The zoo with Eleanor...

From September 29:
One thing we really wanted to do while Ella was in town was a zoo trip. So, on our one free afternoon of the week we headed out - rain and all. The girls had a blast checking out all the animals, and luckily most were out and about even with the rain beating down.
The sea lions and sea otters were a hit, as were the fish and other ocean creatures.
We got up close and personal with "Nelda" the Brazilian porcupine. I didn't even know the zoo had a porcupine. Evidently she is just for special shows and lives off-exhibit somewhere behind the elephants. Who knew?
There were also a few different birds of prey out and we learned some fascinating facts about these guys. This little screech owl weighs only 500 grams. The bald eagles weigh only 8-10 pounds. Doesn't that seem tiny for a bird with a seven-foot wing span?

We spent quite a bit of time in the new Africa exhibits - especially around the lions. The two females were "stalking" our girls from behind the glass. It was incredible, and also a bit frightening.
She is yawning, but I like that it looks like a big "ROARRRRR!"
After following the girls back and forth with her eyes, she was up and in one jump against the glass. I guess they looked pretty tasty. At one point she even swiped her huge paw across the glass right at our kiddos' heads. Crazy.
And yet where else will they ever experience being nose-to-nose with a lion?
I've said before how much Grace loved having the Tippins around. She really liked Seth a lot. Even though I was pushing the (empty) stroller around the zoo, Gracie would walk up and ask Seth to carry her. Seth and Merrick are a lot a like in some ways, so I think Gracie just knew that he loved her and would carry her. It was cute.
We had a great afternoon. Even though it had poured all day long, the rain quit while we were there making for quite a nice walk around the zoo.

Still holding my breath...

Well, I've officially made it to 33 weeks and 1 day! By this time in my first pregnancy my water had broken and I had been hospitalized until further notice (aka when baby arrived). Gracie came three weeks from yesterday. Unbelievable. It helps that I have now passed the magic 33 week mark. Something in my mind always said, "If I can get through September 26, I can make it to the end." I know that is totally ridiculous because my water could break tonight, tomorrow, or next week.

Lately we've been getting a lot of the "How are you feeling?" type questions. I'm not ever really sure how to answer. The easiest answer is, "oh, pretty good. I'm a little tired, and we still have a lot to do, but we have time... or so we hope."

What I want to say is that I'm scared, worried, nervous, anxious, not sleeping, frustrated with Gracie not sleeping, my body aches, my mind hurts, and I don't have the faintest idea of where to start when it comes to my extensive to-do list. Oh, and what in the world should we name it? How's that for honesty?

Maybe, just maybe, I'll sleep better tonight knowing that I'm not in the hospital. I've been holding my breath to this point, but am still not quite ready to breath the sigh of relief that my body, mind and spirit need.

The baby's room...

I was watching "Juno" the other day - for the millionth time - and laughed at the scene where the adoptive-parents-to-be are discussing colors for baby's room. You might remember that "Vanessa," aka Jennifer Garner, has two swatches painted on the wall, that to the naked eye appear to be exactly the same. Her husband walks in and says, "Why does everyone think yellow is gender neutral? I never knew a guy with a yellow room."

It made me laugh, since yellow is the color that we went with. Everything we had - bedding, etc - for Gracie was yellows and greens. Well, I love green, but we just painted Grace's big girl room a shade of green and didn't think that two very different greens next door to each other would be very appealing. So, we went with yellow. It is sort of a corn on the cob color. I really like it, but am not sure that I really love it. When Craig was painting I had a little moment of panic... Wow, was it bright. Now that the furniture is back in place and we are putting the stuff back in the room, it is calming down... a bit.

So, here's a glimpse inside our baby's room. I took pictures quickly, and didn't care that some were blurry. Just don't look too closely...
The toy basket in the closet - Craig painted it and I made a basket liner for it. I was very proud of my craftiness.
An up-close of the liner. The green matches the green in the bedding, so it sort of ties everything together.
Craig stained the book shelf for us to match the crib and dresser. He did a great job!
I had extra fabric from the toy chest liner, so I made a little liner for this basket too. We filled the basket with baby essentials... binkies and burp cloths (that I made!).
An up-close of the burp cloths I made. The fabric was on sale, and I was able to make 10 of these for about $1 each.
The kiddos' growth chart. A few months ago Aaron Brothers was going out of business so Shannon and I stocked up on canvases. We both made growth charts for our girls. I tried to keep mine sort of gender-neutral, and the colors (though bright) worked well enough to hang this in the baby's room.
Merrick gave me these hot air balloons before Gracie was born. I love them, and the colors still work with the new paint, so they stayed in the baby room.
The closet is full of clean baby clothes, blankets, hats and shoes.
The dresser - neat little stacks of onesies and pj's line the drawers. The diapers are all washed and put away in the baskets. We have a few disposable diaps for the first week or so, but we will try to switch to cloth as soon as we can.
Baby's hospital bag is all packed and ready to go! Gracie helped with this task, picking her favorite package of binkies and her favorite little pj outfit. We don't have anything super special or gender-specific to take baby home in, but we each picked an outfit we like and will have that at the hospital. Don't get me wrong... we have plenty of stuff for this child, we just didn't want to mess with having something blue and something pink and then having to return one or the other. Didn't seem worth it to us. The outfit Grace chose was one of my favorites of hers when she was tiny. Merrick picked a chocolate brown striped number, and I stuck with a super soft creamy organic cotton set.

