A Glimpse of What's to Come

Today I went to work for our Olympic School Kick Off that we've been working on every Thursday morning for a large part of the summer. This allowed me to send Landon (and William of course) to their babysitter's house for a few hours. I dropped him off at 12:30 and picked them up at 3:30, since the event was only in the afternoon. He did very well and (not surprisingly) slept almost the entire time. He only had ONE poopy diaper. That's like a record for him, but he had just had a small blow out and then another poop for me right before I dropped him off.

The event was fun and I really think the students AND staff had a genuinely great time. It was so great to see so many smiles and hear so many cheers. I truly believe this kicked our school year off in the positive way we hoped for. Now just to keep the energy going...

After the Olympics and pep rally I was surrounded with some of my former students asking about the baby and my return. I had surprised them by coming to the event and they had endless questions.

It was also very nice to see my coworkers. I work with some of the most amazing, dedicated, funny, and all around awesome people. I felt overwhelmed by all of the compliments they showered me with in regards to my family and post-baby appearance; it felt very good and was just the little boost of energy I needed!

I told one of my coworkers that while it felt strange to admit this, I enjoyed being at work because it allowed me to regain my sanity. Then we laughed knowing that as soon as school starts back up for me I'll be wanting a day at home to regain my sanity. :)

As I drove back to the babysitter's house I was overcome with two conflicting feelings: I was so glad to have been at work to be a part of the excitement, yet I was so glad to be going back home to my boys. Honestly, even as great as it was to have been there I'm not ready to be back.

Our babysitter snapped this picture of Landon in her arms.  Obviously they got along well. :)

1 Month Old: Life with Landon

In order to best record Landon's milestone events of each month, I put together a pretty vague list of things I want to remember about his first year or so. I will copy and paste the list on the 13th of each month (or near then!) and fill the information in accordingly. 

Average Day:  
Landon usually gets up in the morning sometime between 3:30-5 and eats.  Then I reswaddle him and he goes back to sleep until around 8-9.  This is nice because it usually allows me to get a shower, wake up William, dress/feed/entertain William, and then have just a split second to spare before I have to feed Landon again.  After Landon eats around 9, he usually sleeps off and on and then eats again around 11.  After this, I make lunch for myself and William and Landon has to find something to entertain himself with.  Typically that's the swing, but I am trying to incorporate more of the play mat.  After I get William down for a nap (around 1) I feed Landon again and then he will often take a good afternoon nap for about 2-3 hours.  When the stars align and both boys are sleeping... it's my utopian time.  :)  So far, I have been able to have this quiet time almost every day.  I want to knock on wood just saying that.  Will and Landon both get up around 3 and then I feed Landon again.  This usually starts his more alert period and therefore the tougher time of the day.  I try to get Will a snack and then I have to start on dinner.  Honest to God, as soon as I get dinner ready and William and I have sat down to eat (around 5:30-6) Landon starts screaming his head off and it's time to feed him again.  I shovel the food into my face and try to get William to sit on his bottom or knees while he eats.  (He has been into standing on his chair facing the kitchen).  Dom sometimes comes home right at the height of the noise.  I can't imagine how that makes him feel... anyway, he will often pick Landon up and sush him so I can finish eating.  Then I feed Landon and Will and Dom go out somewhere as soon as Dom is done shoveling the food into his face and picking up the dishes.  Now it's about 7 pm.  I try to join the boys in whatever their evening pursuits are, but Landon is often still kind of fussy at this time.  At around 8, Dom gives William a bath and I feed Landon again.  Then I join the boys for the nightly books (most nights, unless Landon is on a marathon feast, and then Will comes down and gives me a hug and kiss while I am feeding).  From this time until the last feeding after 11 I usually try to keep Landon quiet, since he is fussier in the evening, and he will doze off and on and possibly get a bath.  Then I feed him one last time, swaddle him up in a blanket underneath an Adan + Anais blanket, put his hat on him, kiss both of his cheeks, and place him in his bassinet.

Ahhhhhhh... the end of the day.  It always feels so good to lie down. :)

Signature "Thinker" Pose

Swaddled & Ready for Bedtime!

Favorites: 
Well it's hard to know what babies think of as their FAVORITE, since they know so little about options but besides eating there are a few things I can identify.  When Landon is fussy he likes a strong, solid, rhythmic pat on the butt.  Not fast though, just a solid steady beat.  He also likes getting swaddled, but we force that on our kids.  William seems to think he likes music when he's in his swing, but I am not so sure.  However, in extreme moments of fussiness (which luckily don't happen often) I use white noises that I downloaded on iTunes for $4.99.

First Trip to the Park

Food/Diet/Eating Habits:
In the spirit of the Olympics, if there was a gold medal for nursing, Landon would win! Not only does he eat a lot, he also lowered his time per session by an hour a day!  He usually eats a good amount in the morning and evening, but naps longer in the afternoon.

Growth:

• Birth - 8 lbs, 5 oz and 21 inches.
• 2 Days - 7 lbs, 12 oz (discharge weight from the hospital)
• 1 Week - 8 lbs, 3oz
• 2 Weeks - 9 lbs even and still around 21 inches.  * We moved him up from newborn to size 1 diapers at this time. 
• 3 Weeks - 9 lbs, 7 oz and 21 1/2 inches
• 1 Month - 10 lbs, 6 oz and 22 inches

Milestones:
Well a newborn probably has more milestones in the first month than in any other month, but they aren't as easily identified because they are mostly internal. I'm sure Landon is learning about everything in this world at a remarkable pace, but since I'm unable to provide evidence I'll just say trust me.  Wouldn't it be cool though if we could be inside a baby's head?  My Grandma Ayres always says something like, "Don't you wonder what they are thinking up there in their little heads?"  Yes, Grandma, I definitely do!

So what other milestones do 1 month olds reach? Here are a few that come to mind:

• Birth (obviously!) - Friday, July 13th 2012
• Met Both Sets of Grandparents and Had First Bath - Friday, July 13th
• Came Home! - Sunday, July 15th
• First Bath at Home
• 1st Peds Appointment at Maumee Peds - Wednesday, July 18th
• Only experience in the Mapleway house (very emotional one as well) - Wednesday, July 18th
• Cord Fell Off - Friday, July 20th 2012 (it still had a tiny bit left which came off in another week)
• Moved from Newborn to Size 1 Diapers 
• Had his "newborn" photoshoot a little late... but better late than never! - Wed. Aug. 8th
  

Leaving the Hospital!

What He's Talking About
Since he's a newborn, Landon's conversations are limited to a sound that is basically, "Eh, ew, eh, eh ew, eh!"  We have long talks like this.  It's kinda barbaric, but I love it!

Play:
Well there isn't much play going on with a 1 month old, and I have not been too good about giving him Tummy Time because it seems like this big eater's tummy is always so full it's about to explode, but he has had a little bit of fun on the "Under the Sea" playmat.  He also likes to go on walks, even though he does not like to get into his car seat at first.  I think this also goes back to his tummy being full. 

