35 Weeks

Hi everyone, so it has been a while because we had some unexpected action at 33 weeks.  I was admitted to the hospital for 4 days because I was having contractions and in premature labor.  I was given Magnesium Sulfate through an IV to stop contractions.  After my contractions had stopped I was released and sent home on bed rest.

Daniel took two weeks off to be home taking care of Lola while I laid down and relaxed. Daniel's mom also came out for a few days to help with the work load.  It was hard to not be able to take care of Lola, but I am now 35 weeks and 1 day and haven't had the baby which is great news.  He is big enough now that if he is born he has great chances of being healthy.  Lola was born at 36 weeks and is wonderfully healthy so we can only hope for the same this time around.

I have been 3 cm dilated and 90% effaced for 2 weeks now so we will see if I have progressed at all when I have my doctor's appointment tomorrow.  I am feeling great though and Daniel is back to work so maybe he will stay in for a bit longer.

We will keep you updated on the progress and really appreciate all of the well wishes and support!

Lots of Love from all of us!

32 Weeks and holding....

Happy Thanksgiving!  Last night we celebrated at a community Thanksgiving dinner hosted by our friend Jessie and her family.  We all had a great time eating and Lola had lots of little children to play with.  It was really nice to spend the holiday with friends instead of at home by ourselves, since we couldn't fly back to Michigan.

Last week there was a little excitement with my pregnancy, I went in Friday night to the hospital because I thought that I was experiencing contractions.  That ended up being the case and they had to give me a shot of Tributaline to stop the contractions since I had dilated to 2 centimeters already.  I am now supposed to be relaxing as much as I possibly can with being a stay at home mom with a 2 year old... and Daniel is doing a great job of helping out as much as possible when he is home.

The goal is to make it to 36 weeks, when I had Lola!  Daniel is going to his interview with GE in Minneapolis December 10th and 11th, so hope for him to stay in until Daniel gets home.

Love to you all and we will update as things happen.

Jennifer, Daniel, and Lola

31 Weeks!

Things are keeping busy for us, I am now 31 weeks along and starting to feel contractions here and there.  They say that the second time around you can feel it more and that definitely seems to be the case.  Lola is getting really excited for her baby brother to come and I am full fledged nesting.  

We have the bassinet and car seat already and I am packing the bags for the hospital as we speak. It takes much more preparation the second time since we have to have the plan for Lola when I go into labor... which is hopefully not too soon.

Daniel is going to Minneapolis for his final interview with GE December 10th, we are excited and anxious since if her actually got the job we would have to plan a move with a 2 month old in tow. We will see what happens, but wish him the best because it is a job that he would really enjoy with a great company. 

Updates as they come, 

Jennifer, Daniel, and Lola   

29 Weeks!

Lola had a great 2nd Halloween this week.  She dressed as an elephant and we went out with a couple friends from play group.  They had a great time trick or treating on my friend Danica's block and surprisingly seemed to get the concept very well!  Lola had her first taste of Halloween candy, which she loved but luckily forgot about the next day.  We celebrate Daniel's Birthday that night with our friends and then Daniel and I got to go out on his actual Birthday the next day for a wonderful dinner at one of our favorite restaurants Clarklewis.

I went in for my 28 week check up last week.  All is well and measuring perfectly on track.  The doctor said that he is already in the head down position, so I have the go ahead to eat a lot over the next few weeks so he will gain extra weight since she thinks that he will very likely come early.  We will see!  The weight is starting to affect me more and I have been told to take it easy so there will be no more rides down the big slide at the park with Lola until our baby boy comes. 

Daniel is scheduled to go out to Minneapolis for an interview early December...I will continue to keep you updated on that job prospect as the time comes near.  Hopefully our house will sell in time if he gets the job and we have to move.

Love to you all!

27 Weeks... the third trimester!

Wow, I am officially in the third trimester!  I am growing more and more as you can tell from the picture and he is not letting up on the kicking at all.  Now when I watch my belly it is moving around and I see little feet and elbows poking out left and right.

We had a great time last weekend at our friend Danica's Halloween party!  There was a magician, llama's and tons of cookies and candy right at Lola's grabbing height:)  She has probably never had that much sugar in her life, but she certainly had a great time.  She loved the llama's as you can see from the picture, and Daniel loved its name... Einstein of course.

News in Daniel's job search is that he might have an in person interview with GE in a couple of weeks in Minneapolis.  Keep your fingers crossed for him since it would be a great job, and if you are one of the few that live by us right now I know that you will secretly hoping we stay in Portland.

I will keep you all posted on the updates with myself and Daniel's job prospect. Love you all and I will write again next week.

26 Weeks!

Well I am now 26 weeks and much bigger than two weeks ago as you can see!  He is kicking me all the time, especially at night when I am trying to sleep :)  He is a really strong kicker, so probably going to be much more active than our calm little Lola was.

I had a really great week, Lola and I had tons of play dates at friends houses and the community center.  It was nice to be around so many friends this week, both for Lola and I.  Lola has really gotten attached to her friends and has started giving them hugs and kisses when she sees them. It is really cute and she just seems to get older every minute of the day.

