False Alarm

I really thought I was going to have a baby today. This morning at 4, I started to get pretty strong contractions regularly. By 6 in the morning, I was getting them almost every 10 minutes and at about 6:30, it went to every 20 minutes. At about 7am, the contractions stopped. Bummer. I was so ready to have my little man. Oh well. I just hope he doesn’t decide to come when M is away in El Paso.

I took Friday off because the boys had a book parade at school and I wanted to be there for that.  Surprisingly, I convince M to come along and watch teh boys in the parade. Matthew dressed up in his ninja costume as Flat Stanley from “Flat Stanley and the Japanese Ninja Surprise.” Michael went in a striped shirt and shorts as Greg from the “Wimpy Kid Diary.” It was nice and simple.

Since I had the day off, I also went and had lunch with my little men. McDonald’s for both!

Lunch with my little man

Lunch with my other little man

38 Weeks!

I am officially 38 weeks pregnant. My aches and pains have inexplicable gotten a little better. Maybe Mark has dropped? I don’t really know, but I’m very thankful that I don’t feel like crying every time I have to move around.


We are so ready to meet this little man. I think Matthew is the most excited. He kisses my belly every day because Mark is in there. Not only does he kiss my belly, he likes to lift my shirt up to kiss my bare belly. I’ve had to tell him that he can’t do that when we are out in public because, frankly, no one wants to see my big, bare belly.

We have 8 more days to go. I’m still not sure if I’m ready to not be pregnant anymore. I love being pregnant. I love feeling my baby kick and move around, but at the same time, I can’t wait to hold my little one and kiss him, smell him, and just be with him.

We got a couple of pictures of his face last Thursday and it looks like he has some really chubby cheeks. Dr. says he’ll be about 8lbs, but I’m hoping since we are inducing a week early, he will be a little bit smaller than that.

A couple of stats from my last visit – heart rate was 142 and my weight was 162. I still gained over 40 lbs, but I think it’s better than my previous pregnancies.

We have another weekly appointment with Dr. New tomorrow and M will get to be there again. Hopefully, we’ll get another peek at his chubby little face. Yay!

38 Weeks and 1 Day.  Photo by Matthew Fisher

Pumpkin Farm Time

What did we do this weekend? Less soccer than I thought we would have. In fact, Michael mentioned to me that he hasn’t had a chance to play as much soccer as he’d like. One game a week is apparently not enough for him. I had actually braced myself for 3 soccer games, but it turns out that 1 game got cancelled and 2 were at the same time, so we only had one game this week.

Both boys did really well at soccer. Matthew played goalie for a quarter and made some good stops. He also scored a goal, which made me so proud. Michael’s Odyssey team lost their first game this season, but Michael played a fantastic game. In fact, Coach Paddy remarked on how well he played.

It was a pretty quiet weekend. We did go to the pumpkin farm for the boys, but it was a pretty mellow visit. We decided to go a smaller pumpkin farm closer to our house. It was not as exciting and there were not bounce houses, but there was a huge corn maze that Matthew and Michael got to go through. We went around taking pictures and got ourselves a bag of fresh kettle corn. It was delicious!

37 Weeks

I’m having a hard time deciding whether I’m ready for my Mark to come. Yes, the aches and pains are bad and getting a good night sleep is difficult now, but I love being pregnant. I love being able to see my little one move around and pull away when I poke him. And mostly, I love not having to wake up for night feedings!

My ligament pains are still around. Some days are worse than others. I get the worst pains at night when I’m ready for bed. Mornings are better.

We have our weekly appointment tomorrow morning and I’m excited that M can go with me. I’m hoping we can finalize the date and time to go in for the induction. I’m also excited for M to see the little stinker!

37 Weeks

It's Friday

Happy Friday! I can’t believe we are already halfway done with October! Oh-and I’m officially 35 years old as of Monday. Crazy. We didn’t do much. My in-laws took us out to dinner to the kids’ favorite Italian restaurant so that was nice. They also gave me some cash so I bought a couple of things for the house, and some new pajamas and a robe to take with me to the hospital.


My mom got me some diamond solitaire earrings that she’ll bring over when she comes to help with the baby in November. I’m a little nervous about them because I’m notorious for losing earrings that have value. These might just stay in the safe.

I have lots on my “to do” list this weekend, but I’m afraid that my issue with the round ligament pains will prevent me from doing most of it. I consider myself to have high tolerance for pain, but this thing is kicking my butt. I’m so frustrated that I can’t do as much as I’d like to and move as fast as I’m used to.

