More Progress!

As of this afternoon Mommy was dilated to a 3 and 75% effaced!  She also found out that her Group B Strep test was negative...which means that she can hang out out the house as long as she wants once labor starts.

The basic plan that Mommy, Daddy, and Joanna (their doula) have set in place is that they will all hang out at the house until Mommy is super close to the transition phase of labor.  Then they'll make the short trek to the hospital.  Not getting to the hospital too early will give Mommy the best shot at the natural labor she wants.

And here's what Mommy looked like this evening at 38.5 weeks pregnant.

Daddy has asked Elliot to hold off on his appearance until after Sunday.  That's when our church's annual patriotic service is taking place, and it requires a lot of extra work on Daddy's part.

Tomorrow morning will probably be spent packing bags for everyone in our family, though...just in case Elliot's got his own ideas!

Countdown to Elliot

With Elliot's estimated due date being just a little over 2 weeks away, our house is a mini-flurry of baby prepping activity! 

I guess the ball got rolling at the beginning of the month when Mommy and Daddy set me up in my real big girl bed.  This is the bed Auntie slept in while she lived with us, Mommy slept in as a little girl and teenager, and Mimi slept in as a little girl and teenager!  It's been good to all the girls on the Pierce side of the family, and now it's my turn to give it a whirl.

My crib/toddler bed was moved to Elliot's room that day with (suprisingly) few protests from me.  

A week or two later Daddy, Uncle Dan, and Grampa tackled the big job of painting Elliot's room and my room.  Here's a picture of Elliot's room while the painting was still in progress.

Mommy hasn't gotten around to taking a picture of the finished paint product...but that's probably because the paint is about the only thing in E's room that's finished!  Hopefully that will be rectified soon and I'll have some more pictures to share with you.

The walls in my room got a face lift, too.

It is suuuuper bright in there now!  Mommy and Daddy are planning to tone the brightness down a bit with the wall art, curtains, and other "stuff" that we use to decorate.  That's all a big work in progress, though, since they're planning to take their time finding just the right things to place in there.

In addition to working in our rooms, Mommy and Daddy have been getting ready for Mr. E by completing their childbirth classes, hiring a doula, setting up a simple and flexible birthplan, and finishing up their books on natural birth (well, that last one's really been just Mommy).

At Mommy's OB appointment last week she found out that her body has made some progress toward Elliot's arrival.  She was dilated to (almost) a 2, 50% effaced, and Elliot was at Station 2.  All those stats were music to Mommy's ears...especially because she never made it that far with me until lots of drugs were pushed into her system.

Mommy goes to the OB again tomorrow afternoon, and she's hoping to hear some more good news!

I love the zoo!

I hit up the Dallas Zoo again a few weeks ago.  This time I was with Mommy, Daddy, Gramma, and Grampa. 

While we were there, I taught my whole family some very important lessons about outings with 3 year olds:

1. Go without an agenda.

You never know when a preschooler is gonna want to stop and "pet" the lizard statues.

Or spend a looooong time in the "river".

2. Expect to see about 10% of what you would with older kids.

And anticipate that we may be captivated by things that aren't very "zooish"...

 like these koi...

or run-of-the-mill goats.

3. Call it a day well before the little one gets cranky! 

  (I really wasn't cranky in the picture below.  Mommy just thought it was funny that I was trying to spray the zoo's Mister Fan with Gramma's mini mister fan.)

Thankfully, everyone was super chill that day and more than happy to follow the 3 guidelines above. 

I think we all had a great time (although Mommy did get a bit hot with all that extra insulation)!

Auntie's Awesome Wedding Website

Uncle Dan (Auntie's fiance) just finished creating a website for their upcoming nuptials.

Mommy's favorite portion of the site is "Our Story" because she thinks they have a great one!

And here's a random piece of wedding trivia for you.

That's Mommy's dress for the wedding (except the color will be eggplant).  Auntie picked out several different, yet complementary, styles and let her bridesmaids choose which one they wanted.  She and Mommy both thought this dress would probably work well with what (they think) will be Mommy's post-baby body.

We should be looking for my flower girl dress soon.  Auntie did see one that she really liked at the salon where her gown and bridesmaid dresses were purchased.  The $100+ price tag on it, however, made it a no-go!

It's not easy to...

Get kids to look at the camera at the same time!

As modeled by my cousin, McB, and myself...

McB and his sister, CWa...

CWa (although, in her defense, she was at least saying "cheeeeese")...

CWa and me.

