Christian's alive and well -- and kicking...

Today I had my ultrasound to check out Christian's brain. During the last ultrasound they found cysts on his brain, which can be an indication of some really bad things, but it can also resolve itself by 28 weeks (I'm 29 weeks). I guess 99% of the time it resolves itself, and lucky for us and Christian that is exactly what happened! Phew!

Last time during the ultrasound the tech couldn't get a good profile shot, so she tried REALLY hard this time. She found out about the cysts in about five seconds, then spent a long time really trying to get that profile shot. Sadly, Christian was once again not cooperating. She got one -- kind of. Then she tried looking 3D, which I've never had done before. The bottom picture is pretty cool, I think. He's got his leg straight up in the air, and his hand is holding onto his foot. But his face is still hiding. Oh well -- Kate didn't look a thing like her profile shot anyway.

Somehow they can tell that Christian is 3 lb. 4 oz. I have no idea how they can really tell that, but whatever. The whole ultrasound is kind of a mystery to me anyway. I'm measuring big, as I did with Kate. Every time I get an ultrasound, my due date looks different. First June 28th, then July 5th, now June 23rd. The doctor said they don't change it unless it's two weeks different, so we're still using the June 28th date.

The ultrasound tech couldn't believe how high Christian was. She kept saying, "I'm all the way up in your ribs!" Yeah, tell me about it. My ribs feel broken half the time. I wake up every couple of hours feeling like my ribs are on fire.

I found out that I don't have gestational diabetes (yay!), but I do have low iron and low blood pressure. That makes sense because I've been so freaking tired and light-headed all the time. The doctor was concerned that I've been having a lot of contractions and told me not to exercise. I've only exercised one time during this pregnancy, so it's not a tall order. I'm not really sure why he was concerned about it, though. I had them all the time with Kate, and I've been having them for weeks with Christian. I think it's pretty normal? But whatever. I'll happily comply with no exercising (cleaning always gives me contractions...but Andrew says that doesn't count--dang).

Anyway, this is my second post in a week! I better not get too carried away.

A Kate update

Kate is edging ever closer to the 3 1/2 year mark (next month). She's still very tall and very skinny. All of her pants require an adjustment around the waist--there's just nothing there to hold them up.

She looks like a genuine kid lately, not a baby anymore! She is turning into a really beautiful little girl.

She loves playing games on the computer, namely pbskids.org. I have felt guilty letting her spend so much time on the computer as I rest, but a lot of good has come from it...she knows more dinosaur names than I do, and she has actually taught herself how to spell! She can spell quite a few words now: horn, guitar, drum, tuba, stop, truck, Kate, and balloons are words she can spell without even thinking about it. One day she just spelled "horn" for me. I was blown away! A minute later she spelled guitar, and I almost fell over (I would have if I hadn't already been laying down). She is a real smartie. She is always asking about letters and what this or that spells when we're out and about.

Kate still loves everything princess. The other day Andrew suggested buying her some GI Joes just to balance her out a little. I'm pretty sure they would just end up as princes, though.

She loves Sunbeams and had no problem at all transitioning from nursery. The teachers tell us she's great. There's a little girl in her class named "Rella," but Kate told me after the very first week that her name was "Aurora" -- like Sleeping Beauty. She talks about this girl's name every week, as if it's the greatest thing ever to be named after a princess. I only recently found out that's not her name at all, but I'm not going to be the bearer of bad news.

She is quite feisty these days and wants what she wants when she wants it. Some days everything will be a struggle. Other days, she'll sweetly do anything I ask. I'm not sure what the difference is, only that she's just trying to figure things out. Her most common reply to me when asking her to do something is, "I can't. It's too hard." This is very frustrating to hear, especially because usually all I'm asking is for her to bend down and pick up something she dropped. She'll say things like, "It's too hard for me. You do it. It's not too hard for you!"

Her favorite story right now is Goldilocks. She loves to tell it over and over. It is really cute how she tells it.

She is still very affectionate--when she wants to be. Yesterday, Andrew went in her room where she was playing and asked if she wanted to give him a hug. She replied, "No, thank you." At least she's polite about it?? Of course, she's still very shy with strangers and other kids. She becomes a mute around other kids -- even though she LOVES being around them (especially her five year old cousin, Cambria. She names all of her stuffed animals after her). Kids will ask her questions and try to talk to her, and she'll just sit uncomfortably and stare at them. She's in a playgroup now, so hopefully things will get better.

I have been trying to get her potty trained for what feels like forever now. She's been in pull-ups for a long time. She generally tells me when she has to go pee (probably 90% of the time), but not always. Sometimes she just really detests sitting on the potty and doesn't want to. She can hold her pee like you wouldn't believe. I've never seen anything like it. After a whole night's sleep (10-12 hours), she'll wake up and refuse to go pee until she has breakfast and changes her clothes. THEN, she will go. Every time, it's like a flood coming out --I don't know how she can hold it! Then she won't go again for HOURS, no matter how many times I ask her.

She WILL NOT go poo in the potty. I finally decided to buy her a reward to motivate her. I got her an Ariel Barbie doll and put it on top of the fridge. I explained, a million different times, in a million different ways that all she has to do is go poo in the potty (not in her PANTS!), and she can open up Ariel. The first day, she sat on the potty and tried and tried to go poo. Nothing. She lost interest in trying so hard after that. This was a few weeks ago now, and she has never successfully gone poo in the potty. I have no idea what to do about it! Ariel was my last, best hope. Kate still looks longingly at Ariel every once in a while, saying, "She doesn't want to come down." I try to tell her that Ariel REALLY wants to come down -- all she has to do is go POO in the POTTY. She then replies, "It's too hard for me." Ahh!!

I have her signed up to start pre-school in September, but the kids are supposed to be completely potty-trained by then. I REALLY hope that can happen, because I know she would love it. She has never had an accident in Sunbeams, which is just as long as pre-school would be, so if all else fails, I'll probably just stick her in panties and send her to school and hope she doesn't have to go -- since she can hold it like nobody's business anyway. They would never know!

Just recently she started something where every time she hurts herself (falling down or whatever), she will do a fake sneeze. She'll be bawling her head off, and then out of nowhere go, "Ah-Choo!" I am completely puzzled as to why she does this. Somehow it makes her feel better??

It's really difficult to put Kate's cuteness into words. Just the way she talks is the most precious thing ever. She has such a soft heart and still gets very concerned whenever she sees someone crying. She's excited to share a room with Christian when he comes, and I know she will be the best big sister ever. I'm sure she will have a hard adjustment to sharing us, since she's had us to herself for so long, but ultimately, I know she will be great. The other day we were at Old Navy, and I was browsing the little baby boy clothes. Kate would pick up the clothes and hold them to my stomach, leaning close to my belly and asking, "Does it match, Christian?" I'm not sure what it's supposed to match exactly, but it was cute.

I've been thinking of things that I need to write down that she says, but I know I am forgetting most of them. We love our little Kate, though, that is for sure. We can't imagine our lives without her!

A New Post!!

The Ericksen Family, March 2010

I realize it has been almost two months since I've posted. If you imagine me draped on the couch 24/7 in a vegetative state stuffing myself with candy and watching reality tv you wouldn't be too far off. Just kidding. Actually, this past month has been quite busy and productive. Amazing! :)

My whole family came to town for a little family reunion, and we were able to get a new family photo from my brother, Mark. I love Kate's face in this picture. It was so much fun hanging out with my family.

I'm now 28 weeks along and am feeling okay. I have a rib that hurts almost all of the time which has been driving me crazy, but pretty sure there's nothing to be done about it. Oh well. I am walking slower than normal now and definitely look like a pregnant lady.

Christian seems to be doing well -- he's very active, anyway. At my last doctor's appointment, it took the doctor a worrisome amount of time before he found his heart beat because he was moving around so much. Every time I see a boy at the mall, playground, wherever, they are always running and jumping like crazy while Kate is usually standing still observing. This makes me worried about having a boy every time.

