Just a quick post to tell B that Maddie and I are thinking of him and to ask for everyone's continued prayers and good wishes as he takes the bar exam over the next two days.
Maddie and I dropped B off at his hotel in Baltimore a few hours ago, and it was hard to tell who was more anxious - Bryan or Maddie. Since Maddie was so worked up that her dad was never coming back (I mean he did have a suitcase and all), she actually threw up her dinner in the car on the way out of the city to our evening excursion at Marisa, Jason, and Parker's house. I am hoping Bryan's dinner stayed down, especially since we all know he is a genius who also studied a zillion hours.
So anyways, if you are reading this B, good luck, we both know you are going to do great (and Amoeba knows it too!) and in less than 48 hours it will be over and we can get ready for the final baby countdown!
Monday, July 27, 2009
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
One Week to Go!
Nope, not until Amoeba's arrival but to the end of the Bar Exam! Yay! This time next week Bryan will not only be done studying, but done with his two days of fun sitting for the exam at the Baltimore Convention Center. We are all definitely ready for the exam to come and go, and have complete faith that B will do awesome! Maddie in particular doesn't seem to understand why her dad hangs out in the basement dungeon all day long and looks forward to having him home and upstairs where she likes to hang out during the day.
We are also all ready for Amoeba's birth...although we are confident she will wait until at least August to arrive we do have a back-up plan in place in case she decides to appear during the Bar Exam. First, B will be staying at a hotel during the exam. This is mostly because I only sleep for 1.5 hour stretches at a time and wake B up throughout the night, but will also ensure that he is close by the exam and that if I do go into labor he won't know and can focus on kicking some bar exam butt. Thankfully, Catherine, Marisa, Jason, and Jake are all on call in case I do go into labor during the test. And thanks to B's cuteness/anal retentiveness, everyone has their copy of the 10 color coded routes to the hospital from their homes, my work, etc. in case we need to get there really quick.
Other than that things are good. I had to work 18 hour days last Friday and Saturday, finishing up between midnight and 1 am each night, and Sunday was also a work day, but I was so exhausted that the last few nights I have gotten the best sleep I have gotten in months. We also had another mid-wife appointment today (we are on the once a week plan these days) and Amoeba is still looking healthy and strong but still has a bit to drop to be ready to come out. So we are still looking at an August baby, and whether it is early, mid, or even late August (boo!) still remains to be seen.
So that is about everything to report. Please pray and keep your fingers crossed for B next Tuesday and Wednesday, and look forward to the return of Bryan written posts (this means they might actually be funny again in the near future!) Have a good week everyone!
We are also all ready for Amoeba's birth...although we are confident she will wait until at least August to arrive we do have a back-up plan in place in case she decides to appear during the Bar Exam. First, B will be staying at a hotel during the exam. This is mostly because I only sleep for 1.5 hour stretches at a time and wake B up throughout the night, but will also ensure that he is close by the exam and that if I do go into labor he won't know and can focus on kicking some bar exam butt. Thankfully, Catherine, Marisa, Jason, and Jake are all on call in case I do go into labor during the test. And thanks to B's cuteness/anal retentiveness, everyone has their copy of the 10 color coded routes to the hospital from their homes, my work, etc. in case we need to get there really quick.
Other than that things are good. I had to work 18 hour days last Friday and Saturday, finishing up between midnight and 1 am each night, and Sunday was also a work day, but I was so exhausted that the last few nights I have gotten the best sleep I have gotten in months. We also had another mid-wife appointment today (we are on the once a week plan these days) and Amoeba is still looking healthy and strong but still has a bit to drop to be ready to come out. So we are still looking at an August baby, and whether it is early, mid, or even late August (boo!) still remains to be seen.
So that is about everything to report. Please pray and keep your fingers crossed for B next Tuesday and Wednesday, and look forward to the return of Bryan written posts (this means they might actually be funny again in the near future!) Have a good week everyone!
Thursday, July 16, 2009
36 Week Update
Well it is finally time for those midwife appointments to come once a week. Yesterday Bryan and I had a fun-filled Baby Amoeba focused late afternoon. Of course that meant I had a work-filled evening but that's ok! First, we went to get our car seats checked at the firehouse near my work. The checker was very impressed with B's car seat handiwork - he said Bryan was one of the very few that he had ever seen who had put the seat in correctly so that was good news. I am always proud that B will read directions unlike some other men I know...at least when it comes to the safety and well-being of our little one!
