Still Fat

I was up half the night with a baby, but I'm still pregnant. At midnight last night, little Elliott started throwing up. So after we stripped the bed, started wash, moved Cheyenne to another bed, doused Elliott in the bathtub, etc., I got to hold a little puke pail for Elliott for the rest of the night. This largely pregnant body moved faster than it has in a long time-- I'd be fast asleep and I'd hear the little tummy start rumbling and know I had about 5 seconds before disaster would strike. Since it feels like it requires a crane to turn over in bed at this point, it required quite the gymnastics to turn over, scoop Elliott up, get the bowl under his mouth and help him out. Poor little kid doesn't get why you'd want to hover over a bowl when Mummy's chest is right there to lean on. Thankfully, he started feeling better this morning. Now I have to worry that I'll get this bug right when I go into labor!

I had a midwife appt. Monday morning, and they put me through every test they could think of-- seemed a bit of overreaction considering I was only 5 days overdue, but I guess it's nice to know that everything is fine with the baby. They did a "non-stress" test-- it may not be stressful for the baby, but it wasn't a lot of fun for the mom! It's not at all painful-- they just strap a couple of monitors to your belly to measure the baby's heartbeat and movements. They problem is, it seems like the stupid thing never wanted to pick up the heartbeat, and I knew that they wouldn't let me out of that contraption till they had a long stretch of heartbeat. The baby wanted to sleep, so I kept poking her viciously to make her wiggle. Anyway, that turned out fine, and they did an ultrasound to measure amniotic fluid levels (flashback to Elliott's pregnancy--had that done 20+ times) and that was fine. My blood pressure was perfect, so we're good to go. (Until they make me go back on Friday and do it all again.) Hopefully, I'll be snuggling a baby by then!

Mr. OCD and his matchboxes-- spent HOURS today lining them up on the stairs. Not exactly an OSHA-approved spot to play with them, but they fit so nice there, and you're right next to the kitchen to keep tabs on Mommy.

My reader-- she can spend hours dissecting Archie comics. Can't imagine when she can actually read completely. She recognizes a lot of words now, so I'm sure she'll be reading soon. My librarian heart bursts with pride! :-)

Due Date

Yup, this is me, on my due date, showing great Failure to Produce on Schedule. I was convinced I would have the baby today (haha) because there was a full moon AND a lunar eclipse! If any old wives' tales have any truth to them, shoulda happened. We were all set to see the lunar eclipse, but, in true Central New York style, it's snowing and cloudy, so not seeing a whole lot.

Cheyenne bringing home her baby from the hospital. She did the tour of the hospital birth center with us and it grabbed her imagination pretty firmly. I think the highlight of the tour was the little kitchen. The nurse said something about "Daddy will come make some food for Mommy," but Cheyenne got the idea Daddy wouldn't get to see the baby, but would have to spend the whole time in the kitchen. Now that we've allayed her fears about that, the kitchen is a cool place. She's WAY more excited about a hospital stay than I am-- we had Cheyenne in a freestanding birth center in Alaska and were on our way home three hours later. Then, of course, with Elliott, we had the full medical birth. Necessary, but not a lot of fun. Vastly preferred being home in my own bed right away. Oh, well, nurses wanting to take your BP at 2:00 a.m. for no apparent reason are a small price to pay for a squiggly baby!

Elliott with his handsome (now that it's had a few weeks!) haircut. I cut it when we were up at Mom and Dad's. I had asked Dad to do it, but he hadn't done it in many years and didn't feel comfortable trying it. After watching me try it for about three minutes, though, he figured he couldn't possibly screw it up as bad as I was. So Elliott looked pretty good in the end. Makes him look so grown-up! HOPEFULLY, he'll be a big brother real soon!

Our new White Family website

Welcome to this new place for all things White! When I have more time (look for this in '09 or thereabouts) I will try to learn how to actually make the webpage look good! For now, we'll rely on the beauty of our 2 (soon to be 3!) kids to carry the load.
Elliott and Cheyenne are best buddies-- running around the house together holding hands is one of their favorite games, and Elliott even submits to getting married to Cheyenne several times a day. (In Cheyenne's world, a wedding consists of standing facing each other and kissing. Unfortunately for the moral tenor of her world, she always has her baby along for this ceremony.)









Seeing this smile as Cheyenne holds her cousin, Lillian Nora, I have no doubts she's cut out to be the big sister of a new baby!

"The Twins" with Cheyenne. Despite their being 10 months age difference between Elliott and Orianna, they are almost exactly at the same age, developmentally. They also have the same evil sense of humor about getting into trouble. If you hear the two of them chuckling, start running!

We had a wonderful week and a half in Florida with Dana and Marilyn. I think we had the best weather Florida had in a month-long stretch. And any vacation when devoted grandparents entertain the kids is great!

"Now let's see... where's someone's shoe to unload this sand?"

The kids adored the ocean, especially a sturdy-legged four-year old.

Mr. Blue Eyes, and Black-and-Blue Forehead. Despite being much more able to navigate than he used to, he still seems to bump his head an awful lot.

My 30th! Yikes!

After watching Cheyenne make a snow angel, Elliott had to flop down and flail around a bit!