We are still patiently awaiting the arrival of Baby Brother but have been doing lots of things to try and stay busy and invite him to leave Andrea’s tummy. I am typically a very doting husband, but lately I have been a real jerk, making Andrea do lots of work so she will have this baby.
We have been going on really long walks to help encourage Andrea into labor. So far it hasn’t worked, but we are still walking. One walk was so long I rigged this system to pull Addie’s bike behind me so she could work on her bike riding skills.
Going for long walks
On Monday we went to the Texas Rangers game to see Juli sing the National Anthem. She did a GREAT job, and yes, I made Andrea walk down the 50 ramps to get down from our seats. It was Addie’s first baseball game and she did great (Thank you peanuts).
At the Rangers Game
Today I took some photos of Andrea so we could remember her belly. She is getting really big, but it is all right out front. If you look at her from behind you would have no idea she is pregnant. As always Andrea looks beautiful, but it is obvious she is miserable and ready to have this baby.
Andrea at 9 Months
Keep checking the blog, hopefully we have good news soon. She isn’t due until May 18, but she is dilated and going the right direction so fingers crossed it happens soon.
I promise not to make this too graphic, but I was thinking today about the reasons I loved nursing Adelyn. I know lots of people can’t or don’t want to nurse their babies, and I respect the many reasons for this. But I made a goal to nurse for at least 6 months because of the health benefits to the baby, and as time went by, there were many more reasons to keep going. Here are my top 10, in no particular order.
1. Baby formula smells raunchy. When Addie doesn’t finish a bottle, I hate pouring it in the sink because the smell wafts up and makes me gag. Don’t even talk to me about when you accidentally leave the formula in there for a while. Gross.
2. Cleaning bottles. Your dishes double when your baby is on the bottle. And frankly, I don’t have the patience to clean the dishes that I use, much less all the dishes that come along with bottles.
3. Decreased chance of breast cancer for me. I just learned about this one, but it made me feel good.
4. Protection from sickness. Addie has been a very healthy baby, despite ME getting sick three times since she was born. I attribute that to the antibodies that come through breast milk.
5. Cuddle time in the morning. Addie is a very vivacious baby, and hardly sits still for more than 2 minutes. This made nursing during the day difficult, because she got too distracted by stuff going on. But in the morning, first feeding of the day, I usually nursed in bed, with her next to me, and she actually cuddled me (although her legs still kick like crazy). I love cuddles from her, because they are so few and far between.
6. Weight loss. I was able to eat like a starving animal for 10 months, and not gain any weight. I will now be weaning myself from this diet plan.
7. Financial savings. Breast milk is free and easy to transport. Who can argue with this one?
8. I met lots of new friends in the nursing lounge at church. Which was good because we just moved into the ward right before Addie was born. Thanks for all your advice, girls!
9. Nursing makes middle-of-the-night feedings a whole lot easier. Especially when you live upstairs and the bottles/formula/sink is downstairs.
10. I honestly loved knowing that I was giving my baby the best food I could offer. It may not have been enough to carry her to a year (we had to start supplementing with formula at 9 months because she wasn’t gaining weight fast enough), but I’m proud of myself for getting this far. It was pretty hard in the beginning, and there were definitely some downsides, but I’m glad I stuck with it.
This morning Andrea had the hiccups while she was feeding Adelyn. Adelyn thought her hiccups were so funny. Watch the video to see.
Adelyn also turned eight months old today!
Well, we survived Zac’s first business trip of the year. Zac travels probably 50% of the time during the summer months, and last week was the first trip he’s been on since Adelyn was born. I was pretty nervous that I would go crazy without him here to help me out in the evenings. I really depend on him to help out when he gets home from work, because I’m usually pretty worn out by then. Poor guy, he doesn’t really get much of a break. But he is so great with her, and it is fun for me to see them together.
So we spent a couple nights at my parents house, and a couple at ours. We spent the days shopping for home decor (our bare walls are starting to drive me crazy) with Grandma Norrie, and tried to stay busy so that the time would go by faster. We went to Southfork Ranch in Parker, Texas, which is where the TV show “Dallas” was filmed. Well, actually only the outside scenes. So we drove around, looked at a few barns, horses, pastures, and the outside of the house. We looked at the inside of the house too, but since all the indoor scenes were filmed on sound stages in LA, the inside of the house was nothing like it was on the show. And I’ve never seen the show anyway, so it was just any old house to me. Except that it was decorated in the most gaudy, 80s styled decor you’ve ever seen.
Update on Adelyn: she turned 6 months old on May 5th, she was 13 lbs 7 oz, 25.5 inches long, and took her shots like a champ.
She is sitting up so well!
Sitting up!
She loves to chew on EVERYTHING, including when she can’t find anything else, her toes:
Trying to eat her toes
She loves baby food! She cannot get enough of it, and eats every drop I ever offer her. She has tried peaches, sweet potatoes, and squash so far. She is a screecher, and often calls attention to herself at most public places such as grocery stores, malls, and even church, by screeching at the top of her lungs. But she’s just so cute, you can’t help but smile:
Not quite crawling
And her latest trick: Spitting. She gets drool all the way down her shirt when she does this, but I think it’s so funny.
Lastly, we went to a Mavericks game last week, and had a blast! We went with Ron, Lisa, Jake and the Blakes from the stake. It was a heartbreaking loss, by 1 point in the last second, but it was a really fun game! And it was good to go out with my hubby again. Here are some pics:
Which way to victory?
American Airlines Center
We thought we had it
We had a great time
Thanks for letting us come Ron and Lisa!