So, what's left? Well, I'd like to purchase a few pictures frames to have ready to hang and maybe get one more arty piece for above the changing table. There's lots in there, but nothing on the walls yet (other than the growth chart). I have a few more canvases, so maybe I'll feel extra creative sometime soon.

One last fun thing is that we go our first baby gift in the mail yesterday. These cute little handmade zebra booties arrived all the way from NJ! Thanks so much, Kendra. They are adorable!

Visitors!...

From September 24:

We were so thrilled to have the Tippins in town for 2 whole weeks! It had been over a year since we'd seen Bethany and Eleanor, and even longer since we'd seen Seth. It was great to hang out, play and catch up with these guys. We're so glad you came.

For the most part the girls played really well together, and though there were hard times with sharing, Gracie had a great time having a "sister" in the house for such a long time. We really wish these guys lived a little closer so we could see them more regularly. Maybe someday...?

Adventures in potty training...

The past few weeks (okay, months) we've been working really hard at nailing down this whole potty training thing. It started right before I headed off to Texas, and seemed to be going great. Then we've had a few things here and there that have gotten in the way, and some frustrations on my part that became set backs (my fault, not hers). Now it seems that we are to the point that we can say we are there... almost 100%. Gracie is getting really good at telling us when she needs to go, or often if we are home, she just does it all herself and then yells from one of the bathrooms that she went.

We've had a great string of totally accident-free days (most accidents come when she is too distracted by new things - usually at someones house - and doesn't want to stop to use the bathroom). She is never wet after a nap, and about 90% of the time she wakes up dry in the morning (after 10-12 hours of sleep)! She is waking up earlier these days, and I think that might be because she needs to go potty. It has changed the way our schedule is working - earlier nap times, etc - but having her out of diapers before the baby comes is totally worth all the adjustments.

At first I was giving her chocolate chips as a reward, but eventually she got to the point that she didn't need those. I would still give her the chocolate for any poops - those were more of a big deal. We would also call daddy at work so he could say things like, "big girl, I'm so proud of you!" Now though, when she poops she says, "I get to call daddy!" I think it is the highlight of her day (and we don't have to dole out "clock-lit chips" any more).

We've had the normal adventures of course - accidents in public... the store, the park, Baja Fresh. And now that she's fairly confident in her ability, she tends to drop her pants wherever she is and dash to the bathroom. This works much better at home then say the check out line at Fred Meyer. She stood up in the cart and began pulling down her pants and undies saying "I HAVE TO GO POTTY!" Best part was they were cleaning the bathrooms but I ignored the sign and took her straight in... what else are you supposed to do?

As her final treat, and after having 10 straight no accident days, we took her to the pet store and she got to pick a gold fish. We chose the prettiest 13 cent fish they had and brought him straight home. (I had a small, filtered aquarium all set up so we just needed the fish). On the way home from the store we asked what the fish's name was going to be. She thought for a few seconds and proudly exclaimed, "NATE!" You need to know that a) there was absolutely no prompting by us in any way and b) that she names everything Julia (Jew-La). Nate is the perfect name for the fish though because it was Nate who took her fishing for the very first time at Lost Lake just last month. How she came up with it out of the blue like that, we will probably never know, but we are now the proud owners of one very inexpensive goldfish named Nate.

For the first few days after having Nate she would tell anyone who would listen, "I got a Nate at the fishy store." I don't think anyone understood her - poor girl. For now Nate lives in the kitchen and Grace will scoot a chair over to see him and say things like, "shhhh, Nate's sleeping" or "Nate would like breakfast, please."

Nests...

From September:

For the past 2 years, Gracie has been a fantastic sleeper. She usually goes down without any problems, and then sleeps for 11-12 hours at night with a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon. Well, lately we have been having some sleeping issues with her and we aren't sure exactly what is happening. We battle to get her to fall asleep at night, and then she is waking up super early in the mornings. Naps are basically non-existent these days. She doesn't like being alone in her room, she wakes up to go potty, she has too much fun in the afternoons and won't calm down to sleep... All of these hours of non-sleep adds up to one very grumpy two year old.

