this just in

Julianna seems to think that whenever she gets the hiccups it is the baby in her belly trying to get out.  

It's so adorable, I just can't argue with her.

it would more likely be a train instead of a tractor

Julianna's been talking about looking things up on the computer a lot lately.  And really, she's gotten pretty good at using the mouse and clicking through You Tube videos of every Disney Princess you can imagine.  In fact, she actually printed a bunch of colored "Goofy pages" the other day on my parents computer in the three minutes that she was alone in the room. 

However, if she ever does this I might just give her away on Freecycle.  Just kidding.

for those of you with young children

When do kids learn how to swing by themselves?  I mean like propel the swing by pumping their legs and leaning their torso backwards.  'Cause it's about time my daughter figured it out.  Before I get huger and lazier.  I'm just saying.

say cheese

Yeah.  We just had Julianna's three year old pictures taken last night and it went about as well as expected.  Let's just say I shouldn't have bragged on her behavior at the doctor's office earlier this week.  

Perhaps the most amusing part was when Jules wanted to use the photographer's camera.  The girl told her that if she would do what she asked for just a few more pictures, then Jules could take her picture.  So at the end of the session, Julianna got ahold of my camera and told the photographer where to sit and how to stand while she took her picture.

Only my child.  Yes, of course.  Only my child.

pregnancy is like a box of chocolates

Last week I had a routine doctor's appointment to check the baby and the progress of my pregnancy.  It was also time for me to have the AFP testing done which is a totally optional blood test that checks for neural tube defects and chromosomal abnormalities in the baby's development that lead to things like Down's Syndrome or Spina Bifida.  I opted to have the blood test done figuring that it was better to have more information than not enough and hey, it was free so why not? 

 

When we got the results Sunday evening the doctor told my husband that the hormone levels showed a slightly elevated risk for us having a Down's Syndrome baby.  He explained that we had a couple of options.  One was to do nothing and carry on with the pregnancy as usual with the elevated risk.  Another choice was to get a Level 2 ultrasound done and meet with a genetic counselor to discuss the findings that they see during the scan.  The last option that the doctor gave us was to go ahead and do an amniocentesis which is where they insert a needle to draw out amniotic fluid and give us a 100% answer as to whether or not the baby would have Down's Syndrome. 

 

The first two options carry no risk to the pregnancy, but the amniocentesis poses a small risk of miscarriage or even minor complications for the pregnancy like bleeding or leaking amniotic fluid.  The doctor also told us that because I had had a previous miscarriage my risk might be slightly higher of a repeat miscarriage. 

 

Jonathan and I briefly discussed the call (as he was out of town working) and both knew immediately that even if it was going to be a Down's baby we wouldn't terminate the pregnancy.  My gut instinct was also to not do ANYTHING that would put me at risk for a miscarriage.  I figured that if God wanted us to have a special needs child, then that's what we'd have and He would equip us to handle it.

 

As far as the Level 2 sonogram went, I had never heard of it, but I'm all for getting the most information possible if there's no drawback to that and since this is what the doctor recommended, that is what we decided to do.  Our appointment for the scan was yesterday and honestly, I really wasn't even nervous.  I knew that the risk was very small.  The doctor had said that a normal woman my age would have a 1 in 700something chance of having a baby born with Down's Syndrome but my chance was 1 in 265. 

 

We had to go to a different office since my regular OBGYN didn't rountinely do Level 2 ultrasounds.  When we got there we had to fill out tons of paperwork and then wait for the genetic counselor.  She finally called us back and we talked with her about our family history in detail and about the results from my bloodwork.  Then she told us a little bit about a normal baby's development and the development of a Down's Syndrome baby.  I actually learned quite a bit and found it all pretty interesting. 

 

After talking with her I realized just how low a risk I had of having a DS baby and also how low a risk there was of miscarriage from an amniocentesis (0.3% - 0.5%).  I knew the scan would tell us more so I was anxious to get that done.

 

Then we had to go back to the waiting room and wait for the ultrasound technician.  Did I fail to mentionthat we decided to bring Julianna along for this appointment?  Well, we did.  I wanted to give her a chance to see a "picture of the baby" and if the rest of the pregnancy was normal then I knew this would be the last chance.  Anyway, it was a long, long, long, wait for a 3 year old to hang out in a doctor's office waiting room and idiot that I am, I had forgotten to bring any type of snack or toy for her to help pass the time.  Considering that the appointment was the first one of the day, I had no idea we would be there for 3 hours.  I assumed wrong.

 

Once we were called back for the Level 2 ultrasound I was so thankful.  It was actually a friend of ours who did the scan which made me very comfortable and because she was getting so much information for the doctor to analyze, it was a very long ultrasound.  We saw every side of the baby and what seemed like from every angle.  We told her that we didn't want to know the sex of the baby and she said she could tell which it was but she did not tell us.  I am excited about having a surprise since I know that this will be my last baby.

 

Julianna was pretty interested in the screen the whole time (and she took about 30 minutes to do the whole thing).  I think it made the idea of a  baby brother or sister seem a little bit more real to her so that is good.  We also got lots of cute pics of our babe. 

