Beckys Blog

I'm almost 25 weeks pregnant and it's time to compare to the one and only belly picture I let Thad take during my last pregnancy. My last belly pic I posted was saying how huge I was. Well, I've changed my mind. I'm not huge. I am literally 4 or 5 inches bigger at night before bed then I am first thing in the morning so that's why I am smaller in todays picture then I was 2 weeks ago. Anyway, enough rambling... Here I am 25 weeks pregnant with Raquelle And here I am today, almost 25 weeks pregnant with Ziggy. And Thad thinks I'm having twins! Ha! Anyway, stay tuned...the big ultra sound is just 2 days away. 1 baby? 2 baby? pink baby? blue baby? Answers coming soon.

We had a great first Christmas with Raquelle. She actually opened about 3 of her presents before moving to the high chair for cherios and toys. We went up to my parents house this year again, and were blessed to have Krista and her family there as well. The only thing missing was Brian who couldn't make it home from San Diego this year. Anyway, here are some pics from Christmas morning. Here is the couch with everyones stocking piles on it. Here is the Christmas tree before the kids discovered it and after all the presents were put out. It looks like a lot, but remember, there were 11 of us there Christmas morning! Here is my neice Mikayla opening her stocking. I believe she has a glow stick in her hand. Here is Raquelle at home with some of her new toys. She also got 4 books, a mommy and me DVD activity set, and some clothes. Excuse the laundry on the couch. Every time I get it folded, Raquelle decides to play with it and it ends up in a big pile again. She's not quit...

Here is Raquelles Christmas present from mommy and daddy. The table part can flip over and be an activity table, or angle and be an easel. It has a clip on the underside so you can clip paper to it. There is also a little bench for her to sit on when she is older. Right now, she stands on it. The little shapes play music when she pushes them.  

Raquelle is getting big. This morning, for the first time, she pulled a pile of papers off of the computer desk. I didn't know she could reach the desk! When I went to get her dressed, she was out of 12 month pants so I put her in the 18 month ones (I need to do laundry). I was expecting to roll them up so she could crawl and walk, but they fit! I was so surprised! So I measured her. Sure enough, she's grown an inch and a half since the last time I measured. So I weighed her too. She is 19 lbs 12 oz, and 28.5 inches tall. That puts her right about 50% for weight, 70-75% for height, and her head is now off the charts. It says above the 100%! No wonder it's been so long since she took her first steps and she still isn't completely walking! She's top heavy!

Thad told me yesterday that I didn't look like I was 4 months pregnant. He said I look like I'm 6 months pregnant. I told him that's because I am almost 6 months pregnant!!! If you've seen me in the last week or 2, this picture may be a little shocking. I swear, my belly grew in over night! Now Thad says I look 8 months not 6 months. I measured to prove him wrong, and he's right. I am now the size (around) that I was at 8 months pregnant with Raquelle!! At least I still weigh less! Also, this is me modeling some new maturnity clothes that were just give to me today. This is yet another one of the many blessings God has poured out on us this Christmas season.

For those of you who have been asking every other day, the Ultra sound is finally scheduled. It's Tuesday January 2nd. If we have a cooporative baby, we'll find out what it is then.

Proof that after 3.5 years of marrage Thad still helps with the dishes! Here he is watching Raquelle and doing the dishes at the same time so I could have a little break. This is a selective colorization picture that I edited at 1 AM. Pregnancy induced insomnia is no fun, but at least I found something to pass those long night hours. And here is Raquelle trying on a dress that is still just a little big on her. It was too cute to not take a picture though. This is one I bought Lily last year and it just got handed down. I'm wondering if I should use this pic instead of her other Christmas picture since she smiled so well for it!  

Here is Raquelle escaping over the barrier we put up to keep her from the Christmas tree. She is only up to 3 or 4 steps at a time as far as walking goes, but she is becoming quite the climber. I'm sure helping her climb the stairs at grandma's house didn't help either. Now she thinks she is invincible. A couple days ago, I left to put something away in the other room, and when I came back she had climbed half way up the baby gate! Once she gets over the box here, she either turns sideways and squeezes out between the box and car, or she pushes the car and ducks down and goes under it. Once out, she makes a run for the Christmas tree to eat the wrapping paper and chew on the lights. Sick update: She is healthy now! Yeah! I started dissolving childrens vitamens in water and using that to make her bottles. Suddenly, the very next day after starting that, she was completely healthy!!! After going through cold - ear infection - flu - cold - unidentified fever - col...

