Merry Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!!!!!!! Thank you everyone for all the wonderful christmas gifts :) We spent the last christmas just the two of us sleeping in and opening presents in the middle of the morning. It was quite delightful. Lola was so excited that she tried to pull all the lights off the tree. She sure does know how to celebrate.

We are just about 32 weeks along and had another apt with a new doctor this week, and we liked him a lot, but when it comes time to deliver they cant guarantee which doctor will be there. Because of the holiday work schedule we were both able to make it to the doctor apt. The doctor showed us how to feel where the baby's head is located, turns out we have been patting a little baby bum and not a head, but we wont really need to know which end is which till baby comes out, so its ok. Baby is weighing in at about 3 lbs and on schedule for our due date. Doctor said anytime between the end of January and start of March is a good time for this little one. Good to know.


We hope that everyone had a lovely relaxing holiday :)

Our Tree


This year's ornament


Trying to get a picture of Reindeer Lola... I think she looks like the dog from The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, just a bit more blurry


Apparently the holiday spirit did not make her want to pose for pictures


Trying to eat the tree


We didn't have a white christmas this year, but we found other uses for the new shovel


32 Weeks

30 Weeks

Lola had a very busy past few weeks. Grandma came to help set up the house, but instead we went for manicures/pedicures, explored Olympia, took a trip to Pikes Place Market in Seattle where we got some delicious snacks and beautiful flowers that made the house smell like rotting cabbage, and took Lola for many walks. The house can wait. The house is still waiting.

We finally got a new car ROXIE !! She is one big lovely lady. Hopefully her roof rack and running boards come in soon, because it is getting more and more difficult to launch myself into the car, but they will get here when they get here. We still have Tess. She will always be queen of the road.

We also got the furniture for the nursery. Its still in the boxes.

We went on post and got a christmas tree. Lola ran a few hundred laps around tasting it and sniffing every branch. She gave her final approval after eating a few branches. She is quite the tree trimming helper. We will see what she thinks of the tree once we put on the lights and ornaments- most likely she will think its delicious.

Baby had another doctor apt last week. Baby was not too impressed with the doctor. Baby kicked at the doplar and squirmed around all over the place when the doctor was trying to take measurements. Dr commented "wow thats one active baby, sure does move a lot"-- great observation buddy, your look of pure bewilderment is quite reassuring -- and by the way you're not measuring correctly. Next visit is with someone else. Hopefully it goes better.

Lola went to a farm today for doggie day care. She can herd ducks or sheep and they will go over obedience with her when she stays over night. There were many muddy puppies there and she ran into the play yard without a backward glance. Someone is going to need a bath tonight. They also sell lamb meat that they raise on the farm. Lola will not be herding her own dinner.

30 Week 3 Day Belly



Getting a picture together was much more difficult without Donnie, and all Lola wanted to do was eat the tree, so she was no help either



Lola likes to come in from the rain and bring her rope toy onto her orthopedic bed and bark until we turn on the fireplace. Usually she rolls over and leans up against the screen to get nice and toasty, this time she rolled to a slightly cooler direction. What a Diva.

LOLA

When we moved we did not take the massive man couch because we did not have the room. Lola is no longer allowed on the couches.........




Lola helped with Do-Over- Thanksgiving and home made cookies tonight. She needed to get her feet up. ( I promise I do wear actual clothes in public.)


She is obviously not happy with the new seated arrangements

Western Frontier

Getting settled into the new house has been eventful. While the movers were much better this time around and the house is a lot nicer, we have had much more piled on our plate. I do not recommend moving across the country, shipping your car with unsavory characters, buying everything needed for a nursery in one night, trying to buy a new car and unpacking a house in the week before Thanksgiving. While the unpacking was the easiest part with the movers even coming back to get our empty boxes to be recycled, everything else is still up in the air. We are hoping things keep falling into place - that there are no more gas leaks, the cable guy doesn't need to come back again, that the car arrives safely on its slow boat from Japan and doesn't get re-sold to someone else, the nursery furniture gets here and we don't have to deal with Babies R Us again and Tess gets new tires.

Lola is loving her new house and the cool weather. She does not like birds in her yard though and will sprint down the stairs and jump higher than the pub height dining room table to make sure we see her so she can go out and chase the birds away. She is also pretty excited to be able to go to a farm for daycare where she can herd ducks. I didn't get a new picture of Lola because she was still out looking at the farm when I was downloading pictures and all the new ones are on my phone. Sorry Lola. She also has tons of fun going to the dog park and even though she stole a little boy's ball from his hands and ran away with it, she is still making lots of new friends. Lola super duper excited for Grandma to come and visit next week. .

Baby is doing well and moving tons. You can see the belly moving from across the room. I went to get set up with a doctor on post and the intake nurse changed my due date back to the original date which is February 20. I am sticking to it. It makes me feel thinner. We celebrated by going to the super chinese buffet in town, its deliciousness makes me even more happy that we moved to the town we did. Baby also enjoyed it. Baby also did back flips in celebration of Lola's bestest friend DONNIE getting sworn in to be a NJ lawyer !!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY DONNIE !!!!!!!!! we are a little sad though that he wont be coming out west to be our full time Manny/ Dog whisperer :(

New Home



All the excitement of the neighborhood



Lola's Domain -- NO BIRDS ALLOWED




Living Room


Dinning Room


Kitchen WIth a View


Kitchen


Bedroom/ Bathroom - no there is no door




Baby Gear - we are hoping to get the actual furniture soon




I was not going to take a belly picture after cleaning the kitchen and in the middle of making dinner, BUT The Gip sent me a Mr. Peanut apron a while back and it is officially no longer able to tie around my belly. Being that I am now bigger than Mr. Peanut... I baked a cake for a snack (the frosting has Hershey Syrup in it). I do not regret this delicious decision.

