Baby Grover

Here's our little guy.  He was moving around so much that the technician was having trouble getting shots of everything she needed. It was pretty trippy to feel him moving around and to see what he was doing on screen. We were happy that Baby Boy Grover's organs are all developing properly. And, for the third time, he was measuring one week ahead of schedule. 

 

He's not doing too much in the video, of course. But it is a good look at his sweet little profile.

The other night we could see my belly moving as Baby Grover rolled around inside.  Lane felt him kick on Saturday night.  Exactly at 20 weeks.

Monterey Bay Aquarium

Mina, Skyler (Andrew's BFF), Andrew, and Gabriela

Auntie Theresa, Uncle Matthew, Banu and I took these cuties to the Monterey Bay Aquarium when Uncle Matthew & Banu were visiting in June.  As soon as we arrived, it was snack time. For them, and then for the otters.

The kids loved playing in the water and comparing all their fish!

Who doesn't love a game of Ring Around the Rosie in the middle of the aquarium???

Love for Auntie Theresa

Cousins

The touching pool was a huge hit. Gabriela held a decorator crab and bravely touched everything she could, asking tons of questions to the volunteers.

 

We were lucky it was such a beautiful day in Monterey!

The kids loved seeing Uncle Matthew and Banu.

While we were walking around Cannery Row, Gabriela jumped out of her stroller and requested her picture be taken with this fearsome pirate.

When they got home, the kids picked strawberries in Nana's garden. Oh, and Harry Potter made an appearance. They picked tons, but came in with nearly empty baskets and mysteriously red faces and fingers.

More love for Auntie Theresa

Enjoying her Gabriela sized mug of tea the next morning.

Gabriela Says... The baby Brother edition

That's right, it's a boy!

Gabriela has been saying the sweetest things lately, and totally unprompted.

"Goodnight, Baby Brother! I'll see you when you come out of Mommy's tummy!"

"I love my baby brother"

"My baby brother is a honey"

Gabriela: Mama!
Me: When your baby brother starts talking he'll probably say that.
Gabriela: and he might call me 'Gabwiehla'
Me: well, he probably won't say that right away. 
Gabriela (matter of factly): Yeah, he'll probably call me Chewy. 

????

 

I am getting so horrible about taking photos and updating our blog.  I promise I will make a better effort. 

We spent this weekend at Lane's parents place in Paradise, CA to celebrate Grandma Janice's 80th birthday.  We missed the Santa Barbara Grovers (Gabriela cried and cried when she learned they weren't coming), but we got to reconnect with Lane's cousin Sarah and meet her adorable kids, Miles and Journey. 

Gabriela spent the weekend swinging on the tire swing, and the new swing that Grandpa got after learning she could swing all by herself.  She also dug "gopher holes", played in the mud, explored the property, ran around like crazy, caught bugs, swung in the hammock, and tasted her first s'mores ever. She was a fan.

 oh yeah, and jumping off of beds.  Miles said he wished he had long hair so it would fly when he jumped like Gabriela.

Yeah, she was a fan.  I had to explain what s'mores were, so I told Gabriela they were like sandwiches except with marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers.  She kept asking for her sandwich after that.

We are so happy we got to spend this extra time with our family, and that we live close enough to pop over for a long weekend.

Belly Love

I have been hesitating to post belly pictures, partly because I had other worries on my mind. One of the exciting things about my pregnancy this time around is that my sister-in-law, Annie is also pregnant! How exciting that these little cousins will only be a couple months apart!

This is us on Easter, about one month ago. I was 12 weeks, which makes Ann about 19 weeks.

Here we are again over Memorial Day weekend. Just a month later and those babies and bellies have grown a lot!

 Gabriela doesn't miss anything.  Here she is sporting her own belly bump. She cracks me up. Look how proud she is!

 

The funny thing is that I'm sure this is an accurate portrayal of what I will look like around Halloween. Stay tuned. 

It will defy the laws of physics.

Relief

A couple weeks ago, we got some shocker news from the midwife. My blood test results indicated that I had a 1 in 7 chance of carrying a baby with Down Syndrome and we were referred to the genetic counselors.

This completely surprised me. In fact, I had actually told Lane before that I wasn't at all worried about growing a healthy baby - I knew my body knew how to do it. There went that theory.

The genetic counselors confirmed the midwife results. There were three indicators they were looking at, and all three combined pointed in the Down Syndrome direction. When I was pregnant with Gabriela, the odds they gave me were 1 in 5,000 I think. just for comparison.

Our options were to wait and see (yeah, right), get the 2nd trimester blood screening, which is just a screening and in order to be in the clear, I would have to get a 1 in 200 stat. I was already at 1 in 7. Or, I could have an amniocentesis. It's an invasive procedure, and there is risk of miscarriage. But the risk is 1 in 400.  So I had it done then and there. It was the only way to know for sure, since they analyze each of the chromosomes. And then we had to wait 10 to 14 days for the results.

Even though they got back to me in 9 days, it was a long wait. Instead of thinking about baby names, or deciding on the best cloth diaper options, or even worrying about the birth, I was thinking of much heavier things like whether or not our family could handle such a challenge.  I tried my best not to stress about it too much - my worrying wouldn't change the results. But let's get real. How can you not worry about it?

We are so relieved that our baby is healthy. I can't imagine spending the rest of my pregnancy worrying and wondering if everything would be okay. 

Gabriela Says...

reaction to my haircut:

"It's too short! It's not growing longer, it's not growing longer!"

On getting caught getting into stuff:
me: Gabriela, what are you doing?
G (immediately springing into my sight): I LOVE YOU, Mommy!

On being a big sister:

"Mommy, I think we should teach our baby signs. Let's teach the train sign to the baby"

"Rockabye, baby in the tree tops...and big sister will catch you, cradle and all"

After the chef at the Indian restaurant told her he would make her a nice mango curry the next time she came back:

"Mommy, why that man was talking Spanish?"

this confirms my theory that, to Gabriela, Spanish means any language that is not English.

On working it:
"Mommy, can you please cuddle with me because you're the best mommy in the whole world"