Moving On

Our second day on the farm started out early with Micah calling out for the cows. We let him crawl into bed with us for a few minutes while we woke up, otherwise we would have had to been out the door in minutes. I don’t mind telling you that mornings in the Vermont mountains are quite cool. I loved it. Everyone else was bundled up, but I was in my short sleeves enjoying the 50-degree weather! After visiting and greeting every.single.cow, we managed to get M inside and washed up for our 8am breakfast call. There were some new faces around the table and we enjoyed the company before heading out for the day. I think D had to take Micah on another round of hi-ing and bye-ing all the farm animals, but I was getting some stuff packed up, so I’m not sure exactly what they did. We all met at the van (M had pedaled the little green tractor over to the parking area) and headed down the road to the local river.

M had a lot of fun playing in the water, throwing rocks, catching a frog, and just being outside in the great outdoors. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, too, as the day was perfect, weatherwise. D had the honor of taking M in the river. He wouldn’t let me go past my ankles because the current and the rocks didn’t make for steady ground. I tried anyway because the water felt so refreshing, but he was right, I didn’t have good balance at all. So Baby and I hung out on shore, took pictures, and cheered Micah on. After a bit, we loaded ourselves back up to head into town - first to find lunch and second to find an ATM machine. Can you believe that the bed and breakfast didn’t accept credit cards?! How quaint!

We had lunch outdoors by the main road. The food was great and the view offered so many distractions that I’m sure M would have stayed there the entire afternoon looking at all the trucks and tractors and people going by. I would have liked to walk around the town more, but you can only do so much with a belly like this (you know it’s bad when your maternity clothes aren’t fitting you anymore!). So we contented ourselves with a drive up the road to an organic berry-picking farm. I was craving blackberries, but of course they were just going out of season and had been mostly picked. I managed to pick and eat a few though : ). My second request was for raspberries, but of course they were out of season, too. However, we did manage to pick and eat a few of those, too : ). M, meanwhile, was picking up the cut grass and stuffing it into a bag, declaring, “Hay, cows! Cows eat hay!” He was obsessed with those beasts. While we were on our own adventures, D managed to pick quite a few blueberries (the berry that WAS in season!) and they were beyond delicious. Some even lasted until we got home and made their way into blueberry pancakes…




That night, there were all new people on the farm. We met another doctor (orthopedics, I think) and his wife (a pediatrician) and their seven-year old son. They were from New York City. She was pregnant and due in November, so we chatted a lot while the guys did the same and followed the kids around. We corralled the kids inside when it got dark and I got M’s bedtime routine started. He was so excited to be on the farm that he didn’t go to bed until after 9pm. D and I went to sit out in the living room again and he studied physics for his big test in the beginning of September (which he passed, by the way!!!!) and I read the book we picked up at a library on the way up (no library near us had it, and this library was right off the highway, so D swung into the parking lot, I got out and got the book, and we headed back to the highway. Well worth the stop, it was a great book; true story about a spy in the Iranian army).

We had such a good time on the farm that we were sad to leave that next day. We ate another delicious breakfast, walked around the farm, let M play with some of the kids, packed up, and headed south. We stopped at a pizza place and the Yankee Candle Factory (crazy place!) along the way and made it home in time for another yummy meal, this time made by Mom. She had called while we were driving and invited us over for chicken parmesan. I’m so glad we were able to go on this vacation and that the Lord provided safe traveling mercies for us. M is still watching the Farm DVD we made from the pictures we took and he will always sit for a book about the farm. For his birthday, I made him a book about our farm adventure complete with pictures of him on the farm and text to go along with it. I’m not sure he’ll ever forget it! D and I were happy to get away, too, even if it wasn’t by ourselves. D had been working crazy hours, so he didn’t want to leave M during his time off, for which I’m glad, because we had such a fun family adventure together!

I have a few more posts to catch up on before Baby comes, but time has a way of escaping me. There aren't enough hours in the day, it seems. We've been spending a lot of family time together recently, which has been nice. There was a lull in D's schedule. He was on overnights last week and will be on overnights this weekend, but we've managed to have some fun in between!

