16 weeks- dear Baby

Dear sweet Baby,

You are growing so fast, we are at 16 weeks already!  I can't believe that in two weeks we find out if you are a little boy or a little girl.  Shelia (our midwife) still thinks you are a girl since your heart rate is high.  I guess we will find out soon enough!  I love you so much and can't wait to meet you, but we have a lot to do to get ready for your arrival, so I'm am also glad that you have several more months to grow.

At church yesterday we sang Sufjan Stevens Vito's Ordination song.  I love this song and am thinking about writing the lyrics on your nursery wall... either that or something by the Beatles :).

I always knew you
In your mother's arms
I have called your name

I have an idea
Placed in your mind
To be a better man

I've made a crown for you
Put it in your room
And when the bridegroom comes

There will be noise
There will be glad
And a perfect bed

And when you write a poem
I know the words
I know the sounds
Before you write it down

When you wear your clothes
I wear them too
I wear your shoes
And your jacket too

I always knew you
In your mothers arms
I have called you son

I've made amends
Between father and son
Or, if you haven't one

Rest in my arms
Sleep in my bed
There is a design
To what I did and said

The Beach!!

We took a wonderful trip to Orange Beach, AL a few weeks ago.  Quinn LOVED everything about it- the sand, the ocean, the pool...  She came home with several new words in her vocabulary.  It was fun to watch her dig in the sand and to run in and out of the water with her and the take her down the water slide at the pool (even though it was freezing cold).  She also LOVED hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa for a whole week.  The 2 day car ride each way was not fun but Quinn did great with it.  We stopped at a few play places, let her play games on our phones, and had lots of snacks.

21 months!

My sister informed me that it has been a month since I last posted, so here I go with trying to catch up... :)

We took a wonderful trip to Orange Beach, AL a few weeks ago.  I'll post separately about that next. 

Quinn at 21 months is doing GREAT with potty training.  We are taking it slow but she has really caught on.  She wears underwear at home (with a vinyl waterproof cover) and tell me when she needs to use the potty.  Eventually we will take it to the next step and start trying underwear when we go places.  I feel like most of my days have been spent in the bathroom, cleaning up poop, and soaking underwear.  Quinn has really only had a few accidents but they can get pretty messy :p.  I really don't mind it though because I love watching her learn and feel proud and be successful.  We had such a fun time at Target a couple weeks ago picking out underwear.  Quinn picked out the "My Little Pony" ones and took all 7 of them out of the packaging one-by-one to look at while she sat in the cart.  She kept saying "ponies" and "big girl underwear".  And of course, they are adorable on her little booty.  :)

Other new developments-
Quinn can count 1-10 with someone helping.  She usually needs help with 1 and 7.  We have also been practicing learning the colors.  She knows the color words and one day while we were walking around the block she pointed to each car and said different colors, they usually weren't correct :), but she knew what the color words were.

Today we went to our favorite place to go to on a beautiful day- the zoo.  The weather has been mostly cold and rainy but today and yesterday were beautiful and we have been enjoying them immensely.  At the zoo we saw the peacock with his feathers open, they were so beautiful and vibrant, reminded me again of God's creativity and His glorifying creation that he invites us to share and be a part of with Him.

12 Weeks

Today was my 12 week appointment with Sheila, my midwife.  She also delivered Quinn, so I always love talking with her.  She is wonderful.  We had a great appointment, Quinn did well playing and not causing too much trouble, except for when she was turning the doppler on and off while Sheila was trying to get the heart rate. :)  The heart rate was fast, abt 158, 160, so Shelia is guessing that it's a girl.  Well either way, I am excited because we get to (hopefully) find out in just 6 weeks!  May 13, the day after Mother's Day, is my sonogram.  I thought I'd have to wait until June when I was at least 20 weeks but because we are not doing the DS blood testing (bc of a high percentage of false positives) they will have me come in a little earlier to check everything. 

Sheila also said she is working on getting the hospital to allow water births again, which would be awesome if it gets approved before I give birth.  We visited the New Birth Company a few weeks ago and it was awesome.  They have these beautiful birthing bedrooms with tubs, and it seemed so nice and relaxing, like a spa. I would love to give birth there but I also really love Shelia, and Jeff feels more comfortable having me at the hospital because of the complications with Quinn's delivery.  Even though I believe that there was nothing that the hospital did with Quinn that the midwifes and nurses at the New Birth Co couldn't do, I don't want Jeff to feel uncomfortable.

Easter

We had a great Easter weekend at home in KC.  We missed seeing family and having big dinners, but Aunt Chrissy came to visit so that made the weekend much more fun!  On Saturday after spending the morning playing with you and going to Costco, Mommy and Aunt Chrissy even got some sister time in and had a nice, relaxing lunch, saw a movie, and did some shopping.  Later we picked you and Daddy up and got ice cream.  It was a wonderful day.  Then on Easter Sunday we went to church at JW, had pancakes, walked around Liberty Memorial in the beautiful sunny weather, and went to the Hyde Park Easter Festival.  The festival was great!  You got a balloon, had a Easter egg hunt, AND rode a horse/pony!!  You did a great job.  The whole time we waited in line you kept nay-ing at the ponies and wanting to go pet them, but I was worried that once we got up close you'd get scared.  Well, I put you on the pony and you hesitated for a split second and then got this look of focus and determination in your eyes and held on tight and rode!  It was pretty awesome. 

Some other fun things you've been doing/saying.  You'll point to a scratch on your arm or foot and say "boo, boo".  Then when I kiss it you say "better!"  Also when you climb on something high you either say "big girl!" or lately it's been "Ta-da!" 

Also I'm sooooooooo proud of you because you've been going pee-pee and poo-poo on the potty a couple times every day!  I started giving you pez candy when you go and that has made all the difference.  You are finally making the connection about what you are supposed to do on the potty.  Today you even went into the bathroom and told me you had to go!  That is huge!  Slowly but surely we are making improvements.  I'm not rushing you and you are doing a great job figuring it out.  Today you also peed and then pooped in the same sitting!

pictures of Easter to come!