Maternity Belt and another story

I feel like I have a watermelon growing out of my stomach.  I feel HUGE!  I know the baby is a little on the big side, but I am carrying her all in front, which is not how I carried Karina.  So I have been using my old maternity belt for a while now, but it just hasn't been working well for me.  It is basically a 3-inch wide, long piece of sturdy elastic with some velcro strategically placed so that it's adjustable.  Well, if I was a little smaller it would be more adjustable.  That was only part of the problem--that it wasn't long enough anymore.  It also sat across my lower abdomen, and after a while, it would feel like the belt itself was hurting, and I'd yank it off, only to have my big ol' baby belly start to sag and I'd be sore no matter what.  Last night was it.  I was in so much discomfort, I decided I was getting a new one.  So today, I headed out to the one store I could think of that carries these things, Motherhood Maternity.  They did have them.  Lots of the kind I already had and didn't want, and only one of another kind, which was what I wanted.  It was size Small.  Not going to work, not by a long shot.  I was so bummed!  The girl working there was really nice though and after chatting for a few minutes with her, she suggested I try Babies R Us.  I would never have thought to look there.  I know that was sending business away from her store, but I can certainly say that it makes me more likely to recommend them since she obviously was more concerned with helping me than making a sale.  Off I went to Babies R Us.  Success!  They had plenty, and they had the kind I wanted, with a wider strappy thing and better support and larger sizes.  I stood there debating over medium (supposed to fit prepregnancy dress size up to 16) or large.  Sometimes the sizes are accurate and sometimes they aren't.  A saleslady was standing nearby doing something else and I asked her if she knew if the sizes ran true or not.  She said she had no idea and said I should just open the package and try one on.  That's exactly what I wanted to hear.  I tried the medium first, and decided it was too close and might not last the next two months (during which time I'm sure my little watermelon will get even bigger, sigh), so I got the large and left a happy camper.  I drove back to preschool to get Karina and put it on in the bathroom there.  What a relief!!  Bliss!  Happiness beyond compare and I wore that thing all the rest of the day.  I can tell you, I am not sore tonight.  Not even a little.  I am so happy because I'm going to a big craft fair on Friday and it will be tons of walking.  I was almost dreading it, knowing how uncomfortable and sore I was going to be, and now I can just look forward to it again! 

PS Motherhood and Babies R Us had nothing to do with my post.  They didn't give me anything and my opinions are mine alone and based on my experiences.  

The other story I have is a short one, about Karina tonight.  First, some background information:  her light switch doesn't control her ceiling light, it controls an outlet that we do not use.  So we have a touch lamp next to her bed so she can at least turn on a light herself when she goes in there in the dark.  Usually she leaves it alone though.  She sleeps in a toddler bed with half-rails and since she loves her books so much there are always several shoved in the crack between the rail and mattress.  Now the story.  After tucking her in for the night, I turned on the TV in my bedroom, and Bill came in and we were chatting about her.  She was muttering a little to herself, and Bill asked if I thought she ever turned that light on.  I told him I didn't think so, since I've never gone in there in the night and found it on.  After he left and went downstairs, I turned on the computer and after a few minutes, I heard her say something I couldn't understand.  She sounded upset, but didn't repeat herself like she usually does when she's calling me.  I decided to go make sure she was all right, and there she was, sitting up in her bed, the little lamp was on and she was trying to shove her books back in the crack of the mattress after she had finished reading them.  Little turkey, after I just said she doesn't turn the lamp on.  But you saw that coming, didn't you?

I hope you all had a good Thanksgiving!  (We did, twice.)

Big Bruise

My husband gives blood every time he is able to.  He has been doing this forever, and has never had anything like this happen to him.  This is what his arm looks like 2 days after giving blood.  He said when he was giving blood, it hurt a little, but nothing serious, and he thought afterwards maybe the bandage was just too tight.  The next day, I saw his arm.  He hadn't even realized what had happened.  He says it doesn't hurt, is just a little bit sore now, and neither of us can figure out what in the world happened.  The bruise is pretty much the length of his arm.  Gross, huh? 

