30 Weeks

I am officially 30 weeks pregnant.
Which means baby girl is the size of a cabbage.
(which reminds me of the one time I asked TJ to run to the grocery store to buy a head of lettuce, and he came home with cabbage…silly TJ)
30 weeks also means there are only 10 weeks left until my due date.
Currently, baby girl is hanging out in the breech position (as she has been the entire pregnancy).
If you remember, Riker was also breech…which led to an emergency c-section.
TJ and I have decided to do another c-section for this delivery, which means baby girl can be here in 9 weeks
(doc said we can deliver a week early…as long as baby girl is growing big and strong).
I’m totally okay with delivering early.
Riker decided to show up 3 weeks early, which was awesome because I was SO done with being pregnant.
Of course, I was also completely unprepared for Riker’s arrival
(as in, didn’t even own one article of baby clothing!)
so I’m determined to be ready for whenever baby girl decides to arrive.
We are no where near being ready, but slowly yet surely things are coming together.
Exhibit A: clothing

Goodness, that’s a lot of pink!
Thanks to an amazing consignment sale last weekend, I have stocked up on plenty of teeny tiny pink things for baby girl to wear
(at least, from zero to six months…)
There are onesies and leggings, flowers and ruffles.
As I sat there folding all of the clothes, I would hold one up to Riker and say “Look how cute!”…
pretty soon, he was laughing and shouting “cute” and “pretty” every time I picked something new up.
I think he’ll be a pretty good big brother.
We might not be completely ready for baby sister to make her appearance,
but having all these teeny clothes makes me feel at least a little bit prepared!

O-H-I-O

Fall has definitely arrived here in Ohio.
The weather is crisp and cool, the leaves are starting to change colors, and football season is in full swing!

Riker has definitely developed his dad’s obsession with the game, which makes TJ one happy dad!

Since there is football on TV all day Saturday, Riker is constantly shouting “hootbul!”

Now TJ just needs Riker’s football skills to match up with his enthusiasm!

Exploring Columbus: Granville Orchard

Our first fall in Ohio, I was working full time and TJ was in school full time so there was little time to fall activities.
Our second fall in Ohio, I was a new mom who lived and died by Riker’s nap schedule so I missed many activities that coincided with naps.
Since this is our last fall in Ohio, I don’t want to miss out on anything…beginning with apple picking!
We went with some friends to the Granville Orchard and came home with a bag full of Cortland and Gala apples.

(this is what it looks like when you say “cheese” with a mouthful of apple!)

(Riker is such a good sharer!)

Hooray for fun fall festivities!

Too Bad McDreamy Wasn’t On Call

Last night, Riker made his first trip to the Emergency Room. Around 7:30pm, I was playing with Riker in the living room. I pulled him onto my lap so we could sing a song together and I immediately noticed that there was something wrong with his eyes. His right pupil was huge (I believe “dilated” is the correct term) and his left pupil appeared normal.

I wasn’t sure if I was seeing it correctly, so I grabbed a nearby flashlight to shine in his eyes. Sure enough, the left pupil constricted (as it normally should) but the right pupil stayed dilated. I quickly opened my laptop and did a little Google research…after seeing one too many websites talking about brain bleeding and neurological problems, I started to panic. TJ walked in the door a few minutes later and could tell by my face that something was wrong. I showed him Riker’s eyes and TJ immediately stood up and said it was time to go to the ER.

We were seen quickly in triage, where they affixed a sad little hospital bracelet to Riker’s poor little foot. Once we were admitted to a room to see a doctor, Riker was given a gown (which he kept asking us to take off).

TJ was pretty high strung and nervous as we waited for the doctor. I told him to turn the GOP debate on to help distract him (which didn’t exactly work since his favorite candidate *Perry* didn’t do very well in the debate).

Eventually, the doctor came in to check out Riker. After talking with him, it was determined that Riker was having a reaction to some insecticide that was sprayed earlier in the day (even though the warning label said it was safe to use with kids in the home!). We were told to take him home and monitor him through the night, and then follow up with our pediatrician the next day.
Of course, very little sleep actually took place last night. We put Riker in a pack-n-play in our room (since his bedroom was apparently a toxic warzone), and TJ was constantly getting up to make sure Riker was still breathing and responsive.
When Riker woke up the next morning, his eyes definitely looked better. The right pupil was still bigger than the left, but not as big as it had been. As the day went on, the right eye just kept looking better and better. A visit to the pediatrician this afternoon confirmed what the ER doctor had said. The pediatrician said his eyes look fine (and should both be equal by tomorrow) and that there should not be any lasting effects. It seems that just enough of the toxins got into his body to mess with his pupils, but not enough to have any major symptoms (most children that present with any signs of toxicity in their symptoms also have decreased vision, lethargic behavior, vomiting, etc).
Riker was a trooper through it all, but by the end of today he was definitely tired of people asking to look at his eyes!

