The Handley Family: Monthly Update - September 2015 Breech baby!!! Yikes.

Addie's Monthly Photo

Cooper's Monthly Photo

Aribelle's Monthly Photo

All about Addie

School - Addie LOVES school. Seriously, LOVES IT!! From the first day we dropped her off to now she loves it the same if not even more. Despite having two colds within the first three weeks of school, she still loves going. She didn't even want to skip on the days she wasn't feeling great. Favorite subject right now is "PE" according to Addie. A close second is probably recess (even though that's not a subject, lol).

First Bully - There's a boy in her class that is a bit on the ornery side. Apparently there have been a few incidents (not just involving Addie but other kids as well) and the little boy just can't keep his hands or words to himself. He pushes, says mean things and drives Addie crazy sometimes. One day when I was picking her up from school, this same bully decided to push Addie and pulled on her arm. Apparently that was just enough to set Addie over the edge and she started crying. The teacher didn't see the incident happen so I didn't make a big deal out of it and decided instead to talk to her once we got to the car. Fortunately, we had "bully talks" before Addie even started school to try and prepare her for these tough situations. I want to make sure that Addie doesn't let bully's mentally follow her home every day. We've taught her that when a bully strikes, you move away from the situation. If the bully follows, get an adult. If it continues to be a problem, we will eventually intervene but we're trying to teach her that it's important for her to deal with them on her own when possible.

All about Cooper

First ride on Tractor - Cooper got the ride of his life when Uncle Dillon came by with his tractor (on 9/3) and offered to let Cooper help him dig a hole. It was so cute to watch Cooper in awe as Dillon pulled up and the pure excitement when he rode around in the yard with him.

"Got it for my Birthday" - I'm not sure where this is coming from but lately, everything is "I got it for my birthday". Even when we aren't asking where something came from he will just randomly show us one of his toys and say "I got it for my birthday".

Big Helper - With the impending arrival of Conner, I've been focusing on using Cooper's assistance as much as possible. He has welcomed being a BIG Brother with open arms lately. He will help Aribelle get a drink, he helps her with toys, will go get things for me when I need them, etc. Typically he does things the first time I ask and rarely whines at my asking.

All about Aribelle

Walking - I would say Aribelle is walking 80% of the time now. She crawls mostly when she's playing with a specific toy on the floor. I think she has figured out that she can get around and keep up with the other kids if she's on her feet.

Head rub - A few times, I would rub Aribelle's head just after laying her in her crib for bed. I noticed one night that she started rubbing her hand along her head after I had laid her down (like she was indicating that she wanted me to do it). Ever since, she started doing it ever night. It is absolutely adorable that she found a way to get us to stay in her room just a bit longer.

Loves phones....Locking them - We don't usually let the kids play with our phones much but somehow Aribelle gets a hold of them when we aren't looking. Within seconds, she will have our phone locked and we have to wait 10 minutes before we can use them again (safety feature on our iPhone). She locks the phones by hitting buttons on the number keypad where we are supposed to enter our password. She LOVES when the phone buzzes at her to let her know that she is entering the wrong numbers.

Rolling ball - If there is a ball within a mile range, Aribelle will find it, and ask you to roll it back and forth to her. She has a whole system too. She will come over to you and make sure you are sitting with your feet apart so that she can sit across from you the same way. She will plop down and then scoot her butt until she is a good distance to you. She can play this game forever and it is the cutest!!!

Vocab -
Everything is "button" - She thinks everything is a "button". She will point at random things in the room and say "button.... button... button".
"Pocka" - This is her newest way of saying "Cooper". She mostly calls everyone "Addie" but in the rare event that she remembers Cooper, she says "Pocka".

All about baby #4 (Conner)

Glucose test 8/15 - I think I forgot to post on this, but last month my glucose test came out negative! YAY!! I was nervous that I would have GD again simply because I was having a boy and I had it with Cooper. I know that's strange logic but since when have pregnant women ever been logical?
At that same appointment, my belly was measured and I measured big for that week. I somewhat panicked in my head thinking OH MY GOSH, THIS BABY IS GOING TO BE HUGE!!! I was only measuring about a week ahead but that was still more than I wanted to be. The doc said that it could also mean excess amniotic fluid and not to panic.

Prenatal checkup 9/15 - The doctor scheduled a tentative induction date for 10/20. We decided to get induced again so that we could guarantee that my doctor would deliver the baby.

Prenatal checkup 9/21 - BREECH BABY!! I really thought this was an urban legend because I guess I never really talked to anyone else about having one. Yes, of course I knew it actually happened, but thought it was just so rare that I would never have to worry about it. It was scary because the first word that came out of my doctor's mouth was Cesarean birth. Not knowing anything about the surgery, I panicked a bit when I got home and did the worse.... looked on the internet. It wasn't my usual doctor that examined me at this appointment and she wasn't able to speak for my doctor but she said she's pretty sure my doctor doesn't do aversion (a procedure to flip the baby) so the C-Section was probably my only option. She checked me for dilation and I was dilated to a 1cm.
After much research online, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I looked online and found that some women had success flipping using flashlights, cold compresses, and yes, standing on their head. The cold compress made Conner move a lot but I really didn't feel like he was turning. The second I put the flashlight on my belly though (right by where his head was), it was like he was trying to get out!! He was all over the place!! That night, I was positive that he flipped.

Prenatal checkup 9/27 - Baby head down? After much effort, I was anxious to confirm that Conner had in fact flipped back to head down position. The doctor didn't have the ultrasound machine available so she examined me with her hands and confirmed that she too felt Conner's head to be down by the birth canal. What a HUGE relief!!

More photos from the month:

Puzzles with daddy