Labor?

As of midnight on Tuesday night (41 hours ago) early labor started. Since then contractions have been anywhere from 5 minutes to 2 hours(in the middle of the night last night I had a 2 hour sleep...I may or may not have had contractions). We made a trip to Cedars at 6am on Tuesday about 5 hours into labor and I was 3cm dilated and 80% effaced but contractions had stopped so they gave us the option to stay or come home. We decided to come home which was a good idea b/c we ended up getting a LOT of sleep last night in between contractions. This time my contractions are both in the front and the back whereas with Sophia I had strictly back labor. They're both pretty painful as expected! Nana has been over all day cooking and wrapping presents for us and helping in any way she can. We're all so excited to meet our new addition already! We might just have a Christmas Eve baby...to be continued!

37.5 weeks preggy

Thought we'd post a belly pic that goes with the season. I feel as big as a house(the horizontal stripes don't help one bit) so this might just have to be the last "belly pic" unless I'm feeling brave. Oh and a few favorite new words this week of Sophia's are: "Bunini"= Blueberry and "Banoo"=Balloon. "Bunini" makes Nana laugh really hard so Sophia likes to say it a LOT! When you say "I love you" to Sophia, she'll reply "I love Me"...close enough:)

December fun!

The boxes are empty and the tree is up...now it's just time to have a baby! I've been feeling very sluggish the last 2 days and my right foot has swelling near my toes and feels bruised(I might've dropped something on it) and lastly I have a VERY bloodshot left eye(no idea why). Enough complaining though...it's the homestretch and we're so grateful for our new house and new baby!

First Christmas in our new house!


The Tees family attempting to get a decent family picture!

Drinkin' and driving...

All wrapped up in lights

Our lil' bug in piggies:)

New House!

Today we found out that we are officially proud homeowners! We both really wanted to buy a house in our current gated community so it was just a matter of waiting until one came on the market. Brian has worked so hard and put in a lot of time to make sure this went through(it wasn't such a smooth ride)! Our favorite things about the house are: the backyard for bbq's, the upstairs laundry(my personal fav),and the community pool(so we don't have to maintain it!). It's 3 bedroom plus a loft that we plan on making a 4th bedroom in the next few years. Here are a few pictures of where our kids will grow up(furnishings are the previous occupants):

35 weeks and we have progress!

Yesterday we had our 35 week baby appt and ultrasound. We were so excited to see our lil monkey! First thing I told the doctor was that I'm feeling a LOT of pressure so she decided to do an "internal" to see if I was dilated yet and to all of our surprise I'm already dilated 1.5cm and 80% effaced!! She generally waits until 37 weeks to start internals but we were all so happy she checked! With Sophia I was dilated to a 1 at 37 weeks and I delivered 11 days later so if that's any indication of Baby#2's arrival....then we should have a baby sooner than later!! Doctor said he already weighs approx 6lbs right now and estimated (if I go to 40 weeks which she didn't think likely) he'll weigh 7.5lbs(which made me soooooo happy). Hopefully her estimates are right:) She also checked the babies amniotic fluid level and said it's right on at 15(apparently under 10 is too low and over 20 is to much). We're still slated to move into our new house next Friday...just hoping this baby can wait until then! We'd like to have his nursery all set up for him. We might just have a baby in our arms before Christmas...HOW FUN!!!
Thought I'd include a picture from last week of a lunch with some good friends in Orange County...3 out of 4 of us are preggy!!

35 weeks preggy and 35 days to go!

I'm very behind in posting so Turkey Day festivities pictures still to come. Can't believe we're 35 weeks along. We move into our new house next week so BT has been packing away! I feel like I'm "waddling" rather than walking. We've been feeling baby's hiccups VERY VERY low now so we think he's in position! We have an ultrasound tomorrow(first one since 20 weeks!!!)..we were sooo spoiled with Sophia where we had so many ultrasounds. We're both so excited to see our lil' monkey!! Here's a self portrait of me from this morning since daddy wasn't around to take a picture:

34 week bump, our double stroller, and more Sophia of course!

Holy Bump! Lots of pelvic pain this week and turning over in bed is nearly impossible. Our monkey is definitely head down(doctor confirmed and monkey confirms everyday with his low hiccups) although it feels like he rolls all over the place. We're looking forward to our Turkey Day at home this year(no Vegas for us). Our good friends Kelly and Rob are visiting from New York on Friday and I have a girls spa day planned on Saturday while BT packs up the house for our big move. We had a wonderful surprise waiting for us at the front door this week...our DOUBLE STROLLER!! What a surprise. Auntie Mary Ann and Uncle Jack sent it and we can't wait to test it out! We think that was thoughtful of them and cannot thank them enough!

