18 Weeks

You know I have to start today out by saying "GO PACK GO!"  What a great game!  I didn't really like how close it got in the second half, but I know some people say that makes it a good game.  I am so stinking excited that we won.  It's about time! :)  Of course I had to wear my Packers t-shirt for this weeks photo.  Baby will be a Packer fan too!

How far along: 18 weeks

Size of baby: Baby is the size of a sweet potato

Total weight gain/loss: +8.5 pounds

Maternity clothes: still a mix, but mostly maternity

Gender: We find out next week!!!  We CANNOT wait!  I really hope baby cooperates!

Movement: Yes!  Still not a ton... just a little here and there when I lay still.  It still just feels more like a tickle than a kick.  I always feel like tickling it back! :)

Sleep: It's been pretty good this week.  Of course, two snow days (off work) and two days with shortened work days because of weather didn't hurt.  I got to sleep in and relax.  I don't want to jinx anything, but I *might* be getting some of my energy back.  We'll see.

What I miss: Sleeping on my stomach or with my one leg bent up to the side.  I can physically do it, but it hurts/cramps my belly.

Cravings: I'm still not having what I would consider "cravings"... but things I am liking to eat are: pickles (which I love even when I am not pregnant--but I've been going through about a jar a week), Cheezits, various forms of chocolate (Dove ice cream bars, mounds candy bars, Michael's peanut M&M's)

Food Aversions: Again, I have not really had a "food aversion" or anything making me sick.  Although there are times that certain foods do not sound good to me.  For example, I am totally over pizza.

Symptoms: exhausted, weird dreams, "pregnancy brain"

Surprises: This is not really baby related, but I was surprised at the crazy ice we got.  They are saying that this storm was part of the crazy storm the entire country was getting and not really normal for us.

Best Moment of the week: I was going to say getting my first (and second) ever "snow day" as a nanny.  However, I'm pretty sure the Packers winning the Super Bowl trumped that!

Fun purchases: We bought the crib and changing table--more on that later this week.

GO PACK GO!

Well, even though I am living in the Dallas area, and the Super Bowl is in Dallas... I sadly did not get tickets.  BUT... I will be watching.  I am unashamedly a Packer fan and I am hoping and praying that they can pull off a win.  It's time!  The last time they were in the Super Bowl was my senior year of high school--and they lost! (Although, the did win it the year before that.)

So come 5:30 (cst), I will be wearing my Packer t-shirt and screaming and cheering my team on.  And just like almost every time I watch a Packer game, I will tell Michael, "I just love that Donald Driver!" :)

Win or lose... I will always be proud to be a Cheesehead!

GO PACK GO!
 P.S. Did you notice how many blogs in a row were NOT baby related?!?! :)  I just wanted to point that out! :)  Baby post coming tomorrow!

Winter Crafts

While I was searching for pictures for my C.O.S.I. post, I came across a craft that I don't think I shared.  It is actually from about two years ago when Little Man had just turned 3.  It was long before I started blogging, so the picture was just taken for my own memory.  Hence the reason it is hanging with the kitchen utensils. :)  Either way, I thought some of you with little ones might want a quick wintery craft idea.  

Simple Snowman Head

This literally took about 5 minutes.  Little man cut out the circles and glued on the eyes and nose.  He then drew a mouth.  We used a pipe cleaner and huge pom poms to make ear muffs.  I remember he thought the pom poms were pretty cool. :)

Four for Friday

One

We seem to have gotten the same crazy storm that the rest of the country is experiencing.  The freezing rain started sometime in the middle of the night on Monday (or Tuesday morning).  I ended up having my first "snow day" since I left teaching.  Little Man has had snow days from school, and before he went to school there were days I declared a "snow day" and we did not leave the house.  I always had to go though.  Apparently, even big companies close down here.  My bosses office was closed, so I was off Tuesday.  Her offices were closed Wednesday too, but I had to go in because she had a mandatory meeting to attend.  The roads were PURE ice!  I've never seen anything like it.  The schools have been off most of the week.  Everyone keeps telling me this is not normal Texas weather.  I guess I'll believe them.

 

 Two

Besides the weather, the big news is the Super Bowl being in town this weekend.  The Packers and the Steelers have been in town since Monday.  I'm tempted to go to the Packer's hotel and scout it out, but I probably won't.  There are lots of Packer/Steeler items in the stores.  I'm hoping maybe I can score a Packers onesie for cheap after the crowds leave town and the things go on sale.  We'll see.

