Funny Chinese Signs

I saw this at a Chinese Sea World in Qingdao

"Special Use for the Old, Lonely, and Single"

Ouch, that's harsh

They forgot the 't' in Peanuts

"Fried Dry Fish with Peanus" Ha!

Bruce Willis, the driver

Found this ad at the grocery store.

Really disturbing stuffed animal.

I saw this in the play area at our clubhouse.

No one has seen it since last summer.

Ready for Baby!

The Crib

Baby will sleep in our room for awhile...

Wardrobe and Baby Changing Station

I know, this needs some color!

Can't wait to spruce it up with blue or pink.

40 Weeks... Induced but Nothing...

40 Weeks Pregnant

At the Hospital... Waiting...

Creepy Lop-Sided Belly!

Monday marked my 40th week of pregnancy, so I went to see my doctor to make sure everything is okay... I'm seeing a new one, Dr. Afnan, he wears bow ties everyday which I find a little odd but he's super nice, gentle, good listener, but most important- I trust him.

I shared with Dr. Afnan that I wasn't feeling the baby move as much so they gave me a Non-Stress-Test (NST). basically, they hook you up to some monitors to hear the baby's heartbeat and I press a button every time it moves and the machine graphs all of this. Holy cow the baby was moving during that! However, the heartbeat slowed down (they call them decelerations) four different times. There were two times that it was significant because it went from 140 to 90 beats. To play it safe, the doctor wanted to induce me that day. I was a little bummed and totally not prepared, but whatever is best for the baby. I was admitted around 11:30 am and they put a prostaglandin in to ripen my cervix. The machine said that I was having contractions but I didn't really feel them, but more importantly, no decelerations from the baby... I kept myself busy with the iTouch- thank gawd I brought that with me because there's wireless! Around 4 pm, I felt something a little stronger but those went away. Travis arrived around 6 pm and we hung out, watched an episode of Glee, and went to bed early... just waiting for something to happen...

The next morning, I felt just fine and really wanted to leave. The midwives mentioned giving me pitocin (drug that simulates Oxytocin, which brings-on contractions) but I was very clear that I didn't want that. To be honest, I was scared. I heard horror stories about how painful that can make your contractions, especially if they give you too much. Plus, if it doesn't work then they have to cut you open and get the baby out. That all seems really overwhelming... Luckily, our doctor agreed and we did another NST Tuesday morning and everything was fine. After they took the prostaglandin out, they observed me. I wasn't dilated at all (maybe a finger-tip), so we went home. I really missed Gabby and she was SO HAPPY to see us. I swear she just grew-up a little that day I missed. She said, 'I want the baby out now!" I couldn't agree with her more.

I go see the doctor tomorrow, unless of course I go into labor, and I'll do another NST and see how the baby is doing and if I dilated at all... Of course, I'll keep everyone updated.

I ovulated late the month I conceived and Gabby was six days late... so it looks as though we may have a couple of days, but who really knows.

Send my some positive labor vibes****

Gabby's Imagination and Lady Gaga

We are deep into the imagination, magical thinking, and "why?" stage of her development... She says super imaginative things... she was walking down the stairs and saying that there was poison on the stairs and we had to be very careful and started explaining a story about a mean lady and monsters and how we need to be quiet...

The nickname, "Gabby," has proven to be a well deserved name. This girl loves to talk your ear off and has the "gift of the gab,' as the Irish would say. Lately, she has been telling our friends stories about movies and princesses. She almost makes up the story as she goes but with so much enthusiasm and energy. It's hilarious. She is obsessed with the Disney princesses and Barbies... she naturally just gravitated to that. Every chance she gets, she still wants to wear her Snow White dress. It's just the girl in her, I suppose. On the other hand, she plays like a boy. She has no problem running around, getting sweaty and dirty.

She also LOVES Lady Gaga. When we drive around in the car, I'll ask her what she wants to listen to and she says, "Paparazzi and Pokerface." You can hear her in the back singing away...

Everything in the past couple of months is "why?" Why do you work? Why do we have to clean-up the room? Why do I have to eat my vegetables?

39 Week Update

I'll be 40 weeks pregnant this Monday! Holy Crap.

We saw the doctor on Tuesday and the baby dropped and I'm now one centimeter dilated... My lower back is hurting, I'm sleeping like crap, and I've been having lots of Braxtin Hicks contractions that have been a little painful... SO things are moving but we still don't know when I'll have the baby. The doctor said two days or one week... Real helpful but this whole thing is not an exact science so I'll be patient. Today we saw our old child-birth instructor, Kathi Levitan, who has also offered to help give us labor support. We went over positions, how the midwives work at the hospital (we hired one for Gabby's birth so we never used a Chinese one), and went over ways we could make the experience even better. We're going to watch some birthing videos and read over some things so that we've got all our bases covered. I'm not scared this time around. It's weird. I know it's super painful and it will totally suck but I also know that I can do this. I know what to expect and I'm ready to kick ass and take some names all over those contractions. Yah, baby!

Gabriella the Ham

Being super silly

Shaking her Booty

I found these pictures of my daughter from early December... I just think she looks super cute in these and wanted to share.

New Year's Eve 2010

Probably one of the last family

pictures with one kid?

Gabriella and Mommy

Self-Portrait

The Tebo family went to a New Year's party at the Williams's house. We had a nice time chatting to people and enjoyed the yummy food. Gabby was being entertained by the older kids, so we were able to chill and hang-out. We didn't make it very long... and left at 10 pm. Travis and I went home, put Gabby to bed, and watched the movie, "The Social Network." Pretty uneventful but I'm not complaining.