Halloween 2011

Every year, I really look forward to our trip to the pumpkin patch, especially this year because it would be Mason's first time going. Once again, it was somewhat warm when we went but AnnaBeth enjoyed herself. The farm added a huge inflatable bounce pillow thing that she LOVED! Mason slept the whole time. We got a huge pumpkin this year and unfortunately, the carving tools broke while we were carving it. Kent took it to work the next day to try to fix it with one of his pneumatic tools but it didn't work and the pumpkin was ruined :(

We also attended the fall festival at Kent's parent's church again. AnnaBeth enjoyed the petting zoo the most and she even rode one of the ponies! Since it was another warm day, Mason went dressed in his little nerd outfit instead of his moose outfit that is fleece. He once again, slept almost the entire time we were there.

For trick or treating this year, we only went with family in Wendy's (Jill's sister) neighborhood (she lives a couple of blocks away from us on the other side of Cooper), instead of going through our neighborhood and hers. It had cooled down enough by the time we went out to trick or treat for Mason to wear his moose outfit and he was just the cutest thing! AnnaBeth finally got the concept this year and ran as fast as she could from house to house. At each house, we reminded her to say 'thank you' after she got her candy but instead she said 'you're welcome' each time. She was also very possessive of her candy. Her bucket got so full and heavy that she was nearly dragging it on the ground but wouldn't let any of us carry it for her. So I ended up tying the ends of Mason's large and light weight swaddle blanket to make a sack and we emptied her candy into it. She protested at first but then went on her merry way with an empty bucket to get more candy. We did our best to avoid anything scary but weren't quick enough at one house where I could hear the guy "scaring" the kids as they walked up. AnnaBeth rounded his drive way to head up to the front door and he still had his scary mask on and she stopped dead in her tracks. I assured her it was ok and by then he had taken his mask off and offered her some candy. As we were walking to the next house she told me that the man looked like a tiger. I was so relieved! His mask had stripes on it so a tiger is what she thought it looked like. Anything else that was potentially scary as we passed it we just told her that it was just Halloween stuff and she was ok with that answer and wasn't scared. For a couple of weeks after Halloween, AnnaBeth kept telling me "mommy, I have to put my costume on and we have to go trick or treating!" It was so fun to watch her this year and see her be excited about her costume.

Mason's Birth Story

Mason is nearly 7 weeks old and I'm *just* now getting around to blogging about his birth. I have a lot to catch up on and this is just the start. (Some of this is TMI so feel free to skip ahead). Sunday morning (the 9th) I lost a bunch of my mucous plug and then lost bits here and there throughout the day. I was having intermittent contractions that I could tell were helping with dilation but they weren't painful and weren't consistent. That afternoon we went to the park with Wayne, Julie and the girls and while we were there, I had about 3 or 4 contractions per hour. We then went to dinner around 5pm and while at the table, my contractions really started to pick up. We left about 6 and I called Kenny and told him we were going to get our bags and bring AnnaBeth over. Around 645pm we stopped at the shop so Kent could forward the phone to our employee's cell phone and my contractions were 5 minutes apart so we called Kenny again and told them to meet us at the hospital. We got there around 730 and a nurse got me settled and checked me a little after 8pm and I was 5cm and 95% effaced and my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart. At about 845 I was all hooked up to the IV and my labor nurse said she would let me walk around for an hour and then come and check on me. During this time, my contractions were coming every couple of minutes and lasting a couple of minutes as well. To help with the pain I walked quickly around my labor room and that seemed to help me quite a bit. 

She came back about 940 and had me get in the bed so she could check me. For some reason this caused the contractions to be insanely painful. I had to keep lifting my body off the bed during a contraction due to the immense pressure. She finally checked me and I was ready to go! My water still hadn't broken and she could feel it very thinly across Mason's head. She called Dr. Reuss and he came in and checked me and said I could start pushing. He then left the room and I started pushing. It didn't take long before they had to call him back though. I pushed through 6 or 7 contractions and he was out (and thank goodness because with no epidural it HURT)! I wanted to pull him out like I did with AnnaBeth but his hand was against his face and the cord was draped loosely around his neck so I wasn't able to but at that point, I really didn't care. I was just glad he was out! He was a whopping 8lbs 15.4oz and 21 inches and was born at 10:18pm. I thankfully only had one first degree tear that only required two stitches. This was so much better than my first birth (which I don't regret it at all but this was just better overall). I never even really felt like I had a baby...it was great! 


