June

6/3/08

17 Weeks 2 Days...My, how the time has flown! While still definately feeling pregnant, I'm beginning to feel a little bit more like "myself" again. I'm sick MUCH less often than a few weeks ago, and it's nice to see that the occasional nap is more than enough to get me through the day. I had a blood test last week to test for the potential of neural tube defects and cystic fibrosis. We debated for quite awhile as to whether we would do this test or not. It's often used as a basis for "termination" of the baby if anything is found to be wrong. This wouldn't be an option or even a desire for Shawn and I. Also, there tends to be a relatively high rate of false positives...meaning that the test shows that something may be wrong when everything is actually fine. Even with this information, Shawn and I decided that we would rather know and prepare if we will have a special needs child. I've heard of parents who go through a bit of mourning when they give birth to a child with special needs. It's perfectly understandable, they are mourning the image of who they thought their child would be. We decided that if our child will require special care, we would like to adjust to that as early as possible. Both so that we can adequately prepare with finances, equipment, doctors, etc., and so that we could adjust now, without the adjustment process impeding the bonding process. I'm not sure when we'll find out our results, but to be honest, it's not something about which I'm terribly worried. Crazy, right? You would think, from reading my previous entries, that this test would just provide me with ONE more thing to freak out about. :) I'm just not, though. So I know you're just dying to know how our baby is developing this week, so here you go:"Don't be too shocked but... your baby is EVEN bigger than it was last week, not to mention getting cuter, and smarter every day! As you’ve come to expect, there’s no shortage of growth and development this week: your fantastic little bean stalk has added yet another half inch to their overall height-- making them nearly half a foot long! Their little limbs have reached (or are within one week of) their relative proportions, and will continue to grow evenly with the rest of the body after this week. Reactive listening has begun for your baby, even though their ears are not yet structurally complete or fully functional. Meanwhile, different parts of their astonishingly complex brain are developing to process your little one’s hearing and other senses, (you know, sight, smell, taste and touch). Mind boggling factoid of the week: if you’re having going to have a little girl, her ovaries have already produced millions of primordial egg cells, which, within a few weeks, will develop into actual eggs! Phew… just wait till she’s a teenager eh?And how's mom doing? Even though the second trimester is often characterized as the most enjoyable of the three, you can count on a few ailments (see week 14 for additional tri-2 symptoms). This week, or in the coming weeks, you may be privy to the uncommon joys of “round ligament pain.” These not-so-lovely symptoms can include bellyaches, pain in the lower abdomen and sharp shooting and/or stabbing pains, most often expressed at the end of the day. Your suffering is due to stretched ligaments and muscles that support your ever-growing uterus. This is to be expected and is perfectly normal (especially since your uterus is only getting bigger!). Some doctors advise sleeping on your left side as lying on your back can compress your pelvic veins, decreasing blood return to the lower half of your body. Lying on your left side relieves this pressure thereby allowing normal blood flow. If this doesn’t do the trick, go ahead and consult your health care practitioner, but try not to punch them when they serenely tell you it’s normal to feel stabbing pain during this time. As we all know, violence never solves anything."

6/06/08

Tap Tap Tap and a Shopping Spree...Yes, I'm starting to feel the baby move! It's only the slighest of taps, but is getting more and more frequent. I've tried, in every way I can imagine, to describe to Shawn how it feels. The best I've been able to come up with is that it feels I'm being punched from the inside by a little itsy bitsy fist. It's amazing, and I love it. :) I'm looking forward to the day when Shawn will be able to feel the baby as well. For now, I try to tell him when I'm feeling it. Just a few days ago, I only felt the little taps two, maybe three times a day. In the time it took me to type the above two paragraphs, I think I felt three. So looks like it's dancing away in there!Within the span of about a week, the weather here in North Carolina got crazy hot. We're officially in full-on summer mode, and I officially had no summer clothes that fit. So yesterday, Shawn and I went on a mission to find me some maternity summer clothes! I tried to buy big, especially in the pants, and we came away with clothes that I hope will make being pregnant in the summer a bit more comfortable. We still haven't received the results of my blood test, and I'm still not too concerned about it. :) My job has officially slowed down for the summer, so I'm genuinely enjoying the chance to not only get more rest, but to get caught up on things that I've had to put off previously. Thanks for loving us and caring so much about our developing little family!

