Nope, no baby yet. We did spend a couple of hours in labor and delivery last night because I was having some contractions but they apparently weren't strong enough to make any cervical changes so I was sent home... Then Matthew decided to wake up and stay awake until almost 4AM going back and forth between rolling around in his crib and crying. Mommy is tired today... and nesting... I think that as soon as my pants are out of the dryer I will shower and then attempt to take a nap. I think I've done enough cleaning for today seeing as my hips are starting to hurt.

My mom gets in tonight just in case we end up having to go to the hospital again in the next few days... and now I'm contracting again. Good times.

Photo update to come sometime in the future...

Well, I'm back from my 36 week appointment and our little girl is looking great. We did get to see her today via ultrasound so that was nice. The doctor is guessing she weighs between 5 1/2 - 6 lbs. right now. We're in the clear at this point as far as delivery goes. Matthew was born at 36 weeks 2 days and I will be at that point on Sunday. That being said, I'm still not quite the ticking time bomb I was with Matthew but my cervix is almost identical to where it was at with Matthew at this point. So it could be any time now or it could still be 2 weeks. My doctor did say that if I make it to my appointment next week we may be able to talk about a possible induction for convenience if nothing else because of our childcare situation (or lack thereof). So, there's the update on me and Elise. I'll post a real update on the family sometime this weekend.

For now I leave you with this...

This is what it really looks like when Matthew hugs my legs.



This is just funny

Well, I'm getting a little bit tired of being confined to sitting most of the time. I'm still feeling fine, although aside from pressure and some joint pain I've felt fine this whole time. I just noticed things were different. So if you're wondering how I'm feeling... I'm feeling ok. I was never feeling "bad" just different. No regular contractions at all, but definitely still noticing some things that could be a sign that labor is coming soon... but then again, every woman and baby is different and it could still be a few weeks. I guess I'll have a better idea on Friday.

Taking Matthew out of the house has pretty much been out of the question unless Gilbert is with me to help carry/chase him so when Gilbert asked if we wanted to go to worship practice on Wednesday night, we jumped at the chance. Matthew had a blast and he even got to play some drums =)







Here are a couple of videos of him that night. You'll notice that he gets a little annoyed with Daddy for playing "his" drum in one video. The others are of him dancing. He's so cute.


Untitled from Melissa S on Vimeo.


Untitled from Melissa S on Vimeo.


Untitled from Melissa S on Vimeo.

Look at those eyes...



Matthew trying to help Daddy play guitar



An of course, when the cat's away... Matthew's not supposed to touch the pedals and I caught him in the act. I snapped this before I told him to get off of the board, though.



OneLife church celebrated its first birthday yesterday! It's hard to believe that we've lived here over a year and our little church has been going for a year now. We had a big celebration lunch after service yesterday and this is what Matthew did after he ate:





Yep, he missed out on a lot of the fun because he was so tired. I went and sat in the car with him (with the windows down and a great breeze, don't worry) while everyone partied. He wasn't all that interested in the bouncers that they had there but he loved being around all of the people.

Last night Gilbert and Matthew humored me and took me to Ikea to buy Elise's dresser. Granted, her room doesn't have to be ready until she's over a month old since she'll be in our room with us, but it's driving me a little crazy that we have almost nothing ready for her. I at least want a place to put her clothes for now. Luckily Gilbert got off easy and doesn't have to put the dresser together just yet. I feel better just knowing it's there.

While we were at Ikea Gilbert decided he wanted a frozen yogurt cone and of course Matthew got to share it with him.















Some fun this morning





The reason my fist is in this last one is Matthew learned how to "Shake and Bake", which if you've seen the movie Talladega Nights, you know exactly what I'm talking about. It's hilarious.



Well, the first OneLife baby wave is coming to an end. The first baby was born not too long ago (within the last hour) and it seems his name is Graham and he weighed in at 10lbs 8 oz. HOLY COW. Luckily Mom had a c-section so all of you moms out there can stop cringing =). We're so excited for Brian and Rachel!

I made Rachel and Erin take another picture yesterday since it was our last day being pregnant together. Hopefully Erin will go into labor soon because the girl is more than ready to meet the little one in her belly. Plus it just doesn't seem right to think that Elise would be here before that baby since I'm not due for another 4 1/2 weeks.

