in my life and obviously having a newborn and postpartum hormones throws a wrench in the mix of things but just having time to wind down after a long day with my husband and a Guinness can be nice and revitalizing! 

Here's a cell phone picture of the tree, I haven't gotten my regular camera out yet.

Our Weekend in Review

We had a pretty productive weekend, complete with fun filled activities, crafting, yummy (homemade) dessert, friends and checking off a few things on our to-do list.

Saturday morning Danny got the changing table moved from Marissa's room to Dylan's and we set up a new dresser and storage cube in Marissa's "big girl" room. 

We went to the local Christmas parade and had dinner downtown with friends.  The kids enjoyed the parade but it lasted a little too long for Marissa.  We didn't get to see Santa on the last float since we decided to leave after 2 hours of the parade. 

Marissa and Daddy at the parade, all bundled up!



Our attempt at a family photo...

Hanging out on Daddy

As Marissa would say: "dawgs"

Hangin' with the boys...Jeremy, Hunter, Danny and Marissa.

Hanging out at the house on Sunday, cheeese!

Sunday I went grocery shopping...I seriously need to stop going to the store while I'm this pregnant.  I came home with a bunch of junk food and ingredients to make this:

Stay tuned on the recipe page for an easy homemade peanut butter pie recipe that is super delish (if I do say so myself)!

My mother in law is helping to re-fabric Marissa's crib mobile to match Dylan's nursery.  I made these little elephants for the mobile.  They are far from perfect, but I made them for about $6.00 compared to the $50.00 they sell for on Etsy!  Stay tuned for the finished product. =)

I am 36 weeks pregnant today!  I have an appointment on Wednesday, we'll see if I'm making any progress.  I'm starting to feel like Dylan may come early, but I'm still holding out hope that we get past the holidays first.  Time shall tell.

What's going on with Dylan:

Weight Gain: 29 pounds total, with Marissa I gained 39 total (over 41 weeks) so I'm hoping I don't gain 10 pounds in the next 4 +/- weeks.  However, the two lunches I had today probably didn't help the scales. 

Cravings: I definitely have more of a sweet tooth with this pregnancy (see 5,000 calorie/slice peanut butter pie above).  I've gone through more oreos than I care to admit.  I typically would only buy them on sale, but that has gone out the window!

Rings: My wedding band has gotten too tight (half a size smaller than my other rings), but I am still able to wear my engagement ring and the pearl that Danny got me for our anniversary one year.  With Marissa, I was unable to wear my rings past 32 weeks, so I think I'm doing pretty good!

Swelling: Ankles, hands and feet are looking pretty good.  I don't know if it's the season difference between my pregnancy with Marissa (summer) and Dylan (fall-winter) but I have had almost no swelling this time.  ::Knock on wood::
Movement: Dylan has been pretty active.  He does feel like he's dropped some, as I feel like I'm starting to get the "pregnancy waddle."  With Marissa I think I may have laughed at a few pregnant women I saw who were waddling.  I thought that the pregnant waddle was just a myth...now I'm not so sure.  I'm pretty sure I waddle when I walk. :-P

Turkey Timer: Popped :o)

Sleep: What's that you speak of?  I'm getting up 2-3 times a night to use the bathroom and I wake up everytime I roll over.  I cringe when people say "sleep while you still can."  Really?  Really!?

The Countdown Begins!

Baby Dylan's estimated due date is 1 month from today!  Not many people have given final dates, but here's where people are weighing in so far:

Mom - Dylan will come in December
Ashley R. - December 21st - 24th
KRB - December 26th
Danny - December 28th
Stephanie G. - December 31st
Jeremy R. - December 31st
Lauren C. - January 1st
Mikey F. - January 7th
Me - Personally, I'm shooting for January 9th...no idea why, other than Marissa was a week late so I think he should be too. :)

Any other guesses?

Happy Girl

I have my fingers crossed that Marissa is on her way to getting better after all of the sickies in our house.  She has had more of an appetite and actually smiled for the camera tonight.  She looks much better!

Taken at the ER on Saturday night...

Taken at dinner tonight, much happier!

I hope she starts sleeping through the night again and feeling better, I hate seeing my poor girl sick. 

Under the Weather

I didn't get a chance to post on Thanksgiving, but our little family had a nice trip to my parent's house.  We ate lots of yummy food and relaxed, did a bit of shopping, Danny went hunting and more relaxing.  We have lots to be thankful for in the past year!  I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.

We came home from my parent's house on Saturday.  Marissa had started running a slight fever and was feeling a bit under the weather.  We got home, unpacked and she was in bed at her normal time.  Around 9:30 Saturday night it was time to give her some more Tylenol so we went in to wake her.  Thank goodness we did!  We checked her temperature and she was at 105.2.  Poor baby was burning up.  As first time parents we did the normal freak out for about 20 seconds then got our heads on straight and called the ER at the hospital.  We asked what we should do until we can get her to the hospital.  They directed for us to strip her down and keep cool wash cloths on her.  We gave her a dose of Tylenol and packed up to head to the ER.  Luckily we arrived with a fairly short wait time.  We got checked in and were given a room in about a half an hour.  They completed a flu swab, strep test and checked her ears, throat and lungs for a sign of what was causing the high fever.  Everything came back negative and they said it could be a viral infection or the start of an ear infection.  They administered Motrin and sent us home with a prescription.  It was a bit unsettling not knowing what was wrong, but we headed home and kept a close eye on Marissa's fever.  Sunday her fever was up and down, ranging between 102-104.  She was pretty miserable and had a few spurts of energy but was definitely not her normal self. 

Yesterday I stayed home from work with her.  Her spirits were much higher and her fever was much lower.  She's still been pretty cranky, sleeping more than usual but not sleeping through the night and wanting lots and lots of mommy and daddy snuggles (I'm not complaining).  I'm taking her to the pedi tomorrow so I hope they can either provide some additional details or at least give me a piece of mind that she is on the mend.  We will be postponing her 15 month shots that she was supposed to receive tomorrow until she is feeling better. 

Hopefully we don't have anymore ER visits in our near future!  All in all, I think Danny and I handled the situation well, we just hate to see our sweet baby girl not feeling well.

Today my work threw me a baby shower for Dylan.  My co-workers were so nice and generous to us.  We received towels, clothes, toys, a shopping cart cover, a homemade blanket and matching plush cube, knit converse shoes that are too cute and many other nice gifts.  We are truly blessed and we are just about set for Dylan to arrive.  I will be washing and sorting baby clothes tonight! :-D

So we've had a busy few days and I hope things settle down soon.  If Marissa is feeling up to it and the weather is decent, we're going to go to the local Christmas Parade with some friends on Saturday.  Cierra should be back from her "Eurotrip" soon and I hope we can see her once she's over the jet lag.  It has been far too long since we've seen her (last December!).  I think "Auntie C" will be amazed at home much Marissa has changed in the last year. 

I can't believe it's almost December.  I can't believe how fast the time is flying.  I can't believe Marissa will be 15 months old tomorrow and Dylan will be here in 5 +/- weeks!  I can't believe Christmas is right around the corner.  I know that having two under two (2U2) will be exhausting and overwhelming at times but I'm looking forward to the downtime of my maternity leave.  I feel so rushed all the time and having the holidays upon us does not help.  Here's to hoping we make it through the holidays in one piece! :) 

35/35

Today I am 35 weeks along and have 35 days to go!  Here is Dylan in all his glory...I think he's either going to be a big boy or I'm not going to make it to my due date.  I'm huge!