Baby Esther arrived!

I uploaded all the pictures for this post 2 days after Esther was born, and never posted it.  I think I was planning to write the whole birth story with it.  Whoops.  Better late than never, I guess!

Right after she was born.

This technically isn't how much she weighed at the moment of birth.  She peed and pooped in the infant warmer before they got a chance to weigh her.  

"I'm so glad to finally see you!  Now you can't kick my ribs anymore!"

Cora was soo excited to come see us at the hospital.  She didn't seem baffled by Esther.  Josh told me that as they were coming to our room, she said, "Baby Sister out of Mama's tummy."  I guess all the talking and reading about babies worked!

Daddy and his girls!

A rare moment when her eyes were open

Cora wanted to hold her right away.  Esther is unwrapped because Cora wanted to see her "little tiny fingers and little tiny toes."  When reading books about babies, I had told Cora that Esther would have little tiny fingers and toes and hands and nose, etc.

Cora wanted to share her toys.

And one picture of just Cora, so she's not jealous.  I made her a snake out of playdough, and she turned it into a smiley face.  She has a very active imagination.  She brings her fingers together like she's holding the handle of a teacup, and it becomes a drink of juice.  The other day she fed my Visiting Teacher imaginary pizza and peas.  And I love listening to her play by herself.  Her toys talk to each other now, and it's hilarious.  I have to try to get a video sometime.  She can also quote several of her favorite books from memory, which we also want to record.  We need to do that soon.

The waiting game . . .

I have NO reason to be impatient for this baby, since Cora was 10 days late, but I have been.  Ever since I hit 37 weeks, there has been this sneaky little voice in the back of my brain that says, "You're considered full term now!  Any day!"  Yeah, right.  I'm about as dilated as I was when I went to the hospital with Cora (1cm)--and I was induced.  There is no reason that I should think I'm going to be early.  The doctor did do an early ultrasound, so this due date should be more accurate than Cora's, but that doesn't mean early.  I alternate between thinking this baby is just about to come, and worrying what I'm going to do if she's late.  My doctor doesn't want to go much past my due date, but I'd rather not be induced again.  I just need to stop trying to be in control of this process, because it is completely beyond my control.  One positive sign, though:  I had contractions for about 4 hours last Tuesday night.  We kept thinking maybe this was it, but they varied in spacing from 5-20 minutes apart and didn't get any stronger.  (Real labor contractions will become stronger and more regular over time.)  But at least my body is doing something.  That's comforting.  I don't remember many contractions from when I was pregnant with Cora, but Josh said I did have some.  It's funny what details he remembers that I don't, and vice versa.  I was kinda glad I wasn't actually in labor, because I had three events this past weekend that I didn't want to miss, one of which being my own baby shower.

I think we are ready for her to come, as far as logistics go.  The hospital bags are packed.  I ordered a double stroller and a new car seat today.  I kept the car seat that we used for Cora, which a friend had given us; however, when I took the cover off to wash it, Cora had a blast picking apart the styrofoam padding, so now we don't trust it.  We had debated getting a new one anyways, since one of the straps tended to loosen.  As luck would have it, Target.com is having a baby gear sale this very week, so we were able to get both the seat and the stroller for 15% off, plus we had gift cards.  The car seat can latch into the stroller, which I think will be very nice.

We have a babysitter for Cora, and plans for what to do if I go into labor while Josh is at school (He has his phone on all the time now, and if I can't get ahold of him on that, I have the phone numbers of his principal and all the other fourth grade teachers so I can get someone to have him call me).  I realized last week when I dropped Josh off so I could have the car to go to my doctor's appointment that we hadn't even thought about what we would do if I happened to go into labor on a day when I had the car.  In all my planning ahead, it had never occurred to me.  But we do have a plan now.  The friend who is watching Cora said she could pick Josh up if that happened.  The odds are low, but I know it would have happened if I hadn't planned for it.  Josh thinks I'm probably going to have the baby at night, since that's when I most often have contractions.  But we can also make an argument for it happening while he's at school, because then it would be least convenient.  :D

Cora is taking a nap today (hallelujah!), which is why I can spend so much time writing.  She's becoming clingier than she used to, and can be very demanding--"Mom, come play with me.  Come play with me now!" At least she knows how to express her needs.  And I'm glad she asks me to play with her, because when she doesn't, I tend to play with her less than I should.