Raquelle is sick again. She had a slight runny nose all last week, by the end of the week Thad had a cold. Yestereday I came down with it. Bad sore throat, stuffy nose, draining into my chest and causing lots of congestion. This morning Raquelle was fussy, so I gave her childrens motrin thinking she might have my sore throat (she did have a runny nose still). She also felt a little warm. 3 hour later, she woke up in the middle of her nap screaming. I went in to get her and she felt really hot. I checked her temp and it's 101.9 with the motrin still in her system (it's 6 to 8 hour medicine). Will we never all be healthy at the same time? I think it's time to take the entire can of Persue (disinfectant spray) to our home! I dissolved some vitamin C in water and put it in her bottle and started both Thad and I on vitamin C and echinacea. I think I'm going to get some childrens vitamins for Raquelle and start putting them in her bottle every day! Maybe that wil...

After the week of sickness, I realized how important a very comfortable baby carrier is. I researched them online and decided to go with a wrap. Thad's mom helped me put this one together. There are literally dozens of ways to tie a baby onto yourself using one and you can use it for a tiny infant clear up through preschool if needed. It distributes her weight much more evenly so holding her doesn't put any strain on any one muscle. It's great! Here she is riding on Thad's back during a fussy evening. He did dishes and everything with her tied onto him. And here she is riding on my front. I don't have the straps spread out over my shoulders like I'm suppose to, but that's because it was my first time wearing it and I didn't know I was suppose to do that.

We just got back from Montana where we had a wonderful time visiting with family. It took us 12 hours to drive over and 13 hours to drive home. Before Raquelle, we use to be able to make the trip in 10! I suppose it doesn't help that I'm pregnant and need to stop at almost every rest stop plus a couple gas stations along the way. For those traveling with young children, I found out how to keep them happy. The answer is Ritz crackers! You're poopy? Here, have a cracker! You're teething? Here, have a cracker! You're hungry? have a cracker! You're uncomfortable and stiff? Have a cracker! It worked to add an extra hour in between stops for us to just keep giving Raquelle Crackers. We won't mention how many we went through on the drive home! It snowed while we were there, so I thought I'd share some pictures. Family Picture Raquelle sledding! "Pull faster daddy!" "AAAHHH! No! Don't sniff me!" "BRRRR! Now I'm cold!" Ti...

 

It's amazing how hard it is to get a good family picture! We took tons of them and most of them aren't useable. Any that Thad and I look good in, Raquelle is looking some other direction. If Raquelle and I look good, Thad has his eyes rolled back into his head or something. He claims he was laughing. Anyway, here are the few that did turn out ok. I didn't want you guys to have to scroll through a neverending string of pictures, So I put them together in a grid.  

Raquelle has been all better for a few days now. It's nice to have our sweet little love back. She has stopped sleeping through the night though. When she first got better, for 2 nights she slept through the night and slept in til 11 am! It was nice of her to let me catch up on sleep. Then, Suddenly she started waking up at 1 am thinking she is STARVING. It's been 3 nights in a row of middle of the night feedings. I'm sure it's just a growth spurt (or maybe her 2 new teeth she is getting). She just moved into size 12 month clothes, and already is starting to wear some size 18 month and outgrow some of the 12! Hopefully, after this growth spurt she will slow down for a while and hang out at size 18 month so we can slow down the clothes shopping and such.

Raquelle is still quite sick. She is happy enough to play with toys for short periods of time and then wants to be held again. Her fever is hanging out around 100. She is on antibiotics for an ear infection, but now also has the flu. She threw up her meds on Sunday night and I suspect that she gagged on it triggering her to throw up. Tonight, she got her medicine, then she got her bedtime bottle, then she threw up all over herself, Thad and her bedroom floor. Then, she threw up again and Thad tried to run her to the bathroom leaving baby vomit all down the hall, splattered on the walls, into the bathroom, on the cubbards, on the counter and finally a little bit made it into the sink. I had to call her dr to ask if she needed more medicine and they said yes, but to give it to her in small amounts over the next hour. So, since she can't tank up for a good night sleep, it looks like once again we will be up all night. Only this time, we will be feeding her only 1 oz at a time...

