the beginning. . (maybe)

After one of the worst sleepless nights of my pregnancy, contractions began around 3 a.m. I didn't get lots of sleep after that, either. They were pretty strong last night, but have petered out in intensity today. BUT, unlike w/ my 1st pregnancy where I labored one night & then stopped during the day & then started again in the middle of the next night -- I'm continuing to have contractions. . .so. . we'll see.

Kate has been talking to baby a lot -- today she was trying to ask her to come today. . but instead said, "Please come to the hospital with us!"

catching up

My usual shutterbug tendencies have been shriveling up as life gets busier. This results in fewer pics taken, and longer periods between downloading the photos. Today when I sat down for this project, I got a real cornucopia of subject matter. Hope you enjoy!

Time for a haircut! (Sorry, no post haircut pic -- she basically just got a trim, so it doesn't look that different to the untrained eye).

Silly dress-up girls!

Time to put those leotards to use! The girls had great fun at their friend's gymnastics party.

38 weeks (and so the countdown begins!)

All 3 girls!

easter weekend

Saturday was an Easter Egg Hunt at the Johnson's. The girls had a blast. Laurie discovered the treats the fastest & her picture shows exactly what she did -- she sat down & started snacking. Lydia & Kate were much better at finding eggs, and kept calling out the color of the eggs they found.




Suffice it to say, I should never plan to take pics with Kate after church on Sunday. This is NEVER a good time for her. I coerced her to wear her bow for a few pics, but the smiles were not readily appearing. So, content yourselves with ok pics of her & better pics of the adults.




Not perhaps the most beautiful shot, but it captures a little moment, and you can see a different view of my belly. :-) "Where's baby?" "Right there, momma!" (like, don't you know yet?)

baby BULGE

So, it's a little frightening for me to SEE this picture, but Josh assured me that this is actually what I look like. :-) Eeps. People have been giving me a false image of myself by telling me that I don't look big. I feel big, but I've taken solace in all those nice people out there. Lo & behold, I look HUGE! Anyway, this is 34 weeks on the dot.


Kate tried to get in on the act after I left the room & posed for daddy. Apparently, this is her showing off HER belly.

little baby girl

I realize I have been woefully silent on the topic of my pregnancy (or perhaps not so woefully). But, here's a quick update. I'm doing well. I've been gaining at a pretty decent & regular pace of 2 lbs per 2 weeks for the last month or so. I'm measuring within normal range (different than with Kate, where I was already falling behind). AND, as far as I'm concerned, the best news is that today, Dr. Pohl did an ultra sound just to get an idea of where this little girl is hanging out & she is head down! Tears came to my eyes when he uttered those words. I know I'm only 32 weeks along, but I was starting to go down that worry-path of What If? What if this baby follows big sister's footsteps? How am I going to feel about facing another c-section? Am I ready for my v-bac? You get the picture. And, of course, I may still confront these issues since head down at 32 weeks doesn't mean that she'll necessarily be there in 2 or 3 more weeks, BUT, it was certainly a great indication to me of a big difference between her & big sis. I don't think Kate ever was head down. . not once. Well, except when she was so little she was floating in her pool any which way.

Other differences: This baby is a mover & a shaker. I don't remember feeling (or seeing) Kate move with such effect on my body. I feel her feet most particularly, and early morning (right when I wake up) tends to be a very mobile time for her. The last few weeks I've spent this time "touching" her, trying to figure out where her head, buns, & back where. I've also spent lots of time praying that this baby would find her way to a good spot! After some comment months ago by a doula about how sitting with legs crossed can set up your baby for a poor alignment at birth (not just breech, but posterior, etc.), I've become sensitive to this "pose." Let me tell you, I cross my legs A LOT! And, it's more comfortable than other positions. So, last night, when she started the big move, I was on pins & needles. I could feel her moving into places she doesn't normally hang out, but I still wasn't sure that she was going in the right direction. For all I knew, she had been head down & was spinning out of that place! Last night, she had wedged herself side to side and I could feel her heels on my left side & little, light finger movements on my right. This morning, when I woke up, I knew everything was different. She had lined herself up more in the center, so I probably gained a few cm just from her realignment (they measure the center of your belly).

