Well we had another sonogram a couple of days ago.  Here are some things we learned:

• Baby is no longer breech.
• My placenta is no longer low-lying.
• Baby is measuring 13 days ahead of schedule.  [At the last ultrasound, Baby was 4 days ahead.]
• They estimated Baby to weigh 3.5 lbs already.
• Baby’s heartbeat was 147.
• I have another sonogram scheduled in late March.

Here are some of the pictures we got:

Foot & Leg

Arm

Ear & Nose

Face

And here’s what I look like:

I love these soaps from Bath and Body Works.  Not only do they smell great, but they’re soft on your hands, and it’s so much easier for Abi to wash her hands with the “bubble soap.”

I had even put them on my wish list for Christmas this year because we just ran out of the bottles in our kitchen and guest bathroom.  Then, I discovered there might be a way to make the foaming soap with regular soap and save lots of money.  Easy and super quick.

Ingredients

• An empty bottle of Bath & Body Works Gentle Foaming Hand soap
• Any liquid antibacterial soap (I used Bath & Body Works)

Directions

1. Put about an inch of the liquid soap into the empty foaming bottle.
2. Pour water into the bottle pretty slowly.
3. Screw the lid on, and turn the bottle upside down slowly several times.  Try not to shake it up because it’ll get too soapy.  And you’re finished!

Also, you could just keep pouring a little water into your regular Bath & Body works Foamy Soap whenever it gets a low.

*In these pictures I used a creamy hand soap, which didn’t work as well as when I used a liquid hand soap.

So yesterday, Jonathan and I went to see our fetus again.  Here are some things we learned from the appointment:

1. Baby weighs about 15 oz.  The Perinatologist (sp?) predicted that Baby’s final weight could be 8 lb, 8 oz.                                                                                        
2. Baby has my toes (the second toes are longer than the firsts)
3. My placenta is low lying.  This isn’t a bad thing now, but it could be of a concern if it doesn’t move up later on.
4. Baby is breech now, which isn’t a bad thing now.
5. They didn’t see anything wrong with the kidneys, at this point.
6. I have another Sonogram scheduled for February, and I’ll probably get another one after that!

Here are some other pictures: Arm, Leg, Head & Chest

Last night, Jonathan felt Baby move several times for the first time!  Yea!

And, we’ve decided to refer to Baby as JoJo, as suggested by Jonathan’s sister.  I’m not sure of her reasoning, but here’s our reason: if Baby is a boy, his middle name will be Jonathan, and if Baby is a girl, her middle name will be Joy.  Hence Jo for Jonathan and Jo for Joy, so JoJo.

Here’s what I looked like last week:

Sorry for being the worst blogger, again.  We were on Thanksgiving vacation from Wednesday-Saturday (pictures to come later).  And since we’ve been back home, I’ve had to catch up on laundry, do regular household things, and finish up my Christmas shopping.  I still have a few Christmas sewing/making jobs left, but at least I don’t have to shop!

About the pregnancy: I’m feeling Baby move a lot more for the past week or so.  In fact, Baby’s moving now.  Last week, I started feeling better with the nausea/vomiting.  Since I felt good for more than 3 days, I thought, ‘I’m better finally.’  And then, Monday happened.  UGH.  Definitely not over the all day sickness.  The past three days have not been fun.  Please, please God make me better!  Okay, sorry about the whining . . .

Picture of Baby #2 at 13 weeks

I am now 20 weeks along, and knowing how my previous pregnancy went, it probably means I’m more than half way done!  Yea!

So, next Tuesday is the big Sonogram.  The one where we could find out the gender.  We’re still debating about whether or not to find out.  What do you think- objectively?

My cousin Katie got me thinking that it’d be fun to wait until delivery day to find out.  If we already had babies of each gender, I would so wait until delivery day.  But, I’m not sure since we wouldn’t have boy stuff if Baby is a boy.  And then, I thought since this is probably going to be our last baby, it might be fun to be surprised.

Either way, I think surprises are fun, so we’re thinking we might not let anyone know regardless of whether or not we find out.  Is this rude?

How did you decide whether or not to find out Baby’s gender?  Specifically, to those of you who waited, are you glad you did?

Another question: We took Abigail to Baby #2’s first sonogram, but we’re not sure if we should take her to this one.  We want it to be special, and it was hard the first time, because we were constantly having to answer Abigail’s questions/comments.  Also, we were wanting Jonathan to video record Baby’s movement on the monitor.  So, did you take your older kid(s) to your new baby’s sonograms?

Abigail at 20 weeks

We had two Halloween parties: one the night before and one on Halloween.  We took Abigail to the first one but decided to let her stay the night with GramB and PapaBon for the second one.  I forgot to take many pictures of the first one.

I’ve got a Bun in the Oven, and Jonathan’s the Bun Maker

You can click on the pictures to see the details of my costume.  It was simple to make, and it was super cheap!  We only had to buy the apron ($3), chef hat ($3), spray paint, and a hot glue gun.  We had all the other stuff on hand.  The oven box is made from Abi’s Huggies diaper box.

As you read here, she was a little lamb.

Halloween night we went to a party thrown by our besties, Tiffany and Justin (Tinkerbell & Peter Pan).

Nancy & Jacob came as a UPS worker and his package

The Bookers were the Swine Flu

Our team won in charades

And our pumpkin tied for first in the Pumpkin Contest

So, at the end of the night, we went home as winners of the “Date Night Package” (a Chili’s gift card, wine glasses, and roses, in a cute basket.

Ever since I stopped nursing Abigail, Jonathan and I have had a night time routine with Abigail:

• Give bath
• Brush teeth
• Sing a few songs
• Read “Goodnight Moon”
• Pray
• Sing “Goodnight [Abi]“
• Say “I love you,” give kisses, and put her in her crib.

For the past 5 nights or so, we started having her “repeat” a prayer, which is so totally cute to hear her.  Due to her MeMe’s suggestion, we recorded this video of her repeating a prayer.  Notice this sentence,” Thank you [BURP] for today.”  What a cutie.

So tonight, when I said, “Are you ready to say an Abi prayer?”  She jumped right in and said (not repeating) . . .

Dear God  [Jonathan and I both looked at each other like, "WHOA"],

Thank you for Sissa (what she calls Sabra).

Thank you for Sissa.

Thank you for Jesus.

Thank you for PapaBon.

Thank you for GramB.

Thank you for Pa Pa.

Jesus Name, Amen.

Jonathan and I were dumbfounded.  We didn’t know she had it in her.  It was so precious to hear her!

[I know I have tons to update on: like Halloween, Abi reading books, pregnancy, etc, and I will try to get around to those posts soon.  Maybe tomorrow while she's napping?  Stay tuned.]

A reader wanted to know if I was potty training Abigail.  Unfortunately, we are not, due to her medical condition, Kidney Reflux.

We were advised by the Urologist and Pediatrician not to start potty training her until at least 2 years of age.  Because of her Kidney Reflux, she has a tendency to hold her urine (Even during her VCUG, they had to squirt water on her girly parts for a LONG time to try to get her to pee), but also let it out in little bits very often (which is why her diaper seems to always be wet but not with much in it).  Also, there’s the risk of more Urinary Tract Infections when trying to potty train.

I have read other moms (very few; I need to find more!) talk about how potty training their Kidney Reflux child took longer and was more difficult than their normal child.  GREAT!  And most of them said they didn’t start until 3.

So, I actually need advice from parents who had to potty train a child with Kidney Reflux, as it might be different from training a child without this condition.  Anyone have tips?  Resources?

Or if anyone wants to share their experiences with potty training their non-kidney reflux kid for the other readers, please do so.

So this post is pretty much for family and me, since I haven’t been scrapbooking for Abigail (ooops. I kinda do the blog, so I can record her milestones).

Yesterday, before Abigail’s nap, I discovered that she remembers words in songs.  Here’s one of the songs I had previously made up for her (goes to the tune of “Mary Had a Little Lamb”).

1st Verse: Abi had a little dog, little dog, little dog.

Abi had a little dog; her name was Sabra.

2nd Verse: Everywhere that Abi went, Abi went, Abi went . . .

Everywhere that Abi went, Sabra was sure to go.

3rd Verse: Sabra followed Abi to church one day, church one day, church one day.

Sabra followed Abi to church one day which was against the rules.

4th Verse: It made the babies laugh and play, laugh and play, laugh and play.

It made the babies laugh and play to see a puppy at church.