After work on Friday, which was around 8am, D picked up M and me from Mom and Dad's and took us out to breakfast. He did that last time, too, and it was a great way to end his overnight call schedule! Poor guy stayed up til M went down and then he crashed. Both of my men slept for over three hours. M still gives me that great three-hour mid-day break in which I nap and/or get things done. It's wonderful!

I'm in the market for a French coffee/tea press. D said he had one and he looked in his parents' attic a few months ago but couldn't find it. Major bummer because he had the good brand name one, too. I am interested in making my own tea from loose leaf tea and plan on ordering the various tea leaves in bulk to do just that. I'm going to make a specific tea for after delivery healing which is also rumored to calm fussy babies...which is always helpful :). Most of babies' fussiness stems from an immature digestive system and supposedly herbs help with that, as well as with my recovery. Talk about a two-for-one deal!

M and I have been entertaining my grandparents Tuesday mornings for breakfast for a few weeks now and have been thoroughly enjoying the experience. It's quality visiting time for me and prime show-off time for M. I made some pumpkin bread this week because it's actually starting to feel like Fall (except for the 80+ degree weather today, that is). It was a big hit and I'm filing that recipe away for future use. Also discovered that organic canned pumpkin is a very handy baby food. All you do it open the can! Even better is the short ingredient list: pumpkin. I'll be stocking up on some cans for Baby...and for when I get another pumpkin bread craving!

I'm down to weekly doctor appointments now. I was feeling very pregnant last week and complained to the doctor about it and promptly got no sympathy (he did recommend a belly belt, which I got, which works wonders, especially walking around IKEA!). There is no budging that scheduled C-section date, so Baby will have to start something herself if she wants out any earlier. Which I can't see happening. Which is the mildly distressing part. I keep telling myself that I'll miss being pregnant in a few months, so to enjoy it for now. It's somewhat comforting :). D has been absolutely wonderful and such a big help. It's not a big surprise or anything, but I so appreciate his assistance and understanding after his long days at work. He's always cheerful and willing to help with whatever I didn't get done or couldn't do during the day. I haven't even been playing the "But I'm Pregnant" card, either, which may contribute to his understanding :). I've been making all our meals and going on errands like I'm not carrying around this huge belly mainly because I'm thankful to the Lord to be able to do all these things and not be on bedrest or worse (and I enjoy doing all of it, too).

I mentioned IKEA, didn't I? We made our quarterly pilgrimage down there this weekend and were met with a buy-one-get-one Big Breakfast deal to which we promptly treated ourselves. The four of us shared the two meals and they filled us up enough for a leisurely trip around the store. I knew I had seen a French press there last time, but of course they were all sold out. Great product for a great price, no wonder. And I was able to get the breakfast set of felt food that I wanted for M's kitchen (fifteen pieces for $4.99...can't make it for that price!). They did have the dessert set there, but I didn't get it because M doesn't need to be reminded of junk food :) (if you're thinking he's a poor, deprived child, just ask his grandmother whose "surprises" most always include donuts! Or you can ask Auntie Yana who got him organic lollipops...yummy! Or you can us, who keep organic letter cookies and dark chocolate covered raisins in stock for Little Man...). Anyway, the fruit and the veggie basket were all sold out, so I'll have to get them on our next trip. We also got a salad spinner since we've been eating lots of leafy greens lately and what a cool invention that is! We love those random trips to IKEA.

M had his two year old doctor's appointment last week and didn't need to get any shots, so it was almost an uneventful trip. He didn't want to stand on the scale, so I had to lie him down on the baby one, which he promptly freaked him out. He never liked that thing, but I was hoping he would have outgrown the fear since March. Anyway, he's doing great: 90th percentile for height and 75th for weight. Tall and skinny like his grandpa. And smart like his daddy, the doctor commented on how well he was talking. He's up to 6+ word sentences and talks all.the.time. He's still doing well with potty training. Don't know if it's training anymore since accidenst are very few and far between. My next goal with him is dry sleeptimes, but I'm not sure how much I want to push it right now. Mom and Dad found a potty like our new one at a tag sale for $0.50 and got it for their house, so we're all pleased with the ease of this potty. Come to think of it, though, M has been using the regular potty at their house now that grandpa built him a stool to stand on. Less work for me!

