The Meyers Family

37 week midwife appt

2012-01-26T12:28:00.003-05:00

I'm officially full-term and allowed to go into labor and birth at home. It feels wonderful :) Granted, I still expect to go past my due date, but in case she surprises us it's good to know we'd be ok.

My appointment was great, blood pressure still nice and low, like 98 over 56. Honestly I attribute a lot of my healthy normal pregnancy things to how comfortable I am with my caregivers. I can not emphasize enough how important I think that is. If you aren't comfortable with your caregiver, whether midwife or OB, how can you be comfortable with them during one of the most intense experiences of your life? Trust is essential. Anyway, we all know I love my midwives <3

They don't do cervical checks unless you ask, and I've been having pretty consistent practice contractions on and off for a couple weeks and I've been dying to know if anything was changing. Last month on my birthday I had a bout of ligament pain combined with a lot of braxton hicks contractions (BHC) and she had checked me at that point. My cervix was about kind of cone shaped, about a 1.5 at the front but still closed in back. When she checked me at my appt, first she reached a little too far posterior (toward the back) where she kind of expected my cervix to be and actually had to pull back a little because it was lower than she expected. Said it's still a bit of a cone shape, about 2cms int he front but a 1 all the way through. Cervix is nice and soft, about 65% effaced and she could actually feel Cadie's head. That also did not surprise me, because ever since I had a round of contractions the other day that lasted for 5 hours I've been feeling like I was going to squish Cadie's head between my legs! I've been measuring about 2 weeks ahead for the majority of my pregnancy now, but since she has dropped so much I'm actually measuring a week behind now. I'm absolutely thrilled to hear that my body is ripening and getting ready. I'm already more dilated than I was when I went in to be induced with Victor! I count that as major improvement.

I basically have BHC on and off all day, usually an hour or 2 where they get a little closer together but still pretty irregular and then they taper off. They are starting to get a little more intense too, at this point I'm more likely to call them early labor contractions than just BHC. More and more of them require me to pay a bit of attention to them rather than just poking my belly and saying "oh there's another one.." I love it though, I love knowing my body is gearing up and getting ready. I'm hoping that I'll slowly dilate the first couple cms over the next couple of weeks and that when I finally hit active labor it'll be a little quicker than if I had to have hours of early labor. I've also decided that I want my active labor to start in late evening and have her in the middle of the night. That way Victor is asleep for all of it and we won't have to worry about him handling mommy in pain or people touching me or trying to take him over to the neighbor's house for who knows how long. That also would give us some time to clean up and have little sister to ourselves for a little bit before we introduce them. Of course, I obviously have no say in the matter, lol, but if she wants to listen then that's what I want! Ha!

So that's all my updates, at this point it could be tomorrow or in 5 weeks.... The surprise is all part of the fun!!

36 Weeks

2012-01-18T11:53:00.002-05:00

36 Weeks! It's crazy, this whole pregnancy has just gone by so fast. I've definitely got a waddle and feel a little like a whale, mostly when I'm trying to stand up or rolling over in bed. But I think at this point I'm allowed to be a little large :-) I figure that since Victor was basically 9lbs, if she is anywhere close then she's already right about 7lbs. In 2 weeks Angy said she'll try to give me a estimate, she's usually pretty close. I've only gained 23lbs this time, as opposed to my 55lbs with Victor so I'm pretty happy with that. Still have great blood pressure and am boringly normal :-) They also did my GBS test (actually, I did the swab myself, that was fun) and drew some blood to do a complete blood count. I'll get the results of that next week.

I really hope (and really I think she will) wait till after my due date to get here. I need a few more weeks to finish getting stuff done around the house and to finish mentally preparing myself!! In 6 days when I turn 37 weeks I am officially "allowed" to go into labor and birth at home. I've been telling myself all pregnancy that she won't be coming till after 41 weeks so I am totally prepared to go past the EDD. Now, because I keep saying that to everyone I'm sure she'll decide to come early. Stinker. But I need her to wait! My mom will be here in 3 weeks and then she and Victor need time to get reacquainted and comfy with each other. My next-door neighbor is fabulous and has volunteered to be my backup watching Victor in case I do go earlier than that, but I'd just rather she wait and go by MY plans. Ha! I know.

Had a great appointment today with my lovely midwives. They came to see me again, all three and they were here for about an hour and a half. Matt was here for this one and we talked through a blow-by-blow of what to expect from when I think I'm in labor to actual birthing to after-birth steps, etc. I think that really helps Matt particularly have a better idea of what to expect.

Let's see.... my birth kit arrived this morning as well, that also had my birth pool liner in it. Angy actually had the pool in her car so she went ahead and left it with me. Again, it's just crazy to me that I have all this stuff now and it's really going to happen! I remember saying before I went to the hospital for Victor "oh my gosh, I really have to do this..." and I still feel that way! But this time instead of being anxious and worried, I'm EXCITED and filled with ANTICIPATION! I honestly can't wait to go into labor and to get to experience this in a whole new way, the way I feel like I'm meant to.

Ah...

2012-01-13T00:20:00.004-05:00

Mission Hair cut?

Accomplished.

Yes, there was MUCH screaming involved,but this was resolved quickly with a nice big bubble bath and a little bit of ice cream. Works every time.

Random Victor Post

2012-01-04T13:48:00.006-05:00

He needs a hair cut. That is all.

I love this pic, he looks like my little angel...

Yep! That is a picture of pee pee in a potty. I'm so proud I had to post it.

Saturday night and Sunday night he peed in the big potty. *yay!* and then Monday he was diaperless all day and peed in his little potty 3 times. Tuesday evening he even came to me, fully dressed and handed me his potty seat so I undressed him and put him on the big potty and he went! He's been wearing a diaper too, I was so proud I could burst <3 I don't know if he'll be fully potty trained by the time Cadie gets here, but he's off to a good start! I will also welcome any tips about ways to encourage him!

I love my bubba.

ER visit

2011-12-28T00:02:00.002-05:00

Last night I was trying to put Victor to sleep and he was trying to get me to take him downstairs to watch cartoons. Did I mention it was 1am? yeah. I kept saying "no no baby, it's nighttime, everyone is sleeping, we need to sleep too." So he starts tugging on my right hand trying to pull me off the bed. He does this all the time so I really didn't think much of it... until it popped. Instantly I pulled his fingers off me and started yelling "no no dont touch me!" I thought he'd dislocated it with the way he was yanking on it and because I couldn't move my fingers.... I went digging for my wrist brace and woke Matt up because I knew I was going to have to go to the ER. We waited for a bit to see if the pain would fade, but after 30 minutes when I still couldn't even uncurl my fingers I decided to go.

Matt had to stay with Victor so I drove myself. Luckily our car is an automatic so it was not too difficult. They got me back pretty quick and right back to Xray which I was kind of freaking about, being pregnant and all. They shielded me and it was just my wrist. My midwife confirmed that Xrays are well moderated now and even if it had been a direct XRay of my abdomen it would have been minimal especially since I'm so far along and Cadie's pretty fully formed at this point. Then I sat and waited for 45 minutes. Until the doctor literally shuffled over, didn't even bother to actually look at my wrist, told me it wasn't fractured (duh) just a sprain and they'd give me a splint. Seriously he talked to me for like, 30 seconds. I freaking hate doctors. I'm sure we'll get a nice hefty bill for that 30 second conversation too.

I've sprained both my wrists before. I have braces for both wrists on standby at all times, but I've NEVER had a sprain hurt this bad. Usually if I hurt one I put the brace on and deal with it for a day or so and then we're all good. For me to say " I need to go to the ER, NOW." You know it had to be pretty bad. Talking to my midwife reminded me too that with my body getting ready to give birth I have all these great hormones running around my body, like Relaxin. All getting my joints and ligaments and stuff nice and loose for the birth process. So THAT's why Victor was so easily able to sprain my wrist so bad. So to all the pregnant mamas, Be Careful!!

I can barely even use my fingers, which is better than earlier today when I couldn't use them at all. And yes, it is my right hand and I am right handed. Even just using them a bit still hurts like hell and Tylenol isn't doing a darn thing. I'm really hoping the worst of this is over in a day or 2 like everyone says it will be. Have you ever tried changing the diaper of a wiggly 2 year old with only 1 hand? It's fun, you should try it.

Happy 32 Weeks!

2011-12-21T17:53:00.005-05:00

Had another lovely visit from my midwives today and I got to see all 3! Usually Dorothy and Pia are stopping by in the morning on their way to Angy's office, so this time they all 3 came over in the afternoon. Victor had a great time showing off for them too! He did great while they did my BP (great) and checked out Cadie. She is actually head down and in a great position for delivery so my job is to make sure she stays there. HA! right.

I've officially gained 20 lbs :( not thrilled about that but it's WELL within normal weight gain and still WAY less than what I gained with Victor. So hopefully my gain over the next 8 weeks will stay normal and I'll weigh less after the birth than I did to start with (it's ok, you can laugh).

Can I just say for a minute here that I LOVE Old Navy yoga pants? They are seriously the most comfortable pants ever. I bought a pair while pregnant with Victor and have worn them faithfully for the past 2.5 years. Sadly, they were ready to be retired. I got my new ones today and when I slipped them on "Ahhhhhh!" instant comfort. I think I'll be living in them for the next several months.

I'm still feeling pretty good. Some pelvic/hip/sciatic pain mostly in the evenings or if I've been out walking a lot. An occasional bout of heartburn and some difficulty getting comfortable at night. You know, typical late pregnancy stuff. Mostly I feel good, still running around after Victor and getting out of the house when I can. Loving feeling my baby girl rolling around in my belly! She's still super active and while she's no longer throwing those sharp kicks and punches, there's a lot of rolling and stretching and it's soooo fun :-) I'm totally ready for another 8-10 weeks!!

Sticker Time

2011-12-07T02:12:00.010-05:00

He got a new Cars coloring book and it had over 100 stickers. I think we played with all of them!Playing with his sister for the first time :-)
"hmmm... where should this one go?"
"Which one next?"
"Got to find an empty spot!"
Finished product
Victor getting in on the fun.
Oh yea! Covered in car stickers; Life. Is. Good.

Oh what a day!

2011-12-06T02:21:00.002-05:00

Today (Monday) was my birthday. I've come to realize that as you get older, birthday are just not as big a deal as they are when you are younger. Now, I'm only 26 today, woo hoo! But, it's just not the same when you are 30 weeks pregnant, have a toddler to take care of, Hubby has to work all day and you are sick with a cold. And since becoming a mother myself I actually find myself enjoying more calling my mom to thank her for carrying me for 37 weeks and giving birth to me. Every one tells me Happy Birthday all day long, but hey, SHE did all the work!! So anyway, Thanks Mom!!! Love you!

So yes, back to my day. As I said, sick with a cold, strange cold though, no sinus congestion at all, just sore throat and cough. So my day began at 5:30am when I woke coughing hysterically and couldn't stop. Rather than stay upstairs and wake someone up I decided to go lay on the couch and watch a movie. Then Victor woke around 8? 8:30? I went to get him and we actually fell back to sleep for awhile. Then we came down and watched cartoons (remember, I'm sick and TV is a great way to get to lay on the couch and do nothing) and I desperately tried to avoid having to do dishes.

Eventually at some point I took a shower and Victor actually got in with me. He's never done that before, he's always been scared of the shower. It was much better than having him stand outside yelling at me though, ha! Then I finally ended up doing the dishes. I knew if I didn't I wouldn't have anything to cook dinner with. Yep, Matt had to work all day and I was making my own birthday dinner. Let me say here that I had made my funfetti cupcakes yesterday, that way I could enjoy them all day today :-)

Around 3:30 I felt a couple of braxton hicks contractions right in a row. Then felt very tight/stretching sensation in my belly. It was strong enough that I was rubbing my belly trying to get it to loosen up, it was fairly uncomfortable. I was cooking dinner at this point (enchiladas, yum!) and feeling intermittent twinges in my belly too. At one point I picked Victor up for a second and had to put him immediately down on his chair ( I keep a chair in the kitchen so he can watch what I'm doing) because I felt pain spread over my whole belly as soon as I picked him up. At this point I realize I'm still having BHCs and each time my belly gets tight I feel pain on the sides of my belly. Not like contraction type pain, sharp stabbing pain.

Side note here: the cupcakes I had left from yesterday had been in the oven to keep them from Victor's quick little fingers. A fact that I forgot until I went to put in my enchiladas and saw my sad little cupcakes burnt to hard little brown rocks. *tear* Sooo sad....

