Future Gymnast

Zoe spent much of the winter and spring in a toddler gymnastics class and loved it. She "graduated" a few weeks ago, and I was able to snap some pics of her action. She was a total daredevil on all of the equipment and, of course, wanted to everything all by herself. Her favorite things were the rings and the uneven bars. She started out just hanging and swinging and then worked her way up to lifting her feet all the way up and flipping over (with help, which she actually accepted for the move). Her being so fearless totally freaked me out plenty of times, since this gym used real-sized equipment. Sure, there were mats everywhere but I was still constantly on alert to make sure she didn't land on her head. Although Zoe figured out all the physical skills pretty quickly, she definitely had some room for improvement in the listening to instruction department. She never listened to the teacher, Mr. Matthew. Any time he would have the class do a group exercise, she would go off and do her own thing. Whenever the teacher said hi to her or would ask her for a high-five she turned the other way and ran away from him. Then, when we'd get into the car she'd talk all about Mr. Matthew. Although it was frustrating during class, it was kind of hilarious how much she talked about Mr. Matthew outside of class. But, I'm thinking this is yet another reason I'd like to get Zoe into a pre-school sooner rather than later. It's all good for her to be independent, but at some point she's going to have to learn how to take direction from adults other than me and Jody. For now, though, she's just happy swinging on the bars like the little monkey she is.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy belated Father's Day to all the great dads out there! I'm biased, but I happen to think I am surrounded by the best dads around. My dad has been a constant source of support, love and friendship to me. And Jody is everything a dad should be to a little girl; he is totally and completely in love with Zoe and makes her feel like the most special person in the world every single day.

We had a great Father's Day celebration yesterday. First, we headed up to the Highland Park pool, which is a pretty great place for kids. And Zoe loves swimming! She is so happy and cute in the water--kicking her legs like crazy and just floating around. Anytime we take her swimming, though, she constantly says "No help Zoe!" So, Jody got her a cute little Dora intertube that finally allowed her to feel like she was swimming all on her own. Miss Independent, I tell ya. Jody's dad met up with us at the pool and she loved showing off her swimming skills Grandpa J.

After the pool, we had a nice brunch with Jody's dad, and dessert at an adorable cupcake bakery in downtown Highland Park. Since I'm still on the gestational diabetes diet, I just admired the selection and planned for what I will eat next time we're there post-baby! Like her daddy, Zoe has a major sweet tooth, so she and Jody thoroughly enjoyed their mid-day treat.

Back at home, we had some low-key family time. We grilled out and hung out with our new neighbors who were all out enjoying the beautiful weather. Our new neighbors have been really nice so far, and there are a lot of kids in our complex. Zoe has taken a particular liking to the 8-year-old boy upstairs. She is totally his shadow and he's been so nice to her as she runs after him shouting his name. All and all, it was a lovely way to celebrate my and Zoe's favorite guy--Jody!!

Baby Flip Update

Hooray! Maybe it was the Chinese medicine and Jody's mad stinky stick holding skills or maybe the baby just decided to give me a break, but he/she has moved in the right position. We went into the hospital on Friday and waited an hour before being told that the unit was "at capacity" and they had to bump the ECV to Monday. Rather than stress out the whole weekend and take another day off on Monday, Jody and I headed over to my doctor's office to see if they could just do a quick check on the baby's position.

Luckily, they squeezed me in and the doctor said the baby was all good. No need for the ECV! Although it was a long day spent in too many waiting rooms, it ended up being a really good day, hearing exactly the news we wanted to hear. Hopefully Baby Schirel Part 2 will stay put now. We are still doing the moxibustion sticks for a couple more days, on the orders of acupuncturist Kim. It seems to have worked, so I'm just going to go with it.

Flip to It

37-1/2 week bump

When I hit 37 weeks last Friday, I was relieved because it meant the baby is now full term. Hooray, one less thing to worry about! But, just as one stress disappeared, another arose. I just found out the baby is in the oblique position, meaning its head is down-ish, but it is laying diagonally. Since you can't really deliver a sideways baby, my doctor wants to try ECV (Version) to manually flip the baby into the right position. The procedure sounds painful--the doctor basically pushes around on your belly to move the baby. And there are risks that it could distress the baby and/or send me into labor. Also, if it works, there's no guarantee our little one will stay put. As you can tell, I'm not loving the ECV option. But, at the same time, I'd like to avoid having a C-section, if possible. So I'm going to give it a shot.

First, though, I wanted to try out a few other options. I went to see my fabulous acupuncturist, Kim. She did some needlework and a Chinese medicine thing called moxibustion. Basically, she lit a stinky herb stick and held it by my pinky toes for about 20 minutes. Sounds pretty crazy, right. But, supposedly people have some success with it. And, hey, I'm up for anything to turn this kiddo the right way. Kim sent me home with a goody-bag of stinky sticks to do at home for four or five days. I've recruited Jody as my medicine man (a.k.a. stinky stick holder) and once again we're happy to have a balcony so our place doesn't reek of Chinese herbs.

Medicine Man Jody working some moxibustion magic

I go in for the ECV on Friday. I'm hoping the baby has righted itself by the time they do the ultrasound before the procedure. If not, fingers crossed for the Version to work and for the baby to love sitting on its head so much that he/she stays that way until delivery day.

Yet again, I've realized how right people are when they say every pregnancy is different. I didn't have any complications with Zoe, and yet I've hit plenty this time around. My mom said that #2 is just reminding me that I need to pay as much attention to him/her as I do to Zoe. Sounds like a good theory to me. I'm just hoping this baby is a little easier out of the belly. We'll find out soon enough...

Is it Pool Time Yet?

As the temps slowly start creeping up, I know one little chica who is rearing to rock summer in style.

Hot Mama

Even though we've only had about five days of true summer temps, I am still not a huge fan of being pregnant in the warmer weather. With Zoe, I spent my biggest-bump days bundled up in the midst of Chicago winter. This time around, not so much. While I don't think there's an actual good time of year to lug around a baby in your belly, here are some of my thoughts on spending the ninth month in the heat...

* Sundresses rock. Total comfort for the pregnant mama. The downsides: it's getting harder and harder to comfortably cross my legs; there's really no way to avoid the whole muumuu effect; and moving into a place with only stall showers makes the whole leg shaving thing a bit tricky, to say the least.

* Although people keep telling me I have a "pregnant glow," I'm pretty sure I'm just really shiny and sweaty.

* Flip-flops are way easier to put on than boots. No bending, no pulling, no zipping. Perfect. Of course, painting your toes so they look decent in said flip-flops is a whole other issue.

* Our A/C bill is going to be ridiculous. It is always hot in the house...well, at least to me. Jody may disagree on that though.

Grill Baby Grill!

I haven't gotten around to posting a moving post onto the blog yet, mostly because I would prefer to forget the crazy-stressful weekend all together. Long story short, our move sucked. Our movers were awful. They were 8+ hours late and we were physically and emotionally spent by the end of it all. All I know is that I will never, ever move again when I'm 8 months pregnant. But we're all moved into our new place now and things are going really well here.

We moved to a 3-bedroom duplex down that is pretty much double the size of our old place. It's pretty awesome having so much more space since we had been so squeezed out of our old place. We have a huge playroom for Zoe's stuff and "adult space" to watch TV and hang out without being completely cluttered with toys. But, by far, our favorite feature of the new place is having some outdoor space. We have a nice little balcony and some green space out front for Zoe and Charlie to play.

One of the best parts of having a balcony is that we finally get to use our grill. We got the grill almost 8 years ago as a wedding present and it has been sitting in our storage unit--with the tags still on--since. When we moved in we busted it out right away and we've been using it constantly. Jody is such a happy and good grillmaster, too! We had a barbecue this weekend when Courtney was in town and Jody got to grill up a pretty good feast of brats, burgers and corn (see his proud photo above). Even though it's a small space, we've also been sitting out there to eat a lot of meals. Zoe loves it and actually doesn't put up a fuss to eat (kind of a rarity these days!). So, we even ate dinner out there yesterday despite the 95-degree temperature reading.

I'm surprised to say it, but our new place does feel like home to me. Being in the same neighborhood and staying in the city is a huge part of that. And that is really what we needed as we await Baby #2. So far, we are really happy with our decision to stay in the city a bit longer.

The End of an Era

36 week bump

Less than one month to go before Baby 2's big arrival! Even though this has felt like a crazy-long pregnancy, I am still feeling totally overwhelmed realizing that he/she will be here so soon. I cannot wait to meet our newest family member and have a little baby back in the mix. But, at the same time, I am feeling so emotional thinking about the end of our family-of-three era. We have had the best time over the past two+ years with Zoe. Seriously, I feel so lucky to have such an awesome family and nothing makes me happier than the time we spend together. It's hard to imagine what life will be like with one more. I'm also feeling sad/guilty that I will not be able to give all of my time and energy just to Zoe anymore. I know it'll be great for her to have a litte brother or sister and I cannot wait to be a mom to two, but change is always a little scary.

Adding to all of this is that I cannot get over how quickly Zoe seems to be growing up. I actually read an article recently that said that part of parenting is being able to deal with a sense of constant mourning over the past with your child...yet embracing and looking forward to what's to come. It sounds so depressing, but I suppose no one ever said being a parent was easy! Besides, it does kind of make sense to me. The age and stage that Zoe is at right now has definitely been my favorite so far. She is just so smart, verbal, loving and funny. All in all, a totally fun little buddy! I'm sure it will only get better. But, these darn pregnancy hormones are mostly just making me emotional about it all.

So for the next four weeks or so, I'm hoping to get in as much quality family time as possible and as much Mommy-Zoe time as we can. And before we know it we'll begin the family-of-four era.

Water Table Action

A couple weeks ago, my mom got Zoe a pretty cool water table. Now that the weather is finally warming up, we were able to bring it out . Zoe loves water--swimming, puddles, washing her hands, you name it. So, naturally, the water table was an immediate hit. She spent just a little time splashing the water around in the actual water basin before figuring out that the real fun was throwing water all over the place--on herself, on me, on the sidewalk, on the grass, everywhere. We were both totally soaked, but she loved every minute of water table fun! Thanks, Mom!