Today's Videos

I FINALLY got Taylor on video doing her animal sounds. We left out a couple that she knows, but you get the picture, lol. The other is of my baby belly going crazy earlier this afternoon. He moves like this usually for an hour or so late morning/early afternoon, and in the evening for a couple of hours.







Just wanted to share the videos, I don't have much to report. I had a weird scare this afternoon where I looked up and all of a sudden I had a large blind/distorted spot in my vision. It lasted for about 20-25 minutes or so but it did go away. I called my Mom first, and she suggested changing positions to see if the baby would move, that maybe he was putting pressure on a nerve that affected my optical nerve, or maybe an optical migraine and to call the OB.

So I called the OB office to have a nurse call me back and make sure that I shouldn't go in for anything. I haven't had any blood pressure issues at all so I wasn't TOO concerned it was that, but the fact that it hadn't gone away yet (at the time I called) kind of freaked me out! Well that call was pretty well useless. The on call "nurse" that called me back told me (in your slowest raspy southern accent, interjected with smokers cough) that "it's hard to say, you know, but if you are still having it in the morning you should, you know, maybe go to urgent care and make sure it's not an infection or somethin' ". Thank. You. Click.

Not a word about whether it may or may not be related to the pregnancy, though I did tell her up front that I hadn't had any blood pressure issues at all, which she didn't actually acknowledge that she heard but whatever.

After googling optical migraine (thank goodness for the internet), it sounded exactly like what I was experiencing. It went away completely shortly after getting off the phone and hasn't come back. I'll mention it at my next appointment, but otherwise I guess I wont worry. It just freaked me out since I have so many new and different things happening with this pregnancy that I didn't have with Taylor!

Anyway, that's enough about that! Just trying to take it easy tonight and waiting for Drew to get home from work. I'm glad it's the weekend because I'm having a heck of a time doing a lot of the up and down, picking up, helping, etc. with Taylor. I need to go find her a little step stool to see if she can get up on the potty herself!

We start Music classes next Wednesday again so I'm excited for that, we LOVE music class! We have a playgroup meetup on Tuesday I think as well, otherwise next week looks pretty uneventful.

Oh yeah! After I posted this I remembered something new that happened this week. Taylor figured out she can climb out of her crib, OH YAY! We TOTALLY were not prepared for this as she hasn't showed any signs of trying to get out up until this point. I was watching her on the monitor and all of a sudden she was straddling the top rail sizing up the distance to the floor. Sooooo, for now we turned the crib around so the short rail is facing the wall until we decide what we are going to do. One option is to get a crib tent, but I don't know if it will work with her style of crib, the other option is to convert it to the toddler bed but I don't know if she (or we) are ready for that. She still likes to get into everything, and while there isn't much in her room she can get to, I can picture her pulling all of her clothes out of her dresser and using the drawers as steps to climb up on the top and changing her own diaper or something like that.

I guess we really wont know until we try it, but I'm not looking forward to it. I think she will only try and climb out of her crib if she doesn't want to go to bed, which it's about 60/40 right now (60% of the time she goes down just fine, the other 40% she pitches a fit). I just don't want to chance her falling and injuring herself, of course she might only do that once!

Okay, now I'm off.

Tah Tah for now!!!

A relatively informative appointment!

Well, I'm home from the OB and while there isn't a WHOLE lot to report, it was relatively informative.

We went over my birth plan and she was okay with everything. I had heard she doesn't let the Dad's cut the cord so I asked about that and she said it depends on the situation and the Dad, so we will see. Drew is a little bummed about that, but he said at least he cut Taylor's.

I had my Group B Strep test done, and she checked my cervix. NOTHING! Not even a little dilation. She said all the pain and pressure I'm having is normal, oh yay. I didn't gain any weight (holding steady at 35lb gain!), my BP was 102/68, and baby's HR was 160BPMs, and he was moving around all over the place. After I saw her I went to the lab to get my blood drawn for a CBC.

I go back again in just under 2 weeks (had to change my appointment day since Taylor starts Wednesday music classes), and after that we'll start weekly appointments. So that's that!! I guess we just play the waiting game now.

Few pics from yesterday

Just some pics my two cuties! I'll post when I get home from my OB appointment tomorrow!

