Do's and Don'ts with Babies

My husband found some wonderful illustrations on properly caring for babies. I think these will really help us out a lot.

For example:
And:
We can't forget:

Anyone planning on babysitting or caring for our child in any way should check out the rest of these illustrations to best prepare for any baby situation.

If, like us, you are or will soon be a new parent, you may want to go ahead and purchase the book to leave with babysitters.

100

Wow, 100 days to go. It seems like a long time to go yet only a short time left. Baby R2 has recently shifted from kick/punch mode to super squirmy mode. The mothers I've talked to have pretty much all said that their children who were very active in the womb were/are also very active outside the womb. One said her 35-year-old is still that way.

Some friends of ours just had a baby Friday. Chase is making some "meet love*" to bring them for dinner tonight. We're pretty excited about meeting Baby Jonathan. That's three babies down and at least three more to go in our group of friends! Keli, you're up next!

*When we were in Poland last May, Chase made meatloaf for a Bible study group and one of the guys wanted the recipe. He referred to it as "meet love."

He's Real, Alright

This baby is getting really, well, real! I just signed up for some free classes on childbirth and such at our hospital. And Baby R2 punches and kicks like crazy now, too. He mostly goes nuts right before I get out of bed in the morning, anytime between 6:00 and 9:00 in the evening, and then once more right as I'm going to bed (with little kicks and punches throughout the day, too). The other night he had my whole belly moving. It looked really weird.

Apparently Chase & I were both pretty laid back babies. My parents have told me that they could place me on the floor with some toys and I'd pretty much stay put. I've heard that Chase was a "serious" baby. So, I was thinking/hoping this child will take after us, but somehow I don't think he will. With as much as he moves, kicks, punches and squirms in the womb, I get the mental image of him just running in circles around our living room while punching/flailing his arms and screaming.

My first baby shower is fast approaching. I've started occasionally checking our baby registries to see if anything has been bought. It feels like peeking on Christmas presents, and I like it.

Fun fact: If Baby R2 were to be born now that he is 25 weeks along, he is more likely to survive without too much trauma since lungs began to produce surfactant last week.

Well, it feels like time for a snack. I'm getting hungrier more often! I guess that's what happens when you have a baby squirming, punching, kicking and using all your energy!

My Baby Is Stronger Than Yours

We had a doctor appointment this morning and Baby R2D2 is measuring just fine! Well, my uterus is, at least, and that's a pretty good sign that he's growing. When the doctor put the device on my belly to hear R2's heart rate, he kicked it. Then he kept squirming, rolling over and just wouldn't hold still long enough for her to count the beats per minute. It took her a while, but she eventually got it. He's a feisty one! And he's awesome.

There are times when I feel like R2 is crouched down and then launches himself straight up using my bladder as a springboard and then punches either side of my belly button. I can occasionally see my belly move where he kicks and punches now, too. Maybe he's just starting his training now to become an American Gladiator.

My next appointment is on Choppy Day. (Click here for the whole Choppy explanation). This appointment is the big sugarbetes test. Not fun. But as long as the blood work comes back negative for gestational sugarbetes, that should be the last time they have to draw blood. Also, I will start going to the doc every two weeks instead of every four weeks. Time is sneaking up on me!

Stupid Creatures

My friend Chelsea introduced me to the awesomeness that is Stupid Creatures. Basically, you take old socks and make them into stuffed animal monster things. It's awesome. She has this book that tells you how to make them.

So far I've made three, and here they are in all their Stupid Creature glory:

This is the first one I ever made. It's done with old cheerleading socks and a red sock. I turned the white part inside out so it would be fluffier. My mom is a cheerleading coach, and I made it for her.


It only seemed fitting for a Stupid Creature with a purple flame body and pink arms to be a cyclops.


This guy was a little more difficult to make because the ears, arms & legs are scraps of a different material not as stretchy as socks. I'm very satisfied with this one. I think it needs to go to a little girl.


And this is just Cyclops and Pink Paisley being friends.

Chase even started making one, and you should, too!

A New Breed of Gladiator

Keeping with tradition from last year's New Year's party, here's a picture of Chase & JohnRobert from this year's party (posted late, also keeping with tradition from last year):


Speaking of parties, I can't believe there was only one person who wanted to come to our American Gladiators returns to TV party! I would have thought everyone and their mother would be excited about this show, I mean, Chase and I are! With gladiator names like Militia, Wolf, Mayhem, Fury and Hellga (yes Hell-ga) how could you not be excited?

Growing up, Miranda & I used to watch American Gladiators on Saturday afternoons and loved it. We hoped to someday be contenders on the show or at least to play around on The Eliminator. Some friends of ours had the Nintendo game and it was awesome.

If you were too lame to watch this show last night, you have a chance to redeem yourself because it's on NBC again tonight!

I'm So Excited, I'm So... Scared?

Well, we've been back home since Saturday evening and I've been back to work for two days now. It's always so strange going back to work after a long break. I don't know what to do with myself! It's nice that this is a two-day work week!

Now I'll update you on the excitement that happened over the break...

Nintendo Wii- One of Chase's students left his Wii at the BCM intending to come back and get it before Christmas, but he got snowed in and said we could borrow it. There's been lots of Wii action at our place lately (and was at our parents' homes since we brought it with us to KY over Christmas).
Here are some favorites:
Wii Sports- bowling (a favorite to play) and boxing (a favorite to watch)
Rayman's Raving Rabbids II- a lot of fun mini games including getting your Rabbid to burp the loudest causing destruction in Paris, eating butterflies, cooking chickens with fire burps from eating peppers, shooting plunger guns and more.
Zelda: Twilight Princess- Chase plays this game whenever he can. He should be conquering it very soon.
Cranium Kabooki- Kyle & Chelsea, our friends who also love Cranium games, brought this one over for our New Year's Party. It was a blast!

New Year's Party- We decided a couple days before New Year's Eve to have a party. Ten adults and a toddler were in our trailer, as opposed to our party last year consisting of Chase, me and our friend John (all of which fell asleep at some point prior to the ball dropping). This year we missed the ball dropping not because we were napping or playing Wii (we paused it), but because we couldn't find what channel showed it for central time! By the time we made it over to Fox (the only station rebroadcasting it on basic cable), it had already dropped. So we went back to Wii and just used a countdown timer during one of the Kabooki games and pretended that was the countdown to 2008.

Baby R2- Since the big ultrasound, Baby R2 has discovered that my bladder is a very fun place to kick. It doesn't hurt, but it feels very strange especially when full. I believe his favorite position is breech (like he's standing up) and he loves to kick my bladder and fire-punch either side of my belly button. He usually only kicks a few times in a row that I can feel, but on Christmas Day something got into him and he just went to town kicking (thankfully not my bladder) for probably over a minute. Chase got to feel it for the first time.

So there ya have it, the excitement of the last week or so of my life.

**Bonus points to whoever knows what the title of this blog is from!**