Sander Christmas

Wes had his company Christmas party up here on Saturday night so we decided to do the Sander Christmas party on Sunday before they headed back home.  Saturday night while Barbara and Wes went to the party the rest of us were at the hotel were everyone put myself and Freddy went swimming.  The kids all had a blast swimming and Dad said it was one of his favorite presents.  That night Emma stayed at the hotel with mom, and dad because she wanted to have more time with her cousins.  Thankfully they all did pretty well together.

Sunday morning we opened up Christmas presents and spent time with each other before Barbara, Wes and the kids headed home.  Barbara and Mom were taking most of the pictures but I do have a few.  The kids loved their presents and had a really good time playing together. 

Emma and Aubrey with the craft boxes that Mom got for them.  They also received another box with more craft supplies to play with.

 Mom and Dad got Emma a LeapPad2.  She has been playing with it quite a bit and I think that it is something that she will get a lot of use out of for the next couple of years.  Barbara also got her the Letter Factory Game to go with it.

 Aubrey with the Search and Learn Sea puzzle that we got for her.  It is a big floor puzzle that comes with some question cards.

It was great spending time with family as always.  I wish that we would live a little closer to each other so that the kids could spend more time together.

Freddy's 2 Week Checkup

At the last visit the pediatrician said that he wanted to see Freddy back in a week.  Well 1 week made the next appointment on Christmas Eve.  The office happened to be open that day for call in appointments only but since the pediatrician said he wanted to see Freddy again in a week and he was the one in the office that day the nurses when ahead and scheduled his appointment for Christmas Eve.

Freddy continues to grow by leaps and bounds.  He weighed in at 9lbs 13.6oz.  This is a gain of exactly one pound in a week.  He also measured at 23 in long.

Umbilical Cord and Thinking

Little Pig - 1 Week Old

Freddy weighed 8lbs 10.6 oz when he was born but by the time we were released from the hospital he was down to 7lbs 7oz.  I figured by the time we went in today for his 1 week appt he would be back over 8 lbs because he has been eating every 2 - 3 hours since we have been home and my milk has come in.  Even I was surprised when the nurse weighed him and said that he was 8lbs 13 oz today.

Besides a little jaundice the doctor said that he is looking great and he said that the jaundice will probably be gone by next week.  His next appt is on Monday Dec 24th.  I know that is Christmas Eve but his Doctor is on call so they went ahead and scheduled his appt for then.   

Gymnastics

We signed Emma up for Gymnastics this fall for something different to do.  Her last class was on Thursday and thankfully I was able to make it to see at least that one class.  I had just gotten out of the hospital from having Freddy earlier that day but I had promised her that I would make it to at least one class and it was the last chance.  Vince was up here to help with the kids so we left Freddy at home and went to the Y for Emma's last Gymnastics class. 

Overall she had a great time doing the Gymnastics and I'm really glad that I was able to make it to at to the last class to watch her.

Emma and Freddy

 Emma meeting her little brother for the first time.  She is in love with him just like mommy and daddy are.  Emma loves to give Freddy hugs and kisses and she loves to hold him.  We really have to be careful though because when she is done holding him she just tried to get up and leave without making sure someone else has him.  Also she is not the gentlest when she is hugging and kissing on him.

Frederick Anthony Schroering

Born at 11:54 yesterday.  Weight 8lbs 10.6oz.  Height 22 inches.  Nickname: Freddy

 We are all doing great.  I was induced at 7:30 and they broke my water around 10:30.  Once my water was broken everything went really quick.  I did not even have time for an epidural really.  They got it in but he came so quick that it did not take effect at all.

Emma has not gotten to meet her little brother yet because she came home from school with a fever yesterday.  She was fine this morning so we will just have to see what happens.  Hopefully she will get to meet him tonight.  We did Skype with her for a little bit last night but that is just not the same.

Freddy is doing great.  He has slept pretty much the entire time and does not like to wake up even when we change his diaper.  Also he is nursing like a champ.  Eating every 4 - 5 hours.

The time has come

Well our little guy still has not wanted to come on his own so we will be heading to the hospital here is just a little bit for an induction.  Here's hoping that everything will go without a problem and we will be meeting out baby boy before to long.  Vince is looking after Emma and is going to take her to school this morning and then bring her to the hospital afterwards. 

Eviction Notice

My appointment yesterday went about the same as they have been going all along.  I was 4cm dilated and 80% efface.  The doctor went ahead and striped my membranes trying to naturally induce labor. Last night for 2 or 3 hours I had contractions every 10 - 15 minutes but they were not getting stronger as time went on and eventually quite all together.  I have been having occasional contractions for a week now so I was really hoping that she would go ahead and induce me this weekend.  No such luck.

I like my doctor but she is a firm believer in letting nature take its course so she will not induce me until my due date.  With that said though this little one has been given his eviction notice.  If I have not had him by Tuesday morning they are going to induce me.  The doctor said she would be really surprised if I go that long so lets just hope that she is right and he comes on his own this weekend.

Santa and St Nick

Sunday we took Emma to the Children's Museum.  Jolly Days is going on right now so they have the yule slide out and Santa comes to visit.  Emma had a blast going down the yule slide with daddy and she wanted to go see Santa.  When we got to the front of the line for Santa she decided that she did not want anything to do with him after all.  Thankfully the line was not very long so we did not waste a lot of time standing around for nothing.

 I bribed her to at least go and sit next to Santa but she would not smile or talk to him.  Maybe we will try and see Santa some other time but it looks like she is not much interested in Santa this year.

 

St Nick stopped by our house last night and left some goodies for everybody.  Emma could not wait until tonight to see what she had gotten so after breakfast she got her stocking down and went through it.  She had to see what was in her little brother's stocking as well since he is not here yet to look for himself.

 

Little brother got a new outfit from St. Nick. 

 

I go into the doctor today at 4pm so I will have to see what she has to say at that time.  I'm really hoping that she will schedule me to be induced some time this weekend.  Today is my last day here at work so anytime now would be great.

SO DONE WITH THIS PREGNANCY 



Baby Update

The time is drawing near for this little boy to make his way into the world.  I had a doctor's appt this morning and the nurse practitioner was a little concerned because my blood pressure was a little high.  This along with not being able to get an accurate measurement on how big he is prompted them to do an ultrasound.  Thankfully the ultrasound showed the he is doing great and when they checked my blood pressure afterwards it was back down again.  With the measurements that they took they are estimating that he weighs about 7lbs 11 oz right now.  My next appt is scheduled for next Thursday at 4pm and they are talking about scheduling an induction if he has not come by then.  I'm really hoping that he comes on his own but at least the end is in sight.

Over the weekend I was able to get all of his clothes, burp cloths, bibs and bedding washed and last night I put together my bag for the hospital so we are ready for him to come anytime.

We have not been taking the belly shots like we did with Emma so while mom and dad were up over the weekend mom took this one of me.  Not the best but it is at least something to record how big I have gotten with him.

 These are some pictures of the nursery. 

 38 Week ultrasound.  It kind of looks like he is going to have a head of hair.  Go figure our little girl had almost no hair until she was like 18 months old and our boy will more then likely be born with a full head of hair.

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope that everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving.  Since I'm pretty close to my due date and pretty uncomfortable everybody came up to visit us this year.  Mom and Dad came up on Thursday and stayed until Saturday.  Barbara, Wes and the kids came up on Friday and Vince came over on Sunday.

With the Sander family together we decided to take the opportunity to make some holiday cookies which is something that we always did growning up.  Emma and Aubrey helped a little but they were more interested in playing then making cookies. 

Thursday Mom, Emma and I made some puppy chow and chocolate/carmel chip cookies along with decorating some sugar cookies that Mom, Barbara and Aubrey had made the weekend before.  Then on Friday we made Turtles and peanut butter kiss cookies.  We also finished decorating the rest of the sugar cookies. 

Chocolate/Carmel Chip Cookies

 Turtles

Grandma helping the kids put a floor puzzle together.

 Mom and dad brought up a twin air mattress for mom to sleep on and then dad was going to share Emma's bed.  Well Emma decided that she wanted to sleep on the air mattress and that mom and dad could just have her bed.  This is how she was when I went in to check on her in the morning.  She is clutching the teddy bear that she made for her little brother.

 

There is a second post below.

Garage Project

When we moved into our house 4 years ago (Hard to believe we have lived there that long) the garage had drywall up but that was the extent of it.  Vince has been wanting to finish out the garage since we moved in and Drew decided that it was time to get it done.  The baby's room is on the other side of the garage and Drew wanted to make sure the walls were sealed up to be on the safe side.  This project started going on 2 months ago and I'm proud to say that besides a little clean up it is finally finished.

I forgot to get any pictures of what it looked like before the project was started but I think that it looks a lot better now that it is done and we ended up with a little more storage space which is always nice.

This is the garage with all of the drywall patch up.  As you can see we had just started to paint when I took the pictures.

 All finished painting and the shelves are up.  We still need to get some of the stuff put back up against the walls so that the car will fit back into the garage but at least the van fits. 

Overall it was good to get the project done and it is nice to have the extra storage space.  I think that what I'm grateful for the most though is not having to scrap frost off the van in the mornings any more.

Welcome to the Family

Awhile back Drew and I told Emma that we would take her to Build a Bear so that she could make a special friend for her baby brother.  Last week Drew told Emma that we could go on Sunday.  Well it turned out that Drew ended up working a 13 hour shift on Saturday night/Sunday morning because of some daysifters calling in sick.  He did not want to disappoint Emma so when he got home we went to Build a Bear.  To say that he was dead on his feet was an understatement.  We got back home around 2:30 and Drew went straight to bed and slept until around midnight. 

