Baby Allie Update

Five more days!  I'm looking forward to sleeping on my back, not waking up ten times a night to go to the bathroom and not having to roll off the couch or need help every time I need to get up.

Tuesday is my last biophysical appointment. Preregistration at the hospital is complete, I need to go in Thursday afternoon to have some blood work done. Wednesday will be my last day of work before heading out on maternity leave. Thursday my sister is flying in for two weeks, we have been very excited for her visit. The house is cleaned, our bags are packed and now we are just patiently waiting for Friday to arrive!

I can't eat or drink anything eight hours before my surgery that is scheduled at 10a at Fairview Ridges in Burnsville. We need to be at the hospital at 8a. Gina, a friend of mine, is working on her portfolio for photography, so she will be there to get some photos of Makayla meeting Allie for the first time and all the excitement around Allie's birth.

Thankfully, I've had a really healthy pregnancy! I haven't complained until my last month of being very uncomfortable but other than that it has been a pretty smooth ride. My schedule is pretty packed at work this week with lots of meetings before heading out, I'm sure this week will go extremely slow!

The next Baby Allie Update will be her arrival!

Bunco Baby Shower

Once a month I play Bunco with some women, a few of them I work with and the others are friends of theirs. We always have a great time when we get together. On Friday, they surprised me with a baby shower. I wasn't expecting anything because most of them attended my baby shower through work. I have an amazing group of friends! They even bought a few "big sister" gifts for Makayla.

 

I received another diaper cake, this one I have never seen before. It's a motorcycle, how cute is that? A receiving blanket holds the wheels and the handle bar together. A bottle is the headlight and socks are on the ends of the handle bar. Two bibs cover the front and back wheels.

 

We were given a baby swing and another play gym for the floor. Makayla's "adopted aunts" gave her a $25 gift card to Barnes and Nobles so over the weekend she was able to buy 5 books and even had a little bit of money left over. These two women spoil Makayla and usually like to share their winnings with her. A co-worker of mine gave Makayla an American Girl horse outfit with matching boots, Katie is styling now!

 

Thank you ladies for a very fun evening ... all of you are very thoughtful!



Family Fun Night

Every year Makayla's school has Family Fun Night in February. Lots of games, face painting and photo booth are set up in many of the classrooms. A huge obstacle course is set up in the gym. You can pre-order dinner, which was pizza, garlic bread, drink and a cupcake. This year they had smoothies available, Makayla enjoyed that! We had fun playing bingo and participating in the sucker walk. Can't wait to see how our picture turned out, it should be emailed to us very soon.


Baby Allie Update

I can't believe, only two more doctor's appointments left before Allie comes into our lives. My ultrasound this week confirmed that Allie is 7 pounds 9 ounces, I'm hoping they are off since I have two more weeks to go!  I doubled in weight from the previous weeks before, so far I've gained 19 pounds. Everything else is still going really well, her movements, heartbeat, the fluids, my blood pressure and sugars. My doctor checked my cervix and it's still way up there so she isn't concerned that I will be going early. I had a test for Group B Strep so I'm just waiting on the results from that. I tested positive with Makayla so they had to give me an antibiotic when I arrived in delivery. If I tested positive this time around it really doesn't matter since I will be having a scheduled c-section.

I think we are ready to go, as far as the arrival of Allie at the house. Clothes, bottles, pacifiers and toys have been washed and put away. Breast pump supplies have been purchased and washed. The only thing that I need to do is pack my suitcase for the hospital. We picked up some last minute things last weekend like breast pads and nursing tanks and bras.

Wow, this time has gone by so fast, I can't believe only a few more weeks to go. Makayla is definitely excited to meet her baby sister but I'm not sure if she is ready for all the changes. I guess only time will tell. I know she will be a great help and an awesome big sister!

Makayla Update

 

On Thursday we had parent/teacher conferences. She, of course, is doing really well in school. Math she still struggles a little bit and we've bought her flash cards to help at home. Her teachers are impressed that when Makayla doesn't understand something, she is not afraid to say she doesn't get it. Others won't say anything and then will struggle through their assignments.

Before every conference they will ask each student to write what their favorite class is, favorite teacher, favorite subject, friend in the classroom, etc. Apparently, most of the class considers Makayla a friend in the classroom. Her teachers said next time they are going to tally it.

Makayla has been pretty healthy this winter, despite all the kids in her class recently with the flu and strep throat. She came down with a really bad cold this week. I took her to the doctor and they confirmed it was just a bad cold. They recommended her staying home from school to get some rest so that's what she did today. She looks and feels 110% better. It must have been all that sleep she got, she slept for almost 12 hours ... something that she hasn't done since she was a baby. She's happy she is feeling better as they are having a Valentine's Day party at school tomorrow. Though she is even more excited for Family Fun Night at school next Thursday.