Happy Thanksgiving

Well, I don't have any amazing stories to post about or fun anecdotes, I just wanted to wish everyone a very happy Thanksgiving.  I am thankful for so many things, it is impossible for me to list them all.  First among them are my family and friends, though, and I definitely include you all in the latter category!

I hope that tomorrow you are all able to spend time with special people in your lives and also to eat something delicious!

We'll be with family and some of them haven't seen Karina since last Christmas, so I'm sure they'll be surprised at how much she's grown. 

Now, bring on the green bean casserole!!

Random stuff, with pictures

 Above, Karina and I did some crafting one day and made some cute fake cupcakes inspired by some I saw in an Etsy shop.  We used this new craft stuff I found at Toys R Us called Whipple.  I think it's a lot like lightweight spackle, but in an icing bag.  It was fun and easy (Karina couldn't do that part).  When you first put the stuff on, it's kind of tacky so things stick to it.  It's kind of like real icing.  But it gets hard, and then everything is glued into it.  We're going to be giving some of these to family and friends, as well as Karina's teachers at preschool.  I got some more supplies to make more of them, it was so fun!  PS I wasn't paid or compensated by Toys R Us or Whipple.  It's just where I happened to find the stuff, and it just happens I did find it, used it, and liked it.

Here below is David's surprise party I threw for him.  My mom brought over this singing and dancing skeleton guy that Karina is really enjoying.  I labeled the food as things like "Flat Bones", "Deformed Bones", or "Elbows in Cheese".  That would be our bone-shaped sandwiches (thank you Mom for helping me cut them all!), Cheetos, and macaroni and cheese (thank you Nana for making that).

 And finally, here is my enormous, humongous, gigantic belly.  My mom swears that I only look pregnant from the side or front.  I think Karina laid sideways more, and this baby seems to be going straight out.  Nice to not look so heavy, but man, she is killing my back!  People, I am ONLY 31 weeks!!!  Can you imagine what I'm going to look like in about 2 more months?? 

Wildest thing I ever saw

This was the scene in the parking lot of my local big box store today as Karina and I loaded groceries into the car.  I know the picture isn't that great, but I'm sure you can understand why.  I was pretty far away.  It's about 50 police cars and they have stopped that blue car and all the people inside were put into police cars in handcuffs.  It was like watching that show COPS but in real life!  They used the megaphone thing and everything.  As we drove out of the parking lot, another police car came speeding down the road, and I thought he was going so fast he must be going somewhere else, but no, at the last second he turned across three (empty) lanes and into the parking lot.  I was just happy he didn't hit us as we were waiting to turn right.  It was the most incredible sight I think I ever saw.

My brother graduated!

 That's my brother David and his girlfriend after he graduated last Wednesday night from his radiography (x-ray tech) program.  Mom, Nana, and I went and met Erin there with her two roommates (also friends of Dave's) to watch him get his diploma and possibly an award.

 Erin and her roommates made these signs to hold up for David during the ceremony.  Ceremony is really too formal a word though.  There were only 17 in his class, and it was a small group of guests as well.  David's teachers spoke briefly and I could see why he liked them so much, especially Mr. A. 

 Mr. A read the names of each student, and Mr. P gave them their certificates. 

 I'm sorry the pictures are so bad.  I was sitting too far away for the flash on my little camera to do much good.

 Then they handed out three awards to students and a few of the cooperating techs at the sites where the students went to learn.  As Mr. A pointed out, most of the learning was done at the cooperating sites (there are a ton of them).  David was hoping to get the highest award--he had awesome grades and was well-liked by all his classmates and cooperating techs.

 Unfortunately, another student (David had said he thought W might get the award instead of him) got the highest award.  I know David was really bummed out, but he did get another award, for excellence as a student.

 Once David had gotten the other award, he knew he wasn't getting the big one.  Mom and Nana and I just sat so bummed out.  When Mr. A announced that W had gotten the other award, David was the first on his feet to applaud him.  I was so proud of him at that moment, I can't even tell you.  I knew just how much he wanted that award, and he totally deserved it (so did W).

