17 weeks

17 weeks with Snowflake vs. 17 weeks with Colin
How far along? 17 weeks 0 days

Total weight gain/loss: +10 pounds (Whew...same as last week)

Size: Onion, or 5 inches and 5 ounces

Baby Development: "Your baby's skeleton is changing from soft cartilage to bone, and the umbilical cord — her lifeline to the placenta — is growing stronger and thicker. Your baby weighs 5 ounces now, and she's around 5 inches long from head to bottom. She can move her joints, and her sweat glands are starting to develop." (From babycenter.com)

Best moment this week: Seeing and holding Leah's new baby Ezra on Monday. Colin has also been more receptive to the idea that Momma has a baby in her belly. He talks to the baby, pokes my belly button, and kisses my belly.

Movement: I'm feeling a little bit of movement.

Food cravings: Meat, I guess. Fruit, I guess. Nothing too major.

Food aversions: Rich sweets like cupcakes and brownies

What I miss: Sub sandwiches, comfortable jeans/shorts, alcohol, not having daily headaches
Stretch marks?: None.
Maternity clothes?: I busted out the maternity shorts a couple of days. Otherwise I've been wearing mesh Champion shorts and most of my regular shorts/capris. I'm still wearing non-maternity shirts. Over the weekend I dug out my maternity clothes and sorted them to be washed. I won't need them for awhile, and it's mostly pants and long sleeved shirts.
Sleep?: I'm sleeping great. Every night I tell myself I'm going to go to bed at 9:00. But then 10:00 rolls around. Argh.
Gender?: We won't be finding out.
Belly button?: It's very circular and not very deep.
What are you looking forward to this week?: Being done with another week of summer school (Homestretch--3 down, 2 to go!). Kevin's favorite holiday is 4th of July, and he lights fireworks, so we'll be doing that on Monday. Last year Colin passed out about 2 fireworks into the show. We'll see what he does this year!

Colinese: Translation

Alright, I had 3 people guess in the comments section. Thanks Buffy, Amy, and Stephie--and my mom who guessed over the phone. I know present you with the answers you've been (so anxiously) waiting for.

bump butt = dump truck
bodice butt = garbage truck
by butt = fire truck
i beam butt = ice cream truck
dawbowdays = strawberries
bowbowdays = blueberries
bowbowa = four wheeler
monerdydo = motorcycle
boddet = Rocket
boddet, bum way wiff me = Rocket, come lay with me! (He says this when he's in bed and wants Rocket to lay next to his crib)
bapa = grandpa
bampa = grandpa
mamma = grandma
monniss = Thomas (the train)
map bime = nap time
bean up bime = clean up time
bing/wing = swing
deets = treats
nats = snack
ben = bed
biwwow = pillow
wane wane dow away bum aden annunner day = Rain, rain go away, come again another day (he sings this even when it's not raining)
mannies = jammies
nunnies = undies
dirt = shirt
unner dah = under dog
buss me = push me
bo-see, not a baddetbow = Percy, you're not a basketball! (He has a Percy the train--part of the Thomas crew--squirt toy he plays with in the bathtub. He also has a suction cup basketball hoop for the bathtub. He puts everything in the hoop, and one time I said, "Percy, you're not a basketball!" and now he says it too).
watt = walk
wurt = work
baybo = table
bam daddos = graham crackers

Colinese

Just for fun, here are a few of Colin's often-used words and phrases. Can you decode what he's saying? Take a stab by leaving a comment. Grandmas...you probably know what all or most of these are, so only guess the ones you're not sure about. I will wait until there's at least 3 comments before I post the answers :)

bump butt
bodice butt
by butt
i beam butt
dawbowdays
bowbowdays
bowbowa
monerdydo
boddet
boddet, bum way wiff me
bapa
bampa
mamma
monniss
map bime
bean up bime
bing/wing
deets
nats
ben
biwwow
wane wane dow away bum aden annunner day
mannies
nunnies
dirt
unner dah
buss me
bo-see, not a baddetbow
watt
wurt
baybo
bam daddos

16 weeks

16 weeks Snowflake vs. 16 weeks Colin (Look how HUGE I am compared to last time. EEK!)
How far along? 16 weeks 0 days

Total weight gain/loss: +10 pounds (Good LORD!)

