Im so Thankful! Part 1.

Starting from the beginning, I was talking to my sister Shannon on the phone Friday and maybe a little on Saturday about how the whole family (my side of the family -minus my mom, because my parents are divorced, so the "whole family" has to exclude a parent) would be spending Thanksgiving together at my sister Kelly's cabin up in Blue Ridge. The last family reunion was last August, and we were all there, but Dave, who is my sister Shannon's husband (and of course my mom, because it was my dad's side of the family- reunion.) Needless to say, we have all resigned ourselves to not really getting to spend many holidays together. My sisters have husbands and spend time with those families too so sometimes its real hit or miss. I have kids and, me being a stay at home mom, buying plane tickets is not easily affordable. Anyhow, Shannon and I were talking about how nice it would be to see each other for the Holidays, and I am in my 3rd trimester so I wasn't sure that I would be able to fly, nor did we have the money to spend on 2 tickets, just before Christmas and the delivery date. We talked and Shannon said that if I was game, that she was going to look into tickets.

Sunday I woke up super early. Laid in bed awake from 4am til 5 when finally I went downstairs to set up coffee to brew and eat some cereal. I was standing in the kitchen, and checked my phone and saw that I had an email. OMG!!! It was a flight itinerary for later that morning... as in I needed to get Josie and I packed, and me showered and FAST!!! As it turns out, that email was not the tickets that she bought... about a half an hour before we would have had to leave for the airport, Shannon texted me that she had not purchased that flight, nor did she realize that it was a flight that was going to be leaving in a couple hours hahaha. So I called he and we ironed it all out and since I was packed and ready and so was Josie, we were able to get a flight booked for a couple hours later, so I was able to sit down and let my head stop spinning from the craziness and the tiredness... we were able to go to Starbucks and Sarah met us there to say bye to Josie and give her hugs and kisses.

We made it to the airport on time, Michael parked and got us all situated up to the security line, which was sweet of him. We all miss each other already. Josie decided that she was going to have a god potty training day all day! Each and every time that she had to go potty, she told me, and we went to the bathroom and she used them, even public self flushing toilets! EVEN THE ONE ON THE PLANE!!! Can I tell you how small those damned bathrooms are? OH EM GEE! There was not enough room for my 31 week pregnant belly to bend or squat down hardly with a toddler in front of the potty so that I could pull her pull up down. She hasn't gotten savvy to the pulling up and down her own pants or pullups yet. That will come soon I hope. Anyhow, we made it here. The plane landed at 6:30 Atlanta time, and Brian was at the airport to pick us up. We had about a 35 min drive to the house, chicken noodle soup was made and ready for us, with cheese bread and grapes, mmmm. Finnegan waved when we came in and flashed us a HUGE smile. It was awesome. I had to wash my hands first and Josie's because we were just at the airport all day, and where as we had washed our hands several times, it just needs to be a good habit. Finn stayed up about an hour past his bedtime to visit more. Josie said "Night" over and over again, for the first time ever. We got our jammies on when Finn did, and we were soon to go to bed after. I was delusional tired. We called Daddy to say night to him. He said that the house was too quiet. :( I told him I was sorry and that I missed him a bunch.

Good thing is though, my person's family decided to stay home for this Thanksgiving, and they said that they were hoping to come eat with Michael, so he will have some people to share Thanksgiving with. Im just sad that I wont be there to witness Michael's cooking, because truth is, he wouldn't cook if I was there, I am pretty sure about that anyhow.

Today I woke up earlier than I would have liked to, but thats just how it goes. I got to spend time with Finn before he went to daycare, which was super nice. He is such an adorable sweet boy. Today Josie and I get to just hang out and readjust to the new time of day, etc. I need a nap today, to try to recover from me waking up so early and waking up during the night etc.

Most of all I am excited to see us all be able to surprise my dad and Grandma with our visit. We are hoping for tears. We never get to spend holidays all together. I wish Michael was here so bad... He wishes he was here, that he could visit too... but we have to choose and pick how we can. I have to wait to post this, in the off chance that my dad checks this blog regularly, I don't want to spoil it. So, til tomorrow this post will remain in draft form.