And now, I'm going to take advantage of the peace and quiet and get some more scrapbooking done.  I had hopes of catching up on Cora's before this baby came, but I opted to finish our wedding scrapbook instead (after 3 1/2 years . . .).  I'm at April 2010, so just a tiny bit behind . . .

Christmas and ultrasound

Here are some pictures from our Christmas with Josh's family, and Tuesday's ultrasound!

Cora and Isabelle making music together

Dog Pile!

Cora LOOOOOOVED the snow.  Even now, she'll ask to go play in the snow whenever she sees a picture or video of it.  I have to try to explain that Houston doesn't get snow.

Cora, Thomas, and Benjamin making a gingerbread train (with some help).  They had a blast!

Opening presents Christmas morning!  We got her some play food, a play kitchen, and I made her an apron.  She loves playing kitchen now.  My mom got her a bunch of plastic animals that she also loves.  She likes to line them up or take a couple with her to the potty and play for a long time.

By the way, she's potty trained!  We started January 2nd because she was really excited about the underwear we gave her for Christmas.  I just put in her in a shirt and underwear for a couple of days (using a Pull-Up when we went anywhere) and sat her on the potty every hour or so.  She went through 5 pairs of underwear the first day, but only 2 or 3 for the next few days, and now she rarely has an accident!  Yay!  I'm enjoying a few diaper-free weeks until Baby Sister comes!

After the 26th, it was just us, Anna, and Rachel's family at Josh's parents.  We went to the City of Rocks, which is a bunch of huge boulders in the middle of a valley.  I never did find out how exactly they formed.  Here's Grandpa "saving" Cora from a rock.

Josh liked seeing how high he could climb.

Family picture!  You can't see Baby Sister, but she's there too!

Cora and Thomas had SO much fun together.  I got a great video of them chasing Josh around the living room that I'll have to post later.  I love Cora's face in this picture.

Cora didn't want to leave!  We all had a great time.

Here's a picture from last night. 37 weeks and 41 inches around at the belly button.  That's what the smaller writing says.  I should have just used a full sheet of paper.  The baby's due February 7th!  Here are some ultrasounds from yesterday.

I think this is a profile picture of the baby's head and shoulder.  I'm not positive.

This is her face!  You can pretty clearly see an eye and her nose.  Her mouth is open.  The image on the ultrasound machine screen was much clearer.  I am getting soooo excited to see her!

This is looking down on her head.  The doctor said she weighs about 6 1/2 pounds and is in the perfect position for birth, though still very high in my abdomen.  My cervix has softened some, but I haven't dilated at all.  I was only dilated about 1 cm when I went to the hospital to be induced with Cora.  I'm excited for this baby to come, but I hope she waits until after my baby shower on the 28th. :)  Because my doctor dated this pregnancy so early (at 7 weeks), she is pretty confident in the due date and doesn't want me to go over. I really don't want to be induced this time, but I decided (with my doctor's encouragement) that the risks of going too late are more important than my desire to avoid being induced, especially since I had such a (relatively) good experience last time.  So I probably won't have this baby much later than February 7th.  I'm still holding out hope for earlier, though.  We'll keep you all posted!  

MIRACLE!!!!

At least, it is to me.  Cora is taking a nap.  She has not taken a nap for THREE WEEKS, even though she gets really tired, but she is going on three hours now.  HOORAAAAAAAAAY!  A blog cannot adequately express my joy.  She's getting towards the age where she could start dropping naps, but the fact that she is super-cranky whenever she misses one and will go to sleep at 6pm if I put her down then, shows me that she still needs naps.  Last night, Josh read "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" in Spanish for her bedtime story, and she fell asleep on the couch.  She almost never falls asleep with people around (which makes for short road trip naps).  She was exhausted. So I'm very glad she napped today.  Now my only problem is, I'm supposed to be leaving in 5 minutes to go pick up Josh from work, and I really don't want to wake her up.

