Benjamin Lee Toepfer
2-15-08
2:19 P.M.
6 lbs. 8 oz.
20" Long

He is here and we all are doing fine. Jacob seems to like his baby brother, he just needs to learn to be gentle. We are very thankful to the new little blessing to our family!

Eagle Eyes

The adventures of Toddlerhood. Yesterday Jacob decided he wanted to taste what the Cascade dishwashing soap tasted like. Josh and I were right there, I was cleaning out the dishes from the dishwasher and not all of the detergent had emptied out of the cup. Usually I close the lid before he can get to it, unfortunately, I had not gotten to it before he did. He must of dipped his fingers into the remaining detergent and then stuck it in his mouth of course. He was taking his fingers out of his mouth when we caught him, I at first thought he threw up, oh no, we smelled his mouth and it had a hint of detergent smell. I frantically, read the bottle directions. So we cleaned his mouth and gave him a glass of milk per the directions. Called the pediatrician and the poison control center. Josh checked his mouth for burns, while I talked to the poison control center nurse. He thankfully had not gotten that much, so we needed to watch him and she called us back in a couple of hours to see how he was doing. He did not show any signs of trouble and he ate and drank a ton, so she said he was out of the clear. Praise the Lord! This was all after he poured out a 1/4 gallon of water on the floor after we got home from church. The joys of Toddlerhood, what happens when I do ......
I was hoping that today would be uneventful, unfortunately, I was wrong. We did pretty well we built a city our of legos, played with his buckets and his basket ball. Then I was getting lunch ready and went to the buffet cabinet to get out a cup of canned fruit and as I was shutting the door Jacob was next to me and I heard a cry. Here he had stuck his little finger in the corner of the door as I was shutting it. Now don't I feel like a horrible mother. We will see if Grandma Pat and Grandpa Tom can keep eagle eyes on Jacob this weekend. We will see if Uncle Andy gave them enough training to keep up with Jacob.

6 Days and Counting!!

Yesterday I had an ultrasound, NST and Doctors appointment. Good News! The baby looks great and weighs about 7 lbs. 4 oz. Not so good news is that I need to go in the night before I am being induced. I was hoping to just go in, in the morning, but unless things progress dramatically before Tuesday morning, we will be going in around 7:30 p.m. on Thursday evening. My induction is scheduled to start at 6:00 a.m. on Friday morning, so about 2 hours earlier than Jacob.
Aunt Becky and Uncle Brian will be taking care of Jacob before Grandma Pat and Grandpa Tom come to take care of Jacob.
Besides waiting, I did our taxes today, Yeah!! One less thing to worry about after the baby comes. I also have been trying to keep up to date on all the book-keeping. Now all we need to do is some cleaning and some laundry and we should be all set.

8 Days and Counting

I thought with the big snow storm and the urge to clean my house, that the baby might decide to arrive early. However, he has not arrived yet. Josh got a little nervous when he came home on Tuesday night to find me cleaning like crazy and knowing the snow storm was coming.
Josh stayed home on Wednesday and worked from home. He shoveled twice, once in the morning and once at night. I think everything in the Milwaukee area except for hospitals were closed. Jacob kept looking out the window and said, "Snowing, Snowing" He also couldn't figure out why dad was home and wasn't playing with him. He kept yelling up to the office, Daddy, Daddy.
Today has been an adventure as usual. Molly threw up this morning. Here is a 9 month pregnant lady pulling her 60+lb. dog into the kitchen so she doesn't throw up on the carpet. She is like a little kid, she has medicine for allergies she has, however she doesn't always take it. She can eat all her food and spit the medicine out. So, she licks her paws like crazy that are swollen due to allergies and then she throws up. We love our dog, she is great with Jacob, but some days I feel like I have two toddlers in the house.
I have had suspicion that Jacob's two year molars are coming in. Today, I think it is a pretty sure thing, I caught him chewing on the handle of a sippy cup. Then before I put him to bed he grabbed a washcloth out of the clean pile and started chewing on it. I guess if he is not going to be sleeping well through the night, now is as good of time as any.
So not sleeping well through the night can make you a little over tired during the day. My friends Becky C. and Becky S. who I used to live with, before I was married to Josh, use to think it was so funny how I would get really giddy when I was overtired. Well, Jacob has inherited that trait. Before I put him down for his nap he was giggling at everything. He looked at himself in the mirror and thought it was hilarious.
Tomorrow, I have a Ultrasound, NST and doctors appointment. So we will see approximately how big this little boy is and see if there is any possibility that I will have him early.

NST

NST - stand for Non-stress Test. I have been having them since I was 32 weeks pregnant every Tuesday and Friday morning. I had them with Jacob also, and neither of them seem to like them. Jacob would fall asleep when I would get hooked up to the monitors and his little brother is following in his footsteps. The nurses I think look at me and think, oh no, it is her again, her baby doesn't like to cooperate. Thankfully, I don't have a job I need to be back for, otherwise they would have to change them to stress tests. I take Jacob to a sitters house so he can play while mom is trying to relax. So, only 2 more non-stress tests to go. Yeah!!

So, what posses little boys to dump full glasses of juice or milk onto the floor?? At least this time it was after the doctors appointment and not right before we needed to leave to get there on time.... the joys of toddler hood.

11 Days and Counting

In 11 days or less Baby Toepfer #2 will be born. I will go in for an induction on February 15th, 2008. Unless this little boy decides to arrive early, which would be fine with mom. We have been trying to get Jacob ready for his little brother. I think he will do fine, I think the hardest will be to share daddy. Jacob is a daddy's boy. They wrestle, chase each other around the house, play football and cars. Who wouldn't love a dad as fun as Josh can be.

This afternoon we go to the chiropractor, we started taking Jacob because he had quite a few ear infections and the pediatrician was talking about putting tubes in his ears. Josh and I were not real crazy about the idea of tubes. A friend of ours mentioned the possibility of going to a chiropractor. So after researching on-line about it and e-mailing one of Josh's cousin's husbands who is a chiropractor in Union Grove, we decided to take him. Since he has been going, he has not had any ear infections. Praise the Lord!! I also started going. Supposedly it is good for pregnant women also. The main reason I went, was because Baby Toepfer #2 was breech at about 32 weeks still and they said if he doesn't turn, they would have me come into the hospital to turn him. I was not really looking forward to that, I have heard it is very painful. So, I went in and the chiropractor did the Webster technique which is basically aligning your hips and loosing tendons and the baby turned. It doesn't always work, but it is worth the try. It also allows the baby to turn on its own.

Tomorrow I have a non-stress test and another one on Friday. I also have a doctor appointment and ultrasound on Friday. They will measure the baby to see about how big he is. Jacob was born at 37 weeks and was 6lbs 12 1/2 oz. and 20 3/4" long. On Friday I will be 38 weeks, so we will see how big this little one is.

Jacob had his 18 month check-up on January 25th. He was 35 3/4" long and 33 lbs. 12 oz. My how he has grown. Jacob will be 19 months when his little brother arrives.