Without further delay let me welcome the newest addition to our family. Emma named him Winnie the Pooh.

 When I took the picture of Pooh Emma wanted her picture taken as well so this is Emma with Pooh and her buddy George.

Happy Halloween

Hope everybody had an enjoyable Halloween.  Emma had a good time going out Trick or Treating but I think that she had an even better time being able to hand out candy to others.  I heard several people say how cute it was that she was the one handing out candy. 

Sherif Emma.   Unfortunately I cut off her feet but she had the cowboy boots and all.

Pumpkin number 2. Since the first pumpkin was carved so early it had gotten really moldy so we threw it way and got a new one.

 

We went out Trick or Treating after Supper last night but since it was cold we only went down the street and back.  Then we told Emma that she could hand out candy to anybody that came to the house.  She sat right by the door waiting for the door bell to ring.  When we told her it was time to go to bed she told us that if anybody else came to the door she would get up and answer it. 

Playing in the Leaves

For the last several years I have gotten a picture of Emma playing in the leaves each year.  Here are the pictures from past years along with this year. The first time around she was not quite sure what to think of them and did not enjoy playing with them but since them she has loved playing in the leaves.

2009

2010

 2011

 2012

Go Colts

Sunday Emma wanted to wear her Colts dress which worked out okay since they were playing on Sunday anyway.  She let me put her hair up and I just thought she looked really cute so I took a couple of pictures of her.  I think that this picture of her turned out really good.

 

 

I had another Doctor's Apt on Wednesday.  Everything is still looking really good with both myself and the baby.  I just wish that I was not so uncomfortable.  Unfortunately more days then not I'm having trouble getting through an 8 hour work day.  I asked the Doctor and she just said that it is not uncommon to feel a lot of discomfort toward the end of the pregnancy especially when it is a second child.  Guess I will just have to deal with the pain and discomfort until this little boy decides it is time to come into the world.  Hopefully he will wait at least another couple of weeks so that I can for sure have the holidays off work.

Pumpking Carving and Dr Appt

On Saturday Drew and Emma carved the pumpkin that we bought at Waterman's Farm.  When we bought the pumpkin Drew had also picked up a pumpkin carving kit and a book of ideas.  Then he let Emma pick out which design she wanted.  

 

The last couple of Dr Apt that I have had Emma has asked me if she could come and I have told her no because the appointments were just quick in and out and did not really think that she would enjoy going with me since she would not actually get to see the baby.  Well I let her go with me today when I went to get checked up.  I made it clear that she would not get to see any pictures and she still wanted to come.  While she asked a lot of questions about why they were checking my blood pressure and measuring my belly she really did enjoy coming with me.  She also liked just being able to hear her baby brother's heartbeat.  Since my 20 week appointment I have steadily gained weight which is good.  My blood pressure is not giving me any trouble though I have had a lot more swelling this time around.  According to my due date I'm right over 31 weeks but they are measuring me at 32 1/2 weeks.  I have been saying all along that they have my due date off by a week (should be a week earlier) so I guess we will just have to wait and see when he is born.

Waterman's Family Farm

Mom and Dad came up to visit this weekend and since it was a nice weekend we decided to try and find an outdoor activity instead of going to the Children's Museum.  We ended up going to Waterman's Family Farm on Sunday for their Fall Harvest Festival that started this weekend.  It was a little windy but otherwise a beautiful day.  They had various activities set up for the kids.  Among those activities were a bouncy house, inflatable slide, pony rides, petting zoo and a trampoline of sorts.  Here are some of the pictures that I took.

Emma going down the slide.  She had a blast on this and even figured out that she could do a somersault at the bottom of the slide.

First Pony Ride.  I think that the pony's name was Sparkles but I'm not positive about that.

 Coming out of the Straw Maze that was set up.  Drew went with her which was kind of funny because he barely fit.  It was pretty dark inside so mom gave Drew the little flash light that she had in her purse so that they could see.  That was the only way Emma would do the maze. 

Getting in some target practice.  Vince happened to be in Indy for other reasons so he meet us at the farm to visit for a little bit.  Emma ended up with the inflatable hammer.  Just what she needs something else that she can hit things with. 

 Emma with Mom and Dad on the Straw ride out to the Pumpkin patch.  The ride was a little uncomfortable because it was just loose straw on the wagon.  I had a little trouble getting up and down.

Picking out which pumpkin she wanted.

 Drew and Emma with their pumpkin.  Since we brought it home Emma has been bugging Drew to carve it.  He keeps telling her that she has to wait until Saturday.

 Getting ready to jump on the Trampoline.   

 Because Emma is so light the lady had to help her bounce on the trampoline otherwise Emma could not even touch the trampoline once the elastic cords were tightened.  Some might think that she would get scared going up that high but she had a blast.  I think the lady helping her had about as much fun as Emma did.  It was kind of funny because the lady would bounce her really hard and Emma would still only be able to touch the trampoline once.