No Real Change

Yup, it will be a miracle if I make it thru this week of work…and not because I think I will have this baby. I KNOW people are just trying to be nice and make conversation, but I have been at work for ONE and one-half hours and at least 10 people have asked me “You haven’t had that baby yet?!”

No, I had her, I just still look obscenely pregnant and decided to come to work today. Come ON people…

I had a doctor appointment on Friday afternoon and the nurse practitioner said that I am a “one”. That is exciting for me because with Hailey I never dilated at all…so the fact that I have any change is encouraging. I also treated myself to a pregnancy massage on Friday. It was nice, but did not have the desired outcome of producing a baby.

On Saturday we went to Bennett’s first birthday party. Bennett is the son of Mrs Jen, Hailey’s beloved babysitter. Hailey was a very good girl at the party and got to open most of Bennett’s presents for him, because he lost interest. After the party we had to go to a squadron farewell, which meant that Hailey needed to stay with a babysitter. She was a bit confused as to why we were leaving Mrs Jen’s to go home so that a different babysitter could watch her. Our teenage neighbor Jazmin is our babysitter on the rare occasion we go somewhere without the Munchkin. Hailey loves “Princess Jaz” but has a tendency to freak out when we attempt to leave. I am never sure if I should tell her in advance that Jazmin is going to come over to play, or wait till its time…sometimes she gets excited for it, and other times she worries about it all day. We opted to tell her on the way to the birthday party that after the party mommy and daddy had to go to a work thing and that Princess Jaz was going to come play with her. She started to fret, but when we got home and Jaz came over, she was completely fine with it. She didn’t even cry and said “bye, MOM!” as we left. She fell asleep on the couch, so when we got home Jon carried her up to bed and she woke up enough to tell me “ I was being a really good girl for you, Mama!” and then went back to sleep.

Jon and I both have very busy weeks at work this week, so if the baby would decide to arrive it would be great (as we wouldn’t be ABLE to be at work) but bad because we would be leaving a lot of unfinished business. I am pretty sure that I am not going to work next week, but reserve the right to change my mind. We signed Hailey up for gymnastics on Tuesdays, she has swim lessons on Fridays and a parent/child soccer league on Saturday mornings, and the gymnastics and soccer start next week - swimming is an ongoing event. She is very excited for soccer with Daddy, pretty much hates her swim lessons, and I don’t think she really knows what gymnastics is, but I think she will like it. The point of the previous sentence is that even if I don’t have a baby this weekend like I would like to, I have a bazillion activities for Hailey starting next week and don’t have time to go to work….hmmm….

My next doctor appointment is Thursday morning...I'll update then if anything exciting develops! Right now I need to go buy a new light & sound machine because we accidentally broke Hailey's last night when we were reading and PERFORMING Nursery Rhymes...Old Mother Hubbard...when the dog stands on his head...In her attempt at a handstand her leg got caught in the cord and it went smashing to the floor. Quite the little disaster.

Isn't She Gorgeous?

Hailey's Photo shoot

www.frecklephotography.com

DAD-DY

When Hailey says "Daddy" she says it in a little singsong voice and emphasizes the "d's". Its cute, and one of the many many things we love....

When Jon and I were putting the crib together and setting up the baby’s room last weekend, he wasn’t acting very excited - but Hailey was more than making up for his lack of enthusiasm. She thinks everything that has to do with her baby sister is fantastic, and I can’t wait to see her meet the baby for the first time…I think I am more excited for THAT moment than the moment I meet her myself. Lately when we ask her what we should name the baby she says “Hailey Jessica Snyder Too, because it’s a good name!”

I asked Jon if he would be more excited if the baby was a boy and he said yes. Sometimes his honesty is a bit blatant! I know he wants a boy, but he is such a great father to Hailey, I actually have a hard time understanding how he could NOT want another princess. He says its not that he doesn’t want another girl, he just already has one, so he would like to have a boy too, so we have variety. When we had our ultrasound the tech seemed certain that the baby is a girl, and Jon said he is certain too. I think there is one picture that is decidedly inconclusive. That combined with the detail that the Radiologists report does not actually say what the sex of the baby is and the odd amount of complete strangers who inform me that my baby is a boy has definitely made me wonder. I am carrying this baby very different than I carried Hailey, and SHE is very low. About once a day if I am out in public, someone will say, “you are having a boy, right?” I know that you can’t tell from how a baby is carried, but the quantity of people who say that to me is astounding!

