Happy Easter, Happy Baby!

Our Easter break came and went and with it, opportunities for a photo opp of Brady all dressed up. I feel bad that I didn't take more pictures, but our day was such a blur and I was honestly so hot and gross that breaking out the camera just wasn't a priority! Bad Mommy.

The only picture we got!

It's always great to see the extended family, though. Brady got to visit Punxsutawney, Spring Church, and then Monroeville. It was a long day and because we didn't get home until late, he didn't get his Easter basket until after his bath. He still seemed to enjoy everything...especially his new shovel and rake! As you can see, he needed some tools more his size:

His shoveling face!

The reason why he wants to shovel :-)

Even though Brady could have cared less, I was excited about the Big Brother shirt the Easter bunny brought him! We can't wait to see him run into the hospital to meet his little brother or sister wearing this bad boy:

Speaking of our imminent trip to the hospital, we're ever closer to the big day! Week 38 of Baby J-2 in the Making has been marked with a one pound weight gain, 110/72 blood pressure, and some swelling of the extremities. I'll take the swelling, though; this weather (minus the rain) has been excellent! And more importantly, the baby is doing well. His/her heart rate was 147 bpm, he/she is poised and ready for arrival at the -2 station. I'm 2 centimeters dilated and 70% effaced which could mean nothing...or could mean something! I like to pretend it means the baby will be here a bit earlier than the due date, but that's just this gal's dream!

38 Weeks = Big Mama :-)

I'm exceptionally sore and achy this time around, but my wonderful husband has been pitching in where he can. Tonight, he did the grocery shopping and yesterday he took care of Brady's bath and bed time so I could lie down. Even though Brady is what we consider to be  a pretty good kid, he sure does make me sleepy! He is never, ever still--well, not usually...

A rare moment of calm; he's reading!

The next Baby J-2 appointment is on my dad's birthday, May 4th. Maybe we'll be able to give PapTom a special gift this year :-)

Full-term, Baby!

Any worries about Baby J-2 coming early are now null and void as today marks the "full-term" point in the pregnancy. That's a huge sigh of relief you just heard from me :-)

This is what 37 weeks of baking a baby looks like :-)

Today's appointment went well. Dr. Kremser has given my weight gain and blood pressure two thumbs up, and is very happy with how active the baby is and his/her heart rate: 152 bpm. The little one's head is still very low so we're taking that as a sign it'll stay that way and, in Dr. Kremser's words, we're "primed and ready for that VBAC!" I told him word on the street is that he just delivered a baby after two previous c-sections and he laughed because he didn't realize he was such a hot topic of conversation. All I know is when I heard about the VBA2C, I was quite impressed with him for giving the Mama a chance not many other OBs would have given.

Zach is amused by my wearing this shirt: my belly is the volleyball he says...

After my appointment, I ran into Walmart and it was a nutty experience to say the least.

First, the greeter lady took it upon herself to invade my personal space and start asking all these questions about the pregnancy. Normally, I'm more than happy to talk baby, but seriously, lady, let a girl shop!! I actually had to start pushing my cart away so she would just take her hands off of it and let me be! When I finally got away from her, I'm in the produce aisle and (I'm horrible for this, don't judge!) this cross-eyed worker who has three teeth and the frizziest hair I've ever seen in my life corners me with her lettuce cart and SHE starts asking me questions about the baby! She reaches out to touch my belly and without being too rude, I side-step her and pretend I have to get lemons. So, I throw a few in my cart. I don't want lemons. I don't need lemons. But lemons kept this stranger from feeling me up. So then she's telling me about how I'm definitely carrying a boy and proceeds to call to two of her co-workers who are 30 feet away; she YELLS to them: "THIS IS WHAT I LOOKED LIKE WHEN I WAS PREGNANT! SEE?!" Meanwhile, I have a sweater on and I'm standing behind my cart, so she feels it necessary to lead me by the arm out from behind the cart and starts spotlighting my belly like she's Vanna White and I'm the phrase of the day. Her co-workers could not care less so I'm left standing there like a real moron with too many lemons in my cart. Good thing my sense of humor was also in that cart, or it could've gotten ugly in Wally World!

Brady, waiting patiently for Pap-Tom's arrival!

The pool installation has been postponed (again) for this Friday, so hopefully the next post will include pictures of it! Until then, I'm off to nap because Dr. Kremser said I should get as much shut-eye as possible. I knew I liked him :-)

36 Week Sprinkle!

My best gal pals threw Baby J-2 a sprinkle this past weekend. Instead of a full-blown shower, we had a mini-shower, hence, sprinkle :-) It was just me, Jen, my college roomies, and two of their sisters and it was perfection! Very laid back, very relaxing, and very, very good food ;-)

Adorable (and yummy!) cake

The girls were quite generous in helping us to replenish some of the necessities. Between diapers, wipes, bath stuff, batteries--we are set for the first few months!

Lani was very interested in the bath basket!

I know it was probably boring shopping for a "genderless" kiddo, but the girls definitely managed to spice it up with surprise/personalized gifts for the baby and the big brother!

Thank you, Aunt Sandy!

Penn State pacifiers for Zach--I mean Baby!

Very excited about Brady's "Big Brother" pin!