6/09/08

18 Weeks 1 Day..."We have two more ounces! Your "getting bigger-n-better by the minute baby" is already up to 7 ounces and 6 inches! This is a big week for their baby skin. There are now two distinct layers—the epidermis (or the surface skin) and dermis. Currently, their skin is covered with a greasy, waxy, cheese-like substance, known as vernix caseosa. Sure, it sounds pretty nasty, but this mixture of fatty secretions covering your little swimmer from head to toe is the best way to protect their oh-so-thin skin from bruising and abrasions as well as chapping caused by amniotic fluid exposure (and your little one is swimming in that stuff!). Still don’t like the fact your little darling is currently slathered in fatty cream like a greased pig? Well, you know the birthing process? Where you have to push something the size of a watermelon out a hole the size of a grape? That adorable little greased piglet would have a lot harder time getting through the birth canal without the vernix caseosa. Fun fact for momma’s with baby girls: it’s a uterus within a uterus! Your little girl will have developed a uterus and vagina canal by the end of this week.And how's mom doing? POP! If you haven’t yet, you will soon be seeing the last of your inn-y belly button—until after you’ve pushed your little monkey out. If it’s getting difficult to breathe, you can thank your not-so-small belly for squishing your lungs—which will be more and more cramped for space as the pregnancy progresses. Not that this is surprising as everything else in your mid-section is getting properly squooshed as well. (What else is new?!!). Keep in mind that as you grow (and grow and grow) in size you produce more blood (for both of you), which lowers your blood pressure. So standing up quickly and/or occasional fast movements may cause slight dizziness or lightheadedness. This is totally normal, but means you shouldn’t be too quick to jump to your feet when your team scores a goal. It's better to just punch the air in excitement or clap gleefully. One more fun pregnancy symptom to add to the list: you are producing more melanin, which can cause dark patches of skin to occur on random parts of your body. Don’t worry—these dark spots (unlike your parent’s age spots) will retreat soon after birth."

6/11/08

Cloth Diapering...I believe that Shawn and I have made the decision to cloth diaper. It's an idea I've been rolling around in my head for awhile, though Shawn was a bit more reluctant. I remember my Mom using cloth diapers and safety pins for the four of us, and I think Shawn was imagining himself putting a load of poopy diapers in the washing machine and having the constant stench of poo in the house.Little did he know that a LOT has changed in the world of cloth diapering! There are so many options now, it's unbelievable. It's 1) Cheaper in the long run, and 2) Much more environmentally friendly.I've been doing research, and the diapers I think I'd love to have are called gDiapers (www.gDiapers.com). They come with an outer diaper that the child re-wears and usually will not get soiled, and an inner "insert" or "lining." The lining is disposable...but it can be safely flushed, thrown away, or composted. It just seems like this diapering system combines the environmental and financial benefits of cloth with the ease of disposable. Anyway, I know sometimes people look at us like we're freaks or hippies when we tell them we're cloth diapering, so I thought I'd go ahead and let ya'll know now so you can get the, "what the heck are they thinking?" out of your systems. :) If any of you have or are planning to cloth diaper, please feel free to give me any tips and tricks you might have!

