My 10 Favorite Things About Being Pregnant

Posted on January 15, 2015 by justeeni

I realize not everyone gets to experience the miracle of pregnancy. And for those of us that do, it’s far too easy to list all of the hardships that come along with these months of waiting. Since I don’t know how long I’ll get to enjoy having Baby safe inside of me, I wanted to list a few of my favorite things about being pregnant.

1. Baby is safe.

I know bad things can still happen before or after Baby is born, but I am enjoying this time when Baby is where s/he should be. Every morning I wake up and thank God for another day before Baby is born. Every time I have trouble sleeping because Baby is kicking, my joints hurt, or I just can’t catch my breath, I remember how much better this is than watching Baby hooked up to all sorts of tubes and wires in the hospital. Stay in there Baby!

2. Snacks. All the time.

Right now I eat sort of like a cow and no one really gives me a hard time about it. Breakfast, morning snack, lunch, snack before naps, snack after naps, dinner, bedtime snack. And, if I wake up in the middle of the night and can’t sleep, sometimes I get a snack then too.

3. Sleeping through the night.

My kids have a pretty bad track record as far as sleeping through the night. Although, God really answered my desperate prayers when we found out we were pregnant, and Abby was still getting up twice a night. She was weaned and sleeping through the night by the time I hit 17 weeks. Lydia, on the other hand, didn’t sleep through the night until she was almost two, so I am savoring these sleep-filled nights before Baby comes.

4. Quiet.

Our kids aren’t really quiet, but there are certainly moments of quiet throughout the day and during the night. I’m fully aware that our babies usually come with a nice long fussy time in the evenings, something we don’t have to deal with right now. Our girls enjoy eating dinner and playing before bedtime, then go down pretty easy so Dan and I get some time to ourselves. As much as I’m looking forward to having Baby here and even hearing that little cry, I’m enjoying the quiet for now.

5. High hopes.

As long as Baby is in my belly I can imagine anything I want for his/her birth. Maybe I’ll make it to 32…34…36 weeks. Maybe I’ll get to have an all-natural delivery where we don’t have to rush to the hospital in a state of emergency because my water broke at 28 weeks. Maybe we will, but for now I get to hope for the best.

6. Our routine.

We’ve settled into such a lovely routine around here. I look forward to starting each new day, the moments with the girls, moments to myself, everything running more or less like clockwork. I know once baby comes that routine is going to be out the window, NICU or not, and my main focus will be keeping everyone alive and getting enough sleep.

7. Always having something to talk about.

I don’t get out much. Sundays are church and Wednesdays are Hope Group. Since I’m supposed to be “taking it easy” I try to stay off my feet in the minutes or hours following the service/study, and during that time different people usually stop by to chat. Small talk isn’t always easy for me but with Baby on the way I always have plenty to talk about. 🙂

8. Taking it easy.

Lately I’ve been taking a long nap almost every day. In the afternoons I sometimes take a moment to decide what to do next. Then I remind myself that I’m supposed to be “taking it easy” so I’ll curl up and read to the girls or listen to Adventures in Odyssey with them. No guilt. I’m taking care of baby. And I’m fully aware that when Baby comes, especially if s/he comes early, I won’t be nearly as able to take it easy.

9. Time with our girls

When Abby was born, Dan and I were suddenly torn away from Lydia for long periods every day. Even when we were with her we were busy with NICU things, necessary chores, and napping. Mentally we were distracted and stressed and it affected her too. So I am enjoying this season to enjoy my girls, snuggle them, love on them, and give them my time while I have time to spare.

10. The anticipation.

It hit me just the other week that we’re going to have another little person in our family! It may seem strange, but with all the focus on prenatal visits, extra ultrasounds, steroid shots, and preparing for a potential NICU stay, there hasn’t been a lot of time left to think about actually having another baby. So the other day I pulled out the Newborn clothes and separated everything that was gender neutral. Soon we’ll have a little one to snuggle, feed, and play with. Soon the girls will get to enjoy another little baby in the house and Abby will get to be a big sister for the very first time. And soon we’ll have to actually decide on a name! (We’re pretty much down to four names, two girl and two boy.) We’re enjoying these moments of quiet and routine, lying low and hoping for the best, but we’re also excited to meet our new little family member, whenever the time comes for him/her to arrive.