And last but not least, iPhones. I have had mine for a week and a half now and l.o.v.e. it. I don't love it because it's an iPhone, any smartphone would have done, but wow, what a useful piece of technology! I'm not looking to add more "stuff" to my life like the games or apps they offer, I like it because I can make my lists and use the calendar and see the weather and all the stuff I usually do, just quicker and more conveniently. I did download some free games for M that he is enjoying and D downloaded a menu planner app that is great! D didn't start off with an iPhone, but he ended up ordering one over the weekend and it arrived today (didn't seem right that my mom had an iPhone and D didn't...). So we're going to pick that up after a Red Robin dinner tonight :) He's selling his iPod and old Verizon phone on eBay, which will more than cover the cost of the phone, so it's a too good of a deal to pass up!

Our party of three, for just a bit longer...

Just when you think your awesome family couldn’t get more thoughtful or generous, they go and spring a surprise baby shower on you. Last Saturday, I was lured over to Rita’s house with the promise of her home cooking and walked right into a beautifully Fall-themed decorated living room complete with a “Baby Shower” sign over the window. And, yes, I was surprised! I totally wasn’t expecting another baby shower because I don’t really need anything and because you usually don’t get a baby shower per baby (and I think my four baby showers with M were enough to last anyone a lifetime!). Anyway, that’s where the thoughtful and generous part comes in.

Everything was so beautifully decorated in Fall colors because they know I love this upcoming season (especially now when cool weather is very welcome!!). Mom said they used dinner plates instead of paper because they knew I prefer using them instead of disposable stuff. Rita always uses lots of veggies and made-from-scratch stuff in her cooking, which she knows I love, and this time she completely outdid herself! And the favors Mom had gotten for everyone were all natural fruit jellies that are so yummy and good for you. It was sweet to see how they had thought of me during each step of the planning!

Grammy, Auntie, Rita, Rita’s Mom, Mom, and Yana were all there, along with Brea and Ry. Micah stayed with Grandpa because it was during his naptime (little aside: he woke up early with a cold that surprisingly only lasted about four days…usually they’re longer. But apparently they had a great time together woodworking and taking a ride up to UCONN to see if there was a helicopter there and then driving by the firehouse to see the trucks. Much more fun than attending a baby shower for his sibling!). It was so nice being able to socialize without interruption with a group of my favorite people!

Baby is now the proud owner of a wooden highchair (sold our other one and was planning on getting a smaller, wooden one…they beat me to it!), four muslin swaddle blankets that I just found out about and heard rave reviews on (see them here: ), hand-decorated burp clothes by Auntie Yana, a few very cute new outfits and onesies, a wooden teether made by Dad, and a few other things that s/he’ll be very appreciative of when the time comes. Everything was so well thought-out; I will be using all of it. Mom said she knew I was in the midst of decluttering and organizing and tried to keep it to things I would definitely use (another aside: our house looks the best it ever has and I’m so pleased with how clean and organized it looks. The catch? Keeping it that way!).

Thanks to everyone who contributed to such a fun afternoon and for going above and beyond in expressing your love to this baby whom you have yet to even meet! It meant a lot to me and we are so blessed to have your love and support. Can’t wait to introduce you to our newest little one in just a month (or less?)!

