Looks like a happy child....

Hangin out in exersaucer

Addisons First time in jumper seat.

Addison, Ruby and Abby (Abby is three days older than Addison).

In the jumper after a few days practice

Not so lazy days....

So, on a day to day basis it seems like we don't have much to say, but then when a few weeks goes by it seems like you don't even know where to start. I guess we need to go back to Thanksgiving. We were on the brink of being overwhelmed. We had decided to host the family gathering as it would be easier than packing up a 4 month old child and all her conveniences for an undisclosed amount of time. It all began with a good thorough cleaning of the main floor; it was not too bad, but what added to the stress of the cleaning was the fact that we had fruit flies in the house. It had been a nuisance since Early August, but we could not determine the source. Since we had a garden and were always bringing in vegetables and going down to the farmers market we almost thought it could be explained by all the food lying around the house, although nothing was there that long that it was going bad. So this week before thanksgiving I knew that we had not had any fresh food in the open for more than seven days but the bugs still appeared from time to time, only in the kitchen and dining area. So the major cleaning began. We moved every piece of furniture and appliance and cleaned under it, we got rid of the dog bed and vacuumed and mopped every floor. Two days later the flies still were there. Then we thought that even though we had not seen any flies in the bedroom area that maybe they were somehow associated with the trash can in Addison’s room, so we moved that outside for a few days and the flies were still to be found. It was now two days before thanksgiving and I was embarrassed that we were going to have people over and we could not get rid of these pesky fruit flies. Finally, we had this house plant in the kitchen that was that was dying, and I chucked it out into the garden. Low and behold, after that day I did not see another fly. Thank goodness no more fruit flies, perhaps we should have guessed at that sooner.

Now we could concentrate on making a turkey. We used the recipe from good eats on the food network channel. I’ll say the Turkey turned out OK. Everyone claimed it to be the best turkey they ever had, however, with the attendance at our gathering, we only ate the white meat and did not need to get into the dark meat, and it’s a good thing because in our opinion it was not done. I think our temperature probe was a little inaccurate. So now we did not have hardly any leftover turkey and Michelle had bought a bunch of groceries to make stuff with the left over turkey. So on the Saturday after thanksgiving I bought a turkey on clearance at the local grocery store and we took another shot at it. This time we used two probes, one from our gas grill and the digital probe that plugs into the oven. We verified that the one in the oven might be about 5 degrees off so we took the second turkey up to about 170 degrees and let me tell you, it was worth the second effort. It was awesome. The white meat was super moist and the dark meat was done perfect as well.

Addison is growing like crazy. And she is becoming so much fun. At her 4 month appointment she weighed in at 17lbs 8oz. She is "in the 97th percentile for height and a little more than that for weight”. Those were Dr. Vanzee’s words. But at 4 months she still was not sleeping through the night without eating. So on thanksgiving weekend we considered a few nights of “tough love”. On Wednesday night we decided that she would not get fed, we would just take turns comforting her back to sleep. We were both relatively surprised that she was fairly cooperative. So that’s the routine we stuck to for the rest of the weekend and on Monday we went the next step and decided that if she woke up we were just going to let her cry. She caught on pretty quick. I think there was a mutual understanding there. So now she is holding out till about 5:30 in the morning but even if she wakes up she just lays in bed and makes quite noises, that is, until she hears one of us up and about, then she lets us know she’s awake. That’s enough for today. Even though I could go on about repairing molding that ruby chewed when she was a puppy and painting the dining room and both of us signing up for a triathlon in St. Anthony’s FL next April, and taking photos for our Christmas cards and trying to get those sent out. We need to stay on top of this blogging. We’ll try to post a few photos this weekend.

Yes, we're still alive

Ok, so we’ve neglected to pay attention to our blog for a while. We’ll try to get better at that. So, Michelle and Addison made a journey to California on Wednesday October 31st, Halloween, and returned on Monday November 5th. They were able to see lots of family and friends. Addison was able to meet her cousin Logan for the first time.

Plus she got to hang out with his brother Garret again (I think it’s pretty awesome that she’s been able to see her cousin Garret, who lives across the country, twice already and she’s only 3.5 months old – that could be an expensive trend if it keeps up for too much longer).

