Recent Updates

I finally downloaded the few pictures we took at our recent visit to the Children's Museum a couple weekends ago (my camera died before we even got started!) It was myself, Troy, Lucy and Uncle Eric at a very busy museum that Lucy thoroughly enjoyed hopping from one activity to another. Quite the spendy entertainment though when you're barely there an hour!

After a couple hours at the museum we headed to Cossetta's for a fabulous pizza lunch that we all loved. We figured we'd do one "last" outing with Lucy before the baby comes, but looks like we could have many more "last" outings because the baby is staying put!

I just want him to come out on his own (and soon) is that so wrong? I am now two days overdue. Whoopee, right? I hear stories of people going two weeks overdue, which bums me out because we have Easter plans and I was hoping to bring a baby to pass instead of a dish to pass.

Yesterday Troy accompanied me to the clinic for an NST (Non Stress Test). They hook monitors up to my uterus and the baby's heartbeat (EXTERNALLY, mind you) and then I get a little clicker to click whenever I feel baby movement or a contraction. A 20-minute procedure ended up being over an hour long (it's just the way things have been going) and that was that. Had an exam, no changes (still dilated to a 3 but cervix is completely soft and ready for delivery), so we talked about induction. So I am on the schedule to be induced this coming Monday, pending anyone coming in with an un-induced delivery (they can only do up to 3 inductions and the other 2 ahead of me are necessary, health reasons, inductions), so I might get the boot, I'll know when I call Monday morning.

Obviously I would just love to go into labor anytime between now and Monday morning on my own, that would be wonderful.

We are all set for baby here at home and have been enjoying our one-on-one time with Lucy. She is such a funny little girl, loves to laugh at herself, and is full of conversation and sentences now. She jumped from simple phrases to sentences overnight it seems. Every day I'm amused by her. And she loves to dance! Anything that carries a tune, whether it's a toy or the radio, she finds the beat.

Next on the agenda is potty training. We've taken a step back when we moved into our big girl bed, no longer does she run to go sit on the potty first thing in the morning. But she recognizes the urge more lately and tells us in her own way. Not that she wants to get on the potty though. I wish the potty training thing was just a natural for kids and happened overnight, like getting a molar. Ha! It will happen though...

So, stay tuned, I think/hope that this will be my last post without pictures of a new baby in them.

Where's the baby?

Still in my uterus!

To answer the questions I get multiple times a day:

When are you due? March 25th or 26th (26th according to calendars, 25th according to ultrasound)

How are you feeling? "fat", "grumpy", "fine! Thanks for asking!"

Do you know what you're having? A baby

Are you craving anything? Yes, baby out of my pelvis.

What does your doctor say? "we won't let you go over your due date" (because the kid is already so huge you won't be able to get it out)

Are you sleeping ok? yes, if you count the two hours of sleep I get between 3 and 5 am.

I did have one dream about the baby a couple weeks ago - the hospital was so busy I had to stay in a room down in med/surg and the baby had to stay in the nursery (because of the ankle bracelet alarm), Troy had to stay home with Lucy while I delivered because we couldn't find a sitter, and I delivered a girl and had to call him to find out a name (since we have no girl names picked out!).

I'm still awaiting the dream where I lose all my baby weight in a month and it sleeps through the night from the get-go.

I think once I go into labor it will just be a huge sigh of relief knowing I won't have to go into work. That is such a huge stressor in my life, really taking away from the joy of having a baby unfortunately.

Lucy and I have been enjoying lots of "sweet" time lately. Besides our every-other-night bubble bath time, in the previous post, she has these moments of loving her mommy. Last night we went to dinner with my mom and sister and Lucy sat next to me and kept leaning her head on me and being all "lovey". It's hard for me to imagine my heart getting any bigger for another child. Stay tuned...

Swimming

Abby after frolicking in Thursday's winter storm:



Just a quick post for tonight. On Saturday we headed with Papa and Nana to the AmericInn hotel in town for use of their swimming pool (I took pictures and read). Lucy loves the water!

And then finally a belly shot. We have to have something to put in Baby Lovestrand's baby book. With Lucy we took them practically every month so I'm feeling a bit bad... 3 1/2 weeks to go!

Thursday and More

This past Thursday was a day of fun for our family but ended in much sadness. The sad part first - I found out that afternoon that a friend had died tragically while selflessly helping others without power in the Kentucky ice storms. If you live near the cities, you definitely saw this on the news: http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/dpp/news/utility_worker_dies_in_fall_feb_12_2009

I knew Andy through my good friends, the Rumpels, we were both attendants in their wedding 10 years ago. He was a very kind man and leaves behind a young wife and daughter, something none of us ever wants to imagine.

***

Troy took off work on Thursday so we could have a family day of fun out at the Mall of America. Lucy awoke way too early and by 8:00am we were all, ha ha, down for naps already! After our early morning naps we headed out to the Mall of America to go to Underwater Adventures. None of us had ever been there and it was pretty cool! As you can see from the pictures, Lucy loved it. Every creature was a "toe toe" (turtle).

Doesn't that huge turtle look like a cartoon?

After our tour, and a quick stop at Lego Land, we met friend Kellie for lunch at Ruby Tuesday's in the Mall since she was in the area. After we parted we made the rounds through Nickelodeon Universe, but didn't take Lucy on any rides. There may have been one or two she could have gone on with Troy but, egads, the ride prices are high! She did enjoy perusing the store and seeing all the Dora and Blues Clues she could handle.