I couldn't wait to get to the docs to see what he thought. I had no idea he was planning to do an u-s, but I can't tell you HOW thankful I was.

two months (ish) to go

One side of my mind knows that "two months" is a LOOONG time, but the other side of my brain has a list of all of these things that need to be accomplished in two months time, and that list makes the time seem QUITE short. Especially when counting weekends! I've made some moves toward getting Kate's big girl room ready, and so the great rubix cube resorting of furniture in the Bailey home is about to begin. Two weekends ago, we celebrated Jen's birthday by going on a girl's shopping trip! It was so fun to shop and not have to worry about diapers, potties, child containment, manuevering strollers, or even particular meal times. I made a fantastic find at Pottery Barn Kids on Kate's bedding. Her new quilt & old one actually look REALLY similar. This week we picked up a bed from a church family who are moving away . . for FREE! Now that's a steal! The bed will be a great transitional bed for Kate because it's still quite low to the ground, like a bunk bed, but holds a twin size mattress. I went bed shopping with Kate & we picked out her new mattress, too. She's so excited to have her bed "like Lyyyydia!" Of course, it's still downstairs in the storage room, but she still likes to go see it. Next step: paint selection & execution. I do NOT enjoy picking paint colors. I am too visual of a person & would prefer to see the whole room painted before I made my choice. Thankfully, I've only made one really BAD paint choice in my short career -- but it was enough to scare me silly! (For those who have followed the blog for awhile -- the "pool" room). The other sad thing is that I actually love the current color of the room, but it's just not the right shade of green. Josh is picking up some paint samples from Benjamin Moore today, and hopefully we can make our selection & get the paint actually made at our neighborhood Home Depot for painting this weekend. My goal is to get Kate moved into her new room early April. Our current plan is to move the desk currently in the office to our guest room & make that a multi-purpose room. We still have an extra room downstairs that needs some finishing work to make it a usable room, but we're still in wait & see mode about what exactly we should do with it. It would make a great playroom, but I've heard mixed results from people about how utilized playrooms really are. The only thing I've bought new for baby Bailey is a glider for the nursery & two SwaddleMe's. I'm so excited about how much "cheaper" baby #2 can be, especially with the help of a great s-i-l who has had 2 summer babies.

New Aquisition for Baby Bailey -- A chair! This is sooo overdue. We never had a chair in Kate's room & I definitely needed one when we breastfed. Even now, it's great to have a place to sit & cuddle & read before bed (or whenever). My star of a hubbie picked it up at a local kid's resale shop. Woohoo! Laid over the back of the chair is the crib sized quilt. She doesn't use it sleep under very often, but I have put it in her crib as a cozy layer to sleep on top of.

To go into Kate's big girl room -- her table!

New bedding. I think I got the quilt for a few dollars cheaper than the sheet set. (both under $40) The flowers are on the pillow sham. The pink is the reverse side of the quilt. If you look back at the crib quilt, you'll see what I mean about being quite similar. :-)

Kate's headboard (and footboard right next to it).

A picture that captures the chaos which is our office usually. This is Kate's future bedroom & I thought I'd capture a before. We'll probably keep the bookshelf/storage on the left, and move both the desk & bookshelf. I've been assaulting craigslist every day to find a dresser for her.

An update on Kate at 2 years 2 months. She made a small step into potty training, but got a horrible stomach flu right after that and sort of retrogressed after that. Because of my pretty regular visits to the doctor & two very recent ones to her pediatrician, she has a pretty great attitude about making visits to the doctor, and even likes to play "doctor" at home. Right now, she has gotten ready to go to Dr. Pohl's office. This includes getting socks and shoes on, and a purse. Earlier, she had to have her stethoscope, thermometer, doctor's pager, and her baby in order to go to the doctor's. We "examined" the baby by taking her temp & then looking at her buns (this from her doc's visit today -- I thought she might have a UTI). She also used her stethoscope to listen to the baby in the baby's tummy. Talk about a bit confused! She listens & says "fump, fump."