Yesterday David took his registry exam to be licensed and passed with flying colors.  He did great.  He's now a registered technician in radiography, which means he is permitted by the state to take x-rays as a profession.  His job is to take them, not read them; for that you have to go to med school for a billion years and get a medical degree as a radiologist.  There is another step though, which is a radiologist's assistant, which doesn't require the medical degree and does also pay more, so he may go for that in a few years.  Either way, I'm so proud of him.  He's been applying for jobs all week and has a phone interview with a nearby hospital this week.  I will let you know when he gets a job!

Blowing Bubbles

Recently we had some phenomenally nice weather (right before the temps plunged literally 35 degrees overnight) and Karina wanted to blow some bubbles.  Her preschool teachers had given each of the kids a small bubble wand in a test-tube like thing for Halloween.  Karina thought it was awesome.  So I pulled out a bottle of bubble mix we had and this crazy huge wand Bill had bought her months ago (and which laid on my dining room table untouched) and took her outside.  You would have thought I had just roped the moon for her, she had so much fun!  We used up all the bubble solution and I had to try to quickly mix up some homemade stuff (not as easy as it sounds).  She must have played for 2 hours.  AND the best part?  I have pictures! 

Halloween Parade Pictures

These are pictures from the Halloween parade at Karina's preschool.  I don't have more because literally every picture has her friend M in it, holding her hand, so I just gave you a little selection.  They were so cute together though!

Halloween at Preschool

Karina goes to preschool twice a week now, as some of you may remember.  I love her preschool and I am so happy we decided to put her in.  She is becoming more social, learning lots of things, and most importantly having a lot of fun.  She's really shy (like I actually am) and didn't seem to have a clue how to play with other kids, so having her in school a few hours twice a week has been helping.  She is very proud of herself for going to preschool.

They do lots of neat things there, like painting and craft projects.  She's always bringing home something cute and clever.  The school is accredited, so everything they do has a learning basis, although that is not primarily why we enrolled her in preschool.  Still it's good to know they are thinking about the projects and not just playing around. 

It's so hard to leave her still, even though she loves it and goes right in without even saying goodbye to me most days.  I used to hug her and tell her I'd see her after the Teddy Bear song, but now I don't even get to do that!  She's ready to go.  She has a friend from church who also is in her class and they have become closer since being in class together.  When M sees her at church or Musikgarten, she wants to hold Karina's hand and hang out with her.  I love it.  Karina is still adjusting to it I think, but she definitely enjoys M's company and told me one day that M was her best friend.  Very cute.

This past week the Tuesday/Thursday classes had their costume parade.  All the kids dressed up in their costumes and paraded around the outside of the playground fence for parents and other classes to see them.  Karina's class went on Thursday.  She and M were both Cinderella, although I don't think they conspired in it at all.  M was planning to be Cinderella for a long time, and I don't know what brought on Karina's desire to be a princess in the first place.  Way back when I was giving her suggestions and ideas, I really thought she'd want to be a ladybug or a car, but she said princess and stuck to it.  Then one day it wasn't just any princess, it had to be Cinderella.  I searched for a Cinderella dress but they all seemed kind of cheap or expensive, or cheap AND expensive, until one day I was in Toys R Us and went through their regular dress-up section.  I found the most beautiful dress--blue and silver, like Cinderella, with flowing sleeves and some details on it.  And it was cheaper than most of the Halloween dresses!  Score!  I had Karina try it on and she loved it!  Then she informed me that she needed glass slippers.  Got some cheap ones at KMart and she wore them to Grandma's house the first day I showed them to her!

I have pictures of the parade to share with you, but of course, they are on my desktop and I am in bed on my laptop writing this.  But I promise I will put them in a new post tomorrow or Monday for you all to see. 

I just have to say another good word about her teachers.  She has a teacher and an assistant, and we call them both her teachers.  There is also always a parent helper in the classroom, so 3 adults with a maximum of 10 kids is good.  Anyway, Tuesday the kids were all going to the little pumpkin patch there at the church that's connected to the preschool, but Karina had woken up with this bad cough and I couldn't be sure she wasn't sick.  I thought it was probably allergies or the remnants of the cold she'd been fighting all weekend, but I figured if I sent her, she'd end up being sick and miss Thursday, the parade, and of course if I kept her home she'd be fine (which she was, but that's okay).  Anyway, she missed the pumpkin patch.  I figured they might pick out a pumpkin for her and have it on Thursday but no--they took her over there during playground time and let her pick her own!  I just thought that was so thoughtful and kind of them, and I just love her teachers.  Mrs. W and Mrs. C, you rock!!!

