Wordless Wednesday {Big Baby}

My New Yard Men

Sunday, Micah and I napped, while Mikey worked in the yard.  I was quite surprised, because I had no idea that was in his plans.  He made a lot of progress with the flower beds.  Before they were a hot mess.  Grass had grown up.  The bushes looked like trees.  Just a hot mess.  Here are the in progress photos.   

Adorable Yardman

The flower beds still are nowhere near completed, but we've made progress.  The right side is ready for the weed blocker and mulch.  The left side still needs work.  We {read Mikey} still need to finish clearing it out, and level it before the weed blocker and mulch is placed. Thanks to rain forecasted for the rest of the week from Hurricane Isaac, however, we're on hold for a while.

Right side.

Left side.

Hardworking Yardman

And here are what the shutters look like on Micah's windows.  Luckily, the neighbor said he would come over and help Mikey put them back up later this week.  We also need to paint them.  It seems like the To Do List keeps growing.

Pointing out the sad state of the shutters.

Falling shutters.

On another note...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIMI!!!!!

36 Weeks Update

At 36 weeks gestation...

... I fell this week.  Read all about it here.

...  Corrin passed her biophysical profile with a score of 8 out of 8.

... I am getting braxton-hicks contractions much more frequently than I was before.  Some times they take my breath away.  Some times I have to stop whatever I'm doing to breath through them.  Most times I don't even realize they are happening until they're nearly gone.

... Corrin is a little acrobat.  She's always in there flipping, rolling, and moving.  My coworkers get a kick out of seeing her rolling around in there.  It's not always the most comfortable thing for me, especially when her movements cause the muscles in my legs to pull and throw me off balance.

... most of my shirts are too small.  Even the maternity shirts are mostly too short.  I have a handful of shirts that I can still wear without having to tug on them all day to keep my belly covered.  This didn't happen with Micah.  I hope I'm not growing a sumo wrestler.

35 weeks, 6 days

And for comparison, my belly with Micah. Excuse the horrible picture.

35 weeks, 6 days

My current view @ 36 weeks

Giles Family Photos

We took family and maternity pictures today.  It was an eventful outing.  First, Micah refused to cooperate at all.  Then, he refused to smile.  Then he refused to take any pictures with me.  Then he started crying about everything.  We only ended up with one picture of Micah by himself, and one picture of Mikey by himself.  In both cases because the Mike in question didn't really want to take pictures.  I left the picture taking session so frustrated that I wanted to cry.  We did get way more smiles than I anticipated from Micah.  I was actually surprised with the pictures. Prepare for picture overload.

I'm happy with the final results for the most part.  There were a few other shots that I wanted, but you win some and you lose some.

Look out for changes to the blog.  At least the header.

Pottying and Painting

Today was a day of firsts for the Giles family.  First, Micah went potty in the potty for the first time.  I'm so proud of my big boy.  I'm not sure he entirely understands exactly that we want him to go in the potty all the time, but he is getting it.  Mikey is really the one who is potty training him, because I am at work during the day.  He's doing an awesome job.  I just provide a little advice, and lots of praises, for both of my boys.

Then later, Micah painted for the first time.  He's a regular Picasso.  I had planned for this to be our activity last weekend, but was too lazy to actually do it.  I also wanted to make sure that we had appropriate materials, because I was worried about Micah maybe trying to eat the paint.

He started slowly.

Then he started getting in his groove.

Look at the concentration.

He did very well though.  There was no eating of the paint.  Micah was actually very tidy about his painting.  He got paint on his fingers at one point, and I had to clean his hands before he would continue painting.  Of course, some paint found it's way onto the floor, but I was pleasantly surprised with how neat he was.

Cheese!

Masterpiece!

He was actually drumming on the floor, though it looks like he was painting.

Micah and his masterpiece.

And here's video of the painting.

Down Goes Pregzilla

I had a doctor's appointment today.  The appointment was set for 10:15 this morning.  I woke up with plenty of time to spare.  Actually, Mikey forgot that I had a doctor's appointment.  He woke me to go to work.  He thought I had overslept.  Anyway, I got dressed, and headed for my appointment.  I made it there with plenty of time to spare.  I got out of my truck, and headed into the building for my appointment.  I stepped up onto the curb, and then I fell.  That's right!  I fell.  I fell right onto my belly.  And suddenly there were fifty-eleven people there.  I didn't know what to think.  I still am not 100% sure what happened. 

The crowd helped me up into a sitting position.  Then one lady went to get a wheelchair, because I could tell that I had hurt my knee.  She took me up to my doctor's office, and notified the desk that I had fallen coming in for my appointment.  There was no wait this week.  I was immediately taken for the biophysical profile.  Corrin wasn't very cooperative.  As a matter of fact, she was down right obstinate.  I felt myself starting to panic.  Finally, however, she decided that it wasn't worth the hassle, and did what she needed to do.  She passed with a score of 8 out of 8 again.  I was then immediately checked in for my appointment, and went almost directly into a room.  The doctor came in, and checked me over again.  I had bruised my knee and scraped my palms.  Other than that, all was well.  The doctor sent me home with instructions to take it easy and ice my knee.