How would I feel if the baby turns out to be a boy? I think it would be funny, and fine. I certainly WANT a girl and want Hailey to have a sister, but would be happy with a boy too…have no idea what we would name him, but we would figure it out, and fortunately my nephew was born in the same season, so baby boy clothes are easy to acquire from my sisters house. Mostly I think Hailey would be a bit confused…but she wouldn’t care…she just wants a baby.

Jon has been exceptionally busy at work with his IPUG rides, and IPUG is a long, painful process. Fortunately he is not taking any masters classes right now, so when he is home, he gets to spend time with us, which is good because Hailey goes into Daddy withdrawal if he isn’t there. Each day as we drive into our subdivision she says “I hope Dad-dy is home” and if we turn our corner and his truck isn’t there she says “No Daddy”…its very sad. If he isn’t home by bedtime I have to promise her that he will go up and give her a kiss. On the weekends she is glued to him and helps him do anything he is doing. They have taken up fishing – not that they ever catch anything, but she loves it anyway. They went to Bass Pro Shop to get a fishing rod for her, and I was expecting them to return with a little kid one, but instead Jon opted for one they could both use…its sparkly pink and has a matching sparkly pink tackle box. Like I said, not sure why he thinks he needs a son when he has so completely embraced being the Daddy to a princess.

We have season passes to both Water Country and Busch Gardens, and have been to Water Country 3 times already. It is entirely too hot for me at Busch Gardens, so we have yet to go there. Water Country is very easy to go to and get into, and Hailey loves the water. I am not allowed on the big slides in my condition, but I can chase her around the kid areas…sort of…I am not very fast moving these days…

I told Jon we weren’t celebrating Father’s Day because he forgot Mother’s Day, but Hailey and Mrs Jen made him a card and she was so excited about it, I couldn’t not celebrate. We got Jon a cookie cake (mostly because I really wanted it) and she had a lot of fun telling him “Happy Father’s Day”. When she woke up this morning she said, sadly, ”Its not Happy Fathers Day anymore?” She was ok when I told her that there was cookie cake in her lunch box.

Oh, the Fabulous experiences I have at the women's health clinic...

I am 35 weeks pregnant, have gained over 40 pounds, its hot, humid, I am tired and cranky, my husband works ridiculous hours and my daughter is in one of her very “headstrong” phases. Honestly, this is me trying not to complain!

Before we left on vacation I was finally “allowed” to make an appointment with a doctor to talk about delivery options, and that appointment was on June 4th. At that appointment, the doctor I was scheduled to see was not actually working that day (I was told it was a scheduling error) but another doctor was going to see me. They took me back and put me in a room, where I sat so long the motion sensored lights went off. Eventually the girl came back to tell me that the doctor looked at the schedule and the doctor who WOULD be on call around my due date was not her, but another doctor that I had never seen (big surprise there) and therefore she thought I should just reschedule and come back to see that doctor. So, regardless of the fact that I had to leave work early for this appointment and had already been there for an hour, I went out to reschedule, only to find that that doctor didn’t have any appointments for the entire month of June. They went to find her, and she agreed to see me on her admin day, which was this morning.

At this point I can only find the humor in what will happen at my visits to the doctor. Its not the doctors and NP's though...they are great and I like them all very much...

Jon, Hailey and I all went to my appointment this morning. Other than having to wait an extra 30 minutes while they tried to locate my chart that was missing, it was a good appointment and I liked the doctor very much. I thought Hailey would like to hear the baby's heartbeat, but she covered her ears and said it was too loud.

We discussed all of my options and she helped us decide to schedule to have our baby on July 13th, which is the day after I am due. I am not definitely going to have a VBAC and I am not definitely going to have a c- section. She was more than happy to let us get closer to that day and see how I am progressing, and basically reassured me that we can try to have a VBAC, and that I will be monitored and they won’t let it go 24 hours with 4 hours of pushing like the last time – it will either work or it won’t, and if it doesn’t they will quickly make the decision to do the c-section. She also said that if I don’t have her on my own by the 13th and if I am “favorable” on that day, she would try to induce me first and see what happens.
Basically she is doing exactly what I hoped for – the only thing that would be better would be if she could magically tell me that it was going to work or not and what the “right” answer is. I don’t think that’s too much to ask :)

Oh, and they did eventually locate my chart, but the paperwork I needed to turn into my work so that I don't lose my job while on maternity leave was missing...

