Falling into place

So much for being better about keeping ya'll up to date on the Menke babies, huh? Sorry. Despite thinking that things were going to slow down, things haven't slowed down too much, but over the past few weeks things have improved somewhat.

We're down to less than three weeks for Baby 2's birth and we've had some ups and downs over the past month with this pregnancy. On April 28 in the morning, two days from me turning in my dissertation, I suddenly had some bleeding. After an early morning phone call to my doctor and a visit to the doctor's office, I was admitted to the hospital overnight for some monitoring. Thankfully during the day in the hospital, the bleeding subsided and I didn't have any contractions. At my follow-up with my OB the following week, she told me that my symptoms were signs of pre-term labor and that I needed to go on bed rest for a little over two weeks until I hit the 36-week mark. Through all of this baby looked good on both the ultrasounds and through the fetal heart rate monitor, still measuring average in size. At my 35 week appointment, I was dilated to 1+ cm, thinning and the doctor said she could feel baby's head, so she didn't think I'd make it to the scheduled c-section on June 11. After another week of bed rest, nothing changed and actually the baby moved back up, so now she thinks I may make it until then after all. So time will tell...I'm feeling pretty good, especially now that I can get up and move around and leave the house.

The same day that I went into the hospital, we sold our house. The night before, the realtor had come over with an offer that we were excited about and were willing to accept. Then when we were in the doctor's office, the realtor called and we had a second, better offer. So Aaron was juggling me being admitted into the hospital and the talk of us possibly having baby earlier than anticipated, multiple offers on the house, and Alyssa who was with us because our day care provider was sick. He did an amazing job balancing everything, staying calm, and making decisions. Thank goodness for him! So we signed the paperwork from the hospital room on the second offer and will be closing on our house in MN on June 24 (I think). We're "renting back" the house until July 15 at which point we'll move to Michigan.

Aaron and I traveled to Grand Rapids in April for a whirlwind weekend. We arrived on a Thursday around lunch time and by Saturday at lunch time, we had seen 23 houses and found one that we both knew was "the one." It's in a great school district with an immersion program, in a well developed area with lots of stores, restaurants, etc., and is a gorgeous home. It sits at the end of a cul-de-sac and if we walk through the neighbor's yard, there's a lake right there. The house is twice as big as ours is now, so we're going to have more space than we know what to do with. Aaron and I laugh and say we'll never have to see each other if we don't want to. You can take a tour of the home here.

So with the bed rest, I had to push back my dissertation defense. It's now scheduled for the end of this week, May 28 at 8 am. I'm excited to do the defense before baby arrives, so keep your fingers crossed that baby can hang in there at least one more week! I was given permission to participate in graduation. It meant a lot to me to have my parents & Wally and Dena here for that day. Plus Aaron's mom and sister were able to come to the ceremony. It's was a cool, rainy day but we made the best of it, attending the ceremony and then having a dinner here at the house. The following day we had a party with friends to celebrate as well. I wasn't really the hostess as I sat in a chair for all of it, but thanks to all of our family, it was a success, and I enjoyed seeing all of our friends.


Alyssa through all of this has continued to grow. We just had her 18-month check up last week and I think she gained 1 lb and grew 2 inches in the three months since her last appointment. So she's slimming down a little and definitely getting taller. She's into everything and can now reach everything! Nothing is safe from her reach. While we were selling the house, we kept a fruit bowl on the kitchen table. Alyssa would continually crawl up onto the table and get clementines or apples or bananas to eat. She's learned to peel her own bananas and is doing really well with using her silverware. In the past month to 6 weeks, she has started using some words. In her vocabulary at the moment are momma, daddy (the most used!), uh-oh, no, mine, up, dog and duck (sound the same - da), ball, ba (for sheep), bo or moo (for cow), ee (for please), hi and bye bye. She's also learning to shake her head yes as opposed to always responding to questions with no. It's so funny because she's not real good at it and her whole upper body shakes to signal "yes". She's become a real daddy's girl with everything going on - between me spending all my time on my dissertation and then not being able to do things with/for her because of the bed rest, she really wants him to do some of her routine activities - read her bedtime books, get her dressed in the morning, give her a bath, etc.


Aaron and I were forced to make a difficult decision this past weekend. On Friday afternoon, we were looking for something and Aaron stuck his hand under the bed downstairs and inadvertently hit Roni who was resting there. This startled Roni and set off one of his "episodes" when he was hissing, growling, swiping, etc. Aaron and I managed to get upstairs and close kitty in the basement. We left the home for a few hours to run errands with Alyssa and when we got home, kitty was still in a mood. So we left him in the basement until Alyssa went to bed at which point we opened the door in case he wanted to come upstairs. He did so immediately but was still hissing and growling at Aaron and I. We knew we can't have a kitty like this around the kids as they don't know how to respond and act. I can't run the risk of him hurting one of them during one of his fits. The next morning he was still fiesty and Aaron struggled to get him a cage, but with the help of an animal control expert, kitty did go in his crate and we were able to take him to the shelter. It was a rough weekend making this decision and saying goodbye to my first "baby" who has been with me for 8 years, but I know this is what is best for the kids. It's really strange to be here alone this morning and to not to have Roni right there when I wake up in the mornings.

I think that's all the news from here for the time being. We're having a garage sale this weekend and then looking forward to spending some time with friends at their cabin for Memorial Day. If there's any news, we'll be sure to update you just as soon as we can! We hope this finds you all doing well and staying cool (we've been in the 90s!). Hugs to all of you...