Mandy Dr. Appt.

Well I had my weekly dr. appt. yesterday and everything is still going well. My blood pressure is good and the baby sounds great. It is head down and ready to go, but the dr. doesn't think it will happen too soon, which is fine by me. I am feeling pretty good still but still feel like there is a ton of things to do still. I think that the baby will come after Dec.1st but we will see.

15 Month Appointment

Evelyn had her 15 month appointment today. It went great. She is developing right on track and doing very well. She weighs 20.4lbs with clothes and shoes on so we guess about 19lbs 14 oz without. She is also 31 inches tall. She is 10% for weight and 77% for height. Dr. Brandle seems very pleased with the way things are going and told us to "keep up the great work." We are now going to start working on getting rid of the bottle. I just don't want too many changes before the baby comes so I might try after, but we will see.

Hope everyone had a happy Monday!

Surprise...

My parents surprised me this weekend with a quick visit. We went to the bagel shop to get coffee for Richard before going to Apple Hill and as we were walking up I thought I saw my dad which is of course odd, but sure enough it was them. They left at 2 in the morning to come up and see us. It was great. We went to Apple Hill and they had a great time with Evelyn and Evelyn had a wonderful time with them as well. It was a short visit but I am sooooo happy that I was able to see them one more time before the baby comes. Here are some pictures from Apple Hill. Enjoy!

Evelyn in the pumpkin patch!

High Hill watching people fish!

Giggling with Grandpa!

Walking to the car!

Pure love!

Wearing Daddy's Hat

How stinking cute is this?

Finalizing Plans

Well the baby is due in about 4 weeks. I can hardly believe it. We are getting the last few things ready for the baby and setting up stuff for Evelyn. It is a lot harder to plan when you already have one child. I was induced with Evelyn but if I go into labor on my own it changes how things work and who will watch her. I know that it will all work out.

Me being my organized self has typed up a schedule, menu, and routine for Evelyn so that when my parents watch her they have an idea of her schedule. I think it is more for me than them. They know what they are doing. I have also put together a list of contact, maps to the hospital and the vets, just in case. I think I am over thinking things. Me? Never.

I am just worried about being gone from Evelyn for a couple of days. That hasn't happened before and I am sad I won't be here with her. It will be odd not having her around me all the time. I do think that I will be a little busy with the new baby so that will help.

I am going to the dr. once a week now. I went on Tuesday. Everything looks great. Baby is doing well and moving ALL THE TIME! I am feeling pretty good although my hips hurt a lot and by the end of the day I am pretty tired. Richard is great and helps with Evelyn when he gets home.

Soon we will be a family of 4 and a dog and that is overwhelming and exciting all at the same time. Please keep us and our new baby in your thoughts and prayers. We are not yet ready for its arrival but are definetly looking forward to finding out if it is a boy or a girl. My bet is still on girl and Richard's is still on boy. So we shall see.

Hope this post finds everyone in good health.

Thank you Hubby!

Richard suggested trying to get a new layout using Firefox instead of Internet Explorer and it worked instantly. I will now be changing my template from time to time. Yeah for figuring it out.

Evelyn's Big Girl Room.

I did it..

I finished the Harry Potter series tonight. Man, that was a good last book. Now I have to wait for Richard to catch up so we can discuss. I am glad I was able to finish before this baby came along as I didn't get to before Evelyn came along so I had to start all over.

I won't ruin it for those who have not read it yet, but there are some crazy and interesting things that happen and you start to understand things from the past. It was great.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend. We have been Christmas shopping and tomorrow we are visiting some friends we do not see often enough.

Happy Halloween!

Evelyn wishes everyone a happy and safe Halloween!

Nesting...

I think I am nesting in anticipation of the new babies arrival. Yesterday I cleaned the whole house and did laundry. Usually, I can only do a little bit but yesterday I had a ton of energy. Then when Richard got home he took Evelyn for a bike ride while I made a nice dinner without interuptions. It was great. I turned up the music danced, sang and cooked.