Then the enchiladas are done, I lean over to move Victor's chair from in front of the oven (nothing he could touch was hot, no worries) and the instant I just picked up the chair I had pain, like serious pain all over both sides of my belly. I got the enchiladas out and had to sit down at the table. The pain was coming intermittently about every 3-5 minutes or so. Luckily Matt at this point was just minutes from arriving home. I called my midwife because by this time the pain had been coming and going for about 3 hours and I was currently immobile. She was actually out of town and I got her voicemail. Matt got home, I explained what was going on, I managed to stand up and get myself a plate and then Matt had to help me walk to the couch where I promptly collapsed and texted the other midwife.

She was already in her car from seeing other patients with the midwife-in-training (mit) and they decided to come on over so they could check me out. In the meantime I was instructed to drink something like gatorade and to get in the bathtub to try to relax. Of course as soon as I got in the bathtub all the pain went away and I felt fine. Ridiculous. I texted her to let her know and she said she was almost there and they'd check me out anyway and make sure we were doing ok.

We were supposed to be having a prenatal appt on Wednesday morning anyway so we went ahead and made it my appt. Cadie's heartbeat is great, in the 150s like always, she is a mover, which we also knew and likely won't settle into a head down position until I go into labor (that's my prediction anyway). I'm still measuring 2 weeks ahead, have been for over 6 weeks now so as long as the trend continues we're good. My urine was nice and boring (gross, sorry, lol). and BP still nice and low. However, the pain started to come back while I was there with them.

As she was palpating my belly and we were figuring where exactly the pain was coming from and all that, I was telling them about my cold and that I'd been coughing a lot more today. Our current theory is this: coughing (great abdominal exercise) had aggravated the round ligaments on the sides of my uterus and every time I was having a contraction it was pulling on them, pulling them further out of whack. So not fun, but not serious. She went ahead and checked me, said my cervix is cone shaped at the moment, semi-soft and about 1.5cms at the front but still closed in back so at least now if the contractions keep going and they need to check me again they can tell if my cervix is changing with them or not.

Then after they left the pain came back full force while I was trying to get Victor something to eat. After laying on the couch for awhile I was feeling better. It's kind of coming and going at this point, but since we think I pulled my ligaments out of whack it's probably going to be doing that for awhile till they settle back down. I'm thinking about getting a belly support thingy to help.

I'm definitely starting to feel large (since I'm measuring at 32 weeks, probably not surprising) and Victor wanting to sit on me all the time is starting to drive me nuts. But I'm feeling Cadie move all the time still, she's had hiccups 3 times now, twice just today! I love playing Guess That Body Part! Super fun :-) I'll post a belly picture tomorrow, I know you're all dying for one *wink*

So to sum it up: sick, pregnant, cooked, destroyed cupcakes, pain, midwife visit.... great birthday!

Why, yes! We are planning a home water birth.

2011-11-30T11:02:00.002-05:00

I've had a few people ask about it and I thought I would go ahead and put it out there.

Part of me really hates to write this. I mean, people don't go around saying "Hey guess what? I'm giving birth in a hospital!" It's normal. I think home birth should be too and I really don't want it to be a big deal. Because it isn't. It's normal.

This is not a decision that I came to superficially or over night. For 2 YEARS now I have been doing research and reading birth stories and without a shadow of a doubt I know this is the best thing for my baby and myself.

Right after Victor's birth I began reading and doing more research on birth. Honestly, it was within just a couple of months that I knew I wanted a home birth next time. The induction that shouldn't have happened in the first place, being told I was NOT allowed to get up and walk around, mandatory external and internal fetal monitors, the doc who broke my water without telling me and then proceeded to tell me I'd never be able to do it and he'd be doing a c-section, then the epidural I went ahead and got because he said I'd need it one way or the other (and totally pissed me off) THEN that epidural didn't even work during most of my labor anyway, the episiotomy that he gave me on BOTH sides because supposedly I was starting to tear (so what?) and afterwards when he admitted to me that had he known I was going to have a basically 9lb baby he never would have let me labor so long cause he would have recommended a c-section. Then afterwards when I was so swollen and engorged from all the fluid they pumped through my IV and my back hurt soooo bad from the epidural I couldn't even get off the bed by myself ( thank GOD Matt was able to stay with me, I have NO idea how I would have taken care of Victor that night without him) and could barely walk for the next several days.

I know most of you are thinking, "well, that sounds like a typical birth to me.." you know IV, in bed, monitors, pitocin..... But isn't that sad? Shouldn't we expect better than that? Shouldn't we want to be able to walk and change positions? eat and drink as we need to? His birth wasn't terrible, it was a fairly typical hospital birth and Victor was perfectly healthy. I just want something better this time. I don't want typical, I want normal, ecstatic, extraordinary...

Roughly 93-95% of women are considered low-risk in pregnancy and if left ALONE to gestate and labor normally can do so perfectly fine WITHOUT medical intervention. For 7-5% of women medical intervention is absolutely necessary and saves lives, mommas and babies. The problem is, our c-section rate in this country hovers around 30%.... WHY?

I'm gonna go ahead and throw in here: I am NOT trying to convince anybody that this way is better. I truly don't believe it is better for everybody. I simply believe this way is better for US and want to explain the information I have and how I came to this place. I think that everyone makes the best decision for their own situation and as long as you are happy with your particular situation, then I am SOOO thrilled and happy for you.

A little timeline for you. In the 1800s women were giving birth in the street rather than go to a hospital because of the fear of childbed fever. Early 1900s they finally started to recognize bacteriology and applied measures to stop spreading germs (you know, like washing your hands?). In 1914 "twilight" sleep was introduced in America. This is where they would sedate you will your cervix dilated, then give you more ether while "pushing", cut a huge episiotomy and use forceps to extract baby. Sounds nice, huh?

In 1920 Dr. Joseph DeLee became the proponent of this movement in maternity care and made it his mission to save women from the "evils" of childbirth. In 1935 a mere 37% of all births occurred in hospitals. By 1940, only about 50% of women were birthing in hospitals. It wasn't until 1950 that the majority of births (about 88%) were occurring in hospitals.

It's only been the past 60 or so years that most births even took place in hospitals!! And did you know that the CDC says that the maternal death rate is the highest now that it's been in decades? Wow. Connection? Maybe, more research is really needed to find out why. They speculate that the rising number of c-sections may have something to do with it, plus poor nutrition, the high rate of obesity as well. I personally believe that there is TOO MUCH medical intervention and not enough believing in our own ability to birth babies the way God or nature (however you believe) intended.

Oh boy this is getting waaay longer than I thought.....Kudos if you're still with me!

Anyway, I have the most amazing team of midwives. From the very first time I met with them I felt like I'd known them for years. They hugged me and we talked and they shared my outrage at the things the other doc had said to me at Victor's birth about not being able to do it. The lead midwife has a Master's degree in nursing and worked in a hospital based practice for years before deciding she couldn't take it anymore and switched to her private home based care practice. Since then she has attended more than 200 births. The second midwife is a certified professional midwife and there is also a midwife-in-training working with them. All are certified in neonatal resuscitation and CPR. I feel incredibly safe with these women and I KNOW without a shadow of a doubt that this is the BEST decision for us. And yes, for those that worry, she maintains a collaborative agreement with a local OB/GYN in case the need for medical care arises. The hospital is only 7 minutes away and their "decision to incision" time (should the need truly arise) is less than or the same as if I were actually in a hospital already.

I remember with my OB I'd see the nurse for a few minutes and then wait for the doc who I'd see for, like, 5-10 minutes, and then leave. My appts with my midwives usually last about an hour or more. And they've come to my home several times already. We talk and laugh and tell stories and they really spend time with me and know me and I know them. I could NOT ask for better care from anyone. Any time I've had a question or concern I call and talk directly to one of the midwives, no nurse or any go-between. It's lovely. It also helps that I'm super healthy. Better even than with Victor. I've only gained about 14lbs, my blood sugar is great, my blood pressure is nice and low. We walk every day. I attribute a lot of this to being in such great hands with my care givers.

Some serious Pros to home birth:

1. I'm in my own home. Total comfort. I dont' have to go anywhere, or worry about when to leave. The midwife comes to me.

2. I can eat or drink as I need to

3. No IV, No stuck in bed, no monitors

4. I can move around, walk, change positions however my body tells me I need to.

5. I'm gonna have a big birthing pool set up in the dining room and I can get in the nice hot water when I want and even give birth in there (which i intend to do).

6. Victor doesn't have to leave me. My mom will be here the week or so before my due date and will be able to take care of him while I'm in labor. My next door neighbor (who is an angel) will be able to take them in her home if Victor needs to be somewhere else. I figure the most he'll be away from us is a couple of hours. He and my mom can meet little Cadie within minutes of her being born.

6. The midwives handle all the newborn care, just as if we were in a hospital. They handle APGAR scores, any tests, bathing etc. Granted there are several procedures we will be declining but still, anything a hospital can do for a newborn (besides actual NICU) they can provide in my home.

7. The midwives carry oxygen, pitocin, IVs, saline all kinds of medical supplies. Basically they carry a portable birth center with them so they can manage anything that may arise.

One thing I noticed people say about natural childbirth "just get the epidural, it's not like you're gonna get a medal afterwards..." It's not about that. Or anywhere close. I believe in the power of my body to do this. I want to fully experience the birth of my baby as it was intended, as women have been doing for thousands of years. I want the joy of feeling my baby moving through my body and being an active participant, not just a passive observer while someone else takes charge. No. I will be in charge. My baby and my body, we will do this together.

Someone out there is still thinking "holy crap, she's crazy." That's ok. You don't have to agree with me. You do what's best for you and I'll do what's best for me, that's all we can do.

my little artist.

2011-11-28T11:40:00.005-05:00

Yes that is my leg (ha!) And that is the person that Victor drew on me. Body, arms, legs, circle (head), eyes, nose, mouth and a squiggle up top for hair. He started doing this months ago and they are already significantly better than they started out. Within the past 9 months they went from big blob bodies to this more streamlined version you see here. He's done better ones on paper but this was just the only one I had a picture of! My sister-in-law was telling me how advanced that was, but I didn't really think anything of it till I looked it up myself. Apparently at 2 most kids are just starting to draw circles and blobby people don't typically emerge till 3ish. So right now his skills on this level are between 3-4 year age range. He also knows most of his colors and shapes. He can count things up to 10. This morning I was pouring pancakes on the griddle and he counts, "1,2,3,4,5 cakes! cirks mom cirks! (circles)" He will count the stairs as he goes up "1,2,3.." up to 10, then come back down "10,9,8..." back down to 1. He pretty much amazes me on a daily basis.

Oh and funny thing!! He's been doing "flips" (somersaults) for awhile, but he would put his head down and kind of fall over sideways (hilarious, btw). But within the past couple of weeks he has actually started to roll head over heels and he can do it at will now. We tell him "do a flip!" and he puts his head down and flips right over, then stands up and claps for himself, so cute! The other day he started doing flips, and was counting while he did it. Flip (1!) flip (2!) flip ("3! 3 flips! yay!!")

I love this age, he learns something new every day and basically blows me away. I'd love to get him into a Montessori preschool program next year, but unfortunately we can't afford nearly $3000 a year for that!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T12:16:00.003-05:00

Matt and Slappy say "Hi!" Happy Thanksgiving to all, I hope everyone has a wonderful day!!

My little boy

2011-11-21T23:25:00.009-05:00

almost a year ago, last January... still so much a baby! And now...

He's really my little boy!! Look how much he's changed....

I feel bad that I don't post many pictures of him anymore, but our camera was broken. Every time we tried to turn it on it would say Lens Error and shut back off :-/ pretty sure that was my fault for letting Victor play with it.... So I figured since it was already broken there was no harm in letting him still play with it. Apparently he fixed it!! He handed it to me last night and said, "mommy mommy! CHEESE!!" I went to take his picture and Whoa! It actually worked!! Cool! So expect more pictures from now on :-)

Love his "Cheese!" face! I think I have the most beautiful little boy... but doesn't everyone? *wink*
**edited to add** I meant, doesn't everyone think their OWN kids are the most beautiful, lol, not that you all think my kid is :-P

There are 50 states...

2011-11-21T10:45:00.003-05:00

See how West Virginia is NEXT to Virginia? Yes, it really is its own separate state!

I can't tell you how many people I've seen, back home or just out-of-state that say

"oh how do you like Virginia?"

and I say "Well, Virginia is ok, but I live in WEST Virginia."

"Oh... Isn't that just western Virginia?"

"No. No it's not."

It's a state people. I promise.