Abby Update: 16 Months Old

Posted on January 13, 2015 by justeeni

Abby is 16 months old now and she’s learning new moves! During the past month Abby started pulling herself up on things and now she loves to stand every moment she gets. The race is on to see if Abby will beat Lydia in learning to walk. Lydia didn’t walk until 21 months, but Abby looks like she might just beat her. Only time will tell.

Abby still army crawls using her one armed, one legged method of getting around, I guess because she knows it works. However, she can now push herself up on all fours back into a sitting up position. I’ve also caught her trying out crawling on all fours, but that hasn’t taken off just yet.

Abby has also located the nose. If we ask her, “Abby, where’s my nose?”, she’ll happily point it out for us. She has yet to find her own nose though.

She still love to eat. It’s probably her favorite activity. She likes to eat as soon as she wakes up in the morning or after any naps, and if you put her in her high chair with food on the table, she will not tolerate waiting any length of time for her meal.

Abby still keeps us smiling and laughing. She is far less cautious than her older sister and may even be more independent than Lydia, if that’s possible. She’s happy to play by herself for any length of time as long as she isn’t hungry or tired. She’s as smiley as ever and is always adding joy to our days.

Treading Dangerous Waters: 25 Week Pregnancy Update

Posted on January 6, 2015 by justeeni

I am now in the phase of this pregnancy my doctor recently referred to as “dangerous waters”: 20-28 weeks. As far as preemies go, 28 weeks is a huge milestone we really want to reach (and pass). So far, so good. Baby is staying put and there have been no signs of coming labor. Good job, Baby!

Three main things have happened since the last update.

First of all, Baby has been breech in every ultrasound from 10 weeks up to my last update, at 22 weeks. Happily for me, Baby flipped shortly after the last update and has been head-down during both of our most recent prenatal visits.

Abigail had to be delivered via c-section because she was breech. While it’s sometimes possible to deliver term babies in a breech presentation, this would be especially dangerous for a preemie. According to my doctor, I have a 50% chance of having a breech baby, so this was a concern of mine over the past several weeks. Somewhere between some baby-flipping exercises, Baby’s own desire to be upside-down, and (most importantly) lots of prayer, our Baby has flipped and will hopefully stay that way. (And for a nice long time too!)

Second, I have packed a hospital bag. I don’t know if this is a big step for most people or not, but for us it is. I’ve never made it far enough along in a pregnancy to do any nesting or preparing for birth. With both of our girls, my water broke and Dan had to scramble around gathering some items before we rushed to the hospital. This time, I planned far ahead and put together as much of my hospital bag as possible, along with a list of some last-minute items for Dan to throw in if we have another surprise labor.

Along with the hospital bag, we’ve also lined up babysitters for the girls for whenever I do go into labor. This is a huge burden off my back; I feel like I can really just relax and be ready for Baby to come whenever s/he is ready.

Finally, we got our betamethasone shots! For those who are unfamiliar, this is a shot that comes in two doses, given 24 hours apart, that helps prepare Baby’s lungs in case Baby does come early. Baby’s lungs are one of the last things to develop in utero, so breathing is the first and biggest obstacle most preemies have to face. Getting this set of steroid shots gives Baby an easier time learning to breath early. I got the first dose of the shot with both Lydia and Abigail while I was in labor, but it was too late to do any good. This Baby has his/her full dose and will be set for the next 6 weeks.

Baby is moving around a lot, more than I remember with Lydia or Abby. Baby also feels big. I was concerned about this over Christmas and kept telling Dan, “I just feel like Baby is running out of room.” After a couple nights of this, Dan pointed out to me that all pregnant women probably feel like they’re running out of room. That doesn’t mean Baby is coming tonight, this week, or even this month. We certainly hope not.

In our ultrasounds, Baby is measuring about 4 days big for his/her age, and everything looks normal. No signs of labor. No signs of complications. And there is plenty of amniotic fluid.

Here’s Baby’s latest picture. It’s a little hard to see, but Baby’s head is sideways and the left side is in shadow. You can see Baby’s chin (on the left), nose, and his/her right eye (near the top of the picture), which looks shut. Baby just might have been sleeping when this picture was taken. 🙂

It’s Going to be a Good One…

Posted on January 1, 2015 by justeeni

At noon on New Year’s Eve Dan exclaimed, “There are only 12 hours left in the year! What should we do?”.

