Day 2 baby led weaning - avocado

Just pictures tonight.
This is an after shot. She was pretty tired tonight. But she actually got some big chunks off her fingers and into her mouth.

Tomorrow night I may try a banana. But on the FB page, they recommend carrots or broccoli because fruits can be slippery and therefore frustrating.

We shall see....

Okay, as I type this, I am 37 weeks pregnant with baby #4...I am so over this pregnancy.  I go to the doctor once a week now and I was already measuring 1cm dilated last week.  I hope there is some progress this week when I go.  I need to start getting out and walking...

Here are my stats from last week - 36 weeks:

Weight: +22 lbs

BP: 101/72 (which is a little high for me)

Baby's HR: 138

Everything is on track for me to have another induction the week of January 17th...at least that is what I am planning.

The holidays were CRAZY!!! We didn't leave the state of Maryland, but managed to travel all over or so it felt.  I felt terrible the whole time and eventually went to the doctor on Monday, the 26th.  Upper respiratory infection - awesome!  Elli then came down with something the week after Christmas - just a virus...

I am now in organizing and simplifying mode - getting rid of all my tupperware (especially the ones with mismatched lids - there is nothing more annoying to me).  I got new pots and pans for Christmas so I am recycling my old ones...I hope you can recycle them - they are in the yellow bins...we'll see if they take it later this week...

Christmas decorations, tree, etc came down after our last Christmas celebration on the 27th, then I got a bug up my butt to sort and organize the kids toys.  We have too much crap.  I need to donate 50% of what we have...it is so hard though...maybe this will be a spring cleaning effort.  

My goals for this new year start with financial stuff - get my financial house in order and get rid of my one credit card...it is annoying that I carry a balance and I really need to get serious about getting rid of it.  I have been following a lot of money saving mom blogs, and hopefully they will give me a jump start and motivation to follow through.  It will be tough for the 6 weeks where I am not working...and our maternity leave plan SUCKS...it isn't a maternity leave plan, it is short term disability and it is just crap.  I love my company (well, I love the people that I work with) but the benefits are not that awesome when it comes to maternity leave...I will keep harping on the President until he fires me or until he retires...

Packing my bag for the hospital - this has been quite a challenge for me.  I think because I am just lazy right now and I keep putting it off because I know that I will probably have to be induced and it will be a night before I am scheduled to have the baby.  The problem is that with my last pregnancies it was always hot out, so I didn't need to really bring anything EXTRA.  This time it will be freezing out and I just feel a little unprepared.  Oh well, my strategy is LESS is MORE.  As long as I can take the laptop and get a connection at the hospital, all will be fine.  I will only be there for a day or two...

I installed the car seat this morning, after washing everything so it smells wonderful!  It will be weird to have 4 car seats in our suburban.  We will no longer be able to take the camry anywhere - for emergency cases, we were able to fit 3 car seats in the camry by slamming the doors shut, but not anymore...no room for 4!

Jake started his new "structured" playgroup this morning.  It is a one-on-one intense learning environment.  He cried the almost the whole time he was there.  The poor guy, in the past month, he has been to a neurologist, he has seen a sensory specialist, Thursday he is having his hearing checked, and we are still waiting on confirmation back from Kennedy Krieger to see if they will schedule us an appointment at their Center for Autism Related Disorders.  The structured playgroup is a free program offered by our county infants and toddlers program.  I love the county program and have been very satisfied with them so far.  Jake is 27 months old and not talking.  He babbles, but he doesn't say "Mama" or "Dada" or "Baby" - none of the words he is "supposed" to be able to say around the 12-15 month range.  So, he will go 3 days a week for 90 minutes each day to be seen by an Occupational Therapist, a Speech Pathologist and a Sensory Specialist.  We have been doing a lot with the sensory "diet" and he seems to be comprehending things more now, but not vocalizing anything...so, I hope this playgroup helps him.  They thought he might be on the Autism Spectrum, and they might still think this.  But, I had him evaluated by Dr. Marc Disabella from Children's Hospital and he said he thinks he just has a developmental speech delay.  More to follow on his progress later.  He is such a sweet boy.

Hank is just as lovey as ever.  He does this "thing" where he kisses my whole face.  He kisses my eyes, both of my cheeks, my chin, my forehead, my nose, and my lips and he is just so freaking adorable.  It just melts my heart.  I hope he always does this to me.  He also tells everyone all the time that he loves them...could there be anything more sweet???

Elli is also doing extremely well.  She was very interested in where Santa lives and why we celebrate Christmas and how old is Jesus?  She is so cute and in this questioning sort of phase right now.  She is also goofy as ever.  

Anyway, this is a long overdue update...

Did I say that I am DONE with this pregnancy???  Who knows maybe I will go into labor naturally???  Ha!!!

32 weeks

It has been a very busy December already!
I had my 32 week appointment last week, here are my stats!
+21 pounds
86/55
baby HR: 155 - she had the hiccups when the doctor did the heartbeat.

We had our first annual Gillespie Girls cookie making party on Sunday.  It was such a great idea and so much fun to get together with the relatives before Christmas (even if it was only the girls). 

Then my week got off to a pretty rough start.  Jake started throwing up everywhere Monday afternoon.  I was helping sort the Mickman's fundraiser products and as we were about to leave, he started throwing up all over himself.  Poor baby...
Well it is Wednesday and I still had to take him back to the doctor this morning.  Ugh, I guess it is that time of year.  Luckily, his fever finally went down today and he is acting a little more like himself and not just a walking zombie.  I was worried last night when he wouldn't do anything but lie on the floor with his eyes open - very scary.

Army-Navy is this weekend and I really don't know if I feel like going.  I have organized a limo bus and have a TON of food to prepare, but I might just send Daniel with the food...I don't know...

Anyway, that is it for right now...I know, short posts as of late.

I have a lot of stuff going on with Jake right now and the first is his neurologist appointment on Friday.  Luckily, someone canceled so we don't have to wait until February to see the doctor from Children's hospital.

I did it - I entered the Babycenter Baby Bump Blogger Contest

I am sure that I won't get picked because 1. I am a horrible writer (I was a math major for crying out loud) and I write exactly how I talk, which I am pretty sure you are NOT supposed to do... and 2. I never win anything.  Which I am fine with, it was just exciting to hit the SEND button and submit an entry.  I submitted the post about Jake and my mole - that one got a few responses from friends - even if no one comments on my blog!   I guess if I do win, everyone will have to start commenting, ha!  Just kidding...

The contest had limitations on the amount of words each entry could be...so, here is what I emailed to them...I wish I were funnier:)

1.  Hi!  My name is Kristen, I am 34 and this is my 4th pregnancy.  I am due to have another little girl on January 24, 2012.  I live in Edgewater, MD with my husband, Daniel, and 3 children – Elli (4), Hank (3) and Jake (2).  We are just about to celebrate 5 years of wedded bliss.  I had the first 3 kids in 27 months and that will be about the separation of Jake and Baby Emma.  I went to the Naval Academy and graduated with a BS in Math, but have never used my degree.  I was on 2 different ships and traveled the world.  I moved back to the East Coast, met my husband, left the Navy and am now a defense contractor (part-time).  I also do a little baking (via Etsy), blogging (although I don't think anyone reads my blog except my mother), and volunteer on my Community Association Board in my spare time.  One interesting thing about me was that I never lost the pregnancy weight in between my 3 pregnancies (which I wouldn't recommend), but last year I did Weight Watchers and lost 40 pounds to get back down to my wedding weight. 

2.  My list
I am trying to think of a list of things to do when baby Emma gets here…or better yet, a list of things not to do.  This idea came to me this morning as I was complaining to my husband that our almost 2-year-old (almost – October 4th he will be 2) needs to sleep in his own bed because he was waking me up in the middle of the night and climbing all over me trying to play with a mole I have on my arm that he is apparently obsessed with.  It used to be nipples – his, mine, Daniel's…thank goodness he stopped with the nipples, but clearly he likes bumps.   This leads me to rule #1 for Emma – NO sleeping in our bed – PERIOD!  As I said this, Daniel kind of laughed at me because he knows that I LOVE to breastfeed in bed.  I think there is no better way for the baby (and Mommy) to get much needed rest.  So, this is going to be a tough one for me.  So far I just have one thing on "My List," but I feel so much better writing it down or in this case, blogging it down because then I can compile my list at the end, print it out and remember it.  I did this when I was losing weight.  I wrote down my goal weight and it helped me achieve it.  I need all the help I can get these days.  I think this list is going to be more of a challenge than anything else, but for the sake of my sanity, it needs to be done!
Are there things that you would want to re-do or do over with your babies?    

3.  Picture #1.  This was taken at 20 weeks pregnant and I was still in my regular clothes - pretty impressive (IMO) for a 4th pregnancy!  Picture #2 - our last family photo shoot...this was one of the better photos...our life is crazy, but it's so fun! 

4.  I have a personal blog:  www.theoxendinefamily.blogspot.com  I try and write in it every week...I took my first trimester off because I could barely fix a meal for my 3 kids let alone get up long enough to think of something to write that didn't include Zofran or morning sickness...

What do you think???  I am not going to get my hopes up...but hopefully they will consider choosing me because my life is the craziest???  Ha!  I'm just laughing at the thought of winning.  I might get disqualified since I attached two pictures...we shall see.  Here is the timeline for entries...just in case:

TIMELINE:

Submit your bio, blog post and photo: September 7-14
• BabyCenter editors will announce the top 5 finalists: September 19
• Momformation.com will run sample posts from the top 5 finalists: September 19-23
• BabyCenter editors will invite the top 5 finalists to create videos: Due September 26
• Momformation.com will feature the five videos and readers will vote on their favorites: September 26-30

• BabyCenter editors notify the two winners via email and will make an announcement on Momformation.com: October 3-7

Videos???  I have the WORST voice on video, answering machine, etc...oh well, it won't come down to that.

Alright, back to work...TTFN!

I'm on a roll...

I am trying to think of a list of things to do once this baby gets here...or better yet, a list of things not to do.  This idea for the list came to me this morning as I was complaining to my husband that our 2-year-old (almost - October 4th he will be 2) needs to sleep in his own bed because he was waking me up in the middle of the night and climbing all over me trying to get to a mole on my arm that he is obsessed with.  It used to be nipples - his, mine, Daniel's...thank goodness he stopped with the nipples, but clearly he likes bumps...

So, rule #1 for Emma - no sleeping in our bed - PERIOD!  As I said this, Daniel kind of chuckled and laughed because he knows that I love LOVE love breastfeeding in bed.  I think there is no better way for the baby (and Mommy) to get much needed rest.  So, this is going to be a tough one for me.  Are there things that you would want to re-do or do over with your kids?  One part of me says that they won't be little forever, and I really do like to cuddle and snuggle with them.   I love it when Elli asks me for some snuggles.  There is nothing that warms my heart more and I am more than willing to give in.  Ugh, I think my list is going to be more of a challenge than anything else.

On another note...I finished the book, One Day.  Anne Hathaway is in the movie that is based on the book.  I started reading it when Hurricane Irene hit and I wasn't that into it.  I finished it and was so MAD.  It has the WORST ending EVER.  I thought I wanted to see the movie, but based on reading the book, I will NOT go see the movie.  My brother, Michael, and his wife saw it this weekend and Michael said it was so SAD!  Obviously someone dies...but it was a really terrible ending and I will NOT go see the movie.  The ONLY good thing about the book, is that I really liked the main character's name - Dexter Mayhew.  I love the nickname Dex!  But, that is IT!!! 

I LOVE LOVE LOVED the book, The Help!  I finished this book in a little bit over a day, I couldn't put it down.  I am dying to see the movie too!!!  Anyone want to go and drag me with you??? 

This weekend, I also rented, Something Borrowed...which incidentally, I also bought the book, but have yet to read it.  It was a cute movie and I love Ginnifer Goodwin and Kate Hudson...not to mention the hot guy who is caught in the middle!  So, I will be starting this book as soon as I can.  I also downloaded the Kindle App for our (Daniel's) iPad, and bought Water for Elephants...anyone read the book??? 

Anyway, we had a fabulous weekend and there will be another post on that later this week!!!

TTFN! 

Have a great week - stay dry - it is supposed to rain all weekend here!  But, it is cool...which is nice!!!  My jeans have been calling me, I can still fit into my 8s!!!

Jake

I feel bad sometimes that I don't talk more about Jake.  He is just such a great baby, I am so blessed.  He is always so happy, goes to bed and takes naps with no problems.  He is my least high maintenance child right now.  He is almost walking...he has been cruising the furniture a bit more, but still doesn't want to walk.  Elli and Hank love him...probably too much when they squeeze him for hugs!  He has a total of 3 teeth, but 2 more are coming in.

We turned his car seat around this past weekend and he LOVES looking forward and playing with Elli and Hank and watching the movies in the car.  It's amazing how one little thing can make a difference on a baby!

Anyway, I just wanted to give Jake a little shout out!  Thanks for being such a wonderful baby....he makes me want to have another one:)