for now anyways! i am taking a blog/facebook/general internet siesta for a bit. resting up for the baby. when she gets here we will be quick to alert the masses, but until then:
http://haveyouhadthatbabyyet.com/
thanks for all the kind wishes and messages. she will get here when she is good and ready. and we are totally cool with that.
henry after nap, before we went to dinner
union square tree lighting
today, sunday, at the park
photos from 11.15.11
the last few weeks have flown by so quickly. we have been packing in as much fun activity as a pregnant woman can handle while watching 2 toddlers (with help).
henry has been enjoying laying on his stomach in the sand pit and running his hands through the sand as if he is swimming. this usually ends with a diaper full of sand. but on this day, henry also got an accidental mouthful of it 🙂
on rainy or cold days we have been hanging out with roy and his mom, filling our time with trips to suburbia to visit crazy super stores like target, babies r us and michael’s. this means we sometimes get car naps.
have you ever seen anything so angelic?
henry has been a hand-holding fool. he wanted to walk around and hold my hand at the farmer’s market over the weekend. bryan took a picture on his phone and i was ill prepared, because i have no idea why i look so upset. i must have been negotiating the crowds or dogs or something, because i was so thrilled by how adorable it was henry wanted to hold my hand. and i am kind of sorry that part of it wasn’t captured in this photo. but i am happy the moment was caught, no matter how i look.
i’ve been working on some last minute dorky craft stuff before NEW BABY. i let henry play around with some washi tape while i organized some stuff.
we’ve also been doing some coloring and painting. i need to get the painting pictures of my camera, which is why they aren’t posted here. i also took a short video, which i will share if i can figure it out.
so, about a month ago we had someone new come into our lives who has been the biggest help. we will call her C and she is filling the role of mother’s helper to support me through out the day when roy is here. her time and help have been invaluable. and henry LOVES her. which is what matters the most. but anyways, she will likely start appearing on the blog as her time in our life increases (we are planning to have her around more post NEW BABY) and as she gets comfortable with the idea of appearing on the blog. but it is because of her that i am even capable of taking these kids to the park, coloring with them or painting with them. she is wonderful, and kind and i cannot sing her praises enough. and she sings the birdie song. i mean, come. on.
but here she is playing near the fountain with the boys. and by playing i mean preventing them from diving in face first, since that is what both of them attempted to do several times.
and without further ado…..
my 39 week old belly. that means one week until NEW BABY (approx.) and one week until thanksgiving. its kind of weird to have a due date be on a holiday. because it feels like such a big count down. every commercial, ad and special is reminding us of how much longer until turkey day. and, for us, thanksgiving means baby. so its been kind of odd.
i had my most recent appt last week. we both checked out healthy. the ob seems pretty confident that this time around will be much quicker and somewhat easier of an experience than with henry. and she commented that this baby is “on the smaller side”. i am having difficulty sleeping, but otherwise i am feeling pretty good.
i am trying to have a different perspective with this pregnancy than i did with henry. 2 years ago i was full of anxiety and impatience regarding his arrival. i wanted a baby so badly. i wanted to meet my son and be done with the pregnancy part once i reached this point. and i kind of think that contributed to my mental approach to the birth. and it wasn’t an awesome experience for me, though obviously worth it since we have our son and love him so much.
but since henry’s arrival on this earth, i have encountered so many women and uncovered so many stories of people i know who have suffered loss during pregnancy or after childbirth. and i saw it first hand sitting in the icn with henry for the first week of his life before we were able to bring him home. and what i know is, nothing is guaranteed. we can plan for this baby as much as we’d like, but there is no way to predict what her future will look like. so i want to appreciate this time and experience of being pregnant with her. i want to be thankful for the opportunity and project it in my emotional state and behavior.and how appropriate is it for her to be due on thanksgiving?
if you had told me last christmas that i would have another baby by this christmas, i would have ensured you that you were crazy. and while we weren’t quite prepared for this child once she made her presence known, we realized quickly how lucky and blessed we are. and we are in so so so many ways. we are supremely fortunate. and i just wanted to be rooted in that over the next few days or weeks and be accepting of however much time this baby still needs to cook. i am in no great rush for her to get here if she isn’t ready, but i am so excited to meet her, smell her, cuddle her and love her. so cross your fingers for us, if you have the time. and we will do our best to keep you updated.
i didn’t do a great job of taking pictures this week. i tried to catch up a little on the weekend, so here are a few images from saturday and sunday.