Size: Avocado, or 4 1/2 inches and 3 1/2 ounces

Baby Development: "Get ready for a growth spurt. In the next few weeks, your baby will double his weight and add inches to his length. His legs are much more developed, his head is more erect than it has been, and his eyes have moved closer to the front of his head. His ears are close to their final position, too. The patterning of his scalp has begun, though his locks aren't recognizable yet. He's even started growing toenails. And there's a lot happening inside as well. For example, his heart is now pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day, and this amount will continue to increase as your baby continues to develop." (From babycenter.com)

Best moment this week: Kids at summer school figuring out that I'm pregnant. Like today's conversation with middle schoolers:
Kid: "Mrs. F, how many kids to you have?"
Me: "1 and a half"
Kid: "So you ARE pregnant."
Me: "Yes, I'm not just getting fat."
Kid: "You're not fat, you just have that baby bump going on."

Movement: I think I'm feeling a little bit of movement, but it's more like somersaults and not kicks.

Food cravings: Meat, I guess. Fruit, I guess. Nothing too major. At night I am thirsty but water just isn't enough. Something juicy is what I crave. Last night I settled for some applesauce, but it still wasn't exactly what I was looking for.

Food aversions: Rich sweets like cupcakes and brownies

What I miss: Sub sandwiches, comfortable jeans/shorts, alcohol. A nice, juicy margarita sounds so yummy. My midwife advises me not to drink juice, but I would really like some.
Stretch marks?: None.
Maternity clothes?: I busted out the maternity shorts a couple of days. Otherwise I've been wearing mesh Champion shorts and running pants. I'm still wearing non-maternity shirts.
Sleep?: I'm sleeping great. Every night I tell myself I'm going to go to bed at 9:00. But then 10:00 rolls around. Argh.
Gender?: We won't be finding out.
Belly button?: It's very circular and not very deep.
What are you looking forward to this week?: Being done with another week of summer school (2 down, 3 to go!).

Can I also say that we had a chiropractor appointment tonight and Dr. S. asked if I was having twins!??! He says he normally doesn't ask women that, but he has an intuition. I flipped out a little bit. And now we wait anxiously until July 22 for my ultrasound to see if his "intuition" is right. Kevin's reaction? A simple "No."

Father's Day Weekend Rundown

I suppose I should take some time to tell you about our weekend real quick. Since it's still the "beginning" of the week and all :)

On Saturday, we braved the possible rain and met Leah in Stillwater for Colin's "2 year pictures." He was a typical, uncooperative 2 year old who wanted to run around instead of sit by his parents and smile pretty. But knowing Leah, she got some great shots regardless. It helps that her Isaac is the same age and she understands :)

On Sunday, I scrambled to put Kevin's Father's Day present together. I needed Colin's cooperation, and again he was not. But we did it, and it turned out pretty well. We got Kevin a 3-picture frame for his desk at work and put these pictures in it:
I went grocery shopping in the morning and scored some sweet BOGO deals. Blueberries, Doritos, and corn on the cob! I spent $23 but saved $18. Sooo close to saving more than I spent. Next weekend I'm scoring some BOGO strawberries and ice cream :)

After lunch, Colin and Kevin took a nap while I went "real" grocery shopping for the rest of our food supply. I got home an hour later and both boys were still sleeping. They slept until 2:30 when I said enough is enough and I woke them up. We drove down to Hastings to visit my bro, his new FIANCEE Mandy :), my grandma, and my mom and dad for Father's Day. Colin got to see some "dig digs" up close because Scott's road is all torn up due to construction. We stayed for a few hours and hit up the park on the way out of town.

So that was our Father's Day weekend fun!

Sharing the news

When we started sharing our pregnancy news way back in 2008 when I was pregnant with Colin, I was about 9 or 10 weeks along. This is how we shared the news with our parents.