We moved on to our mid-wife appointment from there and things were good. I was a little appalled to learn that the midwife thinks little girl Amoeba already weighs about 6 pounds, but her heartbeat is still strong, my weight gain is good, and her head has dropped into the right spot for labor to begin sometime in the next few weeks. We are thinking we will definitely have an August baby (no bar baby for us please!) but that August 18th seems a little late given her size and position. So hopefully we'll be meeting baby Amoeba right around our original due date of the 4th!
This week also marks the end of the first session of CTY (3 weeks left there to go for the summer programs) and our finally signing up for Amoeba's childcare when I go back to work. We have found a nice family day care that is convenient to both of our work routes and Amoeba will be heading there 4 times a week coming late November. Technically my 12 weeks off will come to an end in early November so we need to figure out the logistics of how we can care for Amoeba for about 3 weeks without me losing my job (thankfully they are pretty darn nice there, see previous post) but they don't have an infant opening until the 2nd youngest turns 2 at the end of that month. If you want to volunteer for a day or week of Amoeba duty let us know!
So things are good and we are just playing the waiting game now! Bryan's studying is going well and it is hard to believe the bar will be over in less than 2 weeks! We'll post again soon.
We moved on to our mid-wife appointment from there and things were good. I was a little appalled to learn that the midwife thinks little girl Amoeba already weighs about 6 pounds, but her heartbeat is still strong, my weight gain is good, and her head has dropped into the right spot for labor to begin sometime in the next few weeks. We are thinking we will definitely have an August baby (no bar baby for us please!) but that August 18th seems a little late given her size and position. So hopefully we'll be meeting baby Amoeba right around our original due date of the 4th!
This week also marks the end of the first session of CTY (3 weeks left there to go for the summer programs) and our finally signing up for Amoeba's childcare when I go back to work. We have found a nice family day care that is convenient to both of our work routes and Amoeba will be heading there 4 times a week coming late November. Technically my 12 weeks off will come to an end in early November so we need to figure out the logistics of how we can care for Amoeba for about 3 weeks without me losing my job (thankfully they are pretty darn nice there, see previous post) but they don't have an infant opening until the 2nd youngest turns 2 at the end of that month. If you want to volunteer for a day or week of Amoeba duty let us know!
So things are good and we are just playing the waiting game now! Bryan's studying is going well and it is hard to believe the bar will be over in less than 2 weeks! We'll post again soon.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Work Shower
Well it has definitely been a crazy week. We are 3 out of 7 weeks down in the summer programs, and for the first time in my 10 summers with CTY we had to shut down a site. One of our sites in PA closed for the remainder of the first session due to so many cases of flu symptoms this Wednesday. Also this Wednesday, our shower for Baby Amoeba after work! Needless to say it was a little bit of a crazy day around CTYville. We are really thankful that people still came out to celebrate Baby Amoeba's impending arrival.
If you haven't been around me a lot in the summertime, you can't truly understand what our shower was like. If you have, and have seen me attached to my work cell phone for hours on end, then you might be able to appreciate the gathering. My boss hosted at his house near our work, and we all came in 1 by 1, after standing on the front porch to finish up a call. A few people didn't make the event at all b/c they had to go up to PA to help close the site, and those that were there for the rendezvous each had to take a number of calls, making it a pretty funny scene! All in all it was a great evening though.
The theme for the night was appetizers and desserts, my two favorite types of food, and we did feast on Linda's mac and cheese, Donna's meatballs, Rosa's guacamole, cheese and crackers, veggies and dip, and some tortellini with pesto sauce. While this was all delicious, the definite food highlights were dessert - Donna made an amazing chocolate truffle with pudding and brownies and Anika showed off her cake making and decorating skills with a beautiful cake! It was super tasty and looked great!
The CTYers had everyone bring a pair of socks to string on a line, so baby Amoeba will have lots of gear to keep her toes warm, and we were lucky to get several outfits, gift cards, books, a purse/diaper bag, and a few little goodies! We also got two beautiful scrapbooks to share pictures after Amoeba's arrival from Donna, and an herb garden from Adena! Apparently, the more different spices and herbs I eat when she is little, the less picky of an eater she will be! It is really cute and I hope it makes her a good eater!
Thanks to everyone at CTY for thinking of us on a super crazy day! We definitely are very lucky!
After the party, I got the joy of spending the night in a dorm bed at my site in Baltimore while my site director was on her day off. Let me tell you, that was super comfy. Sleep might not be the right word for the experience, but it certainly did make me thankful that I don't have to travel for work this summer, and made me feel for all my wonderful colleagues that will be in fun dorm beds for 3 out of the 7 weeks this summer!
