36 Weeks Update

I actually can't believe I'm under the one month left mark.  Here's a little update and I tried to jazz up the bathroom photos by using Instagram :)

• Baby is the size of a:  35 weeks: honeydew melon; 36 weeks: crenshaw melon (?)
• Total weight gain/loss: This number took a very drastic and scary jump over the last two weeks.  I actually think a lot of it is swelling and water weight since I don't recognize my ankles anymore, and no matter how many times I lay with my feet up, they don't go back to normal size anymore.  I'll be very glad to be back to my semi-normal body after the baby comes. 
• The bump: Still growing at a steady rate.  Amazingly, my belly button still seems to be just about level/even, unless I eat a lot then it half pops out. 
• Symptoms:  Swelling, swelling and more swelling.  Very different from Kayla.  Can't sleep which is why I'm normally napping while Kayla is (although she's been a very bad napper due to teething) and this is why I hardly ever blog anymore.
• Food cravings: Diet Pepsi...a TON more than normal. 
• Anything making me queasy/nauseous:  Nope.
• Sleep:  Yeah If I get 3-4 bouts of 1-1.5 hours I'm happy.  I base my nights on how many times I get up to pee...once or twice is a success. 
• What I miss:  Beer and wine.
• Wedding rings:  Not only are my ankles swelling but my hands/fingers are too.  I'm getting more of that pregnancy carpal tunnel syndrome and my fingers feel like I jammed them all if I tried to make a fist.  I miss wearing my wedding and engagement rings a lot.
• Maternity clothes:  Pretty much only.
• Labor signs: Apparently I'm already dilating.  But I was dilating with Kayla for 4 weeks as well so don't take that into much consideration when entering the baby pool.  And don't forget to enter the baby pool!!! :)
• Best Moments: Getting some family/maternity professional photos taken yesterday.  I can't wait to see them.  Also, the cooler weather is like heaven. :)
• What I am looking forward to:  Another family baby shower in Ohio this weekend. Hopefully Kayla is tolerable on our trip. 
• Worries?:  Same old same old.  Back to "how is it even possible to love another human being as much as I love Kayla?"

36 Weeks with the Big Sister:

Baby Pool #2

So I decided it was about time to start a baby pool again.  You have a very short time to fill this one out, but please join in on the fun.  I loved seeing everyone's guesses with Kayla.

Good luck to everyone!  Especially good luck beating my grandma who got almost everything right on for Kayla. :)  So maybe you want to wait until she guesses and go with whatever she says.

Here is the link.

I'll be trying to get some posts done today, but honestly, I've been spending most of my free time with Kayla, sleeping, or watching the Olympics.  I'll see if I can get some photo editing done this afternoon/evening.

And just because no post is really good without a photo...look at how cute my little girl is. :) (and look at how tired I look...yikes.)

Mostly Wordless Wednesdays: Generations

Kayla is one lucky little girl to grow up knowing so many of her great grandparents.

Just walking with my Gigi and my Great Nanny.

35 Weeks and NOT counting the days..

I was planning on writing this post this whole weekend and into this morning, then we (Kayla and I) went to my chiropractic appointment this am and then to Gigi's house to meet up with some family and twice I was asked, "So how ready are you to have this baby and be done with pregnancy?"  (Or something along those lines.)  So now I'm even more motivated to write this post!

I think I may be the only 35+ week pregnant lady who isn't going to be saying, "Please get this baby out of me" anytime soon.  I'm not counting down the weeks and I won't be counting down the days.  And I actually think I will be perfectly ok if this baby comes a little late like Kayla did (and I was very much NOT ok with Kayla being late.)  My reasoning is this...it's not that I'm not excited to meet this baby.  I am.  It's just that I'm truly enjoying my one-on-one time with Kayla.