Daniel is back on a regular schedule at work which has allowed us to have fun weekends... tomorrow we are going to a pumpkin party with Lola and we might go up to Washington next weekend to pick some apples and visit Seattle again.  This time of year here is so much fun... when it is not raining too much.  Lola is going to be an elephant for halloween, we will post pics when she wears her costume.

We started to get stuff together for our little boy since if I go into labor four weeks early like I did with Lola that would only mean 10 weeks left to go (scary and exciting.)  

Love from all of us!

24 Weeks

So it has been a couple of weeks since I last wrote and all is still going well!  We have been trying to get a little ready for our new boy to come so we painted our bedroom which has been on the list of things to do for quite a while now.  It feels so much bigger now that we have a lighter color in there and well worth the work... now we just have to get to painting the ceiling.

Daniel was teaching Lola to golf this week,  It was so nice with the cooler fall weather that we had a ton of fun playing in the backyard and picking up apples with Lola.  She loves to compost the apples, a true Portlander :)  

Daniel is starting back on a regular Monday through Friday work schedule this week, no more nights (yay!).  That will help us get back into our normal schedule with Lo and maybe I will get a little more much needed sleep.

For the first time I think Lola really understands that she has a baby brother coming, she put her own baby inside her shirt this week and was walking around like she was pregnant.  When she pulled it out she said it was her baby brother, and now she wants him to come out of my belly... but I told her she has to wait a bit longer.

Love from all of us!

22 Weeks

I am 22 weeks today and so excited for are boy to come in January.  We have been painting our room this week to get it ready for the new baby.  We have been in our house for almost a year now and thought that maybe now would be a good time to get it done before we have an addition to our room.  Once we are done painting we will set up the crib to see how everything fits.  The baby will be in our room until he is old enough to share with Lola in her room.

Lola has been learning more and more words every day.  She is moving on to small sentences now, and a lot have to do with the exciting big girl bed that hasn't lost its intrigue yet.  She will go up to her bed and say "big girl sleepy here, " she is so proud!

Daniel and I had a nice dinner out the other night just the two of us while a friend watched Lola.  She has a son Julian who is only 3 weeks older than Lola and they just love playing together.  She had so much fun she didn't even miss us, which is a good thing :)  They are in the picture above.

Other than that all is well and moving along.  

Love from all of us.

21 weeks...

We had a major milestone this week... Lola is now sleeping in her new bed!  We put it together as a family the other night and weren't even planning on having her sleep in it yet.  Lola was so excited and yelling "big girl" that she basically forced us to let her sleep in it.  Well three nights later she has slept in her new bed as though it were her crib and the crib is gone.  I think it was the easiest transition into the bed that we could have asked for and she was obviously ready for it.  I don't think potty training will be the same, but no complaints here.

I am doing well, growing and growing.  We are excitedly looking at baby boy things which is a fun change from all the girly-ness that has filled our lives for the past two years!  Sleeping is getting more difficult as our little boy likes to kick all night long, and he is definitely strong. He kicks much more than Lola so I think we will have an active baby!

Love from all of us, 

Jennifer, Daniel, and Lola

It's a boy!!!!!

So I went to my 20 week appointment and ultrasound today and we are having a boy!!!  We are so excited that Lola will have a baby brother.  It will be nice for us to have one of each and we couldn't be any happier.  On top of it all the baby is perfectly healthy so far and all of the measurements and blood work look great...I hope that it keeps up!

Daniel has had to go onto a new schedule for work for a couple months of training, which means night shifts.  It will be a change for all of us, but it is only temporary and will be done before our new little boy comes.

We love everyone and wish the best of luck to Arlene and Jen who are both due with their little boys soon!

Love from all of us!

Ups and Downs, Week 18

So this week was very eventful... Becca was in town all week which was very exciting.  We had a great time together and Lola was so sad when I had to take her back to the airport today, she loved having her godmother in town to play with!  

My sciatic has been acting up which has made the day to day a little more difficult picking up Lola and having the energy to run around.  I am hoping that i will grow out of it eventually, since I did when I was pregnant with Lola. 

On a sad note, my Grandma passed away this Thursday from a long battle with cancer.  She was an amazingly inspirational woman that spent her life devoted to taking care of her family.  I can only hope that I can come close to being as loving a mother, grandmother, and great grandmother as she was.  I will be heading to California this Sunday for the funeral and to spend time with my dad and family.

Love to all of you, 

Jennifer, Daniel, and Lola

16 weeks!

From the lovely picture that I took of myself with the computer, you can clearly see that the baby belly is now growing!  Wow, that makes it a reality.  I am 16 weeks now and we set our appointment for September 3rd to have our big ultrasound and find out the sex of the baby.  

We are really excited and I can not wait to find out so we can be able to tell Lola if she is going to have a baby brother or sister.

