"Laundry" by Daddy

Apparently, modified bed rest prohibits doing laundry. What a shame! :)

So Andre who got back on Saturday (just in time for my bed rest orders) did a whole bunch of washing for me today and we got the rest of Baby Girl's little pink fluffies cleaned and put away. I just love having all this pink in my laundry basket!









I know it's a little weird to take photos of your child's first load of laundry but we did it for Jack, as seen here, so we couldn't NOT do it for Little Miss :)

Already?

So a little update on the Little Miss. Or rather her Mama :)

I've been having so many Braxton Hicks contractions the past week, which may just have something to do with the fact that I'm Single Mommy for 10 days until the Husbie gets home from IL on Saturday. And by a lot, I mean up to 16 an hour, in the evenings. So I went in for an extra check up this morning just to make sure nothing was going on that shouldn't be. And what do you know?

I'm 1 cm dilated. At 32.5 weeks.

I think I took the news pretty well. On the outside at least. I may have been somewhat distracted by Mr. Jack trying to snack on the lubricant while hiding the speculum in his diaper bag. But when it finally sank in that the Doc had just done a Fetal Fibronectin Test (a what?) to determine if I was in preterm labor and I would have to be on the monitor for an hour, while trying to entertain a 19 month old, I may have freaked out just a little. But only on the inside. Thankfully I didn't make a scene. And thankfully the nurse was really sweet and brought us lots of juice boxes and snacks.

And thankfully, after the hour long monitoring (during which Little Miss performed beautifully), I made it to the car before bursting into tears. Ha! I think the poopy diaper explosion at the half hour mark did me in. Or perhaps it was the cheese crackers crushed into the floor. It could have been the pencil drawings on the white walls though. I must say, that on the whole Jacko was pretty good, but with Mummy stuck in a chair hooked up to all sorts of wires and unable to move, he got up to a wee bit of mischief. And I let it STRESS. ME. OUT.

So that was my day. But my final "thankfully" is that the afternoon ended with the Doc calling to say that the FFN test was negative, praise God! This basically means that I won't be going into labor within the next two weeks. Well, THAT'S a relief.

Doc's orders are to take it easy and have weekly cervix checks and count contractions. Let's hope Saturday and Andre being home come really quickly!

First Hair Cut

This actually happened a couple of weeks ago, while in Illinois. I'd been putting off cutting Jack's hair, mostly because I didn't know how! So, Mum to the rescue. We tackled it during dinner time and were somewhat successful with him sitting still. He wasn't too keen on the whole process but Mum did a great job, trimming him up.

All done! Thanks Nana!

Home

It's always good to be home. Although I sort of feel like Mum & Dad's house in IL is our second home! We've just returned from a month up there as Andre was working on a remodeling project. He isn't quite finished yet, so is staying on another 10 days while Jack and I settle back in here in the South (which, I might add, is not much warmer than the mid-west!).

In other news, I had my 32 week OB appointment yesterday and little Miss is incubating nicely. I am measuring just right and not having any major problems, so we're thankful. I am struggling with bad muscle spasms in my upper back (I'm paying for my poor posture now!) and am hoping to be able to go to a friend who does therapeutic massage to sort myself out. Not an ideal time for this to happen with the Husbie away, but I keep telling myself it could be oh-so-much worse!!

And the big news...C-section is scheduled!!! Woohoo! December 9th is the day, unless of course Girlie decides she's ready before then. So that's just seven weeks away, can't believe it. I'm nesting like crazy...well maybe just in my head, as I can't bend or lift anything easily! Does making lists count? :)

So, home for good now until the holidays. Well, actually I have one more trip (can you believe it?!), which I'm really looking forward to. Our church is doing a women's retreat in early November and my doctor just cleared me to go, hooray! I am so looking forward to some quiet "retreating"!

Church Picnic

Last weekend, Mum and Dad's church put on their annual Church Picnic, which we attended. It was gorgeous weather and we had a really great time sitting under the trees feasting on BBQ sandwiches and lemonade. Jack had a blast running around and getting to climb on the jumping castles and slides and cried his eyes out when we had to leave!

Enjoying the beautiful Fall day

Jack climbed right to the top of that middle slide and slid all the
way down by himself. So proud of our fearless boy!

Getting cuddles with Nana and Grampa

Mum & Dad left for their South Africa trip the next day, so this was a perfect ending to our time together!

