Today's little thoughts

I find myself praying for two very important people today. My brother-in-law, Randy, is in the home stretch of taking the California bar exam. He's been studying like a fiend for months and I hope he is kicking that test's backside! The other person on my mind is my best friend's dad, who starts chemo today to fight lung cancer. Dick McEntee is an amazing man - he's one of the most spiritual, intelligent, caring, compassionate, and kind-hearted men I've had the privilege of knowing. The fact that he's now sitting in a chemo chair having massive amounts of toxic drugs pumped into his body is incredibly scary and unfair. Good luck to both of these terrific men!

Yesterday, I realized that we have about 5.5 weeks until the baby's due date. If he follows his sister's timeline, that means we have about 2.5 weeks until he arrives. ACK! All of a sudden, I feel like we need to scramble to prepare for him, yet there really isn't much to do. I need to wash the linens for his cradle and bassinet, get his clothes washed and put into drawers, and finish packing our hospital bag. I'm also hoping to put a few dinners into our freezer, but said freezer is rather full (greatly in part to the applesauce I made last fall). I think I need to organize our freezer and figure out how much room I really have to work with.

My van desperately needs a trip through the car wash. It also needs to be vacuumed.

1st Gymnastics Class

On Saturday, Annika went to her first-ever gymnastics class. We figured with her love of flipping over just about anything in our house, doing summersaults, and hopping, this would be an ideal outlet for her. I found a 6-week class for 2-3 year olds through Seattle Parks & Rec. Perfect!

We arrived at the class' location and Annika wasn't quite sure at first. It took her about 5 minutes of watching the other kids before she felt comfortable joining in on the activities and then she was HOOKED! She had a great time running around, walking on the balance beam, walking up the vertical mat and then flipping (with help) over the bar, climbing over the foam blocks, and jumping on the little trampoline. She had such fun, in fact, that she didn't want to leave once her 45-minute class was done. There weren't just tears, there were TEARS when I finally picked her up and carried her out of the room so we could head home.

The class had a lot more parental participation than I expected, but thoroughly enjoyed. One of the dads at the class asked if this was Annika's first class and when I confirmed that it was, he said, "Wow. She's fearless!" Yup ... hence, the gymnastics class. Much better than flipping off the side of the couch and jumping over the dogs! Summer Olympics, here we come. ;)

Up and over!


She made it from end to end on the balance beam all by herself


Flyin' high


Hop!

Our Valentine's Day

On Sunday, we went to a family dinner at Eric's aunt/uncle's house. Eric's cousin and his family were in town (visiting from NY), hence the family gathering. Eric's cousin and his wife have a little girl (Ella) who is a month older than Annika; the girls have only been together one other time, but play together like they're longtime buddies. They had a great time tossing Ella's blankie to each other and hopping over pillows. Of course, we all ohh'd and ahh'd over the newest family member (baby Jack), who was born in October. Annika was enthralled by Jack and wanted to hold him whenever possible. It was fun to give her a little baby practice and to see how gentle she was with Jack.

Not to be outdone by my doughnut experiment the day before, I made some cookie as a post-dinner treat for everyone. The little girls had an especially good time licking the icing from the cookies and walking around with red/pink smears on their faces!


Eric with Annika and Jack

I made doughnuts

Just because I have gestational diabetes, that doesn't mean I've lost my desire to bake. Yesterday, I saw the Pioneer Woman had a blog post about her glazed doughnut recipe and I KNEW that it would need to become one of my weekend projects. We adore the Pioneer Woman's pork tenderloin recipe and I was quite sure the doughnuts wouldn't disappoint. I was right. Not only did I make doughnuts, I made doughnut holes!! The only change I'd made to her recipe is doubling the glaze recipe to accommodate that I wanted to dip the doughnuts twice to get them really coated. Check 'em out!

Baby Update

Yesterday, I had another OB appt and ultrasound to check in on the well being of our baby boy. According to the ultrasound, his estimated weight is 4 pounds, 2 ounces. He's measuring just about on track for his gestation age and appears to be doing very well. Thanks to the ultrasound, I was able to confirm that his feet are definitely what keep jabbing my right lung/ribs, his knee is what jabs me in the diaphragm, and his rump is what I feel under my left lung. It was really fun to feel him move while watching him on the ultrasound system's monitor. Pretty amazing! My doctor was happy with what she saw and thinks that everything is moving along swimmingly. Hurray! Below is our most recent profile picture of our little guy.

Tinkerbell ... my new work buddy

This morning, Annika had some Tinkerbell stickers on her arm. No biggie. Apparently, she put on in my hair without me noticing ... unfortunately, I made it out of the house without noticing. I also made it to work and was completely unaware of the fact I had a shiny fairy sticker in my hair until my manager giggled and said "did you know there's a fairy in your hair?" Oh goodie. Fortunately, my manager is a great guy and helped me laugh off the whole thing. Note to self - check in the mirror after departing child's company, before departing the house!

What the heck do I know??

Yesterday, Annika and I bundled up and went for a walk around the neighborhood. OK, I walked, she sat in her stroller and pointed out the scenery as I forced my round body up the hill next to our house. Annika loves to point out everything she can see - "car", "biiiig truck!", "bird", "tree". Yesterday, there were about 20-30 pigeons on a power line and I pointed them out to Annika. I said, "Annika, do you see the birds waaaaay up there?" She did. I said, "Look at all of those birdies. They're called pigeons." "No, chickens." "No, Sweetie, those are pigeons. Pigeons and chickens are both types of birdies, but those are pigeons." "No, Mama, chickens." Why do I bother debating things with a 2-year-old, when I know I won't win??

On a cute side note, Annika wanted my attention yesterday morning when I was doing something in the kitchen. Mind you, I was holding her, so it wasn't like I could exactly ignore her at the time. She decided I needed direction and proceeded to position my face directly in front of hers and said, "Look at my nose, Mama." I could feel my shoulders begin to shake with laughter. Hearing the words we say to her when we want her attention used on me tickled me to the bone. I guess she does hear a few things we say... at least some of the time!