Número Due :: 37 weeks, fully developed

So here we are at 37 weeks pregnant. That means that Número Due / Chaos is fully developed. The last few weeks 38-40+ are just time to allow the baby to get bigger and the lungs more mature. But we are pretty much just in a waiting game right now waiting for Chaos to make his debut.

How am I feeling? Based on the comments from strangers and friends I should be uncomfortable and hating life (this morning in the elevator a well meaning older lady said, "my goodness child, I hope you deliver any day because you are just huge!" Thanks stranger). I am VERY pregnant and Chaos is definitely a large baby (just as Barca was) and therefore my pregnant belly is very large (it doesn't help that I have a short torso so the belly is more out than long). But I feel great; apparently better than I should. People are surprised that I'm still working and living a normal life this pregnant. But really, I'm doing terrific. Just like with Barca being this pregnant has only slowed me down slightly.

The baby has dropped and is sitting very low right now. And it's confirmed that he is head down. So we really are just in a waiting game. But I made a deal with him, we are waiting till March. I don't want to have two kids born in February and we have a couple things we need to attend, including Ellie's ballet recital this Sunday, before Chaos can arrive.

We did spend the weekend to getting everything ready. His room is stocked, cleaned, and ready for the marathon of diaper changes we have coming our way. All the new clothes have been washed and folded (and all the tiny plastic tags that are my worst nightmare have been cut off). The car seat bases have been installed in both cars. And Ellie picked out a couple birth day presents for her little brother.



So while we are ready, we hope Chaos is waiting till March to come out and play. Which is really only a handful of days away!!

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Happy 5th Birthday Ellie!!

Happy 5th Birthday Ellie!! 

Ellie told us tonight as she went to bed that she had the best birthday ever. We definitely did everything we could to make the day special for her. First I let her have cake for breakfast (she didn't eat that much and then asked for a banana, so mature). She took cookies to school to share with her friends and got to sit in the teacher's chair (such an honor!) while her friends sang Happy Birthday to her. Her teachers and friends called her the birthday girl all day instead of her name which she said made her laugh. I picked her up from school a little earlier than normal. She got to pick the restaurant for dinner and no surprises she picked the "gnocchi restaurant" that's located right by our house. After getting birthday wishes from her grandparents and aunts it was time for cake and presents. 

Ellie had been requesting a very special cake for a while, well since she started thinking about her birthday. She wanted a three tiered cake that was pink and white. It had to have flowers, roses preferred. She wanted her name and the number 5 on her cake as well. she had very particular ideas about her cake. By definition I was able to make the cake she asked for...however, I'm not sure it was exactly as she had envisioned it. But she said she loved it and was very excited about it. 

When it was time to eat cake, she was a little reluctant to dive right in. I wasn't exactly sure how to cut the cake. So we each grabbed a fork and dove right in...

What a year it has been for Ellie. She really has matured to be a 5 year old...definitely not a little kid anymore. Now that she is five she gets to do carrot work at school where she has to clean and peel carrots. A week ago I let her cut up an apple, now she is peeling carrots. Definitely a mature little girl now. She is more opinionated, stubborn, and hard headed than ever. But I can't complain. She knows what she wants and how to get it. She is a great swimmer and can swim across the pool using freestyle and backstroke. She got to go down waterslides while on vacation this year and loved it. She reached some major milestones both becoming 40 inches tall and getting to ride the big kid rides at Disneyland and then this past Monday while at Universal Studios with Nick she hit a height of over 42 inches and got to ride more of the big kid rides there! She asked about taking ballet classes for months and once I finally got her enrolled, she has thrived and is doing so well. She is easily one of the best kids in class, always being called to be the example student. She enjoys dancing so much and asks to practice at home. She is learning by leaps and bounds at school this year. She is writing sentences, in cursive. Although she has all the books memorized at school, she is reading them as well now. She says she likes to do math work and is practicing hard so that she can do addition and subtraction in her head. She has surrounded herself with 3 best friends, but has emerged as the leader of the group. The four little girls are inseparable at school. She is creative and loves to draw; drawing people and princesses in different scenes is one of her favorite things. She will spend quality time playing with her Playmobil family and her dollhouse creating scenes and stories. Red blankie is still one of her most prized posessions and has to be in her bed for her to sleep, but Baby Sister is a good friend that she holds dearly and plays with. She is hilarious with a terrific sense of humor...definitely has her dad's laugh. She's over the moon to be a big sister to Chaos and already loves "her baby". She has become more and more independent as the due date grows near; brushing her own teeth, picking out outfits and dressing herself, wanting to make her own breakfast, cleaning up after herself...because she says she has to do things herself, "because my baby brother will need more help than I will to get dressed and eat". We love spending time with her not only because we love her but because she is fun to be with making us laugh. Nick and I truly are lucky to have such an intelligent, funny, caring, strong-willed daughter who will be the best big sister ever. 

Happy Birthday Ellen!! We love you!

Ellen's 5th Birthday Party

So Ellie's birthday is February 19. However, we opted to have her birthday party before her actual birthday purely for the fact that I would be one less week pregnant. Ellie asked for frozen yogurt / ice cream birthday due to her obsession with Yogurtland. And so we agreed to a big backyard birthday with an ice cream theme. And since it is February in Pasadena, we could do a big backyard blowout birthday party for her, because well...it was in the 80s and sunny.