18 months, 35 weeks!

Thought I'd set up a little photo shoot today to do Taylor's 18 month shots, and my 35 week maternity pics before I run out of time.

Well, neither went very well. Taylor was in a horrible mood ALL day long. Her teeth are really coming through now so I think that's part of her problem, but she went to bed early (and easily) so hopefully tomorrow is a better day.

On to the pics!!

These are definitely ones for the scrapbook.






and my 35 week pic.. don't mind the crossed eyes.. i'll be lucky to ever get them straight again after today.


Toodles!!!

Pics from today

Well, I'm still sick, but getting better. I can breathe again now, yay!!! I just have a lot of junk in my chest that I'm coughing up now. I've also had some pretty bad pain in that darn tooth that I have been having a hard time with since they messed with it, so I scheduled a dentist appointment for that. Unfortunately the soonest they can get me in is August 4th, unless I go back to my old dentist. No thanks!! I figure I've been dealing with the pain on and off since they did the root canal that I really don't think I needed so another week and a half wont hurt. Well, it will, but no more than it has been, har har.

Speaking of teeth, Taylor has been a saucy pants lately and I think it might have to do with her teeth. She's cutting her 2 yr. molars as well as her cuspids all at once on all 4 quadrants. She has also been eating a little less lately and she puts her fingers in her mouth a lot to feel around so I'm sure they are bugging her.

Little Miss has also been developing a bit of an attitude lately which I'm not particularly fond of. It goes something like this "MOMMY!" and she stomps her feet and her fists slam down to her sides and she glares at me. I'm pretty sure she's cursing at me in toddler speak. She gives the glare look in a couple of the photos following.

The baby shower that Betty threw for me on Saturday was absolutely wonderful. It was nice, enjoyable, relaxing and I really am blessed to have such good friends! I have a couple of pictures from the event, though Betty took most of them, so I'll post more when I get them from her (her computer has been on the fritz lately). Baby boy made out like a bandit!

The cute little monkey cake was deeeelicious! The empty basket was soon filled with a french toast casserole, yum!!!


Monday Drew got all of the baby stuff down from the attic and we have been getting it all cleaned and set up ready for him. I forgot how much room it all takes!! So, the bassinet is ready, we have the swing clean and set up. Taylor has been pushing it with her baby in there. I'm beginning to think we might not need to put any batteries in it with her help! I also got the infant seat/carrier cleaned and ready, and the double stroller put together. They don't match as close as I had hoped, but I'll deal (though you know my type A is killing me with the different patterns and slightly different tans!). Taylor tried out her part of the stroller and she's definitely a fan. She has a bit more "freedom" in this stroller, since she has doesn't have the snack tray blocking her view, though she still has snack/drink cups on her left and right.

Today Taylor wanted to go outside and it wasn't blazing hot, so we went out for about half an hour and I remembered to take my Camera out. There were some clouds in the sky so we got a few breaks from the sun. Half an hour was plenty though we were both sweating bullets by the time we went inside and Taylor downed a whole sippy cup full of water!

Tomorrow is our 5 year Anniversary, so we are going to go out to dinner. Taylor was going to stay with Betty, but something came up so she's going to go with us too. It will be a nice family evening out!

Friday through the weekend we don't have any big plans, just the same ol' same ol'. We have playgroup Monday and Tuesday next week, and then my OB appointment Wednesday. I'm really looking forward to this one because MAN am I feeling uncomfortable! I constantly feel like he's ready to "fall out" and I have lots of pressure in my nether regions! I'm still having contractions every day, but they are spread out and not consistent so nothing to worry about. I'll be 35 weeks Saturay, so I'm getting closer to being full term.

So anyway, here's pics from today, and also a video of her doing a new puzzle. It's broken up into two parts because I coudn't remember how big of a file I could upload!

Cheese!!!!!!

Hamming it up

Off Roading

She stopped to have a dance.
She got a booboo running up and down the front path.
But that didn't stop her from running some more!

Looking in the window at the kitty.


Curly Sue!

Her big blues always make me melt.. even if she's glaring at me.

Here's part 1 and part 2 of her doing her puzzle as well.