I keep reminding myself how lucky we are that our medical benefits are "free".

St Thomas

Day 1 “Why are we getting up before the sun?”
I have a tendency to book airplane flights at the most painful times offered, and this trip is no exception. We had to get up at 3:35 in the morning to leave for the airport by 4:15, and as is also typical of me, we didn’t finish packing till around midnight the night before. BUT, we only had one connection and were on the beach by 4 PM that day! In my opinion, which is the only one that counts, it was worth it!
At the wise old age of three, Hailey is a seasoned traveler. She was great on the airplanes, and overall well behaved and very excited to go to St Thomas. Jon and I decided that we were going to “accidentally” lose Hailey’s paci on this trip which could have been a disaster, but she adjusted very quickly and very well – I don’t think she even cried. I received m any compliments on her behavior, and no comments on how pregnant I am - so I was happy!
Immediately upon entering our hotel room she took all her clothes off and was requesting her swimsuit. I was exhausted and starving, but we went to the beach anyway, and within minutes found Uncle Chris and Aunt Ruth (aka the Groom and Bride) and Jon’s good friend Ali (aka “Princess Ali” and the wedding photographer).
We did eventually get to eat that day – and we ate at a prime rib and lobster buffet that was fantastic and worth the wait. After dinner we found Nana and Papa, and after saying hello, Hailey and I left Jon with his family and friends and went back to our VERY NICE hotel room to get some much needed rest! I knew bedtime would the hardest adjustment for Hailey without her paci. I hoped that as she would be sleeping with us for the duration of our vacation it would help ease her into, and after a little bit of protest which was mostly because she was extremely overtired, she slept just fine!

Day 2 “How did she learn to dance like that?!”
Hailey was awake and ready to go swimming at 6 AM. We managed to contain her for about an hour, but were in the pool very early. Nana, Papa, Aunt Beth and Ali all joined us (eventually) and Hailey had fun playing with Nana in the pool. It was nice to have so many extra people around to help entertain our little water bug. By lunchtime she was exhausted and fell asleep before her food made it to the table. Jon and I also had a nice nap that day, and I have to say that a mandatory nap time is a great part of vacationing with our Munchkin. I thoroughly enjoyed MY nap every day.

A welcome party was held that evening for the wedding guests at one of the many restaurants on the resort. Hailey was very tired, and it was very humid, but she loved dancing with everyone and was enamored with Aunt Ruth – who is a super fun girl and a wild and crazy dancer. Dancing is not one of Hailey’s parents talents and I don’t think she has ever seen grown ups dancing. Aunt Ruth quickly became her new favorite person in her world. The next morning after waking up and asking to go to the pool, she asked for Crazy Aunt Ruth, and then asked me “How she learn to dance like that? She’s Cwazy!”

Day 3 – Wedding Day!
As I mentioned above we -once again- started the day very early and were off to the pool. We are so used to being up at 5:30 everyday anyway, it isn’t really hard for us to be up that early, but we still like to reminisce about the days when we used to sleep in.
We met Uncle Chris and Ali for the best breakfast buffet I have ever had in my life, went for another dip in the pool, and then had our nap before starting preparations for the wedding. Ruth made arrangements for Hailey to have her hair and makeup done. Hailey was very excited about it, right up till we got there and she realized it was a stranger that was going to do her hair. I had to hold her, but we managed to get her hair done. Once she was in her flower girl tutu and Aunt Ruth was in her wedding dress Hailey was very excited. There were no attendants in the wedding, so Hailey was the entire wedding party. She had no idea what the flower girl was or what she was supposed to do. I tried to explain it to her in the days leading up to the wedding, but without a rehearsal, she had no frame of reference. Fortunately, the wedding was on the beach and casual, and Hailey looked so sweet it didn’t matter. She did walk down the aisle and she did throw the petals, but I had to go with her and hold the bag of petals for her.
I didn’t have Hailey’s 3 yr pictures taken because I asked Ali to take some pictures while we were in St Thomas and during the wedding. She is an amazing photographer who specializes in kids. Her style is exactly what I love, and I can not WAIT to see the pictures. Here is her website in case you are ever in Maryland and need a photographer, and I am sure at some point, Hailey’s pictures will be up. http://www.frecklephotography.com/

This is one of Ali's pictures that I stole from Facebook...hoping that I am not violating any copyright laws, but wanting to show how good she is.

