Lets try this format :)

This is my fourth forum for keeping our family and friends updated about our whereabouts and adventures. I decided to try blogging this time because all my friends are doing it and I want to be like them. (I am serious) However, with this change I am hoping to post more often, and therefore my entries should be shorter and possibly more interesting.

This first one won’t be short though, because a lot of time has passed, and I have a lot to tell. I am not even going to try to be organized, because I am just trying to get everyone caught up!

I am pregnant, the baby is a girl, and I am due on July 12. Jon and I both truly believed that this baby was a boy, so we were quite surprised. All who know me well know how much I love and adore my sister, and how much I want Hailey to have a relationship just like it. Obviously I am happy that the baby is a girl, and Jon is too. He wants a boy, so I guess we may have to try one more time someday.
Hailey is very excited to have a baby sister. Periodically, just to be contrary, she will tell us that she wants a baby brother, not a baby sister. She also wants to name the baby Froggie or Oscar. Speaking of names, we have several picked out, but are not committing to one just yet. Some of you may remember that Hailey was going to be “Delaney” until about my eighth month of pregnancy, at which time I randomly decided that I like Hailey (which had always been one of our favorite names but was too common so we weren’t using it) too much not to use it. I also had the epiphany that my name is Jennifer, my husbands name is Jon, both of which are extremely common, and therefore, our child should have a common name. I had things embroidered with “Delaney” on them, and we have books that were given to Hailey with that name in them. From this experience, I learned that I need to wait to decide for sure. I will tell you that Aubrey and Gabriella are our current top choices, and her middle name will be some female form of Chris, for Jon’s brother.

In January, we joined the YMCA. Running outside became impossible rather quickly for me, as I am not allowed to do any exercise that has an impact. For six-ish weeks the doctors believed I had a low-lying placenta that was causing some minor bleeding. At my 20 week ultrasound it appeared that my placenta is properly located, but I am still limited to what I am allowed to do, as I am still periodically having mysterious incidents. The baby is fine, however, and is growing at the right pace, so we – and the doctors – aren’t too concerned.
When I was pregnant with Hailey, I did not exercise, and I gained 50 pounds. I would prefer for that not to happen again, and exercise is such a regular part of my routine now, I needed to find some alternative to running. In addition to that, Hailey needs some extracurricular activities. As a result, we are now proud members of the YMCA. I was afraid we would be your typical “it’s the new year we should join the gym and then never go” people, but we have been visiting the YMCA regularly, three to four times a week. We started Hailey in Parent-Child swim lessons, and the first session was on Friday evenings. Of course, this interfered with a certain family members attendance at roll call, and that was not my intention. I had no problem taking her myself, but Jon actually loves swim lessons with her and CHOSE to be there. I think he only missed one. We started a routine where he does her lesson or just does open swim with her, while I do some laps, and when I am finished we switch and he does his laps and I play. I was on the swim team in high school, so swimming is second nature to me, and I think I may be in better shape right now than I was before I was pregnant – my upper body at least. Hailey LOVES going to the “swimming house” and will pretty much do whatever she has to to get to go there. And, she is a natural fish. Before the end of the first session of classes she figured out how to swim by herself (she wears a backpack flotation belt) but she can get wherever she wants to go, in and out of the pool, and is not afraid to go under water. It amazes us, and she is so proud of herself. We had to take her backpack down a level to slow her down because she was doing so well.
As she doesn’t turn three until next month, she is in another session of Parent/Child swim lessons. This time, we are in a class with our friend Candie and her daughter Trinity, who is one of Hailey’s BFF’s. At this point she is ready to be in the next level of swim class, and would prefer to play instead of listen. Our class last week will go down as an incident of worst public behavior seen to date, and of course, Jon did not make it to this class. I had to remove her from the pool for screaming and hitting (me mostly). Eventually, she calmed down, and sort of listened. In the next level, she is on her own – no Mommy and Daddy – and I think that will enhance her listening skills. We have swim lessons tonight, and I am hoping that we will not have a repeat of last weeks performance.

Hailey now has a trampoline. Last summer I listened to my beloved Marsha and bought one of those blow up jumper things. She said her boys love it and they use it all the time. Well, it’s a pain to put up, and pain to put away, and Hailey uses it for about 2 minutes and is then off to something else. Our babysitter has a trampoline, but for the longest time she did not have a safety net, and therefore Hailey was not allowed on it. They finally got a safety net, and Hailey loves the trampoline, but she doesn’t get to use it as much as she would like because of how many kids are at the babysitters (more on that in a bit, its my childcare crisis drama) We have a great local Craigslist, which I check regularly (and by regularly, I mean multiple times every day) and on Saturday there was a very good deal on a very nice trampoline with a safety net that we are now the proud owners of. Hailey and Jon both love the trampoline and are out there as much as they can be. Fortunately we have had beautiful weather this week for all the jumping. Yesterday I even got up there and jumped in my big old pregnant condition. It probably was not the most low impact activity, but I was careful and it made my little girl happy. I will be selling the blow up jumper thing on craigslist.
So far Hailey has only hurt herself during the assembly of the trampoline and getting off the trampoline. During assembly, she was helping Jon, got bored, and decided to climb on top of the picnic table to get something. We have told her MANY times not to climb on the table, but again, she is not the best listener. Well, she fell on her head on the cement patio, and I heard her hit the ground from the couch inside. I think Jon almost had a heart attack. She cried, and we called Aunt Casa who is an expert on Toddler head injuries. (Casa is what Hailey calls my sister, whose name is Jessica. Hailey’s middle name is Jessica, but she will tell you it is Casa, and its not because she can’t say “Jessica”. She can, she just wants her name to be Casa) My nephew is a major klutz and has had more head bumps than any child I have ever known. Casa asked Hailey why she was climbing on the picnic table, and Hailey replied, tearfully, “Because I was trying to fall off!” The next day she told me that she isn’t going to climb on the picnic table any more because if she falls again she is going to get holes in her head like Mayme. I was confused, till I realized she was talking about her Snap-n-Style Cabbage Patch kid that Grandpa got her for Christmas. There are holes in Mayme’s head where the hair plugs go in. I agreed with Hailey that that is EXACTLY what would happen if she fell on her head again, and then all her brains would leak out.
I am glad we have the trampoline, but it scares the daylights out of me. When I was a little girl I was at a friend’s house and watched another girl do a flip right into the outer ring and knock her front 4 teeth out. I am in a constant state of fear whenever Hailey, or Jon, are on the trampoline, but she loves it so much and it gets some of her never ending energy out, so I tell myself it is worth it.