Stickers On My Belly

Bella has been more and more interested in my growing belly and the baby. We think she's pretty sure the baby is sprouting in my belly button, but it's fun to have her be involved. Last night, we were all playing on our bed and Bella was sticking stickers all over her face.

She decided that the baby needed stickers, too, so we got some cute pictures of Bella with her face covered in stickers and putting stickers all over my belly.

The little diva with apple and tree stickers all over her face!

Adding some special touches for the baby.

Decided that Daddy would nap much better with stickers on his nose.

Baby Happenings

I've been feeling the baby "nudge" for about a month now, but last night, Steve got to feel him for the first time! Those are always some of my favorite pregnancy moments - when Steve gets to be involved. The baby was spending most of his time sideways, but in the last week or so, he's been positioned up-and-down, so all of the nudges happen right on top of my bladder.

Thoughts on baby names...for a girl, we've been considering Penelope; and we'd call her "Pip." Is that too different? We're not sure...

(Full disclosure - we'd be stealing it from my cousin, but they live in New York, so I think we'd be okay.)

For middle names, we've been thinking about "Mae", "Jean", and "JoAnn" - all family names.

We can't wait to find out whether this baby is a boy or a girl, so we can know his/her name for sure!!! Our appointment is on the 14th...it's so hard to wait!

Vampires And Other Such Fun

We are finally getting mentally settled from Thanksgiving and traveling, and I want to catch up on some fun activities that I forgot to post about before we left for Ohio.

The Thursday before Thanksgiving was our annual Twilight premiere! We get a big group of (grown) women together, go out to dinner without children or husbands, and then stand in line for a ridiculously long time time to see the midnight premiere of the latest Twilight movie.

This year was just as much fun as all the others! I was a little nervous that "pregnant Katie" was not going to be able to stay awake for an 8:00 PM dinner let alone a midnight movie, but I survived just fine.

The very nice difference this year was that they let us wait IN the theatre seats instead of waiting in line outside or in the hallway. Since we act like highschoolers and get there two hours early, it was really nice (and warm!) to be able to pick out our seats early and relax!

The movie was fun and it was great getting to see girls that I rarely get to spend time with. We don't go expecting an Oscar winner; we just like to squeal like teenagers and hang out!

Mel and I at 2:30 AM...not too shabby!

Last Picture Of Fall

I know Fall is still here and we still have to celebrate Thanksgiving, but mentally, I'm on to Christmas. Steve and Mel are a little surprised that the house isn't covered in Christmas decorations yet; I blame the baby. We leave in just a few days for Ohio where we will celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas with Steve's family, making it even harder to care about Fall.

Before it goes away completely, here are my last picture I wanted to make sure I posted...

Bella's painted pumpkin from our Pumpkin Party...because that girl should never be trusted with a knife. ;)

Goodnight Moon

Bella is firmly in the "mine" stage, and every once in awhile she claims ownership of things that are either attached to someone else's body or simply impossible to get. Last night, as we got out of the car, she saw the moon. She reached up to the sky and yelled, "Ooohhhh! Moon! Mine! Mama! Mine!" I wish I had recorded her voice because she became extremely perturbed that I would not get the moon for her. It was a fun reminder that, as ornery as two-year olds can be, they can also be very funny and insistent!

And speaking of moons and bedtime...we got Bella a twin bed! The original plan was to wait until right before the baby was born, but we found an incredible deal on Craigslist and decided to do it now. As challenging as Bella has been at times, she has always been an amazing sleeper. Thankfully, this time was no exception. She loved the new bed and had no problem when we took her crib out of her room.

A trundle bed with a row of drawers on the bottom. Love it!

All cozy and asleep during naptime. Steve let me get the sheets that match her curtains; they have tiny owls and trees on them.

A Whole New Ballgame

I am not the kind of girl who loves school photos. I have years worth of coming-of-age, horribly embarrassing evidence to prove why. If I hadn't buried those pictures in the depths of the attic, I would pull them out to show you.

Becoming a mother has definitely changed that perspective. I don't think every picture of my child is stunning, but I loved her school pictures. When I showed up at the preschool office to check out her pictures, I expected to scan the one pose of Bella scowling at the camera and say a very kind, "No thank you." The school secretary suggested I take the envelope to the room next door so that I could spread them out for a closer look. I said okay and moved next door. When I took out all of the pictures, there were three different poses! (Can you sense the "sucker new mom" moment?) And they were all adorable!

I'm tempted to spy on the photographer the next time school pictures are taken, because if Steve and I had been there, no way Bella would have smiled so sweetly. And I DO have proof of that...

This is the face that we get if we try to take her picture.

How cute is she?!? I mean, come on! The little tilted head, the cheesy grin! So perfect! Further proof that we birthed an adorable little human!

I like to think of this one as her "dramatic heroin" pose. Complete with flowers and a pensive stare.

The smiling, wonderful monster that we all love! In person, this picture came out a little blurry around her face, but I love the shot of her giggling!

Our Second Midwife...

Last night, Steve and I met with our second potential midwife. We knew the questions we needed to ask and we were confident that both of us were on the same page about what we were looking for.

I had found this midwife, Debbie, over the internet after searching countless sites for midwife practices. She was very friendly and has about 12 years of experience. She started with letting us ask questions, so we repeated much of what we had asked Margaret the week before. I kept wondering throughout the entire meeting what Steve was thinking and which midwife he was favoring. I was really praying that God would align our hearts and minds on this issue.

As we left, I asked him what he thought and which one he preferred. Thankfully, we were both completely in agreement!

We definitely preferred the first midwife, Margaret! Ironically, what I first felt was a slightly colder approach, I now really appreciate as knowledgeable and professional. Since we are very new to the world of midwives and home births, Steve and I both feel that we need the guidance of someone who knows what she's doing. Margaret was able to suggest classes that would help us with nursing and childbirth, as well as give us suggestions for different aspects along the way. She seemed to be a good mix of letting us do what we felt and offering the support we need.

With Debbie, she was much more "feel-goody", which is not at all a bad thing, and in fact, it's exactly what many women are looking for. Steve and I definitely felt that she was of the mindset of "just do what your body is telling you" or "do what you feel." Since we have never experienced or witnessed a natural birth, I think we both would have felt like we were floundering and wondering why she wasn't being more proactive.

We are excited to have made our choice and move forward. We are now focusing on some logistics like finding a midwife or OB practice that will let us get some tests done at their facility without seeing us as full-time patients. I will see my OB for the last time next month in order to do my 20 week ultrasound and find out the baby's gender. (So excited for this!) For some of the tests that happen towards the end, we will find a doctor willing to do those. If the baby is a boy, we will also need to find a place to do a circumcision, etc.

So...here we go! Another plus of Margaret is that she comes to our house for each visit; how great is that!