November News

I have finally caught up to the current month!!! I need to work on keeping this blog updated...I tend to do better with facebook...so if you are not on facebook, you should join :)

I'll start with an update on the pregnancy...as I am typing this I am 33 weeks pregnant with a "mover n shaker" baby girl in my now huge belly!! Just as with my other two pregnancies I am on my way to my 40 lb weight gain, all of which seems to be in my belly!!! I get the "any day now" comments from complete strangers already... still just over 6 weeks to go until my planned c-section on Jan 6th (since both Michael and Sofia were c-sections). Even though I wouldn't be completely surprised if this baby girl decided to make an earlier appearance just to make Christmas more interesting...I wasn't early with either Michael or Sofia, but Michael did make things interesting in that he arrived on our anniversary!! I feel this baby moving around SO much!! It makes me think that I didn't feel Sofia move as much as I thought I did...but then again I am not on my feet all day working like I was with Sofia. My OB has also questioned if I feel this baby more, knowing about Sofia's delays and hypotonia...

I am definitely more worried about the last couple weeks of this pregnancy and my recovery from the c-section because of all the care and lifting that is required with Sofia...Tom has worked it out where he is off most of January, so that is a huge relief!! This time around I am going to take full advantage of the time I am allowed to stay at the hospital and ask for more help from the nurses!!

I am working on trying to get all my "nesting" done...it involves a lot of trying to move things around our 2 bedroom apartment and down to our garage to make room for a new baby. Because of the small space our bedroom is going to have to also be baby's room until we move next June. It makes me think that we are going to try to add too many new toys at Christmas time since we are already tight on space!!!

Oh, I can't wait to have space again!!! And we have decided that space will be in a new home in Jacksonville, Florida!! Tom will be joining an Allergy practice based in Jacksonville when he is done with fellowship in June 2010. We were torn between two options...but our long term plans is what made the final decision for us. We are excited that we will be living close to Tom's family and our several of our close friends and their families. The potential for me go back to work is really good in Jacksonville (already have a potential lead...and they contacted me!! It makes me feel great that even though on hold, my professional career is still alive!!) We are hoping to be able to travel down to Jacksonville sometime in the late spring for house hunting...I am excited about being able to participate in the house hunt this time!! (I was away for a conference when Tom looked at our first house and put in an offer). Location will be a big priority for us...for many reasons!!

Michael is becoming quite the swimmer now!! After all our issues we had with swimming lessons the first 6 months (he did not like them and was often being yelled at and crying a lot!!), he is doing great and loves to go!! He is swimming longer distances and doing pretty go with swimming on his back. When we visited friends in Florida in September, he constantly wanted to go in their pool!! It is a great way for him to let out some energy...seriously making us consider a pool when we move to Florida!! Tom and I took him this month to see a plastic surgeon about getting his ears done...a bilateral otoplasty. One of Tom's collegues recommended a surgeon at the Children's Hospital he works at, so we thought we would at least inquire. The surgery itself doesn't worry me, it is the recovery...he will need to wear the bandaging they put on in the OR for ten days!! Then wear a headband for three weeks over his ears. It seems a bit challenging for a 4 year old!! But we also learned that typically there is no problem getting insurance to pay for it :) We are seriously considering doing this while still in Kansas....

Helping daddy bottle homemade wine

Now to update on just how great Sofia is doing right now!! She is crawling more and more everyday to get around instead of rolling...it is hard to imagine that just a few months ago she wasn't even able to get in and out of sitting!! She is pulling up to stand on all kinds of furniture and enjoys taking some steps with support. We have a gait trainer that she is slowly getting the hang of...lots of two footed pushing it it!! She loves to make a game out of giving hugs...and I just love now how she will crawl over to me when I am sitting in my rocker chair and just hold those arms up and squeal until I pick her up and hug her!! She is also finding it fun to give me kisses...it involves a lot of slober :) She makes it very known when she wants attention...especially if Michael is getting a chance to play with Daddy and she is not involved. But then she is great at going on her own to play...she loves to pull the books off their shelf and check them out and just explore the many bins of toys we have. She has just learned to open the cabinets in the kitchen...we'll see what kind of trouble that brings :)

See how tall I am!!

Feeding is going well...she is pretty willing to try many different foods as long as it is provided in bite size pieces. It will depend on her mood if she is willing to feed herself or if I have to feed her. If I could get her to self feed most of the time before new baby arrives that would be great!! I haven't worked too much on letting her try to spoon feed herself she she still tends to just throw the spoon. I would also love to get her off the bottle...she is just so stubborn about trying a sippy cup or straw...she physically can do, it is just a sensory issue at this point.

Yummy cookies!!

We still have a long way too go and lots of hard work...our current therapy schedule involves water therapy once a week, physical therapy once or twice a week, speech therapy once or twice a week, occupational therapy every other week...the schedule will end up getting adjusted a bit because of the arrival of the new baby, but we are going to try to keep up as much as we can!!

I'm cool in mommy's glasses!!

Well, a happy thanksgiving to everyone!! We are having a fairly subdued stretch of holidays this year since I can not travel and family is waiting until new baby arrives to come visit. But since we love food of course we are going to make all the trimmings and make sure we have leftovers!!

Enjoying an evening by the fireplace!!

Natalie