Tonight Gracie and I played some board games and then she wanted to paint. So, I set her up with her watercolors and went to talk to Michael and do a few other things. Then I hear, “I need help.” And here she was covered in paint. Her hands, belly, back of her legs, face, you name it, it had watercolor on it. She had poured out her water cup onto her table and maybe had painted two lines on the actual paper. Michael and I got her and the table cleaned up and decided it was about bedtime so we put her up. When we came back downstairs, Michael saw the real damage that I had missed. She had painted the dining room wall.
I’m Just Painting
December 3rd, 2011Oops, I’ve Done it Again!
December 2nd, 2011Major neglect has occured on my part once again. We had a very busy September and October. Weddings, work and doctor visits among other things including a birthday trip to Disney for Gracie.
Currently, less than 8 weeks until baby Joseph is due to make his entrance into the world and so much more to do. The Christmas tree is up and we are continuing to get the house purged and ready. I am steadily losing energy so it has been a struggle.
Hopefully things will all get done and if not we will deal with it as it is.
I Moved In
September 10th, 2011Michael has always had an office of some sort at the house. I have my sewing room, but it is tucked upstairs out of the way, which is the way it should be – use and safety wise. Since we have been doing so much work together on the photography business, we started talking about putting me a desk in his office. I currently have taken over the dining room table with my files and my laptop.
Last night, we went ahead with the plan. We moved out some of the clutter that was collecting in his office and brought down my little table desk and set it up. We cleaned up some animal hair and dust and finished setting up shop. Michael was also wanting some wall space for visualizing so we managed to accomplish that as well.
Now all we need to do is finish getting everything organized and put away…it didn’t help that we had a photo shoot today that even further disorganized the gear.
Doctor Visit
September 9th, 2011Sunday, when Gracie got up from her nap she had a strange rash under her chin. It was not raised and it did not bother her. Mostly it looked bruise like, tiny little reddish speckles. We kept an eye on it and it was about 99% gone by Tuesday morning, so I decided against taking her to get checked out.
Today, I was at the dining room table taking care of some phone calls and Gracie was sitting eating a waffle at her table. I looked over and saw a shadow on her lower face, then I realized it was the rash thing again, but worse. This time it was under her chin and all around her lips. It was also much darker, but still the same basic rash…bruise like and speckled.
I called the doctor’s office and scheduled an appointment. Our family doctor wasn’t going to be in so we were to see someone else. Michael came home from work at lunch and then Gracie and I went off to see the doctor.
Well, what we discovered, after a $15 co-pay, was that what is most likely happening is Gracie is putting cups up to her mouth and creating a suction to hold them on. In turn, this is causing her to become bruised. Yep, that’s my kid.
Thursday Update – Week 20
September 8th, 2011
It’s a BOY!
We have officially hit the half-way point in the pregnancy, 20 weeks. For mom, that’s 4 1/2 months. I woke up Tuesday actually looking pregnant! Not anything too crazy, but definate baby bump happening. Also, just filling out in my body in general. I’m starting to ‘feel’ more pregnant, so it’s kind of cool. Finally tipped the scales past my starting weight. My weight hasn’t gone to or under my starting at all in the last week. Still flucuatuing, but that’s how any person’s weight works.
The reading material tells me that the baby weighs about 10 1/2 ounces and is around 6 1/2 inches long from head to bottom and about 10 inches from head to heel. That’s about the length of a banana in fruit language. Apparently, we have hit some change in measuring techniques, until now all measurements were easy to take head to bottom but now that the baby is bigger and more stretched out they begin using head to heel measurements for guidelines. Whatever, baby’s getting bigger is the point. Baby is swallowing more and producing that awesome stuff meconium now. Can’t wait til that comes out at the hospital. At least Michael and I will be ready for it this time with lots of extra diapers and warm wipes!
Since we had our 20 week ultrasound today, I have more information on our actual baby instead of the week to week guidelines from the books and internets.
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No More Nightgowns
September 7th, 2011Gracie has been stripped of all nightgown wearing privilages.
She has had a major set back in the potty training movement. Tonight was the straw that broke the Mommy’s back. Her door was unlocked, and she knew it. I heard her open the door and yell down the stairs for us, “Mommy, Daddy, I have to poop!!!” Michael got up there quickest to find that she had already done her business in her pants.