Our Vermont farm vacation (those last two words together always make me smile because living and working on a farm is anything but a vacation!) was a huge success. I am reliving it multiple times a day with M who, seeing the pictures and videos we took on the farm on a Picasa slideshow, has requested it (“farm amimals? pees?”) hourly from then on. It’s better than all the nonsense and mindlessness on TV, so I give in half the time…

Anyway, we left Thursday morning, but not too early because we all slept until 8:30am and D insisted that I not rush us out the door because this was meant to be a fun and leisurely time. I like to get there and get our money’s worth, but I have to say, I enjoyed the leisure part very much. We stopped for lunch in a small town diner halfway there. It was so quaint and fit in exactly with what I pictured stopping at on the way to a farm vacation. M did really well during the ride up; he had plenty of books and animal DVDs to occupy himself. We pulled over once and took out his potty for him to peepee in, which he did. No accidents at all, amazingly enough, on the three and a half hour ride!

We got to the farm in enough time to check into the room we’d be staying at in the farmhouse (we shared a bathroom with two other rooms) and do some exploring for our 6pm dinner. The house is exactly as you’d picture a farmhouse: big, old, homey, country-like, cozy. We explored it a bit, but M was more anxious to start meeting all those real, live animals wondering around. He met the goats and the chickens first, and then moved on to the cows and the cats. I’m not sure Micah could have had any more fun than he did on this vacation. I know he enjoyed every single second he was on the farm, which made me glad D convinced me to go ahead and book the entire thing. We wrestled him down for a nap (actually, it didn’t take too much convincing after all the excitement) before dinner and we rested, too. He slept on a big boy cot and did so well for naps and bedtime that we set up his toddler bed at home as soon as we got back. Dinner was served family-style, so we got to meet all the other guests staying there. Another couple was expecting their first on the same day we are expecting our second. And he is a cardiology fellow at a Boston hospital, so he and David compared doctoring notes. We enjoyed each others company very much and Kelli and I keep in contact via email these last days before our worlds are turned upside down for a bit. But, back to dinner. We were there for two of them, and two breakfasts, and they were so delicious. Dinner was complete with dessert and coffee or tea. All dishes were homemade with fresh ingredients; it couldn’t have gotten any better.

After dinner, we visited the cow barn again to watch the night milking. Micah loved feeding them hay, talking to them, and being licked by them. We also visited the litter of new kittens that were born the night before. Their mother had hid them in bales of hay down the hill from the main farm area. M was fascinated by them, but was more interested in the grown cat that was meowing at him and lying on his back for M to pet him.

Finally, bedtime came and after M was tucked in bed, D and I got our respective reading material and went out to the living room. Little to no technology takes some getting used to, and there was probably a little withdrawl, but it was great. We didn’t get cell phone reception, but there was WiFi, which D tried to avoid. Before we went to bed, other guests came by the living room to chat, which was nice. So ended our first day on a farm. We began our second day way too early at 7am with, “Mommy, Daddy, shoes on! Cow!”

* M has been doing incredibly well both using the potty and sleeping in his big boy bed (we've been getting up between 8 and 8:30am). D doesn't like the potty we have for him ($5 at a tag sale, so much thought didn't go into it...) and I agree that it's poorly designed, especially for little boys. So we are probably going to be getting this model:


* That down there is my belly as of last week. It's safe to say I'm not getting any smaller. After this next appointment, I will be going weekly. The end of this pregnant belly is in sight! Baby is doing very well. She has started hiccuping on a regular basis and after a while, she gets annoyed and does this big roll to the other side of my belly. She's still very interactive when she hears voices near or feels a hand (or a seat belt strap...) on my belly. She'll go right to the side she hears/feels something and starts poking that bony heal everywhere. D has really got to see this in action the past fews nights because we aren't doing much other than sitting in this heat! During the times she is most active, my belly will literally bounce so much that D, who is looking straight ahead, will spot it out of his peripherial and turn to look. He then starts talking to the baby and will put his hand on my belly and they'll play for a few seconds. Exactly what she was looking for...attention. We are so excited to meet this little person(ality).