(L-R: Me, Rachel, Erin)


Looks a little lower now, doesn't she?

Quick update...

There has been no change in the situation. This is good news. Ok, there has been some change but nothing really worth noting. My cervix has moved forward a little but that's it. I've been instructed to take it easy for another week and then I go back Friday for my 36 week check up and an ultrasound. My doctor says that after next Friday I should be able to go back to normal. She's not concerned about Elise coming once I hit 36 weeks.

Oh, and apparently my due date is actually April 24... not the 25.

Sorry, people. Given the events of this last weekend and the way I was feeling even before all of that happened, I only managed to take 3 pictures worth sharing with everyone. Our son is beautiful.







Nothing new to share about Elise today... which is this case is good =)

Well, let's let all of you hear it straight from the horse's mouth before anyone calls me freaking out =).

As my ticker on the left there says, I am 34 weeks pregnant now and I had my 34 week check up on Friday. The check up itself was fairly uneventful but I did mention to the doctor that I felt like Elise was pretty low. When she measured my belly she said that I was measuring exactly the same as I had been 2 weeks ago so Elise had indeed dropped. Otherwise I should have measured 2 cm larger than I had at my last appointment. She wasn't concerned at all and said it could be normal and she would be monitoring me every week now anyway since I had a history of delivering pre-term (even though Matthew appeared to be full term developmentally and he was perfectly healthy).

Well, over the weekend I experienced some changes that I only experienced with Matthew right before I was admitted to the hospital so I called the on-call nurse and gave her my history and told her what was going on and she said to take it easy, avoid stairs, avoid lifting Matthew if possible, and stay hydrated. She then said to follow up with the doctor in the morning to see what she wanted me to do.

That brings us to this morning. I saw my doctor and she went ahead and checked me out to find out what was going on. Apparently, I am already dilated but my cervix is still high, back, and long (sorry to any males reading this who are offended by the proper terms for female anatomy =)). Elise's head is also pretty low. In other words, while I am dilating early, I am not the ticking time bomb I was with Matthew. The doctor doubts I will make it to my due date but in an effort to keep Elise safe inside Mommy's tummy for at least another week and a half, I've been instructed to take it easy. She also said that if I were to go into preterm labor at this point, she wouldn't do anything to stop it as Elise would be fine.

I am able to take care of Matthew and lift him when I need to, but I can't carry him around too much. That's not a big problem here at home since he's pretty independent. I've been restricted from most housework (which is driving me a little crazy) and told to listen to my body and just stop if I start to have contractions. I can't even make a trip to Target that would require me to walk through the store... which really bums me out because I have gift cards to use for Elise. I can leave the house, but I have to be mindful of how my body feels. My mom is on standby in case anything changes and I think she's planning on being here in the next week and a half anyway just to play it safe.

Good times. I will update soon with what few pictures I have from the last week. In the mean time, just wanted to let everyone know what's going on =).

I'm tired. Seriously. Last week was pretty quiet. A lot staying home and walking to the mailbox once a day. Our friends had come in from Florida just for my baby shower and it was fun seeing them. Last Sunday we went to lunch with them before they hit the road back to Pensacola and had some good food at Saltgrass Steakhouse.

This is what was over our table as we ate our delicious lunch.





Awesome.

Poor Matthew had a long day that day. Not only did we have church in the morning, which always makes us tired, but after lunch we had a meeting to check out the new venue our church will be meeting in. In case you're wondering why church is so tiring for us, here's what goes on on Sundays: Gilbert is, of course, on the worship team which means that he needs to be there early to practice before the service. This means he's also on the sound team so he needs to be there early to set up the sound. Not a big deal if there's nothing else to set up... but we rent the gym at an elementary school so we literally have to bring everything we use with the exception of the chairs... and we even have to set up the chairs. We have a big trailer that we have everything packed up in during the week. I mean EVERYTHING. Sound gear, children's ministries classrooms, tables, hospitality carts, signs, pipe and drape to make the gym feel a little less like a gym, everything. So every week we show up and have to unload the trailer and set everything up. I'm on the hospitality team so I get there at the same time as Gilbert to get the coffee going and start setting out platters to set out food. It takes us about an hour and a half to get everything set up and then we have our service, mingle for a bit, and then tear everything back down. It's a long process but we've gotten pretty good at it. So there you go, this is what we moved to Texas to be a part of =). We love our Texas family and it's been an incredible adventure so far.

