Squeaking By

*Before I forget, I created the "guessing game" for Brigette's birth date, time, weight, and length! Feel free to participate! The link to the game can be found HERE. When you get to the site, in the top left hand corner is a place to enter the "game name". Just type in Brigette, and you'll be ready to enter your guess! (You don't have to register or anything). Have fun!!*

We had the official growth check-up on Brigette today at the specialist. She weighs in at 4lbs, 13oz, which puts her in the 11th percentile! Her rate of growth is still dropping (remember she was in the 14th percentile 3 weeks ago), but she IS growing, and she's squeaking by as still just small for gestational age, not intra-uterine growth restriction (which is 10th percentile or under).

She's as wiggly as ever, which they said is a very good sign at her small size. She's still practice breathing, has fluid levels still in the mid-teens (normal), and the doppler study which shows blood flow/function of the placenta and umbilical cord looks good. Currently, the recommendation from the specialist is they see no real reason to induce me at 37 weeks (like we thought they might). When I see my regular doctor again on Monday, we'll talk more about the specialists' report combined with my doc's recommendations and possibly start coming up with a little more of a plan for Brigette's delivery. (It's coming up so soon!!)

Personally, I want to be induced. It's worked really well for me with both my other kids. I know it doesn't work for some women, but I've been lucky I guess, and my deliveries have been smooth, quick, and uncomplicated. We'll see what the doctor says this time around...

As usual, she didn't want to show us her face, so I don't have a picture to post.... She kept blocking us with her hand and the cord, and then squished herself into her usual comfy pillow place in the placenta. Silly girl won't be able to avoid the cameras forever though!

Finally, A Finished Project!

I finally finished recovering Brigette's carseat! It's been about a two month long project from start to finish. I gave myself tons of time and took breaks to make sure I wouldn't get frustrated with it. I'm so glad it turned out gorgeous, but holy moly, I'm never doing that again!! It was stressful and I got poked more times than any other project. I even bled on it.... That was a horrible night : /

Sadly, I don't have a full "before" picture, but here's a half before... It was tan with navy plaid. It was ok, but not nearly as cute as it could be. So I made a project out of it!

I found several tutorials online, but most of them didn't look very cute, or very easy. I finally found one that suggested sewing the new cover right on top of the old one. So I did. I laid the fabric out, cut it to size, tucked the edges under, pinned it in place and top-stitched right next to the edge. Where the straps go through I just did really long button holes

For the canopy, I laid the pieces on top, cut, and sewed them together with the machine, and then hand-stitched it onto the existing canopy.

It was long hard work, but I'm SO pleased with the result! And mostly, I'm really glad I finally finished it! I was worried she was going to be born and it was still going to have pins sticking out all over the place. Hallelujah, she'll actually be able to ride home in it!

She got a perfect score again on her BPP today, though she was still a little stubborn about waiting til the last minute to practice breathe.

Carrie's getting so excited to meet her! This morning she put a toy on top of my belly, gave Brigette a nudge, and told her to play with it. We had a blast watching the toy wiggle all over the place! It was way easier to see all her teeny movements watching the toy move rather than just trying to see my belly move. Carrie was giggling like crazy! She kept nudging Brigette and saying things like, "Knock it off mom's tummy!" Though she never actually kicked it all the way off, we were definitely entertained by her wiggles! I can't wait to see these two cute girls play together!

Thirty-Five

Happy Golden 35 weeks to me! 35 weeks down, 35 days to go! Isn't Carrie adorable?! Hands on her hips, just like me and making a giddy happy face at her sister!

And don't mind the boxes in the background. They belong to our new kitchen table! Yipee! We finally got a "grown-up" table. It's a six-seater, so it'll fit our family for a long while!

It took a couple hours to get completely put together, made our hands are sore and stretched our sanity, but it's done and it's beautiful!

The Golden Trophy!

Today was Carrie's last day of swimming lessons and she rocked it! We've been staying at the pool and practicing for about an hour every day after her lessons are over and she's getting braver and braver. She still needs a lot of work on remembering to move her arms while she kicks, but I guess I can't expect perfection in her first session of lessons ;)

Swimming waaay further off the steps to her teacher

 Swimming back on her own, fully under water!

As a small reward, I bought her a tube floatie so she could lounge and play with her other little friends without always having to hold onto me. She loves it!

And as promised, she earned her golden trophy! I had a friend help me cut out a little girl in a swimming suit out of vinyl to stick on the trophy, along with a little vinyl "plaque" that says, "Carrie, A Super Brave Swimmer, June 2012"

Justin had the great idea to fill the trophy cup with candy!

Then she had the great idea to make funny faces and make me take pictures ;)

We're so proud of our Super Brave Swimmer!!

Superheros and Weddings

When I bought some Powerade the other day, Carrie asked what it was. When I told her, she asked, "Does it give you super powers?" I figured, why not?.... "Yes, it DOES give you super powers!" So now she calls it Super Hero Juice and asks for some when she's feeling "tired". 

She's also invented the "Superhero Jump" into the pool. Her step-by-step instructions on how to properly execute it are, "You have to bend your knees, touch your fingers into the water, then put your arms behind you, and yell cowabunga as you swing your arms high in the air and jump!!" It's adorable! She's very specific. If you don't do all the steps, it's not a  real superhero jump ;)


And lastly, my favorite superhero reference.... I don't even remember what was broken, but she was very confident when she told me, "Don't worry, Daddy can fix it! He's a superhero!!" Awwwwe......


Onto her other recent obsession: Weddings. She has a little 4x6 picture of Justin and I on our wedding day sitting on the shelf in her bedroom. She loves to look at it and frequently points out how beautiful I am marrying daddy at the temple.


She often brings me my bridal bouquet which sits as decoration on top of the piano. She gets so excited and says, "Here mommy, you can use these flowers when you get married at the temple!"

Yesterday she dressed herself and picked out a skirt (because you can't get married when you're wearing pants or shorts), and put her t-shirt on backward so there wouldn't be a design on the front. It had to be white, just like mommy's wedding dress. ;) She came out of her room and told me, "I'm ready to go to the temple and get married to my own guy!" (We often have conversations about how she can't marry daddy because I already did; she has to find her own guy!)


She likes to call her swimming cover-up dress her wedding dress....


A couple days ago she "betrothed" Brigette to a cute little 5 month old boy in our ward. Her exact words were, "When Brigette gets borned, and gets big and can crawl, she can marry this cute boy in the temple!"

My favorite part of her fascination with weddings?.... Did you notice that all of her references to getting married include going to the temple? We're doing our best to instill that desire in her at a young age! So far, it seems to be working! This girl just gets cuter every day!

Happy Father's Day!

Although we didn't get to start celebrating until lunchtime because of Justin's camp, we still had a great day! We went out to Native New Yorker with Justin's parents for lunch before they had to leave to go home. Then we gave the daddy of our house his present.

Carrie's card for daddy, made with runts glued onto the card. Carrie loved the idea!

 Justin and his sweet girl! He's such a fantastic dad!

Tickling is a favorite pastime between these two!

I realized that I didn't take a picture of his present, so I'll just have to describe it. It's a T-shirt with a little cartoon picture of a golf course that says "Sick Day". Justin loves golfing, even though he doesn't get to go nearly as often as he'd like, so I knew it was perfect for him!

I'm so grateful for all the fathers in my life! Both Justin and I were blessed with amazing dads, and Justin continues to become a greater dad every day! I love seeing him with our kids! It's also been a while since we've had a baby in our house, so I'm getting excited to see him be a newborn dad again!

Getting Ready for Baby

The gusto I had for deep cleaning a couple weeks ago lasted only that day. I totally meant to do the upstairs the next day, but it definitely didn't happen.... Lucky for me, Justin's parents came to visit a couple days ago (mostly for Justin's dad to go with him to his reffing camp this weekend), but that means I've had my mother-in-law with me for the last couple days. And today especially, she was a MONSTER help around the house!

She did the all the upstairs blinds, baseboards, and ceiling fans (with a very minimal amount of assistance from me), and then vacuumed it all too! Awesome! During the cleaning rush, I pulled all of Brigette's clothes out and washed and folded them! So now they're all neatly tucked away waiting for her cuteness to fill them! I'm so excited! Can you believe how teeny this sock is?!

And after a long morning of cleaning, we went for a refreshing swim! Carrie and I spent a LOT of time building up her bravery, specifically on jumping in from the side. After close to two hours, she was finally jumping in without tons of persuasion, holding on to me, and without me being RIGHT next to the pool's edge! One technique she loved was yelling, "Cowabunga!" before jumping in! It especially made her laugh when I suggested she yell, "Sheep-abunga!", or "Pig-abunga!" I hope her bravery sticks around for lessons next week!

Tonight was co-op night so we dropped Carrie off at her friends and since Justin and his dad were still out at the reffing camp, Coleen and I went out for date-night! Panda Express, Yogurt Jungle, and Redbox at home while we worked on a couple craft projects! Sometimes it's really nice to have a girl's night!

Pre-Birthday Party for Brigette

As a quick update on Carrie, she's doing great at swimming lessons! I think we'll be practicing this weekend to make sure she doesn't forget anything and try to boost her bravery level even a little more for next weeks' lessons!

Now onto the little one! At my/Brigette's BPP (bio-physical profile) today the ultrasound tech did some growth measurements just out of curiosity. Technically, they're not official, and since she was just measured a week ago, the margin of error is bigger.... Anyways, she measured approximately 4lbs, 1oz, which would put her in the 17th percentile overall. Like I said, it might be a little off, but my semi-bedrest might also be helping her grow more efficiently. We'll know better in a couple weeks when I go back to the specialist for the official growth check-in.

She was a little stubborn in doing her practice breathing for us though. The tech and I spent about 20 minutes nudging and bugging my belly trying to get her to respond and "breathe" for us. Nothing was working. She was responsive, and certainly wiggly. Annoyed even. We could see her pretty little spine as she arched her back in protest... Poor girl... But if she didn't do it, the tech said they'd send me to the hospital to do further checkups on her well-being.

While we were "waiting", we actually got a semi-decent picture of her face! This stubborn girl doesn't like to show us her face very often, so we were thrilled with this picture! She looks a little pouty, but still adorable! I'm so excited to see her in person!

Anyways, back to the practice breathing wait...I told the tech how when Carrie sings to my belly Brigette always responds very excitedly. So we decided to resort to Pandora on my phone. I found some up-beat music, cranked up the volume, and put it close to Brigette's ears. As an interesting note, she didn't like Jackson 5, but did like Neon Trees and finally showed us her practice breathing! Whew! I certainly didn't have time to go to the hospital because only a couple of hours later, my baby shower started!

Trying an outfit and hairbow on Brigette

 Being giddily excited about new cute girly clothes!

In this picture frame is a "voucher" for a free newborn photo session with our good friend Kevin Beeson! I'm so excited! I'm already overwhelming myself with cute outfit, hairbow, prop, and pose ideas!

An outfit my mom got for both Brigette and Charlie (my sister's unborn daughter). It says "Auntie thinks I'm super cute". It'll be so cute to have a picture of us sisters with our daughters in their matching Auntie shirts!

Thanks again to all my friends who helped put it together and brought fun games and yummy treats!

Going for the Gold!

Carrie started swimming lessons today. For the last couple of days, we've been trying to "prep" her. We said she gets to learn how to swim without her floaties on! We thought she'd be excited.... Instead, she freaked out! "I CAN'T swim without my floaties on!! I won't be safe!!".... Looks like we've trained her a little too well...

Justin finally told her, "If you can be super brave at your swimming lessons, we'll get you something special at the end." Carrie's eyes got wide and she asked excitedly, "Can I get a golden trophy?!"

It wasn't quite the request we were expecting, but Justin happily answered, "Yes, if you're super brave, I will buy you a golden trophy!" So, that's what she's aiming for!

With her classmates and teacher, Miss Kym, singing "Motorboat, motorboat", while practicing kicking their legs

 Practicing blowing bubbles in the water

And then it was time to swim out to the teacher. Her first attempt... Can you tell she's a little nervous? Look at her face ;)

Ready to "jump" in... Or lean/fall into the teacher's arms... ;)

Learning to float on her back by "sleeping" on top of the water. After a few seconds, the teacher would count to three and all the other kids would yell, "Wake up!!" while she "swam" back to the steps

Her reward from her teacher at the end of the lesson. A dum-dum sucker! A fabulous treat for a three year old!

Lounging poolside after lessons were over

Because the lessons are held at a local community pool, I get to go swimming too! Yeah for getting out of the heat and feeling a little lighter-weight in the water! It looks like it's going to be a fun couple of weeks! Keep up the good work Carrie! That golden trophy is calling your name!

Under 50 Days!!

I'm 33 weeks today which means 49 days til my due date! It's getting close! I had my first visit with the specialist on Thursday. Brigette was in the 14th percentile weighing in at 3lbs, 5 oz. Her current diagnosis is SGA (small for gestational age). If she falls below the 10th percentile, she'd officially be considered IUGR (intra-uterine growth restriction). The way her growth percentile has been falling these last several weeks, the doctor said they wouldn't be surprised if she does indeed fall below the 10th percentile eventually.

The plan for now is to do twice weekly Bio Physical Profiles, which is an ultrasound that checks amniotic fluid levels, fetal heartrate, fetal movement, and fetal "practice breathing". As long as all those things are good and she continues to grow at all (even at her slow rate), they'll keep me pregnant as long as possible. If her growth stops, or she shows any signs of distress, they cold decide to induce me early. I was given doctor's orders to rest often. Not officially bedrest, but just to make sure I don't go overboard and conserve energy so more blood flow and nutrition could get to Brigette.

Then yesterday I started to have horrible pain "down there". To the point where the idea of walking was horrible.... so I went into my regular doctor. They couldn't tell me the exact cause of my pain, but checked and reassured that I wasn't dilated or effaced. They also did a test that can predict early labor, which came back negative. So the end advice was keep up on Tylenol and basically even more pseduo-bedrest..... Woohoo....

A couple of random pictures just because: New flowers for Brigham's grave

Carrie and I having fun, goofing off with the camera

I love this girl... Because it's too hilarious not to share, just now Carrie was watching me type and had an epiphany... She said, "Wow! When you push the letter buttons, it makes the letters go onto the computer!! That's AMAZING!!" Gotta love how easily impressed she is huh?! Although, if you really think about it, it IS pretty amazing.... ;)

And before I finish, I HAVE to say thanks and kudos to Justin for basically running our co-op last night. He took care of and fed nine kids while I watched from the couch trying to move as little as possible. He was awesome!

Hakuna Matata... Or Something Like That....

Carrie's watched The Lion King a few times recently and today she's been singing non-stop.... 

"Makuma, Namtata, what a wonderful faze!... Makuma, Namtata, Ain't no passing graze!... It means no worries, for the best of your days!... It's our problem free, Newmosiplee, Makuma Namtata!!

So it's not exactly the right words, but it's sure dang cute in a little high-pitched three year old voice! I love my job!

Having Fun & Deep Cleaning

A couple days ago my parents stopped by the help in the backyard a bit and when they came, they brought along a surprise for Carrie. A Lightning McQueen car! My little brother Jake built it with some friends for a school project. It's made completely out of cardboard, and is supposed to be able to hold 160 lbs and travel 100 feet (or something like that). Now that their project is over, Carrie is thoroughly enjoying playing with it!

It's been a looong time coming, but we finally got our swingset anchored down into the ground! Now more than one kid can play on it at a time! Carrie's been able to go out by herself and swing slowly on her tummy, but when we had the co-op kids over, it had to be off limits for fear of it tipping over. But no more! It's actually usable, woohoo!

Carrie told my dad, "I have my own shovel, I can help you dig".... :)

Last night Carrie talked us into going into the backyard for a few minutes to blow bubbles. She had a blast!

She ran around like a crazy person trying to pop every single last bubble!

And when she got tired, she was nice enough to pose for a picture in the cool grass :)

Today was a long day though! My nesting instincts have gone overboard and I decided the house needed a whole huge deep clean! So I spent the entire day today cleaning the blinds, scrubbing the baseboards, and dusting the ceiling fans.... I also cleaned the bathroom, swept and hand mopped the kitchen. Justin was awesome and vacuumed for me too! It took ALL day and I am soooo tired! And I only did downstairs! :P Tomorrow, it's time for upstairs! Bring on the clean house!