Kaily Grant

My baby girl not only made it full term, but they finally had to induce me on Wednesday, June 13th the day after my 32nd birthday!

Family traits

On Thursday I had yet another ultrasound and the technician took a few great 3D pictures of the baby girl. I just can't get over how much she looks like Henry. Here's the latest pic of baby girl beside one of Henry when he was about 20 days old - same little nose and lips!

Pregnancy Update

We've been chugging through this pregnancy with just a few hiccups along the way.

At the end of March, I noticed one evening that I had been having quite a few contractions and by morning I was still noticing them. So I called the doc and they wanted to see me that day.

After a visit and a Non-Stress Test, they agreed that I was indeed having contractions and sent me over to the hospital. I went over around 5 in the afternoon and was there until 10:30 that night. While there I was given Procardia, a blood-pressure medicine that also happens to reduce contractions and was ordered to continue taking it every 6 hours. They also gave me a dose of steroids to help the baby's lungs develop, just in case I did go into labor anytime soon.

After the hospital trip, I was also put on modified bed rest which means to stay off my feet whenever possible, while still being able to get up to take a shower or make some lunch.

Luckily my job allows me to work from home when needed, so I began working from home the first week of April. It actually wasn't too big of a change, since I work remotely with the Chicago office most of the time. It is however, lonely and it didn't take long to realize that Stoli wasn't much for conversation. ;)

At this point, I got to start going into the office weekly and was getting ultrasounds every couple weeks to measure baby's progress, growth, oxygen levels, amniotic fluid and blood flow.

After this, we were going pretty good for a while and so excited to be hitting the weeks in the 30's.

At one of our many ultrasounds, baby's abdomen was measuring small and we realized that my placenta had started to mature and was not working as well as it should be. But as long as baby was still growing and not distressed, they wanted to leave her in there. So we were now seeing the doc twice a week, doing ultrasounds and NSTs just to keep an eye on the baby. My Dad joked that I need some kind of punch card to get every 10th ultrasound free. :D
 
On May 21st, week 35 and 5 days, I was having more then 4-6 contractions an hour, which was the cut off point for calling the doc. So yet again we found ourselves at the hospital. I stayed the night and was having consistent contractions 3 min apart all night, and knowing that this was the same week that we had Henry, we were just sure that we would be having a baby that next morning.

They upped my dose of meds to double the amount every 4 hours and somehow that managed to slow the contractions down. And we were able to go home by midday the following day.

So now we've made it to 36 weeks and would love to make it to 37, which is no longer considered pre-term. I'm still having contractions, but all the meds are slowing everything down. At this point, I'm kinda ready to have this baby and I'm more then thrilled to have even made it this far!

So here's hoping that we'll make it at least to May 30th, which marks our 37th week!

Baby on Board

Henry in his Big Brother shirt

As usual, I am so far behind on updating my blog that it is just ridiculous! As it turns out, we have some exciting news! We are expecting baby #2!

This time around I was definitely more sick and generally "pukey" feeling during the first trimester. And because Henry was early, I have all kinds of warning signs for having another preterm baby, so the pregnancy hasn't been perfect. However, I am feeling fantastic (except for an aching back and my tendency to catch every single cold and bug around). And baby seems to be doing well!

According to Henry, he also has a baby in his tummy and has been stuck on this notion for quite some time now. We thought for sure he would forget about it, but now we are hitting that point where we've had to start delivering the hard truth that boys can't have babies. I feel bad crushing his dreams like that, and especially because it's so darn cute to hear his progress reports. At one point, his baby was the size of a donut! (with pink frosting)  :)

Because of all my "high risk" issues, we've had several ultrasounds and decided that it would be fun to know this time around if we were good to go with baby products, or if I could start buying pink! As it turns out, it seems Hahn and I have broken the "Ainsworth Y chromosome curse!" because it's been confirmed at THREE separate ultrasounds, we are having a girl! I always hoped I would be lucky enough to get one of each and it seems my dream has come true. I just know this little girl is going to love and get along with her brother just like I did with Grant!

The due date is June 20th and this photo marks me at the 100 day countdown. I feel gigantic already and I still have a ways to go! We are taking weekly progesterone shots and doing other things to hopefully keep this baby in there for as long as we can. So hopefully my next big update will be sometime in June when baby arrives and I can share her photos!

Train Museum

Sam and Ed's little guy Jack is obsessed with trains! Henry has a love of them too, but not like Jack. So when Sam had heard about the Greeley Freight Station Museum and invited us to go along, we figured why not!

I really had no idea what to expect, but it was actually the coolest thing! A gigantic warehouse with the biggest collection of model trains I've ever seen! There must have been a dozen volunteers that ran the trains and the displays. They also had a collection of train memorabilia; signs, lights, tools, hard hat, etc. as well as an actual train car you could walk around in.

To add a little fun, they have a list of things to find in the displays as well as 5 dinosaurs that are hidden throughout as well. We had so much fun finding everything and exploring the museum!

Denver Museum of Nature and Science

Henry's best smile all day, he didn't quite get the whole 'look scared' idea

Over Christmas break we took Henry to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science to see the animatronic dinosaur exhibit. I think Henry was actually a little scared when we first went in, the dinosaurs moved around and the sound effects made it sound like we were in a jungle as soon as we walked in. But after we explained that they weren't real, he thought they were pretty cool.

We also spent a lot of time in the taxidermy animal exhibits, Henry just loved pointing out all the animals he knew and asking the names of others. We were thinking how even at the zoo, it's not uncommon for the animals to be hiding towards the back somewhere, where here they were all right up front and holding still so it was easy to spot them!

We were right in the middle of potty training Henry during this visit and we were so proud of him for warning us every time we had to make a quick trip to the restroom.



Henry was also pretty stoked about the dinosaur bones and we spent a good amount of time wandering around this area.

We ended our trip in the Mission to Mars area, and Henry absolutely loved the astronaut pretend area. He looked so darn cute in the tiny jumpsuits and backpacks! And of course there was lots of buttons to press, so he had a blast!

I Love Bzzing!

As many of my friends know, (they hear me talk about it enough) I'm a BzzAgent! And I love it, because reviewing free stuff is the best!

Today I was super psyched to hear that the Daily Bzz was the Star Wars Complete Saga on Blu-ray! Um.. YES PLEASE! And here's why I would be perfect for it.

• It's my Mom's all time favorite movie and I've seen all of them (especially IV, V and VI) more times then I can count. It was just a part of growing up at my house to break out 'A New Hope' and see Mom's favorite scene with Luke watching the pair of setting suns.
• My husband is also a big fan and we've already converted my 2 year old! He has a Star Wars ABC book and already knows that 'Y' is for Yoda! And last year he was an Ewok for Halloween!
• As a reward for his first teaching job, my husband got himself a new 52", flat-screen TV and it is just plain wrong that we don't own these movies on Blu-ray yet!

So here's hoping that Jono and the people at BzzAgent think that me (and my family) are worthy of this Daily Bzz!

Air Show!

Hahn and Henry went to the Airshow with Doug and Kate. It takes place at the Air Force base up in Cheyenne that Doug used to serve at. Henry has been interested in airplanes lately, so Hahn thought he would like it, and man, did he ever! He got to sit in many of the planes, and pull on levers and gears. I think this is something we'll be doing again next year!

Henry and his very own (LEGO) airplane!

Henry's First Baseball Game!

  We took Henry to his first

Rockies game this Spring! It unfortunately was a cold and rainy day, but at least we had seats tucked back out of the rain.

The Wranosky family joined us and I think, overall that we all had a good time. Not sure that the boys actually even noticed that there was a game going on. ;) Henry's favorite thing to do during the game was to "clean" the peanut shells off the ground under our seats. **ick**

Children's Museum

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Sam and I were determined to get the boys to the Children's Museum this year. They had both turned 2 just a couple months earlier and it couldn't have been a better time. They LOVED it!