She is also REALLY into clothes right now. She is very particular about what she wants to wear. Not two shirts, not a sweatshirt, not jeans, but cozy pants, the green shirt, not the pink shirt, etc. Not the khaki crocs, the pink crocs. Favorite shoes right now are her Keen sandals. Convincing her that the weather is such that she NEEDS to wear two shirts or needs to wear shoes without holes or that green shirt & orange pants don't match is like wrestling a hippopotamus. The good thing about this new phase is that she's also become interested in dressing herself. At this point, she is learning to put on some more complicated shoes & is getting comfortable getting her pants on & off. The hardest part is pulling those pants over the buns when your arms are a little bit too short!

Picture taken at Auntie Jen's birthday dinner at our house. She had been sampling the "creams." Look at her looooooooong hair, another thing she has some real fixations about. She doesn't want a pony tail or clips or bows. She tells me, "I'll just do like this, mom," as she sweeps her bangs back with her hand. Oh really! I feel like I'm dealing with a teenager. I remember having the exact same conversation with my dad about my horrible trying to be trendy bangs that always fell over my eyes. I hear myself echoing dad's words: But I want to see your beautiful eyes.

Big sister gets a

little sis!

We found out this week that we'll be adding to the complete imbalance in the family! These girls will have so much fun, I'm sure!

Everything else at the ultrasound looked great!

ob -- 8 week

Hello. . .greetings from pregnancy. Although my last word to you was on a pretty cheerful note, about 6 weeks I began to descend into yuckiness. Not as bad as last time, but not very pleasant. Each day would hold any number of ups & downs. I was predominately VERY tired, and had nausea around mealtimes & difficulty digesting. I feel uncomfortable and as though I need to lay down after meal times to avoid throwing up. I've had a couple of great days (which never happened last time), and so have been trying to see the bright sides. This week, Monday was great, Tuesday was horrible. The nausea seemed to have racheted up to *all the time*. I haven't been throwing up as much (once or twice a week, instead of once or twice a day), and have been eating normal & healthy meals. Unfortunately, I've still lost weight -- approx 8 lbs at my lowest & I've gained 3 or so back. Baby making must take more calories than I realize. I've tried to keep a lot of protein by my side in the form of Kashi Granola bars and they seem to work very well. Typically, the days I go to school, I'm able to perform the tasks required of me, and then on my break days (Wednesday & Saturday), I crash all day long.
Kate has been so sweet! She's quickly learning mommy is "resting, lay down, and sick" a lot. She eats in her high chair alone these days, while mommy rests on the couch, so she knows that if mommy gets up to clean her up, she's really done -- none of this changing your mind business! She loves to be with me, whether its in the bed or on the couch, and some of our most precious times have occurred when daddy isn't home yet and she brings her notebook & pencil to do some drawing with mom on the 'chouch,' as she calls it. Daddy has been the real star of the show. He's already taken over all of the grocery shopping, meal planning, and preparation. I'm convinced that my better eating habits this time 'round are due to him! If I don't have to think about, touch, or smell the food before I eat -- I have a much greater chance of eating more of it!
Today I went for my first OB appointment. Thankfully, I felt pretty good while I was there. I met this new doctor for the first time today & he was really nice. This new doc has an infinitely smaller practice than the last one I was with, and everything felt more personal. He actually did an ultra sound from which I have pics & a dvd recording (how nice!), especially since Josh wasn't able to come w/ me to the appointment. He was EXTREMELEY open to VBAC & didn't seem to have a problem w/natural childbirth. So, I'm happy. Also, his office is literally a 2 minute walk to the hospital through a skywalk -- how cool is that? That doesn't really make him a better doctor, but I really want to walk through that skywalk one time. :-)

front & back

Then, a picture of this big sister trying on some big shoes!