At Mason's first visit to the pediatrician, she discovered that he has a buried penis and told me that she couldn't do his circumcision because he would need surgery to correct the problem and that it's usually done around 6 months of age because they have to go under general anesthesia. She referred me to a pediatric urologist and when I took him on October 27 I asked Dr. Bailey if there was any risk to have the surgery done sooner than when he is 6 months old (we lose my good insurance with the City on Jan 31st and if we wait, we will be paying a TON of money out of pocket to meet the deductible of our private insurance when he is 6 months). The doctor said that with as big as Mason is now and how well he has been growing, it will be fine to do the surgery in January so I only have to pay the $80 outpatient fee! He has been doing this a long time and wouldn't suggest a surgery for him at 3 months of age if he wasn't comfortable with it. It will take about 30 minutes to correct (he said his scrotum is attached a little too high up on his penis) and will also do the circumcision at the same time. I hate that he will have to go under and have surgery but I know he will be fine and has a good doctor. He is now scheduled for surgery on January 5th. 

Here's a video of his newborn pictures. 

 And here are the professional pictures we had taken at the hospital.

The zoo, the park and 40 weeks

On Thursday at my doctor's appointment, I learned that my doctor was out of town so if I went into labor before Monday, the on call doctor (a male whom I've never met and isn't part of Dr. Hunt's practice) would deliver Mason. The physician's assistant I saw wanted to me have a non stress test done today (Saturday, my due date) if Mason hadn't come yet. So this morning I went down to the hospital to have it done and in less than 30 minutes he had passed with flying colors. While I was there, I did meet the on call doctor and learned from the nurse that Dr. Hunt shares on call with him on weekends as well as shares on call during the week with three other doctors. That's when I decided it wasn't super important anymore that Dr. Hunt deliver Mason and that I just wanted him to be here.

So after I got home, AnnaBeth and I had lunch and headed to the zoo for a couple of hours. She had a ton of fun and it wore her out! She slept on the way home but woke up when we went to visit Daddy at the shop. After we got home, I walked her to the park (about a mile one way) so she could swing and play on the slides. Here are the pictures.

I've noticed a little bit of an increase with contractions but nothing that indicate that labor will start soon. He seems to be very content in there but I really want to have him here, on the outside, to hold and love on. I'm just praying he comes soon! I have an appointment scheduled with Dr. Hunt on Tuesday morning if he hasn't come by then so we can talk about induction. And since I'm 40 weeks today, I took a few belly shots. It feels so huge and my stretch marks look like a tree. Mason also tends to lean to the left when I'm sitting so my belly is all lopsided. If I shift my weight to the right, I can literally feel him slosh to the other side of my uterus. It is such a bizarre feeling! I feel this mass just slide on over to the other side. It's just..weird.

I don't have stretch marks anywhere else (that I can see anyway), just on the front of my belly. And my veins are really noticeable too. I wonder what it will look like after Mason is born and it's no longer so stretched out....

Annual DBacks Game

Last night we went to our annual Dbacks game. 

AnnaBeth managed to stay in her seat quite a bit more this year and did a fair amount of cheering. Before the game even started she was yelling "you can do it!!"

 The one thing I want every year is one of the super huge $9 specialty hot dogs. This year I had the Arizona dog that's topped with chorizo, nacho cheese and tortilla chip strips. Mason quite enjoyed it! 

 Enjoying a tasty gummy worm

 The night before our game, the DBacks won and clinched the Division Title!

 Ian Kennedy pitching

Being silly with Grampy

In the bottom of the 1st inning, the DBacks went through the entire rotation and scored 6 runs. The Giants replaced their pitcher after that. This is a picture of the bases loaded with Ryan "Tatman" Roberts at bat.

  During the 4th inning, Baxter is in his den to sign autographs. The line was horrendous so we just went up to the front area to take his picture.

 Snagged a picture as he was trying to get out there!

AnnaBeth was pretty excited to see the "big kitty" and Mason was making sure he was noticed too :)

 Having some licorice

 Watching with Grampy

  Laughing at Uncle Mike being silly

 Uncle Mike still being very silly!

 At one point during the game (I think in the 6th), the main lights in the ballpark went out. Total surprise to everyone and we had about a 20 minute game delay while we all waited for the lights to come back on. The escalators also went out during this time and I think even the air conditioning shut off.