Sophia showing off her new hairdo

This is how we find her most nights...multi-tasking with a cracker, juice, and Barney of course!

Sophia's first haircut at The Yellow Balloon!

Sophia's bangs have been drooping in her face for weeks for we finally broke down and decided to take her for a haircut on a whim. We were enjoying breakfast at The Good Earth and looked across the street and found The Yellow Balloon~a children's hair salon. Sophia was freaked out at first(we think she thought she was at the doctors office once she got in the chair). They had tons of toys all over the place for kids which helped out a lot! Once Yolanda(Sophia's hairdresser) offered her a lollipop(the first she's ever had!) and mommy joined her in the seat everything was fine! We loved the hairdo and Sophia managed to keep her pink bow in all day which is a small miracle.

BEFORE: On the verge of meltdown

AFTER:Nice and content with a lolli

33 weeks and we have a pineapple!

This week your baby weighs a little over 4 pounds (heft a pineapple) and has passed the 17-inch mark. He's rapidly losing that wrinkled, alien look and his skeleton is hardening. The bones in his skull aren't fused together, which allows them to move and slightly overlap, thus making it easier for him to fit through the birth canal. These bones don't entirely fuse until early adulthood, so they can grow as his brain and other tissue expands during infancy and childhood. (Babycenter.com)

I've been feeling pretty good this week. Getting around in general and picking up Sophia is getting more difficult and the reality of labor is setting in. I'm hoping the knowledge I have the 2nd time around doesn't end up scaring me more! We're frantically awaiting the news on our potential new house. If all goes well we will be moving in on December 11th. We'll have only a few short weeks to get this lil' monkey's nursery ready so we're planning and plotting in our heads everyday! I had an excellent doc appointment today and I'm measuring exactly 33 weeks, blood pressure low, not gaining too much weight(gained 4lbs in 8 weeks...can't complain). All good news! Next appointment is at 35 weeks and we'll have an ultrasound...wohoo!

A day at the park and the departure of the swine flu...

We never need an excuse to go to the park and we recently discovered the perfect park walking distance from our house. We love that there's no sand or bark but instead the ground is padded underneath all the slides and swings! Perfect for little kiddies who are just trying to get their footing. And all the equipment is separated by age group. A park trip is just what we needed as this has been a LONG week for the Tees family. Sophia was diagnosed with H1N1 on Tuesday. She's now finished her dose of Tamiflu and although she still has a bad cough she's doing MUCH better. They tested her on the spot at our pediatrician's office( we LOVE them) and she was positive for Influenza A which they tell us the only strain of influenza A going around this season is H1N1(the other test takes 10 days of growing out a culture etc and they don't want to take any chances. We're happy to report things are looking MUCH better and Sophia is in great spirits...as you can tell from these pictures!

There was a Party in our City!!

Wow...what a Saturday we had. We drove downtown to The Shrine to see Yo Gabba Gabba Live and we're happy to report that it was the real DJ Lance Rock and Sarah Silverman, The Coldwar Kids, and Biz Markie all made cameo's. They gave each of us DJ Lance Rock glasses to wear and Foofa made her entrance right down our aisle(Foofa is mama's favorite!) Sophia spent most of her time on Daddy's shoulders bopping her head and singing "yooooooo gabba gabba" a few times. They had balloons and streamers drop out of the sky. Nana even came along for the fun. Here are some pictures of the Party!

8 month belly "bump"!!

I definitely think I've "dropped"!! It's gotten easier to breathe but harder and harder to sleep and waddle around. Lot's of insomnia for mama this week. Our lil' monkey has hiccups regularly and they're pretty low so we're hoping that means he's head down. We have another ultrasound on Dec. 4 so we'll see exactly where he's at. Baby is most active at night still and BT and I LOVE to watch him karate kick all over in my tummy. I got my results from my anemia blood test last week and while doctor says I'm still slightly anemic she says I'm doing better...yay!

Sophia Lillian our lil' Ladybug:)

It's official...Halloween is 100 times more fun when you have kids!!! We had the BEST Halloween weekend and are so sad it's over. We started off the weekend at a carnival at Sophia's school. She dressed up in her bug costume and played games, was guided through a haunted house, and ate lots of goodies. Nana and Grandpa joined in on the fun and Sophia was of course so happy to see them. On Saturday we headed to the pumpkin patch and petting zoo. Sophia loved drumming on the pumpkins! Halloween night was time to get back in her costume and greet all the trick or treaters at the door. Sophia loved all the visitors. We took her out for a stroll in the neighborhood and it was so hot we had to take off her tights(the cutest part of the costume next to the bug slippers!) What an awesome weekend. We can't wait for next year when we have Sophia's little brother with us!
PUMPKIN PATCH TIME: