Thanksgiving & Potty Time!

I know it's been way too long since I last posted. We've been so busy with the holidays and just life in general! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Hope you all did as well. Sophie and Ava wore matching dresses. Regretably I don't have a very good picture of them, but I'll include the best one I have. Update 12/7: I've included a better picture of the girls on Thanksgiving. Thank you Grand Griswold for emailing it to me!

Ava is doing really well. She's getting so big already! She's grown almost 3 inches and gained about 3 lbs. since she was born. She still gets up 2-3 times a night, but it's getting better every week. Sometimes she surprises us and sleeps a 5 hour stretch. I love those nights! And Sophie will be two this month. Time goes by way too fast!

And the biggest news yet.... Sophie went pee pee on the potty! Well, the first time was the day before Thanksgiving and it's been off and on since then. But it's a start, right? I'm sure the whole potty training thing will be a long process for everyone.

I don't have a lot of time right now, but wanted to at least post some of the latest pics. So here they are. Happy Holidays everyone!

It's Halloween!

I was worried Sophie would have a fit about wearing her costume. As you can see it's a bit elaborate. But she was a real trooper! Her school is right next to a strip mall, so they had a parade during the day and walked to each store so the kids could trick-or-treat. After school we went to my grandma's house (Ava and Sohpie's great-grandma). Sophie played with her older cousin Erika who she adores. And their cousin Kendall (who is 4 months older than Ava) was also there dressed as a lion. Then in the evening we handed out candy at home and visited our neighbors. It was a long day but Sophie had so much fun, and of course she enjoyed the candy!

Ava is getting so big already. She's awake much more during the day, and smiling all the time now. While she still looks a lot like Sophie did as a baby, she's starting to look like her own person.

Pumpkin Carving

We carved a pumpkin last weekend. Sophie didn't want to touch the messy stuff at first. Sometimes she's a girly girl and doesn't want to get her hands dirty. But once she saw mommy dig in she decided it was okay. I'll post Halloween pics later this week. Sophie's going to be a peacock!

Cystic Fibrosis Scare

We received a phone call last week from our pediatrician that Ava failed one of her newborn screening tests. The state of Michigan started testing for Cystic Fibrosis in newborns beginning October 1st, 2007 (the day Ava's blood happened to reach the lab). The screening test for CF measures the IRT level. Ava's level was in the range that required further testing, so they then looked for mutations in the CF gene. This test was positive, meaning Ava either had CF or was a carrier for it. This past Monday we went to Devos Children's Hospital in Grand Rapids for a sweat test. Luckily she passed this test and is only a carrier for CF. The only thing negative about being a carrier is that when it comes time for Ava to have kids, her husband should get tested to see if he's a carrier. If two carriers have children there's a 25% chance they will have a child with CF. Approximately 1 in 28 people are carriers. So it's something she'll need to think about later in life.

Let's just say the past week was a bit scary. Things like this make you realize how fortunate you are to have healthy children!

Sophie is getting tested as well. We thought it would be a good idea to find out if she is also a carrier. Jeremy and I will be tested to see which one of us is a carrier (one of us has to be a carrier in order for Ava to be a carrier). We'd like to have one more baby and need to make sure we're not both carriers so we can make a smart decision. Knowledge is power!

If you'd like to learn more about Cystic Fibrosis, please use the link below. There's a lot of great information there! And if anyone has questions, feel free to email me. I know a lot about CF now as well as the tests.

http://www.cff.org/AboutCF/Faqs/

A day on the farm...

We all went to Lewis Farm this past Sunday. Sophie had so much fun petting and feeding all the animals. They also had a pumpkin patch as well as some activities that Sophie was a bit too young for. Next year I think we'll go a little sooner as it was such a cold day, and all the good pumpkins were picked over!

Sophie and Daddy sat on the floor eating popcorn and watching the Monsters Inc. movie. I even looked over once to see Jeremy drinking water out of Sophie's sippy cup. I giggled and he said, "What, I was thirsty". I thought it was so cute and had to include a picture.

I finally got Sophie to hold Ava this past weekend. She's such a good big sister and is wanting to help out more and more. Everything is going so well!

Here are some of my favorite pictures from this past week.

She's finally here!

Ava Patrice

All I can say is, WOW! Labor started just a few hours after the last post, at about 2:30 pm. Jeremy and I went to the hospital about 5:15 pm and I gave birth at 7:41 pm. We were going to wait another hour before heading to the hospital because the contractions weren't very painful. Things progressed really fast, good thing I didn't wait! Ava Patrice was born on September 27th. She weighed 8lb 4oz and was 19 inches long. I didn't realize how much I missed having a baby until now. Ava is so precious and looks so much like Sophie did when she was born. I've even called her Sophie by mistake a few times.

We got home on Saturday (9/29) at 4pm. Everyone is doing great. Of course it's been very busy with two little ones. I'm very fortunate Jeremy took 2 weeks off of work to help out while we all get settled in. Sophie is adjusting well, too. She doesn't pay much attention to the baby, but has been saying "mine" all the time.

If anyone wants to stop by and visit, just give us a call to let us know the day and time. We're up for company at any time.

Last update... I hope!

I just got back from my weekly appointment. I’m now 70% effaced and dilated to almost 4. The doctor said my bag of water is bulging, so it could break at any time. My water broke with Sophie before the contractions started, so I’m hoping the same thing will happen this time. At least then it’s a sure thing that the baby is coming, no guessing! My doctor did a membrane sweep today (something that I didn’t have with the last pregnancy). We’re hoping that will get some contractions going and kick start labor. She scheduled me to come back Monday morning for a checkup (given I haven’t already had the baby), and will schedule an induction for Tuesday. I really don’t want to be induced so hopefully nature will take its course before then. The next post should have pictures of the new baby, finally!

Let's get this Bloody Show on the road!

So I've been losing small pieces of my "mucus plug" for the past few weeks. Tonight I had some Bloody Show! The "bloody show" usually appears with the "mucus plug". For those of you who would like more of an explanation, the mucus plug seals your cervix and as you begin to dilate you lose pieces of it. The loss of your mucus plug doesn't mean labor will start soon as it can still be weeks away. BUT, having bloody show with it generally means there's a good chance labor will start in the next 24-48 hours. However, this is not always the case (which is just bloody great). Just one more thing to get me excited. We'll see if anything happens in the next couple of days....

Hope I didn't gross anyone out too much. :)

Not for nothing....

Okay, so those stabbing vagina pains weren't for nothing, but not the progress I was hoping for. I'm now 50% effaced, but still dilated to 3. The baby is still head down but is now in the posterior position. That would explain why I woke up last night with lower back pain and still have it. So we'll keep walking in the evening. Maybe that will help move things along.

My mom wants the baby to be born in October so her mothers ring can also double as a grandmas ring. Ethan is a December baby (as is Sophie) and I'm an October baby. My due date is October 3rd and Sophie was only 2 days early. Mom - You just might have that October grandbaby after all!

Okay, here we go...

Tracy and Erin have inspired me to do a blog of my own. My goal is to get hubby to write some of the posts. We'll see how that works out. In the meantime, I'll post a few pictures of Sophie and give a little pregnancy update.

Our second princess is due exactly two weeks from today, but I'm predicting she'll be here in the next week. Erin has also predicted this is the week. So everyone pull for me! This pregnancy has been much more uncomfortable than the last. Those stabbing vagina pains have been killing me the last two days. Hopfully that means my cervix is thinning out more. We'll see what the doc says at my appointment tomorrow morning. Last week I was 30% effaced and dilated to 3. So cross your fingers that I've made some more progress. I'll give a quick update tomorrow.

Sophie is getting so big. She has such a fun and silly personality. She's always making us laugh. She settled nicely into her new bedroom and princess number two will have Sophie's old room. We thought the big sister should have the bigger room. Sophie knows there is a baby in mom's belly, but I don't think she really understands what's coming. After all, she does point to her own belly and says "baby". Hehe. I know she'll be a great big sister and the girls will be best friends!