Moral of the story: don’t use Raid. Ever.

Exploring Columbus: Battelle-Darby Creek Metro Park

I don’t know what exactly a “Metro Park” is, but Columbus has a lot of them.
This weekend, we checked out Battelle-Darby Creek Metro Park.
And I decided that I am definitely going to miss all the GREEN here in Ohio!

In true TJ-fashion, he found a bug.
Actually, I think it was a caterpillar.
But he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to teach Riker how to poke bugs with sticks.

Riker’s hand is all sorts of blurry because he was frantically poking that poor caterpillar as fast as he could!
This “metro park” was definitely pretty and so fun to check out…
perhaps our next adventure will be another metro park!

Park of Roses: Take 2

Remember my last post?
When we discovered the duck pond at the Park of Roses?
Well, we went back over the weekend with some bread to feed those cute ducks!

Riker adopted a “one for you, one for me” policy when it came to feeding the ducks.
And we didn’t stay as long as we had anticipated…
because, as it turns out, Lisa has an unnatural fear of the ducks.
They were just way too comfortable with humans and were coming much too close for comfort.
I was pretty sure that at any moment they were going to attack.
Next time, I’ll stay home and just send TJ and Riker.

Exploring Columbus: Park of Roses

This is not our first time visiting this park…we’ve played on this playground a few times before.
Since TJ had the day off from school and the weather was GLORIOUS
(hello, we are all wearing jeans and sweaters!)
we headed back for another visit.

As always, the swings are Riker’s favorite!

But we did do some further exploring at this park…

And we found a pond!

Riker loved the ducks and TJ and I regretted not having any bread to feed them!

Riker loved the ducks SO much, we had to make sure he didn’t chase them into the water
(which he tried to do several times!)

And…
I’m now 27 weeks pregnant.

   

I can still wear several of my own jeans,
paint my own toes,
and run after Riker.
I can no longer get an uninterrupted night of sleep,
button my cardigans,
or sleep on my stomach.

Three Months

That’s how much longer we have until baby girl makes her appearance.
Three months is not a lot of time.
Especially when I stop and think about how absolutely unprepared we are for her.
No clothes.
No stroller.
No bed.
No name.
No nothing.
But no worries…I have some plans to rectify my unpreparedness.

Clothes:
There are some great consignment sales coming up this month and I plan to stock up on plenty of clothes for little miss.
Also, I purchased a sewing machine so I can sew ruffles on the bum of EVERYTHING!

Stroller:
I know which double stroller I want
(because it’s the only one that will fit in our tiny trunk!), so I just keep watching for sales.

Bed:
Little Miss will be getting a pack-n-play, at least until Riker moves out of the crib and into a “big boy bed”…so I just need to decide which one to buy.

Name:
TJ has names that he really likes and I have names that I really like.
But none of our names match.
I do like some of the names that TJ has picked…
but none of them seem to be the right name for our little girl.
So I just keep repeating my favorite names over and over in an attempt to get TJ to just give in!

So I might not be totally prepared to have this baby right now…but I still have 3 whole months!

Scioto Mile Splash Pad

Did you know that Columbus was ranked as one of the top 10 Fall Destination spots by National Geographic?
Well, it was.
I was kind of surprised to hear this…
but then again, we haven’t ventured out too much
(other than the zoo)
so we haven’t truly experienced everything Columbus has to offer.
So since this is our last year in Ohio, it is my goal to experience as much of what Columbus has to offer as possible.

Today, Riker and I ventured downtown with a friend to check out the new splash pad at the Scioto Mile.
Riker was in heaven.

 

I have a lot of pictures of Riker’s back because he was much too busy playing in the “wata” to pay attention to me.
But he would always stop and smile for Jen’s camera!

And of course, Riker didn’t want to be bugged during our lunch break.

That look right there?
He’s basically saying “get that thing out of my face, woman!”

We definitely loved this splash pad and we are definitely sad that we didn’t discover it earlier.
We plan to experience more and more of Columbus, so if you need a vacation this fall you can always come visit me!