Wait.
I can hear her.
Haha, that worked out.
So, it's off to school for us!
And, for your viewing pleasure, I'll add a belly picture.  Josh rolls his eyes whenever I ask him to take one, but, by golly, I want to document this baby's growth!
This is me last night, at 31 weeks.  Only 9 weeks to go, wow!  Baby sister will be here before we know it!

Halloween and so on

Other of my friends have commented on posting very late Halloween pictures--so since I'm posting even later than that, what does that make me?  I am my mother's daughter, I suppose.  I just took my Halloween decorations down yesterday.  

Here we are!  Can you guess what we were?  (Those who don't already know.  Which you probably already do.)

Josh and Cora are two of the three Little Pigs, and I'm the Big Bad Wolf who's already eaten the third one.  Teehee.   We got a lot of compliments and laughs about it.  Cora and I spent a whole day in Josh's classroom helping with the Halloween party, then stayed at the school for a Fall Carnival.  We didn't get home until 9, and we were all exhausted and hoarse after shouting over the noise of the carnival.  That was on Thursday the 27th.  Friday the 28th we had about 25 people over to our little apartment for a Halloween party.  It was supposed to be outside on the lawn, but it was cloudy and cool that day, so no one wanted to go outside.  

We didn't actually end up going trick-or-treating on Halloween itself because we went a party at a ward member's house.  That was fun, though.  But we ended up with a ton of candy because we weren't at our house to give it to trick-or-treaters.  We're still working on it.  We had two sets of missionaries over for dinner tonight, and they very willingly helped diminish our stash.

Our precious two-year-old, in a dress from my aunt Carina!  She's getting so big and grown up!  She needs her bangs trimmed again.  My mom trimmed them when we were in Utah this summer, but they're in her eyes again.  Any ideas on getting her to sit still during the process?

Cora had her two year old well-child check a month ago, and I don't think I posted about it.  And now I can't remember the details.  I think she's about 29 pounds and 32 inches.  Something like that.  The doctor's office didn't give me a printout because their entire computer system was down, but they said they'd mail me one later and I haven't gotten one.  But Cora is healthy, happy, and growing well, and talking up a storm.  I started doing some potty training, but she wasn't that into it, and I didn't get really gung-ho, and now she won't sit on her potty at all.  I think it had something to do with our "cold" spell--she would complain that her potty was cold when she sat on it.  That might be why she won't use it any more.  (By the way, we're back to 70s for highs.  I know you popsicles are probably jealous, but I miss a real fall and winter.  The leaves are finally really falling from the trees, but not very fast still.  I doubt there will be any leaf piles.)

Baby Sister is also doing well.  I think that's going to end up being her name until she's born or until we settle on a name for sure.  We've talked a little about it.  I had a doctor's appointment today, so Cora and I got to hear the baby's heartbeat.  Cora talked up a storm to the doctor, a first.  Every other time we've gone, she's stayed completely silent.  Not today!  Cora hasn't felt the baby kick yet; every time I feel it, I can't get Cora to hold still long enough to feel her baby sister.  Plus, the baby isn't always predictable either.  She could have been pummeling me for a minute straight, and as soon as Josh or Cora put their hand on my belly, she stops.  Stubborn girl.

Well, I think that will be all today.  Josh and I are trying to get to bed earlier, so I'm going to call it a night and start getting ready to settle down.  (Or maybe I'll go back to my book--we pre-ordered "Inheritance," the last book in the Eragon series, from Amazon, and it came yesterday.  I'm on page 271.  But I *should* go to bed.)