Playing "Under the Sea"

Not TOO thrilled to be swinging, but it does pass the time!

Sleep Patterns:
I addressed this in detail during the "Average Day" section, but he gets up in the middle of the night once to eat, goes back to bed, sleeps until morning, is up for a while, sleeps a good amount in the early afternoon, and then is in and out of sleep until after dinner.  Then after dinner he will usually cat nap and then be ready for his bedtime by 10pm after his "night cap".

Afternoon Nap

Sleeping on my chest.

Who He Met in the Hospital:
7-13 Landon first met Daddy and me (of course) and then Grandma and Grandpa Ayres followed by Grandma and Grandpa Krupp.  That was on his birthday.  Since he was born after 9 pm, by the time Dom's parents left it was after 11 and we were exhausted.  

7-14 My sister (Aunt Amber) stopped by to visit and meet Landon after 3 am when she got off of work that night/early morning.  Then William got to meet his baby brother after he got up.  That was such an awesome thing to witness. He was adorable with Landon on day 1. Later that morning Amber came back for a more "formal" visit with Jeremy.

7-15 Danielle, her mom, and her kids came by first thing after church.  Then when we left the hospital that day our parents, Chad, Kasey, Tim, Mandy, and Simone all got to meet Landon.

Techie Tuesday - Taking Screen Shots and Featured App: Baby ESP

Well, I feel kind of silly admitting this but I had no idea how to take a screen shot (a picture of whatever is on your screen) prior to creating this post. I knew it was possible because I have seen so many screen shots of text message conversations on the iPhone posted online. I knew I wanted to post a couple of screen shots of this app I will be talking about, so I simply Googled "How to Take a Screen Shot on the iPhone 4" and got this wonderful and simple video.  And I can just tell you right here, if you don't want to watch the video, that all you have to do is hold down the power key and hit the home button twice in a row.  So simple!  Now I just wish I knew how to enlarge them so they don't look like junk.  I have realized that you can barely make out the images on this blog.  Anyway, I am sure most of you already knew how to take screen shots, but I figured I would include it just in case someone didn't!

My newest app obsession is for Mommies (and Daddies) who are interested in tracking their newborn's daily habits is called BABY ESP. My friend, Holly, recommended it to me. She originally used it on her Droid, which wouldn't help either of us anymore bc we both switched to the iPhone. Fortunately, the week before Landon was born BABY ESP debuted their app for the iPhone! Perfect timing!

So, what is so great about the app? Well, there is a place to track virtually everything you might want to track (pee/poop diapers, sleep times and lengths, nursing/bottle times, journal entries, medicine, growth in height/weight/head circumference, etc.) and then the option to create any other category you may want to track. So far I have created an immunization tracker for both boys and a potty training tracker for Will.

One Week of Statistics for Landon - Covers the first full week we were at home.

Now some of you might be thinking that this is a bit obsessive, and perhaps you are right, but I did the same thing with William.... Only I hand wrote it all out. He had a few issues after birth so the Peds would constantly question the number of feelings and wet and poopy diapers he had, which there was NO WAY I could remember on my own, so instead I wrote it all down. Now I'm in the habit of doing so, so it's really no big deal and I don't have to worry about how long it has been since Landon ate, slept, peed or pooped. Plus this allows me to see patterns over time, which is something my hand-written book did NOT do for me!

William's Growth Chart over 2.5 Years... He is SO TALL!  He has always been above the 95th percentile!

This app has a fee. I believe I paid 5 bucks for it, which I feel was very well worth it. However, the day after I downloaded it I got an email about another FREE app from Similac which does the same thing PLUS some (yes you can choose the color of poop on an image of a diaper... I just HAD to share this with our Ped. He thought it was awesomely hilarious!) So perhaps you would want to download that few one before purchasing BABY ESP, but that's up to all of you new mommies!

Let me know what you think if you use any of this!

The Similac Poop Selector - I LOVE this! LOL

!!! Answers !!!

!!! Answers !!!

(A response to my earlier post from exactly one month ago called ??? Questions ???

Here are the answers to the questions Dominic and I were pondering ONE MONTH ago today:

? - What time will baby come? Morning? Noon? Night?

I started having contractions around 6am Friday morning. After getting the go-ahead from my OB, Dominic and I got in the van to head to St. Luke's hospital at 1:23pm and were in the ER by 1:45. After passing through triage, I was checked into a room at about 3:30. We got room 336, the pink room, so I knew then that it was definitely going to be a boy. Plus we think it was the exact same room we had William in! They started petocin at 4pm to speed up the labor because I had been leaking fluid for quite a while and was already having regular contractions. It was certain that this baby was going to arrive on Friday the 13th. Landon Dean Krupp was born at 9:03pm after about 3-4 minutes of pushing!

Taken Within 12 Hours of Landon's Birth

Pink Room! Again!

? - Will baby be born on a weekend or weekday? - Pulling for the weekend!!!

Friday night counts as the weekend, doesn't it?

? - Will baby be a June or a July baby? - Aka what birthstone will he or she have?

Rubies all the way! Landon not only made it to his due date of July 7th, he actually flew past it by five days!

? - Will I make it past the 4th of July? - I sure hope so!

Affirmative.

? - Will I make it to my due date? - I'm actually the weirdo who is still pulling for going LATE! Fingers crossed that this baby will be a Sunday baby just like his or her big brother, Mama, and Daddy. :) Or better YET - a Sunday the 15th baby like his or her big brother AND Mama!

Well I definitely made it to my due date, but I didn't get to have a Sunday the 15th baby, despite the fact that my induction was scheduled for 7:30 that morning. (I picked that day bc that was the day I originally wanted, but also to give baby enough time to go on his own.... Which he did! Just like with William, Landon didn't quite make it to his induction date.)

? - Will Dominic be at work 80 miles away when baby comes? - When we had William, he worked in Perrysburg. Even better, he wasn't even working! We went to the hospital over the weekend!

Dominic had decided on Thursday that he was going to take Friday off, so thankfully he was at home all day. I remember there was a moment around 6:30pm when I was experiencing severe contractions that I said to him, "If you would have gone into work today, you would just now be getting home!" Needless to say, I'm so thankful he had the intuition to take that day off.

? - Who will handle William when baby comes? - I know this will just fall together when the time comes.

My Mom was VERY helpful. She came up Friday afternoon around 12:30 and stayed with Will when we left for the hospital. Plus she stayed at our house that night. The second night Dominic came home to stay with Will and she went back home.

? - How long will I be in the hospital? - Fingers crossed that it won't be as long as last time!

It definitely was much shorter! Like I said before, we got there Friday at 1:45 and we were checked out almost exactly 48 hours later. What a whirlwind!

Our New Family of Four

? - Will baby be a boy or a girl? - We have to buy clothes either way, since William's will be the wrong size for the season. Or perhaps baby #2 will just be in a onesie and diaper all summer.

It's a boy! So far, Landon has pretty much been in a side snap shirt and pants. However, thanks to a few new outfits, I think we are pretty good with clothes sizes NB-3 months. Although I'd like to find some 0-3 month shorts! Do they even sell those?


? - What will baby's name be? (especially if it is a boy since we still haven't officially finalized one!)

We named him Landon Dean Krupp and it wasn't even for sure until the night before his birth. Even then we talked about our other options. And even when he was born I still asked Dominic if he was certain on the name! Now I can't imagine it as anything else.

? - How much will baby weigh? - My prediction is that this baby will not be as big as William was.

I was right about him not being as big as Will, but Landon was still a good sized baby at 8lbs 5oz. He left the hospital at 7lbs 12oz and was back to 8lbs 1oz by his first Peds check last Wednesday.

? - How long will he or she be? - See above prediction.

Yep- He was a little shorter than Will at 21 inches exactly.

? - Will this baby be tongue-tied like William was? - Man I sure HOPE not...

One of the nurses from his actual birth originally thought he might be SLIGHTLY tongue tied, and that was probably only because we asked. Since then, no one has thought he is (not even the pediatrician) and I certainly have noticed a difference in his ability to eat. It'll probably take until his Pediatric Dentist appointment to find out for sure, but it doesn't seem to be an issue at all.

William serving as BIG BROTHER!

? - Will this baby be on the bilirubin blanket like William was? - See above statement.

Nope! Praise God! He wasn't even significantly jaundice. He has been a great eater, pee-er, and pooper from the start!

? - Will I be finished with all of my work stuff before baby comes? - Uh, I better!

I feel good about where I left work. I was able to finish cleaning and organizing my room and I was able to meet with my sub and give her all of the necessary materials. I have a few small tasks to accomplish before the kids go back, but I'll probably wait until August to handle that. I'd also like to go to school to go through my orders if possible. That will take until our babysitter is back from vacation so she can watch William, which won't be until early August.

? - Will we have the baby before or after we move? - Preferably AFTER we move, but that's not likely.

We WERE able to move before baby! Thank GOD we were! I can't imagine life if we were just now moving. Originally we thought we'd move last weekend (the weekend of July 20-22) but thankfully Dominic is a doer and decided to get this done over the 4th-6th. We still had about four van loads of stuff to move after we got home from the hospital, but the major items had been moved in a Penske truck during the 100+ heat index over the 4th-6th. We slept here Friday, July the 6th after our BIG furniture move.

Our Moving Truck - GO PENSKE!

I loaded this carload up on my own a couple days over due and a couple of days before I went into labor... in upper 90s heat!

Exploring the New House!

? - When will we paint the bedrooms in our new house? Currently the plan is for Dom to paint sometime around July 4-6. But will we be having a baby then?

Dom's parents painted all day on the 4th of July while his brothers and Kasey helped us move and unpack. My in-laws did an awesome job taping, priming, trimming, and painting the three small rooms in one day. Cathy came back up the morning of the 5th and she and Dom finished touching up, a few final coats, and even did a fresh coat in the Master that we were originally not going to touch at all. I'm glad they did a fresh coat in our room though, because it looks a LOT better!

Painting the Nursery

? - When should I schedule to get the carpets cleaned? - As long as the paint is done this will probably be the weekend of the 7th, but that is my due date... So.... who knows!

The carpets were cleaned the afternoon of the 5th after the rooms had been painted, but before our furniture was moved in.

? - What washer and dryer will we buy? - Leaning towards the top-loaders now that the front-loaders have had so many negative "Mom Reviews".  We're also sort of waiting until we get a nice Lowes coupon in the "change of address" package because we were told by the Lowes worker that you can get that discount ON TOP OF the sale they are currently having (10% off appliances). Not bad, especially once we use our Discover reward gift cards!

After a couple conversations with Lowes employees and reading reviews online, we ended up getting the Whirlpool Cabrio Platinum top loading washer with a glass lid and the same dryer without the glass front JUST in case a kid was to smash and break the glass accidentally. We used Discover reward gift cards, a 10% off Lowes coupon plus a sale price, and then bought the rest of our gift cards at Kroger and Giant Eagle for fuel perks (we got $1.30 off a gallon at Kroger and $2.30 off at Giant Eagle because of this!) I am still figuring out all of its many features, but I've had plenty of time for this bc I have to do laundry about every day!

Day of Installation

? - Will we have our master furniture ordered and delivered early on or put it off until later? - I sure hope it's the former and not the latter. I don't feel like dealing with this once we have a baby.

Yay! We decided on a set and ordered it through a direct company in Michigan that Dominic leases trucks to. Originally we were told it would be delivered Sunday the 29th, but we found out yesterday that it'll be here THURSDAY! I'm so excited bc our master bedroom looks like junk with random piles on the floor and boxes still in the closet and master bathroom.

? - Will William be ok in his big boy bed? - We may find out tonight!  Dom and William are currently on their way to get the new mattress and we are transitioning him tonight in order to to slowly start all of his many changes.

William has done an amazing job with all of his transitions, especially this one. He sleeps very well in his bed; I think he realizes that it is much more comfortable than the toddler mattress. He curls up in the corner of his bed between two walls, which we call his "nook", so I haven't even been worried that he will fall out. I was a little nervous that he'd get upset about the fact that the nursery looks the same (just set up differently due to the room shape) yet it's not HIS room anymore, but he has been FINE with every bit of the bed and room transitions. Thank God!

First night in his big boy room in our new house.

? - How long will it take us to move? We have until early August to move out of our home on Mapleway, so we know we will be fine but we are hoping we can move all of our big stuff in a day or two.  The tentative plan is to move our big stuff the weekend of July 15-17.  Of course that depends on when the baby comes!

Well, like I already mentioned we moved in about three main days and then picked away at small loads for another week and a half. Although we had the keys until early August, we gave ourselves a deadline and the new owner an advantage by getting him the keys last Saturday (the 21st) so he could move in before his family vacation this week.

Cheers-ing at Bob Evans to Our Last Night at Mapleway

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Our Old House, Pretty Much Emptied Out

****************************************************************************************

Ultimately, the days since our closing date (June 30th) have flown by and have been packed full of craziness. We got the keys to our new home July 2nd, painted all of the bedrooms and cleaned the carpets by the 5th, moved in and slept here by the 6th, had a baby the 13th, came back from the hospital the 15th, and handed our keys over to Mapleway on the 21st. This may sound virtually impossible, but I have learned that anything is possible when you're married to Dominic and with our friends and family. A special thank you goes out to Matt McClure for being a furniture-moving beast on one of the hottest days in our area's history. Productivity and hard work is synonymous with the last name Krupp. William would even agree to this and say he can't talk long bc he has "work to do!" Now I am trying to train him that he has PLAY to do. After all, it IS summertime!

