3D Ultrasound

Today we had a 3D ultrasound of our second little baby boy! I had one done when I was pregnant with T, and at the urging of my sister, who felt it only fair that I treat this pregnancy just as special as I did my first, we scheduled another one and it was just as amazing and exciting as the first time! Baby's head was pushed up against my belly and he had his hands AND feet in front of his face a lot of the time, just like T had been! It still is unbelievable to me how baby's can be so squished up and yet comfortable all the while folded up in such awkward positions.

Snow Trip 2010

Over the MLK holiday weekend, we stayed at a house in Incline Village, NV with family and friends. After our first trip together last year was such a success, we decided to establish this weekend as a yearly excursion. And with each year, there are more little boys under 6 years to add to the grand total...last year there were 4, this year 6, and next year our new little guy will make it 7!
It was a full house, with 19 people total including all of the babies, which made for not a dull moment in the house. Fun was had by all, especially the grown-ups when, after the kids were finally off to bed, we played Taboo, Scattergories, and poker. We spent our days sledding on the home-made sled run the guys built on the side of our the house, and took a short trip over to Tahoe City to Granlibakken where they have a huge hill for families to sled down.
T was so excited to spend 4 days with his cousins, especially Mitch, who if he could, he would be attached to at the hip! Of course the boys had the greatest fun sledding..they each found their perfect board or disk that made them go the fastest down the hill! It was awesome to see their confidence build with each run, and soon even the occasional crash or flip was met with a giggle and a smile! By the last day, T was my little fearless kamikaze boarder, wanting to go higher and higher up the hill to dive himself onto his board and shoot down the hill and repeat over and over again.
Sunday the kids were able to experience the first snow fall, and we rushed outside to make snowballs, build a snowman, catch snowflakes on our tongue, and of course more sledding!
Monday morning a big storm was blowing in so we headed home and I was back to work in the afternoon. We can't wait for next year already!

Hooray, we finally made it to the snow..he's so happy to be out of the car

And immediately wants to makes snowballs

Pajama time...of course my son is the only one who feels hot and sweaty when it's 30 degrees outside

One of probably 100 hikes up the hill to race down the track again!

Going on his first trip down our home-made sledding track at the house

His Boarder Pose

Cousins making snowballs

Sledding at Granlibakken in Tahoe City

I'm so happy that it's snowing!
Our beautiful backyard

Jason sledding, bodyboarder style

Catching snowflakes

He's getting braver with each run

The storm is coming so it's time to head home

For T's Great Grandma Hopwood

Thank you Great Grandma, we love you!!!

Talan Sledding

He does not get his fearlessness from me, that's for sure!

The reason I hate asking strangers to take my picture...

One of the gifts from my sister for Chistmas was for the two of us to see Wicked at the Orpheum Theatre in SF. We wanted the token shot of the two of us in front of the marquee, so we asked a nice couple nearby to take our picture...this is the best one? Proof that I finally saw Wicked!

30 + Weeks and counting!

T took this one!

And here's the belly...the first and last time I'll probably show you "au natural!"

Hard to imagine I have about 10 weeks left...doesn't that mean 10 more pounds! I already feel like my body is stretched beyond its limit, but I'm sure this little man will find a way to make room!

Getting to 30 weeks has been relatively uneventful. I am very thankful for having a generally easy pregnancy, with fatigue in the beginning being the only major symptom the first 3 months. This pregnancy has been different in that this baby is in a completely different position than T had been. T was stretched out from side to side. This baby is low and pushing out in front. Up until about 22 weeks, he was positioned very low in my pelvis, causing me to feel like I had to pee constantly anytime I was standing, which is not entirely comfortable, but could be worse right!?

Since Halloween, my belly has definitely made its presence known and I blame it entirely on the holidays and all of the wonderful comfort food that goes with it. Last week my OB told me he would like it if I only gained another 5 lbs. by term, and I laughed at him and said that would be impossible since the baby himself will gain 1/2 lb. a week for the next 10 weeks, not including the fluid retention I'm sure I will develop towards the end. I am on track to gaining 10 pounds less than I did with T, which I am comfortable with. It's always nice when your own physician perpetuates such unrealistic standards.

I did have a little snafu if you will, when I accidentally fell off of a small chair the day before Christmas Eve. I fell on to my tailbone, not my abdomen thankfully, but within minutes I began experiencing contractions that became consistant every 5-10min over the next few hours. Jason was fast asleep when this all happened, even after the loud crash I'm sure my body made as it thudded against the floor, and T and myself yelling for him, his hibernation apparently couldn't be disrupted. I am thankful I wasn't seriously hurt otherwise who knows how long I would have been on my own. It was my dad's birthday lunch which I did not intend on missing so I put off calling L&D, hoping that after eating and walking around a bit, the contractions would subside. They didn't slow down, so my family, who were not very pleased with my putting it off, had me call L&D who asked me to come in for observation. I was admitted for the evening, and my contractions and the baby were monitored closely. Thankfully after about 6 hours the contractions went from about 8-10 and hour, to 4 or less which meant I was stable enough to go home. There was no sign of cervical dilation so the contractions weren't actually stimulating labor. Leave it to me to be clumsy enough to begin all of this drama!

Christmas Day

Christmas and New Years have come and gone in one swift fleeting moment it seems, so I am only now downloading the pictures!

Christmas morning, T woke up to find a huge red bag left for him by Santa himself! And a letter from the big man too!
T waiting patiently for Daddy to get himself out of bed so we could all go downstairs together!

He climbed inside the bag to find his gifts!

A new racetrack

Big boxes from Uncle Matt

Christmas Day in Tracy with his cousins