Justine: Take naps.
Lydia: Run in circles!
Abby (thinking): Eat!

So that’s how we wrapped up the year. 2015 is going to be a good one. Just look at that smile. How could it now be a good one?

Happy New Years Everyone.

Overwhelmingly Blessed

Posted on December 30, 2014 by justeeni

Growing up, I always thought it was weird when my classmates would celebrate Christmas on any day other than Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. But now that Dan and I live four and a half hours away from most of our family, we’ve joined the club. Dan’s parents came down the weekend before Christmas, in part, to celebrate Dan’s brother’s graduation, and in part, to celebrate Christmas as a family.

Lydia enjoyed new additions to her dress up closet, and Abby loved her new little piano. The gift opening was a lot of fun.

Oh, and the food in Abby’s stocking was also a big hit.

Just a couple of days later, my parents came down for another Christmas celebration. They made one of my favorite Christmas treats with Lydia and we enjoyed the afternoon together before opening presents. Abby got a little ball she loves to chase around and Lydia opened a new baby doll which she now carries with her everywhere.

It was such a blessing to be able to see both sets of parents. We weren’t sure if they would be able to come this year, and we weren’t really able to travel at this point in my pregnancy. So it was exciting when things came together at the last minute and we got to do our family Christmases after all.

And then…Christmas Eve came, and we scrambled (ok, I scrambled) to get last minute preparations done. Between my overdoing it and Abby’s decision to almost choke on some plastic, things sort of fell apart at the end of the night. We threw some spaghetti in a pot and decided to keep things a little simpler next year.

But the girls were finally put to bed, the living room cleaned, and the presents wrapped. The advent calendar was filled. Lydia finally got to put on the sticker of Baby Jesus in the manger. The stockings were stuffed, and the food was prepared. Dan and I headed off to sleep before midnight.

Then…Christmas morning.

I have an unwritten rule that I don’t take any pictures Christmas morning during the gift opening. We just enjoy our time together, technology set aside. Lydia got a toy doll stroller, perfect for her new baby doll. Abby got a toy train that we all love playing with. And, even though there’s no snow right now, the girls got a sled. It turned out that sleds do work(ish) on grass and carpet.

After gift-opening, everyone enjoyed breakfast and got dressed. Dan read us the Christmas story. Then, we all played inside for a while, then the kids went outside with Dan to play on their new sled while I cleaned up from breakfast and worked on lunch. After a snacky sort of lunch, the Taylor girls got in some nice naps.

Soon enough, it was dinner time. After dinner, we decided to give Lydia real treat and let her watch her very first video: A Charlie Brown Christmas. She also got to eat dessert in the living room. It was epic. Abby was unimpressed.

And then it was time for bed. All day long Dan and I just felt overwhelmingly blessed. Our hearts were full. It was such a happy day. And then we got Dan home for three more days. Needless to day, it was a happy weekend. I hope you all enjoyed Christmases as happy as ours was, celebrating Jesus Birth with the ones you love the most.

Christmas According to Lydia

Posted on December 25, 2014 by justeeni

Sorry for breaking it up into two parts. I was having some difficulty with the camera.

Merry Christmas Everybody!

Taylor Christmas Letter 2014

Posted on December 23, 2014 by justeeni

Hullo again Friends, it’s Mr. Christmas Moose here, returning for another addition of the Taylor Family Christmas Letter. I must have done a good job last year because they invited me back to write their letter again this year. Can’t say I’m too surprised. English has always been my strong point.

Well I better start off with the most important news. Thanks to your kind and generous comments on my last post, my time out of the box has been extended. I now get to come out of hibernation from the day after Thanksgiving (and yes, I’m pleased to say they actually woke me up on time this year!) through Fur Rendezvous. That’s the third Friday in February, thank you very much. And, in case you missed it, our little Abigail had her movie world premier at Fur Rondy last year. If you didn’t watch it then (or even if you did) check it out here. She’s a cutie.

Now after all of the madness of last year, I wasn’t sure the Taylors would give me much to write about this time around. But I guess they don’t like to be uneventful because this year was just as action-packed as the last.