The wedding was beautiful and we made it through both the ceremony and the reception without Hailey jumping in the ocean or the pool. Late in the evening after Hailey and I went to bed, Jon ended up in the pool, but not Hailey and as that was my one big worry, I am grateful. There was lots of dancing at the reception, and Jon and Hailey danced all night. It was very cute, and very pregnant me was happy to sit and watch. On the way back to our room I said to Hailey, “Wow, you really danced your little butt off!” And she replied, “I did? I’m not going to be able to go potty anymore?”

This is another of Ali's pictures...did I mention Cwazy Aunt Ruth is Jewish? Hailey thought this dance was especially great.

Like I said it was really hot, and Hailey was a dancing machine!

Day 4 – Move to Frenchman’s Cove
I am addicted to the internet and spend lots of time finding “stuff” online. I actually get frustrated when I don’t have anything to look up or research. I also really like to buy stuff and am most satisfied when I find a great deal. The deal I found for our St Thomas trip was one of my best finds ever. I stumbled across the deal in a pop up ad when I was looking for other – less expensive- accommodations for before/after the wedding. Basically, we qualified for a timeshare special that allowed us to stay in a 2-bedroom villa for 4 nights for $449. I called to see if was available during the time of the wedding – as the villas are part of the Marriott property that the wedding was held at. They were not, but they did have an opening starting the Sunday after the wedding. I hung up, called Jon to see what he thought and called back and booked it, and the nice agent on the phone gave me $50 off for calling him back. All we had to do was go to a 90 minute timeshare presentation during our stay. I am aware that these things can be terrible, but Jon and I were actually interested in the idea of a timeshare and didn’t mind learning more about it. We had no intention of buying one, but didn’t mind listening.
The villas were very nice and it was great to have a kitchen and laundry. The pool on the property was amazing, and had a water slide that Hailey just loved. The food was good and most things were convenient, but very expensive. We spent most of our days in the pool and relaxing. We all got a little sun burnt one day, but not too terribly, and Hailey acquired an earache from all her time in the water, but she didn’t let that hold her back.
We went to our mandatory timeshare presentation with absolutely no intention of buying anything. I knew within 20 minutes of being there that we were going to be making a purchase…and that was before I even knew the price. Because we were interested and both of us ask a lot of questions, our 90 minutes ended up being over 3 hours, but the end result is that Jon and I are the very happy owners of 1 week in St Thomas every year for the rest of our lives. It is not a set week, and we can trade it through another company and go wherever we want every year. We really couldn’t find any reason NOT to do it, so we did! I am pretty sure we will be heading to Hawaii about this time next year…St Thomas was nice, but Waikiki is the perfect vacation destination for me!

This is another of Ali's pictures, of the resort, that I think is just a neat picture.

My Roommates

For those fantastic blog followers of mine that don’t know, I went to Penn State. So did Jon, and that is where we met – in a bar, of course. It’s a little more intricate than that, but that is the short version, and has little to nothing to do with this particular blog.
My Junior and Senior years at Penn State I lived with these pretty girls pictured below!
From left to right: Julie, Me ( in case you didn’t recognize me under the pregnant suit) Kelly, Andrea, Mickey Mouse, and my little monster.

I have known Kelly all my life since the first grade where we decided to be best friends. I distinctly remember deciding that I would be friends with her because she was the cutest girl in our class. We managed to maintain our friendship even though we attended different middle and high schools, and eventually both ended up at Penn State. Andrea went to high school with Kelly and was her roommate all four years, and I think Julie lived on the same floor as they did in the dorms, so I met both of them via Kelly.

Unfortunately, we all had to graduate and move on – and move we did. Kelly lives in San Diego, Julie lives in Pittsburgh, and Andrea lives in Richmond – which is great for me because it is just an hour and a half from our house in Hampton. I see Andrea regularly, although I wish it were more, because I know the Air Force will make us move in the near future. Kelly, Andrea and I are all from Erie Pennsylvania, so we generally see each other around the holidays when we are visiting our families. Julie is a State College native (lucky girl, as that is the town that Penn State is located in) so I saw her a couple times when Jon and I visited Penn State. We were also all together almost two years ago for Andrea’s wedding. Here’s a picture of that, simply because I looked smokin at that time and would like to be remembered like that instead of my current condition. ***Note, this is after I had Hailey, so there is hope for me***

