Wordless Wednesday

Reading while I got dressed.

Searching for food animals would eat during our zoo toddler program.

Playing a game where we pretended we were squirrels and hunted for nuts.

Carter's nest with 4 nuts.  He collected 4 nuts one at a time and then wanted to sit in my lap for the remainder of the game.

We got to see and touch a box turtle.

Watching a bear eat at the zoo.

Adding items to our ice cube tray for a color search.

Our ice cube tray at the end of our walk with the items we found.

I had never noticed the zoo had these before but was eternally gratefully after carrying Carter all the way to the car because he didn't want to walk.

Carter's drawings with what he said they were.  I thought Oma actually looked like a stick person and got really excited, but then he drew the rest of the people as scribble blobs, haha!

All stretched out while watching the Jungle Book in the car.

 

At the train park with Auntie Ang and daddy.

 

 

Resting for a bit with daddy.

Playing with Ang's Littlest Pet Shop toys from when she was a kid.

Watching cartoons with Kelson.

Zonked out on our way home.

He kept reaching over and holding my finger in the car.

He knows how to melt my heart!

 

Waiting for the garage door to close so we could go on a walk.

Headed home from the library.

 

Sweeping bird poop off the patio.

Driving tractors on the window.

Playing in the sand at the park.  A little girl let him borrow her tools.

Daddy's little helper, fixing the plumbing.  We came home from our weekend to find our kitchen floor saturated with water.

That wasn't close enough, he wanted to be right up in the action!

Playing with goggles while driving.

Climbing the rock wall with Jake.

 

 

Carter found a giant stick.

He was bummed Harper didn't want to play with it!

Carter still tries to feed Jake his sippy cups.  I guess he's not quite ready for him to grow up, haha!

Stuck a raisin in his ear.

Week 30 Bumpdate

We had our 30 week appointment on Monday.  I'm still so grateful for Ty's job and how accommodating his boss is that he is able to come to all of our appointments and experience them with me.  There's just something about being there all together as a family that makes them even more special.  Glancing over at Ty holding Carter in his arms so he can see the ultrasound screen all while listening to Elise's heart beat makes me so happy.  In the waiting room Elise was moving around and Carter and Ty both put their hands on my belly to feel her.  I don't think either of them got to feel her though because Carter thought it was funny to play bumper cars with his hand into his daddy's hand.  Moments like that are so special to me.  Being together and feeling like a family of 4 already.

Elise's heart beat was 147 bpm.  She is still laying sideways in my belly.  My doctor was very reassuring that she will move to the proper position soon and said he suspects she'll be head down at our next appointment.  He went on to explain that since I've already had a child and he was head down that tells us my uterus can allow for it and isn't a strange shape.  He also said that if she's not head down within a month, statistically speaking, it's pretty unlikely that she'll move.  I asked if it is possible to deliver vaginally if she's breech.  He said it is physically possible, but is dangerous and he won't do it.  I'm actually a smidgeon glad he said that because everything I read online made me feel like it wasn't a good idea to attempt a vaginal delivery if she's breech because of the complications that can arise.  Knowing it's not an option keeps me from fretting too much about the decision. The doctor also said that Elise is definitely a girl and showed us her girl parts.  It's nice to have confirmation from 5 different ultrasounds that I haven't wasted clothes by washing them already!

I never got a call about my glucose test so I assumed I had passed.  During the appointment our doctor said he'd double check and let us know.  It wasn't until after I pulled out of the parking lot and was headed to run that I realized he hadn't.  I called the office, but their office hours ended at 4:30 and it was almost 5:00.  So I called today and received official word that I passed.  My blood glucose level was 81 and with Carter it was 98.  I was surprised I did so much better this time since I was more worried about it.  I've gained more weight this time and I ate an orange right before drinking the orange drink and scored better.  Great news for me!  

 

January 27, 2015

Baby's Size: Baby should be around 16 inches long and weigh almost 3 pounds!  Her eyesight is continuing to develop, but it's still not very good.  She's also now strong enough to grasp a finger!

Weight Gain: I'm up 24 pounds.  That means I gained 3 pounds in the last 2 weeks which I'm looking at positively.  That means rather than gaining 2 pounds a week like I had been, I've slowed down to 1.5 pounds per week.  I'm hoping it continues to taper off some more.  I remember with Carter I stopped gaining as much weight at the end and even had a few weeks where I didn't gain anything.  It was so nice to have a week away from the scale and really gave me a better mindset when I stepped on today, so I'm going to skip weighing in again next week.

