33 weeks

Wednesday, May 30th marks 33 weeks.

According to Babycenter:

This week your baby weighs a little over 4 pounds (heft a pineapple) and has passed the 17-inch mark. She's rapidly losing that wrinkled, alien look and her skeleton is hardening. The bones in her skull aren't fused together, which allows them to move and slightly overlap, thus making it easier for her to fit through the birth canal. (The pressure on the head during birth is so intense that many babies are born with a conehead-like appearance.) These bones don't entirely fuse until early adulthood, so they can grow as her brain and other tissue expands during infancy and childhood.

For part of week 33, we have been busy little parents. 

Memorial Day Monday, Hubby went to work for a bit, when he got home we took Tobie for walk. Then I re-planted some plants (hopefully I will not kill them) and pulled some weeds and cleaned out the fountain while the Dad around the house worked on the blocks to set the crib up on (it looks ghetto no more!) and made a little contraption so that the mobile will sit up straight on the side of the crib. Then we visited the school house to do a little work in my classroom. Next, Hubby went back to work for a little bit more while I ventured off to Target to scoop up a deal on a breast pump (exciting I know!) and diapers and wipes (which I also used a coupon on!). That was a fail because the people I dealt with were idiots. So I left empty handed only to go back later to find out that I could have bought my items the first time I went. {On my first go round, I was going to apply for a Target REDcard, so that I could get 5% off (the current purchase and any future purchases). the dummy told me I needed a blank check to apply for one. who carries checks these days, anyways? not this girl. anywho, I told them i wasn't buying them until I could get the card, so I would have to come back later. the girl continued ringing the stuff up until I said, "I do not want those. I'll come back later when I can get 5% off." that just seemed to baffle her. anther super annoying factor in this whole mess was that I had taken the checkbook out of my purse that morning! }Anywho, after dinner we went back to Target to get our things. Come to find out... I did NOT need a check to apply for the card!!!! Regardless, I got my diapers and wipes and what I may eventually call my "breast friend." HAHAHA!

Tuesday, we went to our new doctor. She will be our family doctor that we will all see. Hubby's cousin takes her whole family there and is pleased so that is nice to know. 

Thursday, we went to see our OB. We got to hear little Kinley's heart pumping away. We also signed up for pre-admittance testing. This really is going to happen! Ahhhh!

Hubby also had the '"political" grand opening' for his new plant. None of his girls were invited. :( The Governor and Lt. Governor were there along with the people from banks and contractors that they used. I looked for Hubby on the news but never saw him. He claims he got to help hold the ribbon but as I said, we weren't invited so we don't really know. HEHEHE!

I know he didn't make this picture from newson6.com. :( But here is their little story 

Here is a little news clip from KJRH but it was done at 6:45 this morning. 

Friday, during the day I should try to get some things done at school but I just don't know if I can pry myself out of the house. I will have to by the end of the day when we have a rehearsal and dinner to go to. Hubby is an usher so he has to practice walking. Then Andy and Kristin's big day is Saturday!


Before we know it, it will be another week and another update. Oh my goodness! The time is really starting to fly by! Like really flying!!!

And the winner is....

Patricia WaitForIt Snow
see near the bottom for the story on the bunny

For a couple years now, we have watched American Idol with some of our friends. The main idea is that we eat dinner and watch the show. Every week, we take a vote to see who is going home. Last year, the competition got serious since Cody and Jessica were pregnant during the season. The winner was supposed to get to name their child. I won but did not choose Caroline. I feel robbed! 

This year, our child's name was up for grabs. From the beginning, I said that I should get to name this one since they didn't follow the rules last year. Kind of like a courtesy for being cheated out of the glory last year. We continued to vote each week. There were many good submissions...

Travis'- Catniss WaitForIt Snow,

Kristin's- Yellow Winter Snow,

Andy's- well, he got too distracted by seeing the Dreamgirl's (i don't know who the lady was, other than she was an original Dreamgirl, Jennifer Holiday maybe?) hair move separately from the rest of her body and her facial expressions in slow motion as we watched

Robin's- Bonnie O. Snow (she chose Bonnie so that our little family would be PB&J. she couldn't decide on an O middle name but knew that it had to start with one so she would be BOS. )

Jessica's- Baracka Obamaniqua 

Preston and I did not make a submission. We felt that we were too close to the matter. HOWEVER... we had already chosen a name! For the longest time, we were just tossing some around and really hadn't made a decision.

One evening we set out to Michael's to buy letters. Then we painted them. Then I covered them with scrapbook paper and we poured them. Next, Hubby worked on the 'frame'. Lastly, you will see the finished product.

