New Year's Eve

Happy New Year's Eve! It was a quiet day at the Paulson house. We finally got some snow this morning. It came down in the big fluffy flakes and there was hardly no wind - it was beautiful. After our company left we decided to bundle Annabelle up and see what she though of the snow and it turns out that she likes it. It took her a few times of taking off her gloves to realize that her hands stay warmer when she leaves them on - but she figured it out. She had a good time walking around and brushing the snow off of my car. The rest of the afternoon we just stayed inside and played. Brian did go out to snow blow the driveway and Annabelle wanted to go outside as well. She found a hat and went to get her boots - she is so independent.
This evening Annabelle was sleeping by 8:00 and I will be surprised if Brian and I make it past 10:30. It is going to be an uneventful New Year's Eve at our house but we are ok with it. Looking back it has been a busy year: watching the little Peanut grow, vacation to Florida, new car, finding out we are expecting baby number 2, selling our house, moving to Cleveland for 8 weeks, and buying a new house. I think I am safe to say that Little E will make his/her big arrival in 2012. We are looking forward to see what 2012 has in store for us.

Another Christmas

We celebrated Christmas again this weekend when my Dad, Grandpa and Brother came to visit. It was a quick trip but it was nice to see them even if it was for a short amount of time. Annabelle and I got home from our day at 5 and they were waiting for us when we got there. We visited for a while while Annabelle warmed up our guests. We grilled steaks for supper and then it was time to open presents. Annabelle still wasn't interested in tearing into all the presents but she would rip open the ones that you put in front of her and deliver the ones you gave her that were for other people. By the time we got towards the end of the gifts she was starting to loose interest but she did a great job. One of the gifts that Annabelle got was a little table and chair set and Dad started putting it together for us after we were done with the gifts. Annabelle, the curious little girl that she is, was more than willing to help him set up her new toy. She enjoyed using the screw diver to help tighten the screws. Annabelle loves to sit at her little table - it is just the right size.

38 Weeks

Little E, now nearly as long as a leek , weighs nearly 7 pounds. Length is over 19 1/2 inches from head to toe.

Swaddling

The past few months I have been worried about the fact that Annabelle could care less about playing with baby dolls. I thought with a new baby coming it would be nice for her to play with dolls so she would be able to do what Mommy is doing when baby comes. Brian and I tried at every opportunity to get her to play with her baby, put it in the stroller, wrap it in a blanket and so on - she had little interest. The past few days though she has taken a turn; she loves to play with her baby. Kirsten got her some baby bottles and a little spoon and fork for Christmas and she really enjoys "feeding" her baby. Tonight while Brian and I were eating supper, she had no interest in eating, she was playing in the living room. She came into the kitchen and pulled a towel off of the stove handle and toddled back into the living room where she was very quiet. After a few minutes I got up to see what she was doing. She was laying out the towel on the floor the best that she could, putting the baby on the towel, swaddling the baby, and then she would pick up the doll and rock it back and forth. After a few seconds she would put the baby down and start the whole process over again. I bet she spent 20 minutes wrapping up her baby and rocking it back and forth. Every once in a while she would get a bottle and feed the baby for a second or two. It is almost like she knows a new baby is coming and she is practicing on how she is going to help.
Speaking of Little E I think we are about ready to go. I have my bag ready, baby's bag is ready, and there is a suitcase ready for Annabelle just in case she ends up spending a day or two with family or friends. We think we have a plan for her but we figured it is better to be ready for just about anything. Brian and I are going to set up the pack and play in our room in the next few days as well. Brian is feeling much better and has been cleared to lift 30 pounds so he is safe to pick up Annabelle. Everyone in the house is healthy so I think we are about ready for the new little addition.

Helping Mommy

Annabelle's favorite past time lately has been to practice dressing and undressing. Yesterday after her bath we let her run around in her diaper because church was only an hour away and it was to soon to put her dress on and I didn't see the point in dressing her and then changing her. After a while she went into her room and dug some pj's out of her drawer. She managed to get the shirt on with little help - it was backward but on. She then spent probably a half hour putting on the pants and then taking them off. She would do it over and over, it was so cute. She also likes to put on our socks if she finds them on the floor or can reach them when they are in the clothes basket or on the dresser. I was folding clothes today and she decided that she wanted to help. The first thing she grabbed was Brian's underwear and put those one. Then she found one of my socks, after that was on she found the other sock - I think it was just luck that she found a matching one. She then proceeded to walk around the house all dressed up. I don't think a day goes by where she doesn't do something that makes us smile. She is such a blessing!

Merry Christmas

This was her favorite toy of the day!

