Haven't come as far as we thought...

Our newest addition will not be arriving until July. My official due date is July 6, 2009. We are hoping for a July 7 arrival, but will be thrilled with any day this little one decides to appear. I warned the sonogram tech that I didn't think I was already 11 weeks. As soon as she put the machine on my belly, she was sure.."oh, no way you're 11wks." She estimated 7wks 4days. Hannah did the same thing. We thought we were going in at about 10wks and she was barely 5wks. So, it looks as though I have several more weeks of morning sickness to look forward, but I'm armed with a few doses of Zofran to get me by on the bad days.

I was only disappointing because we are too early to even see the arms and legs, but we saw a very healthy little heart and got to hear it. Hannah was looking at the screen and trying to see it. When the tech was moving the machine to get different measurement, Hannah was saying, "I can't see the baby". Dan had to take her outside for a while so I could speak to the Dr peacefully. All the talk of the baby had Hannah wanting to go get her babies. She took the keys from my purse and said "I be back. I go get my babies." Dan humored her for a while. She was really cute the whole time.

I love the Dr we chose. Turns out she has had two natural deliveries herself, so I know that she believes that women can do it and I don't feel she will pressure me into any unecessary interventions that I don't ask for. She was very receptive to my plans and didn't seem concerned about Hannah's delivery repeating itself. Although, she did reassure me about their protocol if it does happen again. I was very impressed with her and have a great feeling about this one. The best thing is that we will deliver at Doctors Hospital, right down the street from home. I plan to stay home as long as I can before moving to the hospital and cannot imagine doing that if I had to travel very far. She did the same thing with her deliveries and was very supportive of that plan. I hope this little one cooperates with me. I have 7 months to prepare!

As for the rest of the day, we had friends come in from out of town and we met them as COSI until 5pm. They had to leave to go work an overnight job and we kept their 5yo son with us. We had dinner at Red Robin (great for the kids) and then saw Madagascar 2 and he spent the night with us. It was such a good time. Both of the kids were very well behaved and we were so proud. It gave us a good preview of the joys of having children 3yrs apart. We had to deal with the usual, "she's touching me, she won't let me play with that, she's being too loud, she won't let me sit there, etc". Good times, but I think we can do it. We will be spending the day with them again until they have to head back out of town on their cross country tour.

I promise I will post pics soon. I'm just really not feeling like doing it right now. I'm needed in the living room anyway to referee.

little energy

I have very little energy these days. This new baby is not being kind to me. I am sick all day, with it getting worse around 4pm every day, like clockwork. I don't have the energy to post pics (sorry Sue and Libby).

We had a rough day today. Dan has had a busy week with interviews going on at the family clinic. He has been home late due to one thing or another and he had to work again this morning. He was due home around 12pm, but wasn't. It never fails that he's gone on my worst days. I was very ill this morning and Hannah was very hyper. She needed me to run around and play rough, which I can't do when I feel like I'm going to vomit at any moment and have a splitting headache. SO, with her not understanding my pleas for calm quiet play, we had several meltdowns and temper tantrums. At nap time, finally, she threw a fit about putting pants on. Not a fight I would usually take on except it was very cold in the house today and I knew she would just wake up cold and cry for me and not go back to sleep. During the struggle to put her pants on I had enough and slapped her on her bare thigh. She stopped immediately, starting crying pathetically and said "No, Mommy, don't hit me" with tears running down her face. We had a little talk about spanking and hitting and why you have to follow directions, etc. I got her to lay down and cried for hours. I've never felt bad about popping her before, but it was her reaction to it that got to me. I feel bad that I'm not my usual patient self. I feel really bad and I know that she is getting the short end of it lately. I really hope this phase passes quickly. I will know how far along I am next Friday and I'll know a little better how much longer this sickness may last. On a good note, when she's not throwing fits and driving me insane, Hannah is being very sweet and asking me if I'm ok and giving me hugs and kisses and making sure I eat snacks. She's always asking, "Mommy, you so happy?". She then says, "I'm so happy first".

Dan will be home most of the day tomorrow and I will really try to post some recent pics.

Sorry...

...for the lack of blogs lately. I have zero energy, I'm nauseated, and I'm doing my best to make myself do the things that have to be done. SO, I haven't felt like sitting down and downloading pictures (it takes longer than I think it should). Some time soon, I will update everyone with super cute Hannah pictures. She has been taken pictures with our camera and has taken some really good ones all by herself. We also had Halloween with friends (Hannah was Elmo) andHannah has been enjoying football season with Daddy (which gives me much needed little breaks here and there). These and more pictures will be coming as soon as I find the energy.

A cute story to pass the time: One night I went to a movie with friends (High School Musical 3 - I think we were the only women there without children) and left Hannah with a babysitter until Daddy got home. Well, while waiting for me to get home, Dan had one of the students staying with us do OMM on his neck. Hannah thought they should pay attention to her and as a form of protest she dumped out all of her baby powder on the couch in the living room, the green fabric couch, not the black leather one that would have been better for cleaning - luckily, Daddy had it cleaned up before I got home. Apparently, she threw a big fit and ran through the house screaming and throwing things around. The couch got the brunt of it, though.

Hannah is now fully immersed in the Terrible Twos. She asks for things by whining and if not given to her immediately, she throws herself on the floor in protest. It's been quite a power struggle between the two of us the past week or so. I have learned to not give her anything unless she asks like a "nice girl" and I NEVER give in to her fits. It's been fun! No wonder I'm so exhausted.

