Old News

Well, everyone who reads my blog probably already knows this, but I thought I would make the official blog announcement. Madeline Rose was born June 11th at 3:45pm. She weighs 9 1/2 pounds, is 20 1/2 inches, and absolutely beautiful. Her big brother loves her and calls her "baby." He is a good helper, and his favorite thing to do is give her a pacifier. I would post a picture, but we had to switch computers recently and am still not sure if our camera will work with this computer. Someday I will post pictures.

Any way you look at it

13 days. 38 weeks, 1 day. 8 1/2 months. Less than two weeks. Any way you look at it I am about to pop. I feel like I am about to pop. There can't possibly be any room left for the baby to grow anymore. At my doctor's appointment on Friday, the doc said the baby is slowly moving lower and getting ready for labor. Then he asked if we have everything ready for the baby. Honestly I don't feel like we do. I still don't have a bag packed for he hospital. We still have to get bottles and the car seat ready. There are other things I want to have ready before the baby. This includes having everything set for Ben's birthday (because who knows if i will be in the hospital on his birthday), having all the materials for the baby's baptism gown, and having Father's day planned. There are also projects that I am going to have to put off indefinitely because of bed rest. These include having a garage sale and planting a garden. Part of me wants the baby to come soon, but then I think of everything I have to do while staying off my feet 8 hours a day, and I wouldn't mind if the baby is late. I just have to remember that God's timing is perfect and the baby will come at the right time.

What does modified mean?

On Wednesday I had a doctor's appointment. After three high blood pressure readings and three hours in the hospital being monitored, I was put on "modified" bed rest. These past few days I have really been struggling with what this means. I think its because I am so stubborn, and I don't want to accept that I am on bed rest. My mom has been helping a lot with Benjamin, but I hate just laying around while everyone else does things that I usually take care of. Although it is nice to not cook dinner every night.
Yesterday we actually got out of the house for most of the day,and honestly it wore me out. I think "modified" must mean bed rest without the bedpan, and I am starting to see how necessary it is. I just have to keep reminding myself that this is for the good of the baby, and I just pray that I can make it through the next four weeks without losing my mind.

Curious George

Today was a sick day for Benjamin. So, like any good parent, Jacob went out and got a stack of movies for Ben to watch. One was a Curious George video. I put it in to watch with Ben and the only word I can think of to describe it is "bizarre." It was some weird primitive claymation from the 80's. The story starts with "the man in the yellow hat" in the jungle. He sees George and says "look a monkey, I want to take him home." So what does he do? He lures the innocent George with his yellow hat, puts George in a burlap sack, and drags him onto a boat. The whole story gets better with George finding the man's pipe, smoking it, and hallucinating. Then George gets thrown in jail for dialing 911 on accident. I left the room after that, but Jacob assures me it remained just as "interesting." Ben loves Curious George and watches the Curious George movies at least three times a week. I thought the video we watched today would be a nice alternative, but I will gladly sit through the movie ten times a week than have to watch that bizarre video again.

April Fools

The only reason I can come up with for why it took 8 tries to get Ben to take a nap is that he was playing an April fools joke on me. I wasn't amused.

Little Chef

Ben's latest obsession has been cooking. I suppose this is my fault due to pregnancy cravings for anything baked. Or perhaps I should blame the baby. No matter whose fault it is, I have been baking a lot with Ben lately, and he has been loving it. Yesterday he woke up from his nap and immediately ran to the kitchen yelling "cook, cook!" So, I had to think of some way to get him involved in throwing chicken nuggets in the oven for lunch. He just watched. Later in the day we dyed Easter eggs. He was so cute in his apron dying the eggs, and just as I expected, the first hing he tried to do was crack the hard boiled eggs. At least he's learning something from all of our baking. While I was cleaning up Ben ran into the kitchen (still wearing his apron) grabbed two skillets, a pot, a bottle of syrup, and a box of tea and put them on the stove to cook something. I am sure someday he will be a great chef, but I am not too sure what he was planning on doing with the mixture of supplies he had.

Just Like Daddy

Ben will do things every once in awhile to be just like his dad. What Ben did today though definitely wins the prize for cutest and most unexpected. I brought Ben into the bathroom with me, and the first thing he did was grab my razor off the edge of the sink (it had a cover on it so he was safe), say "dad" and put it to his face like he was shaving. To make it even better when I turned on the water to wash my hands, he put the razor under the water and put it on his face again. That boy wants to be just like his dad, and it makes me smile.