This time, I was 9 and a half weeks. We told our parents on Mothers Day (May 8). I wanted to wait a little bit longer since I hadn't had an appointment yet. However, I had a little bloat going on and I had already seen my mom twice in person since finding out we were expecting, so I didn't want to hide it a third time. Plus, it was Mother's Day and what greater gift is there than another grandchild?

So...I made both my mom and Kevin's mom a Snapfish photo book of pictures of Colin from his first to his second birthday (they had both already received one of his first year at Christmas). At the end of their books, I attached an envelope and inserted a piece of paper that read: "Look for Colin as a big brother in the next photo book!" They both screamed (in delight, not horror). Our dads were a little more reserved--no screaming--but happy as well. My mom and dad were already suspecting it because I didn't drink wine at Easter.

While pregnant with Colin, I told most of my friends when I was about 10 weeks pregnant while on a shopping trip to IKEA. It was more spread out this time; I told a few friends separately. For instance, I didn't want to keel over and die during the triathlon without Stephie knowing. This time we had planned to meet at Edinborough Park for a picnic lunch and more shopping. We all brought something to share with the group. I volunteered to bring the fruit salad and plates/napkins/plasticware. I kept with a pink and blue theme. They didn't put two and two together at first, thinking the theme was because of Laura not finding out the gender at her ultrasound due to an uncooperative baby. But then I said it was for me, and they were all surprised and happy and shocked that I was already 13 weeks along! I'm so glad I get to be pregnant with friends again--Leah (July), Jess (August), and Laura (October)!

I told my co-workers at our last staff meeting. I had the secretary tie some pink and blue helium balloons that I had bought onto a chair in the room we were meeting in. People looked at the balloons and looked around, wondering who was pregnant. At the end of the meeting, my principal announced that we had two staff members who were pregnant. My co-worker, AP, who teaches 4th grade, wasn't at the meeting, but our principal got the okay to share that she is due at the end of November. And then she said, "And there's one more..." And people started guessing out loud. Turns out the librarian ended up sitting in the chair with the balloons and there was some joking about that. Then the laughter got quieter and I jumped up and said "It's me!" My co-workers were thrilled, which makes me feel great. I feel a little guilty knowing I get to take some time off.

So now we can share with anybody we want, and that is a good feeling!

Introducing Snowflake!

We (okay, mostly I) are calling this baby Snowflake. Colin was called Rain, and at the time it was just because it was funny coupled with our last name. But since then, I've realized that Rain was an appropriate name because he was an April baby. With this baby due the first week of December, Snowflake is only fitting.

I have so much to catch you up on, but we'll start with some belly pictures taken this evening.
And then we'll move on to a variety of questions taken from fellow pregnant friends Laura and Leah's blogs. You'll see these weekly.

How far along? 14 weeks 6 days

Total weight gain/loss: +7 pounds (Good LORD!)

Size: Lemon or 3 1/2 inches and weighs 1 1/2 ounces

Baby Development: "His body's growing faster than his head, which now sits upon a more distinct neck. By the end of this week, his arms will have grown to a length that's in proportion to the rest of his body. (His legs still have some lengthening to do.) He's starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair, called lanugo, all over his body. Your baby's liver starts making bile this week — a sign that it's doing its job right — and his spleen starts helping in the production of red blood cells. Though you can't feel his tiny punches and kicks yet, your little pugilist's hands and feet (which now measure about 1/2 inch long) are more flexible and active." (From babycenter.com)

Best moment this week: Seeing my beloved midwife and hearing the heart beat at my appointment yesterday; 148 bpm.

Movement: I think I'm feeling a little bit of movement, but it's more like somersaults and not kicks.

Food cravings: Meat--Hot dogs, cheeseburgers; and fruit

Food aversions: Sweets like cupcakes and brownies

What I miss: Sub sandwiches, comfortable jeans/shorts
Stretch marks?: None yet. I'm going to try my best to avoid them again by using Jafra's Royal Almond Body Oil. It worked at keeping the stretch marks away with Colin, so hopefully it will work magically again!
Maternity clothes?: I bought some stretchy tank tops and t-shirts when I went shopping with my girls a few weekends ago. I'm hoping they will get me through the summer. My mom scored me a great deal on some denim maternity shorts at Kohls yesterday. I may have to buy one more pair of shorts, but I plan on spending quite a bit of time wearing some old school Champion mesh shorts this summer as well.
Sleep?: I'm sleeping great, aside from the occasional middle of the night wake up call we get when Colin has to go to the bathroom. And if that happens any time after 4 am, it's hard to get back to sleep.
Gender?: We won't be finding out. We didn't find out with Colin, so all of the gear we have is gender neutral. At this point, my hunch is this little one's a girl. I've had a few dreams starring a newly born baby girl.
Belly button?: It's very circular and not very deep.
What are you looking forward to this week?: Being done with my first week of summer school (1 down, 4 to go!), getting family pictures taken in Stillwater with Leah on Saturday morning, Fathers Day/my brother's birthday on Sunday.

More posts to come about telling our family and friends and other fun facts.

Colin's wish list

If I know Colin, and if he knew all of the world's possibilities, I know that he would want these:

1. Balance bike. It's a bike without pedals rated for ages 2-5. First you learn to balance, then you can lift your feet up and coast. Balancing while using pedals come later.2. Swing for our backyard. He used our neighbor Regan's swing last weekend. Now he asks more about her, and says he wants to play with her. He's just using her for her swing. But we're seriously considering getting him one.
3. His very own riding lawn mower. The kid is obsessed with my parents' lawn mower and the tractor that mows at Kevin's parents' house. I'm tellin' ya, if he saw this in his driveway he would freak. out. But only in his head because he's all non-exuberant like that. But you would know he was excited because of the glow radiating from his every cell.
4. Pedal tractor. He's also pretty obsessed with this tractor that Sandy has at her house. He doesn't like to share it. I guess he throws a fit if he has to give someone else a turn. Life is rough. I witnessed the love this morning when we visited daycare. The glow, people. He just cruised around in circles in that thing, slamming on the brakes every now and then to avoid collision, happy as a clam. And, to my happiness, after he had ridden it for a substantial amount of time and I told him it was time to share, he didn't freak out.
Note: All things that go. We spend much of our time on the driveway riding, riding and oh...riding.

Note: Good Lord, you should see the current state of our garage already! Kevin has resigned himself to parking in the driveway. There's PLENTY of room for him to park in the garage, but apparently his truck feels a bit claustrophobic amongst the trikes, strollers, lawn mowers, push cars, etc.

Note: I'm really lovin' the balance bike idea.

5. A baby. Honest! He told me so himself. We were watching TV, and by "we," I mean "I" with Colin playing in the living room. I told him to look at the cute little baby on TV, so he did. I asked him if he wanted a baby, and he said, "Yeah, right NOW!" So *poof*! Wish granted, well...not right now...he'll have to wait until December. I mean, come on! How can we resist not giving Colin a sibling as cute as he?

*Credit: Leah Maria Photography

I'll give you more details next time. For now, I will leave you hanging with a smile on your face.

Good clean fun

Hoses aren't just for watering plants.
Or for drinking out of.
They're also for seeing how high you can make the water spray up into the sky...
Getting your shirt all soaking wet...
Turning on ("Water turned on, Mommy")...
And turning off ("Water turned off, Mommy")...
Washing trikes...
Watching Daddy take a drink...
Washing off the steps...
And spraying toys down the walk way...
*Colin's new studly hair cut is courtesy of Mandy. She's the only one he trusts with his hair.

A short update

I apologize for lack of blog entries lately. I've been uninspired. I'm sure that will change now that SCHOOL IS OUT! Or at least for the kids it is. I have 2 inservice days to work next week.

Then I teach summer school for 5 weeks from 8:00-12:00 until July 15. My mom and Kevin's mom are sharing babysitting duties for those 5 weeks.

After that I get a month to hang out just Colin and I and whomever we want to join us.

Oh the possibilities:
Toddler story time at the library
Swimming
Teddy Bear Park
local parks
smoothies at Caribou
Children's Museum
etc. etc. etc.