After dinner, I did the dishes and then cleaned out the closets in Evelyn's and the new babies room. By the end of all this I was tired but felt very accomplished. Richard even commented on how nice it was to come home to a clean house and him not have to do much.

On another note: Sandy had to go to the Vet on Monday because she was limping and her front right paw was bleeding. They found a wart like cluster on her paw so she is on antibotics and hopefully that will help. If it doesn't, she may need surgery to remove it. Hopefully that won't be neccessary.


Here are a couple of pictures of Evelyn:

Weekend Update

Saturday, Richard and I had our hospital tour at Mercy General where I will be delivering this time. It is nice but a little outdated. We at least now know where to go when the time comes. The way they make up for having to share a room is a 7 course meal after delivery. It can include Filet Mignon, dessert, wine and other yummy things. I am very much looking forward to this meal. I deserve it after all that work. :0)

We met another couple that had a daughter born on Evelyn's birthday and is due the day before me. Crazy! I guess we are not the only people wanting them close in age.

Saturday night we went to Lavon's for a Halloween meal. Evelyn dressed up as an Olvera St. Mexican Girl (too bad she is sooo white). She had her dress and maracas and looked cute. It was a good time and she even got to enjoy a cookie for dessert. She loved it. Maybe that is why she was talking in her crib for a while after going to bed. :0)



Sunday, Evelyn and I went to a baby shower for a dear friend. We had a great time and Evelyn was wonderful. She did so well with just a short nap. She was cute as a button and very well behaved. I even got a couple of comments on how well behaved she is and how well she listens. I guess we are doing something right for now.

Other than that we just took it easy and got some things done around the house. It was a nice and pleasant weekend. I hope everyone had a great weekend as well. I will post more pictures soon.

Link to Photos

Hey Everyone,

Here is a link to some of the photos from the wedding as well as new photos of Evelyn. Check them out when you get a chance.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/burstiner_family/sets/

*Scott and Nicole we are working on a DVD of video and pictures for you. We will get it to you soon.

Crazy

Sorry I have not posted lately, things have been very crazy. Evelyn and I got back from a week in So. Cal for my brother's wedding. It was a great time and we were able to spend some good time with Yaya and grandpa. I am glad that we were able to go and it worked out really well.

The wedding was wonderful and beautiful. I have about 250 pictures but have to go through and post some of them. There are some good shots in there. I can't believe my little brother is married and not living at home anymore. Hard to believe. Evelyn did great during the wedding and reception. She was passed around like candy on Halloween and didn't care. It was great because I didn't have to hold her much and people got to spend some good time with her. The downside is now she is sick with a cold. We ran her pretty hard last week with few naps and long days. Hopefully she will be back to her normal self soon.

Other than that, I had a dr. appt. on Monday and everything is good. Only 6 weeks left to go believe it or not. We are starting to prep here to get ready for the new arrival. Evelyn is in her new room and is doing good in there (other than being sick). I will post pictures of her new room soon. I LOVE it, hopefully she does too.

That's the quick update (heehee). I will post pictures soon or at least a link to pictures soon.

Dr. Appointment Update

I had a dr. appointment on Tuesday and was lucky enough to have Richard accompany me. Everything went well and is on schedule. I asked the position of the baby just so I knew what I was feeling where, I know that the position can still change. He decided that the best way to know for sure was an ultrasound so he gave us one right then and there. It was great to see the baby again since it has been since our 20 week ultrasound. The baby is measuring right on target and the dr. seems to think that the weight will be similiar to Evelyn's at birth which was 7lb. 11 oz. That makes me think even more that it is a girl since boys are usually bigger. We shall see in about 8-10 weeks.

After we went to dinner with some friends that also had a dr. appointment in the afternoon. They have a little boy a few months older than Evelyn so it worked out great. It is always nice hanging out with other families. I go back in about 3 weeks for another visit. I am now going in every 2 weeks (this time is it 3 because my brothers getting married). It is getting closer and starting to get a little more freaked out about having 2.