Nevermind, the cat is out of the bag. My dad knows, lol. He called Shannon to talk about something and she couldn't keep herself from spilling the beans. *sigh* Oh well. We still get to be together for the rest of the week. :)

Tis the Season

I can't believe that we are already in the holiday season. One day it seems like time is passing normally, then all of a sudden there are days when I am surprised at how far away a date is, or how close a date is coming. I love the holiday season, I love a house decorated with trees, and lights and ornaments, and Christmas Villages, smells of the season like yummy things cooking, or nice woodsy smells of tree's and fires in fire places. Thanksgiving is a week away. I will be doing a bunch of cooking, and hopefully I can get some of the things done the day before, like the desserts so that those are out of the way. We were going to do something other than a Turkey, and then I was like.... but why? Turkey is good, and its traditional, and no one had an amazing idea for an alternative, so lets save the mixing it up for Christmas dinner I say, and everyone agreed. I am assuming that Michael's father will be having a meal on thanksgiving, but if we are eating at that time, then we will just have to make time to visit later in the evening. I don't think its imperative to gorge ourselves if not necessary, and anyhow I am pregnant and my digestion is so darn slow, that if i overeat, I will be in pain and need to sleep til Christmas, but wont be able to get comfortable enough to fall asleep lol.

Today I kinda got on myself about how is Josie supposed to take potty training seriously, when I am not seriously working on it with her, as in she knows that if she is wearing a pull-up that she doesn't have to go to the big girl potty every time otherwise there will be a mess. So today, we are low on Pull-Ups, and I want to save them for when she is sleeping because thats a reasonable accident time. She did pretty well. She is much more willing to use the potty when there is no pull-up as a safety net... and I am happy, that means that this is all happening at the right time. I need to just really stick with it, unless she has a major aversion to continuing potty training. We can do this!!!

On another side note, the baby... (which Michael and I have a couple of names that may be used still... it depends on what she looks like when she is born) she was kicking right behind my belly button, it was very odd feeling, but kinda neat. She even did it when Michael got home from work and he got to feel it, he swears it was her butt, but I think it was a foot or a knee. Also this is the second day where I have really noticed that I am having Braxton Hicks contractions every a couple times a day. During them, I cannot walk at my normal pace, in fact its best if I sit down and wait it out. Nothing to worry about, just one of those pregnancy things that some people have and some people don't. Its hard to fall asleep at night, because I can NOT get comfortable, then when I am asleep, anything wakes me up... so I don't get a lot of continuous sleep, but I am going to chalk it up to mother nature's way of getting you used to sleep deprivation with life with a newborn. Que cera cera though, right?

Ok, this is a late post that I am sneaking in at the end of the day... Maybe my person will enjoy reading it tomorrow, which is Thursday!!! Thursdays are my favorite days of the work week, because our favorite shows are on, and I go over to her house and we watch them together, sometimes there is coffee and treats and other times its just our good company. Either way, its our day, and I love her for wanting to share her Thursday nights with me.

27 Weeks

I swear that I look bigger in this photo than I do in real life, but oh well. haha

Here is the belly progression from beginning to end so far from when we found out, to now which is at the end of the second trimester.

Weekend Fun

This weekend was fun and filled with just the right amount of busy, if you ask me. Friday was the beginning of how things started. The weather has given us a break and has been super nice, so instead of going to the park on Friday afternoon, I drove Josie down to Galveston. We picked up Michael and went to the beach with our blankets and bag of sand toys. It was super windy as you can see in the videos, it was totally worth it though!

Saturday we woke up early. The contractors were going to be here for the last day to finish up our upstairs bathroom!

Bathroom before

Midway

THEN...

And FINALLY!!!!!

We now have a beautiful tub and shower combo! Not to mention that stinky gross carpet in the bathroom has been transformed into lovely tile! WOOHOO Josie celebrated with a bath :) and of course I am a ding dong and didn't take any pictures of it. :( sorry, but I did take pics of the Bathroom renovation process :)

While they were working on the bathroom, and we were stuck at home, I set up tables out in the driveway, and had michael help me drag out the several tubs of items that I had set aside and priced ready for a garage sale. We made enough to totally make it worth the sunburn that I got on my neck and shoulders lol. When Josie woke up from her nap,

Sarah and Josie and Michael and I went out for lunch. Michael had something like a Gyro but not... the rest of us ate at Chipotle MMM! After lunch we had to go to Marshals to exchange a pair of boots that Sarah had bought for Josie to wear this winter. We got a bigger size and I also found the cutest diaper bag (no I didn't buy it, it was $40 and I couldn't justify getting it when we already have diaper bags that I can use, but this is what it looks like...)

Saturday night was quiet and we went to bed kindof early.

Sunday we woke up, had coffee, went to Starbucks to get the Sunday paper, and Josie likes to go visit the fish at Petsmart, so thats what we did. Then we came home and Josie took her nap, I worked on the downstairs half bath a little more, while making the Lemon pound cake for Michael's birthday today. I wasnt sure how it was going to turn out, since our oven doesn't bake things well. So we went to the store, where I got things to make an appetizer, and we got a carrot cake from Target (they are amazing!)