Maternity Clothes: I now have enough long sleeved maternity tops, thanks mostly to my mom, that I'm wearing only maternity tops now.  I'd hate to see what those long sleeved non-maternity tops I had been wearing look like now.  Today it got up to 70 degrees so I wore one of the oversized non-maternity tops my mom bought me at the beginning of the pregnancy.  It was a medium and still fit, I was shocked!  On cold running days I've switched over to wearing my yoga pants most days because the band of my tights are tight enough they cause me to have lots of Braxton Hicks contractions while I run.

So excited it still fits!!!!

It even looks like a maternity top!

Sleep: Still sleeping really well, thanks to my body pillow!  I had a few nights where I only woke up once or twice and then others where I was up 3-4 times.  We visited my best friend Ang and her guest bed was memory foam.  I was panting after rolling over in the bed and got Ty laughing pretty hard when I told him I felt like a beached whale trying to navigate through sand.    

Symptoms: Braxton Hicks contractions are becoming more regular.  I tend to have one or 2 a day.  When I have more than one in a day they are always spaced out.  That's just counting the contractions I have throughout my day, not the ones I have on runs.  I tend to have more while I'm running.  We figured out last week with our trip to Ty's parents' house that I get car sick in the back seat of the car.  We traveled 6 hours to visit Ang this weekend so Ty sat in the back with Carter to entertain him for part of the time while I drove.  We decided to try switching part-way through and I didn't feel nearly as badly as I had before.  We realized that I get really car sick in the back seat right after I've eaten and otherwise just feel a little bit sick.  We typically leave for a drive right after lunch during Carter's naptime and that's why I was having so much trouble with nausea.  My back was pretty sore this weekend after all the time in the car, but is back to normal already.  Skippy has been all over me this week.   When I was pregnant with Carter he was constantly on me instead of Ty (who is his ultimate favorite).  This time around he hasn't done that at all and we have been joking it's because he realized last time ended with a baby and he didn't like it.

Running: My weekly mileage was 10 miles.  This week I stuck with 2 mile runs again.  I've started having a decent amount of Braxton Hicks contractions on runs.  Some of it might be in part due to clothing I wear because some days I don't have any and other days they're bad enough I'm tempted to walk.  My form still feels normal and I feel pretty good running.  When I run without the stroller I feel a bit more off than usual.  I've slowed down a lot this week.  I had a couple days where I ran just under 10 minute miles and then others where I was pushing 11 minute miles.  I've discovered that ignorance is bliss.  Yesterday I was running along feeling pretty awesome.  I was excited my belly didn't feel too big and I even felt like I was running a decent pace.  Then I looked over and saw my shadow moving along at a much slower pace than I felt like I was going and with a huge belly leading the way!  No more looking at my shadow during runs!  

Food Cravings: Nothing that I can think of.  I wasn't quite as hungry as I had been.

Food Aversions: Smoked foods.

Movement: She's still moving quite a bit.  Last week she was doing some crazy huge movements that I was hoping meant she was going to assume the head down position.  But then this week I was feeling her moving around in the same places I had been feeling her, so I wasn't too optimistic that she had shifted.  At our appointment on Monday the doctor said I'll know when she's moved.  So here's to hoping it happens in the next couple weeks!

Best Moment of the Week: On our drive back from Ang's house I was looking at my calendar on my phone to see what we had coming up in the next few weeks.  That's when it hit me how soon Elise will be here!  I was looking at the month of February and then moved on to March and when I hit April I saw where I'd added Elise's due date.  It's crazy to think if this were Carter, we'd be meeting our new baby in a month and a half!!!!  I'm hoping she goes longer than that, but even then we could be seeing her in 2 or 2 and a half months. 

Currently Loving: How great I feel.  I am still in awe of how easy this pregnancy has been.  I'm not too sore and I'm not too tired.  I'm sure I'm waddling, but I don't feel like it.  I'm not sure if I have Elise's sideways positioning to thank for that or what, but it has been nice!

Miss Anything: Nope!