That's it for now! Hope everybody had a great first half of their week.

TGIF!

Well, I've been sick this whole week. I haven't been able to breathe, my ears have been clogged, my vision is even not quite right, I can't think straight and BOY AM I EXHAUSTED!

I've been trying to get out to do things anyway since Taylor has been giving me a hard time at home and I can't keep up with her. At least if we are out and about she is entertained and staying out of trouble.

Monday we went to playgroup. There was an ice cream social at a local park. Now, this sounds fun, right? Well, it was, but at the same time even at 10AM it was over 90 degrees with 60% humidity so you can imagine how fast ice cream melted! There was only CHOCOLATE as well, so boy what a mess we had. On the list, there was a choice of bowls or cones so I figured I'd just get a bowl and help Taylor eat hers. Unfortunately somebody handed her a cone before I had a chance to make a bowl request and guess who forgot a bib?? Oh well!! I ended up using a wipe as a makeshift bib and it helped a little bit.

Here's pics from the event!!


Yum! Ice Cream!

Chocolate Face!
Playing on the step
My little social butterfly (okay, really a first!)


Yeah! Dirt!!
Tuesday I think we just tried to take it easy for the most part.

Wednesday was my OB appointment. Routine, routine, routine. I gained right around 2lbs, my BP was 103/64, my pee stick was all normal, measuring right on track, baby had a good HR of 145 bpms. Next checkup is in 2 weeks! The 29th at 9:45 again.

Also Wednesday, Holden hadn't been feeling well for a couple of days but had seemed better. Well apparently he wasn't! He was out in the back and I caught him eating poop again (yuck, yuck, yuck!) then he came in and was hanging out on the kitchen floor where he normally does. He likes the tile because it's cool. All of a sudden I hear SPLAT, and I look behind me and Holden puked up all of his breakfast, the poo log he had just eaten, and of course the heartworm pill he had gotten earlier as well! Talk about STINK! I yelled for help from Drew who was getting ready for work and he came out and rescued me. He originally thought my water broke because he heard the splat also and then I called for help, haha. Not yet, not yet.

Anyway, he got it cleaned up for me and I started mopping, and he went to work. 20 minutes later, Holden started hurling all over the house again. The carpet, the tile, blargh! I put Taylor in her high chair to keep her out of it (she was walking around going UCK! UCK!) and she decided that wasn't good for her and started screaming. So I ran next door to Betty's to see if she could hang on to Taylor while I got the house cleaned up and made sure Holden was okay. He seemed alright, a little bit of a temperature, but considering it was 100 degrees outside it wasn't surprising. Everything else checked out so I held is food for the night and he seemed back to normal by Thursday.

Also last weekend, the photographer that I work with on occasion e-mailed me and asked me if I could cover the photos for a retirement party and retirement for a 31 yr. Chief MSgt on base. I didn't really want to because it's not a situation that I'm comfortable doing, but he was desperate for cover so I agreed. One was for Thursday night, the other for this morning.

Drew got Thursday night off so I could do the shoot and I met him at the Officer's club where hte party was and we switched cars and kid. He had left the sunroof vented and the windows cracked so it wouldn't be 500 degrees when I came out to leave later. Well about 2 hours into the party it started storming something fierce! There was thunder and lightning, and heavy downpours. I was right in the middle of a part of the party that I HAD to be there taking photos for, so I couldn't escape. When it got done I bolted out to the car which was completely soaked inside. Blargh!

I ended up driving home very slowly due to the storming, my stuffy head and the fact that I was just plain tired! I'd been having sporadic contractions all night and the baby seems to find a comfortable spot that sends shooting pains through my abdomen. Luckily when I got home and laid down, the contractions stopped.

This morning I got up and took Taylor next door to Betty's while I went to do the retirement shoot. The car was still wet inside so I was all wet by the time I got there. Hopefully it wasn't too obvious as I was walking around in front of everybody to take pics. I finished at noon and came home. It was just about time for Taylor's nap, so I brought her home and we gave her some lunch and put her in bed. Of course she didn't think it was naptime! She played in her crib for an hour and a half but then decided to scream and not sleep. I knew she would be exhausted but she absolutely refused.