5th Verse: Sabra and Abi are good friends, are good friends, are good friends.

Sabra and Abi are good friends and will be forever.

So, I sang the song to her before her nap.  On the last word (Sabra) of the first verse, I paused and pointed to Abi.  She said, “Sabra!”  YEA!  I tried to do the same thing with the 2nd and 3rd verses, but she didn’t play along.  Then, on the 4th verse, she said “Church.”  YEA!

Before our walk, I sang “If you’re happy and you know it, shout .  .  .” and paused, and she said, “Amen!” each time she was supposed to (this was without me saying amen).

So, we thought we’d show off for Daddy during bed time.  She said all of the words that are underlined/bolded below without any prompting or help or repeating.  Just on her own!

1st Verse: Abi had a little dog (sometimes I say puppy), little dog, little dog.

Abi had a little dog; her name was Sabra.

2nd Verse: Everywhere that Abi went, Abi went, Abi went

Everywhere that Abi went, Sabra was sure to go.

3rd Verse: Sabra followed Abi to church one day, church one day, church one day.

Sabra followed Abi to church one day which was against the rules.

4th Verse: It made the babies laugh and play, laugh and play, laugh and play.

It made the babies laugh and play to see a puppy at church.

5th Verse: Sabra and Abi are good friends, are good friends, are good friends.

Sabra and Abi are good friends and will be forever.

Wow!  Jonathan and I couldn’t believe it.  It made us in awe of God’s creation.  And it made us wonder how many other things she can do that we don’t know about because we haven’t “tested” her on them.

I made a 17 month movie of Abigail with Jonathan’s stupid Mac (only because it’s faster than my PC).  But for the bazillionth time, it’s having trouble uploading.  It strips out the video from the video clips, and it doesn’t include the music at all!  Ugh.  It never had problems uploading the movies I made on my PC.  I hate Macs!!!!

Anyway, so I’ll do a “Happy 18 Months” post for her whenever I get the video straightened out.  Until then, I’ll give you an update on her appointments today.

Abigail had a renal ultrasound done on her kidneys and bladder.  She absolutely hated it.  It wasn’t painful (maybe a little cold), but ever since her VCUG, she’s just so scared of doctors/nurses.  I even was able to hold her the whole time, but she still cried the whole time!  About 20 minutes or more.

Because of all her squirming, they couldn’t get a very good read, but they don’t think there is any scarring on her kidneys.  They did say that her left kidney is larger than her right one.  But her bladder looks okay.

So far, she’s doing okay on her prophylatic antibiotic, and we’ll continue that until her next VCUG in about 9 months.

Cutest smile ever, right?!

My Aunt sent this to me, and I thought it was too good not to pass along . . .

Men Are Just Happier People–

• What do you expect from such simple creatures:
• Your last name stays put.
• The garage is all yours.
• Wedding plans take care of themselves.
• Chocolate is just another snack.
• You can be President.
• You can never be pregnant.
• You can wear a white T-shirt to a water park. You can wear NO shirt to a water park.
• Car mechanics tell you the truth.
• The world is your urinal.
• You never have to drive to another gas station restroom because this one is just too icky.
• You don’t have to stop and think of which way to turn a nut on a bolt.
• Same work, more pay.
• Wrinkles add character.
• Wedding dress $5000. Tux rental-$100.
• People never stare at your chest when you’re talking to them.
• New shoes don’t cut, blister, or mangle your feet.
• One mood all the time.
• Phone conversations are over in 30 seconds flat.
• You know stuff about tanks.
• A five-day vacation requires only one suitcase.
• You can open all your own jars.
• You get extra credit for the slightest act of thoughtfulness.
• If someone forgets to invite you, he or she can still be your friend.
• Your underwear is $8.95 for a three-pack.
• Three pairs of shoes are more than enough.
• You almost never have strap problems in public.
• You are unable to see wrinkles in your clothes.
• Everything on your face stays its original color.
• The same hairstyle lasts for years, maybe decades.
• You only have to shave your face and neck.
• You can play with toys all your life.
• One wallet and one pair of shoes — one color for all seasons.
• You can wear shorts no matter how your legs look.
• You can ‘do’ your nails with a pocket knife.
• You have freedom of choice concerning growing a mustache.

No wonder men are happier.