Babywatch Twenty Ten!

I think "Twenty Ten" sounds better when you spell it out. Anyhow, here's a little bit of background:

On Saturday I had contractions about ten minutes apart all day. It was the 18th - a full ten days from my due date - but it was also starting to snow heavily for the first time all Winter (more on that in the next post) and I was little nervous. I called the doctor and explained my physical condition (dialation, effacement and all that fancy stuff) and asked him what he thought I should do. He said to go ahead and come in. Awesome. We took a little extra time getting things together just to make sure the contractions didn't stop. They were still coming but they were also still about ten minutes apart. I started to get excited thinking that I was finally going to meet this new little member of our family. I remembered how amazing it was when Mark and I first met Norah.

Once we got to the hospital and they monitored me for fifteen minutes or so they said that I wasn't consistent enough to be admitted. They let me walk around for about an hour to see if the contractions would start back up, but they just weren't quite there. When the nurse found out where we lived she advised that we not go home because the road conditions were deteriorating and she didn't want us to get stuck up there if I went into labor. That night was the beginning of what we now know was an epic storm.

Long story short, we have spent every night since Saturday at my parent's house because they live about 25 minutes closer to the hospital than we do. My loving husband, for whom I couldn't be more grateful, has gone up to our house every other day to snow blow the driveway. I'll write more about the giant storm in the next post.


In the mean time, here's the current status:

I am still pregnant. As a result, I'm pretty miserable. I'm approximately as miserable as every other woman who's 39 weeks pregnant, more than some, less than others. The contractions get harder in the evening, so I get excited every evening that "this might be the night" but so far, this kid has decided to take his/her sweet time.

We're spending the night at home for the first time since Saturday. I love my parents and I'm completely and totally grateful that we've been able to crash here and wait for the storm to pass, but I'm really, really excited to sleep in my own bed tonight! The storm has mostly passed so if tonight actually is the night, hopefully we'll be able to get there without any in-car special deliveries.

Stay tuned for info on the epic storm!

PS - We did go to the doctor yesterday for my regular appointment and she said that she'd be surprised if I made it to my due date. The due date is Tuesday so hopefully Babywatch Twenty Ten will be over before then!

Get With the Program

So in yesterday's post, I said that the kiddos were going to get up on stage and sing. Norah's whole class of 2-3 year olds got up and "sang". By "sang" I mean that they alternately glared at the bright lights, waved at their moms and picked their noses. Observe the awesomeness:

Wait, what are we doing again?

Hey, there's my mom!

DJ Jack-a-Bo about to drop some hot beatz on the mic.

Norah half pretending to try to do the motions.

I love that the two oldest kids on the left are the only ones doing the motions.

Norah never did manage to pick us out of the congregation, which was probably for the best. But it did make for a lot of pictures of her scowling or looking confused.

Christmas Dress (sorta)

It's a good thing that the children's ministry department at our church sent out an e-mail reminding us that the kids would be on stage singing yesterday. If they hadn't, I wouldn't have put Norah in something so cute.

I also wouldn't have had a minor coronary when I realized on Saturday night that I have been so sick I haven't even gotten Norah a Christmas dress yet! Fortunately, I remembered that this precious family at our church had just given us a box of hand-me-down clothes and I thought I had seen a little dress in there. Sure enough, there it was!! So thank you, Jonas family, for Norah's ADORABLE Christmas dress!

As most photo shoots go with toddlers, I got a ton of blurry "action shots" and one or two un-blurry, almost or mostly smiling shots. So eat 'em up folks!

**It was at this point that she decided that she was done standing still for pictures and she wanted to dance and sing the Veggie Tales Theme Song**

Here's the wind-up...

And her slammin' moves!

The Train, The Train!!

I know my last few posts have been fairly photo-lite. I'll try to make up for it with this one. On Friday, Norah went for a ride on the train with my parents. It was a "locals appreciation" ride, which means that it's less expensive and it only goes about half as far as the normal train ride before turning around and coming back. A 5 hour ride (as opposed to the usual 8 hour one) was probably a great first ride for a toddler.

Here are some highlights!



She might be a little excited about the train...


Only in Durango do people bring their dogs to wave goodbye to the train.


Aah, scenery.


And really, really cold lakes.


Hangin' with Grampy.


Now THAT'S a cliff!


Makin' friends.


Having a picnic lunch before turning around to come home.


Train nap!


Saying hi to the horses back at the station.

Photo Flashback (Thankful Thursday a Day Early)

A year ago today, this is what our house looked like.

This year, thanks to The Farmer's Almanac, La Nina, or just the grace of God (who knows that two feet of snow would cause me to have a mental breakdown), our house looks nothing like this. The driveway is clear. The highway is dry. It got so warm the last couple of days that snow shed off the roof and then MELTED before evening.

I'm still feeling under the weather thanks to whatever respiratory crud is going around town, but I'm ready to have this baby any time. Lord willing, I'm starting to believe that we might not have to drive through a blizzard to do it!

One for the Quote Wall

Mark went into Norah's room to talk to her about her second time out of the evening. When he asked her to explain why she was in time out she responded, "Mommy got confused."

That's right. My sweet little angel - the one with the piggy tails and adorable grin - totally tried to throw me under the bus.

S'pose I should probably get used to it.

Last Year, My House Looked Awesome

There are a lot of differences between having your first child and having your second. For instance, when I was 36 weeks and 5 days pregnant with Norah (not that I'm counting or anything), I know for sure that I already had my "go bag" packed and by the door. I'd printed several lists of "hospital essentials" and packed my bag accordingly. It was stocked with snacks, two changes of clothes, toiletries, makeup (oh how naive I was), and baby's pre-selected homecoming outfit already laundered in specially designed (and marketed!) detergent for baby's sensitive skin.

In contrast, the other day I found myself thinking, "Weren't there like, a couple of things I needed at the hospital last time? Meh, they have gowns. I just hope I get one that overlaps in the back." I'll probably pack a bag at some point, but if I happen to go into labor before that little detail is addressed I suppose I'll just send Mark home at some point to grab me a pair of pants or something.

I find myself employing the same tactics of avoidance and procrastination with Christmas decorations this year. I love Christmas, and normally, I really try to go the distance in the whole festive decor department. This year, I'm just not up for it. I managed to get the tree up mostly because my darling husband did the work of carrying the pieces up from the basement. That's right, we have a fake tree. Deal with it. If I had to trek my oversized rear-end out into the wilderness to find on and cut it down, you bet your sweet sassafras that wouldn't have happened this year either.

I figure, it's ok to get through this holiday season with minimal decor. I'm tired. I'm baking a person. I'm chasing a two-year-old around while I'm doing all the day-to-day stuff that just has to get done. If I'm lucky, I just might manage to get the 5 boxes of unpacked stuff that I didn't use this year tossed back into the closet to give the illusion of a slightly tidier house.

In the mean time, I will console myself with photos of how awesome my house looked last year. I didn't even get pictures of all of it. There was a second mini-tree and all sorts of garland, lights and a wreath on our loft railing too. Yeah I totally rocked it last year. Amazing what you can do when you're not waddling around like a gimpy manatee.

Anyway, enjoy.