Month of Madness

Lola had a super busy month. She had her first Halloween, but spent it sitting at the dining room table watching the trick or treaters so that we could get the house ready for the packers. Then she went to daycare for 3 days while the moves came to move our stuff. She got a nice bath and got to say good bye to all her friends at daycare. They even gave her a going away sweet potato treat. After being tired out for a few days playing, she then got into the car for a nice drive to see her buddy Luke and DONNIE !!!! She was very excited to be there.

Lola and Luke went on many walks and shared many treats. Since Lola didn't get to go trick or treating we brought her costume to show Grandma and Grandpa. She made one feisty Lobster !!! She really liked being a Lobster, but Grandpa put her mouth through the ear hole so she was a bit wiggly.

While we were visiting our friends and family threw us a lovely baby shower and we got tons of adorable things which we are very thankful for, but didn't get many pictures of. Lola helped Donnie celebrate passing the Bar and let us borrow him long enough to take a picture of us.

After spending not enough time with Luke, Lola had to get on a plane and fly out west to our new home. She is loving the cool weather and long walks through our new safe neighborhood. Lola also learned how to climb the tree in the back yard so she can chase things out of it -- it's quite impressive. She also made a new friend Dutch, who tired her out big time at the dog park while the movers unpacked our things. It also snowed all weekend. Lola had fun running the sprints with her nose plowing through the snow. We tried to get a few pictures of the house, but it has been snowing too hard. we will try again soon.

Baby is having fun too and moving around tons and practicing back flips, which you can see through my shirt. We have an apt with the nurse today to get set up with a doctor, who will hopefully get us a more accurate due date. We are going tonight or tomorrow to shop for all the baby nursery furniture and gadgets that we will need once Lola's buddy arrives. Which is all quite exciting :)

Lola's Halloween View


Lobster Lola





Baby Shower




25 week Belly


Hopefully things will start to slow down and we will post again soon

BUSY WEEK

This week has been filled with lots to do. We had our 21 week anatomy scan u/s and a follow up Dr appointment. Baby was not a huge fan of the noise from the u/s machine and kept trying to hide by putting hands over ears to block out the sound and flipping to face away from the transducer. Poor baby. We couldn't get very good pictures because the baby kept moving. Poor blurry baby. Baby is measuring right on tract ..... for the original due date. The difference between the original due date and the new due date is 6 days and the boarder line for changing a due date is 7 days, so we will find out more when we get out west.

Lola spent the week at daycare so I could go and take a continuing ed. class between Dr. apts. She is still super tired, but that doesn't stop her from causing trouble. Again, she was not too impressed with taking a 22 week belly picture and decided to stick to her spot on the couch. She is getting excited to go for walks with Lucas again..... and getting to play with her best friend DONNIE !!!!!!!!!

Week 7 u/s




Week 21 u/s face



Week 21 u/s heart



Week 21 u/s foot



Week 22 Belly



Week 22 Lola

HALF WAY THERE

Lola had a super fun weekend playing at daycare so that we could go to Atlanta and meet up with our friends and see their new baby. We had lots of fun and got to take a trip to the zoo. Grandma says Lola is part Kangaroo. The pictures only confirm this. Lola gives me this same exact look when I share snacks with her and she realizes they are fruits or vegetables not covered in peanut butter.

Baby is getting bigger and bigger and bigger and moving tons. Occasionally Lola can even feel a kick of two when she is watching TV with her head on the belly. She isn't too impressed.

This is the look I got from Lola when I asked her if she wanted to take a picture for 20.5 weeks. Same look as the Kangaroo. Crazy Australian animals.

19 Weeks

Not much has been going on here. Lola has been enjoying being back in her own house. She has been able to go visit her friends at doggie daycare and it is getting cool enough that we can leave the back door open during the day so she can sit on the couch and still sniff what is going on outside. It also makes it easier for her to fly off the couch and get in a few quick sprints around the yard.

Baby is just hanging out and turning around- not a huge fan of Harry Potter books on the belly though. This shirt is still a little too big to get a good pictures, but its comfy. Poor tired Lola was too snuggled to take a picture, maybe next week.

TO GRANDMA's HOUSE WE GO !!

Lola has been a global traveler for the past month. She drove with us to NJ to spend some time with Grandma and Luke so we could go find a house out west. Lola had a lot of fun with Grandma and learned many new words from her new best friend DONNIE !!! She showed Grandma how she could jump any gate, sit nicely on a chair at the table and unwind a rug. Lola and Luke liked to go on walks together all day and play at the dog park, but Lola wasn't too happy to share her new house with Luke. Poor Luke :( Lola also got the sads when we went on our trip - but Donnie took care of her all night every night and didn't send her to live with the turkeys. LOLA. LOVES. DONNIE.

Lola was excellent in the car driving back south, but all bets were off once we let the beast loose. She caused so much trouble that she was too tired to take an 18 week belly picture. Poor sleepy puppy.