Just One Week

Well, for now, I am scheduled to be induced one week from today, on October 25.  I am a lot more ready for the baby now than I was a week or two ago.  I washed and put away all the clothes.  We got a new dresser, which we actually gave to Jade, and the baby is using Jade's old dresser.  I finally just bought the dresser from Target because it wasn't very expensive.  I was trying to avoid buying that dresser, not because I didn't like it, but because I knew we would have to assemble it ourselves.  So I put it together a couple of weeks ago, and it took me four hours or something.  It is cute, but I really hated spending all that time doing that.  However, there isn't a really good craigslist here since the town is small, and there is about one furniture store -- not very impressive either.  Buying something online would have cost a lot in shipping, and we still probably would have had to assemble the dresser ourselves.  Anyway, I have managed to complete some miscellaneous projects also.  So I think that by next Tuesday, I will be as ready as I wanted to be. 

Bristol's birthday is this Thursday, and she will be two years old.  The last two years have gone by so quickly; I sometimes find it hard to believe that she's not a baby anymore.  But she really isn't.  I think that will be especially evident when I have the baby and compare them.  I am kind of excited for her birthday, though.  Because of the baby, I actually have been planning way ahead and already bought/wrapped all of her presents.  Having it done by now is pretty good for me.  I believe that Trent's mom will also be arriving that day.  She's coming to help us with the kids, and we are excited to have her visit.

Lately

So we haven't been up to much lately.  Trent is just working.  Brooke is going to school, and Bristol, Jade, and I stay home.  I attempt to be productive, but really I just spend a lot of time feeding Bristol and keeping her out of things.  She eats a lot and gets into just about everything.  By the time she takes a nap, I have to take one also.  Bristol is pretty fun and funny, though, and she's picking up words quickly now (especially candy, cake and cookie).  She likes to say, "What's that?" and "See ya."
   When I see the baby ticker on the blog, I can't believe it already says 34 days.  I know that more likely than not, I don't even have that long until the baby is born.  I really don't have the baby stuff ready, but that's on my agenda for this week.  I have kind of been procrastinating it because I first wanted to get the garage and some stuff in my bedroom organized.  And I have been procrastinating getting that stuff organized because it's just not that fun.  Trent and I worked on the garage about two week ago and made some good progress that day, but we didn't get back to it until this week.  So we have to finish it in the next couple of days so I can get all the baby stuff out of there and get it ready ASAP.  I am trying to find a dresser for the baby (like I need one this week) so I have somewhere to put her stuff, but furniture options here are pretty limited.
     I went to the doctor on Friday, and she did an ultrasound.  I am measuring small (which is actually normal for me) so she just wanted to check on the baby.  That was fine with me.  I am happy to see the baby again before I get to see her outside of me.  The baby is on the small end of normal so everything is okay.  The doctor also going to checked to see if I am dilated at all yet, and I was a 1.  The baby's head is also down really low.  Since my due date is still about five weeks away, I am thinking I'll have her about October 21 (which would be at 38 weeks) or maybe even a little sooner.  Really, I would be okay with later than that, but that probably won't happen.  I just want to make sure that I have everything ready before the birth.  I go to the doctor again on Friday (the 7th), and we'll see if anything has changed.  Here is the baby's face from the ultrasound:

This is the side of her face.  On the right is her forehead.  Going left, you can see her eye, cheek and nose.

Recital Pictures

I finally found the girls' dance recital pictures that were done at the dance studio, and I got my own pictures of them developed.  They aren't smiling their best smiles, but some of the other kids in the pictures also have funny looks.  I do really like the photo that I took of them, though.  Those are better smiles.  Anyway, here are the pictures:

Jade's dance was to "Teddy Bear Picnic" so they are supposed to be teddy bears.

Brooke danced to "Stayin' Alive" (the version sung by the Chipettes).

Brooke and Jade together -- sometimes they like each other.



Miracle

Well, okay maybe this isn't really a miracle, but I am still happy about it.  Brooke's school had pictures about a month ago.  I was kind of nervous because so far her school pictures have not been great.  I hate spending the money when they don't even look that good.  Anyway, on picture day, I curled her hair and she wore a cute dress.  Since I wasn't sure how the school pictures would turn out, I took a picture of her before she left.

I think she looks pretty good here.

And this is her school picture.  I was pleasantly surprised when I saw it.

If I had the inclination and readily knew where her pictures from kindergarten and first grade were, I would scan and post them.  Then you would know exactly what I was talking about.  You'll just have to trust me instead.

     Brooke is doing really well in school this year so far, just as I had expected.  At parent-teacher conferences, her teacher only had positive things to say about her.  I am glad to know that with other people, she is always well-behaved.  At home that's not always the case, but I think that's pretty common for other kids also.  She really enjoys reading and read the first Harry Potter book a few weeks ago.  Sometimes, Brooke really gets into books and would continue reading until 10pm or later on a school night if I let her.  I am glad that she has such a love for reading.  We just wish she had that much enthusiasm for math.  She can do the math at her grade level just fine, but we are trying to get her to learn her times tables at home.  They haven't started that yet in school, but I definitely think that it is not beyond her capacity to learn them now.  She is making progress but sometimes is very resistant.  I think that it is partially because she would rather go read or play than practice her multiplication.  In general, things are going pretty well for Brooke.  It's nice knowing that she was able to start a new school this year without any problems.