I really don't know exactly how I fell.  I wasn't rushing.  I know I stepped up onto the curb.  The only thing I can figure is that I took the step, and then Corrin moved, causing the muscle in my leg to pull.  All I know is that I could not catch my balance after I started falling, and down went pregzilla!

Oddly enough, when I got home, and had rested up, Micah managed to push me down too.  I was walking toward the couch, and he decided that I needed some more excitement in my life.  He walked up behind me, and pushed me.  I was close enough to the couch to catch myself.  

Uncle Monkey says that my children have it out for me.  He may be onto something.

35 Weeks Update

At 35 weeks gestation...

... Corrin has passed another biophysical profile with a score of 8 out of 8.  I also just realized today, that we only have three more scheduled doctor's visits before Baby Girl is here.  I'm so excited to meet her.  At this appointment, we also had a growth scan.  According to the growth scan, Corrin weighs roughly five pounds, 2 ounces {give or take a half pound.}  Micah weighed 5 pounds, 14 ounces when he was born at 37 weeks gestation.  I think Corrin is going to be bigger than Micah when she's born.  The appointment took a turn for the worse after that.  I was directed to the wrong area for the remainder of my appointment.  Then I waited for way too long to be called back.  When I finally asked how long my wait would be, the staff realized that I shouldn't be there.  I was under the assumption that the doctor that I was supposed to see had been called away for a delivery and I was being fitted into someone else's schedule.  Instead, the doctor was waiting for me, and I was waiting in the wrong area.  It finally got figured out, and the next time, they had better be waiting on me.

... I also got a prescription for pain medicine for my back pain at my last appointment.  It works, probably too well.  The first time I took it, I slept for hours and didn't even realize I had fallen asleep.  Then it took me about an hour to wake up fully.

... when I left the appointment, of course my first stop was to pick up my prescription at the pharmacy.  There, I had to explain to the lady at the window, that I did indeed have prescription coverage.  Finally that was straightened out, and I was able to go home, eat, and get in the bed.

... I've had a cold since Monday {when I left work early}.  The doctor told me that I was more susceptible because my immune system is compromised by the pregnancy.  She also let me know that it will probably take me longer to get over the cold also, for the same reason.  I think she's right, because I'm still not 100%.

...  my Caesarean section is finally scheduled.  The doctors decided to have us wait until 38 weeks, but I'm okay with that. The reason is to be sure that her lungs have had as much time to develop as possible.  While I'm so very ready for the pain that has come with this pregnancy to end, I would prefer to be in physical pain than to have to deal with the emotional pain of visiting my Baby Girl in the NICU.

... Mikey laid his head on my belly, and he could hear Corrin's heartbeat.  He loved it.

... I still need to begin preparing for Corrin's arrival.  Remember my list here? Well only one of the nine items has been accomplished.  We're doing very badly.  I want to be done, but I can't find the energy.  I have such grand plans in my head though.  Maybe I'll get the energy to put together a mood board.  

... Round. Ligament. Pain.  Enough said.  I literally worry that I am going to fall at any given moment because it feels like the muscles in my legs are suddenly shortening.  Not fun.  It also tends to worry the people around me.  Something about the pregnant lady nearly falling does that I guess.

I weigh 132 pounds, and my waist {if you want to call it that} measures at 37 inches around.  My waist is officially bigger around than my husband's.

If One More Person...

If one more person says to me, "Not too much longer now!," I am going to scream.  It's not too much longer to you.  That is because you are not carrying around extra weight, in August, in the south, with constant back pain, working an eight hour day, with at least an hour commute both ways (usually more), with round ligament pain, and currently getting over a cold.  To me 24 more days may as well be 24 months.  I feel like an elephant anyway.

Thank you for allowing me to vent.  I'll attempt to catch you up on the happenings around here soon.

Wordless Wednesday {Randomness}

Riding the Daddy horse.

"Reading"

Riding his trike.

Broken Toys

Surprise!

My new favorite lunch spot.

I went to lunch today, and walked into an ambush on my return: a surprise work shower.  I'm still waiting on pictures from the shower, but here are the beautiful flowers that my office gifted us.

We are truly blessed.  And then I left work early, because I wasn't feeling well.

Sneak Peek

We came home from Corrin's baby shower, and there was a surprise waiting in the mailbox.

Here's a sneak peak of Micah's second birthday invitations. 

That's right.  We're already planning his second birthday.  I guess I should say, I'm already planning.  It was not my intention to start planning this early, but I ran across a deal that I couldn't resist for his invitations.  Winkflash offered a deal on photo cards, 30 free cards for the cost of shipping.  That's right 30 cards for FREE.  I only paid the $3.99 charge for shipping.  Typically these cards would be $0.99 each.  Of course, I couldn't resist the deal.  So I sat right down, and put together Micah's invitations, and ordered them before the day was over.  Approximately one week later they were waiting in the mailbox.  Be prepared.  It's gonna be wild!

Corrin's Baby Shower

My friends and church members hosted a baby shower for little miss Corrin.  They are so generous.  We laughed, ate, and had a wonderful time.  And a friend of mine and her family even drove roughly three and a half hours to be there.  She's pregnant with her second also.  Actually, we were pregnant at the same time for our first pregnancies also.  Here are the pictures that we managed to capture.  

Then when we got home, we had a surprise waiting on us, and Auntie Mecie and Sierra came for a visit, and dropped off more goodies.