26 week midwife appointment

2011-11-09T13:32:00.007-05:00

There is the obligatory belly shot. 26 weeks and I'm actually measuring at 28 weeks. Of course I've also gained 8 lbs in the past 5 weeks since my last appt, so my midwife was not surprised, she said a mid-late 2nd trimester growth spurt is very common. Plus it brings my total weight gain up to 12 lbs so far, so really it's not that bad. I figure even if I gain 1 lb a week for the next 14 weeks it puts me up to 26lbs, which is normal. Granted it's more than I'd like, but still only HALF of what I gained with Victor, so I'll be thrilled.

They also checked my blood sugar at this visit. One of the great things about midwives is that I don't have to drink that nasty sugar stuff and have them draw a billion vials of blood. I just fasted for 8 hours before the appt and she pricked my finger to check it on a monitor. They like it to be below 95 and mine was 97, so just slightly elevated. They are checking me again in 2 weeks (they would be checking me again no matter what) this time 2 hours after I eat. If still just slightly elevated they'll probably just give me a monitor so I can check it on a regular basis to get a better baseline of what's really going on but I wouldn't be sent to a specialist or labeled GD or anything.

Cadie was actually head down this time, which I knew from where she was kicking me, and I certainly don't expect her to stay that way yet. She's still my little hurricane! Did I mention that this was a home visit? Yes, my midwives came to see me :-) I love them. So I was afraid that Victor was going to freak out with them touching me, he doesn't really like that. When they checked our iron at our WIC appt 2 weeks ago, he was more upset about them pricking my finger than he was about them sticking his. So yes, I was afraid he wouldn't handle it well and had my neighbor on stand by in case I needed her to watch him. Thanks to a fluke where Victor was up for an hour and a half in the middle of the night, he actually slept through most of the appt. He woke up just while she was measuring my belly. He came down with Matt just as she was starting to find Cadie's heartbeat. For just a second we thought he was going to cry, but then we were telling him that "it's Cadie's heartbeat, it's your sister! Doesn't it sound like a train?" and he just sat there watching with a slightly perplexed look on his face. So cute though, I had to look away from him because I kept laughing!

I see them every 2 weeks now! Crazy!

And so I shall leave you with these:

Victor was watching Toy Story, so he lined up his cars and told them "Sit! watch!"

Yep. that's Victor wearing my red heels. He walks pretty well in them. Love him :-)

Hear me roar!

2011-11-07T18:16:00.002-05:00

This. A thousand times this.

I remember getting my first three little stripes with Victor. I was putting lotion on in front of the mirror and happened to see them on the underside of my belly. I cried. I had stretch marks just from going through puberty so I knew I was probably going to get them, but still... I cried. Eventually I ended up with them pretty much everywhere. One day I had 3, the next the were everywhere, or so it seemed.

This time, I don't care. First of all, they are already there. For 2 years now we've gotten to know each other, they are simply a part of me. Secondly, I've come to see them as evidence of what my body is capable of. I grew a HUMAN BEING in my womb! How cool is that?!?

So bring 'em on!!

Trick or Treat!

2011-11-01T07:42:00.004-04:00

Victor had soo much fun! Until he got cold anyway. Then he was a screaming tantrum throwing little stinker (though I can't blame him, he hadn't had a nap either). But I digress. I originally wanted to make him a costume like this:

The main component of this costume is an oversize red sweatshirt with it's arms cut off. BUT, did you know that it's apparently IMPOSSIBLE to find a plain, red sweatshirt anywhere?!?! I mean seriously, it's such a basic thing I honestly did not think it would be an issue. yea, it was. So i kind of had to go a different direction:

He's my "Handsome Lil' Devil". Red turtleneck, red sweater vest, red boots, tail (that you can't see, but I think that was my favorite part), horns ("hat!") and scepter ("stick!"). I still think he looked adorable, but still wish I could have made the other one work. Maybe next year when I have a 3 year old and 8 month old (*faint!*) I'll try to plan a little better in advance.

Once I finally got him dressed and handed him his bucket, I tried to explain what was going to happen. He was really excited and dying to go outside. Even though we were waiting for the neighbors we went ahead outside for him to run around a bit. He kept yelling "Tri! Tree!" and running up and down the sidewalk. One of the neighbors tried to give him some candy but he freaked and ran back to me, haha! At least he knows he shouldn't take candy from strangers! I tried to explain to him that it was ok this time because it was Halloween. Once the neighbors came out and we were all ready, he got to watch Andrew (almost 4 y/o) and picked up on the idea real quick.

He had SOO much fun running from house to house!! It was kind of cold, and once it got dark it got much colder pretty quick. We were out for about an hour and a half and only made it around 3ish blocks? He was pooped and so cold by the time we called it quits and headed back. He climbed up in the stroller and I pulled his sweater over his head. That made him soo mad!! But he was so cold he wasn't moving his hands anymore :-) so I made the executive decision that he was going to wear the darn sweater for the 3 blocks it took us to get home.

He threw a tantrum of course, he wanted me to carry him, partly because I could help keep him warm, but I just can't carry him like that now. Once we got him home and he sat on the couch and warmed up, he was fine. We'd had dinner before going out so he got to eat a few pieces of candy and Matt and I freely pillaged his candy as well, Ha! Shortly thereafter we did bath and then he pretty well passed out for the night. I wish we could trick or treat every night so he'll always sleep that well, HA!

Happy Halloween everyone! I hope you all had great nights!

P.S. I didn't think that trick or treating for 3 blocks would be that physically tiring, but I am sore this morning! I guess I'm just THAT out of shape right now, ugh!

belly comparison

2011-10-24T22:47:00.008-04:00

24 weeks with Victor
24 weeks today with Cadie

i think I look closer to my 27 week pic with Victor.

What do you think?

I've been feeling great up to this point so I really can't complain too much. I finally hit that spot where I'm really feeling pregnant. I can no longer work around my belly as if it's not there, she's definitely in the way!! Or to feel her kick me every time I bend over, apparently I'm in HER way! I've started having some sciatic pain this past week. I've also noticed it's worse at the end of the day, especially if I've been holding Victor a lot. Unfortunately I'm trying to cut back on that, which I hate, but my body doesn't need an extra 33 lbs sitting on one hip, ya know? We're trying to do lots of lap hugs and cuddling on the couch while mommy rests.

What ways did you find to help your toddler through this transition? Any ideas for me?!

Hurricane Cadie

2011-10-20T00:43:00.006-04:00

Victor wanted to get in on the action :-) He stood there yelling "CHEESE!!" Why couldn't he have done that when we took family pictures last week?!

23 weeks now! I still feel great, although just realized tonight that I'm starting to feel a bit..um.. heavy? awkward? not sure what the right adjective is here, but all you mommies now what I mean :-) But I really do feel good, other than the occasional ligament pains and some back pain when I've been holding Victor too long, it's been a great pregnancy so far. As my midwives and I like to say, "I'm boringly normal." And can I just say, I freaking LOVE my midwives. They are amazing and I could not ask for any one better to help us birth.

Cadie (Cadence Marie) is a maniac! I had an anterior placenta with Victor and never really felt regular movement until my 3rd trimester. This time my placenta is placed properly in back and she's just crazy! I felt her for the first time at 14 weeks, started feeling her regular daily little taps at 16 weeks, felt her on the outside of my belly at 18 weeks and a few days later at barely 19 weeks she was kicking hard enough that Matt got to feel her. She moves SOOO much. At my 20 week ultrasound the tech was hilarious, she kept laughing because every time she'd get a shot of something she needed, Cadie would move on her. it took her a good 15-20 minutes to get the right shots of the heart because Cadie was moving soo much. She completely flipped position at least twice while we were there.

At my last midwife appt it took about 5-10 mintues to find her heartbeat because she was moving around so much. The midwife-in-training said that it sounded like a storm in my belly and I said "oh yes, Hurricane Cadie is coming!" and I've been calling her that ever since. I've never once had a moment where I wondered if she was ok, because I seriously feel her moving ALL. THE. TIME. And I just LOVE it. Although a little part of me is scared because, what's it going to feel like in 5 or 6 weeks when she's even bigger?! But I can't wait, I'm so excited. I sooo love being pregnant this time around. Bring on the babies!!!

2 Years Old!

2011-10-13T08:58:00.013-04:00

It just doesn't seem like it's been 2 years! He's still my baby, my sweet lil angel.... It's hard to believe that he's really growing up, I mean, in just 4 months he's going to be a big brother! *sigh* So strange...

But these 2 years have been wonderful. I wouldn't change them, not one minute, for anything in this world. The awful nights with his reflux at first, then the ear infections, the tubes surgery, finding the lump in his hand, the MRI, then surgery on his hand, HFM now twice.... All the hugs and kisses, cuddles, giggles, tickles, falling asleep next to him and waking up with him cuddled up next to me, all those hours spent nursing and just holding him in my arms....

Oh I love my little boy so much, he's so sweet, so funny and he's going to be such a great big brother!

Argh, Packing!!

2011-08-29T15:15:00.002-04:00

I hate packing. I've been making lists for weeks now of what to take, what goes in each bag, what goes in the carry on, last minute things to pack, things to make sure we do to the house before we leave...etc.. I swear all the stuff you have to bring for kids makes it twice as much. I think Victor is bringing more stuff than Matt and I combined, lol. Most of that is stuff to try and keep him entertained on the planes!

Yes. PlaneSSSS. We have a 1 hour flight to Atlanta, then a 4HOUR flight to Salt Lake City, then another 45min-1hour flight into Idaho Falls. The little ones I'm not worried about at all. I know he'll get to run around the airport some between flights too. It's the 4 hour one that makes me sweat a little. He doesn't even do well during the 4 hour drive to Cincinnati. Actually he did ok the last time, but we stopped every hour to let him out and run around. We have crayons and paper and a few toys and snacks and the DVD player of course... I'm hoping if the seat belt sign is off some he can maybe run up and down the aisles a bit.... as long as he's not obstructive of course. I just keep telling myself that it's only 4 hours and worse case scenario he screams the whole time... it'll be over eventually, right? We get in about 12:30 local ID time, so that should be perfect for him to get there and pass out for a nice long nap. Because you know my child, who won't even sleep in the car, will NOT be sleeping at any point during this trip. Hopefully we will have a minimum of melt downs!!

Everyone wish us luck!! And I'm hoping to visit with people so let me know if you want a visit!! I shouldn't even be typing right now! I have to finish PACKING!!!!

The results are in!

2011-08-26T09:32:00.002-04:00

Thanks to everyone who voted! As I mentioned before, everyone who guessed correctly wins a prize. The best prize a person can get. You are safe in the knowledge that you guessed correctly. What person doesn't like to be RIGHT (all the time)? So, who won?

Well, as the ultrasound progressed we were thinking more and more that it was a boy cause we kept seeing a flash of something between the legs. Problem is, baby was being very stubborn with its legs crossed and pulled up over the tummy. Baby was moving around lots and this was making it hard too because every time the tech got a glimpse, baby would move away. BUT, we did get a couple of shots. Like I said, Matt and I both saw something and we were thinking boy, however the tech said she knew what we were seeing and actually she was pretty sure it was a GIRL!!!

She showed us the 3 white lines that indicate the labia and the vaginal canal, plus there was nothing that looked like testes or a penis. Also, another shot from the side showed between the hip bones and you could see the hollow spot between them where with a boy it is solid. But like I said, little girl was being stubborn (or as Matt said "she's being a good girl") and had her legs tucked up so the tech couldn't get a good shot from the front. She told us she was sure baby was a girl, but since she couldn't get a better shot from the front she wouldn't tell us 100%.

So, 95% it is a little GIRL, but we have another appointment after we get back from Idaho, on Sept 9, to check again and see if she can get a better look. The really nice thing is that they didn't charge us for today's appointment since we are coming back. How's that for service? I highly recommend all in the Charleston area to go see them, they are great!

Last Chance!

2011-08-25T13:33:00.003-04:00

We have our ultrasound tomorrow at 8:30am and the poll closes tonight at midnight! If you would like to officially cast a vote as to whether you think Baby Meyers #2 will be a boy or girl, better do it fast!!

All who win will receive the immense satisfaction of being RIGHT.

Coming to visit next week!

2011-08-23T17:46:00.002-04:00

Ok all my Idaho friends! We are coming next week for our visit! We get in on Tuesday the 30th and don't leave till Wednesday the 8th. I really would love to try and visit with as many people as we can so please let me know if you want to try and get together.

