Walls

Monday morning we went by the house to see the slab. Just as we drove up, we got to see them put up the first wall! It will be on the south side of the house, which will be where the school room (to the left side) and the living room (to the right side) will be.

I was going to wait until today to go by again, but of course that didn't happen. When we went by yesterday, this was the front view.

This is the north side of the house.

I'm not planning on going back again until after the baby is born, so we made one more stop this morning, even though it was raining. Jack is standing in the entry. Behind him to the right is the entry into the living room.

The south and west walls of the living room--closed in!

This is my laundry room window.

Part of the garage.

Jay will be making more trips to see the progress and the builder said he would send pictures, too, but I am sure I will be surprised the next time I get to see it in person!

Score!

Look at all the bug books I found at the used book store Monday! And guess what we're learning about this week and next!

The great used book store we will be near is just one more reason I am glad to be moving home. Monday I took in three bags of books and got $96 in trade credit! I only checked out the children's area, but I found plenty in there. It was like my book twin had just cleaned out her shelves!

I found Play With Me, a Before FIAR book, for only $1. Roxaboxen, a FIAR book, was just $2--and it was an English copy, not the Spanish copy I have grabbed the last several times, which always disappointed me.

I found several more good nonfiction books. Jack just mentioned learning about animal tracks the other day, so I lucked out!

I also found some Lois Ehlert and Denise Fleming books in great condition.

A few more favorite authors and illustrators we happened across.

I still have more than $30 of credit left (they divide the credit by the types of books you bring) and I have a ton of children's books to go through in the attic, so I am excited to go back and see what we'll end up with. In the mean time, I think I may skip the Scholastic sale!

33 Weeks, 5 Days

Actually, I'm at 34 weeks today, but I took this picture at 33 weeks and 5 days. It just seemed so fitting because I feel like I am pretty much all stomach right now. I'm fairly sure that this child is close to Jack's current height already, and it can't weigh much less than he does now. Surely.

All in all, things are going pretty well. The sciatica eventually went away, but it has been replaced by carpal tunnel problems. Even though it's annoying and a little painful, it's still a thousand times better than having excruciating pain any time you move your lower body. My feet and hands look pretty puffy all the time now, and if it's at the end of a hot day, they look downright ridiculous. As long as that goes away eventually, I can deal with that.

My doctor's office told me that my blood pressure was going up, but I am fairly sure that they are the cause, because when Jay took it at home, it was okay. You'll notice that I didn't say that the doctor told me my blood pressure was high. That's because I have seen my doctor for a total of two minutes since January, and she may or may not be back by the time I have the baby. That, in combination with waiting with a four year old for an hour and a half to see a nurse for five minutes seems to be what gets the numbers rising.

We're now just three weeks from "the window"--though as I told my doctor when I had Jack, I don't consider any windows open until 40 weeks, no matter what they may have told them in med school. At 37 weeks, though, I am hoping to have the house in good order, newborn clothes washed, food in the freezer, and upcoming school plans ready. Jay has the week before that off and we only have two more weeks of school, so I am optimistically thinking that we may reach this goal!

"Life is always a rich and steady time when you are waiting for something to happen or to hatch." --E.B. White, Charlotte's Web

Pond Field Trips

As I mentioned earlier, everyone seems to be going on field trips now, and we are definitely not the exception. Last week went to the local natural history museum. They happened to have a new display on pond life and how scientists go about researching it. The research part was way over Jack's head, but he liked the light-up fish jars!

We found another pond life display upstairs.

The Discovery Room had plenty of real live pond animals! Jack was a little nervous about the snake. It had just shed its skin and it looked a little creepy.

This week we went to the zoo and saw many examples of Oklahoma pond and river animals!

We enjoyed watching the otter swim around and around. I mentioned to Jack that one time Jay and I had spent a long time watching the otters at the Omaha zoo and he wanted to know what he had thought of it. When I said that he wasn't born yet he gave me a funny look and asked what we were doing at the zoo if we didn't have a kid.

A few fish from the big tank

We finished up our trip by feeding the ducks, geese, and catfish in the zoo pond!

Pond Life

We have been learning about pond life for the last two weeks. Above are just a few of the books we used.

I found the board book version of Little White Duck at the museum for a lot cheaper than I had seen it on Amazon. I found the felt board patterns at Making Learning Fun.

I just happened upon this book at the library. It had an easy idea for making dragonfly prints.

We also added this cute dragonfly puppet (from Let's Explore) to our collection.

We made some pond books of our own (from Mailbox magazine). Jack really got into the "Let's Peek in the Pond" one and added some of his own ideas.

We read about beavers and used this page about building dams from the Evan-Moor Giant Science Resource Book.

We also made our own beaver dam snack!

Left: A fish page from the Evan-Moor book
Right: A duck print made with potatoes and carrots

I got the idea for this pond collage from Mailbox. Jack wasn't too sure about getting his fingers covered with glue so he worked really slowly, but he eventually got it all covered!

Left: Turtle life cycle page from Evan-Moor
Right: Sink or Float experiment page

Checking to see if the Larrymobile sinks or floats

We used stickers to make a booklet about the life cycle of a frog (from Mailbox). We also played with the cool life cycle models I ordered from Oriental Trading Company.

The Mailbox also had this idea for making a tadpole...

...that changes into a frog.

We are working on counting to one hundred. Jack has the pattern down between the 10s, so now we're working on those numbers.

Next up: Some pond life pictures from the zoo and the museum!

Touch a Truck

Where can you hug a giant cow? Touch a Truck!

We got to see the medi-flight helicopter land...

...and later Jack got to get inside.

Jack loved honking the horns on the big trucks.

His absolute favorite thing, though, was the fire safety house. We had to go back to this one several times.

Most of the kids seemed to be using this one as a dance stage.

The boat was new this year!

Although the UPS truck comes to our house almost every day, Jack said he "never knew how cool it was inside."

Jack and Ms. Susan, our storytime librarian.

Field Trip Season

It's that time of year again: Field trip season. Wherever you go, trillions of elementary students are there, too, screaming and pushing and supposedly making some kind of educational gains. Whatever. I usually try not to go too many places in April and May, but this year I am trying to get in lots of outings before we're possibly stuck at home with a newborn. I am just not sure how mobile we'll be for a while. Friday we went to the children's museum, along with half of the 6 to 10 year olds in Oklahoma.

Jack wanted to start outside since it was less crowded. He played on the ship for quite a while and then relaxed on the big playground.

Doing a little shopping at the grocery store.

Working on a bone puzzle.

Jack got a big kick out of the different mirrors.

Since the weather was nice, we took a ride on the train!

We ended up staying just a couple of hours since it was so busy, but we had a good time. Hopefully some of the places we go in the next few weeks will be a little less crowded!