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. Annabelle had a great time! We put the presents under the tree last night after she went to bed. When she got up this morning she didn't even care about what was under the tree. We had some toast and fruit and then we opened gifts. Once she realized what we were doing she had a great time. She opened her first gift, which happened to be a cell phone, and then she didn't want to open any more - not surprised. She did do a great job bringing gifts over to Brian to open, I thought she would want to open them herself. It worked out that we all took a turn and by the time Brian and I had each opened a gift she was ready for another present. Annabelle got: a cell phone, a few books, a lap top computer, a tool set, puzzles, a musical toy, and a little popper from Santa. Brian got me a ring with a January birthstone on it - so baby has to wait at least a week before s/he comes or we will have to exchange the ring :) After we opened all the gifts I made brunch while Annabelle played with her new toys. The rest of the day we spent at home relaxing. We made shrimp scampi and steaks for an early supper and Annabelle loved it! She had mac and cheese, carrots and a few pieces of shrimp to start with and by the end of the meal she had eaten a 3-4 shrimp and quite a few bites of steak. It is a little odd that our one year old has enough teeth to chomp on steak. She probably would have eaten more steak and shrimp if we would have let her but we figured we better start with small portions. Afterwards we spent some more time playing and she was in bed by 7. It will be fun to celebrate again next weekend when my family comes to town to visit.

Merry Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas

My Christmas dress...although not sure if Mommy's socks go so well with it.

Opening up gifts from Kirsten

Brian and I decided to stay home this year for Christmas. We always talked about at staying home and starting our own traditions at some point in time. This year with baby being due in a few weeks and Brian still recovering from surgery it worked out well - I don't think traveling any where would have went well this year.
We had a nice quite day at home. We didn't get up until 8:30 and then made pancakes for breakfast. Afterwards we played for a while and then took a little shopping trip to buy Little E a rocking chair. We talked about moving Annabelle's into the new baby's room but it is nice to have one for Annabelle because I haven't been able to give up rocking her to sleep. It usually only takes her 5 minutes to fall asleep but I treasure that alone time with her when she just snuggles in. Anyway Little E's chair should be here in a few weeks. We then spent the rest of the day at home until we went to church. By the time we came home from there and had supper Annabelle was ready for bed. She was sound asleep by 7:30. Brian and I are relaxing and watching Christmas Vacation - classic. Tomorrow we plan on getting up, eating breakfast and then opening presents. It will be fun to watch her this year now that she knows what is going on. Kirsten came down a few nights ago with some gifts for Annabelle and she really had a good time opening them up. I will admit it isn't the same not being with all the family for Christmas but we are enjoying our time together as a small family.

37 Weeks

Little E is as lofty as a stalk of Swiss chard and weighs 6 1/3 pounds. Length is over 19 inches from head to heel.

Somebody Misses Daddy

About the only time Annabelle gets to spend with Brian right now is before bed. She will sit in his lap and just relax and I think she really looks forward to it. Brian can't pick her up right now due to the surgery he had and hopefully next week he will be cleared to lift more than 25 pounds. Annabelle doesn't understand why Daddy won't pick her up when she walks over and puts her hands up. Tonight she was having a tough night, I think all of the commotion the past few days have caught up with her. She didn't want to sit and eat supper all she wanted was to be held. After her bath though she calmed down enough to at least eat. Afterward she got her blanket and milk and walked right over to where Brian was sitting and wanted to sit in his lap. It wasn't very long and she was snoring. Not very often does she just sit and relax but when she has been sitting in Brian's lap the past few evenings she hasn't moved a muscle.
Other Paulson family news: we were back at a doctor's office today. This time it was of to the vet for Charlie. He has been acting funny since the weekend and at first I attributed it to Brian being gone and all of the things that were going on the past week. Last night he was up again every few hours to go outside and when he came back in he was very restless. We took him to the vet and it turns out that he has a ruptured, infected anal gland - it is just as gross as it sounds. I am not sure what the vet had to do but from what I have heard from others they have to pop the gland so it heals. Anyway Charlie is now on antibiotics and a pain killer for the pain. It seems like at our house right now if it rains it pours. I am hoping that things quite down for a few weeks before we have any more excitement. It is kind of funny that the 9 month pregnant person is the most boring person in the house.

Baby Name Book

Well I think we can finally put the baby name book away for a few years (unless we have to lend it to a friend). We have decided on a girl name and finally we have decided on a boy name - for now at least.
I went to a regular dr apt today and everything with Little E still looks good. During our ultrasounds that we had we did not find out if baby is a boy or girl. Today I was having a weak moment and Brian wasn't with me to keep me strong. I asked the nurse if it said in my chart if we were having a boy or girl, I am not sure if I really wanted to know or not. She told me she wasn't sure, normally that isn't something that she looks at because it isn't an important part of the check up. She asked me if I wanted to know and I thought about it and told her I didn't' want to know I was just wondering if I could find out if I wanted to. She told me she was going to read my chart but wasn't going to tell me what she found. She left and I was waiting for the doctor to come in. She poked her head back in a few minutes later and told me that it doesn't say anywhere if Little E is a boy or girl. She said the ultrasound report said that the patient didn't want to know gender so gender was not reported. I don't know if she was telling the truth or not but I guess we will have to wait for a few more weeks to know the answer. I am not sure what I would have done if she told me she knew what baby is - I might have caved and found out but I am glad we don't know, the surprise is fun.
The dr and I talked about what would happen if baby decided to come now. I don't think that is going to happen but with Brian being able to do only limited activity now would not be a good time for the doctor to decide that I needed to stay off my feet for a week or two. Good news is that if baby tries to come they won't try and stop it. We are also far enough a long that we can have the baby in Jamestown without any foreseen problems and normally there are not to many problems with baby at birth at this stage in the game. With all that being said we still are not quite ready and baby can hold off for 2 more weeks. I need to pack my hospital bag yet and I need to get some things together for Annabelle to be gone for a few days. We are not sure what the plan for her is yet but it would be nice to have a bag ready for her in case she is spending the night somewhere for a few days. Brian commented tonight that it is hard to believe that in 2 or 3 weeks we will have a new little baby. The last 9 months have gone by so fast!