Ok. So back to the boy. He has started saying "Batman" but when he says it it sounds like he's saying "Mattman" so this has become his new nickname. Here are some pictures of Mattman passed out on the living room floor.







I really wish this was clearer but by the time I got close enough to get a better shot he had taken off the shoes.



He LOVES his Mega Bloks







This weekend was pretty eventful. At least a little more eventful than some of our recent weekends have been. Gilbert had to work last Saturday morning so Matthew and I went to Target and I didn't realize until I left the store that I had spent 2 hours in there. I think it's only in Target that I shop like my mother. Matthew got some good stuff out of that trip, though. In the afternoon we ran some errands and then came home and Daddy made steaks. Even Matthew had steak and almost finished the entire thing on his own. Sunday was church and as always, that makes for a long morning. Especially with the time change thrown in.

Matthew seems to have adjusted pretty well to the time change and I'm hoping this sticks. He took his normal 3 hour nap yesterday and then he slept for 10.5 hours last night, which really isn't normal for him. Usually it's 9.5 hours, but that extra hour sure was nice for me. I was up, showered, and just hanging out by the time he woke up. It's nice not having to put him in the playpen just so I can shower.

He spent a couple of hours loading up his firetruck and trying to balance all of these things while pulling it around the house. It was fun.







Riding his lion this morning. I can't believe he doesn't look at all like a baby anymore.



I haven't been as miserable as I was last week, thankfully. I've been sleeping a little bit better the last couple of nights, but I still wake up feeling like a 90 year old. It takes a while for my hips to start feeling normal and I'm not limping around. I have my check up on Friday and then I start going every week to be monitored. Seeing as I didn't have any warning that I had dilated as much as I had by 36 weeks, my doctor wants to play it safe.



The Mommy view



Pepperoni, sausage, and spinach calzones for dinner tonight... with homemade marinara. Mmmm. I'm looking forward to it.

Ok, seriously. Gilbert cloned himself when he got me pregnant the first time...







I wonder what this little girl is going to look like.

Well, it's March. A busy month for our family. Lots of birthdays (even though we won't be around to celebrate with some of those people), 2 babies due this month (Rachel and Erin), and our little boy will be 18 months old this month. Why does that make me want to cry? I can't believe I'm due next month... and if she follows in her big brother's footsteps she could even be here this month. Scary... but exciting =).

Matthew had a few rough days last week. He's teething and he'd been cranky for a few days. I think on top of that he's sensing that things are going to be changing soon... He's a good boy, though.

"Star Wars!" That is what I have been hearing every morning for the last week when I go to get Matthew from his room. It's pretty funny. This is what he does with his Star Wars toys when he gets them out of their container:







Here's the proof that he can actually say "star wars"


Untitled from Melissa S on Vimeo.

Silly boy.

On the days that Matthew was particularly clingy and Mommy had to spend more than 20 minutes in the kitchen cooking, Mommy caved and let him watch a movie just so he would stop crying and clinging to her leg...

Emperor's New Groove w/ Big Girl





That's the mess he makes throughout the day =)

Watching Cars in his very own chair



Saturday was my baby shower so the boys were kicked out of the house in the afternoon while the shower was held at our house. It was fun. Definitely quieter than the 2 showers I had for Matthew. We played some fun games and just hung out. Unfortunately, the camera was left in the diaper bag so I only have pictures of the diaper cake that my friend made me and the gifts that Elise got.

Here's the diaper cake. Complete with doll, tiara, jewelry, and a pair of baby legs.



I asked everyone who came to decorate a piggy bank for Elise's room and with the kids who were here, it turned out pretty interesting. I'm glad I had them do it. Here's the finished product.









Elise made out pretty well at her shower. LOTS of Target gift cards. Some adorable blankets, cowgirl onesies =), and she even got her first purse... in the shape of a butterfly.



I had my 32 week appointment on Friday and everything's looking good. I have one more biweekly appointment and then they'll start monitoring me every week because Matthew was early. I was pretty achy all weekend but luckily this morning I'm feeling a lot better. Lots of hip/leg pain all weekend and some cramping, but nothing to really worry about. I'll probably just take it easy today with my boy.