School is over for the summer

Carissa and Gabe both had their last day of school for the year today. This year neither one of them had any graduation or special event for parents to end the year with, but as far as they are concerned they have graduated from kindergarten and preschool. Two very big steps for them. They are both very excited for summer vacation and to be going on to 1st grade and kindergarten in the fall. Carissa is excited to go to school all day and to get to have lunch at school. Gabe is excited to get to be in one of the kindergarten class rooms, because he really likes Carissa's kindergarten class room. There is lots of cool stuff in there, you know. Carissa's report card for the end of the year showed that she got top scores in every area there is consistently for the whole year, and she is ending the year reading above grade level. A very great first year of school. Gabriel knows some letters/letter sounds, and numbers. (That is something that we are going to work on this summer.) And he is constantly working on math problems now at least orally. He likes add numbers together.

30 week appointment

I had my check up this morning, and I have gained 0.6 lbs since my last appointment. I passed my glucose test, but I'm a little anemic now. So I will start taking iron. The baby heart beat was about 160 bpm, and everything looks good. I am good to travel to CO and to walk around at Santa's Workshop too. I just have to pace myself, and while traveling stop and walk around every so often.

Baby stuff

I finally got the crib assembled about a week or so ago, and now I've got most of the clothes washed and put away. And, I bought a mattress and put the mattress, sheet, skirt, and bumper on the crib. The crib is brand new this time around, but the sheet, and skirt Carissa used and Carissa and Gabe both used the bumper. The bumper is one of a kind too, since my mom made it for us. Carissa and Gabe helped put the mattress and everything together and they were very excited to help. They even offered to carry the mattress up stairs for me and they did a very good job with it all by themselves.
Also, a lot of the clothes I've got so far have been a gift from Sheralyn, or I bought them at Kid to Kid. Kid to Kid had a great sale a little while back where you could buy 2 clearance baby items and get 1 free, and then they had a fill a bag sale. I filled my bag with 15 items and only had to pay $8.55 with tax. I have baby clothes ranging from newborn to 12 months now, at least a little in every size. But, mostly the newborn to 3 month sizes. I'm happy with how the closet in Gabe's room is coming along too. It is a deep closet and we've always used to for storage, before it was Gabe's room. So now the storage is in the back and I have 2 shower curtain rods in it to hang up Gabe's clothes and the baby's clothes.

28 week appointment

I had my 28 week appointment this morning with my glucose test. I managed to drink it all in 5-6 minutes, I was supposed to do it in 5 minutes. Not bad considering that I never drink anything that quickly. I am now up 10 lbs. for this pregnancy, and I measured at 28 cm and the baby's heart beat was right around 140 bpm. Everything looks good and seems to be going well. I should be fine to go CO next month, but I will see the doctor one more time before then too. I am now down to visits every 2 weeks, and I have every appointment scheduled from now until my due date too.

Round 2

Carissa started getting the rash on her checks yesterday, so now I guess both kids will have had fifths disease. Besides having the kids be more tired and therefore grumpy preceding the rash, this really hasn't been that bad. The rashes don't look very good, but mostly they don't seem to bother the kids at all. And, this is one of those illnesses that is better to get as a child than as an adult too. So, I guess that it is good that they are getting through it now.

Fifth's Disease

Sunday, Gabriel got a little rash on one of his checks and with our family's history of allergies and sensitive skin I figured that it had to do with that. I made sure I washed his check, and I waited but it never went away and actually got worse and spread to his other check by the end of the day. I still thought it would be gone by the next morning, but it was all over one of his checks and a small area of his other check. Then I thought about fifth's disease, and looked it up online. I was pretty sure from my past experience in daycare and the articles online that was what he had, but I wanted to confirm one way or the other with our doctor. So, we got an appointment for late Monday afternoon. My biggest concerns were whether or not Gabe could go to school, since everything I read said that once the rash starts they are no longer contagious; and whether or not I should be worried about the baby, since it can cause miscarriages in pregnant women. I was pretty sure that I was tested and told that I already had the antibodies for fifth's disease when I was pregnant with Carissa, which would mean that Carissa was safe and any other babies that I would have would be safe too. The doctor's said that Gabe's rash wasn't the typical looking case of fifth's disease, but they pretty much ruled out all other possibilities. And, then yesterday he got the rash on his body. It has been really interesting to watch, because the rash spreads and gets better as it goes so it never really covers his body.

Mother's Day

For Mother's Day this year, Carissa and Gabe both made presents for me at school. Gabriel made me a book mark with a picture of a flower with some "bees" around the flower by painting with his finger. There is a little poem on the back too, which was very nice. Carissa made me a flower basket card, and then a small poster which also has a flower on it that was made from Carissa's hands and feet with paint. On the back was a fill in the blank kind of thing where she said things about me like the thing that I'm the best at is cleaning the dishes. Carissa also made me a little picture while she was at Grandma's house. She said that it was a picture of the baby's crib and her holding the baby, and that she and the baby were sending me love from upstairs. Carissa said that was all because she is going to take care of her baby sister once she is born.