Baseball Game

We went to an Astros game at Minute Maid Park with some friends on Friday night. We were surprised by how attentive Lily was to the game - she actually watched the players throwing the ball and running bases, and she cheered with the crowd.

Lily's bedtime came and went, and she never got cranky at all. She was definitely sleepy, but she continued to watch the game. She snuggled with each of us for a little while, but she really just wanted to sit in her own seat and watch the game. Here she's not crying, just rubbing her eyes - sleepy girl!After the game was over (Astros won!), there was a firework show that Lily enjoyed. When it was all said and done, we didn't leave Minute Maid Park until about a quarter to 11.... And Lily didn't fall asleep until she was in her car seat. Late night for a little munchkin (and her old foagie parents too)! We all had a great time.

Prenatal Visit - 24 Weeks

Another routine doctor visit - everything is great! I had an ultrasound today to check Baby's growth. I thought it would be a quick little scan, but it turns out that my doctor's office always repeats the anatomy scan during the first growth scan; so today's ultrasound was actually longer than the "big" ultrasound a few weeks ago, and they did all of the measurements again. I think the next growth scan will be a shorter one though. Dylan weighs about 1 lb 8 oz today, and his overall growth is right on track at the 50th percentile. And he's sooo cute! hahaha... Obviously we can't really see his features very well yet, but there were some very cute little ultrasound pictures today!
I go back to see the docs next week.

Lily's New Room

Lily is completely moved into her big-girl room now. Bedtime is still kinda rough, but naptime has been surprisingly easy (most days - one day was a two-hour playtime during naptime!). Usually she's sleepy enough when naptime rolls around that she just settles right down. At bedtime I think she feels like she's missing out on something - last night she was yelling, "Mommy, I'm AWAAAAAAKE!" But she does settle down and go to sleep in her bed eventually, so we're happy transition has gone relatively smoothly.

Lily is learning to make her bed in the morning. Too funny!

We've moved all of Lily's summertime clothes into her new room, so it's about time to start talking about the nursery as "the baby's room." I hope Lily will be ok with that! This is Lily's "say cheese" face!

24 Weeks Today

I have this strange feeling today, thinking about the fact that Lily was born at this point in my first pregnancy. Ironically, I received my weekly email update about what's going on with the baby's development, and here's an excerpt from a series of questions about preterm labor / delivery:

Will my baby be okay if he's born early?

The closer your baby is to full term at birth, the more likely he is to survive and the less likely he is to have health problems. Premature babies born between 34 and 37 weeks generally do fine, although they are still at higher risk for short- and long-term problems compared to babies born full term. On the other end of the continuum are babies who are extremely premature: These days, some babies born as early as 24 weeks (or even a bit earlier) may survive thanks to advances in neonatal care, but these extremely preterm infants require significant medical interventions and long stays in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs), and the survivors often have serious long-term problems.

I am constantly reminded of what a miracle Lily is... I try not to take her health for granted.

While there is a sense of victory in reaching 24 weeks with no problems, it will still be awhile before we're "in the clear." That being said, I am enjoying every moment of this pregnancy. I feel great, and I love feeling Dylan kick. I do get tired more easily than usual, but I'm sure that's a result of playing with a two-year-old all day. I am looking forward to experiencing the third trimester! I hope to see my belly move when Dylan moves around, and I cannot wait for his kicks to be strong enough for Lily to feel.

Father's Day Swim

We went to the swimming pool on Father's Day, and we stayed for about three hours! Lily is already much more confident in the water than she was at the beginning of the summer, and yesterday she went down the slide a lot. Since we wanted to stay awhile, we ordered pizza and had dinner at the pool. It was a fun evening!

Prenatal Visit - 23 Weeks -- And Hermann Park

Another normal check-up. My blood pressure has been very consistent, and my visit with the doctor was only about a minute long - not because they're trying to rush through patients or anything, just because there's nothing to talk about! Next week will be a little more interesting because I'll have another ultrasound.

Lily went with me again today, and when we were finished we went to Hermann Park. It was a little bit of a sentimental visit for me... You can see the park from the NICU at Children's Memorial Hermann, and I used to look out the windows on the way to the elevator and think to myself that someday I would take Lily to play at Hermann Park. And today we finally made it over there to play! Back in April we rode the Hermann Park train, and I was surprised to learn how big the park is. Because of our train ride, I kind of knew where I was going when we got there today - straight to the spray park! There are picnic tables and covered pavilions, easily accessible restrooms, birds and ducks near the lake... Lots and lots of fun! We only stayed a little over an hour because Lily was getting sleepy, but I'm sure we'll be back again soon when I have another doctor visit.

Belly Photos

I wasn't going to post these, but they've been requested. So here are the pictures of my belly... How big I look still depends on what I'm wearing, but I definitely feel big! Dusty and I both think my belly is as big now as it was when Lily was born.
These pictures were taken at 18 weeks 5 days, 20w6d, and 22w3d.

Easy Bake Oven

Lily tried out her new Easy Bake Oven on Sunday night. She made a yummy chocolate chip cookie!

Prenatal Visit - 22 Weeks

I saw my doctors again today, and I have absolutely nothing interesting to report. Everything looks fine, and they'll see me again in a week.

Since I knew it would be a short visit at the doctor's office today, I took Lily with me and we went to the zoo when we were finished. I think her favorite animals today were the elephants, but the giraffes and monkeys were lots of fun as well. We also caught the sea lion show today, which we usually miss because it gets so crowded long before the starting time. Lily liked watching the sea lions eat their fish more than she liked the tricks they did to earn the fish! I guess that's almost everything we saw at the zoo today... It was so hot that we ate our lunch really quickly and headed home. Sorry no pictures from the zoo, I forgot to take the camera with us.

Completed Fence Project

Last Wednesday evening through Saturday afternoon was spent working on finishing our fence project. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Corning for all your help! You can take a peek at this post for the "before" pictures of the fence, taken shortly after Hurricane Ike.

Fun in the Sun

Lily spent lots of time outside in the sun these past few days while the guys were working on the new fence. She was in and out of the baby swimming pool countless times, and she had fun running down the slip 'n slide. Yesterday afternoon when the fence was basically finished, we all went to the swimming pool to cool off.

Gymnastics

Lily has been going to gymnastics class once a week for several weeks now, and she loves it! She asks me every single day if we can go to gymnastics, and she always talks about jumping on the trampoline. When we started in May, Lily warmed up to her coach right away and did a great job from the very beginning. I'm really excited for her to participate in an activity that involves following directions from another grownup besides Mommy all the time, as well as interacting with other kids her age in a somewhat structured setting. It's really a lot of fun to watch, too!

Prenatal Visit - 21 weeks

The doctors and I just laughed with each other today... There's not much for them to really check right now, and I was just there a week ago. We chatted for a minute and then Dr. Holland said, "Well, let me press on your belly so I can feel like I'm actually doing something." And to think that I had to park on the roof of the parking garage just for that!

But we did go ahead and decide on 37 weeks for delivery; it will probably be September 28th, which is a Monday, sometime in the afternoon. Don't you like how I have this all planned out 3 1/2 months ahead of time? We'll see if my blood pressure will cooperate with me!

In other news... we've chosen a name!

Dylan Randall Corning

Phone

Lily loves to talk on the phone!

Daddy and Lily

Friday Fun

Lily and I went to a nearby spray park on Friday afternoon. So much fun!

Sneak Peeks

Our painter has been here for three days so far, and I am beyond excited about how this project is turning out! So far he has finished the big ceiling (two coats), which includes the game room, foyer, and living room; and there's one coat on the walls of the large niche, up the stairway, and in the hallway. Here's a sneak peek... There's not a lot to see yet because much of the work thus far has been ceilings. I'll try to post more photos as the project continues.

And here is a preliminary picture of Lily's new room. It still needs blinds and furniture, but we're getting there. Lily will be moving in there in the next two weeks, without the furniture (we already have the mattress). I want to start getting her used to the new bed and the new room, with plenty of time to spare before Baby Boy arrives. I don't think Lily cares if there's furniture or not, as long as she has a place to sleep - for now, anyway. I just realized that depending on your monitor, it may be difficult to tell what color Lily's walls are - it's a very pale purple (called "Lace Cap," according to Behr).

Prenatal Visit - 20 Weeks

I had my 20-week checkup with the docs today, and everything is looking great so far. Because I'm so wound up about wanting to figure out when this baby is going to be born, we talked again about what will happen if we decide for/against the amniocentesis at 36 weeks. (I'm sure Dr. Holland is getting a little tired of my what-if questions, but I'm ok with that. She doesn't seem to mind.) If we do the amnio and baby's lungs are mature, we would actually go ahead and do my c-section that very same day! The other option is to wait until 37 weeks, when baby will be delivered no matter what. There are benefits and risks to each scenario; it will probably take us awhile to decide which option we prefer. All this is assuming, of course, that the pregnancy is still healthy at that point. If I'm developing mild preeclampsia, that's a totally different situation and we would more than likely go ahead and deliver at 36 weeks.

So far so good - my blood pressure has been great, weight gain is fine, baby is growing and moving and kicking (Dusty felt the baby kick last night for the first time!), I'm not spilling protein, everything is good! Now I will be seeing the doctors every week for awhile because we're at the point in my pregnancy where things were getting a little out of hand in my first pregnancy. Nothing to indicate that's going to happen, but if things start to change the doctors want to know about it right away. So weekly visits for at least a month, and then we may go back to bi-weekly.

Oh, and by the way...

It's a Boy!

Our ultrasound technician was great. She was very efficient, pointing out everything she was measuring and explaining what she was looking for. He weighs about 12 ounces right now, which is perfectly normal. Watching the heart beating was really neat; I don't remember watching such a vivid image of that when we had an ultrasound of Lily. At the end of the ultrasound she said, "And you already know what it is, right?" We were surprised because we did NOT already know - I don't know if she had already shown us a glimpse or if it was noted in the file from a previous ultrasound or what... But of course we told her we didn't know but we wanted to, and she showed us that the baby is very clearly a BOY!

So now we have to come up with a name for this little guy! Maybe we'll have a name picked out before my next ultrasound in four weeks (not likely!). Any suggestions?