6/13/08

Blood Tests...I went into the Dr.'s yesterday for a quick test and found out the results of the blood tests we had done a couple of weeks ago. Everything is negative! I'm not sure of what all that means, except that I'm not a carrier of cystic fibrosis. I'll ask more details when we go in Monday for our ultrasound.Along those lines, we have not changed our minds about keeping the baby's gender a surprise to everyone! Shawn and I want to know so that it gives us some time to adjust to the thought of raising a son or a daughter. However, we're really excited about keeping the news a surprise to everyone until the baby is born. I've gotten the usual confused looks when we tell people this, but so far, nobody has appeared to be hurt or disappointed! We're doing it this way so that it'll be a fun surprise for our friends and family, and we're certainly not intending to keep anyone out of the loop or excluded from our lives. So please know that our desire to keep this surprise comes just from wanting to have fun with this pregnancy.It looks like we're definitely going to be doing the nursery in chocolate brown and teal. I know it might be tempting to think that those are "boy" colors, so we must be having a boy, BUT...keep in mind that we'd chosen those colors right after we found out we were pregnant. In fact, even as I type this, we don't know the gender. So don't be fooled into thinking we're giving away our gender secret by our colors! :) I'm continuing to feel pretty great. I've had some nausea lately, but it's usually been just a fraction of what I was feeling in the first trimester, so I'm not complaining! I have started doing this weird thing of getting sick when I take our dog out in the mornings. I'm not sure exactly why, though. I usually eat a piece of fruit right before I take him out and am sometimes still chewing on it...maybe that's making me gag? Maybe the sudden heat upsets my stomach? I don't know, but this morning, I was really hoping our neighbors weren't looking out their windows to see me looking like a freak and vomiting in our backyard. Maybe I'll try to eat my fruit later in the morning, and see if that helps!From yesterday morning until Sunday night, Shawn will be gone on our Teen Choir's Tour. While I miss the heck out of him, I have to admit that I'm really enjoying going to bed early and getting in lots of time to relax in the evenings. It makes such a difference in my mood when I can get plenty of sleep and rest! Because I'm slightly scared to be in the house alone at night, I usually let Cole sleep on the end of our bed with me when Shawn's out of town (he usually sleeps in a crate out in the dining room). While Coletrane's a bit of a bed hog, I have to admit that I sleep MUCH better knowing that he's protecting me! Well, I think that's all for the random updates of today. I'm feeling better and getting bigger ~ so all is well in the Baby Maurer world! :)

6/15/08

19 Weeks Along...I really love knowing exactly what's going on with our little one week by week. I'm so sorry if you get sick of reading these every week, but I'm absolutely fascinated!"Your amazing little baby is now around 10 inches in length! If this seems a bit shocking, you’ll be relieved to know they’ve not actually grown over 3 inches, but that their little legs are now straight enough to be measured. This is when doctors begin measuring fetal growth from head to toe, (no longer “crown to rump” or CR). Lanugo (little hairs) covers their whole body now, trapping that charming cheese-like vernix caseosa (see week 18) to the surface to the skin. This week your lil’ fetus will start on an appetizing diet of amniotic fluid which they are now capable of swallowing, digesting, and passing the fluid as far as their tiny “large” intestines. Fortunately for you, this nice little lump of baby-poop won’t be coming out while they’re still in your womb. Some time shortly after they’re born, this fun lump will become the first in a long line of baby poops. (What finally comes out— commonly known as “meconium” to the science world, will be black and sticky, and you’ll be very glad it happens only once!)"

6/17/08

The Cutest Baby in the World...So we had our big ultrasound yesterday! Let me just start off by saying that I think that's one of the coolest Day After Father's Day gifts Shawn could've gotten! :) Neither one of us had really been freaking out the gender of our baby; we weren't particularly nervous or excited, until the day of our appointment, when we all of a sudden found ourselves VERY excited. Our OB (WomanCare) has two ultrasound techs. One is a very curt, slightly bossy, difficult to understand woman, and one is a warm and friendly woman. I was relieved when the warm and friendly woman called us back. She actually remembered us from our emergency ultrasounds and said, "Now this is for a much more exciting reason than why you were here last time, huh?" As I lay down and she squirted the jelly stuff on my belly (which was pleasantly warm, not chilly like I expected), the whole experience felt very surreal. We recognized our baby right away and were immediately struck with how much the little one had grown since we saw it last. We saw the baby's legs almost immediately, which were long and stretched out (which is undoubtedly Shawn's gene there!). It was crazy how clearly we could see the little legs (crossed at the ankles) and toes. We saw its tiny little fingers, its chest, stomach, heartbeat, face, and head. I was surprised by how much the tech was checking for, though she did a great job of showing us what everything was, and letting us know what she was checking and if everything looked alright. The baby's perfect. :) Healthy as can be, everything is in the right place and is developing just right. She said it's measuring five days ahead, but that it shouldn't affect my due date. Shawn and I just think we have a little overachiever. Our tech actually switched over to the 4-D ultrasound several times, and even printed out several 4-D pictures for us. Apparently you're supposed to pay out of pocket for those, but she said, "I don't know where these 4-D pictures keep coming from, they're just coming out of thin air!" I don't know that we would've paid to have the 4-D done, but it really was incredible to see. Our baby yawned, put its fist up to its left eye, furrowed its eyebrow, and bicycle kicked for a minute or two. The little one's favorite position seemed to be bringing its feet up to its forehead, almost. In one of the pictures, its left hand is across its forehead as if the baby is shielding itself from the paparazzi, and its left foot is almost touching the hand that's across the forehead. We've got one flexible little baby in there!What a joy it was to see our little one, to see the little hands stretching, and to realize how MUCH it moves around in there! At the beginning of the ultrasound, its rump was towards my ribs with its head facing my feet. The tech let me use the restroom halfway through (I was told to come with a full bladder, and boy did I!). When I got back on the table, the baby had used all the extra room without the full bladder getting in the way, to do a complete flip! I had always just assumed that the baby lay horizontal in the uterus, and pretty much stayed that way. I had no idea that it could not only lay vertically, but also do a little gymnastics routine in there!We did find out the gender, and while it's going to be REALLY hard to keep it a surprise, that's still our plan! After our visit with the ultrasound tech, we met with a midwife (our OB has both doctors and midwives on staff, though this was actually the first time we met with a midwife). A friend of ours has a child who was recently diagnosed with Fifth's Disease (or Parvo), which is a virus that is apparently dangerous to a fetus, so I went in last week to be tested for that. We were told that I actually had Fifth's Disease as a child, so was therefore immune. So no worries! She also expounded a little bit on our AFP tests. I'm not a carrier for all the things they tested, and our baby has a 1 in 10,000 chance of having Downs and a 1 in 8,000 chance of having something else that I don't remember. I just remembered that those numbers were high, and that was good! To give us a frame of reference, the midwife said that you're not even considered a high risk pregnancy unless you have a 1 in 250 chance. Oh, and the ultrasound tech measured a few things that might be indicators for Downs, and those all looked normal. I honestly didn't expect this part of the pregnancy to be this easy. I just assumed that SOMEthing would come back odd, and we'd have to do further testing. I can't tell you how incredibly blessed I feel that we have a healthy baby in there; we're certainly blessed beyond what we deserve. Our next appointment is in four weeks, I believe it was July 15th, which will be just a standard appointment. I'm still feeling the baby move, although not really more or less than I was before. I've not been struck with nausea in a few days, although poor Shawn seems to be picking up the slack for me in that area. After our appointment, we went to Olive Garden to celebrate Father's Day, and Shawn just felt gross afterwards. He spent the better part of last night getting sick, though we're unsure if it's a virus or food poisoning. It's a helpless feeling to see him so miserable, which helps me understand how me must've felt when I was so sick. I'm praying that whatever he has will move through his system quickly, and he'll be back to himself soon (I have to admit that I'm also praying that I don't catch this if it's a virus). Even though Shawn being sick has temporarily tempered our excitement, you can bet that we're still just busting at the seams to know that we have a healthy, good looking, little half-sea urchin, half-baby in there. :)

6/19/08

Soon, I promise!...I have been woefully neglectful about posting baby bump pictures AND ultrasound pictures, though it HAS been on my mind. It just requires the extra effort to actually take the picture/hook up our scanner, and I don't particularly have a good excuse...I just haven't done it.But I know you guys want to see that stuff, and I definitely want to share it with you, I'll start working on getting that done. I'm continuing to grow, as is our little one in there, so we're pleased that things are going along smoothly! I had a remote control lying on my belly two nights ago, and the baby moved it ever so slightly. :) Since Shawn hasn't been able to feel any kicks himself yet, we might try that trick so he can at least see when the baby's moving. Sometimes I get a really full feeling in my uterus, it's almost a little painful, but definitely uncomfortable. I wonder if that's the baby turning around or doing a flip? We've begun thinking about where we're going to register and for what we need to register, which is honestly a daunting task. It's tough to sift through the things we'll actually need verses the things that are advertised as "necessary." We're desperately trying to not be wasteful and not register for things that we'll only be able to use for a couple of months, but we also want to register for things that might help, of course. I'm SO blessed in working at the pregnancy center! We've been able to pick up a lot of really great things, gently used, so that there aren't TOO many big things that we'll need. Unless I'm forgetting something, I think the biggest things we still need are the breast pump and cloth diapering stuff...which is a huge indication of how blessed we are. Seriously, we're so grateful and would be incredibly overwhelmed at this point! If you have any advice or thoughts on things you registered for that you loved, or things you thought you had to have, but didn't end up really using, please feel free to let me know! We scheduled our OB Tour (a tour of the birthing unit at our hospital) for July 31st, which is...well, exciting and scary. I'll be glad to have some of my questions answered, but I'm also putting off the thought of actually birthing this child. I haven't completely made up my mind on whether I want to try to go naturally or plan on getting an epidural yet. I honestly go back and forth on it just about everyday. On the one hand, it would awesome to be able to feel the baby being born, there's the issue of the drugs affecting the baby and sometimes affecting their breastfeeding latch, and I just think it would be an awesome challenge to give birth naturally. One the other hand, why be absolutely miserable through something that I have the choice of enjoying? If I went ahead and did the epidural, I could just relax, enjoy that time with Shawn, and semi-enjoy giving birth! I think I read somewhere that the effects of the drugs are much less pronounced on the baby if you wait until you're 5 centimeters dialated. So if after research, I find that to be true, I'd wait until 5 centimeters if I could for an epidural. I have quite a bit of time to really think and work through all of this, but I'm honestly torn at this point.Let's see, what else is going on? It's still hot as blazes outside. It was a sad day when I came to the realization that I am just not going to be able to run through this pregnancy. Because of the heat and the fact that I'm pregnant, my heartrate shoots up way too quickly, and I'm easily overheated...even when taking water with me. With the temperatures in the high 90s, walking is even a stretch for me. I can't tell you how difficult this is on me, mentally, but I'm determined to not get discouraged. I bounced around the idea of buying a treadmill or getting a gym membership, but neither of those options look financially feasible. So, I'm just making peace with the fact that I will walk when we have days of cooler temperatures, do prenatal yoga, and WILL pick up running again when I've recovered from delivery (though I might need you all to keep me accountable! No doubt the LAST thing on my mind will be going for a run when we've got a hungry, tired newborn). At least I'm giving birth in November, so that by the time I get out there to run, I won't have the heat to contend with.Shawn's feeling much better - whatever he had must've been a 24 hour thing. He's weak and tired from not being able to eat and being dehydrated, but is able to work again and eat fairly normally. I was pretty liberal with the Lysol and so far, haven't gotten whatever he had. We're still not sure if it was a virus or food-related, but I'm just glad he's better!

6/20/08

You Probably Knew This Was Coming...I've been doing some thinking about this whole "keeping the gender a secret" thing. It turns out that I'm having a much harder time keeping it than I thought, and it turns out that I'm really eager to share the news with those I love. So I'm going to be going back on what I had previously said and do what you readers of this blog probably knew we were going to do all along. :) We're going to tell people the gender of our baby! We want to make sure we call our parents and tell them first, and then I'll post it on here. We're still not sure about telling people the name, but since we haven't come close to deciding, we'll cross that bridge when we get there. I've updated the "favorite links" on the webpage, so check that out! I honestly just realized that it was there yesterday, but it's a nifty little tab!So stay tuned for the big news, and I'm so sorry for making ya'll wait even this long!

6/21/08

It's A...BOY!

6/23/08

Week 20..."Fetal development in pregnancy week 20:fetus in fifth month This week you're carrying about 10.5 inches and 10.5 ounces of solid baby-miracle-goodness! Their little delicates bones continue to ossify and toughen while their itsy bitsy finger and toe pads are finishing up. Your little monkey now has teeth buds, although they’re hidden beneath the gum line. And finally! Their limbs have reached their relative proportions—no more alien baby! Their cute pink lips are more defined, and might be helping out in a bit of prenatal thumb-sucking. If you have a little boy, then their tiny testes are descending, though they have not yet passed the abdominal wall. What’s more, eyelashes and eyebrows are also visible. At this point, your little one really looks like a miniature baby—and we do mean miniature as your little swimmer currently weighs a mere eighth of their final birth weight. With half the pregnancy behind you, the most significant gains are yet to come!And how's mom doing? Not that we need to tell you, but your baby may sometimes seem like a kick-boxer in training with no appreciation for your exhausted-pregnant-momma sleep needs. Still, before you start yelling at them to calm it down in there, remind yourself that your busy baby really have no idea if you’re rolling out of bed or cozying up to your partner for a good nights rest. Unfortunately for your sleep schedule, your little independent thinker will continue to operate on their own time table throughout the rest of the pregnancy. And you thought rebellious behavior only started around puberty!"