Nor is it easy for Mommy to remember to take pictures at family functions!  She had high hopes of getting some shots of me and both cousins, herself and Aunt Becky (who is also pregnant), and the whole family at our imprompu little breakfast get together yesterday.  I guess she just got too busy eating, talking, and not wanting to move from the spot she was in! 

I hear that last one tends to happen to women when they're about 8 months pregnant.

Baby FAQs

Mommy doesn't have any recent belly photos to share here (except for teeeerrible ones that coworkers post on Facebook), so you'll just have to take my word for it when I say that her belly is getting pretty big.  In fact, one of her teammates told her that she is "as big as a barn" today.  Not exactly the best news to hear when you still have 7.5 weeks of belly growth to go!

Even though this post is pictureless, I thought I'd fill you in on the answers to some of the most frequently asked questions Mommy and I are getting these days.

Katie Bug's FAQs

What will your little brother's name be?
Elliot.  I have already decided that my nickname for him will be LL, though.  We'll be KK and LL!

Are you excited about being a big sister?
Yes! I love giving Elliot kisses and hugs through Mommy's belly, and I can't wait to give him real ones when he comes out.

Mommy's FAQs

How are you feeling?
Overall, not too bad.  Mommy's biggest complaint this time around is related to the position Elliot has decided to take in her body.  He is a big fan of her right side, which puts a lot of pressure on the nerves on that side of her body.  She's had a bit of sciatic pain, as well as some swelling on that side.  For a little while, the sciatic pain was getting really severe during the school day. But once Mommy figured out that wearing flats made things worse and heels made things better, things got...well, better!

Is the baby's room finished yet?
Um, no.  In fact, Mommy and Daddy haven't done anything with Elliot's room except hang up the clothes we aready have for him.  They've got their work cut out for them over the next few weeks!

Why are you taking childbirth classes again?
When Mommy was pregnant with me, she was really attracted to med-free births.  What she didn't know, however, was that her OB wasn't exactly a natural birth advocate, nor was her hospital a place that was friendly toward natural births.  When Mommy found out she was expecting again, she knew she wanted a completely different birth experience.
This time around, Mommy has a new OB (one who's had a med-free birth herself) and will be at a different hospital.  Since she and Daddy are serious about planning for a med-free birth, they thought it'd be a good idea to take the 5 week childbirth class their new hospital offers.
Boy, are they glad they did!  They've learned so much more in this class than they did in the one Saturday class they took at the last hospital.  I'm pretty sure they're also both enjoying the 3 uninterrupted hours they're getting to spend together every Tuesday night!

Are you taking another year off when Elliot's born?
The year Mommy stayed at home with me was probably the best year of her life.  She and Daddy initially hoped that if Mommy worked for a few years they'd be able to save up enough for her to take another year off with Baby #2.  What they didn't consider, however, was that there really isn't much left to save after you've paid a childcare provider each month.
So, the answer to this question is 'no'.  Mommy will be going back to work once her maternity leave is over (probably the second or third week of school, depending on when LL decides to make his grand entrance).  She's been suprised at how okay she is with this decision.  Mommy loves her job, and she knows she is doing what our family needs her to do.

Mommy/Daughter Date

This past Saturday, Mommy and I were chilling at the house all by ourselves.  Auntie moved out a few weekends ago and Daddy was doing a video shoot for church...so we were enjoying some mommy/daugther bonding time.

While we were eating breakfast I asked Mommy, "Is today the day we stay home?" (that staying-home-day is always my favorite day of the week).  When she told me that it was, my next question was, "Can we go on a date?"

Now before I go any further, I should probably tell you that Katelyn dates in my family are quite proprietary.  Daddy has dibs on Chuck E. Cheese. Mimi and Poppy take me to Chick-Fil-A. Gramma and Grampa are the McDonald's and Candy Store people.

Mommy, however, doesn't really "own" any date places.  That probably has something to do with the fact that the two of us are together a whole lot.  It's kind of hard to have dates when you're trying to get the normal day-to-day errands done, you know?

So, back to the kitchen table on Saturday morning...Mommy took a few moments to think about where we could go on a date (I really wanted Chuck E. Cheese, but Mommy was not about to try that place by herself at 8 months pregnant...plus CEC belongs to Daddy).  Then, she came up with the most brilliant solution: the fountains!

So, the two of us slapped on some sunscreen and traveled down the road(s) to the splash fountains at a nearby shopping center.  We got there just as the day was warming up, so the weather was pretty much perfect.

I enjoyed running through the water,

posing with the statues (I very specifically requested that these pictures be taken),

and watching other kids play.

About 15 minutes into the fun, though, I decided that I really needed a "play friend".  So, even though I had a great time with just Mommy, I think I'll try to turn the fountains into a play date next time.