Baby Photo Shoot...

I was a little hesitant to put these on the Internet, but some of them are just too darn cute to resist. My friend from Canton (we've known each other since grade school) moved with her husband to Rochester last summer and offered to give me a session since she is staring to take photos more professionally. It was great she came to the house and essentially we "played" with baby stuff for a few hours. Near the end of the session, Haley came home and joined the fun. Thank you Tasha for documenting this special time for our family!


Other than that it's been pretty quiet :) Mike started painting the nursery this weekend, it's a Vintage Sports theme, he commented this morning that he might want to move in there with the baby to which my response is, "go right ahead". :) I will post pics when it's closer to completion. We also got out some of the baby gear this morning, to start cleaning it, in which Haley had a grand old time. She had every baby doll she owns out and was testing each piece for baby brother. 


No scheduled appointment this upcoming week :) Last week baby boy measured 3 lbs. 10 oz. and all looked good. After this I will start going in weekly again. 


We continue to received generosity from friends and can't seem to keep up with the thank- yous. We don't know how to repay the kindness. We hope in some way we can pay it forward someday. Thanks again to Mary Jo, Deb, Samantha, Jenn, Diane, and Erin all friends from school for their generosity!!


Lastly, I got to Skype this week with some very special 4th graders. We spent 40 minutes talking and they read me a Reader's Theatre story they have been practicing and caught me up on what is going on in 4th grade. If I have realized anything during this time is that I LOVE MY JOB. I truly miss my kids and co-workers each day.


Go GIANTS!!!

This is one of my favorites, this isn't even all the ultrasound pics!?!

Haley playing "telephone" with baby brother!

staying put.

We are staying put lately, mostly due to the turn in the weather. It seems winter has arrived in Western New York. We have finally gotten back into the swing of things since the holidays have passed and Haley was very excited when the "noe" (snow) came this week.

Here's a few pics of some recent "activities" that keep us busy as we await the arrival of baby boy!

Reading with Mommy- our nightly ritual

Her new fav sweat suit. It's bright pink and has a kitty...what's not to love?

Mommy and Baby boy @ 31 weeks.

Daddy and Haley after sledding

Haley is getting better about wearing her glasses, but bribes work too.

Hello 2012!

In some ways we were happy to put 2011 behind us, but we can also reflect on many good memories. Obviously, we are elated that our little man is going to be a 2012 baby! Haley has been practicing singing the 'Happy Birthday' song (everyday, several times a day) so that she is ready to sing when baby brother arrives. It is also Mike's birthday on Feb. 12th so we'll see who gets to hear the song first...


We had our weekly appointment yesterday. It was uneventful in a good way :) Baby boy is still in the "ready" position, according to the ultrasound, but he is growing nicely, they estimated he's about 3lbs. 5 oz. which is the 40th %. I am 31 weeks and we will continue all the interventions (progesterone shots, stitch, restricted activities) until 36 weeks. After that the docs say I may still carry for a few weeks, especially if scar tissue holds the baby in, so I will be like every woman the last month in her pregnancy, anxiously anticipating delivery and SO ready to meet him. Although, I figure I will have plenty to keep me busy.  I have been doing very little to prepare for his arrival. Mike will be starting the nursery soon and getting out all the baby gear but I still have a long list of things to do before he gets here!


In other news, Haley already broke her new glasses, luckily they have a year warranty and we figure we will be taking them in for repairs quite often but she seems to be doing better with wearing them.  

Before the holiday, some of my "school friends" came over and we made ornaments.

Haley bounces between the 'librarian and the secretary' 

She also irons every morning with Daddy

We look forward to all the good things to come in 2012! 

We wish everyone a healthy & blessed Happy New Year :)

Let it snow****

We had a slight dusting of snow for Christmas but today (Weds.) it's finally really snowing! Haley has taken a trip to Syracuse to stay with Papa and Nama for a few days. Mike and I find ourselves bored, not too sure what to do, but are getting a few things done around the house without our inquisitive 2 year old asking "Why"?


We had a Ultrasound this morning. Things are looking a little better than last week as it was detected my AFI (Amniotic Fluid) was a little low. If the baby doesn't have enough it can effect liver function and lead to growth issues etc. However, today's measurement was in the normal range so that was a relief. We did take a quick trip to L&D Triage on Monday night for contractions, but were able to come home after a quick check to make sure things weren't progressing and no sign of infection. We cross the 30 week mark tomorrow!


We had a lovely holiday and were so thankful family was able to come to spend some time with us. We look forward to 2012!