"The joy of motherhood comes in moments"

I don't remember who said that, but it's true.  I tend to miss a lot of these moments, or not appreciate them.  Cora is so good at playing by herself that often a whole morning goes by without playing with her.  She is starting to ask for me to play with her, though, which helps.  "Mama play game Cora?"  She doesn't use the preposition "with" at all, which sometimes makes for some funny sentences.  We went out to eat with a group of friends a few weeks ago, including a couple of babies that Cora likes to play with.  I told her "We're going to go eat with Kate and Booker."  And she said, "Eat Kate Booker."  Yum!  :D

Anyways, there was a reason I thought of that quote tonight.  We normally start bedtime around 7:30 and get Cora in bed by 8.  The first thing we do is change her diaper and get her pajamas on.  Tonight, I finished the dishes at 7 and noticed Cora had a dirty diaper.  She had a good nap, so she didn't need to get to bed early, but why put her clothes back on after a diaper change?  So I decided to do an extra-long bedtime routine with several books instead of the usual one and a longer time singing.  It was so precious.  Cora loves stories and at naptime and bedtime lately has often gone to get more books after we finish.  Since I'm usually in a rush to get her to bed, I say no, which often triggers a fit.  Tonight we picked out four books to read, and we both loved it.  Then we had family scripture study, family prayer, and Cora's personal prayer, and then we sat in her fuzzy chair in her room and sang several Primary songs before I put her in bed.  It was the first time in a while that I wasn't rushed to get her to sleep, and it was so sweet.  I need to remember to take more time for her.

A miracle has occurred: Fall has finally come to Houston!!!!  I should say "fall," since I don't entirely qualify this season of brown leaves that stay on the trees and 70 degree days as true fall, but it's close enough.  I actually needed a sweatshirt outside yesterday and today because it was so windy!  It's supposed to get down below 50 tonight!  I'm so excited!  I love fall and spring, and I can't decide which I like better.  I love the newness of spring, but I also love the change of fall.  I love wearing sweaters and sweatshirts and snuggling under blankets.  You just can't do that when it's 100 degrees outside.  

I am fully in the swing of things for Halloween.  (That's part of the reason I like fall so much.)  We're having a  party next week, and I have been having a blast planning games and food for it.  I'm starting to get our costumes ready--we decided to use my sister-in-law Alysa's idea of adapting "The Three Little Pigs."  Instead of Josh being the wolf like I planned, I'm going to be the wolf, and I've already eaten one of the little pigs.  I thought her idea was ingenious!  Cora and Josh will be the other two pigs.  I'll have a piece of straw in my mouth, Cora will have a bundle of sticks, and Josh will have a brick.  I've started getting stuff together for their costumes, and it's been fun!

Picture time!

Have I ever mentioned that Cora LOVES music?  When we went to a children's opera, she was transfixed by the singing the entire time.  Here she is, directing the Mormon Tabernacle Choir during General Conference the first weekend in October.  She knows several Primary songs and has started requesting her favorites at bedtime.

This picture has a story with it.  A friend at church gave me the pink dress because she inadvertently bought it at a garage sale, not realizing it was a maternity dress.  Cora loves to wear a "pretty pink dress" whenever possible, so when I came to breakfast with this on, she said, "Mama pretty pink dress.  Cora pretty pink dress?"  I was already planning on matching, so I said yes, of course.  Then she thought for a moment and said, "Daddy pink dress?" We laughed.

Here's Baby Sister at 24 weeks, taken Tuesday, October 18.  It seems like I'm a lot bigger than in the last picture.  Part of it may be the angle, and part that I've started wearing my maternity pants, which don't hold my belly in like normal pants do.

We had a friend take family pictures for us a couple weeks or so ago.  We hadn't had any since Cora was 10 months old, so we were well overdue.  We had to tickle Cora to get her to smile, which meant that sometimes she was in strange positions when the camera snapped.

I really like this picture.  I have it as our desktop picture, and when Cora sees it she says, "Cora kiss Mama."  Awwww!

Ultrasound!

It's a girl!  The doctor said she looks healthy, and weighs 500 grams, which is a pound and a few ounces.  She is so cute!  Here are the ultrasound pictures.

Here she is, kicking me.  She kicks a LOT!  We've been surprised at how strong she already is.  I can see my belly bulging sometimes.  We saw her push both feet against the ultrasound wand, as though she were saying, "I'm already cramped enough in here!!"  The doctor didn't get a snapshot of that, though.

Proof that she is a she.

The top of her head, with the brain visible.  It was kind of odd that we could see inside her body. We could see her heartbeat, too.  She seemed to be asleep at first; she wasn't really moving, at least, but she moved once the doctor got started!  She's healthy and I'm feeling great, aside from occasional aches in my lower back, knees, and feet.  But they're usually short-lived.

