Our baby this week- 9 weeks (a grape!)

Well, I'll be 10 weeks in just a couple of days, but this description of a 9-week fetus was amazing to me, so I had to post it. It seems like we just found out that we were pregnant, and look how much the baby has progressed in such a short time. Every time I read these, I am in awe of how a tiny group of cells forms so quickly into a baby. God truly does knit us together in the womb....what a miracle! I get these weekly emails from babycenter.com, and I'll probably post them for the grandparents who are interested in knowing how the baby is growing!

How your baby's growing:

Your new resident is nearly an inch long — about the size of a grape — and weighs just a fraction of an ounce. She's starting to look more and more human. Her essential body parts are accounted for, though they'll go through plenty of fine-tuning in the coming months. Other changes abound: Your baby's heart finishes dividing into four chambers, and the valves start to form — as do her tiny teeth. The embryonic "tail" is completely gone. Your baby's organs, muscles, and nerves are kicking into gear. The external sex organs are there but won't be distinguishable as male or female for another few weeks. Her eyes are fully formed, but her eyelids are fused shut and won't open until 27 weeks. She has tiny earlobes, and her mouth, nose, and nostrils are more distinct. The placenta is developed enough now to take over most of the critical job of producing hormones. Now that your baby's basic physiology is in place, she's poised for rapid weight gain.

SIngle mom this week....and Election Day!

Dean has been working some CRAZY hours these past five days.....you'd think he's an auditor in the middle of busy season! He was called up to the plant on Saturday at noon, and also ended up going on Sunday (both for about 6 hours). Monday, Tuesday and tonight he's gotten home later and later....Monday he left work at 8pm, last night it was 9pm, and he thinks it'll be more like 10pm tonight. He asked me last night how it felt being a single parent!

Grant has actually been doing okay the past few days.....he hasn't gone down for naps incredibly easily, but he's only cried for 20, then 10 minutes for his afternoon nap. Today we actually went up into town. I LOVE doing that! I miss living up there so badly, and it's really fun to make the drive and explore some places that we don't visit every day. I was thinking today that I'm going to try to go once a week. Today was beautiful, so we played outside for an hour at the Allen Pkwy park (near downtown), then we went shopping for a couple of hours and ate dinner at Hermann Park (where Dean and I got engaged.....another favorite spot). Grant, of course, loves being outside.....he just runs around the entire time! I will post some pictures once I get them uploaded to the computer.

Also.....I proudly voted for Hillary yesterday!! I'm not using the term "proudly" to mean that I like her AT ALL (anyone who knows me knows this!), but I joined the ranks of republicans who switched over in the primary to vote on the Democratic ticket in order to throw a wrench in Democrats' strategy. My dad completely disagreed with that line of thinking, and thought it was best to vote for Obama and get rid of Hillary while she's vulnerable. That is a valid point, but I think I'm honestly more afraid of Obama than I am Hillary. His cult following these past few weeks has been shocking....how can so many people blindly follow a man who they know NOTHING about!? If you ask 95% of his followers to name one thing he's done, I don't think they could do it. Scary.

So anyway, apparently Hillary's big win last night had the desired effect of messing everything up for the democrats for now, which makes me happy!

Some random recent pictures

Daddy and Grant sitting on the couch. Grant doesn't sit and watch TV for long.....I think he was sitting there for maybe 10 seconds before wanting to be on the move again!Trying out the spoon! At Grant's 15 month checkup, his doctor told me to start letting him feed himself with a spoon (I don't tend to do this because it gets messy!). But he enjoys it, and he's getting better. I got the idea from Leah last weekend to give him oatmeal in the mornings, and he really likes that (esp made with milk). This morning he got so excited when he saw me get it out of the microwave! I'm trying to teach him how to grab it with his fist, because right now he's just trying to poke at the food, and nothing sticks on the spoon.
Playing with his pull-along puppy. He likes pulling this little doggie around, and I think it's just about the cutest thing.
Usually when he pulls it, though, the doggy looks more like this (it doesn't stay on its feet for long, but Grant doesn't care).

These past couple of days have been rough. Apparently Grant's stretch of easily going down for naps is over! The past few days he's cried and cried in his crib before finally going to sleep (and after I've made a trip or two back up to his room). Yesterday, I was determined to go back in his room, hand him his pacifier and leave. But poor thing, he just looked so pathetic and miserable after crying for 20 minutes, and I just couldn't bear to turn around and leave him. So I picked him up and rocked him again, and he never went to sleep. By then it was almost 4pm anyway, so I just decided to keep him awake. We (meaning Dean) put him to bed pretty early. He was almost falling asleep in his highchair at dinner!

Sometimes I just don't know what I'm going to do with another one. Grant has been, in many ways, a very tough baby. I love him to death and I can't imagine life without him, but sometimes I get so frustrated! And it's easy for me to feel selfish and sorry for myself, especially on days like yesterday when I don't have any real time to myself. I try to remember that 20 years from now, I'll wish I could do this all over again. That does help to put things into perspective a little, but then I think of all the moms whose babies take regular naps and who DO get some alone time during the day. And I get frustrated and selfish again! Aahh!

