Thursday, May 26, 2011

32 weeks and a random update


Well, I am officially 33 weeks as of Friday, but I am a week behind in posting this!  This photo was taken at 32 weeks.  I can't believe I only have 7 weeks left.  Time has just flown by with this pregnancy. I am trying to enjoy every minute of it... but I have to admit, it is harder to enjoy as each day passes!  Ha!
At 31 weeks we had a slight scare.  I ended up having contractions and was in the hospital overnight, hooked up to IV fluids and getting a shot to stop the contractions.  Apparently I was dehydrated, which can cause contractions (this was news to me!)  I am not a water drinker.  I try so hard, especially when I am pregnant, but I just wasn't thinking and let myself go a couple of days with not much water.  I am thinking that is the cause.  Of course at the time I had no idea the reason, and I thought for sure baby girl was coming to meet us!  I grabbed the camera on the way out the door and I told Craig I'm not making that mistake twice!  Ha! (We never had a camera for Andrew's birth until the day after, since he came so unexpectedly.)

They wanted to monitor me a little more closely, especially since I was this far along with Andrew when he stopped growing (30 weeks).  My fluid was low and my placenta was bad (the doctor said it looked 3 weeks overdue!)  This whole pregnancy I have been worried about those things, and so I am relieved they are keeping a close eye on it.  It is such a relief to know that things are looking fine this time around.  I just had an ultrasound again on Tuesday (15 days later than the last one!) and she has already grown to 4lbs 12oz.  She already weighs more than her brother weighed when he was born!  It is so crazy to me to think of that.  I am just so relieved and grateful that she is growing and doing well.  I am feeling much better, and have been drinking so much water I feel like I could float away!  Ha!

Random pregnancy thoughts:

1.  I can no longer see my feet when I look down.

2.  Craig had to help me buckle my shoes the other morning because I couldn't reach them.  Nice.  Next it'll be helping me shave my legs!  Ha!

3.  Andrew calls baby his "tiny little baby sister" and loves to pat my belly and hug her.  Melts my heart.

4.  It is much harder this time around, keeping up with a very busy toddler while being pregnant!  I never sit down until Andrew goes to bed.  I'm exhausted!

5.  Walking up the stairs is like an aerobic workout.  I scope out elevators!

6.  Baby is settled right against my bladder and kicks it all day.  I pretty much use the bathroom at least 20 times a day, and the minute I am done...I have to go again.  (Sorry if that's TMI!)

7.  I am IN LOVE with this girl's nursery.  We are putting finishing touches on it, but I can't walk by it without going in and just smiling.  It is so soft and cozy.  One of my favorite rooms in our house!

8.  We still have so much to do to prepare.  I am starting a list of things we still need, and praying we get it in time before she arrives!  I am not holding out hope that she'll make it much past June!  I guess I'm used to early babies, but maybe she'll surprise me!

9.  She loves to kick and move around at night.  Once I'm sitting down and relaxing, that is when I can feel her the most.  And I can see my belly move with her movements, and I love it!

10.  I'm hot.  All the time.  (And it's not even summer yet!)

So I am just counting down the days for school to be out so I can get going on finishing up those last minute things that need to get done.  Craig's agenda for the week is to get her closet system put in.  The girl is going to need maximum space!  I could just die looking at all the adorable girl clothes.  I can hardly stand it!  I think Craig is getting nervous for me to be done with school... It'll certainly free up my shopping time!  Ha!

As for big brother... he is growing and learning new things every day.  And keeping us on our toes!  I have to share this story so that I can always remember it...

So the other evening when we were grilling at my mom's, Andrew's nose was runny so we were helping him blow it.  When we squeezed the right side, he would scream and have a fit.  Normally he is really good about blowing his nose.  We just went on and didn't think much of it.  For the next several days, every time we would blow his nose, he would cry and cry when we squeezed that side.  We tried looking up his nostril and saw nothing, so we just figured he had scratched the inside with his fingernail or something.  It even crossed my mind to put some neosporin on a q-tip and shove it up there!  Craig thought I shouldn't do that, so I waited another day.  I was going to call the doctor if it wasn't better soon...