Happy New Year.


Mike, Sara, Haley and baby ???

Everyone is gaining!

Yesterday we had 2 appointments. One for Haley and one for Mommy/Baby.


Haley's was her 2 1/2 year -old well appointment :) According to the growth chart, she weighed in at the 50% for her age at a whopping 25.9 lbs. This is the best she has ever done for her age and we no longer have to analyze what she's eating/ drinking. Although we are hoping she continues to have her healthy appetite :)


She should be getting her new glasses sometime as we ordered them last week. It will be interesting to see if she will actually wear them. We are going to have one more Early Intervention Evaluation to look another look at her gross motor, after she turns 3 she is considered pre-school age and getting her any type of therapy (if needed) turns into a different process.




Following the good news we went to see how Sara/Baby are looking. Sara is now 28 weeks 4 days and had a growth ultrasound, which showed the baby to be around 2 lbs. 12 oz. This is great as he is already estimated to be bigger than Haley was at this point. Other than that nothing terribly exciting. We will continue to watch for signs of active labor and call with more than 4 contractions in an hour. With hopes that all things continue to stay quiet we will be continuing the restricted activity until 36 weeks, at which point the stitch will be removed and they won't do anything to stop labor if/when it starts.


We are staying home for the Holidays and some family is coming to celebrate Christmas Day! We can't wait for Santa to come and Haley is super excited :)


Continued thanks for the love & prayers.


Happy Holidays!!!

A girl, her dog and a carrot.

This is an interaction between Haley and Dunken yesterday as we were sitting on the couch. I almost filmed it but then realized that not everyone has had the limited social interaction that I have and therefore might not find quite as entertaining.  Your welcome.

As if it needs to be said, I am still bored and on bed rest. Last Friday we had some excitement and I got a "free night out". No, we didn't get to go on a movie date or to dinner, we spent the evening at the Pediatric Emergency Room. Haley took a little head first dive off the stairs (she was on the first stair). We didn't think much of it but she woke up vomiting about an hour later. Given Mike's history with concussions (he's had 7) he knew what to look for and we aired on the side of caution and took her in. She vomited again while being monitored at the ER but we didn't do a CAT scan since she was responding normally (walking, talking, tracking, etc.) The ER doc explained the caution over each scan as it is the equivalent of 12 continuous years of sun exposure! She's had them in the NICU so no need to push it. We won't talk about the "tan" that Mike should have...

Needless to say we spent the rest of the weekend begging Haley not to climb or jump off furniture.

We don't have a baby doctor appointment this week :) We go next Monday. I hope everyone is gearing up and enjoying the festivities for the upcoming holidays.

No button nose?

In Haley's early ultrasound we identified that she might have this cute, tiny button nose. We always joke about the origin of her nose, blondish hair, and blue eyes as they are clearly recessive. Today at our check- up we saw baby boy's facial features pretty clear. We are thinking maybe he will look more like Mommy and Daddy?

Today's appointment was okay, after the ultrasound we had a pretty detailed conversation with the doc. I failed my initial Gestational Diabetes screen, this is fairly common, so tomorrow I have to take the 3 hour test for a more accurate measure. After that we will have a better idea if I need to alter my diet to better regulate blood sugar, etc. 


The doctor talked to us about last Wednesday's events and commented that I was "contracting like crazy". She shared that while we were there they did conduct a FFn test. Fetal fibronectin is a protein that acts as a "glue" during pregnancy, attaching the amniotic sac — the fluid-filled membrane that cushions your baby in the uterus — to the lining of the uterus. If the fetal fibronectin test is positive, your health care provider may take steps to address premature birth — such as prescribing medication to enhance the baby's lung maturity. If the fetal fibronectin test is negative, you can be assured that your pregnancy is likely to continue for at least another week. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/fetal-fibronectin/
Luckily, mine was negative. We wish they had shared this with us at the time it might have helped to alleviate a little of the stress but we were happy to hear this today regardless. Today's check reassured no changes although he is hanging out very low everything looks stable and closed. Other than that she recommended the continuation of what I am doing (getting up for meals and occasional stretching) and monitoring contractions, she said to not be surprised if that isn't our last trip to Labor and Delivery. She explained to us that they will send me there so that they can monitor more effectively and have interventions (meds.) on hand. At this point, we didn't discuss any meds. to prepare the his lungs for an early arrival, which we are looking at as a positive.  I'll be 27 weeks on Thursday.


We kept Haley pretty busy this weekend. She finger painted on Saturday and "made" Christmas cookies on Sunday.