Well, the second week of the letter B. That's all we did I think. We made it to play group, which was a lot of fun for me. Sometimes play group is me listening to the other moms, and sometimes I actually include myself in conversation. I really like this play group because the moms are so different from one another and I like to hear how we all do our "mom" thing in our own way. I guess we're not that different from each other, but I somehow feel like there is a lot to learn from this group. And it's nice that the kids get to run around and interact with each other.
Library time was fun. Abigail started to join in, although she remained seated in the chair next to me while she did some of the hand motions. Maybe in a month or so she'll be on the carpet next to Joshua - who at one point was right in the librarian's face because he couldn't get enough of the fun. She was a good sport. Thank you librarian - I guess you have plenty of experience with excited 3 year olds.
OK, here are our activities.
Wir haben Bananabrot gebacken - notice all those excellent Bs! (we baked banana bread) It was delicious. (unfortunately, after I put a bunch of walnuts in the bread I noticed Joshua's hands - all spotted, red, and puffy, quickly determined it was the walnuts as there is nothing else whatsoever that has changed in anything - diet, soap, detergent, etc. and he was quickly forbidden from eating anymore banana bread. He firmly declared, "If I can't eat walnuts, NOBODY can eat walnuts!" I don't like walnuts anyway.)
Wir haben ein B-Buch gebastelt. We made a B Book. We'd been working on this for a while. All the coloring pages in the book are of something that starts with B. I also included the B writing pages he was working on and as a last minute activity on Saturday, we brainstormed all the B words we could think of. Abigail even came up with "Ball" on her own (actually she was looking at a book and shouted out "ball" when she saw a ball in the picture, but we pretended she was helping along and congratulated her anyway.) After brainstorming all the B words, I had Joshua circle all the Bs he could find (he would tell you he was capturing them so they couldn't escape). After a while he got bored of drawing circles so I circled all the Bs he pointed out to me. I think that was my favorite B activity.
We started early on our "Family" and "Love" themes by learning "Des Heilands Liebe" (I feel my Saviour's love) and playing a family memory card game that I made. So far I only have the Mock side of the family represented - but as soon as I get the Hatch photos in (hint hint) I can finish the Walker/Berwick Memory game. I have included a photo of me so as to remind myself I was once, and not too long ago, 50 lbs lighter and thinner. oh the days. they will return. and hopefully very soon.
Also, I've been working on the "icons" for our calendar. We continue to move our snowflake over every day to show how far we are through the month. Joshua doesn't get that every day has a number or even that every column is a specific day (monday, tuesday, etc.) And I dont' know that he understands that every row is a week per se, but he does understand that each square represents one day and we are slowly going through all the days in January. When we run out of squares with numbers in the corner, that means we are in February. Considering we spend maybe 5 seconds each morning on the calendar, I figure thats a good start.
Sorry for the cruddy photo. in any case, you can probably tell we have icons to announce that a babysitter will be coming, a doctors visit, a trip to the park, a birthday, a library day - and I have a bunch more.
I had to return this book to the library already, but I liked it so much that I thought I'd share. It has a few fun ideas for valentines day crafts - some of which are presented here. we're not going to do hand puppets and I've modified the valentines tree idea quite a bit to suit our needs, but I thought the puzzles, heart animals, and necklaces (look carefully to see how they're made) were cute and would be fun for my age group.
And just for fun - Here are some photos of a very short walk we took a few days ago, afterwhich we realized that I shouldn't be walking so much - especially up the huge hill next to our house, because it starts heavy contractions. It is so hard when the sun finally comes out, though, to stay inside for very long.
This is what happens when you don't strap your almost 2 year old into the stroller and she is ready for a nap.
I always like to see photos of my friends, and of course we never post photos of ourselves on our blogs, especially when pregnant, but I figured, this one isn't too bad. Here you go friends. Here is what I look like starting out the 9th month. and there is a ghost in the photo so that's kind of fun. jk.
Next week will be kind of slow - preschool wise. At least if I have my way. (warning - I don't think I have any male readers, but if you do exist, you might not be interested/totally grossed out by the rest of the post. I suppose some women too for that matter, so just skip it if you feel you're getting too much information.)
Monday - tomorrow - I am going in for an amniocentesis to check the baby's lung maturity. If everything looks good (mature enough), which it is for about 60% of fetus' at 37 weeks, I get to go in on Tuesday and have my water broken. And I'm very happy about this. If breaking my water doesn't start labor, the docs will give me a tiny bit of pitocin. If that doesn't work, we'll have to move right over to the c-section. However, I am fairly confident, well, I'm extremely confident I will go into labor because at my 36 week check up I was 2 1/2 centimeters dilated and 70% effaced. I would say at 36 weeks that is pretty good. I haven't had any regular and/or really intense contractions since then, so it's hard to say if I've progressed any farther, but the doc said that looked very promising and I could "plan on" a vbac - you know, unless something goes wrong during the vbac, at which point I get to have an emergency c-section. Having a c-section before, I'm not nervous or worried about having another. It was actually kind of nice in a way. but I would much more prefer a vaginal delivery, just to keep our options (number of children options) open. We're not going for 20 kids, we're just going for how many we get and I think I would be very very disapointed if I really wanted a fourth but the docs said after the 3rd I had to stop. It would be very difficult for me.
But, if the baby's lungs are not mature enough to be delivered on Tuesday, I will either have to wait 1 or 2 weeks, depending on how underdeveloped the lungs are. I kind of think I would probably go into labor on my own before then - as in before the 15th of February, seeing as I've already made it this far. Who knows. But we will know more tomorrow.
I'm so ready to not be pregnant anymore. I'm very much looking forward to sitting in my hospital bed doing nothing but holding my baby, nursing my baby, having people bring me food, help me with everything I need, and watching Fox News for 48 straight hours (we don't have TV anymore). Hopefully my next post will be an introduction to our new little baby.