So, one evening recently (about 6 days after the initial onset of symptoms!) I squeezed the left side and made him blow his nose super hard.  I almost had a heart attack when this came flying out of it:

(Ok, so this isn't the real one, but I had to illustrate somehow!  I think Craig would have died if I'd have gotten out the camera and taken a picture of it, fresh out of his nose!  ha!)  But yes.  That would be a rock.  And it wasn't any too small, either!  I could not believe that my kid stuck a rock up his nose.  And let it stay there for over a week.  I am still shaking my head over that one!  That's our Andrew!  Ha!

One Saturday morning my awesome hubby let me sleep in (well, he lets me most every Saturday... aren't I lucky??)  When I came downstairs this is what I saw.  Just eating his pancakes with his stuffed animal friends watching him, complete with his portable DVD player!  Ha!  I just had to crack up.  It sure put a smile on my face first thing in the morning!
I hadn't taken a sleeping picture of him in such a long time.  He is not the deepest sleeper, and he'll open his eyes and look at me if I even just check on him before I go to bed!  So I try not to disturb him too often!  Plus, he's staying in his own bed (on his own...no prizes!) and I certainly don't want to wake him up and start the old pattern of him insisting on coming in our bed!  But this night he looked so funny, I couldn't resist.  He was totally wiped out from playing outside past his bedtime.  He grabbed some random things (his giant alligator for one) to join him, and he barely fit in the bed!  Ha!
The other night daddy was mowing the lawn.  Andrew was playing outside as usual, and had his helmet on because he was on his bike.  But when he saw daddy, he grabbed his mower and wanted to "help!"  
Yeah, he didn't want to take the helmet off.  It was pretty stinkin funny, and the neighbors got a laugh too!
He worked with daddy for quite a long time, and had to do exactly what he did.  I love how Craig is pulling the mower here, and so Andrew turned around to pull his too!  Ha!  Like father like son (in more ways than one!)
Last weekend we went to cousin Jayden's 3rd birthday party.  He had a "How to Train Your Dragon" party, which Andrew thought was just the coolest.  He wanted to go the second we opened the invitation in the mail!  Ha!  It was hard to hold him off for a couple of weeks!
Look at those filthy little toes (and legs!)  They played in the backyard most of the evening, and of course they had to take their shoes off!  Lucky for us, it had rained the night before so everything was nice and muddy!  Boys will be boys!
All of the Huegel cousins were there.  This picture is missing baby Abby, because she was sleeping and we had to head out to another party.  It is rare to get all 6 cousins in a photo together!  And do you see Andrew's latest "prize?"  Diego from Ice Age (he got that one for being quiet in church!  Ha!)  The look on his face is pretty classic.
Andrew was obsessed with this dragon cake!  We all had a great time together!  Happy birthday little buddy!  We love you!
And I just have to share this...because I just can't believe it (and it just proves how old I am!  Ha!)  After Jayden's party we had to head out because I was invited to a graduation party for one of my very special old students!  I taught both of these boys my very first year of teaching, in FIRST GRADE!!  Can you believe that?  Look how huge they are!  They were just the sweetest boys and I have never forgotten them.  I cannot get over the fact that my very first class of students are now graduating.  Reed (on my right) was having the party.  I also taught his younger brother, and their mom was my high risk OB when I was pregnant with Andrew.  She is the doctor who delivered the septuplets here near Des Moines almost 13 years ago.  They are the most wonderful family and I have kept in touch with them over the years.  When we found out about Andrew's heart, I immediately called Dr. Mahone and she took me as a patient right away and even prayed with me over the phone.  She is one of the most special people I have ever known.

We are heading to the lake this weekend to celebrate Memorial Day!  I can't wait to get the boat out for the first time this season!  Hope you all have a great holiday weekend!

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Papa's Birthday!

Andrew just adores his Papa... and he loves birthdays!  Anyone's!  As long as he gets to celebrate and there's cake!
So he was super excited to go to Ga Ga and Papa's to celebrate Papa's birthday!
Of course Papa let him have all the birthday fun...
Like blowing out the candles...
And opening all of his gifts!  (Andrew was especially excited about this one.. he loves it when Papa makes popcorn out of a real popper, and he gets to watch movies with Ga Ga and Papa).
It was such a beautiful night, we got to grill out, eat on the patio and open gifts outside too.  I don't think we ever went inside!  It was a perfect evening.