And I thought a little cold was bad! It all started Friday afternoon. At about 4:00 Raquelle started screaming. Nothing would calm her down. This is very unlike her. She rarely cries, and when she does, it's more like a little fuss. We knew of a new tooth, so we gave her childrens motrin and teething tablets. That didn't help. We ended up being up all night with a screaming baby. She did not sleep longer then a 1.5 hour stretch the entire night. First thing in the morning we called the dr and made an appointment. One ear was red and the other one was "goopy" but she had no fever. Dr said to keep her on motrin and see if it goes away on it's own and gave us a prescription in case she got worse and developed a fever. Saturday night was similor, but a little better. She was up every hour until just after midnight, and then slept til morning. Sunday morning, she was happy and playing. Of course, we kept her on the motrin still. We went to church and t...

I promised myself that I would take more pictures of my growing belly this time around. So, here is me at 6 weeks pregnant with Ziggy And, here is me at 4 months pregnant with Ziggy. The count - at 4 months pregnat, I have gained 3 lbs so far and my belly has grown 4 inches. I'm much smaller then last time. Most of my maturnity clothes are too big this time around. Maybe I'm not eating enough chocolate? 

Her daddy wanted to dress her up as a little monster. She wasn't too thrilled with this idea. Luckly, the 0-3 month costume that he tried to squeeze our 12 month sized daughter into didn't fit. So Raquelle got to be a little princess instead. It's a much more fitting outfit for her. Mommy couldn't find the crown to go with it though. And here she is trying to walk away from the camera to go play.  

You had to know this one was coming soon! Raquelle took her first official steps today! I was trying to measure her to see how tall she is and she just wouldn't hold still. So I got this idea to stand her up against the wall and try to do it that way. She never did stand still enough for me to measure, but I did notice her balance was very good against the wall. So I backed up a couple feet and held my arms out and told her "come here!" After a min or so of coaxing, she leaned forward and took a step! Then she took another step and fell over and I caught her. I told her "YEAH!!" and tossed her in the air and we went to try it again. The second time, she just threw herself face first forward. I did catch her. I think she thought the "yeah" was for falling down not taking 2 steps! Anyway, we now have a new game to work on walking! She will be 8 months old on Sunday. Her dr predicted she'd be a 8 month walker and I agree. Sometime in th...

I know I just posted the cracker picture, but that was so I could post an eating update. Raquelle is not very interested in baby food and never has been. I can get her to eat by spoon once every 2 or 3 days. However, she LOVES to feed herself. She can eat cherios, kix, dried banana and dried strawberries, Gerber wagon wheels, and now peas! She completely refused mashed up peas by spoon, but when I gave her just the peas, she had a blast eating them. About 1/3rd make it into her mouth, 1/3 end up on her shirt, and 1/3 get fed to the dog. Max is really enjoying this new phase in her young life. Off topic... It's not uncommon at all now to see Raquelle standing up holding on to nothing. She stands up and lets go all the time, but still has not taken a step. She loves walking around holding our hands and can get up to a squat in the middle of the room. She still uses a wall or couch to stand up, but then will let go and just stand there looking around. 

This picture is actually from about a month ago, but I hadn't blogged it yet. This is Raquele having her first cracker. She really liked it.  

Thad and I carved pumpkins with some friends last night. It was tons of fun. We ended up being out a lot later then we had expected, but it was a good time for everyone. So, have you ever seen anyone carve anything this complex? This wasn't our pumpkin, but if they were having a contest, I think this one should have won. She spent about 30 min longer then anyone else and this was only the 4th pumpkin she had ever carved in her life! I thought it was pretty impressive once we put the light in it. Thad carved one that was a heart that said "mom" in the midde of the heart. It was really good too, but I don't have a picture of it and we didn't light it up. 

This is what happens when you leave the baby in the supposedly baby proofed room to go blog the pictures you just took. I think she was trying to get to the mirror. Anyway, Apparently the changing table is not enough to block that outlet and the fan needs a new location. And I guess the bottom shelf of the changing table wasn't meant to hold 17 lbs of wiggly baby. Does this mean she is old enough to start spanking? She wasn't bothered at all by being stuck. I went in to get her and she was laughing, waving at the mirror and saying hi, and trying to chew on the chord to the fan.  

Here is Raquelle getting into trouble She is obviously enjoying the mess she is making. It's hard to tell in this picture, but she is standing up in the middle of the room without holding onto anything. It's a funny angle and the lighting is off because she used my knee to stand up and then when she let go, I snapped a quick picture, but she was really too close to the camera for it too turn out well and I didn't want to try to wait for a smile either. She is letting go more and more now. I'm guessing it won't be long before I'll be blogging about her first steps!