Wordless Wednesday

Finger painting for Elise's nursery (pictures of her nursery to come, hopefully soon!)

Helping Oma open her birthday presents.

Trying one of Oma's birthday candies.

Watching Daddy, the plumber.

Carter made friends at the library and sat down to read with them.

 

 

 

Checking out a screech owl at the zoo.

Stretching out on the carpet.

Touching a cheetah hide.

Carrying his nest outside to find a place for it.

Showing off his nest on a log he liked because he found bugs on it.

 

Ready to play a game with a parachute at the zoo.

I went to the bathroom and he kept reading without me during our morning snuggle/reading session.

Getting wild with Nolan in the ball pit.

Panera lunch date with mommy, it was such a treat for both of us!

Enjoying a free Krispy Kreme donut, thanks to a coupon from Oma.

 

 

He wanted to show me the donut he'd picked out.

 

Playing with part of the box from our new dishwasher.

Enjoying bubble wrap that came out of one of Oma's presents.

Making a snowman out of sidewalk chalk.

He loves this old hat of Jeremy's so much he wore it for 2 hours inside!

 

Playing in the dishwasher box we made into a house.

Carter teaching Jake great life skills, stand on objects with wheels!

Not sure why they always want to squeeze in together.

 

Enjoying books at the library.

 

Week 31 Bumpdate

We are down to single digit weeks until we meet Elise.  I am so excited and as each week ticks past I get even more excited.  Her arrival will be here so soon!  I'm trying not to let myself get too excited until I find out Elise's actual positioning at our 32 week appointment, but I'm pretty ecstatic because she has definitely moved!  Saturday night we were celebrating my dad and Jeremy's birthday by playing a new board game my mom got for her birthday.  The whole time we were playing the game Elise was moving around like crazy and I could tell she was repositioning herself.  It was slightly painful and making my belly sore.  She was going and going for almost an hour and then all the sudden, boom, my belly felt totally different.  I tried not to freak out but I was so excited!  I jumped up and everyone agreed my belly appeared to be a different shape!  The best part was suddenly I felt like I could breathe.  I hadn't noticed struggling to breathe before but all the sudden I felt like I'd used an inhaler and my lungs were filling fully.  The best way to describe how my belly felt was that before it felt like I had a basketball positioned over my stomach and someone had pulled a strap around it extremely tightly putting lots of pressure on my sides and then Saturday night the strap was loosened and my sides didn't have so much pressure.  This whole time I felt so comfortable and was thinking it might be in part because Elise was sideways and not putting pressure on my hips.  Turned out her being sideways was causing way more pressure because it was pushing on my sides.  I am so much more comfortable now.  It almost feels as if my belly has disappeared!  She's definitely up and down rather than sideways so let's just hope she's head down and not butt down!  I'm looking forward to good news next week, cross your fingers for us!

 

February 3, 2015

Baby's Size: Baby should be over 16 inches long and weigh around 3.3 pounds.  Her senses are all fully developed and she's gearing up for a growth spurt.  She should be plumping up at this point.

Weight Gain: This is my week off weighing in and I am so glad!  This weekend we celebrated my mom, my dad, and Jeremy's birthdays!  We did it in style with a vanilla cake, a chocolate cake, and ice cream.  Whoa Nelly!

Maternity Clothes: We had a day this week where the high reached nearly 80 degrees!  One of my friends gave me some spring maternity clothes and my favorite was an adorable sleeveless maxi dress.  I've been eyeing it longingly in my closet for months now so I jumped at the opportunity to finally wear it!

Sleep: Monday through Wednesday by 6:00 pm I felt all mopey and wanted to cry.  I finally realized it was because I was so tired.  So on Thursday I took a 20 minute nap during Carter's naptime and it made a world of difference!  For the rest of the week I took a short 15-20 minute power nap while Carter napped.  I'd set my phone alarm for 30 minutes, but always woke up at least 10 minutes before it went off which was crazy to me!