January started off with the new little munchkin getting settled into our home. It had been a long hospital stay and the joy of bringing her home was not short-lived. Our routine was interrupted, though, when Dan’s work ran out of work for him to do and he spent two months at home looking for a new job. During that time, some inconsiderate neighbors were causing some environmental issues for our littlest munchkin and her doctor told us it would be best to move. Again.

Now, as much as I enjoy being out of my box, I really do need the sleep I get during those other 9 months of the year. So, I wasn’t too happy when I was placed in a bag and hauled off to live under some ping pong table for the next 5 months. I guess it was good that Dan found another job at that point. A moose has got to eat! But the ping pong table wasn’t my favorite. I can’t tell you how many dreams I had about woodpeckers, jackhammers, and balls bouncing over my head. It turns out a very generous family from church had opened up their home to the Taylors and gave them a roof over their heads (and a ping pong table over mine) while they began their hunt for a more permanent home.

I thought the day would never come. It seemed like every evening the Taylors would leave me to go look at houses only to come back and tell me that they hadn’t found the right one yet. If it was me, I would have given up and gone to live in a cave, but, it’s not my family after all. Some exciting things happened that summer, though…

Abby became the smiliest baby in the world. She is so cute and she loves, loves, loves to eat. Lydia remains the cute and animated little munchkin I’ve always known she is. She loves to help her Mommy in any way she can, even though her help sometimes isn’t extremely helpful (if you know what I mean). No offense intended toward the little one, she is a sweet heart. Toward the end of the summer, Dan got another new job. That was good for everyone because he liked it a lot better, it payed more, and they feed him lunch every single day. You can read more about that story here.

And, though they didn’t break the news for months, in August the Taylors found out another little calf…er…baby was on the way. I can hardly wait to find out if it’s a boy or girl, and what they’ll choose for a name. But we’re all hoping this Baby doesn’t come until after Fur Rondy this year. Wouldn’t want to get put back in my box early, you know!

In September, I got pulled out from under the ping pong table and hauled off in a truck to a nice, clean coat closet with the other Christmas decorations, lights, and our beautiful tree. I could hardly wait to come out of the box to see the new home the Taylors had finally chosen. It was quite a story, how they ended up here, and when I finally got the tour I wasn’t at all disappointed.

Now I’m out on my new home, the fireplace mantel. I have a great view of the tree, the front yard, and the area where the biggest munchkin likes to play dress-up. As I write this she’s dancing around in tights, a swimsuit, a scarf, and she’s singing a most beautiful made-up munchkin song. Lovely. The other munchkin is crawling around eating everything she can get her hands on (my kind of kid!), and the smallest one is nestled snuggly right where s/he should be, in Mommy’s belly.

Sometimes they bring me down for the munchkins to play with. Oh how I love the hugs and kisses, the dancing and giggles. But watch out if the little one ever gets a hold of you. She’s sweet, but she likes to nibble on your antlers if your not careful and she’s getting some mean molars back in that mouth of hers.

Well, we plan to lie low this Christmas and spend the day at home as a family opening gifts, eating good food, and celebrating the most important gift: the coming of our Savior, Jesus, as a little Baby. I sure have enjoyed hearing the Christmas story over and over this year as Justine teaches it to Lydia. She’s getting it down pretty well and if you tune in later this week maybe she’ll even share it on here.

Until Christmas, stay warm and well-fed and make sure everyone gets a good nap (that’s what we’re all learning around here these days). Merry Christmas everyone and enjoy the special moments you get to spend with the ones you love most.

Yours truly,

Mr. Christmas Moose

Pregnancy Update: 22 Weeks

Posted on December 18, 2014 by justeeni

A couple of weeks ago, Dan and I took the girls with us to see Baby’s 20-week ultrasound screening. Because we’re not trying to find out if this is a boy or girl, we had to miss a lot of the screening while the ultrasound tech did her job with the screen turned away from us. Nevertheless, we did get some peeks at Baby and some cute pictures to share.

Here’s a shot of Baby’s face.

The head is on the right side of the screen, looking right at you.

Our ultrasound tech said this was the most beautiful baby she had seen in a long time. By that she meant that Baby cooperated and allowed her to see everything she was supposed to see.