It is back to the normal schedule now that Daniel is back to work...meaning playgroups and the such for Lola and I.  We will see how much I grow by next week, it seems to be coming on fast and the half way point is almost here...scary :)

Love, 

Daniel, Jennifer, and Lola

15 Weeks

So I think the keyword this week is food...I am starving all the time now.  I am assuming that will mean my bump will start growing soon due to my new found appetite.  As for cravings go, I made a fabulous caprese salad the other night!  We have great heirloom tomatoes right now in Oregon so I had to take advantage of them.  It seems i am starting to get a baby bump now which is exciting, it makes it more of a reality that I am pregnant.

Daniel is off this week so we are enjoying a "staycation" as everyone says.  Just hanging out in Portland and doing some of the things that we haven't been able to do with our friends.  I will have an appointment next week to get blood-work done and then the following appointment in 4 more weeks will be the big ultrasound where we will find out if it is a boy or a girl.

I am feeling good but tired and Lola's new found voice (yell) is giving me a run for my money, but we are happy and healthy so that is all that matters.  We love you all.

Jennifer, Daniel, and Lola!

14 Weeks

Well we have all been having a lot of fun this past week.  As you can see Lola had a bunch of her friends over for play group this wednesday!  That had fun playing in the water and running around.  They all seem to be getting so big so fast.  It is hard to believe that Lola will be 19 months in a week.  She has also be into doing some yard work as you can see...or undoing it.  

Daniel has had some long days at work and coupled with a bad spell of teething we are a little worn out and looking forward to the weekend.  I have been feeling good, but tired.  Whoever says that the second trimester is great and you loose the first trimester fatigue isn't taking care of a 18 month old on top of being pregnant.  Over all though there is not much to complain about.

This week is the last week of Lola's music together class, which means I no longer have to sing and dance at 9 in the morning while Lola stares at me like I am crazy :)  Daniel is taking her this tuesday and will probably be more enthusiastic than I am.  Yay to the fact that this week has not been in the 90's...I think that is the most exciting thing about this week.

I had and appointment Monday and we heard the babies heartbeat... nice and strong.  Lola thinks the doctor is hurting me when she listens for it and yells ow!  Lola kisses my belly and hugs her baby brother or sister so hopefully she is taking to being a big sister and will have fun when the new baby comes.  Love you all.

Entering the second trimester...

Well I am now halfway through my twelfth week of pregnancy which means I am entering the second trimester... wow that went by fast!  I am feeling great and am just enjoying watching Lola grow up so fast.

We went to the zoo the other day and Lola absolutely loved it.  The Portland zoo is great because it is not too big, but they have some great exhibits.  I think her favorite was the fish exhibit... clued in by the fact that she was yelling "FISH" over and over and cried when we wanted to go.  Too bad their isn't an aquarium in Portland :)

Since I have been feeling well we have been working on our yard and our neighbors seem happy so it must look a little better.  We have a long way to go but we are getting there.  At least all of the random potatoes in the back yard from the previous owner are pulled out! 

We are just enjoying the fabulous Portland summer, not much news which is good news!   Love you all.

Jennifer, Daniel, and Lola

Wow, It is hot!

Hi all, so I am 11 weeks pregnant now and the time seems to be going by faster than with Lola.  That would be because Lola is keeping me really busy, and I am working at home writing the blog for Little Urbanites.  It is so much fun to write the blog and it means I actually have a job that uses my English degree :) 

It has been so hot in Portland this week...98 degrees the other day and we don't have air conditioning.  So our focus this week has been staying cool.  We went to Jameson Square a couple of times so that Lola could play in the fountain, which you can see in the picture!  She loves the water, but spent the whole time saying "ball" and trying to play with the other children's toys.  We have to work on the sharing thing since that will become important really soon.

I am still feeling pretty well, other than a bit hot...I hope that lasts.  Lola is saying so many words and acting more and more like a toddler (fun and hard at the same time).  Daniel has been working on getting our front yard together, we will show the pics when it is all done since currently we have no plants at all.  He is taking great care of Lola and I, I wish he never had to go into work!

We all have to get ready because Lola has a photo shoot for the Little Urbanites website, we will see if she will cooperate with the camera.  If she does and gets on the website I will let you all know so that you can see the pictures.

We love you all and will post again soon.

Introducing the new addition to our Oregon family...

As you can tell from the ultrasound picture... we are pregnant again!  I am 10 weeks pregnant to date and feeling much better than I did last time around.  There will be a new baby brother or sister for Lola expected to arrive January 19th.  Well we know that Lola decided to come 4 weeks early last time, so lets hope this one stays in a little longer so that they don't have the exact same birthday:)

We had our first doctor's appointment today!  This baby was being stubborn and wouldn't let us hear the heartbeat with the doppler, so we ended up having an ultrasound done.  Now we have the first picture of our 1 inch little one and know that everything is perfectly on track!

I had a lot of nausea from about weeks 5-9, but things have been looking up and I have been feeling really hungry lately and less nausea.  Lola is as excited as she can be about the baby coming, of course she doesn't completely get the concept yet.  Daniel has been told by Lola that he has a baby in his stomach too... maybe she knows something that we don't! 

We will keep everyone updated on the process as it goes along and can't wait to have another addition to our wonderful family! 

Love from all of us, 

Jennifer, Daniel, and Lola :)