Michael is going to Six Flags this weekend for a friend’s party and staying overnight so we’ll just have Little J this weekend. I think he’ll miss his big bro, but I think it will be good for both of them to be separated once in awhile.

36 Weeks and Round Ligament Pain - Oh, It's Real.

So I’ve been saying that I don’t have much to complain about with this pregnancy. Not so true anymore. I’m in major pain with severe round ligament pain or something else. It’s been really bad this past week to the point I’m afraid to get up to go to the bathroom. Walking up and down the stairs is torture. I can’t even move around in bed without getting hit with the stabbing pain. I’m so ready to have this baby. 39 weeks can’t come quickly enough.


I had my 36 weeks appointment this morning and Dr. new did some measurements on Mark. He’s about 6.5 lbs. now and Dr. New is predicting that he’ll be a little over 8 lbs. at 40 weeks. Please get him out before he reaches 8 lbs.! We are scheduling for induction on the 3rd. Dr. New also remarked that his one has a big noggin – just like his big bro Matty.

Other than the ligament pains, everything else is fine – Mark is healthy. His heartbeat is at 150bpm and is looking good. My weight is at 162 (Yikes!). My goal this weekend Is to get my hospital bag packed and all baby clothes washed. I have to get his “going home” outfit embroidered with his name on it. I’m hoping to get it done this week.

It’s starting to feel a lot more like fall here lately! It rained last weekend and last night. Glorious, cooling rain! It was so nice to sit around the house, and watch the water coming down. Our lawn and trees definitely need it.

Our house is starting to look a lot like fall too. I’ve got my fall wreath up, my mantle decorated, and have different fall décor throughout the house. Blame it on the nesting. It’s a shame that all this will have to go down after Thanksgiving to make room for Christmas. Which reminds me – I need to go buy that Christmas tree from Costco before it sells out! That’s another “to do” this weekend.

I’ve decided to go with a big artificial tree for the living room and a smaller real one for our family room. Yes, it sounds a little much, but I can’t forgo the real tree smell. This way, they kids can make and hang whatever ornaments on the tree in the family room, and I can decorate the living room tree with fancy color themed goodness. It’s the best of both worlds!

35 Weeks

We are 35 weeks pregnant! We’ve decided to plan this one out and have Mark induced on 11/2. M was hoping for 11/1 or 11/11, but those dates did not work out. Hospital policy won’t let us induce before 39 weeks and the doctor says that 11/11 is too far out for induction. Of course, all this might not mean anything because he can decide to come earlier.


I had my Dr.’s appointment this morning and everything looks great. Mark’s heartbeat is at 150bpm and my weight is about 158. I got a little peek at Mark and, oh my, he’s got chubby cheeks. He had his little arm slung across his eyes, but we got a pretty close look at his cute little face. I can’t wait to meet this little man! Just four more weeks.

Matthew is just so excited for his baby brother! He keeps asking me how much longer and says that he’s going to teach him to do all sorts of things. I’m also very excited to see the boys’ reaction to Mark. I have a feeling that they will be bored of him in a couple of days once they realize that he doesn’t do much but sleep, eat and cry.

Soccer, Soccer and more Soccer

I am exhausted from this weekend – 4 soccer games and 1 hospital tour, plus all the regular weekend errands. I had planned to do some fall planting, but I was just too tired and took a much needed nap instead. Our wreath is up on our front door, so we are getting there.


Michael started his first 2 games with his new Academy team. On Saturday, he played a great game with his recreation team and scored 3 goals for the Star Jets.

In his 1st game with his Odyssey team, he didn’t do so well. Since it was a much more competitive league, he only got to play a couple of minutes and he looked confused most of the time. In his 2nd game on Sunday, he did much better. He got to play the whole game and did very well. He scored his 1st goal. We were so proud.

We finally took a tour of the hospital where we will be delivery little Mark so we know where to go when I go into labor. This makes me feel better. I will be very happy when we decide on the date to induce. That way there is one less surprise to worry about. My next Dr. appointment is this Wed. so I’m hoping that we can come to a decision then.

The weather was so beautiful this weekend that we spent most of the day outside on Sunday. We are so enjoying our backyard. Kids love to play ball out there and me and M just sit around watching TV, reading and hanging out under our covered patio. We had both lunch and dinner out there on Sunday and I only got bit once on my foot. I’m looking forward to more weekends with this weather!

Michael looks like he's about to poop in his pants!

Matthew decided to try out Michael's baby bowling shirt from when he was a year old. 
Scary thing is that it sort of fits him at the age of 6...