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!