Crib Time

Annabelle does really well keeping herself occupied in her crib until we come to get her up in the morning. Don't get me wrong if we leave her in there to long she will start to fuss but normally she is waiting for us with a smile. It has been a long few days at our house so this morning I slept in until around 8:30, if I would have heard Annabelle I would have gotten up but she was quite as can be. When I finally got up I let Charlie out and when he came back in I could hear music coming from her room (she has a musical toy at the end of her crib). I went into her room and found her half undressed and dancing to the little lullaby's that were playing - she is so funny.
Brian has hernia surgery on Wed and they repaired 3 hernias. He came home that night and was pretty sore. Annabelle has been out of sorts the last few days not knowing what to think about daddy sitting in the chair and not playing with her or picking her up. She wants to give him hugs and kisses before bed and doesn't' understand why she can't. Brian started not feeling well the day after the surgery and on Friday he was admitted back into the hospital. Annabelle is spending the day and night at Grandma and Grandpa Paulson's house and I am keeping Brian company. Brian is going to be in the hospital tonight again for sure and the doctors will take a look at him in the morning and decide if he can go home or not. It is scary to have complications after a procedure but at least he is in a good spot where people that know what to do can take care of him. We just have to keep thinking how much better he will feel once he is healed.

36 Weeks

Little E, almost 6 pounds and still packing on the pounds at about an ounce a day, is comparable to a crenshaw melon in size. Length is 18 1/2 inches from head to heel.

Parent of the Year

The Damage

Brian is ready

Ananbelle is feeling better. She likes to say "cheese" and then look at her picture.

2011 is almost over and I am pretty sure I wasn't going to be parent of the year but if I was still in the running I would be out of it after tonight. Annabelle was in a great mood after work. I dropped her off at home with Brian and went to put gas in the car. When I came home she was still happy as ever. Brian was getting ready to go to a meeting - he had his shoes and coat on and was literally ready to walk out the door. We were trying to get everyone (Annabelle and Charlie) out of our bathroom and I wasn't paying attention. Annabelle was standing behind me and when Charlie finally came out I shut the door. I knew something happened before I heard the scream because I could feel that something was in the door when I closed it. Sure enough a second later came the scream. We picked her up and found her blanket and her pacifier - those of you who have been in this situation with a child know that no matter what you give them it is very little comfort for them at first. Annabelle and I sat in the chair and snuggled a little while trying to put a cold wash cloth on her finger - which really didn't go over very well. Brian was running around trying to find some band aids. Once he found them she wanted nothing to do with letting us put them on her. She did settle down and would just whimper once in a while but still wanted to be close to me. I think Brian had to muster up all of his power to leave us alone for a while to go to his meeting. Annabelle was able to eat supper and even play for a little while. As of right now she is sleeping and hopefully she will get a good night's rest. I am sure this won't be the last time that was have bloody fingers in our house but I sure hope it is a while before it happens again. It is a horrible feeling when your child is in pain and you can't do anything about it (it is even worse knowing you are the one who did it). She is a tough little girl and I don't think it will take her long to bounce back.

35 Weeks

Little E is now as hefty as much as a honeydew melon weighing in at about 5 1/4 pounds. Length is over 18 inches from head to heel.

Updates from Daycare

We had a few updates from daycare in the past week. One night I picked her up and we were talking about her nap that day. The girl told me that they put her in her crib and she was really quite - they thought she just went right to sleep. They went in to check on her and she was wide awake sitting in her crib naked. She had taken off everything down to her diaper. They didn't say but I am guessing they found her with a big smile on her face because she was so proud she could do it all by herself. I don't think they were very impressed :) At home she loves to try and get her clothes back on and she is getting close. I still think she needs to learn it at some point - I guess now we just have to try to teach her when she can do it.
We were aoso informed that they plan to move Annabelle to the toddler room this month. I think she will like being with the older kids and it will be good for her to have more of a challenge. It is sad to think that she isn't our little baby anymore. The past 16 months have flown by!

Medicine

We have to be some of the luckiest parents. Annabelle has to take medicine for her ear infection twice a day and she is now big enough where the doses are more than what fits into the syringe we have so she has to drink the medicine out of a cup. I was a little worried about how it was going to go but turns out getting her to take it isn't the worry - it is dealing with her when it is gone. We have been putting her meds in a dixie cup so she can hold it and drink it. She LOVES it when she is done she will ask for more. This morning she actually cried when we wouldn't let her have any more medication. What a child!

34 Weeks

Little E has bulked up like the average cantaloupe - to about 4 3/4 pounds. Length is over 18 inches from head to heel.