I'm really looking forward to this trip. I haven't been back since Christmas of '06, my senior year in college, Matt has never been near the area and Victor hasn't either, of course. I read about and see pictures of all my old friends families and am just dying to finally meet all these beautiful people I read about! We are going to be going to the Chukar's game on Thursday night and then we are going to the fair at some point too.. although I don't know when yet. Kind of sad we won't be there for Spud Day, cause you know I'm just DYING for Matt to see it!

Cheese!!!

2011-08-20T22:10:00.003-04:00

Gotta love spaghetti for dinner!

belly belly

2011-08-16T21:49:00.006-04:00

So I'm really starting to feel pregnant now. I mean, I don't "feel" it, meaning, I don't feel like I'm carrying any extra weight, I'm not terribly achy yet and (sadly) I'm not feeling any movement yet, so I just have this little baby belly that I'm carrying around with none of the (not so?) fabulous side effects. I did discover something interesting though.

This picture is of me pregnant with Victor at 19 weeks.
This picture is of me pregnant with Victor at 21 weeks.
This is me today, pregnant with mystery child, at 14 weeks.
I'm huge. lol. Is it just me or am I carrying much lower than last time? Oh well, only 14 weeks, still plenty of time to move up.

But I'm totally in The Zone. I still get a little tired and can easily nap with Victor in the afternoons, but no sickness, no real aches or anything. For the most part I feel completely normal, just a little more awkward in some ways, lol. Of course, Victor doesn't notice anything different and still jumps on me, climbs on me and generally still tries to treat me like a jungle gym. We've been doing our best to deflect those games to daddy, but he still thinks I'm great fun. Hopefully as I get bigger he will understand a little better!! I'm soooo grateful that I'm going to be spending my hugely pregnant months in the middle of winter when I don't have to chase him down the road to the park!

Babies

2011-08-13T10:58:00.005-04:00

Every Thursday and Friday I babysit for a friend and watch their little girl, Ellie. Usually when she goes down to take her nap she takes a little pink teddy bear with her. Well, after seeing Ellie with it for a while, Victor decided he liked it too. After my ultrasound 3 weeks ago I'd been talking with him about the baby in my belly and showing him the pictures and explaining where the baby was. He decided that the teddy bear was his baby.

Then at Christina's house (my next door neighbor who is totally fabulous) Victor and her boys, Andrew and Bryce, were playing with their dolls. She also has a daughter who is 7 so there were several dolls and stroller and things, and these boys were just having a blast!

So, back at home, he'd been carrying around the bear and helping it go "ni-ni" (night night) and it was really just the cutest freaking thing.

Then this week Ellie brings an actual baby doll with her... and Victor just goes crazy, he LOVES that thing! He played with it way more than Ellie did, it's a good thing she was more than happy to play with the teddy bears because I'm not sure I could have pried that thing out of his hands.

We went to Wal*Mart last night to get a couple things, nothing major, mostly I just needed stamps and wanted to get out of the house. I told Matt I wanted to get Victor a baby and Matt just groaned and (totally joking) says "No, no dolls in the house, ever!" I laugh and ask him what he's going to do if we have a girl who is super into dolls and he just sighed and said he guessed he'd allow it. LOL. I'm fairly determined that Victor is going to get a baby, maybe not that night, but sometime soon. We walked down the toy aisle and there was this bin of little $4 dolls. I picked one up and showed it to Victor. It was a

ll over. He snatched it out of my hands and cries, "BABY!!!" and squeezed it so tight... There was no way I was putting it back. Matt sees it and says "oh great." then he laughs and comments how cute it was especially when Victor was upset cause he couldn't get the baby's hat back on. I just told him that Victor is practicing to be a good daddy (or mommy I guess, should he decide to go that route.. LOL) and that he's learning from the best <3

All night last night he was not far from his baby and even took it to bed with him. This is how he fell asleep

I just LOVE to watch him with the baby and to see him play with Ellie or any kids really... It just makes me that much more anxious for him to have a sibling cause I know what a good big brother he is going to be!!

Haircut

2011-08-08T22:34:00.003-04:00

We have never given Victor a real haircut. Unless you count the 2 or 3 times that I've chased him around the house with a pair of scissors trying to cut off his little rat tail. His hair was so long it was getting knotted when he was sleeping and was starting to curl a bit when it got wet. I was driving me CRAZY! We talked about cutting his hair all the time, but anytime we got near him with scissors or the clippers he would flip out.

Every time Matt cut his hair, we would have Victor watch and let him hold the clippers if he wanted, while on or off. and still, freak outs. Finally, we decided that it was just time and we needed to do it.

Matt ended up holding him down cause I couldn't hold him tight enough (that's how much he was fighting us!) and I used the clippers. We did go back and forth a little though. I think it was just the noise from the clippers that was scaring him the most. But as soon as it was over he was fine and dandy! He got in the bath tub and had a nice bubble bath and then he got a couple of graham crackers while he got to watch his favorite cartoon.

Finished product! I didn't take a before pic, but you can kind of see in some of his other pics how long his hair was. We took off about 2 inches! It looks soooooo much better!!!

A couple of pictures

2011-08-08T10:36:00.009-04:00

I found my camera the other day and took the battery out, charged it and was so proud of myself for remembering to do so. Of course it was actually Matt who made me do it "right now!" otherwise I probably would have forgotten, but whatever (hee hee..). So then it's all charged and ready to go and I turn it on and go to check what pictures are on it from forever ago and.... it doesn't work. It keeps whirring like it's trying to work the lens and then says "Lens Error" and promptly shuts back off. So.... now we are going to have to get a new camera....

In the meantime we figured out that I can send pictures on my phone to the online album and I can get them on the verizon website. Yes, I've had the phone for over a year and a half now and we JUST figured this out. So, here are a few pictures that are from my phone in no particular order. As you can imagine they are not the best quality, but it's better than nothing!!!

me at 12.5 weeks. fully in maternity clothes and loving them! I may truly be one of the few that honestly LOVES maternity clothes. they are sooo comfortable!

Little baby at 11 weeks. If you are good at reading ultrasound pics, you can see its little hands and feet and on his/her head where the eye, nose and mouth are. I can not wait to see little baby again in a few weeks!

Victor was helping me make chocolate chip cookies. I got a new recipe from my next door neighbor Christina (best neighbor EVER btw..) and they were freaking AMAZING!!!

This is how Victor would prefer to spend all his time. Naked except for socks and shoes. yes, he loves his socks and shoes.
We go for walks at LEAST once a day and every time we walk past this lady's house Victor stops and gets down to look at the frog statue she has. he says "Frog!!" after this we got him some froggie pajamas and now whenever he wears them it is impossible to get him out of them the next morning and he ends up wearing them all day until his bath, lol.

Hopefully I'll have some more pics soon!!

oh and... we are coming to Idaho! We get in August 30 and leave Sept 8. Matt has never been that far west and I haven't been home in about 6 years so this is going to be AWESOME! I can't wait to see everyone!

Boy or Girl?

2011-08-02T17:23:00.002-04:00

It's one of those questions people love to ask.. "Do you want a boy or girl this time?" And sometimes I want to say "Oh gosh, I better get another boy or I'm sending it back!" But seriously, I think about this a lot. Probably more than I should considering the fact that I have no choice in the matter. I mean, chances are pretty good it's going to be a boy or a girl, ha.

I want a Boy because:

1. Victor will have a brother that is close in age. I am afraid it will be harder for them to bond if they are farther apart.

2. We wouldn't have to buy anything! Well, except for a few baby things we want that we didn't have last time, but no clothes! we've got that stuff covered!

3, I ADORE watching Victor play with other little boys and I just can't wait for him to be a big brother... (I suppose this one is going to apply to both...)

I want a Girl because:

1. I want a daughter. I want to teach her how to be a woman and a mommy and be the Mother of the Bride someday...

2. I babysit a little girl 2 days a week and Victor LOVES her! He actually seems to play better with little girls than boys (probably because of this) and I just know he would ADORE a little sister.

3. There is SO MUCH cute stuff!! I am dying to buy little girly stuff! Plus it would be the first grand daughter on BOTH sides of our family so it would be a little extra special just because of that.

*sigh* I keep telling Matt I wish we were having twins so I could have one of each!

Either way, this baby is going to be (and already IS!) so incredibly loved... I just can't wait to meet him or her. Please know that we are going to be THRILLED with whichever gender we are blessed with. Of course this won't be our last one so there's always room for more!!! Yes, that's right, I'm 12 weeks pregnant with number 2 and already thinking about the next one. I'm sure Matt is thrilled right now, HA!

Ultrasound

2011-07-27T22:10:00.005-04:00

Sorry I don't have any pictures! We don't have the scanner hooked up yet. Hopefully soon though!!

Monday I had a prenatal appt with my midwife. Everything was going great until she went to listen for the heartbeat. I have great blood pressure, weight is good so far (2 lbs down from pre-preggo weight actually) and urine is totally clean. But she could not find the heartbeat. She looked for about 10 minutes and used 2 different wands and it just was not coming up. Now, I know that many women don't hear it until later and it's really common to not hear it till after 12 weeks. But that wasn't making me feel any better! We heard it with Victor at barely 10 weeks and all I could think was that there really was no baby in there... It was awful, I KNEW that it was silly, but I could not shake the feeling that something was wrong. My fantastic midwife sat with me while I cried and then told me if I was that worried that she would schedule me an ultrasound cause she didn't want me to make myself sick worrying.

I readily agreed after Matt and I talked about it and we got scheduled for this morning at 1030. My next door neighbor was going to watch Victor for us so we could go, just the 2 of us, but she got stuck at the car repair shop for 2 hours and so we ended up taking him with us. He is terrified of doctor's offices and I was fairly sure he was going to flip out. Not to mention the fact that if something were really wrong I didn't want him to see me upset.

When we got there I mentioned to the tech that I was really worried and she was so sweet, told me no problem that she was going to try with the external wand first and if we couldn't see enough she'd use the internal. Well, she put the wand on my belly and immediately she says, "welp! there's defintiely a baby in there!!" I hadn't even looked at the screen yet, I was trying to calm Victor a bit cause he was definitely freaking, I think he thought she was hurting me. So I flip my head over to look and sure enough! There's a BABY!!! With little arms and legs and you could see it's little feet kicking!! S/he was moving around like crazy! It's almost funny to think that something inside you is moving so much and you can't feel it yet, totally surreal!

Baby was measuring just a few days ahead of my due date but because it's so close they won't adjust my due date and I'm glad. Besides, I measured ahead with Victor the whole time too, I think my babies just grow a bit faster than the "Average".

The interesting thing that she found is that I have a Fibroid tumor on my uterus. Nobody has ever mentioned a fibroid to me before so it must be something that has popped up recently. From what I've been told and what I've read, Most of the time fibroids do not cause any problems. They are benign tumors and fairly common. At my next ultrasound at 20 weeks they will measure it and keep an eye on it to see where it is. The only reason it may cause a problem is if it grows exponentially or shifts down closer to my cervix. Right now it's just on the front of my uterus and the tech said it'll just make me "pooch out further". Awesome. I was already a house with Victor, not like I needed any extra "pooch" LOL.

Geez!

2011-07-20T07:57:00.002-04:00

Sorry it's been soooo long!!! Our computer crashed about 2 months ago and we just got a new one on Monday.

I know this is kind of old news by now at least with my Facebook friends, but...

We are Pregnant!!!! Yay!! I'm due on February 14, but totally expecting to go over at least a week, so the end of February is more likely. I'm 10 weeks now and actually feeling pretty good. I was pretty nauseous there for awhile but it just started to subside a few days ago. thank goodness! I have another midwife appt next week and we should get to hear the heartbeat for the first time. I'm sooo excited about this that I tear up just thinking about it! I can't wait!! Looking forward to catching up with everyone else's blogs soon!

He's got the disease...

2011-05-12T15:21:00.000-04:00

Hand, foot and mouth disease that is. Poor kid!!

Sunday afternoon/evening he started getting fussy. We thought he was just tired and he did actually fall asleep early, but then kept waking up. He couldn't seem to get comfortable. Then monday was the same thing, but worse really. He woke up screaming and crying and lasted that way for about an hour before calming down. He didn't want to eat, drink or nurse. He also had a low-grade fever. He really was just not feeling well at all. It took hours to wear him down to get him to finally pass out in my arms. Then he would sleep for 2.5-3 hours and wake up screaming again... and on and on till Wednesday when I noticed he had red, blister-looking bumps on the bottoms of his feet.

