28 Weeks and Counting

One week ago I officially hit the "28-week" mark in this pregnancy. Overall I have been feeling pretty good this time around, just bigger and more tired. The doctor at the 20-week ultrasound told us our baby is measuring in the 54%ile and will probably be 8+ pounds when he is born. Quite different from little Kayla at 6 lbs. 11.5 oz.! And yes, we're having a "he"! We are very excited. Just yesterday Kayla patted my belly and said, "baby brother". So sweet! (She really isn't going to know what hit her when this little guy arrives the first week in October, but I'm sure she'll adjust eventually!) One more fun thing the doctor said at the ultrasound was, "I can tell you with 99.9% certainty that this baby won't have any birth defects and 100% certainty that he is loved."

At my appointment yesterday, we found out I do NOT have gestational diabetes (thank goodness!) but that I am slightly anemic, which helps explain why I have been completely exhausted every day. So now I take an iron supplement which has already helped with my energy level. We even went for two walks today! The nicer weather also encouraged getting outside more today.

Here's the 28-week shot:

(Don't mind our boring tannish-white wall.)

And just for kicks, here's one of around the same week when I was preggo with Kayla. (This is the only one I have and it's not a very good comparison since it's slightly out of focus and I'm not standing at the correct angle. Also, it's on our anniversary and you can tell how excited we are about it!)

With the Recent Nice Weather...

We've been able to do some fun things lately when the sun decides to show its face. For Memorial Day we had a little BBQ with Braden's brother Randy. Braden, Kayla, and Randy enjoyed hanging out in the hot-tub. After dinner we all enjoyed ice cream cones. Kayla loved it!

The following Saturday was beautiful! It was in the 70's and we took advantage of the nice temperature and hiked the first 1.3 miles up Mount Si. (Kayla was getting whiny and my belly was getting achy so we didn't climb to the top.) You can tell we aren't used to the "heat" anymore by the glisten on our skin. Whenever we had boulders/steps to climb, Kayla would make grunting sounds as if she was the one doing all the work. Funny girl!

We spent that afternoon enjoying Slurpees and playing at a park. Kayla chased after a giant frisbee up and down a soccer field. We sure had a fun day!

Kayla's birthday weekend (cont.)

Here are a few more pictures from the weekend with my family. We loved being able to spend time playing at parks (when it wasn't raining), blowing bubbles, reading stories, and viewing some great Seattle attractions.

My dad took us to a German shop near Pike's Market and the nice German lady working asked us "Would the little girl like a wiener?" (spoken in a German accent of course.) Sure! Kayla loved eating that German hot dog! The weather was very nice when we went into Seattle on Saturday so we were able to enjoy great views from the Space Needle. We also walked around the grounds where there was a fair going on. It was huge and there were all sorts of interesting people there. We saw people dumpster-diving in the compost bins, and others asking people to sign petitions to legalize various drugs. Some people were dressed in Medieval attire, others wore top hats made of leather. We felt like we were back in Cambridge! I guess there are fun people-watching opportunities in most of big cities.

A Little Birthday Girl

Kayla celebrated her second birthday last week. She is growing up so fast! Kayla knows many of her letters and numbers, colors, shapes, animals (and their sounds), and can recognize songs from "Cinderella" and "Beauty and the Beast" on the car CD player. She is a very sweet girl who loves to laugh and is usually very good a sharing. Some of her favorite outdoor activities are playing at the playground (especially if there is a slide!), bubbles, and chalk. "Beauty and the Beast", "Cinderella", and "Shrek" are the top three movies Kayla asks to watch. She loves to help around the house. One day she spilled her yogurt everywhere while I was cleaning the bathrooms and I found her using some paper towels to clean it all up. We love this little girl who makes everyone around her happy!

My mom and little sister flew up from California to join us for Kayla's birthday celebration. On Wednesday morning Kayla had peach pancakes and OJ for breakfast. Then we all headed to the mall for her 2-year-old pictures. Then we got "moothies" (smoothies) from Jamba Juice for lunch so Kayla could go down for a quick nap before her well-baby check-up. She weighs 26 lbs. 2 oz. (50th percentile) and is 34 in. tall (50-75th percentile). She is developing very well and has almost all of the 2-year molars. After her appointment we went back home where my dad and Braden joined us after their days at work. We had some of Kayla's favorite foods for dinner: grilled chicken, broccoli, artichokes, grapes, garlic bread, and root beer. Kayla's Aunt Melanie brought her three boys over for cake/ice cream and presents. Kayla LOVED being sung to and blowing out candles (we had to re-light the candles several times to get one of these pictures, which our Little Miss thoroughly enjoyed). Now on to some pictures...

Easter 2011

We had a great Easter this year. Last year we were traveling back from Boston after attending MIT's open house for incoming LGOs. This year, though, we were able to enjoy a very sunny Saturday by going for a hike and grilling hot dogs for dinner. On Sunday Kayla had tons of fun finding plastic eggs with candy surprises inside, eating a delicious breakfast, going to Church, and having a yummy Easter dinner with family and friends, along with another Easter egg hunt. Kayla devoured all the candy she could find. Luckily several pounds of candy doesn't make her sick! Here are some pictures from the weekend...

Kayla with her Easter basket. She ripped into the Cadbury egg right away. Great breakfast!

Some of the eggs Braden and I decorated on Saturday night after Kayla went to bed. Notice the four top eggs? One for each member of our family :)

Do you like these little guys? They are bunnies and chicks! The kiddos loved eating them too!

Looking for and finding more eggs. She was determined to get more of that candy goodness!

Oh Kayla!

Kayla has been very busy lately. We moved her to a "big girl" bed last weekend. She's been doing great at falling asleep quickly and staying in bed rather than constantly climbing out (except one horrible naptime). She also really wants to be potty-trained, but we're waiting until we come back from Utah next weekend to get serious about that. Here's a few other things she's been doing...

decorating cookies for Spring (but her favorite part was eating the frosting!),

reading stories with Daddy,

picking out shoes to wear for a walk around the apartment complex (notice the 3-pound weight in the background? Kayla likes to workout to the Jillian videos with me!),

getting into Mommy's mascara and putting it on (by the way, black, waterproof mascara does NOT come off with baby wipes),

bear-walking on the way home from the playground,

and asking insistently to watch "Cinderella". This is Kayla right after she woke up this morning pleading to watch it. Luckily I already have that movie memorized so I don't mind having it on in the background all day. I wonder what her birthday cake will look like next month...

Skagit Valley Tulip Festival - More Dirt

Well, mud actually.  Luckily the rain broke long enough for us to check out the tulips, daffodils, and all manner of bulbs at "RoozenGaarde".  However, Tiff and Kayla decided to live by the motto of PITD and get covered in mud - see below.

The coolest part was seeing the swaths of bright red and yellow in the middle of the gloomy gray that is the Pacific Northwest this time of year

And this lady painting tulips in the rain - she loved her tulips

The rest was just enjoying springtime, and letting Kayla out to roam to her little heart's content!