Weeding - Both WORK and FUN!

38 Weeks Pregnant: Update on the Li'l One!

Dear Baby,

THANK YOU for being so cooperative!  I just know that we understand each other.  :)  That means a lot to Mommy!

So here is the news.  Today I went to see how you were doing at my regularly scheduled 38 week check.  For the record, I was down a pound since last week and I have only gained 19 lbs since my first recorded check during this pregnancy!  Anyway, the doctor checked me to see how you were doing and it turns out that you were SO HIGH that he couldn't even tell if you were head-down or not.  Now this was a little scary for a minute, but I said a quick prayer and knew God was going to handle this for me.  He did take a minute to inform me that the heartbeat was higher than last week and that he predicts you are a boy.  So last week your heart rate was lower and he said girl, this week it's the opposite.  I really don't take his predictions seriously.

Next, I was shuffled down to the ultrasound room where the amazing technician was able to inform me in less than a minute that you were in great position!  Head-down!  Instant relief!!! I just love the tech at my OB office.  She always has KLove playing in the background, and it's so comforting to hear Christian music while I'm seeing your picture on the machine.

After the concern about your position was over and we were simply looking at your pictures, I told the tech (who is always very supportive of the fact that we have not found out your gender) that it was tempting for me to just ask her to tell me TODAY, since I am GOING NUTS wondering if you are a boy or a girl.  Bless her heart, because her response was that we are so close to finding out in real life that she would probably just lie and tell me that she couldn't tell even if I DID ask her... just so we could wait to find out at your birth.  I laughed and thanked her for supporting me, because had she been interested in finding out there is a possibility that she might have convinced me to take a quick peek!  Yet she kept your gender a mystery, and honestly I am grateful for that despite my CONSTANT questioning!  I'm still saying girl like I have been since day #1, but lately I have been planning on you being a boy so I am not super surprised.

You measured somewhere around 7 1/2 pounds (sorry, but I forget the exact amount) and showing that you are about 38 weeks.  I am supposed to be 38 weeks 5 days, so this puts the newest due date prediction at July 12th.  Lucky me!  I might get to have you later than planned after all.  I'm still keeping my fingers (and legs) crossed that you don't come until at least July.  We have a house to sell and one to buy tomorrow, and it would be GREAT if we could have most of our stuff moved and your nursery set up for you before you come.  Yes these may seem like high expectations, but welcome to the Krupp family.  If your Daddy gets it into his head that we are moving next weekend, then we will be moving next weekend.  I guarantee it!

Of course, as you know, I am still hoping you come Sunday July 15th.  However, I have made MANY requests to God and I can't be too greedy.  I will settle for your arrival anytime after this weekend, but preferably after we move.  I know you are frustrated because of the cramped conditions you are living in (I can tell by the ultrasound pic that the tech gave me today) so I apologize to you for this news.  However, I must say that I am happy to see that you will probably be staying put for a little while longer.  We will have plenty of fun when you come out; just let us get through a few more to-dos before you join us.  You don't want to be involved with this crazy move anyway!  Avoid it if at all possible!

Regardless of when you arrive, you are loved very much and we are so happy that you are making our family a family of four.

Love always,
Your very excited Momma

This is either a smoosh face or a ticked-off grumpy one. Either way, it is adorable and I can't wait to kiss your cheeks! 

 

 

 

Mama Monday #2 - Finally Getting Ready for Baby!

I realized that most of my first Mama Monday post today was about my son.  See, even the posts about ME are about my kids.  That's what the life of a Mom is all about. Therefore I decided to do a second one... Which ends up being about my other child anyway!

Actually, lately I have been thinking that the life of a Mom is like one HUGE load of laundry with ups and downs in between.  That may sound depressing, but I don't mean it to be.  I have done laundry every night for a week.  I don't mind it... it's just crazy how much laundry there is to be done!

Speaking of laundry, I took the first steps toward preparing myself for the fact that this baby will be here soon... And only part of it involved laundry!

1. I washed the neutral baby clothes (although I have yet to put them away!) Man are they small!

2. I pulled out some baby rattles. Of course William was instantly drawn to these "new" toys, so I had to explain what they were for.  It was so cute hearing him say he wanted to teach the baby how to use a rattle or talk on the phone or help me change the baby's diaper.  I think the more we talk about baby and show him evidence of baby's imminent arrival, the better it is on William's transition.

3. Dom and I picked up the bassinet from Andy and Sarah's house yesterday and we set it up in our room.

4. I washed all of the bassinet bedding.

5. I pulled out some newborn diapers. I'm not sure where I should put them though, so odds are they'll end up in the drawer with the clothes. Eventually this baby will have the nursery which comes with the diaper stacker, but for now he or she is getting the "bare bone" treatment!

6. I washed my nursing clothes and started creating a pile of items I want to put in my hospital bag.

All of this was a pretty big deal for me after doing absolutely nothing to prepare for baby throughout the first 38 weeks of pregnancy. With William, all of this was done much earlier ... But then again we weren't in the process of moving. And we were like all other first time parents who worried about having everything perfectly in place in the nursery so it would look adorable and give the proper welcome to baby. Then we learned that babies don't even sleep in their cribs for a while (Will slept in the bassinet in our room) and rarely use the nursery at all for the first couple of months!

So what else needs done for baby? Not too much. I need to get a double stroller soon. I'm still holding out until Babies R Us sends me a 20% off coupon. I'm also going to borrow my friend's Moby wrap to practice wearing around a bit before I commit to buying one.

I had to get groceries today, and I noticed that the milk expires on my due date.  That was enough to get me thinking that I better start preparing.  Nothing screams, "Your baby is going to be here soon" like seeing the date slapped on a milk jug.

Good thing I was super productive at work today. :)

Mama Monday #1 - "Mommy? Can I talk to you a minute?"

My heart hurts for William. He was just at the top of the stairs calling down to me, "Mommy?  Can I talk to you a minute?"  This is how it all started last night.  How it ENDED was a couple of hours later after William had walked down to the living room, pulled out a few books and read them to himself, then had a few more books read to him back in his room, and then set up a campsite to sleep on (which was on the floor RIGHT next to his twin mattress.)

I'm baffled by what is causing this.  William has always been GREAT at going to bed (since we sleep-trained him at a year old.) I mentioned in an earlier post that he follows a specific routine before bed.  After I kiss him good night, he is almost always out like a light.  If he's not out, he has always been good at entertaining himself for a short bit in his bed (he never got up) and then falling asleep shortly thereafter.

However, this routine is changing as of ... this weekend.  I am not sure if this change in sleep pattern is because he isn't adjusting well to his new bed or something else.  It could be many other things since the sun is up so late, the weather is warm, he hasn't had an EXACT schedule in the mornings since it's summer (even though he's still getting up relatively early), he may not need as much sleep as he did a couple of months ago, he knows things are going to change for him soon... who knows.  Kids are hard to figure out because they simply can't tell us.

I'm trying to snuff out this staying-up-late thing so as not to start a bad habit, but then there is the ever-present Mom guilt that kicks in when your child is pleading with you.  I mean, seriously, how cute is it that he is saying, "Mommy? Can I talk to you a minute?"  My heart is melting.

OK, he just walked down the stairs and said, "I want to hang out with you.  Can we read a book?"  Then he walked across the room to the bookshelf and grabbed his Thomas book (of course the one that makes the most noise) He said, "Can I read this book?  This Thomas book?"

I guess this is my cue to go now. Wish me luck.

??? Questions ???

I want to document some of the questions that are running through our minds about the logistics of the next 2-3 weeks. And please don't panic, because we aren't!

Here are the questions Dominic and I are currently pondering:

? - What time will baby come? Morning? Noon? Night?

? - Will baby be born on a weekend or weekday? - Pulling for the weekend!!!

? - Will baby be a June or a July baby? - Aka what birthstone will he or she have?

? - Will I make it past the 4th of July? - I sure hope so!

? - Will I make it to my due date? - I'm actually the weirdo who is still pulling for going LATE!  Fingers crossed that this baby will be a Sunday baby just like his or her big brother, Mama, and Daddy. :) Or better YET - a Sunday the 15th baby like his or her big brother AND Mama!

? - Will Dominic be at work 80 miles away when baby comes? - When we had William, he worked in Perrysburg.  Even better, he wasn't even working! We went to the hospital over the weekend!

? - Who will handle William when baby comes? - I know this will just fall together when the time comes.

? - How long will I be in the hospital? - Fingers crossed that it won't be as long as last time!

? - Will baby be a boy or a girl? - We have to buy clothes either way, since William's will be the wrong size for the season.  Or perhaps baby #2 will just be in a onesie and diaper all summer.

? - What will baby's name be? (especially if it is a boy since we still haven't officially finalized one!)

? - How much will baby weigh? - My prediction is that this baby will not be as big as William was.

? - How long will he or she be? - See above prediction.

? - Will this baby be tongue-tied like William was? - Man I sure HOPE not...

? - Will this baby be on the bilirubin blanket like William was? - See above statement.

? - Will I be finished with all of my work stuff before baby comes? - Uh, I better!

? - Will we have the baby before or after we move? - Preferably AFTER we move, but that's not likely.

? - When will we paint the bedrooms in our new house? Currently the plan is for Dom to paint sometime around July 4-6.  But will we be having a baby then?

? - When should I schedule to get the carpets cleaned? - As long as the paint is done this will probably be the weekend of the 7th, but that is my due date... So.... who knows!

? - What washer and dryer will we buy? - Leaning towards the top-loaders now that the front-loaders have had so many negative "Mom Reviews".  We're also sort of waiting until we get a nice Lowes coupon in the "change of address" package because we were told by the Lowes worker that you can get that discount ON TOP OF the sale they are currently having (10% off appliances). Not bad, especially once we use our Discover reward gift cards!

? - Will we have our master furniture ordered and delivered early on or put it off until later? - I sure hope it's the former and not the latter. I don't feel like dealing with this once we have a baby.

? - Will William be ok in his big boy bed? - We may find out tonight!  Dom and William are currently on their way to get the new mattress and we are transitioning him tonight in order to to slowly start all of his many changes.

? - How long will it take us to move? We have until early August to move out of our home on Mapleway, so we know we will be fine but we are hoping we can move all of our big stuff in a day or two.  The tentative plan is to move our big stuff the weekend of July 15-17.  Of course that depends on when the baby comes!


And this was just the short list.  Hence the reason why I am focused on Philippians 4:6 right now.  Worry about nothing and PRAY ABOUT EVERYTHING!  Or the verse below from Isaiah - one of my favorite books of the Bible. I know that God is in control, and He is the only one with these answers.  Therefore I am calm and leaving it up to Him!!!

Thank you, Lord, for handling all of these many stress-ers.  I appreciate not having them all on my shoulders.  I am already carrying enough baby weight!

37 Weeks Pregnant: Update on the Li'l One!

I had my 37 week check up today and it took forevvvvvvvvvvver... not the check up (that took a total of about 8 mins) just the waiting "without bottoms" for 30 mins for the doc to enter, uncomfortable as all get-out (and no, sorry, I can't define all-get out but it sounded better than "hell") bc I'm sitting on a medical examining station with nothing to support my back and all of the weight of my belly getting scrunched between my boobs and my hips. Ugggg. Not fun.


What do you say when the doctor finally arrives and asks you how you are doing? When asked today, I just said I was feeling uncomfortable. The doc then gave me the knowing smile that says, "Yes all 9-month pregnant women are uncomfortable". No dude, what I meant was I was uncomfortable at your office for the past 30 minutes! Oh well, rather than respond in that fashion, I asked him how HE was doing and he said that after seeing 20 patients this morning, I was only the second to ask him how he was doing. Oh my, I love the guy but I'm always skeptical that he he's telling the truth. Part of me thinks he just knows how to make a patient feel special.


So the news you all want to know is about baby. Basically I'm 1 centimeter dilated with about 10% effacing. The baby is in good position, so that's encouraging. It was worth the wait to hear this news. :)

Later when I informed Dom of my progress, he sounded a bit panicked and asked, "So what does that mean? You could have the baby this week?" I reminded him that this is the natural progression and it isn't abnormal for this to take weeks and that the doctor didn't show any signs of being concerned I was going to deliver soon. Dom sounded relieved. Personally I felt some relief too, because as much as we love our little guy or gal and as much as we can't want to meet him or her... we really need more time... Oops, what I should say to sound like a better mother is that our baby needs to bake as long as possible so he or she will be as healthy as can be! I probably shouldn't even mention that I'd like to get out of June to avoid all of the family birthdays and anniversaries we already have this month...

The heartbeat led the doc who has guessed boy every time I've gone for the past 3 or 4 checks to guess girl. I reminded him that we don't know and that he's guessed boy every time so far. His response was, "Well now I've covered all of my bases." Whether or not he just guessed girl today out of guilt for guessing boy so many times OR if he sees so many patients that he doesn't even remember guessing boy in the past, I don't care. His guess today reassured me that there is still a possibility the Li'l Krupp is a girl. (See what I mean by I'm always skeptical of whether or not he's telling the truth?)

My next appointment was scheduled for next Thursday as well, only 15 mins later than this one was. I'm hoping that it won't take nearly as much time! By the time I got out of the office, it was already noon and there went 1/2 of my day!

36 Weeks Pregnant: Update on the Li'l One!

Good evening! Here's the latest on Li'l Krupp.  Honestly, don't get excited because it's not much!

Today was my 36 week check (although I am technically almost 37 weeks along), so the first of my weekly visits from here on out. Wow... it's getting real now!  My OB/GYN office has been extra busy lately because one of the female docs just moved to Arkansas to be with her kids.  That was pretty sad for me, because I loved that doctor.  However, I don't blame her for wanting to be nearer family and I am super happy for her! Anyway, I was supposed to see the doctor who delivered William, but she was called to labor so I was with the only doctor left in the office (the male doctor) instead.  That's really not a big deal because I have been seeing him almost every time I have been there, since the doctor who delivered William has been on her OWN maternity leave for a while.  Needless to say, it's pretty crazy at the office and they should probably hire someone else since they are so busy.  I had to wait for a half an hour in the waiting room, which is uncomfortable when you are mega-pregnant and you have been waiting to pee for a few hours b/c you know you will need a urine sample when you get to your appointment (but that's beside the point).

Anyway, since this story is really anti-climatic I will keep it short.  Basically, I gained two pounds since my last check-up two weeks ago, which I thought was reassuring because before that I hadn't gained any weight in four weeks!  (I have only gained 7 lbs in the past 10 weeks... that's when I started keeping track on my phone, so before then I am not exactly sure how much I weighed.)  The baby's heart-rate is still at boy level, according to this doctor who has predicted boy for the past four visits, and he or she is so high that the doctor couldn't even tell what position he or she is in... so that's it!  No more news!  I actually felt reassured by this because I have been in so much pain lately that I thought baby had dropped and was going to come pretty soon.  It's not that I don't want to see baby, because I definitely do, it's just that despite my pains and the extreme level of discomfort I have been in... I still want to go late.  My goal is to make it to Sunday, July 15th... as unlikely as that is!

I will return for my 37 week check next Thursday morning.  Stay tuned for the next update!

Selling and Moving: The Timeline

People have been asking a lot about the progress of our home sale and purchase, so I figured it would make sense to put together a timeline of events here because I never remember who I told what to and when... and for a while things were being updated by the minute! Now that it is pretty settled and most of what is happening is figured out, I will fill everyone in on the entire process.

January 2012

• After months of talking about it, we decided to put our home on the market. The primary reasons for our move are to have a little more room, a fourth bedroom, and to be closer to things such as our jobs, babysitter, doctors, etc.  Plus we know that we will ultimately move anyway because our home is not big enough for us and we knew we were not going to send our kids to TPS.  Since interest rates are so low, we knew we could get far more bang-for-our-buck this year and since we "gambled" and lost in the housing market when we bought this place (because we bought in 07 during the peak of the market, the year before the crash when we could have got far more for the buck) we figured we should try to WIN with our next place.

• We made a few calls to our babysitter's former realtor.  We decided we wanted to go with him for our home sale.

February 2012

• During the first week of February, we met with our new realtor and determined what would need to be done in order to prep our home for sale.  He recommended a complete roof tear-off (the final project we needed to get to in order to basically have our home completely remodeled), buying bins and binning a lot of our excess "stuff" (as it was apparent that we were outgrowing our home), sanding and painting the rod iron handrails outdoors, putting a hook where the curtain rod to the downstairs storage shelves are just for added support, tear off the Styrofoam that Fred had used to "insulate" the vents in the basement, finish the trim on the front door that was never done, and thoroughly clean the entire house.

• I should note that during this meeting, William was extremely sick. He had two blow-outs while our realtor was here meeting with us and spent the rest of the time with his eyes half-open, watching a movie.  I felt so bad for the little guy.  February was a really rough month for us over-all and we spent a large part of it sick.  I never got it as bad as Dom later did, but I attribute that to the the fact that I got the flu shot and Dom did not.

• By the middle of the month, only weeks after meeting with the realtor, we had a roofer out here and our complete tear-off and replacement was complete. Seriously, when Dom gets told what to do ... it gets done in no time flat. Luckily for us we had a very warm winter, so that conditions for roofing (and the price during the off-season) were unbeatable!

March 2012

•  We began to have second thoughts about selling our home. These second thoughts mixed in from this point in time until the minute we ended up agreeing to a price with our buyer. We are big fans of Dave Ramsey's, and the fact that we had refinanced our home just last year for a 15 year mortgage that theoretically we could pay off within two years was very much a deterrent to buying a new home that costs twice as much (or more) as this one originally did. 

• Due to our second thoughts, we dragged our feet with the selling process.  I had purchased some extra large bins from Big Lots at this time, but I only filled one up with some clothes that William had out-grown. Work was busy for both of us at this time, so we weren't focused on the selling process.Dom kept talking about sanding and painting the rod iron handrails outside, but the weather conditions were not prime for painting, so we didn't do much at all.

•  At the end of the month, our realtor just "happened to be in the neighborhood" and dropped by to see how our progress was going.  It was the WORST possible time for him to randomly drop by (a few days before my spring break, when we had planned on working on our to-do list) and the house was in complete disaster.  We had just finished eating dinner and this time we hadn't even cleaned up the dishes like we usually do.  Dom had said to let them sit so we could play with Will before putting him to bed, because it had become more apparent that William needed some one-on-one time with us.  It was around 7PM when our realtor stopped by, William's typical "winding down" time. With an exciting guest in the house, rather than winding down, William WOUND UP and went nuts.  He was chucking toys everywhere and screaming, "Can you hear me?!?!?!" into his mega phone as the adults tried to meet.  I can't even describe the pure chaos that was going on, but it ended with William yelling, "cash" (meaning "catch") and whipping a toy right into our realtor's chest.  It wasn't something that hurt or anything, but just embarrassing. The time was now like 8:45 and he was WAY passed his bedtime.  I knew the following morning was going to be a nightmare...

• Perhaps it was because of our realtor's random drop-by, but after this visit I was feeling very anxious about the entire for sale process.  I felt totally unprepared, and since I was about 26 weeks pregnant, I began to worry about the amount of time and pressure this would take on our family and my body.  Had we made a rash decision? Either way, we had just promised our realtor to have things ready for pictures by Easter.  Actually, Dominic promised that. I promised the exact opposite:  That there was no way we were going to be ready to have the pics taken in a week's time with work being so busy.  I love my husband, but he thinks in terms of getting stuff done and not in terms of the time we have to do them.

 April 2012

• Things started happening quickly in April.  From here on out, I will try to use dates to show you how close the events happened.

• April 14th - We completed our "Spring Cleaning" and made the house as organized as possible. We finished up the projects our realtor had suggested, except for the one about painting the rod iron railings outside. We still haven't even done that, and now we probably never will...

• Sat. April 21st - Our realtor came over to take the pictures of our home in the morning. (See I told you we would never get this done by Easter!) We also finished signing all of the paperwork for our home sale.

• Sun. April 22nd - After MONTHS of dragging his feet, Dominic finally broke the news to our neighbor that he is close with.  I know he was putting it off because the neighbor was going to be sad.  They have built a great relationship and friendship, and the entire home sale is very hard for us because we don't want to leave our neighbors and neighborhood.

• Mon. April 23rd - We put the sign in our front yard.  Our home was officially on the market.

• Sun. April 29th - We had our first and only "Open House".  We had three couples and one neighbor go through our home.  One of the couples seemed very promising.

May 2012

• Thurs. May 3rd - The promising couple took a second look at our home.

• Sun. May 6th - We went out looking at homes for a second time. This was the day we found the home we ended up falling in love with.  William was even with us this time (this was the only time, the other times he was being watched by either his regular babysitter or our good friend Danielle - thanks to both for all of the support during all of this!)  I'm glad that William was there this time, since we are now buying a home we saw that day.  The house was not one I was even sure I wanted to see at first, but I threw it on the list and when we were there I FELT something.  I specifically even told that to Dominic as we were leaving.  I really do believe that God gives you a little nudge when you find the right one.  The way the home is designed is completely perfect for what we are looking for.  It is not grand or showy, like many of the places we looked at in Perrysburg.  There is nothing wrong with "grand or showy", it's just not who we are at this point in our lives.  It's a large home (over 2400 square feet with a complete basement) but it feels so HOMEY.  The biggest selling points were the fact that the upstairs floor plan feels like it's HUGGING you in a circular motion, there has only been one owner and it was custom built so almost everything is very nice and extremely well-cared for, it's in the township so we don't have to pay income taxes, it's super close to almost EVERYTHING yet it feels a little "removed" from the hustle and bustle of city/town life, and perhaps most importantly it has an awesome, private, good-sized backyard.  As with all properties within our price range in Perrysburg, there is a downfall...you can hear the turnpike because it runs right behind the house. :-( Yet that's most likely the reason for the very good price!  So it's half a dozen in one hand, six in the other... and this home has EVERYTHING ELSE we are looking for.

• May 12 - We looked at homes for a 3rd time, including a 2nd visit to the home we felt pulled toward.  We looked at it longer and more closely at this time, checking for details that we might have glossed over during our first visit.  I took a plethora of pictures.  This home was the first we saw that day, and nothing before or after it ever measured up to the way we felt about this place. Dominic agreed that this was the home for us.

• May 25 - I got a text from Dom shortly after school.  I will probably always remember this, because it was the Friday before exams and I was sitting at my desk finishing up the last bits of my exam.  I saw the message at 3:15.  It simply stated, "Got an offer.  Realtor wants us to call him when we get together today." Instantly I broke into tears. It was all happening, and happening so fast. We would soon be moving away from the first house we ever called home, the place where William grew up, took his first steps, and the only place he knows as "home", the place where we poured our blood/sweat/and tears and remodeled almost EVERYTHING, creating our perfectly designed house.  It was a lot to take in at once.  I cried by myself in my classroom for a good 20 minutes before going down the hall just to cry for another 20 minutes while I was making 90 copies of my 16 page exam.  I know that some people will want to attribute this to the fact that I am pregnant, but it's so much more than that. Many of you know that Dom and I hand-designed and remodeled our entire home with the help of his father and some friends. We feel very tied to the home, and it is challenging and emotional to leave it.  
• Later that evening, on our way to home group, we heard the offer from our realtor.  I felt as though it was a slap in the face, but looking back I shouldn't have taken it so personally.  It's a buyer's market and what this guy did was start a conversation that eventually got us to a point of agreement.  We spent the next few days countering with the guy.

• May 29 - We went out looking at homes for the 4th time (we saw about 20 homes total) and saw the house we liked for a 3rd time. We also saw another house that was new to the market on this day. My realtor and I liked it, but Dom wasn't thrilled. It was a lot smaller on the inside, but the backyard was amazing.  They had a long, fenced-in lot with nothing behind it but a field (which knowing Perrysburg will one day become a shopping center or highway).  They also had a sweet glassed-patio, hot tub, amazing landscaping, and an in-ground pool. Yet there were some features in the house that we didn't like as much and like I already mentioned, it was smaller on the inside than the first home we liked. They were asking the same price as the home we liked, so it seemed as though they were trying to recoup some of their "utopian yard" costs.  Ultimately, we ended our day at the home we were still feeling pulled toward and it felt as though we were kicking off our shoes at the end of the day.  We even said, "Honey! I'm home!" as we entered the front door.  This was the home for us. Earlier that evening, our realtor had given us some really great news... the owners of this home had JUST CLOSED on their new home on this exact day.  As my coworker and friend later said to me when I told her I was looking for a sign, "That's not just a sign!  That's a kick AND a push!"  I couldn't agree more.  God had been directing us to this home since the first day we saw it, and this was to be the home for us. To top it off, we signed the sale papers for our current home at the new home's kitchen table that very night.  Things were set in motion.

• May 30 - The following day, we had agreed to the price we wanted to offer on the home we wanted to buy and we put our offer in.  Up until this point, there hadn't been much activity on this home since it was placed up for sale in January.  However, we were getting word from their realtor that there were two more scheduled showings that week on the house and one was a doctor who was currently in Italy.  We wanted to act and act fast, since there was nothing else on the market that compared to this place in our minds and our budgets.  We spent the next couple of days countering with the family.  We had asked for their kitchen table and television console because it perfectly matches their woodwork, but they initially came back and told us that the furniture was NOT for sale. 

June 2012

• June 2nd - We settled on an acceptable price for the new home.  Fortunately for us, it included the kitchen table AND the television console (which we really needed after agreeing to sell our bookshelves that we built as our current entertainment center with our home.)  Furthermore, our final agreement included their LCD television that was sitting on the console, an amp that is in the console which amplifies the speaker system that runs throughout the entire home (owner's brother is an electrical engineer who custom-wired the speakers throughout the home when it was built), and a large armoire and an older-style tv in their basement!  So I would say we made out ok... less furniture to buy which is great since the baby will be coming at the same time as we are closing on this house.

• June 5th - The buyer of our home had our home inspected.  We are now working on three small issues: replacing a missing spring in one of the master bedroom windows, adhering the electric panel to the siding, and spraying for carpenter ants.  Man, I wish I would have sprayed for the ants a month ago.  They have been driving me nuts since it got warm out!  Now I won't get to reap the benefits of the exterminator. 

• June 8th - We did our inspection on our future home.  Their house is 15 years old, so things are starting to come to the end of their life.  There were some minor problems and a couple bigger ones.  The main concern is a piece of flashing that is missing on one of the spots on their roof which has caused water to get into the garage ceiling.  Additional items to be repaired include the sump pump, the electric box outside, and leveling the A/C unit.  

Where We Are Now

• Now we call for repairs, have things repaired, and wait... Please keep your fingers crossed that everything turns out hunky-dory and that we are able to make a smooth transition on June 29th when we are tentatively scheduled to close on both of our homes.  Side note:  We worked it out so that we will have possession of our current home for 30 days after closing, yet we will have possession at either closing or 5 days after for our new home.

Thank you for your support through all of this. It has been an emotional journey, but we are grateful for God's blessings and we look forward to moving on with our lives and raising our children in the home they will always think of as their "childhood home". 

A Top-Secret Sneak Peak of the FUTURE Krupp Family Residence!

Sex? Sex? Sex?

Baby #2's 20 Week Ultrasound

Li'l One,

GUESS WHAT?  Our due date to meet you is exactly ONE MONTH FROM TODAY!  That is so exciting and I will tell you why:  I love you... but I am going NUTS wondering if you are a boy or a girl.  I have sworn this ENTIRE pregnancy that you are a girl.  Here are the reasons why I am going to stick with this prediction:

1. I have had two dreams about you, and both of them have been that you were a girl.  The second of these two dreams was had sometime between using the restroom around 2AM and getting up at 5AM on my 31st birthday, so I think of this dream as a birthday memo from God.  Unfortunately I don't remember what the dreams were about at all... yet here is a funny story from my pregnancy with your big brother which supports the reason why I believe that dreams tell the truth:

• I only had one dream when I was pregnant with William and he was a boy.  Granted, he didn't have a name... or if he did I still wouldn't tell my Dad what it was after driving over the Cedar Point causeway to attend his first birthday party only to deny his grandparents the right to know his name.  Weird dream, I know... just wait until I tell you about my Ronald McDonald festival and bowling dream... now that one was weird!

2. All of the ring tests have said you were a girl.  Of course your "Uncle Tim" Phillips does these and I think he influences the results, but don't tell him I told you that. In addition the ring tests (which I don't swear by, because they were wrong with William) my coworker told me about this crazy prediction test you could use to tell the gender and THAT came out as you being a girl too. 

• Here it goes: Add the age you were when you conceived and the month you conceived in.  I was 30 and it was October (10) = 40. Odd is boy, even is girl... therefore you must be a girl. This is like Scientific PROOF!

3. Mother's Intuition... I just FEEL that you are a girl.  Shouldn't that count for something?  I knew William was a boy and he was, so I trust my gut and I will eat my words if you are a boy.


Honestly, at this point if I were to HAVE to have another ultrasound for some reason (I've already had three with you) I think I might just cave and have the tech tell me if you are a girl or a boy.  Your Daddy and I are still planning on having three kids, but I am not sure I can wait to find out the sex again after this time around.  I know I only have ONE MONTH to wonder if you are a girl or a boy... but that month seems like eternity to me right now.

Regardless of whether you are a boy or a girl, your Daddy and I love you very much and we can't wait to show you everything there is to see in this big ol'world.  If you are a boy, I hope and pray that your big brother is your best friend... and that you wear approximately the same size clothing so I don't have to get a ton of new clothes.  Hey!  Don't get upset that you are getting hand-me-downs, your big bro got all of his clothes from cousin Zachary and Zachary got a lot of those from HIS cousin... so there.  Not only are you getting hand-me-downs, you are getting hand-me-downs TIMES FOUR! 

Now... doesn't that make you want to be a girl? ;-)

* For the record - Daddy thinks you are a boy.  I had to put that out there so he can tell me, "I told you so" if he's right and I am wrong.  What's his reasoning?  I am not entirely sure.  He just always swears that he is going to have three boys since he was one of three boys.  However, I am always quick to point out that his brother Andy who has TWO kids has TWO daughters.

PREDICT THE BDAY, GENDER, DATE, WEIGHT, and LENGTH OF BABY KRUPP HERE

What I Wonder: Boy or Girl?

My biggest wonder right now is whether "Li'l Krupp" aka Baby #2 is a boy or a girl. Seriously, I SWEAR baby is a girl. I have had TWO dreams during this pregnancy, one early on and one the morning of my birthday. They both told me that I was having a girl!  I feel like this "Mother's Intuition" is pretty right solely because I only had one dream about the sex when I was pregnant with William and it was that he was a boy... and he clearly is!

However, my male doc has not once but TWICE guessed that our baby is a boy based on the heart rate during two checkups, both after 30 weeks.  I informed him politely both times that we do not know what the sex. The first time he guessed boy, I was worried because I figured he was probably right since he has listened to heart rates for YEARS. However, my mother found this article on baby heart rates and sent it to me after his first "guess", which reassured me that this baby could still be a girl.

What about the Daddy? What does he think???  Well, Dominic thinks that baby is a boy. He once swore to me that he is only going to have sons, since he came from all boys. However, I am always quick to remind him that his brother has two kids - both of whom are girls!

At this rate, only God knows what we are having. However, if this baby is a boy I think I will have to find out the sex of the third kid (if we still are willing and able to have one) because I don't think I can go through another entire pregnancy thinking we are going to have a girl if we are not.

If you want to guess the sex, birthday, weight, and length of this baby, I welcome you to do so at this baby guessing game website!

P.S. Don't mind the fact that this ultrasound makes baby look like he or she has either a lobster claw or a spatula hand! I'm hoping that's not the case!

William's First Birthday

Greetings, Followers!

I'm sure the Moms of the world can relate when I say that William's first birthday was nearly as emotional as his actual birth. OK, perhaps that's a BIT of an overstatement, but it seriously was hard on me! I spend the entire day fighting back tears as I looked down at my little guy who is now a mini-man!  I don't know why I get SO SAD, but I'd like to think it's because I feel so BLESSED, THANKFUL, and I truly ENJOY every bit of every day at every age I have with my son. Now that he is a year old, it's possible that I am sort of mourning the loss of my baby boy ... but it's equally as likely that I am simply doing what I do in every major situation - feel sad and try to document the hell out of the day. Either way, I was emotional - as usual - but now that Will is asleep and I'm about ready to retire for the night, I'm ready to look forward to what the toddler years have in store for us.

I am not going to write too much tonight because it's getting late, but I did want to post something. Since I can't write an overly descriptive bday blog (I'll try to get to that this week), I'll leave you with a few pictures of his overly document first birthday. ;-)

Love to all!

What a cool dude!

Our family of three after William's First Haircut!

After the hemoglobin test... shortly before the one year shots. :-(

Trying some white chocolate for the first time. He loved it!

About to go on a walk! It was a BEAUTIFUL day!

Swinging with Daddy is fun!

Will watching the sun set on his first birthday.

We made this pumpkin so the entire neighborhood would know it was his bday!

He didn't even TRY the ice cream and he took a small bite of the cookie. Here's hoping his bday party goes better!

Bath night!

It was a long day.

Mommy and Me! My pjs tell you that I am 1!

Our Krupp clan. :-)

Wearing my new shirt! Hey, I can only wear it for a short amount of time!

Getting his first haircut at Great Clips on Sat. 11-13-10. He did an EXCELLENT job! No tears!

The night he took his first few steps. He walked from the pack 'n play to these steps on Friday 11-12-10

He woke up with a HUGE smile on his face. It's almost as if he KNEW it was his birthday.