We were out of dog food so I loaded her up and we went to get food for them and she fell asleep for the last 10 minutes before we got home and that was all the nap she got today. By the time bedtime came she was overtired so she had a 45 minute screaming fit. I finally picked her up and rocked her and she was dozing off so I told her I was going to put her in her crib and she nodded. I put her down and she started crying again right away so I just traced her face with my hand for about 3 minutes and she was out cold! Whew.

And that brings us to now, where I've been sitting here processing these photos all night and have barely made a dent. Hopefully I can finish up Thursday nights tonight, and Friday's tomorrow and be done with it!

Tomorrow morning Betty is throwing a little baby shower/get together brunch for me at her house so I'll go to that and we are hoping to relax that rest of the weekend and hopefully get better! I'm so tired of being congested and my brain not working. Taylor still has a runny nose too, though she doesn't seem to have any other symptoms. Drew has a 3 day weekend so he'll be here too, yay!

Anyway, here are some photos to share, some that I've been meaning to post for oh.. A MONTH!

See her dimple?

Hugging Holden when he didn't feel well.

This was the house we stayed in when we were in Tahoe for Matt's wedding.

Papa and TaylorFrom the wedding.

The beautiful bride and I with our baby bellies.

Taylor cutie patootie

Dancing with Cynthia.
Eating her first corn on the cob:

Hangin' out with Great Grandma nad Great Grandpa
Our budding artist

I think that's it for now, just wanted to try and get some pics posted while I could!! Back to processing. Hope everybody is doing well!

Sick, but finished for now.

Well we all came down with sickies this weekend! I woke up this morning feeling like I had been hit by a Mack truck. Congestion, sore throat, coughing, sneezing, headache, blah. Drew isn't feeling that hot either and Taylor has had a runny nose which we thought was maybe allergies until I woke up sick too. She doesn't seem to have any other symptoms, but that nose leaks like a sieve.

On a better note, I finished the nursery for now. The crib was delivered on Friday. It's slightly darker than I had hoped it would be, but it still works I suppose. We'll have to move the glider back into our bedroom since it wont all fit once the dresser comes. He wont sleep in there at first anyway, heck, we are still getting Taylor to sleep in there! She's been putting up a bit of a fight again, but I think maybe because she's not feeling 100%.

We have been having a lot of success with her potty training! I haven't really had to do much at all really, she just runs up and says poop! So we take her to the potty and she goes pee, lol. I did catch her concentrating yesterday and asked her if she had to go poopoo and she said yes, so we went into the bathroom and she did actually go poopie in there, yay! She got lots of praise and high fives. I think she gets just as excited to go as we did. I think we only changed two diapers total today (one first thing this AM, and the other late this afternoon). I'm hoping it continues this way, she's making it easy for us!

Anyway, here's the pics of the nursery, and also a bad pic of my 33 week belly. I keep meaning to ask Drew to take one for me but we always forget until he's gone for work so I just did another reflection in the mirror. Everyone keeps telling me how "tiny" I am, but I sure feel like a whale! This kid moves around a lot and he's determined to get out one way or another! Is it August yet????




My OB appointment is Wednesday so we'll see how things are going. Oh, and I signed Taylor back up for music class! We start in August, so she might miss a week or two when the baby comes, but hopefully Drew will be able to take her so she still since he'll be off. She really enjoyed those classes so I'm excited for her to go again.

Time flies when you are busy busy busy!!!

The last week has been another busy one indeed!

Wednesday I had my OB appointment and everything went well. I was actually down 6 lbs, from the previous appointment which the Dr. said was great and probably a lot of water weight from salty foods and travel. Yay. So I"m back down to an OK gain for where I'm at as long as I can keep it under control from here on out! My blood pressure was good (103/64) and baby's HR was good (135bpm). My placenta is up and out of the way where it should be so I wont need a c-section as long as everything else goes right.

Last week I finished switching the rooms around. The office/scrap/spare room is just about finished. Painted and mostly organized with room for the Aerobed when we have guests! I cried a little when I painted over Taylor's colors. I LOVED her room and it was sooo hard to see it go! Someday she'll have her own room again and we'll get to start over, so I just keep trying to look at it as the next step and another decorating opportunity.