I took her into the bathroom and cleaned her up and took her nightgown off. I told her she was no longer allowed to wear nightgowns until she could show us that she can poop in the potty. We also restated the current mantra of, “big girls don’t poop in their pants, and only big girls can get dressed up like princesses at Disney.”
She sat on the potty and peed and then she got new underpants and upstairs she went. Once she was back in her room, I sat back down again. A little while later she emerged, saying she had to pee. Well, she already peed, on her bedroom floor.
Shaking my head. I don’t know what we are going to do.
Pancakes
September 4th, 2011I try to make a ‘big’ breakfast at least once a week, becuase normally in our house breakfast consists of everyone picking at things like cinnamon toast, yogurt, and cereal. This week it fell on Sunday and we made pancakes.
Once everybody got moving, I asked Gracie if she was going to help me make the pancakes. She ran into the kitchen and got her foot stool and slid it up to the big counter so she could reach everything. I used the Griddler, which was an awesome call and I will be doing that all the time from now on. That was all set up and warming, so I grabbed the ingredients we needed and our big measuring cup.
I always mix batter in the 4 cup measuring cup because then I have a built in pour spout that makes it so much easier. Gracie cracked two eggs into the cup and she only got one little piece of shell in. I poured the milk in and she said “I need a fork,” and opened the drawer to get it so she could mix the eggs and milk together. I switched her to a spoon when I started to measure out the Bisquick.
We got the batter all mixed and ready to go so I started to pour out the pancakes to get cooking. Gracie wanted to eat the batter and kept shoving her fingers into and licking it off. She helped me watch the pancakes bubble and we decided when it was time to flip them.
When everything was cooked and ready to eat we all sat down for our breakfast. It’s mornings like these that are so nice to spend at home with Michael and Gracie. Angus even got in the mix and had a few pancakes thrown his way!
A Wedding Day
September 3rd, 2011Worked with Michael today on the wedding of Megan and Chris. We had a long day and worked hard, but as always it was worth it. Great fun working with Michael and it brings us one step closer to getting the business where we want it. Looking forward to seeing the photos Michael took, almost as much as I look forward to nap-time!
Thanks, Babe, for another great day!
Crazy Idea
September 2nd, 2011Today I wanted to be home in the evening and not have to run any shopping errands or other things. I decided in order to accomplish this I would have to do walking errands this morning. Then I went one step further and set out a plan to walk to Target, which is about 2.25 miles from home.
I got home from work and packed Michael’s lunch and he left. Then onto fight Gracie into clothes and pack up for our trip. I needed to drop off the Direct TV box, a wedding DVD and a bill at the post office so I got all that in the stroller along with my list and coupons for Target. I started on our way and realized that I had forgotten that the stroller tires needed some air, so after a half block from home I turned and went back.
Once that was done, we were really off. The first leg of our trip was about 2.1 miles (thank you Google Maps) and it took us about 1 hour (thank you to myself a dork who started the timer on my iPhone). This was when we stopped at the post office to empty out the stroller basket. The air was a nice feeling considering it was already around 88 out with a heat index of 93.
Next stop was Target. This was another 0.3 mile and about 20 minutes (that includes the time in Target). Target was very empty, so it didn’t take us long to get what we needed and get to the checkout. I almost punched the lady behind us, because she got all up on Gracie’s stroller and got mad when it rolled back and hit her. Hello! Pay attention dumb ass, it’s a stroller with a two-year old in it! We stopped at the front of the store to get ourselves back together and eat a quick snack.
Last leg of the trip took us home and was about 2.4 miles and took us just under an hour. I was so hot, but I got all the stuff put away and lunch cooking before I jumped in the shower. Man, a shower never felt so good.
It was an adventure, but I don’t think I will be attempting that trip again for awhile.
Thursday Update – Week 19
September 1st, 2011Here we are, we made it to week 19. Only 21 more to go! And for mom, that’s still about 4 months.
Baby weighs about 8 1/2 ounces and measures about 6 inches long. In terms of fruit, it is the size of a large heirloom tomato, and yes a tomato is a fruit. Arms and legs are finally proportionate with the rest of the body and the ears are beginning to be able to hear.
I have been feeling movements for a little while now, but today when I was laying down and was able to see it move or kick around a bit. Pretty cool!
One more week until the anatomy ultrasound. So, next week there should be a major announcement to post!