The End is in Sight!

Hallelujah!  The end of my pregnancy is in sight.  Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy some of pregnancy, but I'm ready to meet this little girl.  My curiosity is killing.  I want to know what she looks like, does she like to be swaddled, is she going to like to snuggle, how is Cole going to adapt to having to share mom/dad/grandparents/etc.  I know that the end is in sight because this Friday my doctor is going to induce me at 6 am.  So hopefully sometime on the 18th we'll get to meet Chloe!
It's hard to believe that in five days we'll be in the hospital ready for labor - yes, I'm aware it could be sooner but I've decided that Chloe is extremely stubborn and doesn't feel like vacating my womb anytime soon!  We got her bag packed for the hospital and loaded into the van.  We also got her car seat installed yesterday.  The only things we have left to do is to get my bags packed, which I really can't do until the day of because I am using the majority of my stuff daily!
Let's pray that this week goes by quickly and that I get everything done both at home and school before Friday.  :)

Keep Plugging Along!

Well, I'm 38 weeks and 3 days pregnant right now!  It's hard to believe the last time I was pregnant I went into labor at 38 weeks and 4 days!  Kind of crazy!
I've been super busy these last two weeks.  I'm really excited though because I made it through my presentation for Teacher Academy, the Second Grade Retreat, and our Spring Program (tonight).  Now the next big thing I have to get through (without having the baby) is tomorrow's end of the year field trip.  :)  Hopefully I won't go into labor while we're in St. Joe!  I do go in to the doctor tomorrow.  I'm hoping to hear some positive news (i.e. - I'm dialated more than 1 cm and effaced more than 50%).  I'm going to keep my fingers crossed.
I'm really hoping to have this baby on Sunday.  See I was born on Mother's Day and I'm hoping that my daughter might want to follow in my footsteps!  We'll see.  I'm beginning to lose hope that she wants to come out at all!
We'll I'm headed to bed.  I'll update with info from tomorrow's appointment!

Almost 37 Weeks

Tomorrow I will be 37 weeks pregnant!  It's hard to believe that in three weeks or less I'll have a little baby girl!  We've been in the world of boys for so long that having a girl is going to be extremely different!
I have to admit that I'm getting very anxious to meet her and see what she looks like.  My impatience is getting really bad because this weekend I got to hold and love on my adorable little niece.  It makes me want to have my little girl here so that I can hold her and cuddle with her.
I think we're progressively getting busier!  This weekend we ran to St. Joe on Friday night to drop Cole off at my parents house.  Then we picked up our new flooring for our kitchen and dining room.  On Saturday I had First Communion practice and then worked at school all day.  Michael worked on the flooring in the dining room and kitchen flooring all day.  Today we have First Communion with three parties we've been invited to attend after Mass.  Then we're headed back to St. Joe to pick up Cole and go buy meat for various events.  This coming week is going to be almost as busy... Teacher Academy, second grade retreat, faculty meeting, doctor's appointment, and making a bbq dinner next weekend.  I'm curious to see how next week's doctor's appointment goes.  With Cole I was 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced at 37 weeks, let's hope we'll be similar with Chloe!

Lots of craziness this past week

Last Friday Michael, Cole, and I all went to West Des Moines.  We went to a consignment sale there to purchase clothes for Cole and Chloe.  It was a rather successful shopping trip.  :)  We of course, went to visit Michael's sister and her family.  They were moving into their new home last weekend.  Michael helped paint on Friday and move stuff on Saturday.  I helped take wallpaper down on Friday (since I can't paint or move anything).  There new house is beautiful!  I'm really happy for them.  Of course we were all exhausted after such a full and busy weekend.  However, that exhaustion didn't go away because Cole woke up in the middle of the night on Sunday and Monday night.  I was also exhausted because I received a text on Tuesday afternoon that my sister's water had broken.  Of course this was a major shock because she wasn't due until May 11th!  So my niece decided to come 3 and 1/2 weeks early.  We stayed up late (midnight) waiting to hear of her arrival.  My mom finally called and told us that Cadence was born at 11:21 p.m.  Michael and I decided to head to KC to meet Cadence the next day right after school.  My friend Amy watched Cole for us since he had a cold and we didn't want him to give it to the baby!  Amy called me when we're about 5 minutes away from the hospital to tell us that Cole had a 101.5 fever!  She took him to the walk-in clinic for us and found out that he had a double ear infection (second one in three weeks!).  So we weren't at the hospital very long.  We wanted to head home to check on him!  Michael ended up staying home with him on Thursday.  (He is finally feeling better).  This weekend has been pretty busy too.  On Friday Michael and several other people helped to roof my in-laws' house.  Then last night we went to a bowling fundraiser for Big Brothers Big Sisters!  We didn't get home until 11:30.  So today we've been cat napping and catching up on various things (grading, cleaning up the yard, etc.)
It's hard to believe that I'll be 36 weeks on Monday.  It's kind of crazy!  That means at the most we'll be pregnant is five weeks.  However, I'm guessing it's more like two to three weeks!  Hard to believe we're going to go from a family of three to a family of four so soon.  I go in this week for a check up so we'll see what the doc says!

32 Week Check Up

I went to the doctor today for my 32 week check up with the doctor.  So far I am only six pounds over my starting weight, which is great!  The doctor measured me and I was exactly 32, which I found interesting since the last time I was there (29 weeks) I measured 33.  I asked her if I was measuring the correct length because Chloe had dropped and she said yes.  We talked about the fact that she's probably going to be early (I'm keeping my fingers crossed for this).
Oh, our other fun news we found out this week, Cole is allergic to Sulfa!  Last Friday I picked him up from daycare and they said he had taken three naps, which is completely out of character, and he had a couple of loose diapers.  Over the weekend he would get a low grade fever off and on.  We took him in to the doctor on Monday and he had a double ear infection.  Of course I kind of already figured it was that because the last time he was teething he got a double ear infection.  So the doctor gave us Sulfa antibiotics and we gave him some Monday mid-morning, Monday evening, and Tuesday morning.  Michael stayed home with Cole on Tuesday and went over to his mom's house.  They were outside for about an hour and then they came home.  When they got home he was running a 101.4 (or 101.6) fever and was covered on his stomach and back in hives.  So we went to the walk-in clinic.  Luckily we got in quickly.  The doctor say him and immediately said, he was allergic to Sulfa.  He said for some reason red heads are more allergic to it than others and being out in the sun can activate or make the reaction happen more quickly.  So he's off of that.  We just got an antibiotic shot for his ear infections.  He still had hives yesterday but today, they're all gone!

Moving like crazy and Nesting

Chloe has been moving like crazy the last couple of weeks.  I'm guessing it's because she's running out of room in here!  She's been so active that a couple of nights ago Michael could see her moving and he was sitting across the room.
I had a major case of nesting this past Sunday.  Once we got home from church and lunch I spent the entire afternoon cleaning Cole and Chloe's room.  I got all of Cole's clothes that are too small toted up and put away. I got all of Chloe's room organized by size and hung up.  I'm feeling a lot better about now that I have these two things taken care of.  It's funny because my room isn't looking so hot but I just had to have Cole and Chloe's room take care of.  I think the whole nesting instinct is amazing!  Michael asked me if I could possibly have it after I had Chloe!  :)
Well, I better go.  I need to get ready for school.

Cole's First Trip to the Circus

Cole had his first trip to the circus yesterday!  My mom informed me that the Shriner's Circus was coming to town and wanted to know if we would like to take Cole.  Unfortunately Michael was unable to come with us because he was on  call this weekend.  (He has to stay in Maryville in case there's an emergency maintenance problem at the housing.)

We went to mom's on Friday night to spend the night!  We got to eat with mom, dad, Tiffany (my sister), and Brian (my brother-in-law).  On Saturday morning Cole got to hang out with the boys while us girls went an picked out scrap booking paper for my sister to use to make Chloe's letter.  My sister buys cardboard letters and then puts scrap booking paper on them and ribbon that matches the babies room.  This has been her gift to numerous people, including me when I had Cole.  Cole's letters are still in his room right now!  :)  I had to pick out the paper because Tiffany hasn't seen Chloe's room yet!

Then it was time for the CIRCUS!  It was fun to watch Cole's reaction to everything.  He just looked around all the time.... taking everything in!  He was very excited to see that there were elephants and horses out for kids to ride.  He actually rode the elephant with my dad (aka Papo).  He was really tired though during the second half of the show and ended up missing the monkey and elephants.  I think that probably would have been his favorite part!  Oh well.  He did wake up at the very end for the two motorcycles in the dome of doom or whatever they call the large metal sphere that the drive around inside!  He ate a hot dog but wasn't too sure about the cotton candy.

These times are when I enjoy being a mom the most.... When I get to watch him experience something new for the first time!  He is sooooo fun to watch when he gets excited!

On a side note - we're getting closer to our due date.  This Monday I will be 30 weeks!  It doesn't seem like I should be that far along already.  I went last Monday for a check up with the doctor.  She measured my stomach.  (When the measure you the use a tape measure to see how big your stomach is - vertically.  You are supposed to be on inch for each week of pregnancy.  That means I should have measured around 29 inches).  When the doctor measured me I measured 33!  Michael asked if that meant our due date was wrong and the doctor said, "Nope.  She's going to be big."  I couldn't believe it!  Cole was so little, almost 7 pounds.  Then she did a quick ultrasound to verify that Chloe really is a girl.  (When we had our ultrasound the ultrasound tech said she thought she was a girl but wasn't 100% sure because Chloe kept putting her hands between her legs.  She told us she was 87% sure!)  Our Dr. showed up her girl part so we are for sure having a girl.  Michael asked her what were the two long things by her girl parts, and the doc told us they were her thighs.  Let me tell you, she already has some big thighs.  Mind you this is totally different from Cole and his itty bitty chicken legs!  Chloe is already doing her own thing!  :)