While they were gone I tried to get a bunch of chores out of the way. I raked all the leaves (which sems almost sensless and the yard is filled with leaves again right now), washed and waxed Michelle’s car and washed my truck, changed the oil in the truck, did work on the snow-blower to get it ready for winter, plus a little laundry and a few miscellaneous items around the house and still managed to get in a couple bike rides in a last ditch effort to prepare myself for an rapidly approaching event. They returned home on the 5th. Michelle has a few stories to tell about traveling with an infant, and they had both caught colds. The week was a bit of a challenge getting Addison back on her schedule after dealing with daylight savings time change and jet lag but it was not too awful. Late in the week I managed to catch the cold that the girls brought home with them. Then Saturday morning I headed out the door at 5:00 a.m. to drive up to Kalkaska and do the Iceman , a 27.5 mile mountain bike race. By the time it was all said and done I didn’t get home till 9:00p.m. and still had to unload/unpack my gear. Needless to say I slept good that night. Last night when I got home from work we loaded up the child and the dog and went for a little hike at on the trails at Robinette's Apple Orchard. This was a blast by the way, Addison was over-stimulated by all the colors on the leaves.

and Ruby was over-stimulated by the unfamiliar scents. It’s so much fun to get that dog out of the city where you can let her off the leash and not worry about her getting hit by a car. Everywhere we went she just ran circles around us. We were only out there for about 30-40 minutes but it was still priceless time spent together as a family.

Happy Addison!

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Originally uploaded by dmmodz

Got a roll of film developed today and this came out. She seems pretty happy here!

The end of an era.

Well, maybe 5 1/2 months does not qualify as an "era" but it's definitely a long break. I'll be back to work this coming Tuesday. When I left on bedrest back in APRIL I had let my manager know that I thought I would not be able to return as a full time employee - the job just runs me ragged...long days when we're busy, travelling, working weekends and the occasional terse voice mail (left in haste with no real backing...it's saved in my inbox) - and that was fine, when I just needed to come home to a husband who would listen to my rants, be ok with mac and cheese for dinner tonight, and let the laundry slide when I just needed to sack out on the couch... and a dog who just needed one of us to walk her. Now, there's just more to come home to and I'd like to be able to give a little back to that adorable baby when she wants mom's attention and affection. Anyhow.... my manager told me to really think it over and consider that I may feel differently after the baby came. Understandable, but I really want to work. Yep. I just want to do it all. So, I went back and proposed that I work a part time schedule... I knew it wouldn't be a popular suggestion and was fully expecting a "no" but, as my husband pointed out, "you'll never get what you want unless you ask for it" Yes, he's a wonderful husband ;)
So, much to my surprise and delight - they agreed to let me work part time for a trial period. The plan is that I'll be at work Tuesdays through Fridays, 6 hours a day. I'll have less on my plate and no travel. Best of all, I know I'll be home on time at night to spend some quality time with our daughter :) Of course, I have apprehensions and am nervous about making it work, but I have to give it a try - it may be the best of both worlds!

As for our little "peanut"... she's busy working on rolling over. She gets half way - from her back to her side...usually rolling to the right. I have a feeling it may be awhile before she figures out how to get all the way over and then it will be massively frustrating as she tends to get very angry when she finds herself on her tummy! oh, and mommy's trying to figure out how to get her back to sleeping 5-6 hours at a time. She used to do it when she slept in her chair, but now that she's back in the crib....not so much. I'm thinking about burning the book that says they will likely start sleeping through the night at 8 weeks...but some won't until 10-12. Yeah, we're at 12 weeks and I'm not seeing any signs of change. I'm beginning to implement different "methods" but I try to give each one a week or so... so far, no luck. I'm sure there are a few sympathetic ears out there...

All smiles!

That's right. For the past few weeks I've debated if she is actually smiling or if she is just pulling faces. Michelle insists that she is making a conscious effort to smile. I was saying she was just making a face that appeared to look a lot like a smile. Now I think I’m convinced, but we’ll let you be the judge. Checkout the clip this Michelle took.




So it’s been a couple weeks since we made and entry to our blog and you might ask what we’ve been up to. Well, unfoutunately, there just has not been too much to talk about. It seems like time just disappears. I’ve been working on installing a fence around the back yard at the house next door so that’s been taking up most of my spare time but I finished that last weekend.