* D has his huge physics test next week and is so tired of studying. He has had a physics class every day for the past 14 months and is just getting sick of it. Don't blame him. He told me that the test is in the morning and he doesn't have to go back to work, so I'm taking him out to lunch when he's done (kinda like a date since M'll be napping at Mom and Dad's!). And when M gets up, we have plans to bring him to a relatively local fair to experience the rides, the food, and the ambiance of fall fairs that we enjoy so much. Should be a fun day...after the test, that is.

*The nesting phase of this pregnancy is going so well that D declared that I should get pregnant annually. For which he promptly got slapped. I have lots of piles that are disappearing and lots of lists that are all crossed out. I still have a few more piles and lists to go, but mainly it's packing for the hospital and the weeks we're at Mom and Dad's. We may be home on the weekends, depending on D's schedule, to give M some time at home (not that he cares, really) and to show him how it'll go with Baby there. If the back and forth is too much for everyone, we'll just hang at Mom's like we do a good portion of the week anyway! We are really blessed to have this much help, I wouldn't want to do it on my own (where's the fun in that?!) (and especially with D's crazy schedule) and I'm all about having my kids bond with involved family who love them and are good role models.

* An item or two on my remaining list involves putting together a few things for M while we're away from him. I think I'm going with the theme "God Made Me" since I can't help but think of that while this little (not so little?) life is growing inside of me! So I've made him a few books with pictures of him doing things he likes, a few pictures-of-him foam puzzles he can put together, and we got him a few fun things to do from the store that hopefully will occupy him for a minute or two and give Grammy and Grpa a rest! I still have to record the books on tape for him and do a few other little things, but I am having so much fun doing it. Throwback to my teaching days :).

* Just finished a great summer read and am about to start C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity. Not exactly beach reading, but I'm sure I'll learn more from it.

Micah had taken an interest in cooking a few months ago when we visited a local library. They had a kitchen set that was loaded with all the tools and food a child needed in order to make a fabulous meal or twenty. He "cook"ed (as he calls it) for at least 45 minutes at the kitchen set and anything that holds our little man's attention for 45 minutes is worth looking into to purchase for our home. Auntie Kristina and Uncle Nicky Nick bought M a Play-Doh cooking set for Christmas and he was fascinated with it, so I reintroduced it to him and again it held his interest for long periods of time. We visited other libraries and after playing with the trains and Legos, he'd go to the kitchen for the rest of the time. Probably helps that I'm in the kitchen a lot since I make 90% of our meals from scratch and he's always there "helping" me. All that to say that I decided that we were in the market for a kitchen set, so I went about pricing them and seeing which one I liked and hoping for a coupon or a sale to pop up somewhere along the time. But, even better, Dad popped up with, "Hey, I can make him one of those."

I knew he could because he has developed into a wonderful craftsman in the short time he has had his workshop, but it would take a lot of time and effort and Dad is a busy guy. But we went over a design I really liked and worked out some dimensions and were all ready to go to the store to get materials when he disappeared into his workshop and declared that we didn't need to go anywhere because he had most everything he needed. I told him to tell me every penny he spent because these things go for at least $100, so he was already saving me money and besides I didn't want him paying for materials since he was already going to be putting lots of time into it.

He wouldn't let me see it until it was almost completed because he wanted it to be a surprise. It looked amazing in the final stages, but when he and Mom showed up one day to drop it off, he had really outdone himself. And of course he deemed it a birthday gift for M so I couldn't give him anything for it, but even more special than that, our kids will have a very cool kitchen set handmade for them by their Grandpa for (hopefully) generations. Too cool. Here's the tour...GREAT job, Father, you are one in a billion!

We woke up one morning, about three months ago, to discover our van missing. It was so surreal to see David and Micah standing where I had parked the van the previous evening. D called “Honey!” through the open living room window in a voice that told me something was up, but nothing too extreme. I thought maybe M fell and needed a kiss (this kid doesn’t do band aids…) on his boo-boo. Too bad it couldn’t have been that!