Everything suddenly made total sense!! Doing more research into it I discovered that the coxsackie virus that causes HFM has a 4-6 day incubation period and then symptoms start. Those include lack of appetite, general feeling of unwellness and a fever. A couple days after the fever starts the rash breaks out. You can get the sores on hands, feet and mouth or just hands and feet or just the mouth... can even get a rash on the bottom or genital area.

Victor has them on his feet, they are starting now on his hands and has them at the back of his mouth and a rash on his butt :-( Poor kid!!! It's no WONDER he was so miserable the last couple of days!! And there's nothing they can do since it's a virus. Can give him a mixture of Benadryl and Mylanta to help coat the sores in the mouth but that's about it. I've gotten him some go-gurt and stuff to help soothe his throat and so he can eat something! He devoured a tube of it when we first got home. We are pretty sure he got it from the playground and it makes me soooo not want to go back there, ever again!

This picture is not Victor, but it gives you an idea of what it looks like! He doesn't have sores around his mouth (yet anyways.. there are a couple of spots I'm keeping an eye on...) just inside his mouth :-( he does have them on his hands and feet.

It is really contagious for a couple of weeks, from when they first are exposed to when the blisters break open and heal over. So we have about a week left or so until we can be around people again. It's going to be a long week cooped up in the house!!! Hopefully he will at least start to feel better soon!!

Happy Mother's Day!!

2011-05-08T08:03:00.002-04:00

Happy Mother's Day to all!!! I remember back when I was pregnant with Victor and someone had the nerve to tell me I wasn't a mother yet. I am here to tell you that as soon as you see that positive pregnancy test, you become a mother. So even if you are currently pregnant, or have a baby in heaven, you are still a mother and this day is for you too! I hope everyone has a lovely day today and enjoys spending time with their families.

Happy Mother's Day especially to my own mother, I love you so much and am so grateful for everything you've ever done for me. I know it wasn't easy for you, especially when I was a teenager, but I never doubted you loved me. Now that I have a child of my own I realize even more what you have always done for me and your family, and I want to say Thank You. Thank you from the bottom of my soul. I love you very, very much. Happy Mother's Day.

aaahhh!

2011-03-22T21:34:00.002-04:00

We're alive! I promise! I've totally been slacking and haven't been updating. oops! I actually started a couple of posts that are now totally outdated and not worth posting. I don't have any pictures to post because my computer died, so Matt's computer is the only one we have, and I can't find the cord I need to move pics over from my camera. As soon as I find that I will have TONS of pictures, I promise!

Couple things, Victor and I were oth sick the past 2 weeks, him more than me. Poor little guy, he was sooooooooo miserable! It was his first time really being sick and it was a doozy! He had RSV, a nasty cough that made him throw up at least once a day, usually 2 or 3 times. He was getting dehydrated and we almost ended up at the ER. He had only had 2 wet-ish diapers in a 24 hour period and was very lethargic, was only staying awake for barely 30 minutes before passing back out in my arms. We basically spent several days just laying in bed. He was so stuffy that he didn't want to nurse a lot, or even when he did for a few minutes he would cough more and throw it all back up. We finally got some water into him and he started nursing more and keeping it down and once he did that it was a really quick turn around. Seriously, one day I wanted to take him to the ER and the next he was up and playing and soo much better. What a relief that was!! Of course, then I got the bug and was miserable for a couple of days, but luckily it didn't last as long for me as it did for my poor baby.

In the midst of this he nightweaned himself too! Some of you will horrified when you read this, lol, but we were still nursing at least every 2 hours at night. Thank goodness for co-sleeping and keeping my sanity! But while he was sick he would wake up and not want to nurse and just be cuddled and comforted and put himself back out and for the past week since then he has been sleeping in 8-9 hour stretches! Woo! I knew it would happen when he was ready, without any help from me. I hate that he had to get sick for it to happen, but thrilled that we are here! Hooray for sleep!

I'm also hoping that means my cycle (ya know, that thing your body has to do in order to get pregnant) will even itself out a bit more. I FINALLY got my first period last month, yes, that's right, thanks to breastfeeding I just had my very first post-partum period at 16 months. I was thrilled!!! I thought I had to wean him a bit more before it would finally start but it came on its own! However, for anyone who knows anything about cycles, my luteal phase is only anywhere between 5-8 days, which if you know about this stuff you know that means I have no chance of getting pregnant again until it lengthens out to at LEAST 10 days. So, with him sleeping longer and thus we are nursing less, hoping it will even out my hormones a bit more and I will have a chance at getting pregnant soon!

I am DYING to be pregnant again!! It seems that all my friends are pregnant and I've been itching for more babies for months now. I really wanted to be pregnant again by now, really a few months ago... every month that goes by that it doesn't happen kills me cause it's that much older victor is going to be and that much older I am going to be.... If I want 4 kids before I'm 30 we better Hurray up!

"Is it ever bad to be polite?"

2010-12-22T14:58:00.002-05:00

"Is it ever bad to be polite?"

If you have kids, well, even if you don't have kids, please read this, it is very powerful. Is it important to teach our kids ownership of their bodies!

quote for the week

2010-12-22T00:31:00.001-05:00

You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have, for instance.

~Franklin P. Jones

The Golden Rule

2010-12-20T20:08:00.004-05:00

Treat others as you would like to be treated.

This post has been in the making for a couple weeks now. I've had the idea in my head and have been mulling over and over the best way to talk about my feelings on this subject. Basically, respect is important. We all want to be respected and (hopefully) to be respectful, we also want to teach our kids this. Furthermore, I think we can all agree that the best way to teach a child anything is through example. For those that are religious, even Jesus Christ himself said to lead through example. So why, why, why would we not treat our children with the same respect that we grant to other adults?

I know people here are thinking, "well, because they are children, not adults." But what I believe is that, yes, they are children, but they are also people. My 14 month old is as much a person as your 6 month old and your newborn baby and your grandma and grandpa. Logically, it follows that treating our children with respect, just like we treat those around us, and they will in turn learn to behave with respect. To me, this means that I respond to Victor as though he were already grown and could fully explain to me what is going on. If he has a tantrum, I sit with him and I tell him, "I'm sorry you are upset/frustrated/angry. I love you very much and would like to keep you safe." Or some close version thereof depending on what caused the tantrum, typically it is me trying to keep him from taking something he doesn't need to have. As he gets older I intend to teach him better ways to expend his energy like the pushing game and other great ways that turn bottled up emotion into a game and even a bonding experience. If anyone is interested in learning more about using play to parent and even discipline, I HIGHLY suggest reading Playful Parenting by Lawrence J. Cohen. It's amazing.

I also think that the best way to enjoy my time with him each day is to make it as tantrum-free and toddler-friendly as possible. Our house is about 90% toddler proof. The things that he can get to that we can't avoid, we simply teach him that it is not ok to play with. For instance, he loves to touch the garbage can. Gross, I know. But I have yet to figure out a really good way of getting it out of reach since it won't fit in the cabinets. Anyway, he will run over to it and try to lift the lid so he can look inside. At this point I'll say something along the lines of "Mister Victor! could you please put that down? it's yucky!" While I say this I will make funny voices or have the teddy bear/bunny say it. 9 times out of 10 he will put it down and come chase me from the room while giggling madly. I try very hard not to use the word "no" a lot. I prefer to say "No, sir!" or "not for Victor!" while handing him something more appropriate, or if it's more serious, "Please Don't!" or the deadly serious "Mr. Meyers!" I'm hopeful that by avoiding the word "no" as much as possible we will in turn avoid hearing it ourselves as he gets older and more verbal. I also believe that speaking to him with respect will teach him to speak with respect.

I love to play like this with him. I believe playtime is sooo important. Whenever I'm trying to cook, he inevitably pulls at my legs and fusses and fusses to be picked up. Often, I do just that. I know he is just interested and wants to know what I'm doing so I let him see. I've become very good at doing things one-handed. Sometimes when he's particularly hard to please I sill simply stop what I'm doing and sit down on the floor. Doing this and spending just a few minutes playing with him will often re-set him and he will be fine to play by himself again for a little while until I can finish what I was doing.

The quickest way for a parent to get a child's attention is to sit down and look comfortable.

- Lane Olinghouse

Now, it's not to say I never get frustrated trying to respond to him in the gentlest way I know how. Today for instance; we were playing on the bed getting ready for naptime. He found the remote control for the TV and whacked me in the face with it. Hard. So hard that I was tearing up and my cheekbone and nose were vibrating. I picked him up and put him down on the floor where he couldn't fall down and walked away into the bathroom. I let myself tear up for a minute while I inspected the damage in the mirror. I determined I would live with minimal scarring (hee hee, not even a bruise) and then knelt down to talk to Victor. He was very concerned, he had followed me to the bathroom and I'm sure he could tell something was wrong because he was just standing in the doorway looking at me. He kept saying, "Ma? Ma!" So when I knelt down, I hugged him. I told him I knew he hadn't meant to hurt me and that he had just gotten excited. I apologized that I hadn't removed the item that was not appropriate and asked him to help me remember. Now, I know that this probably sounds silly to a lot of you. After all, he's only 14 months old, he has no idea what I'm talking about for the most part! But I strongly believe, that even at this age he is absorbing more than we realize and as he gets older he will understand and will be able to use it because he's been hearing positive statements/releases for so long.

Children watch the way we react to things and learn from them. If I had started swearing or gotten angry with him all he would have learned is that those actions are acceptable and that that is the right way to deal with anger. By removing myself and giving a second to calm down myself, I was much better prepared to deal with the Respect I wished to show him. I want to treat him this way always. I want to remember that he is a person with real feelings. That just because he can't express them yet, doesn't make them irrelevant. Just because he can't tell me why he wakes up at night, doesn't mean I will ignore it. Just the opposite, I will respond quickly and positively in order to teach him that mommy is there for him. After all, if Matt were crying and calling out for me at night I wouldn't ignore him. The only difference between the 2 scenarios is that my husband can express to me what is wrong and a baby cannot. To me this means that a child's cry must be responded to consistently and lovingly because we have no way of knowing what the child needs unless we are tuned in. And yes, I believe that a snuggle is a need. Don't you ever need a good snuggle?

To me this is respect. Treating my husband, my child and everyone else the way I would like to be treated in return. Some day I hope that all the world will believe in this principle.

~~On that note, I would like to say that before you comment, please remember that these are my opinions and philosophies. This is the way that Matt and I choose to parent and it works wonderfully for us. I understand that many families have different ways of parenting and those methods work wonderfully for them, everyone is different and must choose their own way. This is simply ours. Please respond with respect. Thank you.~~

Family Pictures!

2010-12-10T08:39:00.022-05:00

We finally got family pictures taken!! and Matt hates it so much that it'll probably be a loooooong time before we get to do it again, lol. But thank you honey soo much for humoring me and doing it this time!! The picture above was actually taken at the end of the session, and Victor looks happy but he was about to SCREAM!!!

He was not thrilled with the whole situation, but did much better than I expected!
Me and Matt
I was making him laugh, lol. When the photographer pulled the sheet down that he's laying on Vic thought it was so cool and started laying on it and trying to blow rasberries, it was the cutest thing!
His molars are coming in and we have a hard time getting his fingers out of his mouth so we just had to roll with it. I think it turned out cute!!
He loved this chair!
"Really?"
angel face"You really gonna let me have a cookie?"
"Santa?"
"Hey!! this cookie isn't real?!?" the funny thing is after he was trying to get the cookies off the plate, he leaned over and looked underneath the plate like he was trying to figure out what was wrong, hah!
"hee hee!"
Adorable! I think this one is my fav.

"can I get up now?"
the only way we could get him to sit still is to let him play with something, an ornament or box or something.
These pics worked really well because he loves to be read to and he just sat there very content.
Family Pic!

All in all, we are very pleased with how they turned out. Thank you again to my wonderful husband for going through with it!

Oh yeah...

2010-11-27T00:36:00.003-05:00

This is my old, old hair. Back before Vic was about 4 months old. I hadn't done anything to it in a long time.
So then I dyed it a bit darker (which I love) and cut bangs. Took awhile to get used to, and then of course ended up growing out the bangs. It grew a lot for about 8 months and then about 2 weeks ago I realized how long it had been since i had cut my hair..... SO....

ignore my pasty face, i had just woken up and had next to NO makeup on.

I cut my hair off. I do not have a before picture, but it was very long, down past my bra strap in the back. I always have to have it pulled back out of the way, usually in a knot of top of my head. I have been fighting it and fighting it but decided it was time. Funny enough, watching episodes of "What Not to Wear" pushed me over the edge. Watching all these women undergo transformations and look/feel amazing, made me want to look/feel amazing! Plus, it had been 8 months since anything had been done to it..... it was time. So, I don't know if I exactly accomplished that, but it is MUCH easier to take care of and I think I like it. I think I will like it a bit better when it grows out maybe an inch or 2, we will see....