The kids room is mostly painted, I still need to finish one wall and I'll probably do that tomorrow as well as touch up the edges were the darn painters tape leaked. I ordered a crib for baby boy today. I was going to wait, but it was backordered everywhere except this one place (which happened to have it for the cheapest price AND free shipping!) so I figured I'd better get it while I could. The dresser is still backordered but he doesn't have a whole lot of clothes to worry about just yet and I left the shelves in the closet that I can use for now as well.

This is the crib I ended up getting:


I don't think it's exactly the same color as Taylors set, but it's pretty close and will hopefully work well enough until we leave here and can get them in their own rooms. It's also a bit smaller than hers and the dresser is narrow as well so we should be able to fit everything in the room somewhat comfortably. I'll have to find a new place for the glider though, I don't think it will fit in there!

Saturday we had a nice 4th of July. We BBQed some steak and chicken, and I made potato salad, and we had beans and corn on the cob, oh and watermelon! I made a fresh peach and blackberry trifle for dessert. Drew lit off a bunch of fireworks, but Taylor didn't stay up late enough to watch. She was pretty tired and we though she would wake up with all the noise anyway, but she didn't! Next year hopefully she will get to enjoy the show.

Sunday we hung out around the house, did a little bit of housework and took it easy. After the last couple of weeks I needed a veg. day. I even did a scrapbook page which I haven't done in ages!

Yesterday Drew still had off, so I ran some errands in the morning and in the afternoon we took Taylor to go see the movie Up. She did amazingly well, and only had about 20 minutes where she got a little restless, but otherwise sat through most of the movie. She loved the balloons of course, and the dogs.

After the movie we went to dinner at the Fuddruckers across from the theater and then came home and got Taylor in bed.

This afternoon, Betty (our neighbor) and I are taking the kids to a place called Tiny Town. It's like an indoor playground at a church in town. Hopefully Taylor will enjoy that! I'm going to take my camera so hopefully I can snap some pics to add to the pile of ones I haven't finished processing yet.

I've been working on photos from the trip a little every day so I'm hoping to have them done soon. I get through about 10 or 15 a day and there are still a ton left to do! If I have time tonight I'll try and upload a few so it can give at least something to look at while you are waiting.

We have playgroup tomorrrow morning, and my next Ob appointment is Wednesday next week (or maybe Tuesday, I need to double check my calendar!), so we'll see how things are progressing. I'll have Drew take a belly pic for me too. I'm definitely popping out now and baby boy is running out of room. Every move he makes leaves his little body parts sticking out from every side of my belly! Knees, arms, elbows, feet, his little round booty. At least he's pretty low so I can still breathe.

Taylor has been in a much better mood since cutting her teeth the other week. I think she's about back to a normal schedule as well so that helps. She is talking up a storm and is really a character! Her new fascination is with wood puzzles. She LOVES them and is really very good at them! She matches all the pieces and puts them in the right direction. She has a little difficulty turning them if they are slightly off, but she works at it until it gets done. She also loves her MagnaDoodle, she draws "meow meows" and then erases them and says "aaaaallllll gone".

She also is loving her books a lot more lately. She's always liked them, but I think her comprehension is getting better and she helps me read, mostly the animal books, she makes all the animal sounds for me. We've enjoyed sitting together and reading a lot more lately! Sitting.. can you believe it???? She actually stays still for 3.5 minutes to peruse a book! It's like a little bit of heaven.

One of the things we've been struggling with is her putting her legs through her crib slats on purpose and getting stuck. She puts her knee in there and then can't get it out so she screams until we come in and get her. We've had to start putting her in her pack n' play for naptime so she wont put her legs through the crib. We still use her crib for bedtime though, she doesn't seem to fight it so much. I did get something called a crib shield that is suppose to be able to keep her from doing it, except her crib rails are too thick along the top to fit it correctly so unfortunately it only works on the front rail and she still sticks her legs through the sides. Hopefully she'll stop doing that pretty soon because we're going to need the pack n' play! I'm considering getting my own material to make my own crib shield that will fit her crib. We'll see.. not sure if I'm talented enough to sew something like that.

Anyway, that's about all for now, back to making my grocery list for the week. Hope all is well!!

Love,
Me