I've had ups & down this week, but overall can't complain. Am actually feeling pretty great right now! Thanks for all your prayers. I'll know when you guys aren't keeping them up!

it's that time again

Josh, Kate, and I are expecting the arrival of a new Bailey some time in May. :-) We've had a fun time announcing our news this weekend. It all began with a phone call on Friday night, where we debuted Kate's "Big Sister" shirt. I'll hopefully get a picture up soon, but here's the basic gist of it. On the front it reads, "I have a secret." On the back it reads, "I'm going to be a big sister." I guess when I say phone call that is a bit misleading. We "called" my parents on Skype & using our webcam we showed them Kate's shirt. Then, on Saturday, we had the Bailey clan over for burgers. We let Kate toddle around in the shirt & it was a full 30 minutes before anyone read it carefully! When Lydia had arrived, I told her privately what the shirt said. She shared her news with Mima, but Mima didn't believe her! She just thought it was Lydia telling a story about Kate being a big sister, just like Lydia. In the end, it was Lisa who first read it & realized the meaning. We had fun letting other people slowly figure out that something was going on in the kitchen with lots of hugs & squeals.

This morning we announced it at church & I got in touch with my sisters. We have a line in our prayer bulletin for pregnant mothers & this line has had someone in it for the last several years (at least 2) continuously. Just last week, it had nobody's name for the first time, and lo and behold -- I was pregnant. Everyone at church had a good laugh about that. We just can't escape those pregnant ladies! I guess it should be no surprise since many of us got married within two years of each other (as many as 6 couples) &, of course, there are people still having children who were married long before my "generation" & some after.

I'm about 5 weeks along & have felt great so far. (I was still feeling great at this time last pregnancy.) I'm hoping I won't have to start the "puke watch" again. But, I've tried to make a list of things to do before I might get sick. Make food & stash in the freezer. Get a hair cut. Pick a doctor. Meet some doulas. Make lesson plans. Hopefully, my mental preparedness will aid me this time round.

C-SECTION, ahhhh!

That's how I felt when, in less than 4 minutes, I went from thinking generally about c-section, to having mine actually scheduled for Thursday, December 21st, 7:30 a.m. :-@ I had a momentary shock, but have recovered my equanimity. So, we know little Kate's birthday (unless she decides to a. turn or b. come BEFORE Thursday) will be in one week. Pretty amazing. I can't wait until she gets here. If you can believe it, it's still a bit unreal that my child will be in my arms very soon. It will be a relief, believe you me, but a bit unreal. Thanks for your prayers, my faithful blogfans, and we still need them! Also, let me know what you think of Katherine Noelle Bailey. . . sound yummy?

For the picture starved

The changing pad is covered with chamois and is SOOOOOO cozy, I think I could take a nap on it!

This adorable little dog's name is "Spunky." Josh has posed her climbing INTO the crib.

Her cute crib! I don't think you can see it, but the crib skirt has adorable birdies & flowers on it (same as the valance).

FYI to those who care -- PB's blackout curtains REALLY work. Unfortunately, I didn't look closely at the width of those panels, so I need to buy another in order to cover the entire window during naps.

Yes, in response to everyone's queries. . these are announcements. I uploaded the pics yesterday quickly before evening church, and I didn't get a chance to add any comments. I knew the rest of the pics were self explanatory, so I wasn't too worried. I've been working on these announcements for a few days. I was so proud of their collective beauty, that I wanted to take a pic and post. To counteract the sad truth that each person can only receive ONE of these, I decided to share my joy at the cuteness of the combined effect with my blog readers. :-) I haven't done any "crafting" in a long time, so this project has been a lot of fun.

By the way, I have a cute "story" on Josh. He is soo proud of his work in the nursery that every time he passes by (the door is right across from our bedroom), he peeks in just to bask in how cute it is!

I always thought of myself as a beach baby. .

Little did I know that my little Kate would want to be a Breech Baby. :-) At least, she is at this point. Her buns are down in my pelvis and her head is up by my ribs. She has 6 1/2 more weeks to flip around so that she's lined up PROPERLY with her runway, but I'd appreciate your prayers about it. For those of you who aren't up on your obstetrics, neither doctors nor midwives deliver breech babies vaginally anymore (for lots of good reasons), so if she's holding on to her position for good, it'll mean a C-section. That's not the end of the world or anything, it's just a very different outcome than I had even considered.