We surprisingly did no shopping, probably due to exhaustion, so before we left we did another quick tour through Underwater Adventures, before heading to my parents house. We ended up visiting and having dinner with everyone before heading back to Baldwin for a nice bubblebath and bed.

For about a week now, our favorite nighttime routine is Lucy and Mom taking a bubble bath in our "whirlpool" tub. She loves the bubbles and I figure we won't have much more time to do this and it still be cute!

Last night was a big transition for Lucy - into a whole new bedroom and a whole new big girl bed! Her full-size bed was now complete with bedding and I wanted to wait for a weekend (in case the nights were rough) to transition her. Well, silly me, it was no problem! She woke up once about an hour after being put down, crying, to which I stood in her room not talking to her while she relaxed and then eased my way out the door. She slept til morning and took a long nap in there this afternoon, too!

Today is Valentine's Day. This morning started out with Bible Study circle at church. We then got a visit from Grandpa Duffy and Mary delivering treats for Lucy. We followed that up with a visit from Nana and Papa delivering more treats and we topped it off with chinese take-out for lunch. I am now smelling the bacon-wrapped whatever goodness Troy is whipping up for our V-Day dinner. It could be a shoe wrapped in bacon and it would still taste good!

Lucy this morning:

And we never blog about Abby, so here she is. Abby loves to relax, bark at people outside, and protect us, oh, and eat too. Her favorite nighttime routine is after Lucy goes to bed and Mom and Dad go downstairs to watch TV. She lays on the couch with Dad and gets her belly scratched.

A Hodgepodge of Photos and the Giggle Factory

I am so bad at posting to this blog, but I imagine things will pick up again when there's another face to be photographed around here.



This is Christmas Bread aka Bohemian Twist. I grew up with my grandma (full-blooded Czech) making this for the holidays every year. It's a beautiful-looking bread, great to eat with butter or toasted, sliced very thinly. I have been wanting the recipes of the "memories" I have of grandma in the kitchen, this being one of them, and my aunt provided the translated version of this very old recipe. I ended up finally attempting a loaf AFTER Christmas and it turned out pretty good for a first timer. I don't think it rose/rised? nearly enough but I have never cooked with yeast before (egads!) Lucy DID love it though and I think I'll try to make it a yearly tradition.



Here are photos of Lucy with Hope H. from church at the beginning of Chinese New Year:

Daycare commented that Lucy loves to give hugs when she goes bye bye, but I figured every kid did?

Here is a photo of Lucy and daddy sledding (or as she calls it the "sleigh") a couple weekends ago when it didn't dip below zero:

And here is Lucy relaxing on our bed before we headed out to The Giggle Factory in Hudson this past weekend:
Wasn't this weekend's weather wonderful? If only spring would stay now, but I know a couple more months of ishy weather are on it's way.

On Saturday we met up with grandma and grandpa Hill and cousin Jamie at the Giggle Factory (an indoor play yard for kids) in Hudson. The girls didn't know what to think of it. There were lots of older kids running around and pushing them out of the way and they didn't really care for that. Now adults CAN go up there to assist the kids, but imagine this one who is as big around as she is tall trying to weave her way up ladders and thru chutes. Interesting, NOT! But there is a toddler play area on the floor with squishy items that the girls did enjoy.

After that we had a toddler lunch at the golden arches in Hudson. Let me just say that the one in Baldwin MUCH nicer! There were no high chairs to be found in Hudson, the two they had were in use, plus I think the staff at the Baldwin McD's is just a lot friendlier!

Saturday night Uncle Eric babysat while we went to my cousin Jeff's 30th birthday party at the Green Mill in Woodbury. That was a lot of good clean fun and yummy pizza

This weekend, Troy went up to our storage area and retrieved all of our home decor stuff we had put in storage when the house was on the market. Uncle Eric made our house a home again by putting all of our decor back out, pictures hung on the walls, all that good stuff. Troy is enjoying his "new" man basement.

And here we are at another week. Today Lucy will be going to the doctor with me for my belated 32-week appointment. At this point I'm going every 2 weeks until I hit 36 weeks, then every week after that. Lots of appointments to be made today!

Video

http://audreycaroline.blogspot.com/2009/01/mourning-and-dancing.html

Photos!

Daddy and Lucy ready for the big game today:

Happy 2009! It's been an uneventful year so far, four days into it. Tomorrow we'll start getting back into the routine and a new work schedule for me. Although unfortunately I do work every day (going down to 30 hours a week when Lucy was born, the workload was not decreased), my new "official" work days will be Tuesday, Wednesday, and Fridays. Lucy will still go to Nana's daycare on Tuesdays, my long work days where I drive into the office, but she will be starting a new daycare, Little Pinecones, this Wednesday. Very exciting!

I do enjoy January, minus the snow and cold. It means starting fresh and getting organized. Usually there's a new year's resolution of losing weight, but that will have to wait a couple more months for me. We've got about 2 1/2 more months to go and lots to get done in that time, including moving Lucy into her "big girl" bedroom!

We managed to salvage some photos we lost in the great "what happened to the memory card" debacle of December, some are featured below. Lots of fun for Lucy this Christmas!

Sharing a moment with Uncle Eric:

Best buds for life:

Getting lost in all the wrapping paper:

Nothing says Christmas more than opening your very own gravy fat separator!:

The Christmas tree at church: