Wills and the reason we do them

Bernie and I finally took care of some very important documentation in our lives this evening. We attended a two hour class and in the process completed living wills, medical/financial POA's, and a real live will. So now we can apparently die in peace knowing that our affairs will be in order. It was pretty hypocritical that as an instructor of a gerontology course I harped on my students to get it done and I still hadn't. But it is done now and it feels good.

So, to the reasons we do these things. We have Bennett and things should be in order for him. He needs a guardian and trust. But he won't be the only one. This is a morbid sort of segway into the big announcement that most of you already know. Another baby is on the way, due November 3rd. We were aiming for about two years between them and that's about as close as you could get. It's a very exciting time but nerve-racking at the same time. We are hoping full-term this time. That's the long-term goal anyway. I think 32 weeks will be the first big milestone for me. I am seeing my OB here in Longmont for regular appointments and a specialist practice in Denver every four weeks for ultrasounds to check growth. PE and related placental issues can often be caught by keeping track of the growth. They will also likely check blood flow to the placenta as the pregnancy progresses.

We have already had three ultrasounds and I am 12 weeks today. The first was very early because I was spotting. The second was a viability scan. Yesterday I had the first trimester screen for Down Syndrome etc. Baby looked good, moving around, and perfectly normal neck fluid. The next one will be at 18 weeks when we do the big anatomy scan. We will be very familiar with this baby by the time he/she is born. I am taking baby aspirin every day and fish oil twice a day in addition to the regular prenatal vitamins. The ASA and fish oil may help delay PE in some cases.

I have mostly been feeling well. I had similar morning sickness that I did with Bennett for a couple of weeks. Now I just get the normal tiredness. Hopefully everything continues nice and normally.

Here are the latest ultrasound pics.

Green

I'm finally starting to see it all around me. The grass and leaves are both showing the sure signs of spring. I don't know if I mentioned it, but I have flowers in my garden that have been alive for an entire year. Violas and Johnny Jump-ups can apparently stand very cold weather and snow. We have been getting the yard in order for the past week. Bernie is putting new trim around the front and I planted a few onions. We are planning to plant the rest of the veggies the first or second weekend in may. We are thinking tomatoes, broccoli, and green peppers. Corn was a dismal failure last year and squash takes up a ton of room. I'm not sure I want to deal with the huge plants even though squash muffins/bread is sounding pretty good to me right now. I'm going to take it easy with the flowers this year. Hanging baskets will likely be the extent of it because I just don't have the energy to keep up with too many of them. And Bennett will just pull them out of the ground or out of pots on the ground anyway.

Bennett's sleep has regulated again for the moment (knocks on wood). He is back to simply laying down and going to sleep without any fuss. He doesn't even seem to want to rock with me in the chair in the moment. I don't think he can get comfortable. And he's been sleeping through the night for multiple days now which feels awesome when I wake up in the morning. I keep wondering when he is going to transition to one nap. He is almost 17 months old, so I expect it soon.

We went to the park/lunch with a few of our mommy friends and their little ones. It's always fun to get out and about with other people we have something in common with. All the babies are between 11 and 17 months, so it is more parallel play than playing with each other. Someday soon that will change to taking toys from each other.

Bernie is applying for a job in Bismarck ND, where he is from. We are not really anxious to move at the moment like we were when he was bidding out in Great Falls. But we would really like to be near family and Bernie needs to get off of shift work eventually. So this job would accomplish both goals although the chances of him getting it are very slim. Our list of potential places is quite limited and includes Bismarck, Great Falls, and Phoenix. Maybe Missoula and Flagstaff, but we would have to discuss them more. So the location restriction combined with non-shift work positions really limit the jobs to apply for. We could be applying for many years and by that time may decide we don't want to move anyway!

Congrats to Eric and Lora Wingenbach (Bernie's friend from high school). They had their little boy this morning. We can't wait to meet baby Liam James.