Victor's surgery

2010-11-27T00:03:00.010-05:00

Everything went really well! His cyst was removed and they determined that it really was just a cyst. He had 3 little stitches and 2 have fallen out so we are just waiting on the 3rd and he will be all good again. He was a little trooper though! He was super mad of course about not being able to nurse when he woke up and then being exhausted. But we were mean and took pictures of him anyway!

Poor little guy... I just wanted to squeeze him and never let him go...
Awww.... my baby.....
Daddy was trying to help too... Shortly after this the nurse came in to take him and I just hugged him so tight and then lost it after they walked away... I could hear him crying as they walked down the hallway and I just wanted so bad to go and grab him and take him away! They were not quite as patient friendly/ thorough as they were at Women and Children's when he had his MRI done. But the doctor was quick and efficient and very good at his job. The whole thing took about 35-40 minutes. One of the worst parts was afterwards when he had the wrap on his hand.

he was just so mad! He can't stand it when you touch his hands normally and didn't take well to having it wrapped like that. Luckily, he adapted to it quickly and while he did get mad occasionally at it, he also continued to use it freely like nothing was wrong. Hopefully he will continue to be healthy, I think after 7 ear infections, tubes, an MRI and now surgery, we have seen enough doctors!!!

I love new stuff...

2010-11-26T23:43:00.002-05:00

I'm so excited that I just ordered some new books. I am in the process of becoming a La Leche League (LLL) Leader and one of the things I had to have for that is their newest edition of The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding, so I got that one. I also needed to read a book on childbirth, so I picked out Ina May's Guide to Childbirth (which I conveniently had been wanting to read anyway) and also Playful Parenting, which is a gentle parenting book that shows ways to connect and reach your kids by playing with them. Doesn't that sound wonderful? I've heard some great reviews from friends and decided I had to check it out.

Becoming a LLL leader is all part of eventually being a lactation consultant. I have become so passionate about breastfeeding over the last year that I can think of nothing I would enjoy more than working with new moms to beat the "booby traps" that many women fall into. For more on that, check out http://www.bestforbabes.org/ on how to do the best for your babe, whether it's BFing for 2 years, 2 months, or 2 days they want to help you meet that goal and this organization is dedicated to educating women about their choices. There is sooooo much bad information out there about breastfeeding and I want to help people and get them the right information.

I'm so excited to get my new books and read them!

Surgery.

2010-10-30T01:01:00.002-04:00

Well, we had a day of doctor's appts with some good news and some bad news. Good news first! We went to see the ENT again about Vic's ears since the P.A. at the MRI said they looked bad. The ENT said that lady must not have known what she was talking about because his ears look great! yay! So on the one hand, irritated that the lady was so wrong and we had to spend $35 copay to find out his ears were fine, but on the other hand, yay! so happy his ears look fine!

Then the good/bad news. The hand surgeon said that the MRI showed the lump to look fluid-filled (good news!). However, because of the location, size and Vic's age, it would be better to remove it. This way it doesn't interfere with any development in his hand or his muscles or anything like that and it can be sent to be biopsied to make sure it really is just a benign cyst. SO... Tuesday morning at 8am he will be having surgery to have it removed.

I'm totally. bugging. out.

this will be the third time that Vic will have been put under general anesthesia and I HATE that. I hate that he has to be put under with all those chemicals and crap in his tiny litttle body... But it's times like these that I'm soooo incredible glad we are still nursing. At least I know I can comfort him in that way when he is going to need me the most. I don't know how long the surgery will last, I'm hoping not too long , but I figure at least an hour, probably longer. And afterward is going to suck so bad with the bandage on his little hand. He hates when you touch his hands and the few times he's had a bandaid on one of his fingers (just from a little stick to get an iron test) he flips out! I can't imagine how it's going to happen with stitches and a bandage. *sigh*.

He's 1 year old!!!

2010-10-21T11:34:00.019-04:00

I can't believe my baby is 1 year old!! One year ago at the beginning of October, this is what i looked like! then about 2 weeks later...

Magic! This beautiful baby boy entered our lives. Our lives have never been the same since this moment... they have been so much richer, more extraordinary and better than we could ever have imagined!

Pictures from his party!

Victor with Matt's mom Melanie.

Victor with my mom, Janene. She was visiting us for 2 whole weeks! We LOVED having her!

Vic with my mommy again.

Family Pic. I hate this pic I think I look terrible, but oh well.

First taste of the cupcake! Just dipped his fingers into the frosting.

Daddy laughing as Vic finally took his first bite.

Vic sharing with Mommy :-)

Yummy!

And.... he's done! He got mad when I was trying to help him eat it and he wanted out of his high chair. So we let him down and then started opening presents.

We asked everyone that if they wanted to get us something to bring books. We only had a few and Vic LOVES me to read to him so we really needed to expand our library. We got a bunch of really great books! Thanks sooo much!

Our friend Jessica and her son Isiah got us a lawnmower! He freaking loves this thing and pushes it all over the house!

More presents!

Yay for books!!

He's such a cute birthday boy!!! We love you soooo much bubba! Happy Birthday!

Ear infection, a lump and the MRI...

2010-10-21T11:03:00.003-04:00

This is going to be a HUGE update with lots of talking and not a lot of pictures, sorry guys!!

So he got his tubes in about 3 months ago and he's been good since then. He was tugging at his ears a little bit but I was assuming it was due to teething cause he's been working on his molars for awhile now. One evening about 3 or so weeks ago I was nursing Vic in the living room and holding his hand to keep his fingers out of my nose (ha ha) and I felt the lump in his right hand. It's in his palm right where the first big knuckle is. First thing the next morning I called to make an appt with his pedi. The pedi ordered an xray of his hand and checked his ears for me too. Sure enough the left one was infected so we got some antibiotics for that.

The xrays sucked! I had to hold him while the tech was trying to hold his hand in the right place and he was screaming and fighting and just sooo pissed off. The next day they called and said that nothing showed up on the xray, just that his bones looked fine and normal, which in itself is good. But frustrating that they can't tell us the the lump is. So they referred us to the Bone and Joint Surgeons. Finally got an appt with them just this past Monday. Doc said he thought it might be a cyst, but couldn't be sure so they needed to do an MRI of his hand to find out for sure what they are dealing with.

Of course, for a 1 year old they had to do the MRI under sedation. AWFUL! They had to ue the mask to make him sleepy and start an IV to keep him asleep. It all took about an hour and a half. Of course I wasn't allowed to feed him beforehand, except nursing him, and the nurse was very misinformed about breastmilk and I tried to explain to her that BM is a clear liquid (it's 80% water!) and it only takes 90 minutes to digest so the fact that she was going to make us wait a whole other HOUR (it had already been 5 since he'd nursed) before starting was compeltely wrong, but she started in on the whole "it it were MY child I'd wait just to be safe.. blah blah blah..." making me feel guilty and then I couldn't even argue with her without making myself the "bad parent". I was SOOO PISSED. Anyway, then they had to check his ears to make sure his tubes were MRI safe. The lady was looking in his ears and there was enough build up of wax/fluid that she couldn't even see them. I mentioned that he'd had an infection a couple weeks ago and she said "yea, that left one is still red."

Arrggghh! So mad that it's still infected and that the stuff apparently isn't draining.

Anywho, The MRI took an hour and 38 minutes. The longest 98 minutes of my life. Poor guy was so out of it when we got to go back in. He just laid on me for awhile while we both cried for a bit and he nursed a bit and we cuddled and Matt and I passed him back and forth for a bit. After about 30 minutes we got to go home. He was actually pretty good after we got home, played and ate for a bit and then we crashed for 4 hours! He's feeling pretty good today, just is nursing quite a bit, i think to make up for yesterday.

We have an appt on Monday to get his MRI results and discuss what needs to be done. Then it's off to the ENT to have his ears looked at. Gonna be a long day of doctors!!!

I wanna be like Handy Manny

2010-09-07T23:59:00.004-04:00

Really, I do. Anyone who has seen his show will know what I'm talking about. He is the ultimate at gentle parenting. No matter what the tools get into or break or destroy he never yells. He never gets upset or even frustrated with them. Manny always manages to say something like, "That's ok, everyone makes mistakes. But next time you should be more careful with that." I love that he manages to phrase things in a positive manner while being proactive about fixing the mistake and he always shows them how to fix it. This is sooo important! He always praises them when they do things correctly and they all know how much Manny cares for them.

I wanna parent like Handy Manny. I wanna be endlessly patient and a real role model for my children. I do not want to parent with fear, I want to parent with love, and kindness and gentleness. I hope I remember this on days when I'm frustrated. Luckily our DVR is recording episodes of Handy Manny, so hopefully I'll have an episode to watch and remember on days like that :-)

2 years of Wedded Bliss!

2010-09-06T01:14:00.004-04:00

Well, maybe not bliss all the time, lol but damn near close! and it's definitely been fun and exciting and sometimes challenging. Every moment has been wonderful and it's all gone by just sooo quickly!

I love you baby, so much and I am looking forward to every moment that is still to come for us, no matter what the future has in store, as long as we're together it'll be amazing!

Videos!

2010-08-18T01:22:00.007-04:00

We were playing Peek-a-boo and this is the picture I got! Cutest thing ever! "Gimme some Cheese Dad! I love it!"

Every time I get the camera out he immediately stops what he's doing and crawls (or walks now) over to me and tries to grab it. SO I get lots of pictures like this!

Look at that face!! I laugh every time!

I love watching this video! We have a couple of them, but this is the best one so far of him walking. He can walk longer than this, but every time he sees the camera he stops what he's doing and tries to grab the camera! So I do what I can :-)

We've been trying so hard to get video of the little goober walking. He just took his first steps last week as you all know, and since then has just gotten better and better every day. He is starting to cross whole rooms now, and I know that in a day or 2 he's gonna be a PRO! I can't believe my baby is walking!

He's also been saying "Mum" or "Mumma" to me and "Dah Dah Dah" at Matt, it's so adorable, we love it! He loves to "talk" all the time and will happily squeal at me all day long. He has 8 teeth and 9 and 10 are on their way in sometime soon as he's been teething like crazy.

Oh, and we moved! it was a crazy week-long adventure, but we made it! We just moved about 15-20 minutes from where we were but to a much bigger 3 bedroom townhouse as opposed to the 2 bedroom we were in. It's a bit further from town and work for Matt, but it's a quiet neighborhood, very kid-friendly. Also, it's just a couple of blocks from the library, a playground and the pool, yay! And we discovered (again) that we HATE MOVING. Next time we move it's gonna be to a house were we will spend the rest of our lives. lol, well maybe not really, but hopefully somewhere we will be for a while at least!

First steps!

2010-08-10T22:02:00.004-04:00

Can't believe how big my baby boy is getting..... He took his first official steps today!!

We were all in the kitchen, Matt, Vic and me. Vic was standing up, Matt was holding his hands, then Matt let go of his hands and Vic took 3 steps toward me! Then after we got over the shock, I stood him back up and he did it again!!! Can't believe it! In a week he's gonna be running around like a pro, sheesh! where'd my sweet baby go?

Quote of the Day

2010-07-17T13:33:00.003-04:00

"If there is anything we wish to change in the child, we should first examine it and see whether it is something that could better be changed in ourselves."

~C.G. Jung, Intergration of the Personality, 1939

New background

2010-07-10T23:38:00.002-04:00

I figured that since we don't get to go on vacation, I'd bring a bit of summer fun to the blog! Enjoy! We did just buy a little blow up kiddie pool, hee hee! There's a party right there!

Tubes are in!

2010-07-10T22:34:00.005-04:00

Little man got his tubes in yesterday morning. It was a really long night beforehand! Matt and I were up talking and packing the bag and then when we finally went to bed, Victor woke up crying and rubbing his ears. I was up with him for about 2 hours and finally got him back to sleep about 3:30am which was, ironically, the time that I needed to nurse him for the last time. Because breast milk counts as a clear liquid I was allowed to nurse him 4 hours beforehand, but not after. Thank goodness for that! I can't imagine having to go ALL night without being able to comfort him in that way.