I actually get to have another ultrasound next week because of some concerns the doctor has about something he saw in the last ultrasound. He says 99% of the time it turns out fine, but he wants to check on the baby again just to be safe. I haven't been too worried about it, though, because I've read a lot about it on the internet, and I think it's really not something to be freaked out about. But we shall see. It will be fun to get another ultrasound, though, as long as everything is okay.

Kate is super duper cute lately and says so many funny things every day. I need to start writing them down, so I can post a good update on her soon.

We just got back from a weekend in Logan because Andrew's dad got remarried. I'll post some pics of that soon!

Announcing Baby Christian!!

The tech couldn't get a good profile shot cause his arm was in the way, but this is the best she could get.

Freaky alien eye baby

And the tech was really excited about the boy's bum, and it's Kate's favorite picture, too, so I thought I'd post it. :)

It's a BOY!! I was a little surprised, actually. When we were looking at the TV screen, I thought I saw girl parts and yelled out, "It's a GIRL!" Then the technician replied, "No...no, it is not a girl. I can guarantee you it's a boy." I was like, "WHAT?"

We've always planned on naming our first boy Christian (Andrew's middle name), but now Andrew is having second thoughts about that. That's what we're calling him for now. And even Kate didn't seem to mind that it was a boy. I think we're all glad the guessing games are finally over. She likes the idea of having a "Baby Brother" and calls him Baby Christian already. It's cute. So no worries about him being called "Girl"--at least for now.

We are very excited and have a lot of boy clothes shopping to do! :)

Pink or blue?

As I've been waiting to find out the gender of our baby (since I found I was pregnant), I have frequently asked for Kate's opinion on the matter. Early on, she would guess both boy and girl, equally. Now, here's what the conversation goes like--

Me: "Kate, do you think the baby in my tummy is a boy or a girl?"

Kate: "Girl!"

Me: "Really? What should we name the baby if it's a girl?"

Kate is contemplative, but I suggest a name before she gets too fixated on something like "Princess" or "Cinderella." She accepts my suggestion with excitement, and I move on.

Me: "What if it's a boy? What should we name the baby if it's a boy?"

Kate, without hesitation: "GIRL!"

Me: "We should name the boy 'girl'?"

Kate nods enthusiastically.

Other times I'll say, "What if it's a boy in my tummy?" And she'll respond emphatically, "No! The baby in your tummy is a girl. The baby in my tummy is a boy." My guess is she understands she doesn't really have a baby in her tummy, and that's why it can afford to be a boy.

She often will get a sad face, and I'll ask her what the matter is. She'll say, "I don't feel so good. I have a baby in my tummy. The doctor's got to get it OUT."

Poor girl, I know she's tired of hearing that I'm feeling sick or tired because of the baby. She is so excited to see the baby in my tummy tomorrow at the ultrasound. I hope she won't be too disappointed if it's a boy! And I hope she won't call him "girl" his whole life.

Andrew really would like a boy, and I would, too. But since Kate has become obsessed with it being a girl, for her sake I hope it is. Of course, we would be happy with either, we would just like to be guaranteed at least one of each. I will let you know TOMORROW.

And the winner is...

...Andrew! Last night was the award ceremony and opening night of the Bean Museum Photography exhibit. Andrew entered again this year and won 2nd place in the landscape category for this beautiful photo of Mesa Arch in Canyonlands. He also got an honorable mention for a photo he took in California. Last year he entered and won 1st place for "Ashen Flame."

Andrew recently had a lot of his pictures scanned and has been working late nights to get them all edited. The ones he entered still need some tweaks before he is going to put them on his website. But he let me put this up for now (the others will have to wait)--excuse the glare of the camera that pretty much ruins the picture...I'm not the photog.

If you live in the area, you can check out the show until March 8th.

Some pics of the place

My mom has been asking to see pictures of our new apartment since we moved in. I finally found the camera--so here are some. I only took pics of the clean rooms. So below is the kitchen, the office area (which is not all clean, but pretty close), Kate's bathroom, Kate in the living room, and the gorgeous view. And above is just a cute bonus picture of Kate and Daddy.