Here’s a picture of Baby’s hand and foot.

At one point during the ultrasound, our tech showed us that Baby was resting his/her head on my artery. Every time my heart pumped Baby’s head would move up and down with my heartbeat. It looked like s/he was having a little dance party in there.

Here’s the foot again.

Toward the end of the ultrasound we got to see Baby’s profile. S/he was pressed right up against the placenta. It looked like s/he was giving it kisses.

Everything from the ultrasound looked good and everything in the pregnancy is progressing normally. The next couple weeks are exciting for us as Baby is approaching the age where s/he will be big enough to survive if and when I do go into labor (early). Until then I’m trying to take it easy and keep life as uneventful as possible.

Just for fun I took a picture of me with Baby at 21 weeks to compare with my 21 week shot of Abigail. Abby’s on the left, Baby 3 on the right, and I even wore the same shirt for easy comparison. What do you think? Can you tell a difference or do Abby and Baby 3 look the same this far along?

Our next appointment is scheduled for tomorrow. We’ll do another ultrasound, and talk about our plans for the weeks ahead as we enter the time when Baby will be getting old enough to survive if s/he comes that early. We’re hoping, though, for another 10 weeks.

Abby Update: 15 Months Old

Posted on December 16, 2014 by justeeni

As Christmas approaches, Abigail is as joyful a baby…er…toddler(?) as ever. She’s not toddling yet, but she’s not exactly a baby. So, while I’m not sure how she classifies title-wise, I do know she is the smiliest little person I’ve ever met.

Abby is always happy unless she is very hungry or very tired. She’s always smiling unless she’s very unhappy or sucking her thumb right after a nap. Those cuddly moments are sometimes my favorite.

Abby’s crawling around pretty efficiently using her one-armed, one-legged army crawling technique. It gets her where she wants to go so she’s happy to keep using it for now. She can crawl up a step and is pretty fearless, so she keeps us busy chasing her around.

Though she hasn’t taken to sign language like Lydia did, Abby is starting to use a few words. She can say “daddy”, “uh-oh!”, and “buh-bye”. When she eats her food and wants some more she makes a certain little grunt. She tries to say “mama” but more often than not it comes out as “baba”.

Abby’s all-time favorite thing to do is eat.

And she eats a lot! She’s not too picky as long as she has food when she wants it in a nearly unending supply. If you interrupt her during a meal for any reason, she’s give you a harsh rebuke. If someone else is eating something different from her and she thinks it looks tasty, she’ll give you a few grunts until she gets a sample. Once she’s done eating she wants immediately out of her high chair so she can play or, more often, take a nap. After all of our struggles trying to get Lydia to gain weight, it’s nice to have an eager eater.

Abby is a joy to the whole family. If find it so entertaining to hear the girls (who share a room now) chattering back and forth after we tuck them in for bed or naps. I find it just as heart-warming to hear their synchronized thumb-sucking once they do fall asleep. Lydia loves her little sister and we all have fun playing with her, tickling her, and getting her to laugh and smile in any way we can.

Taylor Home Tour

Posted on December 11, 2014 by justeeni

Welcome to our new home! Would you like to take a look around?

Before we get started, I have a confession to make. I spent the whole morning running around, cleaning, and moving things out of the pictures before I took them. No, our house is not as clean as it looks here. But this is a blog, after all. Maybe I’ll hold this post up as inspiration in the future to keep things clean. 🙂

Anyway, come on in.

Here is our living room, but let’s start with the upstairs, shall we? Turn to your right.

Up we go.

Don’t trip over the baby gate. We recently bought a new one that swings open (much safer for pregnant mommies carrying toddlers!), but it hasn’t arrived yet.

To your immediate right, you’ll find the Master bedroom.

The family who sold us this house also gave us a lot of their furniture, including an entire bedroom set for this room. However, we priced out king size mattresses and decided to stick with our queen. Then we couldn’t get our box spring up the stairs so we ended up buying a new bed frame from Ikea. Now I enjoy our new headboard every single night when I read before going to sleep. Then I enjoy it again in the morning while Lydia snuggles with me and I read my Bible and pray. But, go ahead, and have a look around.

Now we’ll head across the hallway to the baby room/office.

Glider for Baby. It needs new cushions. Or the current ones need to be washed. Not sure which we’ll do yet.