Pink paint time!

Green paint time!

Pour time!

Getting those bubbles out with the blow torch!

Measure twice, drill and cut once!

Drum Roll Please......

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Our little Snowflake has a name!!!!

From now until forever she will be Kinley Elise! 

How did we decide? We just made a little list of names and would occasionally rule one out for one reason or another. 

Many of you know that Marie is a big name in my family. I am named after my Nandy, my Mom's middle name was also Marie, my cousin's middle name is Marie and her daughter's middle name is Marie. While it is a nice name... I was kind of over it. I was glad to hear at my school shower that my Pa was over it too. Since we had not chosen a name, they went around the room in ABC order giving suggestions. When it got to Pa, he said, "It's not my place to name that baby. That is for her Mom and Dad. I just hope it isn't Marie." His thinking was along the same lines as mine. While it's nice, it needs a break.

Now back to American Idol. Robin brought dessert and a can of frosting to write the winning baby name on the cake. (if you remember back about 12 weeks, she brought a cake and frosting to celebrate our Snowflake being a girl. you can see it here...) Unless we happened to have already named her and willing to share. How sweet.

I am not destined to be a cake decorator seeing that I can't even write a name nicely.

Robin was so excited/nervous to look!

Our little family

Bunny story... Since Cody, Travis and Preston tied for the most points, they were in charge of naming the bunny that was gift from Robin. Preston didn't submit a name so Travis and Cody split the naming victory. Now the bunny will be Patty or Pat the Bunny. We just need to go buy the book to go with it.

And now, for the finished product of my $2 project!

It's holds her diaper stacker up!

I ripped the other paper off, painted it, and added her name and a butterfly to match her bedding. :)

32 weeks

Wednesday, May 23, marks 32 weeks!

  (isn't it fun when numbers are backwards 23-32? i love when scores are like that in games too. 

random, i know. and nothing to do with baby)

Babycenter says: 

By now, your baby weighs 3.75 pounds (pick up a large jicama) and is about 16.7 inches long, taking up a lot of space in your uterus. You're gaining about a pound a week and roughly half of that goes right to your baby. In fact, she'll gain a third to half of her birth weight during the next 7 weeks as she fattens up for survival outside the womb. She now has toenails, fingernails, and real hair (or at least respectable peach fuzz). Her skin is becoming soft and smooth as she plumps up in preparation for birth.

What is a jicama, you ask??? I don't know but thankfully Babycenter gives me a picture.

 According to Wikipedia..... jicama- a Pachyrhizus erosus, commonly known as Jícama (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈxikama]; from Nahuatl xicamatl, [ʃiˈkamatɬ]), Mexican Yam, or Mexican Turnip, is the name of a native Mexican vine, although the name most commonly refers to the plant's edible tuberous root. Jícama is one species in the genus Pachyrhizus and is more closely related to the rhubarb family. Plants in this genus are commonly referred to as yam bean, although the term "yam bean" can be another name for jícama. The other major species of yam beans are also indigenous within the Americas.


During this week, we wrapped up our birthing class. There was no graduation or certificate upon completion. (if you remember, i didn't get a certificate for paying off my student loans in a timely manner either. :( sad day.) I am not sure that taking the class helped me to be more prepared for getting Snowflake out of her cozy little bubble. I think it just gave me more things to freak me out.


Other than trying to figure out this magic wand, things are good. She is still a big mover and starting to poke around. There are times she pokes me so I poke her back. The craziest is when I do it and she totally moves away. She doesn't make my belly button hurt as much any more but it is definitely more sensitive than it has ever been. 


Summer is in full effect. Some days I shower.... some days I don't. :D Monday (5/21) we went to tour a daycare. It was nice. I mean, I don't really know what to say about it since it is the first one we have gone to. The owner is a principal in my school district so I feel that they are going to keep things up because what principal wants their name smeared for having a sub-par facility. 


Tobie and I have been getting up every morning and walking. It has been really nice and she loves it! Saturday, we even took two walks! It was sort of necessary to counter act the donut, sno cone, and cookie we ate throughout the day.

My walking shadow. Tobie walked away, her shadow was being shy. :)

We spent Saturday night re-doing the bassinet. After I requested it, my Dad brought it from Enid. It is the same one my brother and I used and I remember playing with my dolls with it. 

It used to have blue bows on it

Soon it will make its way into our room

I also spent one afternoon hanging clothes up. Hubby's cousin gave us two paper bags FULL of clothes! I went through 40 hangers hanging stuff up... and those were only the ones through 3 months! We have decided that we are already going to have to take the bigger sizes down and rotate through them. Poor girl, doesn't have any clothes. HA!

On one of the days that I showered, I went to Hobby Lobby. I got some good finds for little Snowflake's room!

These were originally $22 and $26 dollars!

This was originally $20.

 I paid a whopping $20 dollars for all three of those! Thank you Hobby Lobby! Snowflake now has two cute frames and a trashcan for her room. :)


The next item, I paid a whole $2.25 for. This project will be used to hold her diaper holder up. Notice I said PROJECT. I mean, it's cute but doesn't exactly match her room. Stay tuned for the finished product!

Pinot's Palette

At the beginning of April, yes I know, it's the middle of May now, I went to a little place called Pinot's Palette. At Pinot's Palette, you choose a night to go based on what type of painting they are doing (at least that is what we did). Then when you get there, they have all the supplies you will need ready for you (paint, canvas, brushes, water cup for rinsing, etc). I met up with my Australian travel partner, Courtney, and her crew to paint "Tulips in Blue".

This picture shows some of the different paintings that have been done.

The instructor gives you directions one step at time to paint the picture and then lets you have at your canvas. The first step was to paint black from the top down to the middle and then blend white from the bottom up to the black.

The next step was to paint some grass and leaves. They showed us different techniques on how to get different shades of green or to give it a different look by making a different type of stroke. Different. I know.

Then we were shown (you guessed it...) different ways to make a tulip. I went in knowing that I would like to paint pink tulips if possible, so my tulips are not blue. {that wouldn't have really fit into Miss Snowflake's room.}

My finished product!!

Here is our little group with all of our tulip paintings!

It was a really fun time!!! After looking at their website, there are lots of fun paintings that I would like to try but then what would I do with them all?

Birthing Class- week 4-- updated!

Well, we wrapped up class last night. That means we're fully ready and totally prepared for this little girl to make her arrival! We didn't even get a certificate saying we passed, so maybe we didn't? The 4 weeks went by really fast. I'm not sure what we will do with our Monday nights now.

This week, we talked about and saw a video about getting epidurals. While it all seems fine and dandy, I am not a fan of needles so watching the video was probably worse for me than seeing the others. I asked Hubby if there was just a magic wand that could be waved and she would just be here. I think that is just wishful thinking on my part. One guy in the video actually pulled his kid out and then made the statement, "I don't want to drop her." Reassuring, right? So the hospital people helped to make sure the baby wasn't dropped before making it to the mom. Thankfully, I do not think Hubby will be that involved in her delivery but who knows?! He may surprise me.

There was also discussion of the baby blues after she is here. The video said something about not shaking the baby when it cries. Surely that is just a minor thing that EVERYONE should know if they have common sense. However, they never said anything about putting a kid in the washing machine, which is what one guy did at a laundromat. You can read the article and watch the video here.

UPDATE: We also talked about the PURPLE cry. They don't call it Colic anymore. It's PURPLE now. 
P- peak of crying, 
U-unexpected, 
R-resists soothing, 
P-pain like face, 
L- long lasting, 
E- evening


This is when they stressed not not shake the baby and that sometimes it is okay to just walk away from the baby after putting them in a safe place, like a crib. It does not mean, walk away and take the dog for a walk around the block, Hubby! When we got home and were talking about he suggested that he would just take the dog for a quick walk around the block while Snowflake cries it out. Sadly for him, I informed him that you CAN'T LEAVE THE BABY HOME ALONE! "But the lady on the video put the baby in the crib and went downstairs." You are correct. She went downstairs, not around the block! So please take mental note to ask my Husband where the baby is if you see him walking the dog.

Our lady tried to take us to the labor and delivery area of the hospital but they were full! She said when we do pre-admission, we should tell them we didn't get the tour during our class. We walked down there so we at least know where we are going. Then we checked out the nursery and saw three little babies.

31 weeks

Wednesday, May 16th marks 31 weeks! 63 days to go!

Big Sister is healing nicely too, thank you for asking. :)

Babycenter.com says:

This week, your baby measures over 16 inches long. She weighs about 3.3 pounds (try carrying four navel oranges) and is heading into a growth spurt. She can turn her head from side to side, and her arms, legs, and body are beginning to plump out as needed fat accumulates underneath her skin. She's probably moving a lot, too, so you may have trouble sleeping because your baby's kicks and somersaults keep you up. Take comfort: All this moving is a sign that your baby is active and healthy.

Just a little example of how much Snowflake moves around...

And that isn't her at her best wiggling! {p.s. it's hard to video yourself and not move. i was even trying to make my breathing not move me much.}


School is officially out now! However, I will be spending time in my classroom trying to get everything put away and reorganized for my sub. I have an itch to rearrange my classroom but just don't know how. Many times when I do it, I end up putting it back the way it was before. I will have to see how long I can convince Hubby to scoot furniture around the room. :)


We saw the doctor on Thursday (5/18). He said things are doing good. Baby is growing and that it's getting close! Ahhhhh! Now we will start seeing him every 2 weeks.


So... I have come up with pregnancy complaint. It's not totally a complaint as much as it is a nuisance. Charley Horse. I have woken up in the middle of the night with them, had them in the middle of the day and any other time in between. Most recently, Wednesday to be exact, I took a little nap after my shower. Hubby came home for lunch to find me snoozing. As soon as I woke up, stupid Charley was there too. It was so bad that Hubby said, "I can see your muscle all tensed." and then he started trying to rub the Horse away. For the next 3, yes I said 3!, days it hurt to walk [today, Sunday, is the first day it hasn't hurt since I last saw Mr. Horse]. There you have it.


Saturday, we celebrated a special little lady's 1st birthday. Harper is my little Heather's baby girl. This is Miss Harper a few days after she was born. She graced everyone with her presence 10 weeks early. 

She was so tiny, so lovable and such a little fighter!

Even though she came 10 weeks early, she never had any big complications. Sure she had to stay in the NICU for the time she should have been in her mom's belly but that was really the worst of it. Now she is the happiest little 1 year old!

Happy 1st birthday!!!

 For her party she asked that everyone bring a gift for other babies that spend time in the NICU instead of herself (so thoughtful at such a young age). Of course she was also given a nice haul of gifts too but those little babies will be taken care of with her generosity.

While we were at the party, I was talking to Heather's mom. In response to little Snowflake having 9 weeks left, she said, "well, you beat Heather." It amazed me to think that our little '4 naval oranges' is roughly the same size Harper was when she was born. Harper is a very blessed little girl, never has an ugly outfit on, and has people that love her to pieces.


After her party, we went by Hubby's Uncle's house. They were having a small family gathering. While there we collected 2 bags full of clothes from his cousin. Snowflake will not go naked. I think we are going to have to re-think the closet and only hang up the littlest outfits and change them out as she grows, mainly for the fact that we don't really need to buy a million hangers. :)


Sunday after church, our sweet Sunday School people hosted a shower for us. It was so nice! We went to a couple's house, grilled burgers, hung out and then opened some cute gifts.

What an adorable cake! And yummy too!!

That pretty much sums up our week. We go tomorrow for our last birthing class, which includes a tour of the labor and delivery part of the hospital.

Birthing Class- week 3

This week was all about the c-section. When and why you may have it, how they perform it, etc.  

First, Hubby "volunteered" to wear the Empathy Belly. Before he could even put it on he had to sign a release saying he didn't have back or heart issues and that he is not pregnant. Apparently, they frown on pregnant people wearing wearing the pregnant belly. Before getting the actual belly on, she tightened up a velcro strip around his chest to help restrict his breathing. Next came the belly, followed by a weight on his bladder and two steel balls to represent a little person digging around on your ribs. After all that, he was able to get dressed.

Getting suited up

He's so modest about his breasts

Our two bellies together

Testing out side sleeping

I am sure he is thoroughly enjoying the conversation. He said his baby's name is Bob. I said, "You could have named it Rachete the Machete Snow but instead you chose Bob??"

Next, our lady started off showing us the different things we may see in the delivery room. We were able to see parts of the monitoring devices that I'd be hooked up to and some they may use to monitor the baby. One of them, they actually screw into the baby's head. Now she said it was only done as far as if you pricked yourself but to think of a little corkscrew going into her (or any baby) head is so crazy. We also saw the vacuum extractor, to which Hubby said, "get the Dyson out" and forceps, which look kind of scary (for the baby and for the mom!).

Then, it was time for the C-Section video. I am not sure where they find these people or if they just want to make sure they cover all their bases but this video consisted of a deaf couple that had a c-section. Hubby was doing okay until it was time to actually see the procedure. He gets grossed out watching surgeries on Grey's Anatomy, so I sort of knew what to expect from him.

Lastly, we got to practice our relaxation again. Have you ever tried to focus on breathing when there is an empathy belly butting into your space? After getting ourselves relaxed, the lady didn't talk us through it as she had the first two weeks, we had to try different 'positions' to help the contractions. Let's just say 'slow dancing' was like being at a junior high dance being that our bellies kept us apart. The 'hands and knees' position is just a little awkward, especially when you can hear his empathy belly sloshing around. I have a hard time imagining myself shifting all over the delivery room to try these different techniques considering half of me will be hanging out of a hospital gown. I guess we'll find out when it is time.

Oh, and we actually figured out (well Hubby thinks he knows, I am still a little confused) how to get to the 6th floor parking garage. You would think you could just drive right up there but it really isn't that simple. You have to go a certain way to get going up the garage in the right direction. A man definitely must have designed that.

It's crazy to think we just have one more week of class of left!

30 weeks

After taking this week's picture, someone commented,
"Tobie, Mom's belly is bigger than her butt now." Thanks!

Wednesday, May 9th, marks 30 weeks!

Babycenter.com says:

Your baby's about 15.7 inches long now, and she weighs almost 3 pounds (like a head of cabbage). A pint and a half of amniotic fluid surrounds her, but that volume will decrease as she gets bigger and takes up more room in your uterus. Her eyesight continues to develop, though it's not very keen; even after she's born, she'll keep her eyes closed for a good part of the day. When she does open them, she'll respond to changes in light but will have 20/400 vision — which means she can only make out objects a few inches from her face. (Normal adult vision is 20/20.)

In Snowflake related news, she is still quite the mover. It is the strangest, yet cool feeling. I feel blessed to be able to do this (be a female and be able grow a baby inside me) but every time she wiggles around I can't help but to think how crazy it is too. It is such an amazing thing.

This week wrapped up school with the kids. It was also Teacher Appreciation Week. Some of my little babies brought some cute little things for Miss Snowflake too!

The cute thing about these outfits is that I can totally picture each of these little girls wearing an outfit like these.

After the shower in Enid last weekend, my dear friend's mom helped us with a little curtain reconstruction. The curtains need four inches taken up. While I have a sewing machine, my straight line abilities are not up to par, not even close. Here is a picture of the finished product. (except that we need to put the black out curtain up behind...)

News on our furry child:
One thing you may or may not know about me is that I am a stickler for picking at my pooch (and sometimes other people's too). You will probably not see my dog with eye boogers or poop on her butt. My Pa gives me a hard time for always picking at her. I pick her eye boogers before I leave for school and again when I get home. I just like her to be booger free. I check her butt too. Who wants poop hanging around their butt all the time?! Anyways, Thursday after school, I was doing my regular eye booger and poop check when I noticed the left side of Tobie's hiney had a swollen bubble by it. It wasn't like it was a little swollen. I would compare it to the size of a bouncy ball. 


After Hubby got home we checked it out, google'd it, discussed it, and decided it was a swollen anal gland. He even tried to squeeze it but Tobie was none too happy about that. Looking at her, you could tell she was uncomfortable so we decided to take her to the animal ER. We ended up getting there around 8:30. We saw a vet tech and she took her to the back to get her vitals. Hubby and I sat in this little room listening to the staff chat in the back. It was quite some time before they came back to us with a treatment plan. They were going to treat her for an absessed anal gland. We could leave her there to do the procedure or take her home with some pain meds and an antibiotic and then take her to our vet in the morning.


As much as I didn't want to leave her there over night, we decided that would be best just in case our vet couldn't take care of it the next day (due to schedule or time to do the procedure). I would rather her get it done then risk her being stuck at the vet all weekend. Their plan was to sedate her and 'lance' the swollen gland to let it drain. We opted for them to call us when they were finished because we wanted to pick her up. I told Hubby I would rather pick her up in the middle of the night and be able to spend some time with her before going to school than just pick her up and drop her off at home so we could both return to work.


We left the vet around 10:30 and returned home. When we finally went to bed, I didn't really sleep well. I kept dreaming about the vet calling or forgetting to call. (I don't think Hubby slept well either but I don't know if it was because I was tossing and turning or if he was restless too.) At 5 am when the vet called, we got in the car to go get her! She was still a little sedated when we got there but seemed relieved that she didn't have a little bubble on her butt.

My poor little girl in her cone and with her leg wrapped where they took blood

Friday night, we were waiting on Dad to get home {you can tell she is sitting real gently}

Saturday morning we took her to our regular vet. She was due for her Addison's shot and they ER recommended having our regular vet check it. The sweet people there (at our regular vet) were so interested in how she was doing and what had happened. I guess when they see a dog once a month they take more notice to that pooch. :) And how could you not with her?! :) They said the incision looked good and to put some Neosporin on it to help it heal.


So, the rest of the weekend we just hung out with our little pup. Mother's Day was also very low key. I spent it with my two favorites: Hubby and Tobie. It is crazy to think that next Mother's Day there will be a little girl toddling around.