32 Weeks of Cookin' Cash

32 weeks of cookin' Cash = 1 huge Momma! Jim and I are convinced he's going to be bigger than James, although the weight gain is still right about even (12 lbs with 7 weeks left, perfect for a pound a week)! Went to the doctor on Tuesday, July 19 and all is looking good! Holding steady at 14cm of amniotic fluid (normal 10-25) and he is DEFINITELY a boy ;-) haha! He's moving around a ton and has finally flipped himself into the head-down position (thank you for a bit of breathing relief) although he's on the edge of my pelvis walls, pushing out a bit (not so much thank you for the continued pelvic pain). His heart rate is consistent, still at 146bpm (perfecto!) Going to appointments once a week now and non-stress tests starting in 2 weeks -- getting close, better get ready for C$ to come!!!
Jim won a lottery for 2 free tickets to the VIP opening of the new Rivers Casino. I was the lucky one to be his date, so we enjoyed a night of awesomeness (technically, there is a basement below it that has water in it to count as being on water) as James hung out with the Schillingers.

One of my favorite parts :: the parking garage has colored lights above each spot so you can tell if the spot is open or not without having to drive down the aisle (although I wouldn't trust them, some were green that had cars in them)!

They had some interesting characters walking around all night with plates of desserts and other samples. Something I over heard, the imported wooden design on the ceiling in this picture cost approximately $3 million.

The delicious desserts at the buffet -- we came back just before leaving for a re-tasting :-)

The way my VIP card hung made it look like Cash was the VIP and I was just the body who was transporting him around :-)

First Swim Lesson

Time for swim lessons! I want James to learn to swim the proper way, so now that he's bigger and can grasp concepts better, we decided swim lessons were a good way to learn how to swim properly and water safety so Grandma's pool is more fun for James and less stressful for me (kids with more exposure to pools have greater risk for drowning, certified lessons help reduce this risk). The first lesson started with SCREAMING for the first 15-20 minutes. He calmed down and actually started to enjoy himself when I sat him on the side of the pool and had him kick water at me :-) Thanks to Daddy for being our photographer!

Each lesson since this one has gotten much better!

Lesson 2 :: James used a bucket to dump water on Mommy and even let me dump it on his back and would throw his shovel in the water and then "jump" to me and kick his way over to get it Lesson 3 :: Daddy got in this time and James was thrilled to dump water on him and swim after the shovel again -- he let Daddy pour water from the bucket on the back of his head (side note: baths have started to get a bit less traumatic again about this lesson)

Lesson 4 :: James and Dad did about 50 laps back and forth in our section of the pool after the sprayer -- lots of kicking practice for James -- James even put his mouth in the water to blow bubbles a couple of times!!!

Separate story :: Cash got his first phone call on Memorial Day :-) James "answered" the phone in his kitchen and then placed the phone up against my belly saying "Baby!!! Baby!!!?!?" Yeah, pretty much as adorable as it sounds :-) James loves babies right now and says "Hi, Brother" (when he doesn't insist 'No, Sister') as he pushes through my belly button and gives him kisses -- hopefully it continues after Cash actually arrives in our house :-)

Belly Pics

Jen and Dominic are expecting their first baby girl in June -- can't wait to meet Ms. Sofia!!!
Who says you don't carry boys and girls differently?!?! Jen is 37 weeks and I'm only 25 weeks in these pictures -- boy = all out front and girl = wrapped around nicely (and what looks more comfortably to me)! Our ham bone, James, had to get in on the photo session :-)

Jen and Dom watched James this night so Jim and I could cash-in their Christmas gift -- dinner at Melting Pot (yummy)! James had a blast playing with them!!! Unfortunately, after we left, I had Jim go downstairs to check on the fans we had running (we had gotten about 3.5 inches of rain in less than 5 hours and had seepage through the foundation)....I knew things were bad when I heard all the cursing downstairs -- the sewer clean out valve had popped as it was a "fill up" and at least all of James' bath water (and some yucky sewer water) had made it's way all over our basement floor. Ben and Rachel were awesome and helped clean up some of the water (I was useless downstairs anyways as pregnancy and sewage don't mix well) and the emergency plumber charged an arm and a leg to work for, literally, 7 minutes. Update :: sewer has been fixed, check back later to see those pics -- not a good way to spend a free day off work, but Jimmy did a good job with it all.

And Cashew is....

A BOY!!!! Yeppers, going to be WAYYYY out-numbered around here, but we couldn't be more excited! James and Daddy found out Cash's gender at the appointment but kept it a surprise from Mommy (I didn't want the anti-climatic ultrasound tech just telling me). They did a great job of keeping it secret and then Jim found an AWESOME way of telling me!

Jim took pictures of things around the house, blew them up (and got to play with his camera), used clear contact paper to cover them, then painted over them with a silver paint-water mix so I got a scratch off ticket at every stop. It took me 1.5 hours (dinner was in there) to find all of the clues around the house (some were extremely difficult and I had to get help)...but it was sooo much fun and very creative! The last one was a blow up of the ultrasound (which was just confirming what we both thought we saw within the first 10 seconds of the ultrasound).

Big Brother!!!

Well, the shirt says it all! James is excited to announce that he is going to be a big brother soon!!!
Baby "Cashew" (James was "Peanut," so we thought we'd keep it close) is due 09.10.11 and has looked good so far on all the ultrasounds. Below :: just an itty bitty thing! No morning sickness (woo hoo) just extreme exhaustion (which has now diminished in the second trimester to just above average exhaustion) and I've got some varicose veins going on which can be painful at times (I wear some sa-weet compression hose during the day at school to help with circulation, but it's always a fine line between just enough and too much walking).
At the first OB appt (I don't know why they don't do the 'confirmation' and 'first OB' appts at the same time), they did another ultrasound to check on the size of the baby and make sure the placenta was attaching well (it was). Cashew was all sorts of awake for it! S/he was kicking his/her feet and waving at us -- must have been in the middle of his/her workout time ;-) The next week is when I went to get my varicose veins checked and during the ultrasound, we saw Cashew kick and I felt it at the same time! Everything seems to happen earlier with #2 -- felt Cashew kick at 11 weeks, 5 days (James was just after 20 weeks) and at the point I'm actually typing this blog (16 weeks today), Cashew has already "popped" my belly (as my co-worker put it) -- s/he is fitting nicely in the space James created for his brother/sister :-)

Week 14 ultrasound to check growth and the heart rate -- at this point she said it was still easier to get the heart rate through ultrasound (took 2 minutes) then to try and find it with the doppler (can take forever to find the beat). Cashew was showing off his/her limberness this time by having both feet above the head at first and then kick, kick, kicking!