Other than that, I come home from work, and a couple times a week I have managed to get in a bike ride. A few friends are trying to convince me to do the Iceman, a 27 mile mtn bike race from Kalkaska to Traverse City in held November (we’ll see how that turns out). I’ve done it before and I have mixed feelings about doing it again. Michelle has been out with Addison in the Chariot behind the bike a few times as well. It seems Addison is very content when being towed behind the bike. Here is a low quality video of the departure of their maiden voyage.




And perhaps the rest of my household will not agree that this is a blog worthy topic, but since the posting was left to me, I've decided that I'll take the liberty to let you know that I'm excited that the jeep got some new treads yesterday (33 x 13.50-15 Toyo Open Country M/T's). They are actually not as noisy as the 12 year old BFGoodrich MT's that they replaced.

Travelers

Phew - It's been too long since I've been able to post. I'll do my best to get in all the activity that' s fone on...

Ok, first of all I will say I had a fantastic little get away to Royal Oak at the end of August. Addison and I visited my friend Jen, her husband Dan and their little one, Trey - who is exactly 5 weeks older than Addison. They were instant friends :) Ok, so they didn't actually "play" together but they did do some simultaneous complaining, which Jen and I just laughed about...and said a quick thank you prayer for not having had twins! We were moms-about-town, we walked to dinner Monday night with the kiddies in the strollers - had ultimate margaritas, made jokes about drinking and driving...the strollers and got home just in time to warm up a couple bottles and pump-and-dump. (It's just not the same having a drink, knowing that you have to find time to get rid of 'tainted' milk.) Tuesday we strapped the kids in the front pack and headed to Starbucks then switched it up and took the stollers to Trader Joes. But, mostly, we caught up and just enjoyed the time with babies! It's amazing to see the developmental differences between the two just 5 weeks apart.

Addison and Trey

Jen and I...headed to Starbucks!


Dan and I took it easy for Labor day weekend. It's a new feeling for us to be home more often. We are definitely the type of people who are generally always on the go.

My sisters Emily and Anita came in from California to visit us on Sept 6. Anita brought her youngest son, Garrett, with her - he is 5 months old. Luckily, Garrett is an angel of a baby (quite a chubby little cherib, but angelic nonetheless) because they had quite the travelling woes getting here - and leaving. Delayed an additional 3 hours in Chicago on the way here and having a flight delayed and then cancelled when they tried to leave! I hope they thought it was all worthwhile; I certainly loved having them here. It was wonderful to finally meet Garrett and me and the girls had an awesome time just hanging out. We managed to fit in quite a bit of cooking, a few card games, and a board game - Dan finally managed to win a game of Catan. Anita and I tried to pry into all the juicy details from Emily's on going saga of a social life and even tried to get her to respond to some of those e-Harmony matches ;) Anita and I also got to attend a little seminar at Williams-Sonoma on making homemade pasta. We actually made linguine later that week, but I definitely need an upgrade if I am going to embark on that endevour again. It shouldn't take 2 people and over an hour to make a batch of pasta for 4. I love good food, but I'm far too practical (and impatient) for that.

Of course I must add that with the help of a supportive husband, a wonderful baby and the sisters - I was able to get up last Saturday morning, squeeze (a very tight squeeze, mind you) into my wetsuit and tackle the Reeds Lake triathlon course....one leg at a time. I was the most nervous about the swim, but once that was done I was fairly confident I would make it through the bike and run. The run was tough and I could feel my non-existant abs screaming at me for the last mile, but it was worth it. Ah, back to my old self again....well, not really, but I'm getting there.

Emily, me and Anita

Addy with Cousin Garrett

She always thinks I’m kidding when I say she’s my hero.

Back in February Michelle sent in her registration for Reed's Lake Triathlon, http://www.eastgr.org/?t=49&c=131, an event scheduled to take place on September 8th. At the time I thought she was out of her mind. She had a due date for her first child on July 14th, and she had no idea what to expect for recovery time. By the time she sent in that registration the doctors had already warned her of her condition which made her susceptible to pre-term labor, but there were no guarantees. Her thought was that she would stay as fit as possible and then most likely have a baby a few weeks early (late June). That would leave her about 9-10 weeks to train for the triathlon. That was in the perfect world, assuming an early vaginal delivery. As the end of June came upon us with the baby still in her belly she started to become depressed of the fact that her window of opportunity to compete at Reeds Lake was slipping away. Around the 10th of July she pretty much wrote it off. On July 20th Addison finally arrived and everything was good, at that time a healthy baby was worth more than any personal achievement, and the c-section delivery pretty much made the thought of doing a Triathlon in seven weeks out of the question. Or so it seemed….
Yes, appearently, this little girl was not about to stand in the way of her mother. Michelle did go through with it; this past Saturday Michelle attempted, completed, and tore up the course in East Grand Rapids finishing the half mile swim, 17.1 mile bike, and 4.9 mile run in 2 hours, 6 minutes and some change. She finished in the upper half of her age group. So I’ll say it again and maybe this time she’ll realize I’m not kidding. Michelle, you are my hero! You were an inspiration to many this past Saturday.

Where Does Time Go?

Well it's been a couple weeks again. I don’t know where the time goes. I go to work, come home, I find time to get in a walk with the dog (most of the time Addison comes along and sometimes Michelle makes it too). Early Saturday our friends Aaron and Jo had their baby girl, Rory and she was the exact same size as Addison’s birth weight (8 lbs. 8 oz. 19.5 inches tall). So Sunday morning I hiked over to their house, about a mile away, and I got their dog Max out for some exercise. On the way home we met Michelle, Addison and of course Ruby in Wilcox Park. Ruby and Max had a ton of fun chasing each other after the ball.

After about 30 minutes of fetching they seemed pretty worn out so we took Max back to our house to hang out for a few hours. Shortly after our arrival home, the neighbors happened to let out their two dogs (Harper a five month old chocolate lab and Akiena, a 3 year old black lab mix). We never considered that there would an altercation because each plays so well with Ruby, but apparently Akiena did not like Max a whole lot. They are both obsessive fetchers and she lost her mind when Max ran after the ball and got it before her. Max is twice the size of Akiena but she still managed to leave a few marks on the big guy. We got them separated and Akina got a “time out”. I was totally embarrassed, here I thought I was doing a friend a favor by giving their dog some exercise and companionship while they were at the hospital and he ends up getting attacked by another dog in my back yard. I know the scratches were pretty small, but I still feel horrible. Ruby and Max spent a few hours in the back yard, I think Ruby loves that big guy, she just followed him around for about three hours, occasionally she’d pick up a Frisbee and get him to chase her around as well.





Later that afternoon we took Max home and we went to the Hospital to visit Aaron, Jo and Rory. We found Rory to be a beautiful little girl, and we also found that our beautiful little girl is growing. We see her every day and she always seems so small. But when we saw her adjacent to Rory who is currently at Addison’s birth weight, WOW, Addison is not so little anymore. Addison and Rory
Monday I headed off to work, as usual and Michelle and Addison packed up and went to Royal Oak to spend the night with Michelle’s college friend Jenn. Monday night the house seemed almost empty. I’ll let Michelle cover her trip to Royal Oak in her own blog entry.

Motherhood

Phew....I can't believe it's been so long since I last posted anything here! Addison is already 4 weeks old and the days just fly by. My parents were here from July 28 - August 4 and that was great! I was still recovering and needed to take things easy and they are so helpful. Mom made every meal and they both helped clean the house and keep things in order. We even found some time to play a few games of Catan....and dad almost won one...almost...

She is such a sweet baby! We couldn't be more blessed...she even sleeps at night (although not in her crib). Last night, I fed her at 9p and she was down by 10; I woke up at 4a this morning to find her still snoozing away - she must have been making some noise for me to wake up but she looked so peaceful when I ventured in to check on her.

I will say there have been a few challenging nights, but really, just a few. I do feel like I don't get anything accomplished in a day. Dan will come home from work and I'll assess what in the world did I do during those 8+ hours?? A little clean up here and there, getting dinner ready, feeding the kid, changing all those diapers, taking the kid and dog for a walk...and that's about it folks. Oh well. I'm enjoying all those moments when Addison just nuzzles her little face into me, unsatisfied with the swing or the bouncy seat -she just wants a little one on one time with mom :)

Mom and Baby are home!