Then I got up at 5:30am, yes, 5:30am. So I actually only slept for about an hour after getting him down. Made some coffee and egg, cheese and ham rollups for Matt and I to eat. Then got Matt up. Shortly thereafter Victor woke up and instead of nursing him and putting him back to sleep for a bit longer I had to just bring him downstairs and he was NOT HAPPY. He was tired and hungry and mad. at. me! Finally, just after 6:30am, we got in the car. He's not a good car rider to begin with and this morning was just awful. He was screaming so bad cause he was hungry and I started crying cause I couldn't fix it! I was pretty much on the verge of tears all morning.

We got there and signed in and started waiting. Luckily I had my Moby Wrap (fantastic wrap carrier that I could NOT live without) and he was a little easier to calm in that. He actually fell asleep a couple of times. We got to put him in his tiny little hospital gown (so cute) and then I wrapped him back up in the Moby and rocked him some more. He fell asleep on me until the nurse came to get him.

He was so not happy, lol. But still pretty cute! Anyways, the nurse came over (they were all incredibly nice) and introduced herself and took Mr. Victor away. I cried. I'm not ashamed or embarassed by it, I know that it is a very safe, simple, quick procedure but there are always risks and you just never know what could happen. He's my little baby whom I love more than anything in the world and I just couldn't bear the thought of him in there without me.

Then we went over to the recovery area to await the doctor and Victor's arrival. About 10 minutes after we got over there the doctor came in and told us that everything had gone fine. They had drained the fluid (there was lots of yucky fluid in both ears) and said that it was a good thing because it most likely would have been infected again very soon. Said that as soon as he woke up they would bring him to us.

About 10 minutes or so later they brought him in. He was all groggy and looking sad. I teared up again as they handed him to me and he started crying. I tried to lay him down on the bed and nurse him but he was too upset to realize what was going on so I just held him. I had some cereal with and offered him a few pieces of that, which he took and calmed him a little bit. He was really, really upset though. He was still tired and hungry and now he felt funny from the anesthesia and just had no idea what was going on. They gave us the discharge instructions and we left.

Again, he hates the car anyways, so I was not looking forward to this drive home. I had to take Matt straight to work and then just me on the way back so I couldn't sit in back with him. I set up the portable DVD players with "The Incredibles" (his absolute favorite) and luckily it kept him entertained. He didn't make a sound ALL the way home!!! I couldn't believe it. Thank goodness for "The Incredibles"! They really are incredible, ha!

Got him home and nursed him and had a little bit of a time putting him to sleep, but I think that's just because he was sooo tired to start with. But finally nursed really well and then PASSED out. I mean, didn't move a single muscle for at least 45 minutes. Thank goodness, my poor little boy.... I laid down with him cause I was exhausted too. This was just before 10am and we didn't get up till just after 1pm! After that, he was happy as can be! He spent 2 and 1/2 hours just playing and babbling to himself and the only time he fussed at all was when I kept moving my computer out of the way cause I'm a mean mom, lol. It was so great! Then for his next nap at 3:30 it took me all of 5 whole minutes to put him to sleep. 5 minutes! Amazing!! granted some of that may still have been after effects of the surgery, but it was sooo nice.

We still have to give him ear drops every 12 hours for a few days, which sucks. We have to hold him down to put them in so you can imagine how well that goes. Anyone have any tips for doing that and making it easier? But overall he seems to be doing really well. I'm sooo glad and I just hope that he continues to do even better!

Switchin' it up!

2010-07-04T00:00:00.008-04:00

Look at that cute fluffy bum! After doing some math and some serious research, we decided to give cloth diapers and wipes a shot. I'm really excited about the change! Hopefully it will help get rid of the rash he's had going on and off. Also, we're going to be saving quite a bit of money AND we get to help the environment! How cool is that? I've been very concsious lately of what I'm giving him and what chemicals are in things that I clean with so I've been making a few changes. I cut up some old towels and made me a big ol rag pile so now I can just use a rag to clean things up instead of a million paper towels or baby wipes. Been trying out cleaning with vinegar and baking soda, while it feels different, it actually works pretty well! And once the vinegar is dry it doesn't smell at all. I do miss the smell that you associate with cleaning products, but I'm trying to tell myself that the ABSENCE of smell is actually BETTER for us.

They are quite a bit bulkier, but they have cute colors and patterns, plus I actually think it's cute! An article I was reading said that it might actually help a bit while he's trying to walk because he's got more padding on his bum so he it won't hurt when he falls and he won't be as scared to try. Plus when we're potty training he'll know when he's wet so he'll make the connection to wet and needing to potty faster.

It's really much easier than I thought it would be. You just tuck the cloth diaper into the diaper cover and put it on him just like a disposable.

Eating waffles, He got them all over in his hair, lol!

Yum Yum!

New Toy Story pjs. He's looks like such a big boy!!!

Such a cute smile :) Ready to take notes!

"I'm a big boy mom! I can help do the dishes too!"

"Mom. Pick me up!"

This is what he does any time I'm in the kitchen. He crawls to wherever I am and pulls himself up on my legs and won't let me go till I pick him up. Then he tries to get into the dishwasher or the fridge or the dryer... He's into everything these days!!! He has stood by himself a couple of times, for a good 30 seconds or so each time before touching something to regain his balance or slowly setting himself down. I figure I'll give it about a month and he'll be walking!! So scary, I can't beleive how fast all this is going.... he's getting sooo big!!

Tube-in it!

2010-07-03T19:01:00.004-04:00

Hey all! It's been awhile since our last update, sorry! Here's what is going on!

Victor is officially getting tubes done. Next Friday, July the 9th we will be going in at 6:30am, surgery at 7:30 and the lady said as long as everything goes as planned we should be home with him by 9. I was hesitant to start with, but the more I've looked into it and heard good things I am really kind of looking forawrd to it. Especially since he is really difficult right now. Well, for the most part he's great, but it's sleeping that's rough on him. He doesn't like to be laid down because of the fluid in his ears so putting him to sleep is interesting. I have to wrap him up in our Moby Wrap so he's upright, and rock him that way till he falls asleep. Then I unwrap it around him (very proud of myself for being able to do that, lol!) and lay him down, propped up on pillows. If he is laid down flat he gets very uncomfortable and very restless and tugs and rubs at his ears even in his sleep. He will often wake up crying if he's not propped up enough so neither of us is getting much sleep. I'm ok with not sleeping, I just wish he felt better! So, I'm hoping that when they drain that fluid it will make it much easier for him to sleep and to stay asleep a bit longer. Not looking forward to the part where I have to hand him over to the nurse though..... Oh man.....I'm gonna cry!!!

Leave a comment and tell me about your experience with tubes!

Oh so much..

2010-05-29T10:08:00.013-04:00

Well, let's see if I can update real quick, Victor has had his 4th and 5th ear infections now, the last one (that he is still taking antibiotics for) was a double whammy. Both ears, booo! So now we have an official referral to the ENT doc and we see him next month on the 14th. I hope he won't sugget tubes right away, but at the same time I want my baby to feel better!

Prunes! Yummy!

He has new teeth too! He got his 2 top front ones in. So now he has 4. It was rough though, he was waking up every 45 minutes to an hour crying all night for a week, incredibly fussy during the day, wouldn't let me put him down, I mean, just a hot mess for a week. The one tooth had cut through the gum, but the other one was not quite there and his gum was all swollen and painful looking. I was such a mess and so sleep deprived (more than when he was a newborn!) I almost lost it a couple of times, lol. I was crying in the car one day when Darius Rucker "It won't be like this for long" came on the radio... haha! (it's funny now, but at the time, was definitley not...) When it finally cut through I actually got up and danced around the living room! He felt much better for about 2 days and then he got the nasty double ear infection... *sigh*

" Hey you! I see you!"

"I made a mess..."

"A big mess... but mommy still loves me!"

"I love teething bisuits, they're the best cause mommy lets me make a big ol mess!"

"I'm nakey!"

Look at those fat rolls! I love my chubby baby!

At his WBV last week he weighed 24lbs. Woo!

Playing in the pac n play for a minute before I got mad that I couldn't go anywhere.

He's feelling better now though! He's still on antibiotics for 2 more days, but he's feeling so much better it's incredible how much happier he is. He had a big day yesterday too! He clapped for the first time! So freaking cute :-) I got video! I thought he might crawl for me too, but he settled for grabbing his toy, lol. Ignore my annoying voice!

He also nursed in the living room! Normally he will only nurse if we're upstairs in the bedroom where it's nice and dark and quiet, but I've been offering downstairs more to try and get him used to the distractions. He finally did! About 3 times! It wasn't for very long, just a few minutes each time, but it's a big step in the right direction!

He ate almost a whole jar of bananas yesterday too! Normally we don't even go through one jar in 3 days, but he ate lots of them yesterday! Since the antibiotics give him diahhrea, I've been trying to feed him bananas and stuff that will stop him up a little bit.

He crawled! Usually he will get up on hands and knees and rock, and then fall on his tummy and just kind of squirm, but last night he was up and actually moved his knees and crawled a couple of steps! I'm not sure I'm ready for this extra mobility, but it's happening!

Whew! So big day for Vic yesterday.... oh my goodness... all these new milestones. My baby is getting soooo big!!!!

Number 3

2010-04-23T13:58:00.002-04:00

3, that's right, 3 ear infections in the past month and a half *pulls hair out* !! I feel so bad for my little guy cause he just cries and cries and won't go to sleep and doesn't like to nurse cause he doesn't want to lay down but won't nurse in any other position.....

I hate it cause I don't know where they are coming from, he's never even had a cold! I know that it's mostly genetic, apparently I had ear infections pretty much back to back until I was 8 months old, so I'm praying that doesn't happen to Victor!! We're trying a new antibiotic as well, so hopefully this time it will stay away. It's wierd, we'll do the antibiotic, then a week and half or so later we'll have a follow up with the pedi and his ears will look perfect. Then a week later he's got another one. I don't get it!!!!! It's sooo frustrating to know that he's in pain and to not be able to help him. Doc said if he gets another one they are going to refer us to a Ear, Nose and Throat doc to see if they can figure anything out. Also said that at this time of year they are a lot less common with the warmer weather so hopefully that will help things stay dry.

In the meantime, I just try to give him cuddles and deal with the crying as best I can... Poor little baby....

Grammy, Pop-Pop and Easter

2010-04-15T00:16:00.019-04:00

I don't know if ya'll remember, but back when I was about 33 weeks pregnant, my mom had to have heart surgery to replace a valve. There were some complications and she was unconscious in the ICU for about 6 weeks. Thankfully, she is doing much better now and is FINALLY able to travel!!! My parents hadn't met Victor yet until they got here last Saturday night. They didn't think they were going to make it until Sunday, but decided to keep going a bit longer and got here about 11:45pm Saturday. I hadn't seen my dad since Matt and I's wedding over a year and a half ago. I'd seen my mom last June at my baby shower, but it's still been about 9 months there too. I missed them so much and I loved having them here!!

This was Vic and Pop-Pop's first time seeing each other.

And again :0)

Then we had a poopy situation (he was still on the antibiotic at this time and it was giving him diahrea so every diaper change pretty much was an ordeal) and we had to change Vic, but then Grammy got to see him too!

Lots of kisses for Grammy and Vic!His easter bunny that Grammy got him! It passed the "Soft test".

And the Easter truck. The bed of the truck was filled with candy ( that of course I had to eat, hee hee!).He was more excited about the crinkly paper than anything.

"This stuff is sooo Cool!"

We helped him out a little bit so he could play with the truck and not eat any of the plastic grass stuff.

He loved his truck! Especially the wheels.

They had lots of fun playing Vic and the truck.

Victor loved playing with the spinning wheels on the truck.

Pop-Pop was glad to show him how it works!

We made the bunny a load so if it dumped out on him it wouldn't hurt.

"Hi! This box is the best thing ever! I can chew on it and bang on it and it's awesome!"

We had a big box after we went to sams club and he loved playing with that flap in front of him. You know they always say don't bother giving the kid the toy, just give him the box it came in!

Vic loved this! He grabbed great big ol handfuls of Pop-Pops hair and just giggled like crazy! Matt has done this with him a few times but it's just not the same cause Matt doesn't have hair he can grab.

We love you Grammy and Pop-Pop!!

Our next adventure is a wedding up in Cincinnati in about 2 weeks or so, and then we have to go visit my brother Nathan and Sis-In-Law Kristy. Nathan just got back last week from being deployed in Afghanistan. YAY!! We are soooo happy he's home and safe. I know Kristy is thrilled to have him back. She had their 3rd baby boy in December while he was gone and has had all three kids (2 toddlers and a newborn) all by herself since then and Nathan hadn't met the new baby yet. So again, we are SO happy he's home!

