Baby's Portrait!

Well, we found out on Monday that we are having an adorable little... BOY!

There was no doubt about it! Certain...evidence...was very clear in the ultrasound. Our little boy was very cooperative, just chilling out and occasionally waving his little arm around his head at us, saying hello! It was the best experience! Everything looks good, so now we can focus on the the fun stuff - nursery decor and bedding! Whoo-hoo!

Here's our little guy's first real pictures:
He's on his side, facing us. You can see eyes, nose and mouth.


Here's from a little farther away - his profile. I love his little nose!


This is my favorite. Arm and hand up by the side of his face, looking out at us.


-The Good Stepwitch

Halfway to Baby!

I am in my 20th week of pregnancy, which means I am halfway through! On Monday we have an ultrasound scheduled to see if we can find out the sex of the baby - hopefully the little one will cooperate! As A likes to keep reminding me, she was NOT a cooperative fetus, and kept her legs crossed so no one could guess what she was. I really hope we will be able to find out, mostly because I am dying to start designing the nursery, but have been feeling nervous about committing to anything until I know if it's a boy's room or a girl's room.

At my last doctor's appointment, I found out that I am Rh Negative. This means I have a negative blood type. And THAT means I have to get a couple of shots to make sure that my body doesn't produce antibodies that might harm the baby if the baby's blood is positive. It doesn't sound like it is too big of a deal, and it becomes more of an issue if you go on to have more children, which is not the plan for C and I. One and done!

I am feeling good. Some heartburn discomfort lately, but nothing much. I am enjoying my little baby bump. Wouldn't it be lovely if it stayed this size? I can feel the baby moving and bopping about which is crazy. According to various websites, the baby is about 7 inches long now, can hear things outside my body, suck its little thumb, and poop! All very exciting.

This weekend I am seeing my college roommate, who is also pregnant! She is about a month ahead of me, and we are so excited to compare notes, and bellies! I'll post picts soon! And stay tuned to find out the baby's flavor! Will it be strawberry or blueberry???


-The Good Stepwitch

My brave stepdaughter

As I wrote last week, the time had come for A to be braced for her progressing scoliosis. She was fitted for her brace Tuesday morning at the hospital, and after a couple of fittings in the afternoon, she wore the brace home. She is only wearing it for a couple hours a day at this point, but every day she will wear it longer until she is up to wearing it for 23 hours a day.

I am so proud of her. I saw her Tuesday night at around 7. It was time for her to take the brace off after wearing it for about 3 hours or so. I have to say I wasn't prepared for how uncomfortable it looks on her. I had seen pictures of the brace she was going to get, and understood how much of her it was to cover, but I was just taken aback by how stiff and awkward it seemed. She was SO happy to take it off. She is being such a trooper. C talked to her last night and she sounded good. She is going to start wearing the brace to school on Monday, and start sleeping in it soon after that. C and I are very anxious about how the "sleeping" part will go. A is a very light sleeper and often has a lot of trouble falling asleep. I am worried the brace will make bedtime a nightmare for her (and us), but we'll see. She has surprised me so far with how flexible and positive she has been about everything, so hopefully that will continue. C and I decided that at the end of every month we will have a special night out with A, either dinner or a movie or something, to celebrate another month of being done with the brace. We want to give her little milestones to look forward to, and also help her feel like she is making progress. She's a brave girl!!

-The Good Stepwitch

4 degrees = no water

Nothing like waking up on a frigid January morning and having no water in the house. These are the times I truly hate our house. I want to pack up and move, like, NOW.

It is very cold here in PA currently. It's been in the single digits the last 2 days and our old house just can't compete with that kind of cold. Our cellar is an icebox, and therefore, our pipes freeze. On the bright side, when we first moved into this house, our pipes froze regularly when the temp dipped into the high 20's. At least now with the insulation work we have done in the basement our pipes seem to be able to make into the teens without freezing. Progress!

Anyway, now I am a wreck because no one can shower here, the kids all have basketball games today (and will NEED to shower after them) and we have an overnight guest coming tonight, who I am guessing would also like to shower at some point. I am praying the pipes thaw by then. ARGH, is it spring yet??

-UPDATE-

Our water came back on at 6:30 this evening, thanks to some hard work by my darling hubby. I am realizing this house has a learning curve that comes with it. Every headache that comes along requires us to learn something new in order to fix it and hopefully stop it from happening again. Gotta love old houses.

-The Good Stepwitch

Yoga Girls

Several years ago, A was diagnosed with scoliosis, and ever since then has been regularly checked every few months to see if the curve of her spine was progressing. Well, now that she has hit 12 (or almost, in a few weeks) it seems that her curve is getting worse at a quicker rate. The decision was made a couple of weeks ago to brace her.