It's not that I don't think Kayla will love the new baby.  I'm actually pretty sure she is naturally going to be an amazing big sister, as she is already such a "mommy's little helper."  It's for selfish reasons I'm ok with the baby not coming early.   And I'm not afraid to admit it.  I'm loving my time with my little girl and my current only child.  She lights up my world.  On Saturday, when I got up to get in the shower and get ready to go to work (which I dread every day, but Saturday's especially), I was just really crabby in the shower the whole time.  Then when I shut the shower off and turned towards the door to get my towel, I hear my little peanut's voice, "Mama, all done."  And I can't help but smile and think how she just makes everything better.

So it's not that I don't want to have this baby soon.  And it's not that I am not sick of being pregnant and stinkin' hot and uncomfortable, because I am.  It's just that I'm choosing NOT to focus on the new baby right now, but instead to focus on my alone time with Kayla and Justin, because I know things are going to be really hard for me at first.  I just want to overwhelm her with feelings of how special she is to me right now and enjoy every second before we get to meet Baby Hales #2.

P.S. Can someone relay this message to the patients at work?  I'm really tired of hearing, "You STILL have over a month to go???"  Like I'm freaking giant or something.

Updates later this week and next on (hopefully) the 4th of July (over a month late), Lauren's baby shower, the Wisconsin State Fair, a 36 week update and maybe a quick post about the importance of family (no matter how long it's been since you've seen them, or even if you've never met them.) :)

Enjoy a preview picture I stole from Megan.  Kayla and Megan at the WI state fair eating cream puffs, Kayla was helping wipe the cream from Megan's face.

34 Week Update

These are apparently the only posts I can manage to make now-a-days.  Honestly, I'm not THAT busy but I'm spending a lot of time Kayla on my days off and with Justin and Kayla on the weekends.  Normally I would write blog posts while Kayla takes her nap, but honestly, I'd rather take a nap at that time as well.  So my blog has taken a bit of a backseat.  Hopefully I can be better later.

• Baby is the size of a:  33 weeks: pineapple; 34 weeks: average cantaloupe
• Total weight gain/loss: Still trying not to pay too much attention to this until Linda (midwife) tells me that I should be worried.  And honestly, I think some of it is pure water/swelling weight most days.  Looking forward to working hard to get my old body back after baby. :)
• The bump: Growing and lowering I think.  The belly button still isn't quite popped yet, but it's getting there.  Oh, and I'm a little pissed I wasn't using some sort of stretch mark cream this whole time like I did with Kayla because where the hell did all of these come from??? 
• Symptoms:  I'm a little bit over the heartburn.  TUMS seem to help for the most part.  I have been having a lot of sharp cramping pains over the past week and a lot of Braxton-Hicks.  Just generally not feeling great.  Took a day off of work which was very nice, but I'm not going to be able to do that too much since we are trying desperately to save money.
• Food cravings: Nothing particular. 
• Anything making me queasy/nauseous:  Nope.
• Sleep:  Still not going all that great.  Can't get comfortable.  Pee at least 2-3 times every night.  
• What I miss:  Not having heartburn.
• Wedding rings:  Wedding band is still fine, but I tend to not put it on so I don't have to worry about it.  Honestly, I hate not wearing my rings though.  Thinking about putting them on a necklace.
• Maternity clothes:  Yes.
• Labor signs: Nope.
• Best Moments: My little sister's baby shower.  It was nice to see my family.
• What I am looking forward to:  Going to the Milwaukee State Fair this weekend.  Here's to hoping the weather stays bearable this week.
• Worries?:  Money.  How are we ever going to afford this?

34 Weeks:

18 Month Check Up/Update

Kayla turned 18 months old on Sunday.  I actually can't believe how much she has grown in the past 3 months even!  She is such a little lady now and really no longer a baby.  Here are some stats and info from her doctor's check up today and some other general info since I've been very bad about monthly updates regarding her.  (I'm a little sad about this since my blog is sort of my "memory book" of sorts right now so I hope I don't forget things!)

Weight:  22 lb 12 oz (25th percentile)

Height: 2 ft 10.5 inches (99th percentile)

Head Circumference:  48 cm (87th percentile)

I don't know if I remember doing a 15 month MD check up/update but these doctor's visits were seriously getting less and less exciting for me as she literally hated every single minute of it.  Cried the entire time and that is totally not like her.  Well, today she was a total angel for the nurse.  She laid right down and stuck her leg straight so she could measure her length.  She sat like a good girl on the scale and waited patiently.  She didn't even cry when she measured her head!


Speaking of which, apparently her head growth is slowing down.  The percentile is down and her head has only grown 1/2 a cm since her 1 year check up!  When the doctor came in, she was still very good until the end of the appointment when Dr. H laid her down to check her tummy and diaper areas.  She had a rash today so I think I'm going to try to bleach my cloth diapers.  We'll see how it goes.  I should probably do a cloth diapering update soon too! 



Dr. H and I talked about her milestones and her speech.  I told her Kayla isn't a big meat and veggie eater and that she loves orange juice.  Apparently we are doing everything right by pure luck.  I asked her about her opinion on vaccinations since it's sort of a hot topic in parenting right now.  She officially convinced me we are doing the right thing by vaccinating on schedule.  I told her this is the one parenting choice where I have a very strong opinion in one direction and my temperature rises a little bit when even thinking people partially vaccinate/don't vaccinate/vaccinate on different schedules.  I'm not sure I want to get into this debate on my blog but anyways...we are vaccinating fully and on schedule.

Some more milestone information:

Physical milestones:  Running, climbing, going up stairs wherever we can find them, throwing balls, you name it she tries it. :) 

Motor milestones:  Kayla can use a spoon and fork pretty well now and is actually quite good at drinking out of a normal cup without spilling everything.  She is quite the little mimic and it's amazing how much she picks up.  She is very helpful as well: putting laundry in the hamper, helping mommy get ready in the morning with her face lotion, hair brush and make up, putting trash in the trash can.  I hope she keeps being so helpful!

Eating:  I told the doctor the main thing Kayla won't really eat is veggies.  She will eat some corn, peas and soybeans randomly, and occasionally potatoes.  For the most part, she loves fruit, dairy and pasta.  She really loves fruit..any fruit.  And orange juice.  She has to have a cup of "joose" in the morning (the "J" kinda sounds like a "sh" sound.)  Dr. H said this was fine as long as she has yogurt like she normally does and maybe one other serving of dairy every day.

Sleeping/Napping:  She is still working on her 1 year molars and her I teeth :) so the sleeping right now is a little bit up and down.  She doesn't really wake up much, but she is getting up a little earlier in the day and her one nap (which we are down to) has been a little shorter the past week.  I was pretty hesitant to go down to one nap but the transition was SO much easier than from 3 to 2 naps.  And we get to go to appointments, run errands and have more fun in the mornings not worrying about naps.  And her one nap in the afternoon is considerably longer (well it was before this week), usually she is in her room for 2.5 to 3 hours for me.  She sometimes wakes up and plays but I get those couple hours of alone time.  (At this point, most of the time I nap during that time as well.)


She has also started to sing "Twinkle, twinkle" to her baby dolls at bed and nap time.  It's funny because when she "says" twinkle, it's more like this throaty guttural sound that kinda sounds like "twinkle."  She's been awesome with her baby dolls putting them down for "baps" (naps) and washing one in the bath tub every night.  I hope she is as helpful and accepting of the new baby!
Speech:  Kayla has a lot of words now.  A lot of them sound very similar and sometimes it's hard for even Justin and I to understand, but for the most part we know what she is asking for almost all the time.  Some of her favorites right now are: juice, more (mo-mo), apple (still), yeah (da, we are working on "yes"), please, thank you (achoo), babies, cups, nap, Hi, Bye (or bye bye but we are down to one bye usually now), mama, dada, hat, hot, ice, and many more.  She understands SO much, but she is still doing a lot of pointing and grunting.  It's getting better though.