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Originally uploaded by dmmodz

On Monday July 23 Michelle and Addison returnd home from the hospital. This photo was taken shortly after returning home, basically introducing Addison to her new bedroom. On Wednesday Addison had her first appointment with her pediatrician (Dr. Aaron Vanzee) and he said “she’s a keeper”. She had already gained 5oz over her birth weight and every thing looked great. On Saturday morning I drove to Detroit to pick up Michelle’s parents at the Airport, they came in to visit their new granddaughter for the week and provide her parents with a little help. While I was gone my mom came over to hang out with Michelle, Addison, and Ruby. On the way back from the airport we stopped at the store and picked up some ribs to make on the grill while my mom went to the farmers market and picked up some fresh-picked corn for us. The ribs cooked on the grill for about three hours and came out perfect and the corn was incredible (thanks mom). Michelle’s parents have been here two days and have already been a big help. Michelle’s mom is a master organizer, on Sunday she and Michelle sat down and created a meal schedule for the week, and then we loaded up and headed to the grocery store, which didn’t take long since there were four of us doing the shopping. Before you knew it we were home eating dinner.

Baby Addison.

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Originally uploaded by dmmodz

There, we finally got a good photo of her face

Welcome Addison!

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Originally uploaded by dmmodz

Here she is , Addison Carole Modzeleski. 8lbs. 8oz. 19-1/2 inches long. Born at 1:51pm yesterday Friday July 20th. She's been out for a day now. The doctors say shes a ten, perfectly healthy, strong and on top of that, shes beautiful. Looks like mom and baby will be able to go home on Monday. Check our flickr account for more photos.

Do I get a pager for that???

I visited the doctor yesterday and she again looked at me and just said "why haven't you gone into labor yet??" Why does the doctor get to ask those questions? I haven't been sitting on the couch eating bon bons! So, it was time to schedule an induction and she left the room to call over to labor and delivery. She came back and told me she had tried to get me in for the 18th (today) because she is going to be covering the deliveries that day, but they are absolutely booked. Since I don't need to be induced, I just get added to the end of the list. It's crazy to me to think there are THAT many people having babies...but then again we know more than a dozen couples having babies this year.
Anyway, the doctor said that they have me on the schedule for Saturday, July 21st, at 6am - BUT they may call any day during the week if they have an opening...I thought it was pretty funny, like being added to the wait list at Outback. ;)
Looks like I'll have yet another day or so to take it easy, catch that afternoon nap and soak up some snuggles on the couch with Ruby.

Jeepers Creepers!!

I talked Michelle into going for a ride in the jeep last night. We put the dog in the back seat and we went to ColdStone to get some ice cream. I took the bumpiest route I could think of, Ruby sure didn't think it was too fun but the intention was to scare the baby into coming out into our wolrd. Didn't work, that kid is in no hurry to get out.

The countdown...

So, all my efforts to coax this little one out seem to be in vein. I have really been enjoying the nice weather and the quiet time to just relax and enjoy some simplicity. I still have 4 days to see if she comes naturally, but if not, she's getting evicted. Dan has made the observation that he's grateful she was smart enough not to arrive on Friday the 13th, however, I'm not superstitious so I wouldn't have been disappointed ;)
Dan and I have been spending a lot of time just relaxing and waiting. Well, there have been some projects getting done around here, so that's a plus, but I hesitate to start any large project only to have the baby come once I'm in the middle of it and have a huge mess. Mostly I'm thinking of the unkempt filing system we have going on. There's a lot of thinning out and organizing to get done there...

Easy Going....

Well, anyone that's checking in is probably wondering how things are going. No little one yet! Michelle had an appointment with the doc yesterday and essentially the baby has dropped, but apparently she's not ready to come out yet. Michelle is beginning to wonder if she will ever come out. The doctor did say that if the baby does not come out by next Tuesday they will schedule to induce on the 20th. That's all for now, Maybe Michelle will find time to update again this weekend.