We called the police (D’s cell phone connected him to a call center like four towns over, so they had to transfer him to our city’s call center…) and the officer was there within ten minutes. He asked us some info so he could complete the Stolen Vehicle Report and he was gone in another ten minutes. Before we called the police, though, I called Mom just to see if there was some possibility that she or Dad had borrowed the van. Funny what your mind immediately jumps to – “stolen” wasn’t the first thing it processed. Poor Mom was thrown off by the question with a, “Um no, Jessa, we wouldn’t borrow your van without asking you first…” yeah, I kind of figured that, but it was worth a try. So began the dissemination of information. We called our insurance company, too, and the real fun began. Apparently we needed to initiate two claims: one for the van (auto) and one for the contents of the van (homeowner’s). The auto people sent out paperwork that needed to be filled out and returned and the homeowner people said to make a list of items in the vehicle, their replacement value, and how long we had had each. I got right on that.

Everything was moving along nicely with me thinking they’d never find the van and certainly not before our claim was settled. I didn’t care what had happened to it and while I certainly enjoyed everything about owning a van, I didn’t want that one back after it had been stolen. D took a different viewpoint in that he wanted to know what had happened to our new-to-us (for two months) van and hoped that it was still in good working order. Both of us got part of what we wanted: exactly ten days later, while we were enjoying a very yummy lunch at Red Robin (D was in the midst of working nights) I got a call from our local police department. I didn’t hear it and right before we left the restaurant, D checked my phone, saw a missed call with a message, and called my voicemail (No, he usually doesn’t check my cell phone or messages, but he had been bugging me the whole time the van was missing to keep my phone charged and on me at all times because they’d be calling my phone. So he’d check my phone as often as me when he was around!). Anyway, back to the police: they very quickly told us that they had gotten a call from a police station in Long Island, NY and spouted off some number for us to call. D called the number and it was the tow yard who said they couldn’t give us any info and spouted off another number that would get us to the police. The officer I talked to was helpful and totally had the New York accent down nicely, which was entertaining. Yes, they did have our van. Yes, it was operable. No, he couldn’t tell me much more than that. A person (maybe more) was arrested after being pulled over in the van and that they were from Long Island, not Connecticut. Can’t imagine the route our little van took to get to that point, but D Google Mapped it and it was about 150 miles from us, over two and a half hours away.

Then the run around began. We weren’t going to go to Long Island if our van was just going to be deemed “totaled,” so they insurance people sent out a claims adjuster. Except that this guy couldn’t just walk into the tow yard. No, that would have been too easy and convenient. He needed special paperwork from the police and the police needed paperwork from us (the van’s title and something saying he can look at the van in our place) in order to give the special paperwork to the claims adjuster who would in turn give it to the tow yard. After much back-and-forth with the police, the tow yard, the claims adjuster, and the insurance company and two trips to the UPS store to overnight things (we were reimbursed for this very pricey expense!), one week after we found out where our van was, the claims adjuster was finally able to get in to see it. The guy was supposed to see it two days after we notified the insurance company the van had to been found. But that took a bit longer…

I get a call back not an hour after the claims adjuster arrives at the tow yard, “I’m looking at your van,” he says, “I’m assuming it didn’t have any big dents on the sides or the back.” Umm, no. The conversation got more exciting from there about the van smelling like smoke, bags of teenager’s clothes, and other knicks and dents here and there. It all ended in the words I wanted to hear since we knew they found the van, “I’m just going to take pictures for my boss to review, but I’m considering your van to be a total loss.” Yaaaay! No driving to Long Island to get it (Grammy and Gpa were going to drive with us, there and back, for which D would have had to take an entire day off…), no worries about fixing it up and hoping some then-unknown damage didn’t pop up in the future. We could start fresh!