Symptoms: It seems like I've had fewer Braxton Hicks contractions this week.  After Elise moved on Saturday I've been breathing so much easier and am so much more comfortable.  I swear it feels like my belly disappeared until I bend over!  Now I have a bit more pressure in my hips.  Before when I swept and mopped the kitchen floor I would get really out of breath.  Now I'm able to do it without getting too out of breath, but my hips ache by the time I'm done, even on days I don't run!  I clipped my toenails one day and started thinking "I wonder if I can go 9 more weeks without having to do this again!?"  It was so uncomfortable and everything was pushed up into my lungs while I hunched over to reach my toes.  One day at lunch I spilled food on my dress and didn't even know it until I was washing my hands in the bathroom and saw it in the mirror.  It was far enough down that my belly concealed it from me!  I've also being having to use the restroom a lot more and I trust my sneezes way less!  We spent most of the day on Tuesday playing outside because the weather was so beautiful.  I went to the bathroom before we went outside and I swear we were out there less than 30 minutes before I felt like I was going to pee my pants.  I didn't want to drag both the boys back inside, especially because it was so beautiful!  I was tempted to just pop a squat somewhere in the yard, but finally talked myself into trekking back inside.

Running: My weekly mileage was again 10 miles and probably will be for the rest of this pregnancy.  The beginning of the week was tough and I was running anywhere from 10-11 minute miles.  My belly felt stretched really tight all the way across and was uncomfortable.  Then I'd start having Braxton Hicks contractions and I just wanted to be done running already!  I was telling Ty on Wednesday night how horrible my runs had been and how maybe I should back off to only running 3 days a week rather than 5.  Then Thursday I was on my way to meet Ty to run and it turned out he forgot pack his running gear.  He decided to take the day off so he switched cars with me and ran errands with Carter while I ran.  It was exactly what I needed, a day off from running with the stroller!  I finished in an average of 8:55 pace and felt great the entire time!  I passed these 2 ladies running and the one said to the other, "Oh my God, she's pregnant!" after glancing over at me.  Then the other one yelled after me that I was awesome and inspiring.  It was an awesome moment for me, especially after such a rough week of running!   

Food Cravings: I really wanted brownie fudge ice cream and Ty went to get me some.  They didn't have that, but they did have chocolate and vanilla ice cream with brownie chunks and caramel.  It was delicious and I had an ice cream cone almost every night!

Food Aversions: Smoked foods.

Movement: Her favorite time to move around is when I lay down in bed to go to sleep for the night.  Since Saturday I've been feeling her much lower.  I've also been feeling her in the middle of my stomach rather than on the sides.  I am so excited and am hoping for good news as to her position at our appointment on Monday!

Best Moment of the Week: Would definitely have to be on Saturday when little miss decided to shift!  I was so excited I couldn't fall asleep that night.  The thought of having a c-section had been looming in the back of my mind and I'm feeling so happy knowing that most likely won't be the case!  I want so badly to deliver our sweet girl naturally just like I did with Carter.  It was the best experience!  Her moving has also been really nice because I can breathe better and am so much more comfortable! 

Currently Loving: I'm still loving how great I feel!  I cracked up getting ready to change my response here from last week's.  At the time I thought maybe Elise's sideways position was what caused me to feel so much more comfortable than I had with Carter, but now that she's moved I know that was not the case.  I am much more comfortable with her positioned up and down!  After my post last week about childbirth Ty ordered me Ina May's Guide to Childbirth. I've started reading it and the first section includes birth stories from lots of different women.  I am loving it!  I was so desperate to read birth stories where the labor and delivery were done naturally when I was pregnant with Carter and really struck out searching online.  I would have loved this book!

Miss Anything: Nope!

What Big Brother is Up to This Week: Carter enjoyed another toddler program at the zoo this week.  We also had Jake an extra day which he really enjoyed.  The weather was amazing with highs in the 50's, 60's, and even 70's so we spent a lot of time outside playing.  I'm talking pretty much every waking minute!  Gotta soak up all that glorious Vitamin D!!!!  Most mornings Carter woke up while Ty was getting ready so Ty would feed him breakfast, letting me sleep an extra 15-20 minutes.  Then he'd bring him to bed with me for cuddles and books before we started our day.  Elise typically moves around quite a bit when I'm laying in bed to go to sleep at night and when I first wake up.  Carter loves watching her and enjoys doing so each morning.  One morning she wasn't moving around like usual and he yelled "Come ere Issy Eese" at my belly and then started slapping it.  It didn't work but was absolutely adorable!  Jeremy was here while we were taking the bumpdate pictures.  When we were almost finished Carter scooted closer to me and started yelling, "Uncie J, cheese!" while pointing at the wall beside him.  It was so cute and Jeremy couldn't resist so we have a picture with him as well.  Friday evening Carter fell and landed face first on the corner of a chair, that's why he has a shiner in our pictures.  Week 31 Bumpdate with Carter.