Bye Bye Bedrest

Ah, free at last! I have thoroughly enjoyed my first full week off of bedrest. I attacked the weeds by my rose bushes, took Ruby for walks, went swimming and tackled the nursery! The nursery looks quite nice now, if I may say so myself. I wouldn't say it's perfect, but it's definitely ready for a baby. So, now we're playing the waiting game - I told the baby she can come any time...I'm trying to persuade her to come on July 1st. I told her that would be a pretty neat birthdate but not to procrastinate and wait until the last minute - she has to give me a little time to help her out. We'll see what she thinks about that...so far she's just responded with a few little jabs and kicks.

The doctor says I'm 3cm dilated - a good start but it doesn't necessarily mean I'll be going any time soon. My sister was quick to point out that she was at a 3 for about 4 weeks... Anyway, we had an ultrasound last week also and they estimated her weight to be 6lbs 10oz +/- 8 oz They said she's in the 48th percentile. Right on track. All good news! I have to say that I'm not outrageously uncomfortable at this point, so I'm okay that she's still hanging out inside. I still have a list of things I'd like to get done before she arrives, but, really, I think the list could be unending and all the imperative things are taken care of so I guess that makes me "ready"

36 weeks...and 37 weeks (yes, those are biking shorts)

Here's a few bare belly shots....

Outside of the baby watch, Dan and I have been taking Ruby swimming (of course) and tending to the garden - which is doing pretty well... enjoy the pics!

More photos of our dog

So we got a new lens for my nearly obsolete Nikon N50 film camera the other day and we had to try it out, so guess what subject we elected to photograph. That's right, Ruby. We took her down to Reed's Lake, which has become a regularly scheduled event, and Ruby went into action chasing the ball like there was no tomorrow. It took a few days to get the film developed and scanned to disk, but this is what we got.

And just so you all know how Bed Rest is working out for Michelle...

Spring Fever

I can't believe it's June already!! The days are long and the weather is great, spring is in the air - and so is every pollen spore imaginable... I'd just like to say that if you are reading this and you don't suffer from allergies, you should take a long moment to breathe deep and thank the good Lord! This year is different from the past few years because Dan has been getting allergy shots for the last year and thankfully they are working so he can now be outside and enjoy the weather with little reaction - the allergies are still there, but they are FAR better. I still have allergies and they seem worse this year, but I'm pretty sure that it's just because Dan doesn't look like he's on his death bed every day. I've been staying inside...on my couch for the most part but there are those irrisistable moments when the outdoors call and I venture out to enjoy the garden (which is growing wonderfully!), the strawberry patch, the peonies, and the roses - I try not to pay too much attention to the weeds I can't pull... Dan's been doing his best to control them as much as possible with all the other things going on. He did a major overhaul the other day and everything looks so much better :)
Outside of the weather and allergies, I'm getting extremely stir crazy. I just want to clean things up and get all the nursery things put away and have the baby's room ready for the baby! I'm trying to be patient but I have this impending sense of doom that I'll go into labor before the doctor's tell me I can be up and about - which is at 36 weeks...2 weeks from tomorrow. I see the little countdown on the blog and try to tell myself that maybe I'll have the 40+ days left. We have a carseat (thank you gma and aunties) so she can come home and I'm sure it will all work out but I still have a little panicked feeling. I'm certain I'll be a flurry of extreme nesting-ness once I get the "ok" from the doctor. Well, maybe not a flurry... but definitely motivated.
Enjoy the pics!

Down by the water

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Originally uploaded by dmmodz.

Michelle's parents came in from California on Friday and took off on Tuesday morning. Michelle had her baby shower on Saturday and it was nice that her mom was able to attend. While the girls were at the baby shower Michelle's dad and I made our way to the farmers market to get fresh asparagus, Sevens paint store to get paint for our rental unit, and then we went to a couple greenhouses to get vegetable plants for the garden. When the girls returned home Michelle perched herself onto a lounge chair in the back yard and began to dictate where each of the plants was to be planted. Sunday was a little less active. We went to church service in the morning and Michelle's mom put together a couple dinners and froze them so we'll have them at a later date, she's great like that. I found a little time to do some prep work for painting at the rental and we later found time to play a few games as a family. I took Monday off from work and spent more time with Michelle’s parents, we played yet a few more games and in the evening we took Ruby over to Reeds Lake. There’s a section near the south end of the park where we always let Ruby off the leash and let her swim. There seems to be nothing that dog likes more than to play fetch in the water. She fetched for about ten minutes until the ducks started to tease her. Believe it or not, she was retrieving the ball when a duck flew in and landed right in her return path. She stayed the course and brought the ball back to me but she really wanted to go back in after the duck. A short time after that, another duck came over and before you knew it there were four ducks swimming around in circles right where we were playing. She behaved pretty well, for a while. I left her off the leash and we played fetch on land and she was great. Then the ducks came in closer to shore and I too was having a hard time restraining myself from letting her go in after them, finally we all had enough, Michelle, her dad, and I all agreed we would just see what happened if we let her go. She made a run for it. She hit the water and the ducks lifted off, flew about ten feet and landed and continued to tease her, she closed in on them and they would just lift off for about 10 more feet and land again, trying to get her to follow them towards the center of the lake. I've talked to several people at Reed's lake that have had to have their dogs rescued by boaters because the ducks had led them out to the middle of the lake and would not come back on their own, but Ruby didn't fall for their game, she came back in as soon as I called her. She's the best!

