Baby Sprinkle

I was lucky enough to have my friends and family gather over the weekend to celebrate Baby. We had a great time! Thanks to everyone who attended. Baby certainly is lucky to have such wonderful people to welcome him/her!

Bethy and Gail know how to have a good time. Aren't they the cutest? We didn't even have to spike the punch.Sydney shows off her missing front tooth.

A few of my coworkers after Susan decides she is no longer camera shy.

Allie and Shelby and their picture perfect smiles.

Mariko, who waited so patiently for her cake.

My favorite shot. All the girls in the fam. Will there be another to join us or will it be a boy to help balance all that estrogen out?
Max arrives and peeks in on the action.

The Unexpected

Alex and I have been looking forward to today all week. Dad volunteered to babysit for the afternoon so that we could get out and spend some alone time. We've been working on an errands list all week of the stuff we could get done. Yeah, we're an exciting couple these days.

Dad arrived and was followed shortly thereafter by Sue. Max was excited to see them and went over to Dad with ease. No guilt leaving him behind! As we excited the house with glee, Dad shared that they had a surprise for us. Hmmmmm. In the back of Dad's car sat a shiny new BOB Duallie stroller! Wow! If you read my post a month or so back you know that we bought the single and are loving it. We've been budgeting ahead for the duallie version as our ultimate splurge as a family of 4. I felt like a kid on Christmas day! That may be a nerdy statement but it's true. We're thrilled with their extreme generosity and can't believe our good fortune.

Earlier this evening we took the Duallie on her maiden voyage. Max was strapped in with a seat to spare. Or, as Alex described it to Max, "Hey buddy you can pick up a chicky babe on our walk."

One block from home I was pushing the stroller and enjoying it's smooth glide (yes, we've covered that I'm a nerd). Suddenly clunk, clunk went the back wheel. A branch had become stuck in the tire. I pulled it out and, "Hisssssssss!" Whoa! Said branch had an extremely sharp piece of wood and had punctured the tube. Seriously?!

We hobbled back toward the house cursing and laughing at our misfortune. Fortunately we have a bike shop at the corner of our block and the guys, who were closing shop, were kind enough to fix us up in no time. Soon enough we were on our way and enjoyed a lovely evening walk. Long live the Duallie!

Was It Something I Ate?

In the past 2 weeks I've really started feeling this baby. Not fetal movements, those have been going on for a long time. I'm talking feeling this baby as in I'm moving around like an obese or elderly person. It's a near tragedy if I drop something since that means I have to bend over to get it. I plop down into my car and instead of pivoting to grab my seat belt, my torso is stationary and I let my arms do the work. Don't even go there about picking up Max. I hold him against me nearly vertically since he can't wrap around me comfortably.

Point being I'm getting to the stage of being a whiny, uncomfortable pregnant lady. I try to suck it up since really it's no different from any other pregnant person. Hey, I carried a 9 lb. baby last time so it can't be any worse than that, right? Yeah, about that....

The scene: My 32 week OB appointment. Doc measures my belly.
Doc: "Well, it's normal to stick out more the 2nd time around."
Me: "Oh really? I didn't notice."
Doc (shuffles through my chart): "Oh. Yeah, you're measuring today where you did when you were 37 weeks with your first."
Me: "Holy cr**. Are you kidding me? I had a 9 lb. baby at 39 weeks and you're telling me that I'm measuring more than 4 weeks ahead of that pregnancy? Is this kid going to come out in a sumo diaper?"
Okay, I didn't really say that but it was my internal dialogue. I can't recall what I actually said but it was something along the lines of, "Oh.......my."

From there we went over to Doc's office and officially scheduled my c-section. Baby Sumo is on the schedule for April 30th!

Sleepy Boy

Max falls asleep in the car so rarely that I just had to capture the moment. He was pooped after the baby shower at Daddy's work.

Black Butte Trip

A few pictures from our weekend trip to Black Butte.

Vocab Delight

Max is quickly picking up new vocabulary. We ooh and ahh as he utters new words and makes new associations. He knows his macaroni is "hot" and that his mandarin orange is "cold".

Daddy (another favorite word) has been helping out with Max's blossoming vocabulary. They spend lots of time playing together in the family room coloring, sending cars down ramps, building trains, you name it. Max recently unearthed a PlayDoh press which he immediately brought to Alex for assistance. Sadly, we didn't have any PlayDoh in the house but Daddy came through a few days later at Toys R Us.

That evening they hunkered down on the floor and Alex patiently showed Max how to insert balls of the dough into the press, compress the handle and out squirts the PlayDoh. Alex, explaining the process is simple terms, shared how this was like poop. "Poop" is a Max favorite and one we've been pushing (no pun intended) in preparation for eventual potty training. A light went on with this new description and Max now refers to PlayDoh as poop. When he spies the PlayDoh on a shelf my sweet son squeals, "Poop, poop!"

30 Weeks!

Max hitches a ride on the Baby Bump Express. Although I guess I'm beyond bump, aren't I?