I was telling Dan that I don't remember being this tired when I was pregnant with Hannah, then I realized that I wasn't chasing a 2 year-old all day when I was pregnant with her. To make it worse, I have terrible insomnia and can't take any medicine that actually helps. I'm doing my best, but I'm sitting here wondering why humans insist on having multiple children. Do we forget what they put us through? I haven't forgotten because I'm still living it, so why I wanted another one right now, I haven't quite figured out. I guess that's why God gives us 9 months to prepare.

Guess What?

Hannah is going to be a.......


I just found out early this week, while Dan was out of town, and I told him by having Hannah wear this shirt to pick him up at the airport on Tuesday night. Didn't take him long to figure it out either. I just told Hannah to tell Daddy to look at her new shirt. We are very excited and expect this little one to make an appearance around the end of June 2009. I will have an exact due date in a few weeks. Keep checking back for updates.

Halloween pics coming soon...

Fun with characters

Last Saturday, Hannah and I went to see Curious George at Barnes N Noble. She really enjoyed seeing George while stories were being read about him. After story time, we got to take pictures with George. At first, Hannah would only sit on the edge of the reading area and wave at George.
She finally asked me to go up with her for a picture.

Today (this Saturday), Daddy, Hannah and I went to see Bob and Larry from the VeggieTales at Lifeway Bookstore. Hannah had a great time with them and even gave them hugs and kisses.

While Bob and Larry got a break, we were surprised by the Chick Fil A cow! Hannah saw him Friday night at the Westland High School football game also. She really like the cow too.
I forgot to add that during Bob and Larry's break, we were eating nuggets that Chick Fil A brought and while Hannah had a mouth full of food, the cow walks up, Hannah sees him and yells "Mommy, moo cow!" and spits her chewed pieces of chicken and saliva ALL.OVER.ME. That part was great! At least Dan was amused.

Hannah quotes

When we told her the plan for the evening, Hannah replied excitedly, "OH, OK, Great!".

When putting on her shoes today she insisted she do it herself, "I do it!", then when she was successful said, "SEE?!" (with that smart alack look on her face - some of you know the one).

Just a few minutes ago she walked up to me randomly and just said, "I love you Mommy". Every time I would reply, she would repeat it (with her really sweet look and a crooked smile). It really made my day!

I love this little girl so much, she melts my heart, even after driving me nuts so much.

Ok, back to add more stuff.

While I was cooking tonight, she asked if I was cooking potatoes, I replied "yes" and she said "Ok, great, woo hoo!" Maybe her Daddy told her to praise me when I attempt to cook...ha.ha.

Now she's adding the woo hoo to everything. I can't believe the change in her attitude when gets a full nap during the day. She is being so pleasant.

We've had a really great day and all this funny talk is really making me laugh.

WOW!

This is why I keep Hannah rear-facing! This is a link to a great blog written by a grandfather:
http://forum.carseatdata.org/convertible-seats/1827-rear-facing-is-best-true-story.html

His grandson was recently involved in a collision and suffered severe injuries that could have been avoided if he were rear-facing. His blog really breaks it all down and gives great information and links. He asked us all on car-seat.org to spread his story and the rear-facing message. I felt strongly that I should. I downloaded his before and after pics so that readers of my blog can see without having to register at the other site.

This is Joel before his accident:

This is Joel after:
He can wiggle his fingers and toes, but cannot raise his arms. He is undergoing severe physical therapy for head, brain, and spinal injuries.

Some great points from the blog and links:

Car accidents are the #1 KILLER of all children. Greater than all childhood accidents combined.

Children under the age of 2 years are 75% less likely to die or sustain serious injury when they are in a rear-facing seat. This finding was true regardless of direction of the crash, even those crashes with side impact, which typically are the most severe.
Why? Because a child's head is 25% of their body weight. When their heads fly forward in an accident, there spinal cord can only stretch 1/4 of an inch while there vertebrae can stretch much further. This leads to internal decapitation.

There has never been a reported case of a broken leg caused by rear-facing. Even if there were, a cast is better than a HALO (like the one Joel is wearing).



I just read this blog tonight while surfing through my car-seat forums (yes, I read car seat forums). It was too touching not to share. This is a cause that is close to my heart and one that I wish got more attention from Doctors, Paramedics, and lawmakers. In countries where children rear-face the longest amount of time, the death rate from auto accidents are the lowest. In our country, where our children rear-face the shortest amount of time, the death rate from auto accidents are the highest.

We have to change our attitudes about our children when it comes to the most dangerous activity we participate in on a daily basis. We also have to stop being worried about how fast our children will "grow up" and move on to the next step. It permeates every aspect of our lives, but the car is one place that it does not belong. Every step "up" in car seat is a step down in safety.
Rear-facing is safer than forward-facing.
Harness is safer than booster.
High back booster is safer than no back booster.
No back booster is safer than seat belt until a child passes the 5 Step Test.
These are milestones that we should not be in a hurry for our children to reach and we certainly shouldn't rush into the next step before our children are ready. The results can be deadly.

Here is my disclamer: I am aware that there are parents who make the choice to forward-face their children after knowing the facts, and that is their parental decision to make. I'm sure I make many parental decisions others would disagree with. However, most parents (in the general US population) are not aware of the facts and blindly trust that lawmakers and Doctors know best, when in fact, it is just too inconvenient to change these archaic laws. This is what I am hoping to change. More awareness is always a good thing!