Animals, stories, Grammy, and 35 weeks pregnant

Whoa. I'm sorry it has been a few weeks since I've posted a blog. We have been doing lots of fun things and I have actually managed to take a few pictures, but sitting down at the computer for a block of time is a luxury. In the past few weeks we have managed to attend story time a few times (including a special night one for Halloween), take many walks to the park, go to the zoo, have a playdate at the mall play area (too rainy for the park), host our first football get-together as Ohioans, and have Grammy visit. All the while I am continuing to grow and as I type this I only have about 4 weeks left (if all goes well). Below is a picture time-line of the past few weeks.

This is the only picture out of order (it should go after the next one). Notice Taya with her fingers in her mouth? The following week she told me "mommy, I have new tooth". I said "you have a new tooth?" and she says "yep". So I looked back and her top left molar was poking through. She is now working on the right side.
Also, her friend, Jackson, is pictured on the right. We met him, his 5 month old brother, Henry, and of course his mom, Jessica, at story time. We also met them at the mall for a play date one Friday morning. They had fun seeing the animals.
Taya's first trip to the Columbus Zoo.

The first stop...The polar bears!

We were able to go down below the polar bear's swimming pool and watch them. It was pretty neat.

Polar bear...

Up next, the elephants! Taya loves elephants and there was a BABY elephant!

Jessica was nice enough to wrangle Taya for me a few times since it's getting harder for me to hold her (and chase her).

Then Jackson wanted to show Taya the tiger.

We finished the morning in the aquarium then had a picnic lunch before we headed home.

Taya still likes to wear my shoes. She thought she might want her own pair of Uggs but we found some that are even better (pictures further down).

We hosted a few of Ethan's friends from work for the Nebraska v. Texas game (yes, it was disappointing) but we had a fun time. Taya was really happy to have company and show off.

L-R: Ethan, Taya, Chris, and Dan (Ethan's boss).

Dan was the first to arrive and Taya immediately made him read her stories. Later she would chuck a hard toy right at him, starting a game of catch.

Mona, another of Ethan's co-workers, has a 9 month old named Samantha. Taya was pretty interested in playing with her but didn't want to share her toys. She was pretty good though.

I had just told Taya to be careful of Sam's eyes. Taya likes to touch baby faces but points out the different body parts which usually ends up with an eye poke.

Special Story Time was on Wednesday evening. It's at the Dublin Library where we go for usual story time. They had 30 minutes of more mild "ghost stories" for toddlers then they were going to start telling scarier stories. We met with another friend, Donovan, and his parents, Jennifer and Andrew. Taya got a candy bracelet from someone and she thought that was pretty cool.

Roughly 35 weeks. This was taken before we left for the doctor.

Wt=147.5 lbs

BP=102/62 (yay, it's back to normal)

Baby's heartrate=142-145 ("perfect" says Dr. Hammett)

This was taken yesterday. It's funny how a different angle and different shirt can make me look smaller. We had some photos taken at Target to capture my belly bump. I also got the chance to get my hair done while Grammy watched Taya :).

Taya's new boots!

Taya with her Grammy. It's crazy to think Grammy will be back in about 3 weeks; I'm hoping she arrives before baby Mann #2 gets here, eeek!

I have been having lots of contractions this past week or so. I've had two noticable ones that reminded me of the day I had Taya...I got very hot, blurry vision, flushed, and I could feel the muscles contract all the way around my abdomen. They were both on rather busy days at work so I drank a bunch of water and tried to rest (as well as I could at work). Since then it seems I have quite a few contractions during the day. I'm thinking my cervix should be loosening up quite nicely so I can have a quick and easy labor just as I did with Taya. I'm getting a little anxious to meet this little one and find out the gender, but I'm realizing I have a little more "mental preparation" to do before I'm really READY. Continue to keep me (and Ethan, Taya, and baby) in your prayers.

God Bless!