Carter pointing for Uncie J to come get in the picture.

 

Weekly Learning Theme: Zoo

I found out about a toddler program at the zoo going on the last few weeks in January and first couple in February.  You could sign up for 4 Thursdays or 4 Saturdays.  I chose Thursdays and Carter and I really enjoyed the first class.  The week after our first class I had planned to do a winter/snow learning theme, but the highs were supposed to hit into the 60's and 70's so I decided to bump that week back and instead enjoy a week focusing on zoo animals.  The week was one of the first ones I planned and it was crazy going back through and seeing how different my goals were for Carter when we first started these.  Most of the activities were just for fun without specific objectives in mind.  I ended up keeping many of the fun activities but also adding in some more challenging tasks that fit where Carter is at now.

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:

• While grocery shopping on Monday I found a big container of safari animals with 101 pieces for just $5!  I splurged and bought it for Carter and I'm so glad I did!  I was able to utilize the toys for various learning opportunities.  To start off I showed it to Carter and let him free play and explore with the animals which he loved.

• Once Carter had the chance to play with his new toys I was excited to use them for learning.  First we sorted the animals by the kind of animal.  Carter did a great job and I was really impressed because there were so many varieties.  For example there were black, gray, brown, and orange gorillas and on top of that there were gorillas standing and gorillas on all fours.  Carter didn't let any of that trick him and was able to get all of the animals in their appropriate pile.  After he had them all sorted we used them to practice counting.  Then we put all the animals back into one pile and sorted them based on color.  Carter didn't like that quite as much because he didn't want to mix the different kinds of animals, but we did it relatively quickly since there were only 4 different colors of animals.

Putting an elephant with the other elephant.

His favorite animal to put in a pile was the kangaroo.

• Next we used the animal figurines to play a version of charades.  I poured all of the animals out into a pile and Carter and I took turns grabbing an animal out.  When we pulled out an animal we made the noise the animal makes and/or showed how they move.  Carter had a blast.  His favorite animals to act out were the elephant and the kangaroo.  He thought it was hilarious when I got crocodile because I tried to get low to the ground and ended up dragging my belly on the floor.  This game was the hardest time he's had with taking turns.  Each time he finished acting out an animal he wanted to grab another one and go again so I'd remind him it was my turn.  I'd like to play the game again, but hide the animals we pulled out and have the other person guess what animal we were acting out.

Carter acting out elephant.

• I used rice and the animal figurines to put together a zoo sensory bin for Carter while he was napping.  I surprised him with it when he woke up and he absolutely loved it!  He did pretty well keeping the rice inside the tub and enjoyed burying the animals.  He also liked to scoop up the rice and put it inside different cups.  I figured he would really enjoy the tub with how much he loves playing with sand at the park.  After seeing how much he loved the zoo sensory bin, I've been coming up with sensory bins we could do to go along with our upcoming learning themes.

 

• Carter also enjoyed playing with 2 different zoo animal puzzles we have.  One is from my classroom and the other was given to him as a present from his Great Aunt Netta.  As he put the puzzles together he loved to yell out what animal he had made.

Craft:

• Using a paper plate we made a lion mask.  I cut fringe around the outside of the paper plate for the lion's mane.  Then Carter colored the face yellow and the mane brown with some brown on the face for good measure.  Then I cut out holes for eyes and a mouth and added popsicle sticks to hold the mask up.  Carter didn't like it when I wore the mask so I handed it to him and he'd only wear it with the white side of the plate facing out.  He did think it was hilarious to have Harper wear the mask.

• Using the zoo animal figurines and paint, Carter made animal tracks on paper.  We just used pink paint I had already mixed up from a different craft he'd worked on for Elise's room and he put the animals' feet down into the paint to create tracks on the paper.  He thought it was quite funny and even made the kangaroo bounce across the page.