What Big Brother is Up to This Week: This weekend we went to visit my best friend Ang.  It was so adorable to hear Carter say "Auntie Ang".  He sure loves his aunties!!!  She has a rabbit named Hopkins and Carter absolutely loved him.  Ang's husband, Kelson, earned major points with Carter for letting him feed Hopkins.  He didn't want to get too close and would stand a decent distance away and throw the food in front of Hopkins.  We went to 2 different parks and Carter was spoiled with books from Ang as well as her mom.  When he first saw Ang's dad he started calling him "Papa".  It was very sweet.  We had a wonderful weekend!  Carter was also a dream during our 12 total hours in the car.  On the way there he started getting fussy toward the end and watched about an hour of The Jungle Book on our tablet, but on the ride back he did wonderfully and we didn't use the tablet at all.  I think the difference was that on the way there he woke up after only an hour nap due to driving through a small town with stoplights and on the way home he got in a 2 hour nap.  We were also past dinnertime arriving on Friday which made him a bit grumpy.  Taking our pictures was hilarious.  Ty was working on fixing the plumbing on our kitchen sink.  Carter saw me getting the chalkboard ready and asked me if we were taking pictures.  I told him yes and asked him to go tell daddy picture time.  I heard him walk in and excitedly yell "Daddy pictures!" over and over.  Ty didn't realize what he meant so I went in and got him.  Carter ran to take pictures and even said cheese.  Then when I switched to the front view from the side view Carter reached up and held my hand.  It was so sweet!  Week 30 Bumpdate with Carter.

 

 

Weekly Learning Theme: Martin Luther King/Acceptance

Last year on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day I was home from work with Carter.  I wanted to do something to celebrate the day and honor Martin's legacy so I pulled up his "I Have A Dream" speech on youtube and we listened to it together.  After that experience I knew I wanted to expose Carter to more this year through a weekly learning theme.  I started with Martin Luther King, Jr and then branched out to the civil rights movement and more on Carter's level.  Then we spent most of our time on topics that were more on Carter's level by focusing on community service and acceptance following Martin's example.  I know Carter isn't old enough to really understand these concepts, but it's all about exposure at this point.  I love discovering new books on specific topics which I was also able to do with this learning theme.


Listed below are the objectives I am focusing on for the themed weeks.  I have updated our objectives from the original ones we focused on because Carter mastered those skills.  I plan to continue to implement activities to practice and reinforce our previous objectives while putting more emphasis on our new objectives.  Some of them won't necessarily be targeted with specific activities during our weeks, but I wanted to list them to help me remember to practice them continually.  The highlighted objectives are ones Carter received exposure to during our theme this week:

1. Take turns in a simple game.
2. Understand the meaning of mine, his, hers.
3. Group objects based on a category (sort by defining feature).  Since Carter was doing so well sorting by shape and color I already started having him sort by other features.
4. String beads or other objects.
5. Count to 3 and understand what the numbers mean.  Carter can count to 3, but we're still working on understanding what each number means.

Activities/Movement:

• On Martin Luther King day we listened to the "I Have a Dream" speech on youtube just like last year.  I also let Carter watch part of the video so he could see where Martin gave the speech.  Then I showed him a picture of me, Uncie J, and Opa at the Lincoln Memorial by the engraving which is on the exact spot where Martin stood to give his speech.

 

• After reading quite a few books about Martin Luther King and how he helped others, I told Carter he can help others by doing chores around the house.  Throughout the week he helped me with chores like putting laundry in the dryer, putting away dishes, cleaning up toys, and feeding the animals.  He's always such a good little helper!

• Originally I had planned to take Carter to a nursing home by our hose to volunteer and visit with the residents.  Then I started hearing about how bad the flu is this year and how many people have gotten sick even though they had the flu shot.  It made me nervous to take Carter somewhere where he could get sick and where he could spread germs that may not be making him sick.  I decided instead to have him color pictures that we will use to make Valentines that we can drop off for them to pass out to residents.

Coloring pictures to take to the nursing home.

• This one was a bit above Carter's head but it was fun and related to the topic.  I was also able to fit in some learning objectives as we did it.  I had a brown paper bag and a white paper bag leftover from projects at school.  I put the same 3 objects in both of the bags.  First we talked about the color of the bag and then we pulled out each item and counted how many items were in the bags.  Carter matched the objects from the brown bag with the objects from the white bag.  Then I told him that even though the outside of the bags looked different, what they had inside them was exactly the same.

Putting the marker back in the bag.