37 weeks. i am feeling okay – tired mostly. but i am trying to just be accepting and grateful for this opportunity rather than impatient and overwhelmed with wanting it to be over. with henry i just wanted to be done with being pregnant and i feel like it made for a very stressful end to the whole matter. so this time i am just trying to take what comes – sleep when i can and enjoy it. rest when i can and enjoy it. eat when and what i can and enjoy it. and be grateful for all the moments in between. because the biggest lesson i learned last time is that there is not one thing i have control over except my attitude and how i deal with everything. so this time i am just going to be happy – happy that i have made it this far, happy that we are so very close to meeting our little girl, but also happy if she needs a few more weeks to cook.
this was maybe one of the sweetest moments i have ever witnessed between my son and his father. we were walking bryan to work – i was pushing the stroller and we were trying to herd henry like normal. then henry stopped, grabbed bryan’s hand and waited at the corner for him to cross. henry is not and has never been a hand holder, so this was a very special thing. i got out the phone and took a picture. i didn’t want to ever forget it.
on saturday, we went to the store to buy bryan new pants. because that is what old married people do on the weekends – we buy new pants. anyways henry wanted to ride on the escalator. which he did over and over and over again. he also rode on it the next day when we took bart to the “cheap” farmer’s market at civic center, but this is the only picture i got.
on halloween day we went to noe valley (roy’s hood) for some day time store front trick or treating. we got roy into his costume for about 2 seconds:
it was kind of cool. there is a major street in this neighborhood with lots of store fronts. all the store that were participating put a sign up in the window and kids got to trick or treat, during the day, at all the stores. this was a pretty perfect set up for us. we stuck the boys in the double stroller and visited a few shops for some candy and so the boys could get the experience. then we hung out at their place until a little after dinner. bryan had to work, so he missed out.
i let henry eat a little too much candy, i think. he was super crazy on tuesday and wasn’t in the best of moods. i may have learned my lesson about letting a kid over indulge on halloween. but it really didn’t seem like he ate that much.
overall, i think our halloween was pretty fun and successful. henry’s costume was a hit and he didn’t hate it too much. he got candy and bryan and i got to share some, too. we still have a little play group halloween party coming up, so he gets to wear his outfit again, too.
here are some of our pictures from our halloween celebrations. on sunday we went to boo at the zoo with roy’s family. first, we got henry dressed at home:
these are light sabers bryan printed with his 3-d printer/maker bot ( i don’t really know what to refer to it as). We colored them with permenant markers. One represents the “good side” and one is the “dark side”. can you tell which is which?
our little obi wan. henry has his light saber and darth vader head shaped bucket sent to us by nana last year. we bought this costumer last year for henry – it is size 6-12 months. And it fit him perfectly here at 21 months. I am sure the sizing of these things is done by a man.
we met up with roy at the zoo. he was supposed to be dressed as yoda, but he wan’t too thrilled with his costume. he did carry his light saber around dutifully, though.
the zoo had a new tarantula exhibit. henry was very interested in standing in this structure. we had to drag him away.
that evening, henry enjoyed some delicious persimmon on my lap. bryan was able to pull out the camera and take a few photos. i love how happy henry looks here. and i don’t usually sit around the apartment in my apron, but i was baking that evening. and i kind of don’t look pregnant…weird…..
gen and bryan's big move 