Pictures, I've got pictures!

Here are some random pictures from the last couple months.  I hope you enjoy!
First, here I am in all my 28 weeks pregnant glory.  Bill was on the floor when he took this so I'm sorry it's such poor quality.

 Karina has one of her pinwheels stuffed down the neck of her shirt.  She thinks it is hilarious.

 I came home from shopping one day and she was outside with Bill and this is what she was wearing.

 Dressed up for the birthday party.

 Playing with E's dress up shoes at the party.

 At last!  She was free to climb on E's swingset!  She can go up the fake rock wall by herself.

 And learned to go down headfirst, too!

 At my church there's a little garden in the courtyard with a fountain.  You have to go out separate doors to get to it, but I let her go out and touch the water.

 Her own style of swinging.

 This is the contraption at the playground that I hate: I am so afraid she'll fall through.  But she can do it.  I stand under her the whole time holding my breath!

I'll have more later, some bubble blowing and a Halloween parade, but for now, you're all caught up!

Amusement Park!

Oh what a day we had today!  Karina and I went to the local amusement park with my friend Kelly and her sons A and N.  It was fantastic but it almost didn't happen.  Our schedules are so crazy and right now the park is only open Friday through Sunday since it's fall.  Then this weekend, Karina seemed to be getting sick.  This morning she was crying because her nose was stuffy.  But she wasn't running a fever, and once her nose cleared up each morning she'd be fine the rest of the day.  So we went and I'm so glad we did!

But you will never believe what I left in the car.  MY CAMERA.  Ugh!  I was so mad!  Luckily Kelly had hers and took a bunch of pictures and I will share some once I get them from her.  I was just kicking myself all day.

The first thing we did was stop at the stables where they keep some horses.  Karina has never seen a horse up close (she did see a pony in Arkansas) so she was pretty surprised by how huge they were.  But she liked them.  Then she and the boys rode Karina's first ride ever:  it was a little horse ride that went in a circle.  The horses were in pairs so she rode next to N who is older and who she just loves to death.  They get buckled in really nice and snug, and then they hold on as the ride goes around and slightly up and down.  I was so scared she'd hate it and cry or try to get off, but she smiled and seemed to love it, so I was quite relieved!  Then Kelly took N on a big roller coaster while A and Karina and I went back to see the horses and then A rode the ride again. 

Next we went to an area where they have a bunch of Sesame Street things.  There are some rides and a playground type area and there's a show in the afternoons.  There are also character meet and greets, and she got to see The Count and Bert.  She was a little afraid but I went with her and she did give them both a high five at the end.  She said she liked seeing them.  The kids played on the little playground for a while and then we decided to go over to another section and ride the teacups.  Karina didn't really want to go on them, but I told her she would get to ride with me.  We chose a cup on the outside that was not on one of the moving platforms (it's a big circle with circles inside that move and then the cups themselves move, if you aren't familiar) and I of course was not about to turn the cup.  When it started up she got scared and wanted it to end.  I just told her to hide her face so she did, and then it was over pretty quickly and she was fine.  She said it was too fast.  She skipped the next ride while Kelly and I planned out lunch, and then we rode a train (a real choo choo train!) over to another section to get lunch.  She loved the train!  We saw some sheep grazing and a place where they're building a new roller coaster, and she talked the whole time. 

We got off at the next stop and got lunch.  Karina had a hot dog, fries, a huge cup of strawberries, and some chocolate cake.  She didn't eat all of any of it (except her share of the cake we shared!) but she did finish the strawberries by the end of the day so I was happy.  N played a silly game of "I'm eating my finger" with her, where he had wrapped his fruit rollup around his finger and was eating the fruit.  She didn't seem into it when it happened, but she remembered it and talked about it later at home. 

We went on the Merry Go Round next, and again, Karina was a little nervous.  She had to choose a horse in the middle of the three rows for safety reasons and of course I stood next to her.  She wanted to go on a purple one, but the little girl in front of us got that one.  So she rode a pink one, and as soon as it started, she got really upset and said she didn't like it.  I just held on tight and reassured her that it wasn't going to go any faster or do anything else, and then poof, it was over.  She said she liked it, but I think at that point she was just saying it.  She did like the horses and petted several before we got off, including a really fancy purple one that was on the outside, that she wanted to ride but couldn't. 

Another kids' area with dragons was next, and that was a hit.  There was this very tame boat ride that she went on with both of the boys--they got to ride all together--and she loved it!  She was so excited about that one.  Next they did one with ladybugs, but it was a little bumpy (the ladybug cars went in a circle over some small hills but the ride was very bumpy; she didn't like it much).  She passed on the next ride and ate strawberries instead.  Then the kids climbed around in this other play area that was like a treehouse.  There was a great slide in another section of it, so we went over there.  Karina loves slides but at first wouldn't go on it.  Then she did and she loved it and the kids all went on it several times.  It was a lot of stairs to go up and down though!


Let's see...after that we went over to another section where they had some more great tame rides for kids, like mini swings (she loved them), airplanes (skipped), balloons (didn't like it til N held her hand and talked to her, and then she did like it--they were fake hot air balloons that could hold 4 kids, and they went in a circle and up and down), and a pretzel shop where she and I got some ice cream bars.  By that time, it was late, A and Karina were way past a nap and he was really having a rough time holding it together.  He was so tired, poor little guy!  So we went back to the little train station and rode it through two stops back to the park entrance/exit.  We figured it was a great way to end the day, doing something they all really liked a lot. 

She fell asleep only 15 minutes from home so she didn't have a real nap today.  When she saw her dad to tell him about it (he was at the store when we got home) the first thing she talked about was the train!  We told him all about her adventures, and she had to build the park with her blocks. I'm sure I'll be hearing about it til next summer when it reopens!  She told me she wants to go on the huge roller coasters with her dad when she's bigger (I tell her of course, but in my head I'm thinking, "The merry go round was too fast but you want to go on THAT??").  When I tucked her in to bed tonight, she talked about it some more. 

I'm so glad Kelly went and we were able to coordinate our schedules so the kids could all go together.  I really wanted to go with her the first time I took Karina because of the stroller issues and because I knew Karina would love having the boys there with her.  Plus it worked out so great having N to hold her hand and ride with her.  A is younger than Karina by 4 months, but they go to the park all the time (Kelly lives a good 20 minutes closer to it than I do and the whole family has season passes) so he is used to the rides.  Karina had never been on any rides before and had never been to this park.  It was just such a great day (and the weather was perfect!) but I am wiped out!

Just a couple pictures from the birthday party

Here are a few pictures (I can't take credit for them--I did not take them my friends S or B did) from Karina's friend E's birthday party.  I haven't posted pics for you guys in soooooo long, and I'm just on my laptop (where I do not have any photo editing software, so I literally used Paint.  Yes, that program that comes on every computer) so I apologize if they are super awful.  You can see me in the first one, but you can't tell how huge I am.  In that picture I am attempting to get Karina to eat something, anything.  The rest are just of her playing.  Anyway, here they are for what they're worth!

A Birthday Party

Over the weekend, Karina got to go to a birthday party for a friend of hers from church. E just turned 4, so she's about a year older than Karina.  She is just the cutest sweetest little girl.  Karina has known her ever since she started going to Musikgarten classes, when she was about 6 months old or so. 

It was a Barbie tea party, and she was invited to come in a pretty dress and bring play clothes.  We've been to E's house before so we knew there was a ton of fun to be had in the backyard on their great swingset.  Karina loves the slide, and she learned how to climb up the fake rock wall to get up to the top, so she was really looking forward to going to E's house.

We got her all dolled up, including painting her nails (all 20) purple (yes, really purple; would you expect anything less from my purple-loving girl?) and she wore a beautiful dress that is one of 4 my sister in law had sent her last Christmas and were too big yet.  When we arrived, we were some of the first guests, so Karina got to play outside a little and in E's room.  She got to check out E's play makeup and dress up shoes, things Karina knows pretty much nothing about, being a car/truck girl. 

Once everyone else arrived, the girls were seated for tea (and E told Karina that she should sit next to her, which I thought was really special, since E had a bunch of friends there).  Tea was really pink lemonade, but it was served in a real teapot which I thought was such a cool idea.  Makes me want more teapots, but that's another story.  They had little sandwiches, sugar wafer cookies, cute little cups of fruit, cheese cubes, and some Jello cups.  There was other food too, like spinach cups and some other things for the adults.  Karina tried several of the things she'd never had before, but wasn't crazy about them.  So she had water, fruit, cheese, and one bite of a mini hot dog in crescent roll (I forgot those when I was listing the food just now).  After the food, the girls all put on play clothes and went outside.  Karina was ecstatic.  She was up that swingset faster than I could follow her out the door!  She had the best time playing outside.  The weather was just perfect, mid 70s and sunny with a nice breeze.

After a little while, E came out and told us it was time for cake.  You should have seen Karina make a beeline for that kitchen table!  It was hysterical!  She was the first one in the door!  E's mom had made a Barbie cake herself, and it was great.  She made it look like a beautiful yellow dress with pink ruffles.  E was so cute while everyone sang Happy Birthday to her.  Her dad told her to make a wish, and she told him emphatically, "NO!"  That was pretty funny, and then she blew out the candles.  Karina devoured the cake.  The adults got to have some too, and it was really delicious.  After cake, they went back out to play for a few minutes and then E was ready to open presents.  When they came in to do that, Karina went straight to the kitchen table.  We had to go get her and tell her E was opening presents in another room.  All the girls went in and sat down in a little row next to her.  I thought Karina was going to cry when E opened the gift from her, because she had wanted to keep the princess stickers for herself, even though that was what she had specifically told me to get for E!  But she was fine, just tired. 

After presents it was time to go home, and E's mom gave Karina her party favor.  This was the most amazing thing:  the favors were tea party Barbies!  She got them on sale a while back, and swears she would have spent double if she'd done a pinata or goody bags, but still, it seemed like such an extravagant favor.  Karina loved it; the first thing she said was, "She needs to meet Green Truck.  She will like Green Truck."  In the car she told me her name was Pink Doll but she later changed it to Alice. 

Overall, it was a really fun time and she was pretty wiped out.  I think it was a special day for E, too. 

I feel so lucky to have friends with children who are so sweet and who are so kind to my daughter.  I hope that this family will be able to stay in our area for a very long time.  I would love to see the girls all grow up together (they have a younger daughter as well, who is about 18 months).  Later I'll let you all know about Karina's birthday party plans and some other things we have going on around here, too.

The worst part about my pregnancy

I read a blog post the other day that had a similar title.  She talked about the horrific pain she had from gall bladder attacks, and I thanked my lucky stars that nothing like that happened to me with Karina and has not happened with this baby.

Then today it hit me.

Pain is not the worst part.

The worst part for me is knowing I have friends and family who desperately want babies and can't have them, for various reasons.

I realized that I am beyond lucky, beyond blessed, beyond fortunate.  Being able to feel this baby and Karina growing and be part of their lives from the very first second is a miracle.  Cliche, yes, but I don't care.  It's true.

I wish with everything I have that I could do something and somehow let my loved ones experience this, too.  I really do, but there is nothing I can do other than offer them my love and support.  It doesn't seem like enough though when I'm one of the lucky ones.

Karina's baby

Karina loves cars, trucks, trains, and planes.  She treats them like little families and there are always mommies and babies and daddies and now sisters.  Sometimes she is their mommy, but usually the mommy is one of them.  She's not too interested in dolls or other "girly" toys, but she is very mothering in her play with her cars and things.  The other day, the weather was finally not raining and it was gorgeous, so she and I took a walk.  While we walked, she told me that her tummy was getting bigger and bigger.  It was because there was a baby car in it.  I asked her about her baby car and then she held her hand out to her tummy and pretended to take the baby car out of her tummy.  She showed me the baby car she had just given birth to, and told me it was named White Car (all her toys are named after colors).  Then we spent the rest of the walk walking to the baby car doctor while she carried her imaginary baby car in her hands.