Happy to You!

It was a happy, happy birthday for Sydney! We had a spectacular Abby Cadabby birthday party with crowns and wands and boas - oh my! Sydney welcomed all sorts of guests and enjoyed a particularly fancy dinner of pizza and salad. She especially enjoyed her Abby Cadabby cupcakes. She even did a great job of blowing out her candles. Happy Birthday, Syd!

Abby Cadabby Cupcakes

Loving it while she gets her very own Happy to You song


Blowing out the candles


Eating her cupcake without getting her fingers dirty

Grandma and Grandpa win the prize for the most exciting gift. Welcome home, Dorothy!

"Bless you, Mama"

This morning, Syd and I were sitting at the table eating breakfast when I sneezed. Syd turned her head, looked right at me, and said, "Bless you, Mama!" That's just about the sweetest thing ever. Happy birthday, baby!

Birthday Preparations Continue...

Happy Birthday Eve to Sydney! Tomorrow is the big day. It also happens to be the day we plan on hosting her Abby Cadabby birthday party. A special thanks to everyone who has offered to help out with the preparations. The realization that I'm 30 weeks pregnant and exhausted is just now setting in. I'm sure tomorrow will be a huge success. We can't wait to see everyone and help our baby celebrate.

Cole Thomas at 30 Weeks

Here's this week's update from babycenter.com:

Your baby's about 15.7 inches long now, and he weighs almost 3 pounds - like a head of cabbage. A pint and a half of amniotic fluid surrounds him, but that volume will decrease as he gets bigger and takes up more room in your uterus. His eyesight continues to develop, though it's not very keen; even after he's born, he'll keep his eyes closed for a good part of the day. When he does open them, he'll respond to changes in light but will have 20/400 vision — which means he can only make out objects a few inches from his face. (Normal adult vision is 20/20.)

Syd Builds a Bear!

This past weekend, I had to judge, and Tom was out of town, so Jodi and Sarah were nice enough to take Syd to Build-a-Bear Workshop! For those of you who aren't familiar with Build-a-Bear, it's a neat shop that enables kids to build a bear from scratch. They get to choose the bear and then follow a series of steps to stuff it with love and other redeeming character traits, bath it, and provide it with a birth certificate. Anyway, the girls had a blast, and here are the pictures to prove it:

Syd adding friendship to her bear


Syd "stuffing" her bear

Good times!

Syd and "Pinky"

Sarah and her new "bear"

Cole Thomas at 29 Weeks

Here's this week's update from babycenter.com. Only 11 weeks to go, folks!

Your baby now weighs about 2 1/2 pounds (like a butternut squash) and is a tad over 15 inches long from head to heel. His muscles and lungs are continuing to mature, and his head is growing bigger to make room for his developing brain. To meet his increasing nutritional demands, you'll need plenty of protein, vitamins C, folic acid, and iron. And because his bones are soaking up lots of calcium, be sure to drink your milk (or find another good source of calcium, such as cheese, yogurt, or enriched orange juice). This trimester, about 250 milligrams of calcium are deposited in your baby's hardening skeleton each day.

Cole Thomas at 28 Weeks

I figure I'll squeeze this one in before Monday (which marks 29 weeks).

By this week, your baby weighs two and a quarter pounds (like a Chinese cabbage) and measures 14.8 inches from the top of his head to his heels. He can blink his eyes, which now sport lashes. With his eyesight developing, he may be able to see the light that filters in through your womb. He's also developing billions of neurons in his brain and adding more body fat in preparation for life in the outside world.