This is, of course, not what any of us wanted to hear, but hopefully the brace will do its job well and prevent A from needing surgery down the road. For her part, A is being very upbeat and positive about the whole thing. I think it's safe to say that may all change once we get into actually wearing the brace for 23 hours a day, but we are all going to try and help her through this the best she can. She should get her brace in the next week or so.

One thing her mom has decided to do is enroll A in a yoga class, which is supposed to be very good for scoliosis patients. She has had 2 classes so far and really seems to like it. She is the only kid in the class (because, as she likes to put it, she was told she is mature enough to be in an adult class) and last night she showed off some of her new skills to us after dinner. And since A always likes to have a student to teach, she decided that H needed to learn some yoga moves too. I was actually very impressed by what she has retained after only 2 classes, she was all about instructing H on how to breathe properly and everything!

Of course after a few serious poses, the whole thing became a game of who can hold their yoga pose the longest while the other tries to knock them over...but I did get some pictures of their poses. They were really fun to watch!


This one was called the "Eagle" (I think). We renamed this one "Eagle Under Attack" once the pushing and shoving started...


I can't remember what this one was called, but C and I thought it could go by the name "Charlie's Angel"


This is a Lunge.


This is a Variation on a Lunge, otherwise known as Superman Lunge




-The Good Stepwitch

I would have hated this...

I found out yesterday that P's high school now has an up-to the minute record online for every student's grades. This means that at any time, parents can go online, enter a password and see how their child is doing in his or her classes. It has test and quiz scores as well as what their overall grades are at that time in their classes. So C went online to check out P's grades last night, and saw that P currently has a C average in his math class. This led to C and P having a "very serious talk" about getting that grade up or XBOX privileges will be revoked, and that led to P being in a really rotten mood last night.

I have to say, I felt bad for the kid. I would have HATED having my grades available for my parents to review at any time in high school. I wasn't a bad student, and I usually buckled down at the end of the marking periods and did what I had to do to get at least a B, but I bombed tests sometimes. That didn't mean I didn't turn around and do better on the next test so my grade averaged out. And P is a really good student overall. He's not a slacker. Sigh.

What do you think?


-The Good Stepwitch

HAP, then and now

So, over the holidays I hung some new pictures of HAP that I had taken over the summer and called them HAP's 2008 portraits. This got me thinking about how I have known HAP for over 4 years now, and how much they have grown and changed in those 4 years. I remember when C and I started dating and he told me things about his kids: a five-year-old girl who loved princess stuff, a seven-year-old girl who was like a little mother herself, and a ten-year-old boy who loved video games and was really bright. Oooh, I thought, little girls are fun, but a 10-year-old boy??? What will I ever be able to talk to him about?? It's safe to say that I was more nervous about meeting P than either of the girls...

Now, over 4 years later, things are so different. I have this new group of people who have become my family, and honestly, they made it so easy for me. HAP is a fun and loving bunch of kids, and I feel so proud to be part of their lives.

Here is HAP, then and now.


H at age 5.


H in 2008.



A at age 7.


A in 2008.



P at age 10.


P in 2008.



-The Good Stepwitch

Ahhh, pants that FIT

Christmas vacation was so nice this year, lots of time with family, playing with HAP's gifts, eating good food and being quite lazy in general. Hence the no blogging in over a week... but now it is back to the work grind, so why not break up the day with a post? And what better subject to blog about than PANTS!!

So I am over 4 months pregnant now, and for several weeks had noticed my jeans were getting tighter and tighter. My solution most of the time was to wear sweatpants or wear my jeans with the button undone or held together with a rubber band. My tops were also getting tight, and the solution to that problem was to wear the same 3 loose-fitting tops I own over and over and over again.

I have read that most women put off getting maternity clothes until they just can't stand it any longer. I was definitely there. The thought of buying a lot of clothes that I will only wear for a few months killed me, but thanks to 2 awesome girls (Thank you Amy and Rannette!) I got to go shopping for free in their basements and came home with a bunch of "new" clothes that FIT me!! Heavenly.

I also got my first pair of maternity pants for Xmas. The size was a little off, and when I exchanged them for a pair that fit, I found I loved them so much I got a couple pairs! No more rubberbands and sweatpants! Thank you so much Cassandrew!

So I now have clothes that fit. I have also found that wearing maternity clothes makes you look pregnant, which is fun! Before, wearing my doctored-up regular clothes, I just looked kind of... pudgy, which is not fun. Why did I wait so long?


-The Good Stepwitch