The midwife gave me a handout that included some "excercises" to do to ASSIST the baby to turn. There's little excercise involved; they are more like positions. Basically, you lay on the floor and elevate your pelvis. This is supposed to make the baby uncomfortable and encourage them to move. Other aspects that they suggest are visualization. This is where it got hilarious. You're supposed to talk to the baby and tell her, "Kate, move around, point your head down toward my cervix." Yes, it got that explicit!

Other slightly less corny tips were placing headphones with music low on your pelvis or a flashlight to give them something to move towards. Look to the light! Apparently, babies are more attracted to Baroque music than to Romantic music. . So, play Bach, not Debussy. :-) Isn't that hilarious??? The last thing the midwife suggested was putting some ice on the top of my belly, once again to encourage the discomfort and help baby to move! Well, we'll see how devoted I will become to cooky methods of un-breeching babies.

Mommies, keep reading. . I have some questions for you.

December Babies Bring October Showers

Last weekend, Nan Doster hosted a lovely baby shower for me. It was so exciting, albeit a smidge overwhelming. Of course, I've never been one to 'hate' the limelight, but it's even more fun now that I'm sharing it with my little girl. The gifts were so adorable, some practical, some super fun! We received some major items that will really help us not spend the chunk o change I was dreading dropping at Babies R Us. We got our stroller/travel system, high chair, swing, and pac n' play, as well as a number of cute, little outfits. There were a few handmade presents that were are practically heirloom items. I hired a professional photographer to chronicle the event, and she's posted her pictures at her dropshot's website. Just click on Saturday, Oct 21st and you can see the entire collection. Many thanks to everyone who came and made it such a fun event, especially my faithful fans: Kelley, Julie, Beth, Becky, Grandma, Teisha, Anna, and Big Kate. :-) Even you silent lurkers will have a mention here! P.S. I was cursed by a humongous and hideous cold sore for the entire week leading up to this beauteous event. Unfortunately, the curse was still upon me on Saturday even though I did my fair share of praying about it. Thankfully, in most of Steph's pictures, it's not that evident (PTL!). I've never had one before in my life -- why now? why me? Thank heavens for base makeup and cover up, too! Enjoy these highlights, but don't neglect to look at all of them!

Lisa made the most delicious cake customized for Liz Lactose Problems.


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Look how cute Lydia looks in some of her new fall wardrobe (AND how un-Ben like). Her inner Jen is coming out.

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Here's a good side shot of that bump. It actually might be beyond the term "bump." Amy is holding her most adorable red headed child, Emma Reese.

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Here comes the Piggie! I had three pieces of cake!

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I was so excited that Becky was able to come to my shower.

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Here's the Moseley/Bailey fam with Emma peeking out of the window. I think Lydia is sticking her tongue out at the photographer!

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Just me! I recently got a hair cut which I desperately needed. I'm highly pleased with it.

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An Updated Bump

I'm definitely packing on the pounds these days. I go to the o.b. this morning (if I can stop blogging!) so I'll have a definite # shortly. I thought I'd let you see what I look like these days -- as Bob B. calls me -- I'm his outstanding daughter in law. The second picture shows my nursery bedding.

Serendipity

Tonight Josh and I went to Longhorn's for a little date before I went out of town. We had a delicious meal, attentive waitress, and an overall pleasant evening. When the waitress brought back Josh's credit card, she revealed that she was 6 months pregnant and was planning on naming her baby boy Joshua. After some pleasantries about that, Josh signed the receipt and noticed the server's name on the it -- Katie. So, he asked her if her full name was Katherine -- IT WAS! So, we traded a Joshua for a Katherine (Kate). How weird was that?! Needless to say, she earned herself a nice little tip -- serendipity plus great service! Can't beat that!