 

Three

Michael was offered a job!  He will be working as some sort of tech support for T Mobile.  They give top pay for veterans, so he'll start out making basically what he left AT&T at.  That's a huge blessing.  Plus, benefits start on April 1st.  That's also an answered prayer.  At AT&T it took six months for benefits to kick in, so we weren't sure what was going to happen here.  His work is super close (less than ten minutes away), which is nice.  He's not one to tolerate long commutes. :)  He starts the job on the 14th and will go through 8 weeks of training.  His hours for the training time will be 8 to 4, but after that, they could be evenings.  We are actually OK with this, because once the baby comes an Little Man is in school, I will be at home from around 8 to 3 every day.  If he works nights, we can have family time during the day while the baby will be awake (as it grows).  Otherwise, we'll both get home from work around the time the baby will go to bed for the night and Michael won't get to see it much.  The only down side is that my anatomy scan is scheduled for the 15th, so he won't be there when I find out if it's a boy or a girl.  It's kind of sad, but at this point, a paycheck and benefits are more important!

 

 Four 

Right in the middle of this crazy ice storm, we realized we had a flat tire.  The sensor for one of the tires on the Santa Fe had been on for a while.  Michael filled it with air and then two days later the sensor was back on.  It didn't look too bad... until right smack dab in the middle of the ice storm.  We went to get it fixed and found out that it had a huge screw in it.  Super!  So it was a new tire for us.  I'm hoping that's the end of our tire problems for a while.  I enjoy having the high tech sensors on there to tell me if there is a problem, but I'm sick of seeing them lit up!

Alphie the Robot

Little Man turned 5 on Monday.  I can't believe it.  I love looking back at old pictures and videos of him.  He's changed and grown so much!  So of course I had to get him a birthday present.  He has more toys than any child could ever possibly play with.  I knew I did not want to get him any more Star Wars toys.  I also knew that he would be getting a ton of dinosuar things since it's his new kick.  I can't really not get him a toy.  First of all, he has tons of clothes too.  Second, what else would I get a five year old?  So I always resort to getting something that is educational.  Let's be honest--I pretty much do that with all kids gifts, whether they have "everything" or not.  It's the teacher in me.  Plus, everyone else likes to buy all the fun/cutesy/popular toys.  So while wandering the aisles of Target, I stumbled upon this.......

It's Alphie!!

Do you remember Alphie?  He was around when I was little!

He looked more like this

I can't remember if I had one, or if I just played with ones my cousins had (Sonja? Melissa? remember?), but I definitely remember playing with him.  I also remember thinking it was super cool.  (Of course, a talking light up robot was a little more unique 25 years ago, but still.)

Michael was shopping with me and he thought it was pretty cool too.  So that's what we got.... along with a book about dinosaurs.  Michael said something about hoping LM likes it or hoping he plays with it.  I said, "I'm the nanny.  I will make him play with it!"  I thought that the fact it was a robot was on our side, but it's true...it's no star wars toy or dinosaur.

We went bowling on Saturday night and had a little mini party for LM, so he opened it then.  He was way more into his dinosaur toy from the TV show Dinosaur Train.  However, I came into work on Monday morning and saw Alphie was out of the box and on the table.  I told Little Man he'd have to show me how it worked.  G said he played with it all day Sunday.  Yay!  Educational toys can still win! :)

I highly recommend you getting this for a little one--either your own, or as a gift.  I paid $40 at Target.  I'm not sure if you can get it cheaper online or not.  Also, they have card booster packs for $10 each.  It comes with the robot, cards that are easily stored in the back, and batteries.  It says ages 3 and up.  Some of the stuff is a little easy for Little Man, but others aren't.  I also like that some of the things that he already knows are asked in a different way than he is use to (hello standardized testing!?!).  It makes him think about it!  I would say this is ideal for children ages 3 to 5--before Kindergarten.  It depends on the kid though.  A smart 2 year old could catch on to some of things, where as a slower learning 5 or 6 year old could still benefit from it.  The booster packs may be harder too.  I'm not sure.  One is specifically about letters and one is specifically about numbers.

Things the box says the cards can teach:

letter-sound recognition
phonemic awareness
print awareness
letter shapes
helping with numeral and shape recognition
working with patterns
matching and sorting
spacial reasoning
introducing multiple-step thinking patterns
cause and effect
compare and contrast
categorization
introduction to music
vocabulary development
color recognition
directionality

List o' Fun--COSI

After taking a look in my binder last week, I realized there were still 38 things on my "List 'o Fun" that I have not shared yet.  Can you believe it?!  I'm sure you are thinking I've already shared a ton.  At least, I feel like I have.  Well, some of the things left on my list are Columbus specific and some are general ideas.  I have pictures for some of the Columbus places, but not all.  I plan to share what I have and throw in a little Texas every once in a while. :)  I hope you don't mind.