Ice Castle - Mall of America

Since I was feeling good, last Saturday we headed to Ice Castles at Mall of America. The Ice Castles are made entirely out of ice with no supporting substructure. Their beauty lies in their organic, ever-evolving nature. These changing ice formations are dynamic, larger than life and something entirely new and unique.

 

 

Happy Birthday To Me

 

Last Monday I celebrated my 36th birthday! We celebrated over the weekend, Dwight and Makayla took me to my favorite restaurant Don Pablo's. Our server gave me the wrong drink, I asked for a Nada Margarita but gave me a Nada Daiquiri ... it still wasn't the same. When we got home Makayla as very eager to give me my present, she was proud because she remember what I wanted. I've been wanting a food dehydrator for quite some time. Of course we had to try it out, we did a couple trays of bananas and apples. Mmmm, so good!

 



Baby Shower

Last Tuesday my wonderful HR department threw me a baby shower and between 25-30 co-workers came. The whole HR department supplied a huge potluck lunch for everyone in attendance.  I was so overwhelmed with all the gifts.  Some of the items that we received were: 2 carriers with bases (we were able to take one back and pick up some of the little items that we still needed), board books, diapers, homemade Dora quilt, blankets and burp cloths, bathtub with shampoo, body wash and powder, table booster seat, toys, frame, activity gym, gift cards and lots, and lots of cute clothes!  Let me say that this will be the first time that Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren will have entered our home.

 

 



Makayla and the Orthodontist

Makayla went to see the orthodontist a few weeks ago and come to find out she doesn't need anything done with her jaw like her dentist recommended. I'm not sure if her dentist was trying to give his friend some business but I didn't go with the initial referral because it was out of network. I decided to go with someone else, closer to our home and who had better reviews.  They told me that Makayla will definitely need braces when she is like 10, 11 or 12 but her jaw is fine. The top part will definitely be over crowded so we talked about the next steps with that, she will either have spacers or can have two teeth removed to make room for everything else. She has 12 baby teeth left, 6 on the top and 6 on the bottom. 

 

I have been contemplating changing from her current pediatric dentist to the dentist that Dwight and I see.  After this incident it's a little more clear.

 



Baby Allie Update

What's with the screen door you ask? Well, I got the idea from Makayla's best friend who has a screen door on her bedroom doorway. She has two cats and one dog, so to keep them out they put on a screen door. Now that she is older, she still has it but has it decorated cute with a curtain, doorbell, flowers, etc.

 

In our situation, Mister loves spending time in this room. He will hang out in the window and wait for me to come home from work. He will sleep in my rocking chair and we have found him a few times in Allie's crib. Now that our bedroom is in the basement, I didn't want to  have to worry about him jumping in the crib after she is born.  And too, I didn't want to shut the normal door because I wanted Allie to be able to sleep through anything. When Makayla was born, her room was in the loft that overlooked the living room and kitchen, that girl could sleep through anything! We could even run the vacuum cleaner by her crib and she wouldn't wake up. Now with the screen door installed, Mister is locked out and sounds will be able to go through.  Mister does not like this one bit! He sits outside the door and meows ... apparently he doesn't like change because he has issues with our ceiling fan too!

 

Since my last post I will have gone through 3 (including tomorrow) more bio physicals. Everything is right on track with Allie's growth, movement, fluids, etc. She was a rock star at her last ultrasound, completed her checklist in under 5 minutes ... normally it's 20 minutes. Blood pressure and sugars are still super. Last appointment I received my whooping cough vaccine, my doctor warned me that my arm would hurt for 4 days. She was right, I was in a lot of pain! Why do people want to touch your arm after you receive a shot? It never fails! Allie's head is down and at tomorrow's appointment they will check my cervix. 

 

Work paperwork has been completed for benefits and my leave. Tomorrow is also my work shower. Now, we are just counting down the days ....



Ceiling Fan Installed

Dwight's friend from work came over on Saturday morning to install our ceiling fan. Thankfully, the previous owner had all the wiring done. It has actually been nice having it, you can definitely tell the change in air flow. 

 

Mister, on the other hand, is a little upset. He is very scared of the ceiling fan and will keep looking up at it (if it's going or not). Last night he finally slept on the couch, otherwise he had been camping in Makayla's room all weekend.



Mister

Makayla has been saving up her money to buy Mister a tall cat post but they are so expensive that we convinced her to buy this $7 toy at Fleet Farm a few weeks ago. Mister loves this thing and will spend hours running around inside of it. Also, the creative part of Makayla made him a toy. She took a box and put holes in it, from there she stuffed his toys inside and he will sit there and bat them around while running through his tube.