Because a few of the gals are second children themselves, they offered some advice about keeping the playing field level for Baby J-2. One piece of wisdom was to celebrate the same milestones and take just as many pictures this time around. To help us, Tracy got Baby J-2 the exact same frame as Brady--I loved it!!

Keeping it fair :-)

It was really a great day with some fabulous gal pals! I am truly blessed to have such wonderful friends.

Love them <3

A few days after the sprinkle, I had my 36-week appointment. Miraculously, I've only gained a half a pound which the doctor claims goes right to the baby at this stage. That was a pretty awesome surprise considering the massive quantities of cereal I've been inhaling! My blood pressure was a bit high for me (130/75 I think), but the recent humidity is to blame. The stint of hot weather is also to blame for my sausage fingers; I fear I won't be sporting my engagement ring until after birthing this child. The baby, as always, was super crazy active during the exam, and yet again the doctor commented on what a "busy" kid this is. Busy is not the word I would use to describe what's going on in my belly; I think a professional karate tournament is more like it. Anyway, no more progress in terms of dilation, etc. since two weeks ago, and the doc said that's good news. However, she also said she's comfortable with the baby coming at any time now, so Baby J-2, if you're listening: ANY TIME NOW!!!!!

36 Weeks!

Brady is still teeing it up (both golf and baseball) during all of his waking hours, and  expending such energy during the day has really worked to our benefit. His afternoon naps are, like, 3 hours long! And he's still logging in at least 12-13 hours at night. I pray and pray that this sleep pattern continues once his little brother or sister joins us. It might help if you pray, too, so get on that, would ya?

The little man has been cracking us up with some of the things that come out of his mouth. Just this past week, he's entertained us with the following:

1. We got into church, he spotted a boy with soccer balls on his jacket and yelled, "SOCCER! BASEBALL! CRACK! HOME RUN!" Need I remind you how very quiet a Catholic church is??

2. I left for a few hours to get my hair done and when I came back, Brady ran to me like he hadn't seen me in years! I scooped him up and he looked right at Zach and said, "Bye, Dad. Mom's here." While it melted my heart, I think it kinda broke Zach's!

What he does when we tell him to keep his eye on the ball!!

3. While watching golf on television (the Masters was like Christmas morning for the kid...), he gets frustrated if the players take too long to swing. Once, he put his club up to the TV where the ball was and looked like he was going to swing, so I had to tell him to, "Put the club on the floor!" He listened, but then scolded the player: "HIT IT! HIT IT NOW!"

4. We've really tried to instill manners and I have to say, it's worked. Maybe a little too well. The kid says thank you for EVERYTHING! We tuck him in and it's "Tank you, Mum Dad;" I hand him his milk in the morning and it's, "Tank you, Mum;" a grandparent builds a block tower with him and it's, "Tank you, Pap." At least he's grateful, right??!

5. In order to get him excited about brushing his teeth, we've started telling him about how all of his "idols" brush theirs. This has become a routine from which we are not allowed to deviate. It goes like this: "Uncle Mike brushes, Pap Rick brushes, Pap Tom brushes, Caillou brushes," etc. Brady also now requires that I brush when he does, so I scrub my teeth about four times a day.

6. On Monday, Grandma Terri came to stay with him while I went to my appointment, and my mom was also here because she went to said appointment with me. When I brought Brady downstairs, his eyes got huge because BOTH grandmas were here at the same time! He pointed to them and said, "One, two. Two Grandmas!" His father was very proud of that ;-)

Kisses for Mom

In other Jankowski Family news, we are expecting another new addition...a swimming pool! One day, Zach was walking around the back yard with stakes and spray paint. When Brady and I joined him, he informed us that he would like to get a swimming pool. I was more than surprised seeing as how he's not really a fan of the water, but trust me when I say I am totally okay with it! Below is the proposed site of the pool; we're hoping it will be installed next week so we have time to build the deck around it before the summer months.

While we are certainly very excited for the pool, we're keeping our eyes on the real prize: having this baby!!

"A Great Brother!"

Brady's Sibling Prediction!

After months of asking Brady if the baby is going to be a boy or a girl, and months of him ignoring us, we have finally procured an answer from him! The other night, he and I sat down with his letter board and I spelled out "Girl" and "Boy." I pointed to both, spelled them out letter-by-letter, and was feeling pretty encouraged because for the first time, I had his attention! Finally, I asked him to tell me what was in my belly: a boy or girl, girl or boy, brother or sister. I said all of them so he didn't just repeat the last thing he heard! His response? He looked right at me and said, "Girl. Nina." I couldn't believe it! I never thought he would share his prediction with us and not only did he tell us (finally...), but he took the liberty of naming the little gal, too! Nina was never on our girls' name list, but we feel like we should at least entertain the idea of it now! Nina Jankowski...

Today begins the 35th week of Baby J-2's baking, and I'm feeling pretty good. I'm exhausted when bed time rolls around, and by bed time, I mean 8 pm, but other than that, things are going well. My nightly trips to the bathroom have increased to every 2 hours (no joke, you can set a clock by my bladder), but that only makes sense since I'm chugging water during the day. The Braxton Hicks/cramping are still pretty strong at night, so I guess the ole uterus is gearing up to do its business :-)

Week 35 in the biggest maternity shirt I own...

That's about it from these parts. My next appointment is a week from today and since I have been absolutely ravenous since the last time I stepped on the scale, I'm assuming the doctor--and my hips--will not be pleased.