Okay, that's the end of my ranting. Today I was able to leave Grant with Dean in the morning, and I went to our church to work at a baby/children's bargain sale. It was a lot of fun, and I found a couple of fun toys for Grant (including this little tunnel that they have at the library but he's always been a little scared to go in). All the other kids love the tunnel, so I'm hoping he will too once he gets a little older.

Then I went over to the mall for a while, but Dean called and said he needed me home immediately because there are problems at the plant. So he's there now, and Grant and I are here by ourselves for the afternoon. And this is a little blessing that I had to thank God for: I took Grant up for a nap at 2pm, dreading a repeat of yesterday. While I was reading him a story (only the 3rd one), I looked down and he was asleep! That never happens anymore!

Of the few people who I know check this blog regularly, I think most of you know this. We're pregnant! We found out a few weeks ago but I wanted to wait to post it on the blog until I went to my first appointment and made sure everything looks good. I took the pregnancy test one morning in late January, then Grant and I went out later that day to buy a T-shirt to surprise Dean when he got home. I've seen the shirts around at various stores and thought it would be a good way to spread the news. Unfortunately, Grant had just woken up from a late nap when Dean got home that day and was clingy to me (usually he hears Dean open the garage door and stands there waiting for him to come in). But Dean eventually saw it and was very happy! It took us 5 months to get pregnant this time, so we were elated when it finally happened!Everything looks good so far; we went to our first appointment on Feb 12 (Tues), when I was about 6.5 weeks. The baby only measured 3mm on the ultrasound, and was too small to estimate a due date. We could see the heartbeat, but my doctor wanted me to come back in another week to do another ultrasound. He said I'd be surprised how much growth would happen in a week, and he was right! When we went back on the 19th (also a Tuesday, exactly one week later), it had grown from 3mm to 17mm!! This was amazing to us! Based on the size, the ultrasound machine estimated the due date as Sept 26 (a full week ahead of my orig due date). But my doc said he'd leave it where it is for now, just knowing that we have reason to believe it could come sooner.

I have been feeling okay.....mostly VERY tired! And I have nausea that comes and goes (every few minutes sometimes!) throughout the day. I never thought about how hard it would be to chase a 15-month old around while being pregnant at the same time. I definitely took it for granted last time that I could lay down and rest whenever I wanted. During Grant's naps, I usually head straight for the couch to rest (and usually end up taking a nap). That's why it's been so hard this past week since he hasn't been napping as well.

I am 8.5 weeks along now, and my next appt is on March 26. So that's the latest!

Trip to Bryan

As I said yesterday, we went to Bryan on Saturday to visit my parents and to see Rob, Leah and Evan. We hadn't seen Evan and Leah since October, so it was fun to watch the two boys play together again. Of course I use the term "play" very loosely....they'd each play in the same general vicinity, and usually just stare at each other for a second in passing!

Grant was playing in a dirt pile outside when Rob and Leah got there, and Evan and Grant both loved that. I think I'm either going to have to clean out the sandbox that our previous owners left for us or buy a new one, because Grant was enthralled with the dirt! He loved scooping it up and spilling it back out. He also was enchanted by the broom (as he also is at home). He loved pushing and pulling it.

Evan and Grant playing in the dirt pile:

Rob, Leah, Evan, Dad, and Dean all went to the Aggie basketball game, and my mom and I took Grant for a walk in my parents' neighborhood. Grant was getting so tired that I laid back his stroller to the reclining position (which I've never done before) and he fell asleep! He hasn't fallen asleep in the stroller since his early days! It was such a beautiful day and I guess a perfect day for napping outside. He continued sleeping on the porch after we got home.
Later that afternoon, Grant and Evan took a ride in the laundry basket together:

We had hamburgers that night, and our friends Lana, Jerry and Jennifer came over to eat with us. I was REALLY nervous about putting Grant to bed....my parents borrowed a crib for him (so he didn't have to sleep in the Pack and Play), but I was afraid that if he awoke in the middle of the night and saw us, he wouldn't go back to sleep. He actually only cried for a minute when I put him to bed, but he did wake up when Dean and I went to get ready for bed a while later. So we ended up sleeping on couches downstairs! I figured it would be worth it, to give him his own room and avoid a possible nightmare night! And he did fine....I only heard one peep out of him all night. Whew!

The next day, the boys played some more and we left early that afternoon. We stopped on the way out of College Station so I could get a hot chocolate from Sweet Eugene's (it's my favorite hot chocolate.....so unique!). And we also each got a cookie from The Blue Baker. I really miss some of those College Station restaurants!!

Here's one last picture of the boys playing outside; from the back, they look very similar....just about the exact same height and build. They almost look like they could be twins!