• To get more practice with stringing objects I printed pictures of a white hand, a black hand, and a heart.  I hole punched each of the pictures and Carter strung them on a shoelace.

 

 

Craft:

• We made a friendship wreath.  I took 2 pieces of paper and folded them up so we could just trace one hand, but cut out 8 hands.  I had Carter put his hand on the piece of paper and I traced his hand.  We then colored the hands using a peach crayon and a brown crayon.  We glued the hands around a circular piece of paper I cut out to make a wreath.  Then we added a heart to the wreath.  Before we made the wreath we read Global Baby Boys and Global Baby Girls.  I talked to Carter about how the babies had different skin tones and then we started coloring the hands.

Coloring one of the hands with a brown crayon.

Carter posing with his friendship wreath.

• Carter and I played a game so he could practice taking turns and sharing.  My Aunt Judy bought Carter this awesome dice game for Christmas.  He absolutely loves it and it is a great way for him to practice waiting for his turn and sharing the die with others.  

Playing his Roll & Play game with me.

Special Snack:

• On Monday Carter and I baked a cake for Martin Luther King Jr's birthday.  While we mixed the ingredients and poured the batter into the cake pans we listened to Martin's "I Have a Dream" speech.  The beginning of the youtube video I chose shows people marching while singing "We shall overcome".  Carter kept trying to sing like they did later while we were taking our bath.  When we ate the cake I told Carter Martin Luther King would be 86 years old if he hadn't been shot when he was 39 years old.  When Carter's older I plan to put 39 candles on the cake and have enough candles for the years he lost (for example, this year it would have been 47) so Carter can understand a little bit better how much of his life was taken away.

Mixing the cake.

Make Believe:

• We read a few books about the March on Washington.  Afterward Carter and I practiced marching.  Then we went on a walk and I talked to him a little bit about how much longer the walk was for those who participated.

Songs:

• I found a song here.  It is sung to the tune of Old MacDonald and goes like this:

Dr. King had a dream

for P-E-A-C-E. 

He wanted people to be friends

 and live in harmony.

He had lots of love to share.

He spread kindness everywhere!

Dr. King had a dream

for P-E-A-C-E. 

• We also read poems about Martin Luther King Jr that I had from teaching about him at school. 

   
Field Trip/Interactive Experience:

• When I was searching online for activities celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in our area I found out we have a parade.  Carter and I arrived an hour early thinking that would be plenty of time.  We planned to go to the Cultural Center to check it out for a while and then head out to the parade route which went right by the center.  Streets were already blocked off so we couldn't get to the Cultural Center and had to park far enough away that I decided not to walk all the way there.  Carter enjoyed the parade and waved at everyone who went by, alternating hands as one got tired.  He even blew kisses a few times.  The highlight of the parade for him was seeing someone dressed as Elmo.  He absolutely loved seeing Elmo and asked "Elmo go?" the entire rest of the parade.

Carter made a friend while waiting on the parade to start.

Waving at the people in the parade.

Watching the motorcycles.

Books:

Jake driving a tractor across the books I set up to take a picture of.

So Carter had to do it too!

• Martin's Big Words by Doreen Rappaport
• My Brother Martin by Christine King Farris 
• The Dream of Martin Luther King by Faith Ringgold
• The Story of Martin Luther King, Jr. by Johnny Ray Moore
• Happy Birthday, Martin Luther King by Jean Marzollo
• March On! by Christing King Farris
• Martin Luther King, Jr. by Pam Walker
• Through My Eyes by Ruby Bridges
• The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles 
• A Sweet Smell of Roses by Angela Johnson
• We March by Shane Evans
• I Have a Dream by Martin Luther King
• The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson
• Freedom Summer by Deborah Wiles
• Sit-in: How Four Friends Stood Up By Sitting Down by Andrea Davis Pinkney
• This Is the Dream by Diane Zultone Shore
• He's Got the Whole World In His Hands by Kadir Nelson
• My Nose, Your Nose by Melanie Walsh- I keep coming back to this book, it has so many teaching points!
• It's Okay to Be Different by Todd Parr
• Different Just Like Me by Lori Mitchell
• Whoever You Are by Mem Fox
• What a Wonderful World by George Weiss
• The Sneetches and Other Stories by Dr. Seuss
• If the World Were a Village by David J. Smith    
• Global Baby Boys by Maya Ajmera
• Global Baby Girls by The Global Fund for Children