All we had to do was sign a few more documents and our check would be on the way. Seemed easy enough, and that part was, but the check amount seemed suspiously similar to the amount we indicated what we had bought it for (which was a good amount under the book value). Dad was not satisfied with that number and got on the phone to the insurance company as “our father and our insurance agent,” which he told the lady we had been working with when she inquired who he was calling as, “and I’m upset as both!” he added for good measure. Long story short, I guess they use a bunch of numbers to come up with the amount they’re going to pay out and she used a combination of numbers that got her close to what we had paid (dad got even more upset when she told him that, to which he replied, so if they paid nothing, that’s what you’d give them!? Of course not, was the answer…). After an hour or two, the nice insurance lady called back and magically found over one thousand more dollars that could be added on to our check and we got that amount in the mail a few days later! In the meantime, we had also gotten our homeowners checks (it’s a two stage process, of course, why should it be over in one shot when we could do double the work?!). So ended that part of the process. All we had to do was find another van…

Which was much easier said than done. We didn’t want to buy new or even a few years old because we didn’t want to go into debt, so it turns into a picky process when buying used vans. And it didn’t help that there weren’t a lot of options because apparently everyone keeps their vans until the very end! Anyway, after much Craigslist-ing by D and keeping our eyes peeled wherever we went, Dad and Mom ended up spotting our new ride by the side of the road in a nearby town. The price was right and the van was even nicer (even had an automatic car starter and a six-disc CD changer…). And hopefully that ends the saga of the stolen van. In case you’re wondering, D’s Volvo got booted out of the garage and (after a much-needed garage clean-out), the van took its place…albeit a snug, but good, fit!

Been really busy around here catching up with things after our still-talked-about Farm Vacation. Stuff like researching new cell phone plans (iPhone may be in my future???), organizing and purging our file cabinet, gathering things we'll need for the hospital and after, stocking up on the "organic" diapers we use from Amazon (bought exactly 900 size 2 and 3 diapers for a total of $130, half of the original cost) and RiteAid (bought three packs of diapers, one was $4.49 and two were $2.49 with coupons!), and preparing for M's second birthday party this weekend. Basically, I'm nesting. There are a few more little projects I want to get done before Baby arrives, so we'll see how that goes. I have a few posts lined up, but these cute-cute pictures of my little man will have to do for now. He's been busy, too:

My baby is officially not a baby anymore :(. He's moved out of the crib and into a big boy (toddler) bed. Our neighbor so kindly gave us the bed a few weeks ago and I was initally planning on bringing it to Mom's house for when we're there after Baby arrives and setting up bunk beds in M's room. However, as it would work out, our room at the farmhouse had a cot at the ready for M. We had packed the pack n play, but D said to give the cot a try and see what happened. Well nothing happened, really. He went to bed around 8:15pm that first night and woke up around 7am the next morning (the sleeping hours changed the second night, but he slept fine again). Easy enough. When we got home, D said he wanted to set up the toddler bed, which was still in our garage, in M's room before M went to bed. We did a quick room-shift and M didn't seem phased by it at all, which surprised me. I thought we'd have some issues since we weren't sleeping in the same room with him anymore like we were at the farmhouse and it was his room so he knows all about what he could have access to if he just crawled out of bed. We did our usual bedtime routine and just casually added, "You're in a big boy bed now, but you can't get out by yourself. You have to call Mommy or Daddy and we'll come get you." It didn't seem to make a big impact on him and I was bracing for a big crash or some playing-with-toys noise, but it never came. When we went to check on him an hour or two later, I snapped some pictures of his cute self. He did call me around 4:45am, but it just seemed like he was cold, so I put his blanket back on him and sang him a song or two and that was that until 8:15am. So far, so good with this bed thing. I guess he does transitions better than I give him credit for! This week, a big boy bed...next week, moving up to the big boy Sunday school class and all of this while still potty training. What more can happen in the life of an almost-two year old?!

Farm vacation pictures to come, but I wanted to update Baby happenings (The above belly picture was taken on vacation near a river M loved splashing and throwing rocks into!). The day before our little getaway, I was scheduled for my ultrasound. Mom came with me and brought M along since I thought he'd get a kick out of seeing Baby. And he did. For about six minutes. Then he popped off of Mom's lap and waved bye-bye to the baby and the ultrasound tech and started towards the door. Oh well. He was concerned, at first, about the jelly on my belly, but when I told him that it felt like glue (which he likes), he called it "ooey gooey" and was fine with it. Anytime you ask him about seeing the baby, he'll inevitably tell you about the ooey-gooey. Mom took him across the street to a local library and I stayed for my actual appointment.