Have a goodnight.

New Accomplishments for Evelyn

Evelyn is thriving and continuing to melt our hearts everyday. She is learning about body parts and can point to her ears, belly button, and feet. She can also find them on other people, as well as their nose. She is having a hard time reaching her own nose but it is cute when she grabs yours.

She is also learning about the sounds animals make and can make a few of her own sounds. She can say "mooooo" sometimes it sounds like "ooooo" she is still working on the "mmmm" part. When asked what does the frog say, she says "rrrrr." It is so cute. We will continue to work on others like dog and cat but we are enjoying cow and frog for the time being.

Her last new trick is "knock knock." She goes around knocking on everything and smiling like it is the greastest thing in the world. She especially loves to knock on her own head and the fence down the street she passes on our nightly stroll.

Hope all is well for everyone.


Update on baby #2: I have an appointment tomorrow for a regular checkup and Richard is going with me this time. This baby is VERY active and kicks all the time. I am still feeling girl but who knows. I am about 31 weeks so it is getting close. I can't believe I will soon be a mother of 2. We are getting Evelyn's big girl room ready and finalizing some other things before this baby comes one of which is Christmas shopping. I am hoping/planning on having it done by Thanksgiving becuase I am NOT doing it once the baby is here. Hopefully I can get it done or everyone is getting gift cards. :0)

Boo...

I think I am the only one on Blogger that cannot change the background to another template. I have tried numerous times and it NEVER works. Richard even looked at the code and couldn't figure out why it wouldn't work. All you do is copy and paste, yet mine poops out and comes up with an error code every time. Enjoy the cool templates. I am going to stick to the ones blogger provides.

Boy Names!

Boy names are proving to be very hard for us to come up with. We have a girl name ready to go but cannot find a boy name that we LOVE. Any suggestions would be helpful. The middle name is Joel and we like the idea of the first name starting with an R so the initials are RJB like Richard's.

Please send any name recommendations my way. We still have 10 weeks but it is slowly (or quickly depending on the day) going by and soon enough our little bundle will here.

With my luck we will have spent hours finding a boy name and it will be a girl. Oh Well. It will be worth it if we find a name that we love.

Happy Name Hunting.

Family Reunion

This past Sunday we had a family reunion with Richard's side of the family. We had a great time and enjoyed seeing people we do not see very often. Evelyn did great. She had a 2 1/2 hour nap before going and good thing becuase that was the only one she got yesterday (other than the 5 minutes she dozed off in the car). Everyone enjoyed seeing her walk and talk, which she does a lot of these days. I am adding a couple of pictures that have us and her in them. Enjoy. Hope everyone had a great weekend.

Congrats!

Congrats to my brother Scott and soon to be Sister-in-law Nicole on closing on their first condo. I am so happy for you both. It will be nice to start your marriage off in a place you can call home and make your own. We look forward to seeing it when we come down in a few weeks. We love you both and couldn't be happier for you.

What we have been up to...

Things have been very crazy around here lately which is why I haven't posted in a while. Last weekend we went to parents so that I could throw Nicole her bridal shower and bachelorette parties. Both went great. Alot of people showed up and they got some good things to put in their new condo. It was a busy weekend but we made it through.

Evelyn was a trooper. We were on the go so much that she was not able to nap well and was always entertained with what was going on around her that she didn't want to stop. She was great. She got to see a lot of family members that she has never met or does not see often so that was wonderful.

On our way back to Sacramento we (of course) had to stop at Olvera St. for some taquitos, yummmmmmy! We brought back some and finished them tonight. My dad bought Evelyn some maracas and a dress that is just too cute I will have to post a picture.

Other than that we are trying to settle back into daily life and trying to get ready for this next baby who is coming in about 12 weeks. OH MY GOODNESS!!!!

Enjoy the pictures.

PS. One of the pictures is Evelyn with a Jackoloupe she got from her great grandpa.