Cora is excited about her baby sister.  She kept on saying "Cora have a baby sister" after we left the doctor's.  It was adorable!  She'll have her jealous stage(s), but I think she's going to be a wonderful big sister.  I'm excited to have another little girl.  

Now that we've had the ultrasound, the only thing to look forward to is the birth!  Baby-wise, that is.  We actually have a very busy month ahead of us.  I'm planning three Halloween parties.  I'm in charge of our church playgroup, so I'm doing one for that; we're going to host one for friends at our house; and I'm going to plan one for the whole 4th grade at Josh's school.  I'll be able to reuse games and stuff for all of them, though.  And I volunteered for all of this because I love Halloween!  I love just being crazy and getting to dress up. I haven't decided on costumes yet.  We wanted to go with the theme of fairy tales and reuse Josh's wolf costume from last year and do "The Three Little Pigs," but we were planning on already having a baby by Halloween of this year.  Since that's still in the works, we're not sure.  We may still do that, and just draw a picture of a little pig on my stomach, or do something else.  I suggested Cinderella or Beauty and the Beast, but Josh doesn't want to dress up as a prince.  We'll come up with something, and it'll be good, by golly!

Update on the last few months

So yeah, I know it's been forever. Part of the reason is that I couldn't find the cord to upload pictures to the computer until yesterday (it had gotten left in our suitcase from our trip in July). But now I have no excuse. Life just goes on. I'm part of a book club at church, so I just started reading Kathryn Stockett's "The Help" yesterday. It's really good so far! I'm also in charge of the ward playgroup. So far we've had four people come, then nobody last week. Hopefully tomorrow's is better!

Here is a break for a few pictures:

Cora helping me make cookies

Cora always to be a "hot dog" after her bath

Lately her imagination has been taking off. She will often put Legoes to her ear and say she's calling Grandma. This time she used her cantaloupe rind!

Here I am, about 20 weeks pregnant! This was taken last Saturday, so it's very recent. The ultrasound is next week! I'm well into my second trimester now, and aside from occasional minor aches and pains, I'm really comfortable. I felt the baby move around two weeks ago, though I wasn't sure at first if it really was the baby. I had occasionally felt what seemed like kicks, but way too early or in the wrong area (like right below my ribs, and my uterus definitely isn't that big yet). So I didn't pay that much attention. But one day I was just sitting there, and realized that I was feeling a lot of nudges right below my belly button that were too regular to be gas bubbles but too irregular to be my heartbeat. It still took a day or so for me to convince myself that it was the baby. The first movements I felt with Cora were wiggly and kind of spasmodic, but these movements were very defined. I was sure I couldn't be feeling such distinct movements already, but I was! And they've just been getting stronger. Josh was able to feel the kicks last Saturday, which was very exciting! They were pretty strong, too! Must be having a boy ;D I'll make sure to post next Tuesday and let you all know.

In the last week, I've started trying to be more goal-oriented. I was feeling a little directionless, and then we had a Relief Society activity where our presidency introduced a goal-setting program for us, kind of similar to Personal Progress in Young Women's. Right now I'm focusing on praying morning and night, reading my scriptures, and writing in my journal every day. So far so good! I'm also trying to spend more time playing with and consciously teaching Cora and a lot less time on the computer. That's my biggest time-waster.

Speaking of which, I've been on here way too long. See ya next week!

Announcement!

I can finally post this on our blog: I'm pregnant! 14 weeks along today, the baby is due February 7th. We'll find out the gender around the end of September. I have been feeling pretty amazing for being pregnant. I get nauseated occasionally, usually when I eat too much or go too long without eating, and I definitely am more tired. I'm also more prone to motion sickness than I used to be. The only time I've thrown up is when we were driving on really windy roads in New Mexico. That's really good compared to when I was pregnant with Cora; I threw up once a day for two weeks, and several times a week before and after that period. I'm now in my second trimester, and feeling great!

We were either on vacation or had visitors for the entire month of July, so that's why I'm way behind on posting. I will hopefully post more soon! But this next week is extremely busy, so it might be a little while.

Toodles!