6/24/08

Updated Pictures...I finally had a chance to take some baby bump pictures and figure out our scanner in order to be able to post our ultrasound pictures. Check them out! Shawn and I also had the chance to look through all of our cloth diapering options. We had originally planned on doing gDiapers, which are a mix of disposable and cloth diapers. After doing further research, we decided that it probably wasn't the best option for us. I added the websites on which you can find what our plan is in the "My Favorite Links" tab, if you're curious about what exactly we'll be doing. We're more than willing to wash the fitted diapers every couple of weeks, but I plan on checking out diaper services in our area to see if that's an option for us. I'm enjoying looking more and more pregnant (as opposed to just fatter)! We're both preparing to go to church camp next week. I'm excited because I love camp, but am anxious about getting enough rest and not being overheated. However, while it's still warm, we're grateful that the weather has leveled out a little bit down here. It's now "normal" hot instead of insanely crazy hot! I think that's about all the updates for us right now. :)

6/26/08

"So How're You Feeling?"...I seem to be getting that question quite a bit lately (and Shawn's getting the corresponding, "How's Jen feeling?"). I love that people are so thoughtful in asking, but I realized that I don't really have that interesting of an answer. A few weeks ago, I could talk about morning sickness, or fatigue, or concerns, or a myraid of other things. Right now, my best answer is, "I'm feeling pretty good."Don't get me wrong, I'm not loving the heat, have had a bit of heartburn, and have had some weird ligament pains, but overall...I'm feeling pretty great! In large part, nausea and even extreme fatigue seem to be a thing of the past. It looks like I'm finally into the second trimester honeymoon!I'm feeling the baby moving more and more, which is such a great reminder as to why I'm willingly putting my body through all this crazy stuff. Feeling a baby moving inside of me is one of the weirdest, most wonderful feelings in the world. Shawn's not felt a kick yet, but he did feel what was probably the baby's head or rump brushing back and forth on the side of my belly. I'm still adjusting to my changing body and the new challenges those changes bring. Getting up from the couch or the floor used to done without thought, and now takes quite a bit of effort! I'm finding that squatting is harder, and this belly is just...well, it's in my way! I actually found that tying my shoelace was work the other day, and felt so typically pregnant!! Sometimes I feel ginormous and am surprised that I don't actually look as big as I feel. At other times, I forget about my growing my belly and run it into things like...oh, the bathroom stall. = ) Luckily, nobody's been around to see me look like an idiot and then apologize to our son, but it makes me feel goofy nonetheless. Shawn and I are headed to camp on Sunday! I'm really excited, this is probably my last chance to go for a couple of years, and is also "my girls'" last year of Jr. High camp. I love camp, I've always loved camp, and I'm really looking forward to it. If you think of it, I'd also appreciate your prayers. It's going to be hot, and while I'm grateful that our sleeping quarters are air conditioned, I know how easily I get uncomfortable right now in the heat. I also know that I just won't be able to be as active as I have been in the past (no rock climbing wall and zip line for me), and I'll require more sleep than I usually do. I'm nervous about making it through the week with my sanity and relative calm in tact. We always come back exhausted from camp, but I really can't afford to exhaust myself this time. Also, I haven't let myself dwell on this, but if we have some sort of emergency, we're not very close to a hospital, and are certainly very far away from our OB. Even with all that stuff in mind, I'm still really, really excited for camp this year.I think that's really about it for baby updates at the moment. Thank you for your continued prayers and support!

6/27/08

Infection :( ...I've just been to our family doctor and have been told that I have an upper respiratory infection. I've been put on antibiotics - the second time so far this pregnancy. I don't mind being sick so much, but I avoid medicine at all costs, and am not thrilled about having to take such a strong medicine again. So a heads up to all of my family and friends ~ if you're sick, please avoid getting close to me. I don't want to be a jerk, but pregnancy weakens your immune system already, and I just can't handle being sick every month. For that matter, please stay away from Shawn, too, I tend to get what he has (he currently has a sinus infection and the beginning of an ear infection). Okay, I'm done whining now, I promise! Even with the infection, I still feel pretty good. I'm grateful to have gotten some medicine before camp!! I think when we get back, we'll begin the process of registering. I've tried to do some research about necessities and feel a little bit better prepared. We're in the midst of getting ready for camp craziness (laundry, packing, finishing up lessons, etc.), but everything baby-wise is still going great!