Daughter's Day Out

Last Saturday, I decided that K needed a little attention after the premature arrival of little B. I was told (by David Paul) that it was going to be a beautiful day with no chace of rain so I figured it was the perfect day to take K to Dewberry Farm.

Dewberry Farm is a farm (NSS) with activities for kids. They have hayrides to pumpkin patches, a corn maze, corn and pumpkin cannons, playgrounds, a petting zoo, and other activities. And they had people - lots and lots of people.

The best part of the outting was my time with my little girl. I'll admit that Dewberry Farm was a little disappointing - the majority of the activities were for bigger kids. However, that didn't stop us from having fun.

Our first stop was Fort Dewberry. This place was crawling with kids (that had no regard for little ones), so I explored the fort with K. It didn't take her long to make it up the ramp and find the slide (which, incidentally, was right in front of a fireman's pole - literally a hole in the ground that produces a 6 foot drop down to the ground).



I went down the slide with K the first couple of times. However, I grew a pair and let her go down herself, and she loved it. I'm not sure what she loved more - sliding down by herself, or getting to the bottom, turning around, and watching me slide down.



After several (hundred) trips into the fort and down the slide, I dragged K away towards the corn maze. K had fun running around (at first). But with nothing really to do but follow a path (she was too small to play the "games" in the maze), she grew tired and had me pick her up (and walk us all the way back out).







While making our way to the petting zoo, we saw a school bus. And K L-O-V-E-S school buses. So we snapped our picture (after patiently letting other little brats cut in front of us - whose parents didn't mind making us wait a while longer) driving the bus. Fun times.



The only real animals we were interested in were the goats. K wanted to "ride" the horses, but everytime we got close, she started freaking out.



After visiting the animals, we made our way to the hayride out to the pumpkin patch. But before we got there, we had to drive the tractor. She wanted up there, but she sure didn't want to get down.



K had a blast in the pumpkin patch. She ran all over the place. There were "yucky" pumpkins that were rotted with bugs all over them. And then she found "K's" pumpkin. And yes, we hauled it back with us on the tractor, paid for it, and took it home (see the future pumpkin carving post...).











After the pumpkin patch, it was time to head home. K was exhausted and had been pretty much everywhere that she could go without getting trampled. And no, I was not going to take her back to the slide. It was a great day out with my little girl and I think K had a fun time!

Monkey-See, Monkey-Do

Day 4

We're still alive here! Tonight was a nice evening, so my mom, Kaylynn, Ben, and I got to enjoy some Vitamin D.

The Early Bird

The date on the calendar was circled. Our baby boy was due November 6th, 2010. We took the initiative to get things ready ahead of time just in case he came a couple days early. And then, at 5:16 AM, Hayley said, "Brian, I'm fairly certain my water just broke".

Surprise! Benjamin Edward decided to make his appearance two and a half weeks early. Our little guy showed up at 3:02 PM weighing 7 pounds, 6 ounces and measuring 21.25 inches in length. Everything went pretty smoothly (with only one bump in the road).

Here are some pictures from yesterday.



K and her mom before heading to the hospital.



K in hog heaven in her red wagon. She went to see the fish in the aquarium.



K playing with Pappa's hat.



Our little boy.



Ben's first bath.



K meeting Ben for the first time (and giving him a sweet kiss).



K having fun running through the curtain in our room.



Mom and her new baby boy.



The newest addition to the clan.

36 Weeks and Counting

Hurry up and wait. That's where we are right now. He can come anytime after Saturday. In fact, he can come on Saturday, I'd be ok with that. I'm hitting the wall. :)

Here's what's going on this week:

Your baby is still packing on the pounds — at the rate of about an ounce a day. He now weighs almost 6 pounds (like a crenshaw melon) and is more than 18 1/2 inches long. He's shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered her body as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that covered and protected his skin during her nine-month amniotic bath. Your baby swallows both of these substances, along with other secretions, resulting in a blackish mixture, called meconium, will form the contents of his first bowel movement.

At the end of this week, your baby will be considered full-term. (Full-term is 37 to 42 weeks; babies born before 37 weeks are pre-term and those born after 42 are post-term.) Most likely he's in a head-down position. But if he isn't, your practitioner may suggest scheduling an "external cephalic version," which is a fancy way of saying she'll try to coax your baby into a head-down position by manipulating him from the outside of your belly.

Um, he's head down. My bladder can tell you that. It feels Ben's every move, and he does a lot of that. Even though he's running out of room, he still finds ways to move all around. And at least 6lbs 3oz...at least that's what they said at the ultrasound last week.

Update from the doctor is that we'll discuss when/if the induction will take place on Monday. I'm hoping he comes on his own still. Really want to avoid the induction. Scared of pitocin. Have I mentioned that? I am. I like the surprise, too. We'll see what happens.

On a totally unrelated note, we're going to see the Fightin' Texas Aggies play this Saturday. Brian and I have made a deal that if I go into labor on Saturday, we're changing Ben's middle name to Kyle (for Kyle Field). Thought about agreeing to changing his name completely, but he's been Ben to us since July and nothing else sounds right. Benjamin Edward or Benjamin Kyle...Saturday will tell that. My money is on the former.

35 Weeks Down, 3-4 to go!

Well, technically, by now, it's more like 2-3 to go. I better post B's 35 week update, since 36 hits the day after tomorrow.

Your baby doesn't have much room to maneuver now that he's over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 1/4 pounds (pick up a honeydew melon). Because it's so snug in your womb, he isn't likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but the number of times he kicks should remain about the same. His kidneys are fully developed now, and his liver can process some waste products. Most of his basic physical development is now complete — he'll spend the next few weeks putting on weight.

At my last dr. appt, I asked if they were expecting me to make it to 11/6. Dr. H said that if he doesnt't come on his own before hand, they'll induce me 1-2 weeks early. I'm guessing since the GD increases potential complications, earlier is better than later, once it hits full-term. I'm a bit afraid of inducing...mainly pitocin. I hear it can make the contractions come hard and fast, instead of the nice gradual increasement I had with Kaylynn. Because of that, I've started drinking my red raspberry leaf tea in order to get myself "ready". It's *supposed* to help you with labor, making it easier and shorter. We'll see. It brings on Braxton Hicks contractions right after you drink it. But I have those randomly all the time anyways.

We had an ultrasound on Tuesday, which I hope is our last ultrasound. Ben's currently estimated to weigh around 6lbs 3oz. All of the measurements on the screen say he's measuring 1 week head. 1 thing (don't know what it was) he was measuring 35 weeks, and one thing he was measuring 37 weeks.

So, in a perfect world, Ben will come on his own, or I will go into the hospital Halloween night, to have him on 11/01/10. That's just me wishing, I guess. Go back to the dr. on Monday, so we'll see if there is any new update then.

And because you need to see Kaylynn...here are some pictures stolen from Emily! A bunch of us met up at Northshore Park earlier this week to enjoy the gorgeous weather! We chased birds, fed ducks, went down the slide, played in the sand (dumping it all over ourself), and tried to get a group picture. It was a successful outing!