Sarah and Andrew, Helen, Julie, and the Rosendahls Joined us for dinner. Helen and Julie made steaks, I tried out a new recipe of coconut shrimp, Sarah helped Helen make the mashed potatoes, and Amanda made some of the most amazing green beans wrapped in bacon that I have ever eaten. OMG they were DEVINE TO THE MAX!!! This is some of the fun that Josie and her best friend Laine had.

Josie with a cupcake!

All in all a wonderful weekend.

Side note, today marks week 26! This is the last week of my 6th month of pregnancy, as well as the last week of my second trimester! Time is a flying!

Catch up Ketchup

I started this blog forever ago, and I have only made like 23 posts. I guess its not that big of a deal, but for sure I am not posting a blog a day, nor even a blog a week. SO.... here goes me posting a blog, even though I don't really think I have anything blog worthy to blog about... let me ponder this. OOOOH wait, yes I do! Michael was bringing Josie downstairs yesterday before Avery was about to go home, and he was all excited because he swears that she said "Bye, Red Ball" and "Bye, Game room." Thats a big deal, she has been mildly curious about colors, enjoys the alphabet song, but her words aren't quite ready to say them all yet. So for her to say Red, let alone pair it with an object like ball, well YAHOO! Thats a first, and that AMAZE-A-ING!! Also never before have I heard her say the word game, let alone pairing it with room (a word she has been using this past week) She is saying phrases like "all gone" "all done" "I don't know" "a, bubby? which means where's bubby?" "more please" "I want food/juice, please" "There it/he/she is"

Other words that she says are Mom/mommy, Avery, Sarah, Andrew, Bubby, Bubba, Grammy, Daddy, Doggie, Read, See, ok, Yeah, No, YAY!, WAH WAH, Oh no, Nemo, Boat, Baby, Boo, Ball, Juice, Food, Hi, Bye, Mine, Empty, Roar, Shoes, Bumble bee, Kitty, T is her blanket, Moo, Vroom, beep-beep, peep-peep, along with noises that squirrels, fish, monsters, lions, tigers, bears, cats, dogs, bee's, pigs, and ducks make... (I am sure I have missed something here lol)

She is broadening her vocabulary at a steady pace, and likes me to read to her, so I at the very least try to read one book a day with her, even if its a bedtime story, she loves them. The more I read, and the more words she hears, the better she will be able to comprehend and hopefully say new words.

She is due for her 2 year old shots, which I think is just one shot... I have to check. I am considering trying to find a Pediatrician that I like here closer to home. Its a long drive to her Dr now, and on top of it, we have to pay for parking :( So yeah.

Today I am 18 weeks pregnant! We still haven't committed to a name yet. What goes well with Alice, or Darby, or Maggie, or Mae, or Lulu, or Mia, or Harley, or Harper? Which ones do I like the most? UGH decisions. Her kicks are getting stronger, little bit by little bit. They are on the cusp from changing from flutters to kicks and jabs. I will take them as little reminders to pick out a name already! hehehe.

Also this past weekend we had Damien, we watched him for Dave and Kerry while they went a gambling. He ended up spending the night. I have to say, finding something for a 2 and 3 year old set of girls, to pair up with something that a 10 year old boy would like to do was a bit of a challenge. Michael and I got it done though, and we even maybe had fun! haha.

Til next time.

Thank Heaven for little

Yesterday, Monday August, 17, 2009 at 17 weeks along, we had an appointment to go to the radiology department of the Women's Hospital to have them to an anatomy ultrasound. The main purpose is to make sure that the baby is doing everything that its suppose to be doing, and growing, OH and you can usually tell the gender. The Tech showed us the head, and the abdomen and then asked if we wanted to know the gender, and when I looked at the screen, I already knew. I said Its a girl! and she said yes, its a girl. HA Of course I smiled, because then I knew. Michael and I are both happy regardless and our only real preferences if to have a healthy and happy baby. Obviously since we do not have any little boys, it probably would have been a celebration for accomplishment, getting to have a boy and a girl in the first two try's, but instead we get to have a new baby girl. Its nice, we have tons of girl things, although I think its nice for everyone to have their own things and not just be destined to have nothing but hand me downs :) For Michael really though this is his third daughter, which I am a third daughter, so I have a lot in common with her already. Josie has broken a lot of the misconceptions for Michael and I that we may have had about girls, she is not too girly. She is fine with wearing a dress or wearing a skirt, will usually let me do her hair lol, likes to be the mama to her baby dolls, but also really likes dinosaurs, animals, cars, sports, won't watch a princess movie at all, but loves the movie cars, a bugs life, the bee movie, finding nemo, and monsters inc. We can totally handle two girls. Will there be any more babies in the future? I have no clue. We have to do it one at a time and figure out what we can handle and afford etc. Right now the number one thing for me is to figure out a name for this sweet little girl, so that when she meets the world, she will have an amazing, unique, special name of her very own. Wish us luck, we aren't able to agree on many names. :)