Desk for Dan…

Books and a few other boxes we have yet to sort through…

Now we’ll head further down the hallway to the girls’ room. Shhhh, Abby’s napping.

You also probably noticed that I’m in the process of washing Lydia’s sheets.

The closet does have doors but they have to be reinstalled. When we had the floors put in (did you notice the beautiful new floors?) the workers took out the closet doors in here and they have to be cut to fit above the new floor now.

I love this part of the room. Eventually Lydia’s kitchen will go in this little nook.

Just a little further to our “dumping grounds”, that is, the third bedroom that currently holds all of the kids’ clothes. I have to sort through it all, but it’s not my top priority at the moment. This is also where Baby’s bed currently resides, although we plan to move it in to the Baby room/office.

You’ll notice all that storage across the hall, from the ceiling…

…down to the floor.

At the end of the hallway is the bathroom.

I love the girls’ puppy and elephant towels hanging there so happily. We really do need to install some more hooks though.

And now we’ll go back downstairs to see the first floor. Notice the nifty shelves on the way down? This is the first time Dan and I have had more shelves than books. It’s nice.

Here we are again in the living room. Notice the short open door to your right? That’s Lydia’s “dressup closet” and it’s nearly always in use. To close that for all the pictures would have been impossible. It was hard enough keeping the Munchkin in her tutu out of the pictures.

There’s our Christmas tree.

We ended up rearranging all of our furniture to accommodate the Christmas decorations. I love having this setup where I can read or work on little projects while I sit between all the Christmas lights. It’s cozy.

There’s our Beloved Christmas Moose.

Stockings and the kid-friendly nativity scene arranged by our own Munchkin. Yes, I realize we could have hung the stockings from our fireplace mantle like you’re supposed to. We tried but the hooks we were using just fell off. I looked up real stocking holders, but they weren’t in our budget this year.

Now through this doorway is the kitchen.

This breakfast nook is also Dan’s favorite spot to grade papers and plan lectures for the class he’s been teaching.

Lots of cupboards, lots of counter space. I love this kitchen.

The kitchen pictures are the most deceiving. The counters are actually covered in appliances. The appliances were under the island, but we’re installing a pretty massive water filter system there and I have to find new homes for everything. I love having my counters nearly bare (easy to clean!), and we’re currently deciding whether or not the coffee pot deserves a permanent spot up there. Dan votes “yes”, I’m leaning toward “no”. Thoughts?

Moving along…

Here’s the island with a prep sink and everything. So handy.

Through that door you see just past the island is the laundry area. It cuts right through to the piano room. We’ll get there.

Washer and dryer behind those closets.

Drying rack, hamper, and broom back here. We’d like to get that broom to hang up. Haven’t figured out how to do that yet. The hooks just fall down…might have to actually put some holes in the wall…

Just past the kitchen is that back of our house and the dining area.

This is the door we actually use. You, as a guest, came in the front door.

Across from the back door, the first thing you see when you walk in, is our family-less tree. One day it will become a family tree, but that day hasn’t come yet.

Here’s where all the meals happen. And my sewing.

Adjacent to the dining room is the piano room. It also currently holds our chest freezer, closet doors to the girls’ room, Abby’s “standing toy”, and that massive water filter system I mentioned earlier.

It also holds more decorations than any other room in the house. Sparse, I know. We’ll get there.

And here we come around to the hallway that takes you out. We did a big loop, if you followed all of that.

Before we go that way, I’ll open this closet door to give you a sneak peak into one of our many closets. I have unpacked sufficiently for now, but the closets are a mess. This is my “mom closet”. It has random toys that haven’t been put away yet, sewing projects, homeschool research materials, and some other miscellaneous items I don’t want the girls to get into.

We’ll just shut that closet door and make our way out.Did you notice I even closed Lydia’s dress up closet for you? Feel free to use the restroom on your way out. First door on the left. You can just move Lydia’s potty seat. There’s a nifty little hook for it on the side of the sink.

Well, it’s about lunch time and Abby needs to get up from her nap, so I’ll let you let yourself out. We won’t explore outside today as it’s getting late and it’s pretty cold out there. Have a nice trip home, stay warm, and come again soon!

MI Taylor Family

We live in Michigan.