Pregnancy Update

I had my 26 week appointment yesterday (actually it was 26 weeks and 4 days).  My doctor had us do an ultrasound to make sure the small cyst on the baby's brain had shrunk or gone away.  As suspected it was completely gone.  The baby is measuring exactly on par with his estimated due date so that's encouraging (sort of... James did too and weighed 6 lbs 6 oz at 3 1/2 weeks early... If I carry this baby until he chooses to come I might be birthing a giant!!!).  I can't believe 10 weeks from this point in James' pregnancy I was giving birth to him!  I had to take that disgusting glucose test yesterday.  It was kinda like drinking otter pop juice (way too sugary for me) and it made Matthew hyperactive for an eternity afterward.  My doctor's nurse called with the results today.  My glucose levels are great (yippee!) but I have and iron difficiency.  I wasn't exactly surprised since I was with James too but I'm not too happy about having to swallow one more pill a day.  I'm going to try to increase the amount of iron rich foods I eat (spinach and such).  I still refuse to eat red meat (which I will never again consume so long as I live) but there are other sources of iron out there. 

Seeing the baby and how big he's getting on that ultrasound screen is making me realize how fast he'll be getting here!  I still have quite a bit of preparations to do before he arrives!  I need to organize all my baby clothes (which are currently shoved into a zillion different totes in the garage not at all according to size), I have some sewing to do (nursing cover, car-seat drape, a lightweight robe for nursing and such, quilts for the crib and James' bed, etc), sanitizing of all my current baby items (crib, buggy, toys, carseat, etc), and I got a bunch of stuff to buy!  We will need another dresser (James' clothes barely fit into the one we have and there is no way I can force baby clothes in there too!), I need a good baby carrier of some sort (since I have a 2 year old that will require me to be much more active than I was when he was a baby), and either a bouncer seat or a swing (both of which I never had for James but know will be greatly needed for this baby).  It adds up pretty quick and it's a little concerning to have this many purchases for a baby on top of all the holiday expenses but as always, I know things will work out. 

I am still planning to have this baby as naturally as possible.  I am still very much convinced that as long as I don't have to be induced (and strapped to a bed) I will be able to go without an epidural this delivery.  Everyone I know who has given birth naturally says the recovery time is incredibly faster.  Since I recover so slowly from any sort of anesthetic I am more than motivated to give it my best shot.  I have been told by a large amount of women that this is a ridiculous goal but what many people fail to realize is that I have an insanely high pain tolerance!  I am quite committed to try it and the more I'm told I won't be able to the more I commit to do it!!!!

Halloween!

This year we had an awesome Halloween!  Halloween fell on a Saturday and there was no school on Friday (due to end of term) so James and I were able to spend Halloween Eve at my parent's house carving pumpkins and prepping my dad's graveyard with my little sister Laura and my two cousins Alexis and Samuel (who live in the top half of the house I'm currently living in).  Although pumpkin carving is a standard tradition for many families during the Halloween season my family takes it to a whole new level.  We carved over 25 pumpkins this year!  My mom keeps a folder full of cutout patterns of the best pumpkins from past years.  My dad takes halloween very seriously so the pumpkins have to be carved at a higher level of quality than many carved pumpkins.  We were carving from about 11 am until 8 pm!  (We didn't carve straight through the entire time but when all was said and done there was pumpkin goo all over my moms kitchen for most of the day).  James insisted on carving his own pumpkin (since everyone was carving their own).  My family uses official pumpkin carvers rather than knives so there was no threat of him damaging himself with a knife.  As you can see from the pictures he took it very seriously and tried his hardest to do it unaided.

When James and I had finished with our part of the pumpkin carving we went outside to take some daytime pictures of my dad's graveyard.  He has been doing his graveyard since I was tiny and every year he works to make it better than the past year.  He spends hundreds on new dead dummies, candles, fog machines, glow sticks, scarecrows, and about any other thing he can find that works in an outdoor graveyard.  For what it's worth his house is the busiest on the street and we often get people who drive to our house specifically.  James loved taking pictures in the graveyard.  All month he's been seeing the graveyard slowly be put up and come to be and he is obsessed with "wow-ween" as he calls it.

On Halloween Andrew worked at the Rio Tinto stadium from 12pm until 4pm so and I spent the day (again) at my parents.  We were actually able to finish the Sleepy Hollow scarecrow (from Tim Burton's movie) that my dad has been wanting since he first saw the movie.  It was quite a pain and we came pretty close to zero hour but I think it turned out great.  At the very least my dad was happy with it.  At about 5pm we took pictures with our trick-or-treating group (consisting of a few of my cousins, some neighbors, and the "help" for around my dad's graveyard).  James was Batman this year (I figured he would love having a cape... which he did... and does...)  I sewed the costume myself but I think it turned out pretty good.  The fact that he is an adorable 2 year old helped. 

James really got into this trick-or-treating ritual.  He refused to let me push him in the stroller for the first couple hours and insisted on running from doorstep to doorstep.  He'd run up totally excited and yell "treat-treat" and knock on the door.  He also very faithfully said "Dank-do" after each candy "gift".  He got twice as much as everyone else more than once since he was so stinking cute!  Eventually he wore out enough he'd allow me to push him but it took awhile for the energetic, over-excited 2 year old to get tired enough to need a ride.

All said and done he got over two and a half pounds of candy.  Mom was happy! (as was daddy).  More candy for us!  I also stole candy for the prize calendar countdown to Christmas my family does (once the house is cleaned you get to open a small present that hangs on a countdown calendar).   He still has a bunch to eat now though.  We went home late and James went to bed.  Andrew and I were able to unwind to the thrilling Halloween classic "Ghostbusters".  All and all a good night.

Hope you enjoy the pics!