An Update

Now that I've caught up on my posts, I wanted to share that I had my 34 week check-up and a follow-up ultrasound yesterday. Ms. Kim graciously kept Charlie for me, and I dropped her off around 1 pm so she would (hopefully) get a good nap in.

My ultrasound detected a couple things: my placenta is still low. This shouldn't be an issue as I'm already scheduled for a c-section. I will most likely go back for another follow-up ultrasound in a couple weeks and we'll keep monitoring it.

The other thing is that the baby seems to be measuring small, particularly in the abdomen area. Dr. Roth wanted me to stay and have a fetal non-stress test done (commonly called an NST) so that we could monitor her heartbeat and make sure she's active, etc. Well, I know for a fact she's active because she's waking me up all hours of the night (way more than Charlie ever did) but I called Vann and he picked Charlie up so I could stay.

Pretty non-eventful...everything was fine. I didn't leave the office until close to 7 pm. I was tired and hungry, but it was good to have the long train ride home to think and reflect on the day. Aside from the abdomen, the rest of the baby is measuring perfectly. She is around 4 pounds right now...but Vann and I know that we make small babies (Charlie was a flat 6 at birth) so I am honestly not concerned about her, with 5 weeks to go. Dr. Roth looked me in the eye and told me she was not worried. We will go back next week for another NST, but after that I will be seeing her once a week anyway, so it stands to reason I will be visiting her office quite a bit in the next month.

Life is so fragile, isn't it? I think that we all take it for granted that a healthy baby is a given. The nine months of pregnancy really are the ultimate test of trust. All we have to go on are some grainy pictures of her profile and a doppler reading on her heartbeat every couple weeks. You feel the affects of the changes going on in your womb: heartburn, pelvic pressure, shortness of breath, etc...but you don't really know this child until you are holding her in your arms.

As we near the final days of this pregnancy, I am struck at how miraculous and faithful God is. Lord knows, my prayer life has seen better days. I am often afraid that I have run out of God's grace...that I am nearing the end of His goodness. But I know that God doesn't work like that. He continues to knit together this tiny being in my belly and will be bringing her into this world in a short, short time. All that we can do is pray and prepare as much as is humanly possible.

Please pray for our little girl and her development in this next month! We are so excited to meet her and see her for the first time.

Wishlist Time

So anyone who knows me knows that I am TERRIBLE about buying things for myself around the holidays that might make great stocking stuffers (for me FROM Santa). Case in point: This heavenly Philosophy set at Nordstrom stopped me in my tracks last weekend when I spent the afternoon with Auntie Em, just divine!!!

My logic is, why wait until Christmas day when it makes more sense to get as much use out of this scent as POSSIBLE before the end of the year?? I didn't buy it...thought about it, but decided to wait. This is hard!!

Also at Nordy's, I stumbled upon this pair of eggplant-colored Uggs. I live in these boots for 3/4 of the year, so I think another pair is totally justifiable. However, Vann would murder me if I came home with them on my own, so these are on my actual wishlist for Christmas. I *heart* them!!

Chasing Kitchens

This darling kitchen is made by Kidkraft. Though this pic is from Chasing Fireflies, it's about $100 LESS on Amazon. Good thing to know as we are researching this purchase for Charlie. This one is high up on my list. (Ms. Leslie, this shout-out is for you! This catalog is like the Neiman Marcus Christmas Book for kid's stuff, isn't it??)

Charlie's Quick Change

Charlie and I had to make a run to the mall yesterday to check out Gymboree's new holiday line. Since we most likely won't be going to any parties/events this Christmas, we aren't in need of any "fancier" outfits...but I did want to get something festive for her to wear when the snow starts falling. After settling on this sweetness (minus the boots plus a different shirt)...

...she played in the playplace for a bit while Mommy sipped her latte. She's wearing two different dresses below because the sleeves on the first dress were simply not acceptable to her. I don't know who told her she was allowed to start having opinions about this kind of thing, but because this is a dictatorship, I simply told her that her attitude was not acceptable to ME.

And then changed her clothes so she'd stop whining.

Squirrels 1, Daddy 0

Poor Daddy. He spent all that time carving the perfect pumpin, and it took about 24 hours for our neighborhood squirrels to maul it...I think if Vann had a bb gun, he would have used it.

Before:

After:

Sunday

Sunday morning Charlie wore her smocked "witch" dress to church. This dress has been a source of conversation around here...as in:

Me: Are you going to be ok with Charlie wearing this dress to church?

Vann: It's fine, if you want your daughter wearing something so sacreligious to church...it's your call.

(Silence.)

Me: I laid out her white tights and black patent leather mary jane's to go with it.

After naps, we spent the evening at the Mouse House carving pumpkins. Of course, Charlie and Lauren's attention span for carving was all of fifteen minutes, so most of the time we visited and roasted marshmallows while the men toiled over which design they wanted to carve. Ms. Liz and I are married to perfectionists, so you know this process took some time. How lucky are we that we now have perfect pumpins!!

Catching Up...

So last weekend was a packed and crazy one!! Auntie Em met me downtown for some major shopping fun...MAC's first roll-out of their holiday palettes! It is a fall/winter tradition for us and this year did not disappoint. It was so wonderful to have some solid girltime with my SISTER...that's what she is, in every way. After we bought up the joint (not really, honey, that's a JOKE), we had a quick lunch and rode the train home together. Here's a sampling of what I brought home:

Dazzleglass in "Jingle-Jangle" (Thinking about getting another of these, the sparkle is AMAZING!)

Nail Lacquer in "$$$$$ Yes" (My new favorite color!)

When I got home, we regrouped and headed over to the Petkus house. Becky and Bret invited us over for dinner and we ended up bringing Charlie with us, which worked out perfectly because she always has an amazing time over there. I can't tell you how great it is for my soul to spend time with this family. I don't think I've laughed that hard in a long time. They are such a treasure to us!! Check out this pic of Charlie in the middle of Petkus WWF: