Today I bought a "babygym" from a woman at work. I don't even know what they are called in English. Haylie seems to think I bought it for her. Right now she is playing farm in it. I was going to buy one anyway, so it felt like a bargain to get it used in good condition for half the price of new. I have a ton of stuff to buy in the next 3 months, it is starting to feel a bit stressful. One thing is crossed off the list now, at least.

This was last week. Haylie and Stefan found a big toad. She played with it for the longest time before it "escaped" while she wasn't looking. We start to feel sorry for them after about 30 min-1hour of being cuddled, kissed, forced to hop, and bedded down in a bucket.

She was very proud of it.

Foxy Loxy was taking a nap at the base of the dirt pile.

Third ultrasound today

Today we had the official regular ultrasound. I had one in week 7 when I was puking my guts out to check how far and how many, then one week 13 because the midwife had a brainfart and totally scheduled me wrong. So today we had the regular one. I liked the technician - she showed us a lot and narrated as she was doing it what she was looking at. Plus she printed 5 photos where you usually get 1 view. The measurements set my official due date now at January 3rd. The placenta is low, so I have to have another ultrasound November 11th to determine if it is Placenta Previa.

Haylie said "Det ser ut som en dödskalle" - It looks like a skull. Hard to explain ultrasound to a five-year-old. I think she liked the computer animations of fetuses that I showed her on Babycenter better.

A good shot of the arm, hand, scapula and ribs.

This one isn't as active as Haylie was. She was doing flips in the womb, and it felt like it constantly. They had trouble getting measurements with her because she was moving constantly. With this one I have just been feeling some gentle jostling - and that is about all it has been on the ultrasounds too. Not much action. At one point it turned its back to us, and at one point the knees were up by its forehead and then they went down. No flips, in other words.

Here you can see both hands in front of the head.

Here was a good profile where you can see the soft tissues of the face. With Haylie, you could see on the ultrasound that she had Stefan's head shape and profile. This one I am not so sure - might be my forehead.

Haylie and her little friend

Tonight, as Stefan and I were gathering rocks for fill under sidewalks in one of our big dirt piles, we uncovered yet another toad. Haylie got her hands on it and played with it for at least an hour until I was able to convince her to let it go free. She made a sleeping bag for it out of hosta leaves and had it in a bucket with moist dirt, but mostly was playing with it.

And of course, all animals that are caught must be kissed. Including sow beetles.

Here is how far we have come in the front. And when I say we, I mean Stefan. I am the one with the vision, and he implements it.

Mostly done paving the patio in the front. The step will also be clad with limestone. We need more stone for the back, so we will have to keep an eye out for some pieces for the little spots that need to be filled out here as we work on that. Later, we will fill the cracks between with cement.