The fire truck in the beginning was popular, as we would have assumed, but the boys really like the old school pay phone (that showed how 911 worked) - they are so used to our flat rectangular iphones, they thought the big metal buttons were the best!

All us adults were a little disappointed to find out that the grocery store, which we all have fond memories of, was closed for renovations. But they certainly didn't realize that the temporary space wasn't as cool.

The bubble lab and painting room were also big hits! We ended the day with a picnic outside before heading back home for nap time!

Henry just loved this firefighter! It was lucky that I got a picture of him in the gear, it only stayed on for maybe another minute! :)

Bounce house!

Yippee!

 Sam and I decided that it was a worth while investment to just go ahead and buy a bounce house! We found one for a great price on Craigslist and rest is history! Now if only the boys didn't have February birthdays! :P

Auntie Marge having a grand time!

Rockstar!

Henry has mastered the art of dancing, and loves to run into our living room and turn on the radio so he can rock out! Now any amount of music, be it a ringtone or a commercial and he starts dancing!

If that wasn't enough, Henry has also become quite interested in guitars, I think once he gets a little older, we're going to have to get him in some music classics!

Henry's First Road Trip!

We decided to take our first family road trip to Santa Fe this summer to visit Henry's Uncle Skip and Aunt Claudia. On the way we stopped in Colorado Springs to visit Skip, Kathy and Emily and also take in the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. This was Henry's first trip to the zoo and we couldn't have picked a better one! If you have never visited, you should make it a point, it's a wonderful little secret!

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Henry wasn't sure what he thought about the giraffe that could walk right up and eat from your hands, but he did love the noisy monkeys and wandering peacocks!

Hanging out a Skip and Kathy's

 From Colorado Springs, it was still a good 3 hour drive to Santa Fe and Henry did terrific! He slept for a good portion and got to watch a movie, so it wasn't too bad at all!

Our first day in Santa Fe we spent the morning touring the galleries on Canyon Road. The weather was perfect and coolish, and Henry was quite the trooper, we definitely wore him out!

 Henry was immediate best friends with his Aunt Claudia!

 

Henry  Also got quite the kick out of the dogs Kajeta and Castro. Even though there was a small incident when Henry got in the way of Castro's must-chase-ball instincts. He got toppled over and managed to scrape up his forehead, but he a good sport and was back to playing with them in no time. 

We had a great time visiting and spent a lot of time just chillin' out at the house and chatting away. We can't wait to go back and visit again soon!

Summer Fun!

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Being able to walk definitely made this summer more exciting for Henry. We had many an adventure to the park nearby to splash in their water features.
And a few days when it was just to darn hot outside, Sam and I took the boys over to an indoor play place called 'Cool Beans'. As you can see in the above photos, they had a great time!

Just taking a rest to cool off for a second!

Daddy, check out this fountain!

Father's Day weekend!

We had a fun day planned for Father's Day this year. We started off by making waffles for breakfast at our house. (In Hahn's brand new flippy waffle maker) And then after Henry's morning nap, we met up to drive to Lyons. We ate lunch at Oskar Blues, which was a hopping place and quite tasty, I got to eat fried green tomatoes!

Finally the big stop was at the pinball arcade on Main street. It's this tiny ramshackle of a building with room after tiny room, stuffed with side by side pinball machines! Hahn, Dad and Gary were all in heaven! I played several games with Dad and 'kind of' held my own against his amazing pinball talent. (My mom says he majored in pinball at CSU)


Pinball was a huge success with the Dads. :)


I also went garage saleing on Saturday and found this awesome tricycle for Henry. He can't actually reach the pedals yet, which is ok because it has a nice handle for pushing him. He LOVES it!


All in all it was a wonderful weekend! Full of yummy food and lots of fun!