Since we've had people in and out of our house this month, we've sort of chosen to let this go for the time being. Once things are back to "normal" it will be easier to set her routine and stick with it. For now, we are enjoying the glimpses of sleep that we get from her... no matter where she ends up.

Here she is curled up on the ground next to Merrick's side of our bed. Silly goose. She will grab her pillow, and whatever the blanket-of-the-day is and set up a "nest" wherever she sees fit. Though we want her to be asleep in her own room, it sort of melts our hearts that she wants to be close to us - even in the middle of the night.

**Update: since the beginning of October Gracie has been almost back to normal with her sleeping. She seems to have a good routine down, and it has been easy to stick to. She will lay in bed and talk herself to sleep - sometimes taking over an hour to eventually conk out, but she stays in bed and is happy. I'm sure we'll have another round of issues when we introduce a new little person into our family, but for now it has been nice to have our Gracie-girl back. She still loves her nests, and loves mommy and daddy's bed, so in the mornings we are usually woken up by this little monster heaving her stuff into our bed and crawling up. Just this week she said to us, "Hi! I'm coming to snuggle with you guys!"

Baby update...

My current stats on 9/17:

Gestational age: 31 weeks, 5 days

Weight: gained 6 pounds in two weeks (oops)

BP: 120/70

Fetal heart rate: 150

Fetal movement: rocking and rolling!

Fundal height: 33cm

Today we met with a new doctor - the VBAC specialist Dr. Warhus. If you weren't already aware, it is my desire to have a VBAC. Gracie came by c-section after three failed attempts with pitocin, but since she was early, there is no reason to assume my body wouldn't succeed with a normal labor and delivery. Our consultation this morning was extremely informative. We went over the risks and benefits, the pros and cons, and the success rates of VBACs (around 70% of women who try are successful). Because of my prior experience, he isn't sure exactly what my chance of success is, but in his words, "doesn't see why we shouldn't at least give it a try."

So, as of now, that is our plan. We will wait and see if I go into labor on my own - hopefully not before 39 weeks and not after 41 weeks. (VBAC success rates between 41-42 weeks drop significantly.) We will most likely have a plan B in case labor does not happen - and since they will not induce women who have had a prior c-section, plan B will be a planned cesarean sometime towards the end of November. Both Merrick and I feel very at peace about this (today). We know that God always works things out exactly as they should be.

I have pictures, but will wait to post until next time... nothing much is different - just slightly bigger. =)

Fun with friends...

From mid-September
We had a lot of fun having Hannah and Emmett in town for a few days. Merrick is always good about tolerating the extra estrogen that is around (because when Hannah is here, Shannon and Sophia move in too). This time we were also lucky and got to spend one night with Mandy and Tori. The kids played so well together and stayed busy will all kinds of fun...

Merrick was finishing up the fence in the backyard and put the kids to work. Grace and Sophia nailed pickets onto the gate and Emmett was helping with the circular saw (only kidding).

I love how safety-conscience these two appear - until you notice that Gracie has her hand inches away from the head of Sophie's hammer.

Wagon rides through the backyard. Ready, set...

...GO!

Shannon is so good at capturing the beauty of Gracie's mullet. I couldn't resist posting this.

Bath time. The girls were game, but Emmett was a bit too modest for them. He opted for more bonus room play time with his mom.

Clean pj's and some good ol' bouncing on the bed time.

Which evidently is even more fun while wearing crazy hats.

We are so blessed to have so many good friends - some close, others far too far away. Gracie adores her friends more than I ever thought possible for this age. She prays for them (and their moms, dads, pets, grandparents) every night, asks me to make play dates for her (brings my phone to me saying, "you call Shannon now, okay mom"), and though it is tough to play and share for so many straight days, she misses them the moment they leave to go home.

Thanks for coming Hannah and Emmett, and for making our long weekend so much fun.

Happy birthday, Sydney-girl...

From September 12
On Saturday we went to Rainbow Play Systems for Sydney's birthday party. It was such a great little place. They actually sell these play systems for backyards, but have a show area that you can rent out for birthdays or just drop by and play. The kids loved it, and since it was totally fenced in, the adults were able to sit back, relax and visit a bit.

Sophie and Emmett mastering the climbing wall.

Sophia and Grace - such big girls.

In true three-year-old fashion, Sydney was more interested in the noise maker than the cupcake.

This looks a bit scary, but I think Merrick was standing close by.

It's really too bad that Mihiretu isn't a happier child. =)

What a fun morning. Happy birthday, Sydney-girl!

A night with Sophia...