• I was planning out Carter's nursery before we knew whether he'd be a boy or girl, I was planning on a monkey theme for a boy or an elephant theme for a girl.  For Elise we are switching the nursery over to an elephant theme.  I had seen an adorable handprint elephant craft here and knew I wanted to create it for her room.  We would do Ty's handprint, my handprint, and Carter's handprint to look like elephants.  I'd had it on my to-do list forever and was always preoccupied with other crafts and activities that went along with Carter's learning theme, so I figured zoo week was the perfect time to finally create the elephant handprint craft.  I was so pleased with how it turned out!

  

  The finished product with Ty's hand on the left, mine on the right, and Carter's in the middle.

Special Snack:

• As a special treat I picked up animal crackers at the store for Carter to have for a snack during the week.  He was thrilled beyond belief for his treat.  I poured out some of the animal crackers and we sorted them by animal, although some were hard to tell.  Carter would pick up and animal, tell me what it was, and make it's sound.  There were a few crackers he picked up, stared at with a puzzled look on his face, and then ate because he couldn't figure out what they were.

 

Make Believe:

• One of my favorite activities during the week was acting out the book "Goodnight Gorilla".  We've read the book so many times that I didn't re-read it before pretending to be characters in the book which I would have done if Carter didn't already know the book so well.  I picked out stuffed animals to represent each animal in the book that the gorilla releases from it's cage. Then my mom and dad who were visiting dumped toys out of baskets and put them over the stuffed animals to look like cages.  I gave Carter my car keys and told him he was going to pretend to be the gorilla while pointing at the gorilla on the cover.  Then I grabbed a flashlight and told him I was the zoo keeper.  I read the book, showing him the pictures, as we walked through the living room releasing all the animals from their cages.  Then Carter carried all the stuffed animals to the floor where I'd set up pillows for us and I pretended to be shocked by all the animals like the zoo keeper's wife and carried all the animals back to the zoo.  At the end Carter and I laid on the floor and pretended to sleep.  It was so much fun!

Letting the giraffe out of it's cage.

Looking at the book to see what happened next.

Thanks to my dad for thinking to grab the camera and take some pictures for us!

Carter excitedly waiting for me to pop my eyes open in shock and find all the animals in my bed!

• All throughout the week we made animal noises and pretended to be animals by walking or moving like them.  To kill time while waiting at the doctor's office I told Carter different animals and he'd move like them: hopping like a kangaroo, slithering like a snake, flapping his arms like a bird.  We randomly fit this game in whenever we had the chance and Carter enjoyed it so much sometimes he'd look at me and roar so I'd start playing with him!

Songs:

• Of the 6 years I taught our field trip for 5 of those years was the zoo.  I collected lots of songs, poems, and activities over the years.  One of the kids' favorite songs was "We're Going to the Zoo" so of course I had to sing it with Carter.  I also let him watch a music video on youtube.

 

• We also listened to a song on youtube called "The Animal Sounds Song".  Carter liked guessing which animal made the sound before they revealed the animal in the song.

   
Field Trip/Interactive Experience:

• We visited the zoo for our Nature Buddies toddler program.  Carter had a blast and even got to meet a screech owl.  We toured the Arctic area of the zoo and didn't have much time to look at animals after the program before leaving for lunch.  Carter chose to go look at the grizzly bear and the chimpanzees before heading home.  I'll be posting more about our Nature's Buddies program once we've attended all 4 sessions.

  

  Excited about the screech owl!

Books:

 

• 1, 2, 3 to the Zoo by Eric Carle
• Hello, Animals! by Smriti Prasadam 
• Goodnight Gorilla by Peggy Rathman
• Touch and Feel Adventure by Fisher Price
• Wild Friends by 
• Curious George Visits the Zoo by H.A. Rey
• Mommy, Look What I Can Do! by Mack
• 1 2 3 Zoo by Puck
• Busy Gorillas by John Schindel
• Color Zoo by Lois Ehlert
• Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell
• My Heart is Like a Zoo by Michael Hall
• Animal Strike at the Zoo, It's True! by Karma Wilson
• Zoo by Roger Priddy
• Baby Animals at the Zoo by
• At the Zoo by Carron Brown
• At the Zoo by Claire Henley
• Zoo Ah-choooo by Peter Mandel
• Zoo Girl by Rebecca Elliott
• Zoo Hideout by Jill Kalz
• Going to the Zoo With Lily and Milo by Pauline Oud
• Your Senses at the Zoo by Kimberly Hatmacher   
• Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother, Too? by Eric Carle