This is Papa's little tricycle that he got out for Andrew to use when he's at Ga Ga's.  Andrew still refuses to pedal, but he walks it all around the neighborhood!
This is the same slide that I used to play on when I was a little girl!  Andrew always walks to this little park and loves the slide.  It is so fun to watch him play where I played as a kid.

Andrew also had fun playing catch with daddy and Papa...
He got so excited that he threw the baseball on the roof and it landed in the gutter!
But Papa saved the day and rescued it!  Ha!  Then Andrew thought he could keep throwing it up there because Papa would keep getting it!
He definitely keeps us on our toes!
To top off the night, we got out Ga Ga's convertible that has been in storage over the winter, and Andrew was so excited to take a ride!
This was Andrew's face pretty much the whole ride... looking up at the sky and laughing!
He loved Ga Ga riding in the back with him...
It was just such a beautiful night.  I just love grilling out and being able to eat outside, and just let Andrew play and have fun and stay up way past his bedtime.  We cannot wait for the lazy hazy days of summer!  This was a nice little preview!  Andrew is so ready to be done with day care and Craig and I are ready to be done with school.  Craig is done this week and I am done next week.  Then it'll be time to finish up things and prepare for baby sister's big arrival!  Bring on SUMMER!

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Spring Sing!

Well, my big boy is officially done with preschool... for the year anyway!  Half of his class had their preschool graduation, but he'll still have preschool next year (thank goodness!)  I don't think I'm ready for the preschool graduation thing quite yet... I'm sure I'll be a basket case!
To finish off the year, his little class had a spring sing at their school for all the families.  It was so fun!
Andrew actually did a great job this time (much better than the Christmas Program!  Ha!) 
He was moving quite a bit so some of the pictures are blurry.  He actually did the actions and sang a little bit!
He had been coming home the last few weeks, singing new songs and some of the lyrics and the tune I couldn't quite figure out.  When I heard them in the concert, then I knew what he was singing about!  It was so fun to make that connection!
This one is the Goldfish Song.  He'd put his hands on his hips and say "wait a minute!" and then mumble things we couldn't quite understand.  I kept wondering where he heard that from (figuring he probably hears me say "wait a minute" all the time!  Ha!)  But then they started singing it in their song!  Too funny.


He was so good at the actions!  I was pretty impressed!  (Considering at the Christmas program he just stood there the whole time!  Ha!)

I have to crack up about the cute little girls next to him.  They were totally into it, hamming it up and never missed a beat!  I was glad Andrew was next to them so he would remember to keep doing the actions and singing!  Ha!

This picture cracks me up.  Those of you who knew my dad will understand why!  He looks so much like my dad here, kicking up his heels!  It was sort of my dad's "trademark" dance step!  Ha!
After the sing they had cookies and punch and had the kids' portfolios sitting out for parents to look at.
We had to leave them there (for next year) but I had to take a picture of this person Andrew drew!  I was so impressed!  I asked the teacher if she's sure it wasn't mixed up with someone else's!  Ha!  At the beginning of the year he wouldn't have even begun to imagine drawing a person.  Just shows how much he's learned and grown this year.  It just made me so proud!
Andrew was so proud of himself.  He loved singing for us and all the attention!  All the kids made these little flowers for their family to take home.


We couldn't be more proud of how much Andrew has grown and learned this year.  He has come such a long way, even with his surgery.  He never let that hold him back.  He is acting more grown up and accepting consequences so much better too.  I am just so excited to see him be a big brother.  I think he is at the perfect age, and he is so ready to welcome his baby sister.  I just know he is going to protect her and love her so much.  I can't wait to see it.




*Of course I video taped a little bit of his program.  I had to crack up at this because before we left I had told him that he could pick a prize if he was a good boy and sang his songs.  He has been obsessed with the McDonalds toys from the Ice Age movie, and he really wanted the sloth.  So right in the middle of his songs, he kept looking at us and saying "I a good boy, I get sloth!" with this huge grin on his face.  It was so.stinkin.funny.  So I kept cracking up in the background, but it was a good laugh!  (Be sure to pause the blog music at the bottom!)

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