Nursery Solved

Well, thanks for all of your input on the nursery linens everyone! Jen and I tooled over to the Forum today to check out the PbKids and my favorite thing in the world happened -- we found a super great deal! As soon as I get myself put together I'll get some pics of it online. It's definitely girly, but there's room for more than just pink. It's a patchwork quilt with pinks, blues, and greens. Another fun thing about today was that Ben took care of Lydia, so Jen and I had a girl's shopping day just for ourselves. Of course, it wasn't exactly normal because I had to stop every once in awhile just to sit down. It's amazing how your body changes as you go through pregnancy. My low back is a part of my body that NEVER hurt me before, but lo and behold, that and my buns are achey after a day after shopping. The great news is that I had enough energy after a long day to come home and make supper. For those of you who have the red & white plaid cookbook, the recipe for Tostada Pizza is really good. A good mix of Mexican with the concept of pizza. Yummy. And, (note to Amy) totally fake Mexican food.

Ultra Sound Off

Finally, I took the trouble to walk over to my scanner and scan our 20 week ultra sound picture. Apologies! We also have our visit recorded for those of you who may be at my house over the holidays. This ultra sound experience was much better than the first. The tech didn't gouge my stomach with her wand. Everything looked great as far as her organs and measurements. Her heart was a textbook four chamber. She weighed .8 lb, which is right in the normal range. We still haven't come to any fixed conclusions about names. It seems as though all my favorite names are either already in our family or our close friends. I.E. I love the names Emma, Lydia, Caroline, and Ella. Oh well, I suppose I'm glad that all of your little girls have absolutely precious names, but I'm still in a quandary about our selection. I've even started getting experimental with names like Sage and McKenna -- Josh shoots them down in about 1 sec. I know I won't pick a name like that, probably, I'm a little too traditional. :-) I've been checking out the Social Security Administration's website about popular names for each year, and you would be soo surprised by some of the names that are WAYY down on the list like Zoey and Anjelica and Imam. But, they are still in the top 1000 names for the 1990's.

Babysitting the Pooks

When Ben and Jen moved a couple weekends ago, we had the privilege of keeping the little girl at our house. She had a good time, I think. We had most of her stuffed animals and toys here, and somehow, she discovered the "secondary" pup. I tried to capture a cute pose of her enjoying TWO Pups at a time. Josh was worried that we would completely distort her sense of Pupness, so eventually, I took secondary pup away from her. Friday, I took Lydia on a cute little shopping day -- just for her! We got her a cute outfit and even got a little Chick-fil-A kid's meal. She also played at Barnes & Noble and picked out a Dora, The Explorer book. We had just started calling her a little Explorer in Minnesota because of her peripatetic ways.

Lydia is the queen of all the animals. She has quite a selection of stuffed toys. :-) This was Lydia's first time spending the night away from her mama and papa. She seemed to do really well, probably because she's very used to our house. Josh got her up in the morning, and she was ready to play.

And finally, a recent picture of me and the little baby. I thought some of you might like to see some evidence of a little "baby bump." I'm definitely gaining weight, and people are finally beginning to say that they can tell I'm showing. I still haven't gained back all of my weight from the begining, but I'm getting there.

It's a . . . . . . .

Girl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thursday, I had my OB checkup and ultra sound. Both were really great. It was incredible to see our little baby girl drinking a nice amniotic fluid cocktail and hiccuping. I immediately fell in love with the cuteness of my baby's nose. She also had one of her arms up around her head in a position that her daddy often sleeps in. By the end of the ultrasound she had moved her legs up so that they were touching her forehead. I was intrigued to think that all the "kicks" I've been feeling might actually be her little arm up over her head poking me. She weighs a mere 11 or 12 oz. She'll be growing a lot in the next few months.
Now that we know that we are having a daughter, things seem a lot more real. For all of those out there who thought we were having a little boy, I hope our surprising news brings a smile to your face. If any of you have seen Josh with his little neice, you know that having a little girl will be a perfect fit for someone destined to have a "Daddy's Little Girl." Lisa informs me that I will have to be the strong one. :-)