Last Week's Tummy Picture and Baby Update

I'm a little behind with the blog. This tummy picture was actually made last Friday, when I was at 35 weeks. (I'm now at 36 weeks, but haven't made a new picture this week.)

At my last doctor's appointment on Wednesday, everything was still looking good. It looks like there is a very strong likelihood that my doctor will go on and induce during the 39th week. We are all for that for many reasons, not the least of which is it will give our out of town family a little more advance notice for travel. Also, we live 40 minutes' drive from the hospital. Thankfully, he is not going to let me go past my due date this time around. (Katherine was 9 days late.) So, that's where we are for now.

Mary Joyce's New Boo-Boo

Tonight as we were getting ready to go to church, Chet and the girls were on the couch, and somehow, Mary Joyce fell off of the back of the couch and onto our stone tile floor. It was one of those "slow motion" kind of moments, where you see it coming, but you just can't stop it. She got up crying, so we knew she was hurt--she's a tough little thing, unless something is really wrong. Her right thumb started turning colors and swelling. We put ice on it, and immediately called our pediatrician's after-hours clinic. Thankfully, they said they could do x-rays there, so we did manage to avoid the hospital emergency room. Being Wednesday, Chet had to be at church, so we dropped Katherine, Chet, and the food for the covered-dish supper at the church and picked up one of our wonderful church ladies who agreed to ride along. The after-hours clinic is actually in the next county, so after a 20 minute drive, we made it in, and then had to wait on the x-ray tech on-call to arrive. (I was so glad I took someone along, because it dawned on me at the time for the x-ray that I couldn't go into the room with Mary Joyce since I am pregnant. Thankfully, the lady who was with us is one of our regular sitters, so Mary Joyce is very comfortable with her.)

After all was said & done, nothing was broken, but Mary Joyce does have a sprained thumb, which is now sporting a nice splint and an ace bandage. After we got home, we also discovered a big goose-egg on her head. I don't know how 2 parents, a doctor, and a nurse missed seeing that, except for the fact that her bangs covered it up. That led to another call to the doctor's office, of course. All seems to be relatively okay at the moment. Let's pray that tomorrow is a much less eventful day.

Doctor's Appointment (Almost 35 Weeks)

Tomorrow, I hit the 35 week mark, and today was my regular doctor's appointment. They did the standard strep-B screening today--not the most fun thing ever. Everything seems to be measuring well, and Dr. S seems to think that Malcom is going to be a bigger baby than Katherine was. I know my tummy is bigger now than it was at this point last time around. (I know that a few weeks ago, Dr. Y mentioned that it looked like Malcom would be a small baby, but he and I have both gone through quite a growth spurt since then.) Malcom is still a very active baby. He kicked the doppler so hard at the doctor's office today, that the doctor and the nurse both jumped. Yep, I think he is going to be "all boy." :-)

The church is giving us a joint shower on Sunday afternoon with another expecant mother from the church. (We are due within a week of each other and keep joking that we are going to be neighbors at the hospital.) Anyway, we are looking forward to that.

I'll try to remember to get Chet to make a current belly picture within the next day or two. I'm on weekly appointments, starting next week, and as the doctor said, right now, we're just waiting for something to happen

"Reading" to Little Sister

Today I went out to the garage to deal with some laundry, and when I walked back in, both girls were in the recliner, and Mary Joyce was "reading" Go, Dog, Go to her little sister. In case you can't translate what Katherine says toward the end, Mary Joyce had just turned the page to one with cars on it, and Katherine said, "Car!" and "Round and round!" That little girl loves her cars. The whole thing was too sweet. I wish I had more of it on video.

Little Miss Sunshine

Katherine's hair is now long enough for dogears/pigtails (whichever term you prefer). How is this for cuteness?

Happy St. Patrick's Day...

from our two little girls in green!

A Tonggu Family Reunion

Our travel buddy, Kim, and her 2 youngest children, Jaiden (one of Mary Joyce's Tonggu "cousins") and Jared, escaped the bitter cold of Minnesota for a visit to sunny Florida, and we were able to spend a good part of today together. We hadn't seen each other in person since we left Guangzhou, China, in September of 2006. It is really a neat thing, though, when you go for so long without seeing someone, but when you get together, it is like hanging around with a friend you see all the time. It was a beautiful day, and we had a really enjoyable time. We will get to see them one more time on Sunday, too, so that will be a nice bonus. Here are some pictures from today:

Jaiden and Mary Joyce playing dolls:


I had to include this one because of Mary Joyce's goofy facial expression:


A new favorite Katherine picture. (I just wish she didn't have the drop of drool on her chin!)


Reading Books


Katherine says, "Forget those kiddie books and hand me John Grisham!"


Katherine at Lunch


View from our Lunch Table (Those are brown pelicans.)


Everyone except me after lunch. I was making the picture.


The rest of these are from our visit to the "blue playground," as Mary Joyce calls it...

They've Got Wheels!

The weather down here has been absolutely gorgeous lately, so yesterday we took the girls out and let Mary Joyce ride her tricycle and let Katherine try out a couple of different riding toys. Mary Joyce is getting more proficient with the trike, and is learning to steer it finally. (Pedaling was easily mastered early-on.) Katherine thinks she should have pedals like her sister, and ended up putting her feet on the front wheels of the red one and pulling down to make herself go backwards. It was pretty funny. They had a great time, and would have stayed out a lot longer if they could have.









Katherine using her wheels as pedals:


Mary Joyce announced that she was going to ride her tricycle on her tummy. I asked if she thought that would really work. Her answer..."Nope!" Then she went and tried it anyway. :-)

Doctor's Appointment Update, Prayer Requests, & Other Stuff

I had my now bi-weekly regular doctor's appointment this morning, and all is well. I did get very nicely chastised for forgetting to put on sunscreen when I had the yard sale this weekend. My arms got a bit toasted, to say the least. Other than that, though, everything is looking good. I go back 2 weeks from today.

Blogging has been slow lately. I'm still playing catch-up from the yard sale week, and we have Revival services next week. I should have some good blog pictures, soon, though. Our China travel buddy, Kim, is in Orlando with her 2 youngest kids, Jaiden and Jared, and we will get to see them on Friday for the first time since we left Guangzhou, China, in Sept. 2006. We are really looking forward to that.

A couple of prayer requests--

A little girl named Tong Min Yun, also from Tonggu like Mary Joyce, was scheduled to be adopted by a Canadian family. When the parents arrived, they found out that Min Yun had been badly burned in an accident at her foster home, so she was unavailable for adoption. The adoptive parents, and I'm sure the foster parents, are devastated by the situation. The little girl is receiving medical care, and the Tonggu Yahoo group is doing what they can to help with the child's medical bills. The adoptive family did receive a referral for another child, but this is still a very tough thing for all of them to go through. Pray for Min Yun, the adoptive family, their new daughter, and the foster family.

Also, a friend of mine who attended the same school as I did from grades K-12 and is only a year older than I am has had a stroke and is hospitalized in Louisiana. He is married and has 2 young sons. Please keep this family in your prayers, as well.

Very Quick Update

Things have gotten a lot better since that rough day last week. I just haven't had a chance to update the blog. The girls have been sleeping well, which is the norm around here. That means more sleep for Mama and Daddy, which is a very good thing. The Magic Eraser took the crayon off of the wall, so we no longer have built-in artwork. We are having a garage sale Friday and Saturday this week, so that is consuming pretty much every spare moment of my time for now. I will be glad to get through with it, for sure. That's about it for now...