In short, Baby is not huge, but not tiny, either. S/he is in the 67th percentile for a 31.5 week in utero baby and weighing in at over four pounds. My amniotic fluid is average and everything else is fine, so we just make big babies and I just get big bellies when I'm pregnant. I'm definitely more swollen this pregnancy than with M, when I just swelled my last week. I'm sure the too-many-to-count 90+ degree days have a lot to do with that, which is why I will never plan on being pregnant in the summer again. January sounds nice, even February.

Anyway, these last eight weeks, Baby is supposed to gain about a half a pound per week, which puts us over eight pounds...which is awful close to M's 9 lb 1.4 oz birth weight. We'll just have to see, my doctor keeps telling me he's going to do all the work anyway, so who cares if I have a big baby! Uh, does he see the belly I have to haul around everywhere for the next two months?! I saw a different doctor while my doctor was on vacation and he was the one who ordered the ultrasound, so when I saw my doctor this time I told him I knew he wouldn't have ordered it, but I didn't want to cancel it just in case of something. He told me I was right, but it's nice to know that the baby is doing well.

The one thing that the technician seemed impressed by was the size of Baby's cheeks. She must have gotten 10-12 pictures of the cheeks because she couldn't get over how big they were and how cute it was. All the while I was thinking, the baby is under five pounds, how can she possibly have cheeks?!? Aren't there other, more vital areas to fill in first?? Baby was also blinking, which was cool to see. We could see the general outline of the iris at all times because the eyelids are almost see-through, but we were able to faintly see them in action. She, however, didn't cooperate for a good 3D picture this time because she was smushed up against the placenta and was very comfy there. She even turned her head away a few times. Stinker. She did manage to hold relatively still (which is quite a feat for this one...) for a very cute profile picture. D so kindly scanned the ultrasound pics for me to post:

I've never really officially heard of a farm vacation, but I guess I assumed they existed. I mean, why not? There are dude ranches and just about any other type of vacation for something you want to experience at least once in your lifetime. D actually had the idea, I had more of a beach/ocean vacation in mind when we sat down to search out our options for a mini vacation. However, when we found this place,

Liberty Hill Farm

I was totally hooked. M will absolutely love interacting so closely with the farm animals and he'll get to see what they actually do (and help out with some of the chores). This kid remembers things I wouldn't expect him to, so he'll probably be talking about it for a long time! There seems to be a ton of things to do on the farm and in the surrounding area...and it's about three hours north of us so it has to be cooler than here, I'm assuming! The river rafting would have been fun, but I'm sure not going to attempt it in my present state. And we'll stay away from all the hiking, but other than that, we can't wait to experience life on a farm (in it's most basic and simplistic form...).

We've booked two nights for the middle of August, so technically we'll be there for about three days and two nights. It's a bed and breakfast of sorts, so it includes breakfast along with a family-style sit down dinner with fresh, homemade food from the farm. Outdoors, eating good-for-you food, spending time with my men...not sure life could get any better than that :)

D was working nights all last week, so we wanted to spend some quality family time together before we only got to see him for less than three hours a day. I picked up the State Park library pass, which made it free to enter the park, and we stayed for a few hours before M's naptime. I'm considering getting a season pass for there next year because I know M will love it and I'm assuming Baby will, too. I like the fact that you have plenty of opportunities to interact with nature versus just swimming at a local swimming pool. Nice, too, is the short twenty-minute ride. Dressed in his bathing suit, shirt, hat, and water shoes (aka Outdoor Gear), M had a great time playing in the little stream and then the big river...and playing with all the other little kids that were there that he couldn't stop staring at!

The odd child that we have loved the big river, didn't care so much for the little stream, as evidenced by the different levels of enthusiasm in the videos below!