Grampa and the Trains

So Jack has a mild obsession with trains at the moment, much to his Grampa's delight. My Dad has always loved building models, particularly of trains and railroads and has quite the collection of engines, track and scenery, all of which he is hoping to set up as a model railroad in the near future. Ever since we knew that Jack was a boy, Dad has been plotting to instill this love in his first grandson! And lo and behold, it worked. Jack loves all things locomotive, particularly Thomas the Tank Engine and Chuggington.

Unfortunately for Dad, Jack now loves trains so much that, the minute he gets home from work, Jack runs to him begging to go down to the basement to see the "tray" (Dad has some track set up on the floor with an electric engine on it). He doesn't get a moment's peace from his grandson!

One of Dad's colleagues also shares this love of trains, so much so, in fact, that he has a train set up in his backyard. Which you can ride in. Every little boy's dream come true (and some grown up boys too!!). A couple of weekends ago, Dad took Andre and Jack out to this man's home to ride the miniature railroad. Thanks for such a fun time Grampa!

Boys Day Out

So they've just opened a new Bass Pro Shop here where Mum & Dad live. And it's phenomenal, apparently. Like Disney World for outdoors-men. Or women. One of which I am not! Needless to say, just the boys went on this field trip last weekend :)

The incredible entrance

Dad showing Jack the enormous freshwater fish tank

Saying hi to Yogi bear

And of course, Jack was able to indulge his love affair with all
things motorized.Sorry little boy, not with that price
tag!!!

The Orchard

Well, we didn't actually set foot among the apple trees, but we had a wonderful visit to an orchard/farm nearby. A girl who works with Dad and who has small kids, took me and Jack which was a lovely morning out last week.

This place had a pumpkin patch, a petting zoo, a gorgeous shop full of delectable treats and an enormous playground area full of trucks and buses and wonderful things to climb. To say Jack was in heaven is an understatement! He went from one thing to the other chattering and squealing with delight.

Driving a Cat construction thingy-majigy

Riding on the little tractors
(I didn't get a photo of him in the bright pink one he seemed to favor!)

Feeding the goats at the petting zoo

After spending over an hour playing outside, we bought some fresh goodies at the shop (the apple cider doughnuts were amazing!) and then headed the very tired kiddos home. Thanks for a great time, Becky!

Evening Out

Since being here in Illinois, we've done several fun things to keep busy, which I'll post about this week. One evening we went to a nearby park and had great fun playing, before stopping by a local restaurant for dinner. It's been gorgeous weather here so we've tried to take advantage of being outside as much as possible, and enjoy our last Fall together as a family of three!

The boys swinging together at the park.
Jack always likes it when we swing alongside him now!


Enjoying dinner outside

Jack loved running around the courtyard, climbing the furniture!

Me and my boy

A Whirlwind Visit to the Windy City

We've been in Illinois visiting my parents for several weeks, as Andre has work up here. They live about three hours from Chicago and since we both have friends there who we haven't seen in a while, we decided a quick visit was in order. Also, this is one American city I've never been to, and one that Andre loves.

So a couple of weekends ago, we drove up, stayed in a great little hotel (the StayBridge Suites was awesome!) and saw some of the sights, as well as our friends. Unfortunately, I forgot to take photos of Wendi & Cris and their precious new baby Alina, or our Russian friends Pavel and Lena, but thanks for the wonderful meals and visits, friends!!

On Friday night, after settling into the hotel, we fought the traffic to get downtown and visit the John Hancock observatory. What amazing views from the the 95 floor!!!! And the elevator only takes about 40 seconds to make it all the way up there. Incredible!

Jack thought he was big stuff staying up that late and
getting to run around everywhere

We enjoyed drinks at the espresso bar overlooking the city.
To give you an idea of the amazing variety of concoctions they served,
I had an espresso with nutella, whipped cream,
almonds and meringue chips. Divine!

The next day we spent the morning at Navy Pier, enjoyed milkshakes, and
Jack even got to ride in a miniature train! He dissolved into tears
when that train-ride ended. The attendant
took pity on him and gave him a free ride!

After spending the rest of Saturday with friends, we headed out on Sunday morning back to Peoria. We had a great time, although we both agreed that it certainly was different from the romantic weekends away we had enjoyed before kiddos!!