The pregnancy week breakdown lol

1st Trimester

weeks 1-4 are the first month

weeks 5-8 are the second month

weeks 9-13 are the third month

2nd Trimester

weeks 14-17 are the fourth month

weeks 18-21 are the fifth month

weeks 22-26 are the sixth month

3rd Trimester

weeks 27-30 are the seventh month

weeks 31-35 are the eighth month

weeks 36-40 are the ninth month

Confirmation

Yesterday it was confirmed that the pregnancy had self terminated, the embryo was at some point reabsorbed before its heart was ever beating. Im glad to be alive, and healthy and to have only had to deal with, what I have so far. Losing a baby that had really already started to grow etc and then losing it would have been horrible to deal with the loss of it. Anyhow on to brighter pastures. :) Luck and love. Click here to hear the song that got me through this all.

Bad News?

Yesterday was suppose to be a much better day than it turned out to be. Yesterday was or first Dr. appointment. We were suppose to see the heartbeat, but we didnt. Dr. Wilson caught a glimpse of what we thought would have shown the heartbeat, but it was at a weird angle. We were able to see an abnormally shaped Yolk sac. It was much more ovular than normal, and she said that a heartbeat should have been there, as the size of the sac should have put me at about 6 weeks. So, we were prepared to expect the worst. By Thursday we will get the results of the 48 hour bloodwork that will test my HCG levels, and if they are not as high as they should be, then it can be safe to say that it was a miscarriage. Levels start at zero and double every two days, therefore I should be at about 1200 or higher. Its minutely possible that its just a late bloomer, but last night when I went to the bathroom at midnight, there was some bright red spotting when I wiped. Then this morning it was brown. I havent gotten a period yet, and sometimes spotting can present itself in a normal pregnancy, but I cant help but not let myself think either way about it. 

I cried for a moment when I went to bed. It has to be the hormones. I mean its incredibly sad, but I know why pregnancies self terminate. It means something is wrong, and I have to say I would rather any of this happen sooner than later in a pregnancy. We have another appointment for this coming Monday. Worst case scenario, we will move on, we will be thankful for Josie and Avery, and if we get pregnant again and it sticks we will be happier than if we hadnt gone through a miscarriage. 

We will see what happens. Im going to take it easy today. It cant hurt any :)

Click here for the song

Uneventful Thursday

Again today I mostly cleaned. There are still things to be done, laundry here, sweeping there, straightening, organizing. The Floor boards have even caught my attention, as they need attention. I made a pretty good dinner from things at the house already. Swordfish with Santa Fe rice and a Salad. All I have for pictures are the ones to mark the beginning of my pregnancy.  :) 

Its not letting me upload them now, I will try again later. 

Click here for good music to go along with a day like this...

oh brother, or sister? hahahah

So, yesterday we found out that we are expecting again. My second pregnancy. I was shocked and happy yet a little in disbelief. I mean we agreed on another baby, yet we don"t really try or not try, as to not put too much pressure either way on it. It will happen when it happens, right? Well probably around St. Patrick's Day it happened. The same time when my nephew was born. :) I'm happy to say that I at least enjoyed my last weekend of not knowing I was pregnant because it was too soon, but I had 2 Guiness and relaxed in their hot tub lol. Oh well, those things will again be put on hold until a later day, post pregnancy. So many things are different this go round. I am not as nervous as I was with my pregnancy with Josie. I think its because I know more, I don't have to get use to going from just me to always caring for a baby. I am use to that. Josie is getting to a fairly independent stage. She will be 2 and a half when the baby arrives. The due date should be around December 9 or sometime around there. Of course I want to know the gender. I feel like if I know what the gender is, then it helps me to connect with the baby. It makes it easier to prepare for things too, like if its a girl then we have mostly everything we will need, but maybe a baby shower if its a boy. I think Josie will love being a big sister. She does so well around babies, and likes to be a little mama herself :) I have from now until December for us to have a lot of good one on one time, make her really feel loved, and for her to enjoy the last remaining days of her being the center of my attention. 

I am crossing my fingers but not holding my breath that this pregnancy will be a little more enjoyable. I was sooo tired, and nauseated, and then towards the end i had a bladder infection that killed my back, but it took a while to get diagnosed so people thought I complained a lot. Maybe since I am not working at a job where I need to be presentable and out the door by 6am. I am hoping that I will be able to take it easier if need be, and really try to enjoy more of the pregnancy, with Josie.