Head Down!

I'm super excited because this baby girl is head down! I ended up going into the doctor today because I was having some pretty bad lower back pain. This is the way my first labor started, at 35 weeks...and guess what, I'm 35 weeks today. So...needless to say they wanted to check and make sure nothing major was going on.

They checked me and so far I wasn't dilated at all which was good. While I was there she said she'd just do a quick ultrasound to see if she was head down and wouldn't you know- she was! I'm pretty excited because I was really not looking forward to the whole version or c-section discussion that we were thinking we would need to have next week. They also did a stress test while I was there. I never had this done with Ellie because she was born so early but it was pretty interesting. They have this super comfy room with a recliner, tv, drinks....and they just let you sit there while they monitor the baby's heart rate and contractions for 20 minutes. I told them it was the quietest 20 minutes I've had in a long time! They did a couple of other tests just to see if anything weird was going on and went ahead and did the Group B Strep culture early just in case. I was happy about that after needing the IV antibiotics with Ellie because I hadn't been tested yet so they just give antibiotics as a precaution.

So conclusion of the appointment was....this could be the start of labor, or could be a result of her finally turning head down, we just have to wait and see. Isn't that how it always goes :) We are hoping to keep her cooking for at least another 2 weeks. 37 weeks is full term so we'll aim for that! Jason has given me official orders to "chillax." I'll see if I can make myself do that!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm sad to say our Thanksgiving "break" is almost over. It is always hard to get back to work after the holidays. We had a nice Thanksgiving with family. On Wednesday night we ate at Jason's mom's house. Ellie had fun playing and we enjoyed perogies and kielbasa! On Thursday we ate at our house with my family. We had a ton of great food! Ellie didn't brave trying any Thanksgiving food...I guess she wasn't in the eating mood! She did eat as many black olives as she could get her hands on. Crazy girl!

We set up the Christmas tree yesterday. After seeing how Ellie was enthralled with Nana's Christmas tree we decided to do the fake tree. I know people---I'm not a fan! But...I found a great deal at Home Depot (while Black Friday shopping with Carissa!) and it was only $50 and comes with LEDs already on it. It was set up in the store so I could see that it was decent. I figured, we usually buy a local tree which is about $50, so even if we just use this one year we'll still come out even. We set up the tree and Ellie worked diligently helping us to hang up the ornaments. She was great! Before Ellie was born my whole family made felt ball Christmas tree ornaments so that we would have some kid-friendly ornaments for our tree. Great idea!!! Ellie loved having her own balls. The tree was pretty funny looking because it was absolutely loaded at her height! She is so excited about "mine tree" with all the "yights" (lights)!


Aunt Carissa came to town which was the highlight of Ellie's weekend. I have to record her saying "Car-sa." Pretty darn cute! She loved visiting with her aunt and seeing her in real person rather than on the computer. She has been talking about her since she left this morning. She also enjoyed seeing Carlos- "Car-os" and made him read her at least 20 books when he came over! Ellie does think that when we were showing her Christmas trees we said "Carissa Tree" so she now thinks that Carissa has trees all over the city! That is one pretty special aunt to have! We miss her already and can't wait to see her for Christmas.

Ellie-isms!

Eleanor is a chatter box. She talks all the time about anything and everything! It is pretty cool to finally hear what her mind is thinking. Lately she has been very into possessions (Mama's cup, Dada's phone, Ellie's baby, Milo's bone, etc.) Of course her two most common words are Mine! and No! It is amazing how she gravitates to these words. Lately she has added No Way! to her vocabulary. Pretty hilarious.

Eleanor has rapidly started putting words together to make sentences. At first it was just the two word possessions or No Milo! Mine Milo! Milk Please! More Cereal! Now she is starting to really think things through and often strings three or more words together. One of my very favorite things she says is "hold you mama" She says it with the most love a little person could possibly have and if she is really needing some extra attention she'll go for the "hold you mama pleeeese!" Once in awhile she'll say hold me mama....which is pretty impressive that she has figured out to use me, but makes me a little bit sad that she won't forever beg....hold you mama!

I love that we can have conversations about her day now. We talk about what she did, what she ate, who she saw. She describes memories and talks about her favorite foods. She also will now have almost real telephone discussions whether someone is on the other end or not and is loving to skype with her aunts and cousins that we don't get to see enough. It is amazing to watch her learn how to vocalize all that has been built up for nearly 2 years!

Jason and I were talking today about how fast this whole talking business has progressed...really over the past few days she has gone from saying a lot of words to basically saying anything she hears. She talks non-stop and we love it!

34 Weeks! Turn Baby Turn!

Today was my 34 week appointment. We saw the doctor who delivered Ellie for the first time during this pregnancy. It was nice to see the familiar face!

Everything with the baby and I seemed fine. I've been having some low back pain but that is to be expected at this stage. It is kind of nerve wracking because that is how I felt right before Ellie was born. It was however to a much greater degree. I've been "trying" to take it easy. Jason disagrees but I really have been trying to sit or lay down if my back starts hurting and not do as much. It is just even harder to do that when you are chasing around a busy toddler on top of the nesting :) They would of course like this one to stay in a little longer. Ellie was born at 35 4/7 so that is only a week and a half from now. Unbelievable!

The doctor didn't seem to think Little Miss Hamilton had flipped head down yet. It is hard to tell without ultrasound but he felt around and then mentioned that we'd have the ultrasound at 36 weeks and then could discuss whether we needed to try to turn her or to just go for a c-section. Both things I'd rather not deal with! So....I'm really hoping she just decides to flip on her own. I know as I near 36 weeks the probability of this is getting smaller and smaller so I guess I'll have to start trying all the crazy techniques online. One friend at work suggested I eat turnovers, pineapple upside-down cake....etc. Ha!

Eleanor's First Year

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Fall is here!

We tried to capture some of the excitement in our household this fall. I'm 34 weeks pregnant and Ellie is 23 months old. We are busy and having so much fun! Thanks to Jason for the photo shoot...but sorry that he isn't in any of the pictures. We'll have to get someone to help us out one of these weekends to get some family pictures.

Christmas Parade

Ellie and I went to the Christmas Parade on Saturday morning. She had a blast. She has been very into marching because Aunt Zoe taught her how to march with her baton. Ellie is pretty good I think and very cute! So we went to the parade, I expected Ellie to watch for the first hour or so and then be bored. No way! She loved every part of it and greeted every parade participant with a giant smile and waved her little arm off! She especially like the bands, batons, and the big balloons. She wasn't so keen on the motorcycles or the very loud cars but she still waved at them, just with her head buried to me. When we left the parade she cried for half an hour because it was over. I'm wondering if she would like to watch the big Macy's Day Parade, so we may let her check that out.