Happy 9th Birthday Abby!!

So our Abby cakes had a fantastic birthday this year. I did what I do every year and decorated the dining room the night before Abby's birthday. She woke up to lots of streamers and pink and lime prettiness. I even spelled her name on the wall with streamers. That morning we picked up 50 munchkins for her to bring in to her class. Her school day was great. As tradition calls for I let her pick what we had for dinner that night. She chose sloppy joes and smiley face fries. Mmmmm! When Daddy, Juan and Uncle Frankie finally came home from work we gave her her present from us, had some cake and celebrated. She went to bed one happy little girl.

The second half of her birthday didn't come until October 1st. She had been dying for a sleepover party at the Aloft hotel. She had been to a friend's birthday party there in December and hadn't forgot about how much fun she had. We had a combined party with her best friend Mya. Total there were 7 girls there and boy did it get loud! We tried to tire them out with lots of swimming but ate some pizza, made an owl craft and watched a movie before the night was over too. She loved every minute of it. I'm sure this will go down in history as one of her favorite parties EVER.

Scaredy cat Alexa!

Our family is a bit odd....maybe we're mean. I don't know! But all of us enjoy finding things that make Alexa jump, flinch, or whine. One day while at the pool we discovered that Alexa doesn't like the sound of people popping gum. She flinches every time a bubble pops. Daddy thought this was hysterical and tortured her for a good 2 minutes. It was hysterical to watch her blink her eyes 1,000 time in anticipation of the bubble popping. Bad Daddy!

Another thing that she dislikes is the sound of a balloon being blown up. She will run from someone blowing one up and whine until they stop. The fear/dislike doesn't stop there. She also dislikes the sound a balloon makes if you let the air out while pulling the top of the balloon apart. We really do love you Alexa!

September 27, 2011- Gender Reveal

Leaving the ultrasound I felt amazing! Burt was super excited to be having another son and I knew the kids would be thrilled. After I dropped Burt off I started on my mission. I stopped by Party City to order the blue balloons for the balloon release and the yellow and black balloons needed to decorate for our bee themed mini party. I also made a quick stop at the storage store to buy a huge U-haul box. Alexa and I finally ended our shopping at Carters. She was a bit cranky by then as she hadn't had a nap yet so I didn't get to go baby boy crazy like I really wanted. I bought 3 or 4 sleepers, 1 or 2 outfits, and a super soft blue star blanket. The princess took a short cat nap in the car and we headed home. I had about a half hour to hide the balloons in the box and wrap it. I taped the yellow and black balloons around and hung the "Baby McCabe" bee themed banner. As soon as I picked up the kids the questions started. They were interrogating me and I wouldn't budge. They analyzed every answer for clues. When we got home we made a short list of boys and girls names that they'd like to name the baby. The list included but was not limited to Gabe (from Good Luck Charlie) and Phineas (from Phineas and Ferb). Silly kids! Too much TV! When I finally let them open the box the smiles were priceless! Unfortunately Abby grabbed one of the balloons as they were floating out of the box so I didn't get any pictures of her smiles but I guarantee there were smiles. They were both giddy excited for at least an hour afterwards.

September 27, 2011- He or She? What will it bee?

It's taken me awhile but I finally have all of my blog posts transferred over from the other blog. I feel quite accomplished and yet so far behind. I still need to post some Alexa updates and the gender reveal pictures. I'm really going to try to keep up this go round. I feel like I'm already forgetting so much about this pregnancy and so many of the cute things Alexa is doing nowadays. My baby is getting big.

I had my level 2 anatomy scan on the 27th. The big kids were at school so Burt and I took Alexa with us. I know my tummy was full of butterflies but I don't remember all of the thoughts that were racing through my head. The ultrasound technician looked familiar and I think I saw her at my 1st perinatology appointment this pregnancy. She definitely remembered me. We were lead to a new ultrasound room. I can't remember exactly how long we were back there but it felt like awhile. I felt like she took her time and was very thorough. She started off measuring the baby's head. It felt like she stayed focused on the baby's head/brain for awhile. I started to get nervous. Is this it? Would this be when we got the bad news? Were there cysts in the brain? A million questions raced through my head. She finally moved on and Burt asked if everything checked out with the baby's head. She said "Yup!" and moved on. As the ultrasound progressed she loosened up a bit. Maybe we loosened up a bit. Who knows! I just know that we all started getting a little more chatty. She checked a few times trying to see if the baby would move into a better position for her to check his/her heart but the baby had it's back turned to us. She suggested I get up and empty my bladder and hopefully make him/her a bit uncomfortable. I went into the bathroom, peed, and jumped around. No lie! I did a few squats and a few jumping jacks. Anyone that reads this will probably think I'm crazy. I was determined to finish this ultrasound knowing that everything was okay with this little one and was even more determined to find out the gender. Sure enough when I laid back on the table we saw that he/she had turned. She started checking the baby's heart. 1,2,3,4 chambers. Good. She did all sorts of measuring and checking of different valves. At this point I felt confident in the baby's health and was getting antsy about the gender. She did a quick sweep by the goods and sure enough there was a WEINER!! Baby McCabe is a boy! A very well endowed boy. Burt was so excited about the size of his son's peanut that I thought for sure he was going to ask the tech to measure it. I must admit now looking at the ultrasound pictures that she printed out our little man seems to have a lot going on down there. I've studied the picture over and over. I've even put a little bit of doubt into my own head. Is his "pecker" really the umbilical cord? Did the tech make a mistake? I'm holding on to all of my baby boy purchase receipts just in case. The ultrasound ended pretty quickly after that. She did a quick cervical length check and it measured 3.7cm. We were overflowing with good news. A quick chat with Dr. W and he again reassured us that baby looked amazing. I scheduled my next cervical length check/growth scan for October 25th at 10:45. I definitely plan on asking the tech to double check the gender again. Something is not letting me accept that this munchkin is a boy. Lets hope that the sea of blue entering Alexa's closet is there for good.

September 19, 2011- 18 weeks

So I've been waiting and waiting to feel some baby karate in there. There have been a few times when I thought I may have felt it but nothing for sure until today. I sat on the couch curled up to the coffee table playing around on my laptop and there it was...some baby break dancing! Apparently this little one doesn't want to be squished. I'm 18 weeks today. This is all starting to feel a bit real. In 8 days we will (fingers crossed) know whether we have a baby boy McCabe or a baby girl McCabe. I really want to surprise the kids with the gender. They'll be in school when we find out so I'm considering throwing a mini gender reveal party for them when they get home. I've seen some really cute themes and ideas on the internet. My favorite so far is a "HE or SHE, what's it gonna BEE?" theme. Mainly yellow and black decorations and possibly a pink and blue balloon release. The other theme in second place is a monkey theme with the words "Boy or Girl? We're gonna go bananas if we don't find out soon!" I don't have quite as many ideas for the monkey theme though. I have a week to get it all done. Oh yea and to finish up the odds and ends for Abby's slumber party. Oy vey!

September 12, 2012- Hello in there little one!

This morning at 10:10am I had my monthly appointment with the midwives. My usual midwife, Becca, is out this month and next month because she had her hand operated on. Instead I saw Amy. She's very nice but very quick and to the point. Becca is much more chatty. I gained a 1/2lb. My blood pressure by the nurses definition was a bit high (140/82), but Amy said that was fine and wasn't worried about it a bit. With that she had me hop up onto the table to take a listen with the doppler. I held Alexa in between my legs and within a couple of seconds we heard this little peanut's heart beating nice and loud. I've had ultrasounds where we heard the baby's heartbeat but it always makes the pregnancy feel more real to start being able to check on him/her with the doppler at every appointment. When we couldn't catch it at my 12 week appointment I was very disappointed. Since then I've been waiting to feel any sort of movement in there but sadly have yet to feel that either. This was just another pregnancy milestone under my belt.

It's hard to believe that by my next appointment we'll know if Scooby Snack is a boy or a girl. My next appointment is October 10th. Boy! Boy! Boy! We need some more blue around here.

September 7, 2011- I can breathe again!

At 6:24pm I got the call that took a giant weight off my chest. I've been super stressed thinking about the health of this little Scooby Snack. I couldn't imagine getting through the emotional wreck I would've been had I received bad news. Monday's blood draw went great. Patty the nurse who does the blood draws is exceptionally understanding. She knows why I'm a super neurotic patient and she's ok with that. We talked about how my risk ratio was very similar to the risk ratio I received with Alexa. She calmed me down a bit and promised to call with the results as soon as she got them. She said the earliest they would be in would be Thursday but that the office had off on Friday so I may not hear from her until Monday. She did however instruct me that if I didn't hear from her on Thursday that I should call early on Monday morning. She wouldn't be able to call me until the end of the day but if I called her she said she'd have to take the call and could then give me my results. I couldn't have been more surprised when I received the call from her tonight, 1 day after the blood was drawn. She started by saying "I have good news for you!". I said "Really good news? Like I can breathe again good news?". She said "Yes!". My new down syndrome ratio went from 1:140 to 1:1,200. Woo! Woo! My T-18 ratio stayed the same at the lowest possible risk of 1:10,000. My spina bifida ratio (which I never received last time) is 1:1,400. All of my ratios came back better then my age related risks. I couldn't be happier right now. I feel amazing!!!