Anyhoo, Andrea had a trip planned to drive home to Erie to celebrate her Dad’s birthday with him, and it happened to be the same weekend as my Dad’s birthday and my nephews birthday, and Jon was going to be TDY…which was convenient because I really wanted to go and my dad and my husband have the same birthday, so if he hadn’t been TDY, I probably would have had to stay home to celebrate his birthday with him. Coincidentally, Kelly was flying from San Diego to Pittsburgh to attend her cousins wedding, and Julie lives in Pittsburgh – and we have to drive through Pittsburgh to get to Erie. Basically, the stars aligned and we all got to see each other for a day. Before I asked to tag along the other girls made plans to go out that evening, and obviously I could not take Hailey bar-hopping, nor am I in any condition to want to go bar hopping, so I didn’t participate in that part of the evening. It was great to spend the afternoon with them though, and I think they all really liked Hailey, who was a very good girl until she got bored and hungry, at which point I convinced my cousin to come and get us. We were supposed to spend the night with my friend Mandi, who I have known and loved since high school but have not physically seen since the night of my own wedding (which she was a bridesmaid in) but that did not work out due to crazy child and sick pregnant mama. We opted to stay with my cousin instead – who took great care of us and pretty much gave me the night off of Hailey care.
Ann (my cousin) has lots of cool kitchen appliances and made Hailey popcorn. She was amazed as she has only ever had popcorn from the microwave or Target. She also has the nicest coffee machine ever, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

The next morning Andrea came and retrieved us and we drove the rest of the way to Erie. I had a really hard time explaining to Hailey why it was taking so many days to drive from our house to Aunt Casa’s house, so she was extremely happy when we finally got there and she got to see her cousins. As I previously mentioned, it was both my dad’s birthday and my nephews, so we had lots of cake.

When we returned home to Virginia on Sunday, we celebrated Jon’s birthday. Hailey and I got him a seat for her for on his bike and a yummy coldstone birthday cake. I made him wear my bike helmet because I knew that Hailey wouldn't wear hers unless he was wearing one. He has had this bike since college and it is amusing to me to see him on it now that it has been modified for the toddler.

After we had been home for a few hours I asked Jon if he knew what that day was. He said “ummm May 7th?” I said “No, its May 9th, but the date is not what I meant anyway.”

It was mothers day, but after all these years with him, it doesn’t even phase me when he completely forgets about those hallmark holidays. Lucky for him I have learned to not care! I ate most of his cake anyway. It was beyond good.

These next pictures are just from the things we have been up to. There is a very nice new shopping area close to our house that has a great water fountain in the middle that is truly there for the kids to play in. Hailey loves it, so my mom – who is here visiting for a couple weeks and to take care of our dogs while we are in St Thomas – and I took Hailey there on Saturday. They had a face painter and a balloon person working there too, so Hailey got her face painted.
Hailey is part fish and would swim all day every day if we let her. We are using the hot tub as Hailey’s personal pool now and she loves showing off all her new skills. She is a great swimmer, and has no fear.
Hailey pretending to be just like Daddy

Her first big-girl swim class!

Some Cuties

I don't have anything overly interesting to tell today, and other than leaving my coupon keeper at Walmart, nothing too bad/funny has happened. The coupon keeper was worse than it sounds because my checkbook was in there, so now I have to figure out what to do about that. It could be worse, I suppose.

Jon is TDY this week to Utah. Hailey keeps calling it Utop - which is an improvement to what she started calling it - which was Tater-tah. Hailey and I have an opportunity to hitch a ride home to Erie with Andrea, so we are going to leave after swim lessons on this week to go spend the night in Richmond at her house so we can get an early start the next morning. We can't miss swimming this week because it is Hailey's first class in the big girl class - no more mommy & me classes! Yay - especially good because me and the swimsuit are not a good combo right now. (Watch out people, St Thomas is going to be...interesting) Thursday is both my dad's birthday and Jon's, and Saturday is my nephew Benjamin's 4th birthday. We are very excited that we are going to have the opportunity to be at home to celebrate with him - especially since Jon is NOT here, so we can't celebrate with him!

The whole trip to Erie is actually very complex, and packed full of visiting, but more about that after it happens.

Here are some very recent pictures of two of the cutest kids I know, my favorite niece Rowan and my beloved Benjamin. My sister and I sure do make cute kids, if I do say so myself!