We had a total of 12 kids (including a couple of much younger siblings) over to our house. There was craft activities, games, ice cream, cake, running around crazily, and lots and lots of laughter and smiles. We started out decorating aprons. Ellie and her BFFs loved it and had a great time. And then we played, Pin the Cherry on the Ice Cream Sundae. I printed out a giant ice cream sundae and made some cherries, then after getting blindfolded, each kid was spun around as many times as they were old, and then took their chance of putting the cherry on the sundae. But first we took a few minutes and colored in the sundae. It was pretty funny to watch. Most the kids got pretty close, and they all had a great time laughing and watching their friends try to put the cherry on the garage door, me, or in funny spots on the sundae.

Then it was time for ice cream! Nick pulled a total parent win and went to Yogurtland and got a couple bowls of Ellie's favorite toppings including mochi, brownies, and boba bubbles. Of course we also had sprinkles, chocolate sauce, and the traditional ice cream toppings.

Then we had a quick relay race with some water balloons. But because not all the kids wanted to play, Nick stepped in...but instead of walk/running like the other kids, we made Nick hop on one foot. The kids didn't quite get the whole race part of the relay race, but they had fun.

Then it was time for the pinata...probably every kids favorite part of a party, except for the whole cake part. First the kids colored and decorated their own candy bags. Nick was in charge of hanging the pinata and this year we went in order of age, the youngest attendee at the party go to go first. Ellie ended up going third and took some great swings at the pinata. Unfortunately not all the kids got a turn because one of the 5-year-olds found the weakness in the ice cream cone shaped pinata and it broke. The kids then scrambled for the candy and everyone got candy. And then in what was probably the funniest thing of the day, the two parts of the ice cream cone pinata became hats for the kids!

Then, it was time for cake! I baked some cake inside of ice cream cones and topped it with some pink frosting. In addition, I made a regular square cake to put in the candles for Ellie to blow out. Everyone sang to Ellie which made her feel special. It always makes me smile a little bit to hear her friends call her Ellen, instead of Ellie. Of course all the kids grabbed the ice cream cone-cakes (like a cupcake, but a cone-cake!) and gobbled up the frosting and a little bit of the cake.

After a more than 2 hours, lots of activities, ice cream, cake, candy, and all sorts of fun the party ended. Everyone seemed to have a great time and Ellie was so happy and having a great time with her friends celebrating her 5th birthday. Grandma Pam and Grandpa Mike even came down to help celebrate. I had planned to do some cookie decorating and had made a ton of decorated sugar cookies, but we ended up not decorating the cookies and I totally forgot to set out the pre-decorated cookies I had made. But oh well! I was almost 36 weeks pregnant and Ellie didn't know any different!! She had a blast. Good times, good friends, and good fun always make for great birthday celebrations!

Número Due :: 35 weeks, Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

We all had a great day, but Ellie had an especially awesome one. Remember the days of trading Valentines with all the kids in class AND having a fun afternoon party with sweets and you didn't have to do work? To be in preschool again.

Ellie and I opted to be a bit crafty for her Valentines. She made some heart pockets by cutting out hearts, decorating them (signing her name on one side), stapling them together, filling them with stickers, and tying them up with a now. She only needed a little bit of adult help.


















This evening we had our family traditional Valentines dinner of cheese fondue. However, this year Elle cut up all the apples herself. She actually does "apple work" at school so she has lots of practice. We all enjoyed our dinner, which is my favorite and quickly becoming one of Ellies top 5 meals.


















Then, as the only male in the family currently and therefore required by society to provide gifts to his female family members, Nick handed out some presents and set out a special dessert. Nick had about 2 lbs of Ellies favorite gummy candy for Ellie. For me, a new book by one of my favorite authors and a new version of my like the only video game I like (which I kinda got addicted to during maternity leave after Ellie was born). Obviously Nick is helping me get ready for maternity leave.






Our dessert...lots of chocolate and fun stuff to dip in it like marshmallows, churros, and of course strawberries!

Great Valentines Day for all.

And we are now in our 35th week of pregnancy. We still have a lot to do (but for now we are focusing on Ellie and her birthday and birthday party) but we have accomplished quite a bit. Including washing mountains of baby laundry, both hand me downs and new items. We also have painted and are very close to finishing set up of Número Due/Chaos' bedroom. The big exciting part is we installed some fun Pac Man decals above the changing table.






The rest of the walls are a light blue and we installed grey curtains. We still need to do some furniture placement but most the baby stuff that had been in storage is now in his room (tested to make sure it still works and clean).





I'm feeling great. Rocking the large pregnant belly but feeling well. I'm definitely in the phase where everyone and strangers (everywhere I go!) comment and ask one of the two questions: "How are you feeling?" or "when are you due?" And they are really really nice to me.

I feel like Chaos has dropped already, but he has always been lower than Barca was. I have some of the same symptoms, but some things are different. Like I don't have the sciatica pain with Chaos that I had with Barca, but I have had some bad back pain. Heartburn has been the same...I can't wait for that to be over!






As with Barca, I intend to work up until I go into labor. This past week has been especially busy at work as I try to finish up a couple construction projects. So I've been spending quality time on construction sites.





Just as I did with Barca...at least a big belly makes the hard hat not look so awkward. The lower picture is me at approximately 35 weeks working on a construction site while pregnant with Barca.






We are starting to close in on full development of Chaos and starting the big wait...

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