Double Duty

I hit both doctors offices today and the results are somewhat the same as last time. First up was my OB - relatively uneventful. I'll be seeing her again next week and then every 2 weeks until 36 weeks - then I will see her every week until I deliver. Of course on the "off" weeks I'll be seeing the specialist. The specialist was 2nd in line yesterday. I had an 11am appt - they were running on time (which is noteworthy- I think they are all great, but they do tend to run late - very late.) Anyway, I got in right away and they started the standard work up. There are certain things the ultrasound tech (Dana) checks at every appointment (1) baby's heart rate - in the 140's today, which is good! (2) a measurement of the amniotic fluid - which was good. (3) blood flow rate to/from the placenta-also, good- (4) and, she always tries to find the baby's face and get a good shot for me to take home - I don't know that she ever has to do this, but I think she just likes to spoil me :) Anyway, all that went great, the doctor came in and said my effacement and dilation was essentially unchanged since last visit, but it looked like I was having a contraction....so, they stuck me in a lazy boy with (2) monitors strapped to my belly - one for measuring the baby's heartbeat and the other to measure contractions. This was fine with me since it was essentially the same as the bedrest I was doing at home. I grabbed a magazine and started browsing... 1/2 hour goes by and the nurse comes in, takes a look at the paper, rips it off and tells me she'll be right back. I figured she was just going to come back in and let me go. It's now about 12:30 and I'm starting to get a little hungry, but no big deal. So, the nurse returns and opens up a drawer and proceeds to tell me that she needs to wake the kid up, so she's going to stick this little instrument on my belly and it vibrates and makes a loud noise - fine - I thought it was a little cruel and I'm worried about future payback, but I wasn't really going to argue. So, now, baby is doing flips and jumping all over. I figured I'd be in for another 15 minutes or so...nope, 45 minutes later the nurse returns - note: I'm pretty darn hungry now and completely finished with the magazine in the room - she rips off the paper and asks if I can feel any slight cramping or discomfort...I really can't feel anything but the baby moving like crazy. She leaves the room and comes back with a little pill. Apparently, my uterus looks unhappy (can you blame it?). There appear to be mild contractions and so I get to take a sort of muscle relaxer to calm it down. She added that I might feel a little shaky or feel like my heart is beating fast... well, I was already shaky from the severe sugar low and by now I just wanted to get out of there and eat! Normally, I listen to potential side affects and think that they are just that - a possible side effect. So, I take the pill and have another 45 minutes in the chair. Yeah, they weren't joking around about those side effects. It was like having a caffeine drip when you're dehydrated. Apparently, they have me on a low dose - I can't imagine how I'd feel on a normal dosage. I already feel like my heart's about to beat out of my chest and I'm shaking like a recovering addict. Supposedly, your body adjusts to this and the side effects go away in a couple days....I'm really hoping they aren't lying about that. I got out of there around 2:30 and headed straight to the border....Taco Bell. I don't even feel a twinge of guilt about it.

30 weeks

May Days

It has been, for me, an uneventful week - as it should be. I try to remind myself that benefits are truly that....benefits, despite the multitude of phone calls, annoying hold music, automated call answering services and numerous transfers from one person to another and yet another. I guess since I'm on bedrest I really have the time. It seems like since I have the time it would cease to aggravate me, but that simply isn't the case. I'd rather be mulling over whether I should be putting an 8 or a 2 in that specific box of my Sudoku puzzle. Lucky for me, I had some friends stop by on Tuesday and had the opportunity to catch up....AND they brought lunch!