  Once the game resumed, the DBacks continued their slaughter of the Giants and the final score was 15-2! It was the first time we have been to a winning DBacks game in 5 years!

Celebrating a win!

Yelling "Let's Go DBacks!" with the hiccups

Last night was a ton of fun (at least for me) and I can't wait to go again next year! Although, it will be a lot more challenging next year to have a 3 1/2 year and an almost 1 year old when we go but we'll still enjoy our family time :)

36 Weeks (sort of), a progress update and Mason's party

Well I totally forgot to take a belly picture at 36 weeks so here's one from 35 and one from 37. 

 35 weeks

37 weeks

Last week at my 37 week appointment (I was really 36 weeks and 5 days), I was 2cm and 50% effaced. I wasn't too surprised by this since I had been having some very irregular and non painful contractions over the week leading up to my appointment. Over the last week, I've been having more and more contractions. Still not painful and still irregular but definitely increasing. When I went today for my 38 week appointment (I'm 37 weeks and 5 days), I was 3cm and 70% effaced. I've been working half days all week so I can get a nap in while AnnaBeth naps. It has definitely helped with keeping the contractions away for the most part. Most of my contractions this last week have occurred at work. So, with all of that, today was my last day of work. I'm still officially starting my FMLA on September 30th and thankfully have enough sick time to be off all of next week leading up to when my FMLA time kicks in. I'm so looking forward to spending this last bit of time with AnnaBeth before Mason arrives! And the naps of course. I definitely need the extra rest! 

Last weekend, my sisters threw a celebration party for me and it was so much fun! Instead of gifts for Mason, everyone gave me gift cards for retail places and restaurants (and I still need to do thank you cards...hopefully this weekend!). It was a wonderful idea!! I got gift cards for various places and all will be so very useful! I've only bought one thing so far and that's a double stroller. I had been doing some research to see what's out there and what would work for us. I was able to find one that has multiple seating positions (both forward or both facing the parent, an infant seat plus the front seat, both seats facing each other, or removing the rear seat for extra storage) and will accommodate our infant car seat. I was going to get a used one off of Craigslist but decided to check Target's website since I got the most money in gift cards for there plus I had a coupon for 20% off an online purchase. The one I had been planning on getting off of Craigslist was on there plus the newer version of it and the newer one was only $25 more! So, I ended up getting the newer version which also happened to qualify for free shipping (which saved me $39). The coupon I had saved me an additional $45 and with the gift cards, I only had to pay the tax plus a few dollars that the gift cards didn't cover. I ordered it on Saturday and it came yesterday. I can't wait to use it! The only feature it doesn't have is it can't be converted to a sit n stand in the event that AnnaBeth not only doesn't want to sit in the seat but also doesn't want to hold on to the little handle that's on either side of the stroller and walk. I will probably see if Kent is able to fabricate some sort of platform for her to stand on as well as a bench seat if she wants to sit, that we can attach/detach whenever we want. Here's what it looks like: 

And last but not least, here's the slideshow from the party. 

Labor Day 2011

Over Labor Day weekend we spent time with both my family and Kent's family. First we stopped at Nanu's so she could see my ever growing belly before we headed over to my parents. At my parents we had a delicious lunch (Dad grilled hamburgers and hot dogs) and had a super fun time swimming and playing in the pool! I'm so happy that AnnaBeth is comfortable in her floaties now and can have fun in the pool! With Kent's family, we all gathered at Aunt Kathy and Uncle Archie's house to have a surprise 60th birthday party for his dad. To get him there, Kent told him that Uncle Archie wanted him to do some restoration work on the old Impala in the garage and he needed his dad's and Wayne's help loading it into our trailer. He never suspected a thing and was super surprised to see us all in the living room when the three of them walked in! I thought for sure that he'd end up figuring it out given that he's a detective and all but he totally fell for the story that was given and it was awesome :) Kent and I had a blast swimming with all of the kids in the pool and had a yummy dinner (Uncle Archie grilled hamburgers and hot dogs)! We topped the evening off with 3 different kinds of homemade ice cream cake.

Maternity Pictures

Laura was kind enough to do some maternity pictures for us while we were all over at Aunty Kathy and Uncle Archie's house for Kenny's surprise 60th birthday party over Labor Day weekend. I'm so happy with how they turned out!! Enjoy!