C.O.S.I. stands for "Center of Science and Industry" and it is located around downtown Columbus.  We had a membership there, and went there often.  I think it's worth it, and if I still lived in Columbus when my little one arrived, I would make sure to have one as well.  (Some people complain that it's not like "the old" C.O.S.I, but it still has some great qualities.)  Even before becoming Little Man's nanny, I went to C.O.S.I. each year on a first grade field trip.  I will say though, that going with younger kids (and not a school trip) is much better.

C.O.S.I. has lots of fun exhibits like Ocean, Life, Progress, Gadgets, Space and more. They also have traveling exhibits that come in that can be very fun. 

Even though these places are great to explore, here are the things I love about C.O.S.I......

1. Little Kids Space

Also known as simply "Kids Space", this is an area for children ages birth to 5 years old.  Once you go into first grade you are no longer allowed.  Hello?! Love!  This is so nice when you have smaller kids.  You don't have to fight the big kids or the field trip crowds.  Everything is geared towards learning and child development.  You check in at the entrance and get a ticket with the number of kids and adults in your group.  When you leave, you have to show the ticket.  This is for security and is so nice.

There is a giant tree house with slides and places to climb.  There are multiple thing to play with balls, very large building blocks, scooters to ride, a "construction" house, a "home" with kitchen sink and doorbell, and lots of soft squishy and sensory things for babies.

There is a helicopter

  A Dr.'s office--including many colorful band aids for the kids to put on dolls, crutches, ace bandages and fake x-rays.  There is also an "eye Dr" area.

There is an ambulance with working lights

There is area with play kitchens and food.

Lastly, Little Man's favorite... the water table!

 

2. Traveling Exhibits and Special Events

They have had some traveling exhibits that Little Man has loved.  Things like Sesame Street, Bob the Builder, Clifford the Big Red Dog, and The Body.  All have been super fun.

The also have yearly events that we enjoy.  In the summer they have something called "Farm Days" where they fill the entire back patio area with farm equipment/tractors and exhibits like milking a cow.  They also have a "Big Machines" week where the patio is filled with things like back hoes, excavators and bulldozers.  The kids get to climb on the tractors at Farm Days and the construction equipment at Big Machines.  These are both right up Little Man's alley! :)

3. Classes

They have early education classes for kids ages 6 months to 6 years of age.  Each class is geared toward the child's age group and has a theme that is consistent with what they should be learning at that age/state standards.  We didn't start attending the classes until Little man was about 3 and a half.  I wish we would have gone sooner!  As a former educator, I LOVED them.  They are so well done and worth the money.  The really are educational.  On top of that, they are well organized and give many options so the kids don't get bored.  If you are in the Columbus area with small kids, I highly recommend checking them out!

At a "color" class... mixing colors, learning about colors, and much more

(Yeah, notice all that water going on the floor!?!?)

Hospital Tour

We went on a tour last night of the hospital we(I) will deliver at.  We chose Baylor Medical Center at Frisco (pictured above).  I researched online, read many people's opinions, and chose this hospital because it is suppose to be one of the nicest and one of the best.  It just so happens that it's about five minutes from our apartment!  On top of that, it's basically new!  One local told us it's the "Taj Mahal" of hospitals.

You might be wondering why we went so early.  I was wondering why we went so early! :)  My Dr. recommended that I go around 4 months and the paperwork she gave me recommended I go around 5 months.  Michael was really anxious and excited to check it out and I was pretty interested as well.  They have an open house every Monday night, so I went ahead and registered us right away.  It was really nice.  You register with the hospital and they get a copy of your insurance and license, so that when you are in labor, all your information is already in the system.  Then they had refreshments (nice ones too--not crap!).  Then we got a guided tour through the woman's center.  You can check out the pictures here.  I've been to my share of hospital rooms to see newborn babies and mommies and I think this place is pretty stinking nice.

They went over some rules, explained how the floor operates, told of the many security measures they take to avoid any mix-ups, and much more.

One nice thing is that the mom and one guest (the dad) get three meals a day.  I've heard they are really good meals too.  Of course, the mom can't eat until after the baby is delivered.  There are also "nourishment" rooms that are stocked full of snacks and drinks for the mom and all visiting guests.  The last meal before check out (for both mom and dad) is a "celebration" meal that consists of steak and lobster.  She said, "Of course, if steak and lobster aren't your thing, then we can work to get you something different".  Umm... no, I think steak and lobster will be just fine! :)

I'm very pleased with the facilities.  Now I just have to wait roughing 160 days to use them.