Which at this point, we are naming Lukas Elijah Mock. That may change. We're just kind of like that.
Library time was fun. Abigail started to join in, although she remained seated in the chair next to me while she did some of the hand motions. Maybe in a month or so she'll be on the carpet next to Joshua - who at one point was right in the librarian's face because he couldn't get enough of the fun. She was a good sport. Thank you librarian - I guess you have plenty of experience with excited 3 year olds.
OK, here are our activities.
Wir haben Bananabrot gebacken - notice all those excellent Bs! (we baked banana bread) It was delicious. (unfortunately, after I put a bunch of walnuts in the bread I noticed Joshua's hands - all spotted, red, and puffy, quickly determined it was the walnuts as there is nothing else whatsoever that has changed in anything - diet, soap, detergent, etc. and he was quickly forbidden from eating anymore banana bread. He firmly declared, "If I can't eat walnuts, NOBODY can eat walnuts!" I don't like walnuts anyway.)
Wir haben ein B-Buch gebastelt. We made a B Book. We'd been working on this for a while. All the coloring pages in the book are of something that starts with B. I also included the B writing pages he was working on and as a last minute activity on Saturday, we brainstormed all the B words we could think of. Abigail even came up with "Ball" on her own (actually she was looking at a book and shouted out "ball" when she saw a ball in the picture, but we pretended she was helping along and congratulated her anyway.) After brainstorming all the B words, I had Joshua circle all the Bs he could find (he would tell you he was capturing them so they couldn't escape). After a while he got bored of drawing circles so I circled all the Bs he pointed out to me. I think that was my favorite B activity.
We started early on our "Family" and "Love" themes by learning "Des Heilands Liebe" (I feel my Saviour's love) and playing a family memory card game that I made. So far I only have the Mock side of the family represented - but as soon as I get the Hatch photos in (hint hint) I can finish the Walker/Berwick Memory game. I have included a photo of me so as to remind myself I was once, and not too long ago, 50 lbs lighter and thinner. oh the days. they will return. and hopefully very soon.
Also, I've been working on the "icons" for our calendar. We continue to move our snowflake over every day to show how far we are through the month. Joshua doesn't get that every day has a number or even that every column is a specific day (monday, tuesday, etc.) And I dont' know that he understands that every row is a week per se, but he does understand that each square represents one day and we are slowly going through all the days in January. When we run out of squares with numbers in the corner, that means we are in February. Considering we spend maybe 5 seconds each morning on the calendar, I figure thats a good start.
I had to return this book to the library already, but I liked it so much that I thought I'd share. It has a few fun ideas for valentines day crafts - some of which are presented here. we're not going to do hand puppets and I've modified the valentines tree idea quite a bit to suit our needs, but I thought the puzzles, heart animals, and necklaces (look carefully to see how they're made) were cute and would be fun for my age group.
And just for fun - Here are some photos of a very short walk we took a few days ago, afterwhich we realized that I shouldn't be walking so much - especially up the huge hill next to our house, because it starts heavy contractions. It is so hard when the sun finally comes out, though, to stay inside for very long.
This is what happens when you don't strap your almost 2 year old into the stroller and she is ready for a nap.
Next week will be kind of slow - preschool wise. At least if I have my way. (warning - I don't think I have any male readers, but if you do exist, you might not be interested/totally grossed out by the rest of the post. I suppose some women too for that matter, so just skip it if you feel you're getting too much information.)
Monday - tomorrow - I am going in for an amniocentesis to check the baby's lung maturity. If everything looks good (mature enough), which it is for about 60% of fetus' at 37 weeks, I get to go in on Tuesday and have my water broken. And I'm very happy about this. If breaking my water doesn't start labor, the docs will give me a tiny bit of pitocin. If that doesn't work, we'll have to move right over to the c-section. However, I am fairly confident, well, I'm extremely confident I will go into labor because at my 36 week check up I was 2 1/2 centimeters dilated and 70% effaced. I would say at 36 weeks that is pretty good. I haven't had any regular and/or really intense contractions since then, so it's hard to say if I've progressed any farther, but the doc said that looked very promising and I could "plan on" a vbac - you know, unless something goes wrong during the vbac, at which point I get to have an emergency c-section. Having a c-section before, I'm not nervous or worried about having another. It was actually kind of nice in a way. but I would much more prefer a vaginal delivery, just to keep our options (number of children options) open. We're not going for 20 kids, we're just going for how many we get and I think I would be very very disapointed if I really wanted a fourth but the docs said after the 3rd I had to stop. It would be very difficult for me.
But, if the baby's lungs are not mature enough to be delivered on Tuesday, I will either have to wait 1 or 2 weeks, depending on how underdeveloped the lungs are. I kind of think I would probably go into labor on my own before then - as in before the 15th of February, seeing as I've already made it this far. Who knows. But we will know more tomorrow.
I'm so ready to not be pregnant anymore. I'm very much looking forward to sitting in my hospital bed doing nothing but holding my baby, nursing my baby, having people bring me food, help me with everything I need, and watching Fox News for 48 straight hours (we don't have TV anymore). Hopefully my next post will be an introduction to our new little baby.
Which at this point, we are naming Lukas Elijah Mock. That may change. We're just kind of like that.
thanks forthe update! i hope things go well with the amnio. today. Keep us posted!
ReplyDeleteI love the name you picked out but I understand not being 100% about the name.
Love ya!!
Ooh wow, what a week you have! Prayers are coming your way from our house! I'm sure you still have my number, please call if you need anything (you know I am a great milkshake (any treat really) runner if the hospital food isn't curbing your appetite). I love all the B activities. Can't wait to see your new little one.
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