Dan and I visited my doctor Wednesday - there is no new news to report, which is a good thing. Baby Modz seems to be getting around more than her mom these days. I find it so amusing to see my belly deform and know she's just kicking around in there without a care in the world.
Dan's been busy with all the wonderful things that Spring brings - fertilizing the lawn, roto-tilling the garden area, planting grass seed, walking the dog, trying to keep the dog out of the seeded area... added to all the house chores that I'm no longer helping with. He's been great about it all and I'm so grateful for such a wonderful husband :)
~Michelle~

Rest

As of Tuesday, the doctors decided it was necessary for me to be on bed rest...
We went in Tuesday morning for a growth ultrasound and the (now routine) check up. The ultrasound was good - the baby is doing very well, she is healthy and all the measurements show her right in the middle, the 49th percentile, for growth. They estimated her weight to be 2 lbs. 11 oz. She's definitely active and moving around more these days. However, the doctor said I've begun dilating and with the cervix shortening and funnelling open from the inside it adds more risk of preterm labor and ruptured membranes. So, down I go. I tried to wrap up everything at work as quickly as possible and get home to serve out my sentence. Luckily, I have a great companion to keep me company during the day - that would be Ruby :)
So far I haven't gone too crazy. I have quite a few books and there's always daytime TV (ok, so I've avoided the hideous daytime TV thus far, but maybe I'll tune in to A Baby Story...or some other women's channel I'll never get Dan to watch!)
I'm sure I'll be checking back in soon... to keep everyone posted and maybe add a belly shot for kicks. :)

Hard at Work

Ruby in the snow - April 12!

So, we finally are getting some spring weather despite the snow on Easter. The snow is gone and it was actually a nice day out today - the sun was out, there was little to no breeze and it may have even been close to 60 degrees :)
Dan and I headed to the doctors today to check in and see how things are moving along. Unfortunately, I'd lost a little ground - nothing they were too alarmed about, but they did recommend a course of steroids to help the baby along. The doctor reassured us that it's a precautionary measure - an insurance of sorts - just to be sure the baby will be as healthy and developed as possible if she decides to make an early entry. I'm currently 27 weeks and 3 days - we are thankful that I've gotten this far without any further issues. They said 28 weeks is a good milestone - survival rates increase significantly at that point and the next one is 32 weeks - chances of neurological and vision problems significantly decrease after 32 weeks. We're still praying for 38-40.

The baby has been extremely active this past week - I find myself staring at my belly at times to see how much she's moving around. I swear she's dancing around in there at times and I think the more she moves around the more tired I am at the end of a day. I've definitely noticed that fatigue sets in early and with a vengence!

Dan finished assembling the crib last week and so the room is definitely moving towards completion. Plus, we acquired a changing table from Dan's sister Colleen that fits nicely on the dresser in the room.

27 Weeks

As anyone that knows Dan also knows that he has a hard time parting with his cars. Dan's had his 93' Olds convertible since it was new but we've hardly driven it the past few years so last summer he put it up for sale.

He admits himself that it didn't make any sense to pay for insurance when we only put 600 miles on the car in that past two years. But at the same time, the car was in such great shape that he had a hard time letting it go to just anyone (most people were not willing to pay more than the bluebook value, but Dan held his price, knowing that eventually the right buyer would come along). So it took 10 months to find the right person that could appreciate the way the car had been cared for, and this past weekend the car left in the hands of it's new owner. This is the photo he snapped as it drove away for the last time.

Easter

Most of the time people think of Easter and they think of new life and signs of spring.... warmer weather, green landscape, flowers opening... Well, I honestly don't know how those images continue to thrive in Michigan. It's cold, there is snow on the ground and the daffodils are slumped over in a pathetic surrender to the return of winter. The only thing green around here is the nursery!!! Yep, Dan has definitely stuck to his regiment and got the nursery all painted this week despite having double dog duty and a wife relaxing on the couch. Next up: crib assembly :)

...and we added the light switch cover just to make it feel truly like the baby's room!