Otherwise things are good. We have about 4 more weeks of this pregnancy thing - it seems crazy that we finally get to meet the little one soon! We are definitely just about ready though and I certainly am ready for her to drop in to place, perhaps allowing me to breathe while sleeping again! Bryan is done his bar class and is doing solo studying for the next 2.5 weeks, then we are at go time for all of the fun of late July and early August. Hopefully it will be a smooth couple of weeks ahead!
If you haven't been around me a lot in the summertime, you can't truly understand what our shower was like. If you have, and have seen me attached to my work cell phone for hours on end, then you might be able to appreciate the gathering. My boss hosted at his house near our work, and we all came in 1 by 1, after standing on the front porch to finish up a call. A few people didn't make the event at all b/c they had to go up to PA to help close the site, and those that were there for the rendezvous each had to take a number of calls, making it a pretty funny scene! All in all it was a great evening though.
The theme for the night was appetizers and desserts, my two favorite types of food, and we did feast on Linda's mac and cheese, Donna's meatballs, Rosa's guacamole, cheese and crackers, veggies and dip, and some tortellini with pesto sauce. While this was all delicious, the definite food highlights were dessert - Donna made an amazing chocolate truffle with pudding and brownies and Anika showed off her cake making and decorating skills with a beautiful cake! It was super tasty and looked great!
The CTYers had everyone bring a pair of socks to string on a line, so baby Amoeba will have lots of gear to keep her toes warm, and we were lucky to get several outfits, gift cards, books, a purse/diaper bag, and a few little goodies! We also got two beautiful scrapbooks to share pictures after Amoeba's arrival from Donna, and an herb garden from Adena! Apparently, the more different spices and herbs I eat when she is little, the less picky of an eater she will be! It is really cute and I hope it makes her a good eater!
Thanks to everyone at CTY for thinking of us on a super crazy day! We definitely are very lucky!
After the party, I got the joy of spending the night in a dorm bed at my site in Baltimore while my site director was on her day off. Let me tell you, that was super comfy. Sleep might not be the right word for the experience, but it certainly did make me thankful that I don't have to travel for work this summer, and made me feel for all my wonderful colleagues that will be in fun dorm beds for 3 out of the 7 weeks this summer!
Otherwise things are good. We have about 4 more weeks of this pregnancy thing - it seems crazy that we finally get to meet the little one soon! We are definitely just about ready though and I certainly am ready for her to drop in to place, perhaps allowing me to breathe while sleeping again! Bryan is done his bar class and is doing solo studying for the next 2.5 weeks, then we are at go time for all of the fun of late July and early August. Hopefully it will be a smooth couple of weeks ahead!
Friday, July 3, 2009
Belly Buttons, Chicken Pox, and Three-Day Weekends
For the past several weeks I have been dreaming of today...My first day off from going to work in 11 days, and besides answering my cell when it rings, my first day not doing work from home for pretty much the last month. Yes, summer programs are up and running. And yes, because the alarm wasn't used I have of course been awake since about 5 am, but hey at least I didn't have to get up and go into work. I am glad Amoeba is still snug inside me because if she had decided to come this past week there would have been no way I would have had enough energy to get her out! Hopefully this 3-day weekend will help us all get some rest and relaxation in to prepare us for the home stretch.
Speaking of summer programs, things are going pretty well. While several sites have had some cases of flu (they have to send the kids home with just a positive Type A flu diagnosis this year since H1N1 is a kind of type 1 and those tests take forever to come back), knock on wood, my two sites have been swine flu free. We did have a kid break out with chicken pox at my Rhode Island site this week, which has left me knowing way too much about the RI Dept of Health Regulations and the chicken pox vaccine (although it is still unclear to me why we don't just let little kids play with other kids who have the pox like they did when we were younger) but so far we just have the one infected little girl. Otherwise we have had a pretty smooth start, but I have canceled my trip to RI for early next week on the advice of my boss and colleagues who think it is a bit too risky to fly and then be around 280 children that seem to be passing germs like crazy. While I am sad not to get to check in by person and meet everyone I think it is probably for the best that I am staying home.
As far as the pregnancy, things have been going well. We went to the doctor Wednesday, and after a crazy long wait for some reason, got to hear that Amoeba's heart beat is strong, she is measuring well, and that she is still head down! That was good news. We are to the point where we can feel specific body parts trying t o protrude from my belly which is cool but weird. And, we are pretty sure the dreaded is going to happen soon. My very innie belly button is becoming closer and closer to reaching outie status by the day. I really don't want this to happen, and I know it won't be permanent, but just something about the button sticking out makes me sad. It makes Bryan laugh so at least someone will get some joy in the whole thing if it really does come flying out in the remainder of the pregnancy.
Bryan has been studying hard for the bar. They had their test simulation earlier this week and he did well but he has less than 4 weeks to the big days so is getting a little nervous. He feels confident though on most areas of law at this point and just has a few topics he really wants to nail down. His class ends next week so then it is study time at home for the last stretch before the test.
When I did finally get out of bed this morning a few minutes before 7 (and it takes me about 5 minutes to remove myself from the fortress of pillows I have been body wrapped in) it was to discover Bryan reading all the directions for our car seat installations. I had told B we could be ready for the baby around July 1st in case she comes early and he has really taken that to heart. So it is 7:30 am and I am pretty sure he has them all figured out and ready to go. We are going to do some practice drives with the seat in with Maddie to see if she tries to stand on the seat or whether she will be a cute little dog and curl up next to it. Since we still have about 6 weeks according to the newer due date I think we should have plenty of practice time. We are also scheduled to pack our hospital bag this weekend, finish organizing Amoeba's clothes and goodies (we need another storage thing to put them in), and map out our route to the hospital for different times of day since it is in the middle of the city and we aren't very familiar with the location. So between relaxing this long weekend we will actually be pretty busy putting last minute touches in order.
Hope everyone has a great 4th! We'll probably be in bed by the time fireworks start so enjoy them for the Saxton crew!
Speaking of summer programs, things are going pretty well. While several sites have had some cases of flu (they have to send the kids home with just a positive Type A flu diagnosis this year since H1N1 is a kind of type 1 and those tests take forever to come back), knock on wood, my two sites have been swine flu free. We did have a kid break out with chicken pox at my Rhode Island site this week, which has left me knowing way too much about the RI Dept of Health Regulations and the chicken pox vaccine (although it is still unclear to me why we don't just let little kids play with other kids who have the pox like they did when we were younger) but so far we just have the one infected little girl. Otherwise we have had a pretty smooth start, but I have canceled my trip to RI for early next week on the advice of my boss and colleagues who think it is a bit too risky to fly and then be around 280 children that seem to be passing germs like crazy. While I am sad not to get to check in by person and meet everyone I think it is probably for the best that I am staying home.
As far as the pregnancy, things have been going well. We went to the doctor Wednesday, and after a crazy long wait for some reason, got to hear that Amoeba's heart beat is strong, she is measuring well, and that she is still head down! That was good news. We are to the point where we can feel specific body parts trying t o protrude from my belly which is cool but weird. And, we are pretty sure the dreaded is going to happen soon. My very innie belly button is becoming closer and closer to reaching outie status by the day. I really don't want this to happen, and I know it won't be permanent, but just something about the button sticking out makes me sad. It makes Bryan laugh so at least someone will get some joy in the whole thing if it really does come flying out in the remainder of the pregnancy.
Bryan has been studying hard for the bar. They had their test simulation earlier this week and he did well but he has less than 4 weeks to the big days so is getting a little nervous. He feels confident though on most areas of law at this point and just has a few topics he really wants to nail down. His class ends next week so then it is study time at home for the last stretch before the test.
When I did finally get out of bed this morning a few minutes before 7 (and it takes me about 5 minutes to remove myself from the fortress of pillows I have been body wrapped in) it was to discover Bryan reading all the directions for our car seat installations. I had told B we could be ready for the baby around July 1st in case she comes early and he has really taken that to heart. So it is 7:30 am and I am pretty sure he has them all figured out and ready to go. We are going to do some practice drives with the seat in with Maddie to see if she tries to stand on the seat or whether she will be a cute little dog and curl up next to it. Since we still have about 6 weeks according to the newer due date I think we should have plenty of practice time. We are also scheduled to pack our hospital bag this weekend, finish organizing Amoeba's clothes and goodies (we need another storage thing to put them in), and map out our route to the hospital for different times of day since it is in the middle of the city and we aren't very familiar with the location. So between relaxing this long weekend we will actually be pretty busy putting last minute touches in order.
Hope everyone has a great 4th! We'll probably be in bed by the time fireworks start so enjoy them for the Saxton crew!
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