Pregnancy Pictures and Hopes for a VBAC

Well, Nikki is definitely showing earlier than she did with Allie. This makes Nikki nervous because she feels that she got plenty big with Allie. A week ago, Nikki was at the park with Allie, when a woman asked her if she was due in April. We don't think she looks that big yet. Perhaps her shirt just wasn't flattering or really emphasized her bump. Here are some pictures from 20 and 23 weeks.

20 Weeks Pregnant

23 Weeks Pregnant

And just for comparison, here is a picture from 23 weeks with Allie.

23 Weeks with Allie

The pregnancy is much better now that Nikki is not throwing up all the time. She doesn't seem to have as much energy as she remembers getting with Allie after the sickness passed, but perhaps that is because she now has Allie to take care of. She definitely takes advantage of Allie's naps and takes a nap herself.

Nikki is able to feel our little girl move a lot. She seems to be very active at the times when Nikki lays down to sleep, both at nap time and at night. She will often feel her quite a bit when she wakes up in the middle of the night. We would both be okay if this schedule changes a little before her arrival.

Allie has learned to point, or hit (somewhat softly), Nikki's belly when we ask her where the baby is. And she has even said that her and Jared have babies in their tummies, too. Despite all this, though, we really don't think she gets it. And we sort of doubt she will until the baby comes.

Nikki had to have a c-section with Allie due to Allie being breech. We were surprised to find out that very few hospitals in Oklahoma allow VBACs (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean). Stillwater's hospital has a no-VBAC policy, so we have decided to go to a doctor in Oklahoma City so that we can at least have a chance at having a VBAC. Our doctor is at OU Medical (Oklahoma University), where all of the doctors and even their midwives perform VBACs. We feel really confident in the care that Nikki has been receiving, and our doctor is really nice. What will determine whether or not Nikki can try for a VBAC in the end is how well she progresses on her own. If she progresses well, then she can attempt a VBAC. But if she doesn't progress and they are wanting to induce her, then chances are that she'll end up having another c-section because the success rate of a VBAC with inducement is somewhere near or under 50% (our doctor told us, but we don't remember the rate right now). The down part of going into the city is the drive. It takes about an hour and 15-20 minutes to get to there. Luckily, though, Nikki's sister Maria lives only 15-20 minutes away from the doctor, so if need-be, Nikki can stay with her near the end. We feel really good about having made the decision to go to a doctor and hospital in the city.

Look What We Found Outside Our Front Door on March 1st

Daffodils!! They were only beginning to bloom on March 1st. This picture was taken March 3rd. We hope this doesn't make those of you in Washington, Idaho, and New York too jealous.

Allie at 20 Months

Well, these pictures and videos are from around 20 months.

Allie loves to have us read to her. If we let her, she will bring us book after book to read, until we have read all her books, or at least all of her books that are in that room. Occasionally, she will open books and read them to herself out loud. It is pretty cute. She seems to really like some of Nikki's American Revolution themed books, as well as a few of her novels. Usually she will actually spend about 5-10 seconds on a page and then turn a few pages, and read some more. Here's a video in which she was much more brief on each page. She had chosen Thomas Paine's Common Sense. We were  hoping to capture her reading for a longer period of time, but after a sneeze, you will notice that she looked at the camera. And that is something else about her - she loves to see the pictures and videos we have taken. Once she notices the camera, she will automatically come at us in order to see what we have captured. So we have to be sneaky.

"Cheese" Again

Dress up with Daddy's shoes

Did you know they made green straitjackets?

Nikki had gotten out some of her scrubs, and Allie had so much fun playing with the jackets. The above picture was Allie enjoying Mommy's green scrub jacket with circles on it. Allie is great at recognizing and pointing out circles (as well as some other shapes, but I think we mentioned that in an earlier post).

Our Winter Snow Storms

So in the last month or two, Oklahoma was hit with some pretty fun snow storms. The first day of the first one was admittedly bad (there was a lot of snow and high, cold winds), but we were surprised to see how Stillwater shutdown due to the snow. This is probably because we moved from Rexburg, Idaho, where there is snow most of the year - or at least there is a lot of it in the winter. We had heard that Walmart was extremely busy the day before the expected snow storm, and when we went two days later, we saw proof of it. It made us laugh a little, but at least the people were trying to be prepared. Here are some pictures of what our Super Walmart looked like.

Only the more expensive brands of bread were left.

The bottled water area was hit hard.

Only two cartons of eggs were left. Oh, and the black pepper that is randomly kept in the middle of the egg section. In case you want chilled black pepper, I guess.

It was too cold for Allie to go out in the snow the first couple days, mostly because of the wind. But when we did take her out, she loved it. She seemed to love the crunching sound beneath her feet, and was just in awe of it. Here are some pictures of one of our outings to get the mail. The may be from after the second snow storm, which didn't bring as much snow. I don't remember. And for some reason, she wanted to bring her toy ice cream cone out with her. Silly girl. I guess she already knows that ice cream is good anytime

We tried to get Allie to walk in tire tracks, where the snow wasn't as deep. She insisted on walking where the snow was deeper, and she kept trying to pull us into the deeper snow. Here's a short video of her walking in the snow. You can see how she tries to step past the tire tracks in order to step in the deeper snow.

This picture doesn't do justice to beauty of the red sky that was present the morning of the second snow storm. I couldn't help but think: "Red sky in morning, sailors take warning," especially since we knew we were expecting a storm.

Our Little Tornado Allie between 18 and 19 Months

Allie continues to progress in speech and other areas. She loves to either watch a video or spread her toys everywhere. We lovingly call her our little Tornado Allie. Perhaps you've noticed that her toys always seem to be in the background of many pictures. We can clean up, and within 5 minutes (or less), she can have them spread out all over the floor. If we take the majority of her toys upstairs, which we often do, she will have them all back downstairs before we know it. This is pretty normal for a toddler, we're sure, but she still merits her nickname.

Here are some pictures of her from between 18 and 19 months or so.

"Cheese"
She frequently puts her head back while saying cheese for pictures.

What was left of sticky window hearts for Valentine's day after Tornado Allie got to them. (There were even some on the cupboards outside of the camera's view.)

She will slow down occasionally.

Here's a video of her dancing. She LOVES to dance!

 

Nap time is precious. We all appreciate Allie's naps. It takes her awhile to wind down; Allie will play in her crib for awhile, and talk and/or sing to herself before finally falling asleep. Here are some pictures of our little Allie sleeping and recharging her batteries.

Head covered, hand out one side, feet out the other.

Nikki decided to uncover her face so that she could breath better.