From September 11
The beginning of each school year also brings the beginning of my parent's crazy dance-teaching schedule. I only bring this up because it is inevitable that at some point I and/or Merrick get roped into helping out with the Friday night junior high class they teach. 600 upper class, snobby Jr. high students not wanting to pay attention or follow directions. No worries, it isn't nearly as fun as it sounds. Anyway, on this particular Friday night my dad needed us both, so Matt and Shannon graciously took Grace for the evening. Though I wasn't there, Shannon filled me in on the 5-hour adventure that was the two girls playing together.

I love that this pictures makes it look like they are rolling down the road on their matching scooters chatting about life.

Being the daring parents they are, the Riders decided to play baseball with the girls. Two girls, two bats - what could possibly go wrong?

We, obviously, haven't spent enough time on the baseball basics with Gracie yet. She starts out holding the bat like this...

... then quickly changes to this "javelin" hold...

... and releases. We'll be working on that this spring!

So, I think Sophia and Grace had way more fun scooting and playing baseball than Merrick and I had dancing, but it was nice to get dressed up and go out together. Thanks again, Shan, for keeping my child for the night. We still owe you... I haven't forgotten. =)

The roar...

From September 11
Shannon and I decided to brave the crowds and head to the zoo for the grand opening of the "Predators of the Serengeti" exhibit. Since the whole exhibit was only open to zoo members, it wasn't actually too terribly crowded. Don't get me wrong, there were lots of people there, but it was well organized and seemed to move smoothly. We were very impressed by everything there was to see. The girls loved the big cats, the wild dogs, and the huge snake. Shannon and I loved the free tote bags we got as member appreciation gifts.

These sculptures are great for pictures, but they aren't sun-proof and were super hot. I feel like now is a good time to mention that no, we did not plan their outfits. We showed up separately and the girls just happened to match.

The lions were a highlight, though they were sitting back quite aways.

The wild dogs were really neat, and moving all around in their pack.

The two cheetahs were also quite active - one even swiped at the glass right where the girls were sitting and watching.

I'm sure I've said this before, but we love our zoo membership. We sometimes go just to kill an hour or two - see a handful of animals - and then leave. No obligations to see everything each time. Gracie loves it more every time we go, and I love that we have a safe place to get outside and where she can learn and discover all sorts of new things.

Painting in the tub...

From September 7:
I have these Crayola kid paints that Gracie loves to use. She will get them out, find her paint brushes and set everything all up before finding me saying, "I'm ready to paint!"

Since they are totally washable, I thought it might be fun to work on a bigger "canvas." We took the paints upstairs, stripped her down to nothing, and let her go to town. Merrick and I had fun painting on the walls too. The best part - we just used my newly installed diaper sprayer to squirt down the walls before giving Grace a bath. Easiest clean up ever!

Bye-bye binks...

From September 6:

Though we didn't end up camping, we did stay at the Burch farm overnight. At one point I woke up to the sound of wind and rain and looked out the window to see it pouring rain, trees leaning in the wind, and lakes of water in the driveway. Even after our beautiful evening at the lake, it ended up being a good thing we didn't camp overnight.

Sunday morning was low-key. Justin and his dad made us breakfast, and then we sat around and watched some football while Maren got a nap in. After we were all packed up, we headed back down to the lake. There was a minor delay in our fun because of a cow loose on the road, but Justin's cousins were able to use their Xterra to wrangle it back into the correct field. Merrick and Gracie enjoyed a quiet trip around the lake in the row boat. We probably saw 20 hawks and about a dozen blue herons that morning. It was so nice and peaceful.

Our main reason for venturing back to the lake was for Gracie to give her binkies to the fish. We've been talking about being all done with binkies, and she thought it seemed like a good idea to pass them on to the baby fish. My sweet big girl holding tight to the binkies that she has loved for so long. I'm not exactly sure how well she understood what she was doing, but she seemed okay with it. Even happy about it.

We took some pictures and then she stood at the edge of the dock and tossed them into the water. That was it. She wanted to see them floating, and on our way off the dock asked to see them one more time. She was fine.

I, on the other hand, was a mess. I never thought that Gracie giving up her binks would be so emotional for me. In my mind, this was her last big thing before being officially a big-girl... and I'm just not sure I'm ready for that. (More on that subject in another post.) I cried the whole time. I'm sure Justin and Melissa thought I was nuts... but they'll be there someday too.

(In case you're worried about our blatant pollution, the binks were securely tied to the dock with fishing line and once Grace had said good-bye, I promptly pulled them out and stuffed them in my purse... where they still are today).

Before leaving the farm Gracie took a little ride around on the mower. She really thought she was driving. The expression on her face was priceless.

We had a great such a great weekend - and though it wasn't what we had originally planned, it ended up being just right.