NO WANT CLAUS!!

It sounded like a lot of fun to take Quinn to see Santa. He has seen Santa in movies and talks about him like he is an old buddy, however...

As soon as Quinn was within four feet of Santa he was crying hysterically, "Pleeease, no Claus! No want Claus!" As soon as we turned to walk away he yelled, "Bye Claus! Thanks! See you soon!" Travis called us a few minutes later and when he asked if he'd visited Santa, Quinn told him, "Cry, cry, cry. Nanta Claus." So I didn't end up with any pictures of Quinn with the big guy like I had hoped for. But we stopped by the Play Land while we were at the mall and I got a couple cute shots of him there:

After we got home, Quinn pinched his finger. I think he has the cutest little scrunched up face when he cries and asks for kisses, so I got the camera. When Quinn saw the camera -even thought he was still sobbing- he couldn't help but try his best to smile ("cheeeeese"). Super cute.

As soon as he was feeling better he was back off to his room to play. From the next room I asked him, "What are you doing?" and he said, "A doctor." Then, as proud as he could be, he came in to show me that he is Doctor Quinn... Medicine Baby!

Merry Christmas Tree

I sent Travis out to choose our Christmas tree this year. He came back with a tree that is perfect for our living room! He bought it on Saturday, but we just today got around to decorating it. Quinn could not love it more! I am trying to teach him not to touch the ornaments; his way around this rule is to act like he is smelling the tree, and then move around until he bumps into the ornaments with his nose!

I tried to teach Quinn to say, "Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas." Instead he walks around saying, "Ho, ho! Merry Christmas Tree!" (If those of you who aren't around him enough to catch all of his words were to hear it, you would hear, "Ho, ho! Mayee Mas-Mas Ree!") He is also very excited about the Christmas Stockings (Mas-Mas Tock-eens)! We are going to visit Santa for the first time tomorrow!

Today marks week 37 of this never-ending pregnancy! I love my baby so much, but HOLY COW... I AM SO READY TO HOLD HIM IN MY ARMS INSTEAD OF MY UTERUS!! Absolutely no progress, more annoying jokes about being pregnant forever, etc., etc. at the doctor's visit. I just have to keep reminding myself that it is going to happen, and it really can't last that much longer (deep breath). As long as he is not born on Christmas or during the Biggest Loser Finale, everything will be okay (and if he is born on one of those two occasions... I'll get over it)!

Baby-Legs

I started a "ten-minute" sewing project about and hour-and-a-half ago, and just now finished! All of the sideways sewing, unpicking, wrong-ways cutting, and trying to re-sew really added some time to a simple project!

Quinn was sound asleep by the time I was done making his new little "baby-legs", but after all the work I put into them I took a risk and changed him into them so that I could see my work serving its cute little purpose! (He slept right through it.)

Raw Potatoes

Today marks week 36 of pregnancy! I had an appointment with my doctor this afternoon and there was some good and bad that came out of it...

After checking me for progress, he said, "Well, it looks like you might just be pregnant forever." Yep, that's right, nothin's happening! But for the good news, he said that even though I have been losing weight, the baby is gaining weight and doing great! Quinn weighed seven pounds and four ounces when he was born, and Dr. Noorda says this one is noticable bigger. (I think his words were "not a monster, but a big baby.") I questioned his tentative idea of an induction on the 20th or 21st, and he said we can still aim for the twenty-first. He promised me that I will either be feeling better and keeping food down or else have a baby before December 22! I will be grateful for whichever of the options gets here first!

18 days to go (or, ya know, forever)...

It's time to get ready!!

Christmas is almost here!!

These are the stocking that I made this year!

An End In Sight

I had my thirty-four week checkup yesterday, and my doctor finally told me that he (AGAIN) will not be around for my due-date. I have been asking him at every visit what his plans are for Christmas time and he has always assured me (until now) that he will be the one to deliver Miles. He says he still plans to be the one to do it... as long as my body 'seems to be getting ready' on the 20th or 21st of December. That is the tentative weekend for an induction! So as far as I am concerned, I will have a brand new baby on the 20th or 21st of December! Otherwise some other doc will be the one... and I think I will find a new doctor if that happens; I chose Dr. Noorda as my baby-havin' doc because I want him to deliver my babies, not so he can plan vacations for my due dates! (He had a sudden family vacation to Hawaii the week that Quinn was due!)

Thinking back to when Quinn was born:

It was on a Saturday that I woke up and told Travis, "Honey, I am not sure what we are laying in; if I wet the bed I am SO SORRY!" Even though we weren't totally sure if my water had broke we decided to go up to Labor and Delivery and find out (I just kept thinking how embarrassing it would be to be wrong). Before we could head up there I was convinced that I needed to complete my Hospital Bag. The only thing from my checklist that I didn't have yet were toothbrushes for Travis and me. We lived about a block away from the Dollar Store, so I walked over to buy some. On my walk it became VERY clear to me that my water had indeed broke! With each step there was less and less doubt. I probably should have turned around and headed home, but... I decided that walking around the Dollar Store "like that" was okay in this situation. I even stopped to shop around! When I got home we called the hospital to let them know we were coming. They said we should hurry right up... but I wasn't ready quite yet. Being a baby magazine junky, I had read an article that said the only thing of your own that you are able to wear during labor is your bra. For some reason at that time, it seemed really important that I buy a new bra! So, we headed to Kohls to do some bra shopping!

Eventually we made it to the hospital (it was almost noon by then). That's when they told us that Noorda was in Hawaii and Dr Fowers would be delivering my baby. I had met him quite a few times before (he is one of three doctors in my doctor's office) so it really bugged me when he came in and introduced himself. HELLO.. if you have been down there you should at least remember that we've met! I hadn't had even a single contraction so they decided to give me an IV with pitocin to hurry things along. My nurse... well, what can I say about the first nurse? I'll just tell the story and you can probably get a feel for what I am trying to say... My nurse tried three times to put my IV in. The first time she went all the way through the vain, the second time something else, and another excuse the third time... she blamed my veins. She then told us that the policy was that after three misses another nurse would be in to try. The other nurse came in, told me how beautiful my veins were, and put in a painless IV within seconds! My nurse returned a minute later and I asked her if she would take a picture of Travis and me. She said, "Oh, I can't take pictures because of my tremors. The pictures turn out fuzzy because of how bad I shake. I will go get the other nurse again and she can take a picture for you." WHAT!? If you have horrible tremors then why the hell were you poking big needles in me??

Just got there; still going strong!

Drugged up... it's about time!

Moving on... after a LOOONNGG and HOOORRRIBBLE afternoon of declining the epidural (WHY WOULD I DECLINE THE EPIDURAL??) I finally agreed to it around 8 pm. After that time went by a lot faster! At 1:45 am Quinn arrived! He was absolutely gorgeous, but his head was SUPER cone shaped! Travis tells the story of watching him be born. He was an upside-down baby (face-up) and Travis said he saw his head and waited for his face... more head... more head... Where's my baby's face?? It was a lot better by the next day!

Check out that Cone-Head!

Our first family picture... with that one doc (have we met?)

They cleaned Quinn up and let me hold him for a few minutes. His breathing was kind of funny so they took him to the NICU. They said it was probably because it had been so long between the time my water broke and the time he was born. I will not be going bra shopping this time around! I spent a LOT of time hobbling up and down the halls to the NICU and back to my room for the next couple of days!

These are the machines that they had Quinn on for his first two days.

I told Travis and my mom, "No matter what I say in the future, please remind me that I don't ever want to go through this again! I am not just saying it, I really mean it. Please remind me that I don't want more kids." That was about a year before I was pregnant again!

So, this may sound strange, but it is really just starting to dawn on me that I am about to have a baby. Another one... Already!

A really good friend of mine just had her first baby (CONGRATULATIONS BRANDI AND RANDY!!) and Quinn was thrilled to meet the new little guy! At the doctor's office we sometimes see brand new mothers with their little ones and he is enthralled with them. He hushes people when babies are sleeping, and yells 'hello' and waves to every baby in the supermarket, but for some reason I am absolutely terrified that Quinn is going to hate the new baby that comes to live at his house!

And I admit it... I feel kind of GUILTY for having another baby so soon! Even though it is what we wanted, I feel like my time with Quinn is going to be interrupted, and that is probably not the way I should be looking at things! I am already wondering how I am going to handle being away from him when I am at the hospital with the new baby (I am more worried about how I am going to deal with it than how he will handle it!).

He loves to talk about "Baby Mouse" (that's what he calls Miles). He kisses my belly and tells it good-night. He is going to be such an awesome big brother! I really hope that he adjust quickly to the enormous change that is about to happen! His pediatrician said that most babies his age are used to the idea of a new sibling within a week... I really hope so!!

I worry about the silliest things! We all know that Quinn has an enormous head, but I am worried that Miles will have a normal sized head, or even worse, a small head! Why would I worry about that? Because think of all of the pictures of them together! It would look so silly! Not to mention that all of Miles' hand-me-downs are coming to him with stretched-out necks!

Sigh.