Potty Training:  Wow I can't believe I'm even adding this category.  Around when Kayla was 13-14 months old, Justin and I decided to buy a potty.  Not because we were going to potty train her per se, but more so that we could introduce her to the ideas since she understands so much.  Sort of like really slow prolonged potty training.  She has pooped on the potty once (little seat on big person potty because she is not a fan of the toddler potty.)  I think she understands poop goes in the potty, but she isn't quick enough to tell us BEFORE she poops yet.  She usually will tell us right after she poops.  And she doesn't get the "pee pee" or "tinkle" in the potty yet.  We give her naked time for about 30 minutes every night before her bath and we haven't had many accidents during that time at all.  Still a huge work in progress.  Any advice on potty learning?


I'm constantly amazing at how smart she is.  Everyone says they aren't surprised because she is my child, but I honestly never thought I was that smart.  I got good grades in school because I have a great memory and I'm an awesome test taker, not necessarily because I'm smart.  Kayla is SMART!  She picks up on everything and uses it almost immediately.  She is such a happy social baby too.  She loves to be the center of attention and laugh when everyone else is laughing.  I'm so curious to see what she grows up to do!!


I love my little peanut so much and I'm enjoying every last second I get to spend with her before Baby Hales #2 arrives.

My skinny, TALL peanut at her appointment today.  She was so good!

I told you, the kid loves fruit.  Look at that giant container of berries!

Mommy and me date at the mall.  Red Mango vanilla frozen yogurt with strawberries and kiwi.  This might be a regular occurrence for the rest of the summer for us!

Kayla's naked time...she's playing on the iPhone. :)  (Not sure why she has the paci in her mouth...she doesn't use one except for naps and night time.)

This kid is definitely a fish.  She loves swim lessons with Dada, she loves the pool, she loves the splash pads.  I've never seen a kid happier to be in water.

And she still loves the laundry basket...18 months ago and a couple weeks ago. :)

32 Week Update

I'm getting much better at doing these on time. :)

• Baby is the size of a:  31 weeks: four navel oranges; 32 weeks: large jicama
• Total weight gain/loss: I'm heavier. :)  I'm still watching at my appointments though because after this baby comes, I actually can't wait to start getting back into shape.  I'm already forming goals in my mind which I'll post about after baby.  (Obviously not jeopardizing breastfeeding or the baby.)
• The bump: Belly button is slowly but surely creeping out further and further.  I think at this point I feel the baby is growing less outward and more upward and therefore my bump growth is slowing.
• Symptoms:  Congestion which isn't a surprise as I had it (and complained about it) with Kayla.  My hips are killing me, and my back is starting to hurt more and more.  Dr. Katie (my chiropractor) stretch me out a bit today and it feels so much better now.  Both Katie and Linda (my midwife) aren't thrilled I work 2 10 hour days but unfortunately that's what we need to do right now.
• Food cravings: Sweets, sweets and more sweets.  
• Anything making me queasy/nauseous:  Nothing, which is very nice!
• Sleep:  I've once again given up on getting any sort of good sleep.  I'm trying to keep a to do list and at least make my brain work a little less hard while I'm trying to sleep at night.
• What I miss:  Being able to squeeze through small spaces without bumping something.
• Wedding rings:  It's pretty hot here this summer so still mostly sticking with just my wedding band which is fine.  I tried to wear my engagement ring as well to dinner this weekend, we sat outside and I was a little afraid it would get stuck on my sausage fingers, so I took it off. :)
• Maternity clothes:  Almost entirely. (exception: see photo below)
• Labor signs: Nope, I still joke about having the baby early but honestly, it's really likely that's not happening.  I'm planning for late again just so I'm not disappointed.
• Best Moments: Spending weekends with Justin and Kayla doing things outside/at pools.  Loving our last weeks as a family of three.
• What I am looking forward to:  Aunt Lauren's baby shower in a couple weeks. :)
• Worries?:  Picking names...why is this SO hard!?

32 Weeks:

31 weeks 5 days:  out to dinner for Aunt Megan's birthday.  These pants are NOT maternity...just low cut with a bella band. :)

Someone wanted to be in my weekly picture this week....and how can you say "No" to that face? :)