 

After the u/s tech left the room we waited for the doctor to look over the pictures and then come talk to us.  When she came in the room she didn't even sit down and Jonathan says that's how he knew that there wouldn't be a whole lot for her to say to us.  She told us that everything looked normal - no holes in the heart, normal neck thickness, normal kidneys, etc - and she said the baby seemed to be developing normally.  I had to sign some paperwork saying that I didn't want an amnio after that and then we were good to go.

 

It was a great appointment despite it taking three hours and I was really proud of my daughter for hanging in there for so long having to be quiet and sit still.  She wasn't perfect, but she did a great job waiting for that long considering the fact that she's only three and hadn't eaten since 7:30 that morning.  We got some really nice clear pictures of the baby and even a couple in 3D and most importantly the reassurance that we will likely have a healthy baby in October.

 

Yay for babies!

names

We've decided on either

Eleanor Jane
or
Joshua Jonathan

for our baby.


I think Eleanor goes really well with Julianna and we could call her Ellie, El, Nora, or Eleanor. Jane is my mom's middle name and since Julianna shares a middle name combination from my mother-in-law, my husband's grandmother, and my own middle names we thought it would be appropriate to use my mom's middle name if we have a girl.

Joshua has been out top boy name for a long, long time. Jonathan as a middle name would be from my husband and also the 6th generation child with Jonathan somewhere in the name.

This time around we had a harder time with the boy name than we did picking out a girl name. With Jules it was just the opposite. (This is the main reason why I think this baby will be a boy, but we'll see...)

I'm glad to have the decision made already since agreeing on "the perfect" name is such a difficult task to begin with. Thanks to all of you who voted in my girl name poll a while back and thanks to those of you who've offered opinions on the boy middle name. I think we're both ahppy with the above choices and we'll see what October brings!

my little dancing queen

I finally got the pictures and videos from our trip to Florida off the camera.  While I'm editing and organizing the rest, here's one for your viewing pleasure this morning.  It's a video of Jules dancing very enthusiastically at my cousin's wedding.  She had a blast.  Sorry it's so dark.  Enjoy!

Untitled from c525600 on Vimeo.

overheard at my house

Early afternoon today:

Me:  Julianna, why are your pants off.

Her:  Well, my legs got hot and they asked me to take my pants off for them.  So I took them off and put them in the laundry basket.

Me:  Could you please put them back on now?

Her:  No!

Me:  OK, well, Daddy's not going to be really happy when he gets home and sees you running around without clothes on.

Her:  [defiant look]

---- a couple of hours later ----

Me:  Jules, if you don't put your pants back on you won't be able to go on a walk with us after dinner.

Her:  [runs upstairs frantically] O! K!  I will go put my pants on!

---- about 5 minutes go by ----

Her:  [screaming] I'm mad!  

Me:  What's wrong?

Her:  My pants won't let me put them on!

Thank you, Mom

Thank you, Mom, for carrying me for nine months and dealing with the uncomfortableness of an enormous belly, back aches, and leg cramps.  

Thank you, Mom, for letting me wander in the yard and smell the tulips and daffodils when I was just learning to walk.  

Thank you, Mom, for giving me a darling sister even when I demanded a brother.

Thank you, Mom, for reading me stories and teaching me how to write in cursive.  

Thank you, Mom, for fixing me breakfast, lunch, and dinner, doing my endless laundry, and rolling my hair in sponge curlers.

Thank you, Mom, for singing We Sing Silly Songs over and over in the car with me and for belting out hymns with me every Sunday morning as we were getting ready for church.

Thank you, Mom, for teaching me the importance of being honest and always making my bed and wearing deodorant.

Thank you, Mom, for showing me how to appreciate the beauty in a birds nest, the work of an earthworm, or the fresh taste of homegrown lettuce.

Thank you, Mom, for chopping my door down when I needed to be reminded of the respect owed to my parents.

Thank you, Mom, for the endless hours of work you put in answering phone calls and renting condominiums from home so you could be with us and give us a good life.

Thank you, Mom, for putting up with all those calls from college when all I needed to ask was how to fix cornbread or how long I needed to bake a pork chop.

Thank you, Mom, for listening and just letting me cry and cry and cry when I thought I'd never see the inside of a Target again after Julianna was born.

Thank you, Mom, for not saying, "I told you so" all those times that you really did tell me so.

Thank you, Mom, for caring for my little girl like she's your own daughter and for loving on her even when she pushes you away.

Thank you, Mom, for being my mother and loving me unconditionally.

Happy Mother's Day.

can you tell we went to Epcot today?

We were driving back from dinner just now and my daughter announced, "Do you know?  One time in Egypt I played the trombone really loud."  When the entire car exploded in laughter she loudly proclaimed, "I'm three years old!  I'm not a child!  I looked it up and saw it on the computer today!"

I promise I don't make this stuff up.  I just make sure I get it down for her to see in a decade or so.

our little princess

We just stopped and ate lunch at Checkers and we met a little girl who told us her name was Jasmine. Mom then prompted Julianna to tell the little girl her name. Julianna told her very seriously, "My name is Cinderella."