6 Months already!

2010-04-11T21:24:00.014-04:00

I can't believe my little baby is 6 months old already! Everything just seems like it has gone by so fast. 6 Months ago this was me! Huge and miserable and wanting my baby.

These pictures have never been released, lol. I look so awful in these pics but oh well. This was at the beginning of the induction process.

This was my first time (after they wrapped him up) holding my little baby boy. I still get teary when I look at these pictures..... Baby Vic in the bassinet about to go for his first bath and all that fun stuff.

He weighed 8lbs and 15oz and was 21 inches long when he was born and today at 6 months he weighs 23lbs and is 28 inches long. My baby is getting sooooo big! We didn't have a WBV today, but a follow up from his last ear infection so the nurse was nice enough to weigh and measure him for me :0) p.s. His ears look great, no redness, swelling or fluid, so we should be good now!

He can sit up very well all by himself and loves to roll around the living room. He likes to try and roll himself under the couch, haha!
I'm so proud and grateful that we have been able to exclusively breastfeeding for 6 months! No formula, no solid food of any kind. I plan on taking the solids slow too to make sure he doesn't wean before 1 year. I don't want to have to buy formula for him! I know that things could happen that would take it out of my control, but that's my hope! I'm also pumping more now too to have a stash so if something were to go off kilter we'd have a back up.

So we just started his first solid food this morning! I got an avocado yesterday and sliced it up and froze most of them but kept a few in the fridge for today and tomorrow. I just mashed it up with a bit of breastmilk and away we went!

First bite: "Mom what the *beep* did you just give me?"

Second bite: "Hmmm... not sure about this..."

Third bite: "Gimme that! This is awesome!"

I love it! It's so cute! He amazes me every day with how he changes and learns new things and I can't wait to see all the new things that he gets to learn. I do miss him being little and I can't believe how much he's grown.... But it's so much fun watching him grow up!

Recently...

2010-03-27T00:19:00.014-04:00

Lots of fun stuff happening around here! Victor is 5.5 months old now and learning new things every day it seems like. I can't beleive how big he is now and how much he's changed. As of last Monday at our WIC appt, he was 21 lbs, 7oz and 27 inches long. He's such a big healthy baby! Everyone was completely amazed at how big he was and we're exclusively breastfeeding. I was talking to the nutritionist and when I told her that we weren't starting any solids till he was 6 months old, she was almost speechless. She said, "Well, you're doing everything that we want you to, so I really don't have anything else to say!" So here in about 2 weeks when he's 6 months we'll start him on his first solid food. Be sure to look for pictures of that!

This was last week sometime. He'd been on amoxicilin for a slight ear infection and had diarhea everywhere (sorry, TMI, lol) and was exploding out of his diapers at almost every other diaper change. This also prompted a diaper size change, so we're now in size 4s. This pic was after a particularly bad one so I gave him a wipe down and was about to give him a bath at 11am. I was getting the bath ready and I came back in the room and found him like this, Sooooo Freaking Cute!!

He just figured out about 2 weeks ago how to roll over. It's so funny too cause can only go from back to belly, so whenever you lay him down on the floor he immediately flips over. Then he usually plays for a second, but then as soon as he realizes he's stuck he gets MAD!!! I can' help it, I laugh at him a little bit when he does that. Here he's chewing on his favorite thing, his fingers. This is the standard, he will chew on his fingers at any possible moment. Oh the joys of teething!
The weight limit on his infant seat is 22lbs, so since he's getting so close to that we had to find a convertible seat a little earlier than we had planned. He likes it sooo much better than the little one though. He always used to cry when we put him in that one and this one, as you can see, I put him in itand he fussed for a second and then as soon as I got him settled he was all smiles!! We've got it in the new car now and he hasn't fussed once in it. It sits him up more and gives him a lot more room so I think it's more comfortable for him.

In most of these pictures, I realize he's always wearing onsies and sleepers or his diaper, haha! But he's too chubby for pants! I went through an entire drawer the other day of nothing but pants and not a single pair of them fit him! I had to get out a pair that was sized for 18 months that fit him around his waist. I know as soon as he starts crawling he's going to thin about a bit since he'll be burning more calories, it's good cause my back can't take much more! We just bought him a bunch of stuff, like size 12 months garanimals clothes, the pants all fit him now, the tops are a bit big but I'm hoping since he's about to go mobile they'll fit him the majority of the summer.

Nice shot of the drool here. Starting to sit like a big boy!

He really is starting to sit all by himself. It's amazing cause one day he had to have our support and then one day he was sitting and he started to fall over and then righted himself and just kept playing. I can't believe how big he's getting!
I know I posted this in my last post, but I can't believe my baby boy has 2 teeth! He's growing up so fast! It just seems like it's going by so fast all of a sudden. One day he was teething, then he started rolling over, then the next day he had 2 teeth, now he's starting to sit up by himself and the other day he scooted himself!! .... it's just amazing and wonderful and scary how fast it's all going!

I had just changed Vic's diaper and he of course flipped over onto his tummy. The toys were just out of reach. I was on the couch looking at something on the computer and I looked up and he was reaching for them, I looked up again and he had his legs up underneath him with his butt in the air and pushed himself forward to get the toy!!! I couldn't believe it!!

First time sitting in a big boy cart! We have a cosy cart cover thing, but we didn't have it with us. I usually carry him in the Moby Wrap but my shoulder's been bugging me so we tried putting him in the cart and Matt just wrapped his coat around him. Notice the babyproofing stuff in the cart!

He's such a big boy!! I've said it a million times.... I just can't believe how big my baby is getting! I started tearing up the other day when I was looking at him and just realizing again how grown up he is looking, no more newborn baby! I love this stage he's at though. I love that I can make him giggle and laugh and he really plays with me. He's so much fun!

We've got teeth!

2010-03-21T10:51:00.003-04:00

Finally! After 3 months of teething, we have teeth! Not just 1, but 2!

He'd had a bit of an ear infection and I was afraid it was still bugging him cause he was still tugging at his ears. I'd been giving him amoxicilin for a week since the week before I'd taken him in after he'd been running a fever and fussin and pullin at his ears. Sure enough he had a little ear infection. Not too bad, Doc just said it was red and a little irritated. Friday at his follow-up appt Doc said his eardrums looked great, nice and shiny so it was probably teething.

He'd been crabby all day long and for 2 days I could barely get his fingers out of his mouth. And he was sucking on my finger and I felt something scratch me. I was like, "What the heck is in your mouth bubba?" I'm feeling around, then I felt his gums, and I felt this sharp little point! I couldn't believe it!! Finally after 3 months of teething, we have something to show for it!!

Then, the next morning I was feeling in his mouth again to feel for where the tooth was coming in and I felt another one! He's got 2 sharp little teeth coming through! He's not near as crabby today and I swear he's not drooling quite as much either, lol.

I just can't believe my baby boy has 2 teeth!

Giggles and a New 'Do

2010-03-05T21:09:00.006-05:00

I decided it was time to make a change! I hadn't had my hair cut in at least 6 months and it was begging for some TLC. I got to the place and found a picture in one of the books that showed the cut I wanted and the lady in the picture had really dark brown hair. The stylist (who was also in the midst of some drama with a co worker) assumed that was the color I wanted too. She ran off to mix it up and never even asked me if it was right or if I wanted permanent or whatever. I let it go since I was going with such a different cut, I figured, hey, why not?
So this is my Before:

This is my After: I need to take a new picture of it too cause I've gotten better at styling it now that it's been a week. But this is it! It's SOOOOO dark.... I'm still kind of getting used to it, but I love the cut. I haven't had bangs since about the 6th grade! Matt loves it, so that's a bonus *wink, wink*

here is little Victor. Already looking at naughty girly magazines, ha! I was looking at a Victoria's Secret flyer and he grabbed it out of my hands. Silly boy!

"I'm too sexy for my shirt, too sexy for my shirt, so sexy.. it hurts!" He loves being naked. He could be screaming bloody murder and you undress him and he'll calm down every time, he's so goofy! We just got him a sippy cup to play with, figured it couldn't hurt to help him start figuring it out. I was really surprised. I put about an ounce of breast milk in it and he grabbed it, shoved it in his mouth and started chewing on it. He was getting the milk out of it too cause I could see some milk coming down his chin.

He's just getting soo big! He'll be 5 months next week... it's gone by soo fast already!

Here is a video I just took tonight. Matt was playing with him and got him giggling so I decided to try to capture it on video! I LOVE his giggle!! He just started really giggling a couple weeks ago and it just cracks me up every time cause it's sooo stinking cute!

Got him giggling on camera!! I LOVE IT!! It doesn't matter what we're doing, if he starts to giggle we both break out laughing too. It's sooo cute!

Teething

2010-02-21T08:55:00.004-05:00

sorry its so blurry, I was trying to capture all the drool running out of his mouth...

Teething SUCKS. Probably more so for him, but I'm pretty sure it sucks in general. He is cranky, he doesn't want to sleep. He doesn't want to eat. He just chews on his fingers or anything he can get close to his mouth. The amount of drool coming out of his mouth is astonishing. He can soak a bib or burp cloth in a matter of minutes! Take last night for example. After fussing/screaming at us for an hour or two and drooling over everything even close to him, he finally nursed and fell asleep after some tylenol and chewing on a frozen teething ring for a good 5 minutes. This was at 1am. Now at 8am he's awake chewing on his fingers again and crabby and won't go back to sleep! I stayed up after he went to sleep to finish some homework so I've only slept for about 3 hours and I'm feeling pretty crabby myself. Goofy kid.

GO TO SLEEP!!

I can't even feel the little nubs in his mouth, which really depresses me. I know he could be doing this for months before they actually break in. At least if I could feel them there might be a little relief in sight for him.... and me .........

he has to go back to sleep eventually..... right?

4 months WBV

2010-02-16T16:06:00.003-05:00

We had Vic's 4 month Well Baby Visit today. He is 26 inches long and a whopping 19 lbs and 4 oz!!! He's such a big healthy boy! Pedi said he's at the top of the charts and is very happy with his growth and milestones. I love this pedi's office too, they are very much in line with my own philosophies. He told me that they don't recomend starting solids till 6 months and I said, "Perfect! I don't want him to have anything until then either." Once he is 6 months and developmentally ready for something other than breastmilk we'll start him on something yummy :0) He did not like getting his shots or the oral vaccine, of course, but he was smiling by the time we left. Matt was holding him while he was getting the shots while I stood by the wall with my hands over my face. I can't stand hearing him cry like that! We got home and fed him and now he's alternating sleeping and eating. Hopefully he'll be ok the rest of the day as well.

A little bit o' January

2010-02-13T00:02:00.012-05:00

Hi everybody! I keep thinking to update... and then life gets in the way :0) Between lil booger and school things are pretty hectic. Here are some fun pictures from January.

"Oh! Hi mom! Whatcha doin with that camera?" playing in his bumbo chair. He's discovered the unending joys of the "drop the toy on the floor and watch mommy and daddy pick it up" game.

Seriously, he's going to start rolling over and scooting all over the place any day. He scoots accidentally, but pretty soon he'll figure out he's doing it and start doing it on purpose! and then we're in trouble!

He wants to roll over...really he does! He rolls back and forth from side to side and scoots himself all over that way. He gets right up on his side and totters.... and then falls back to his back. Any day now.... any day...

This was the first time he was pouting and he stuck his bottom lip out and it was soooo cute I had to take a picture even though he was crying.

He couldn't decide if he was crying or laughing. He was kind of going back and forth between smiling and crying. It was actually pretty funny.

Jumperoo! Love it! And so does Victor. This thing is sooo much fun!

Aren't I the cutest baby ever?

I was cooking dinner and needed him to be occupied so I stuck him in his highchair. We still won't really be using it for anything for another 2 months, but this way he gets used to it and it keeps him out of trouble :0)

He fell asleep, mid-play. He was seriously playing and then went quiet and I looked at him and he was sleeping all slumped over. matt and I just laughed at him!

Little Video

2010-02-12T21:41:00.002-05:00

Just a little video of Vic playing in his exersaucer. I was behind the camera trying to get him to laugh a bit more, but he doesn't like to smile for the camera. He's still sooo cute!

Week 1

2010-01-27T17:18:00.003-05:00

Just wanted to make a quick "Yay Me!" post. I started Weight Watchers last week. I'm not actually going to the meetings, but I had joined awhile back before our wedding so I still have all the books and counters and stuff so I just started up again on my own. We don't really have the money for me to throw away for someone else to weigh me each week, lol. So here's my moment, in 1 week I'm down 4.4 lbs!!! Yay Me! I'm so proud of myself cause I usually have such a hard time with diets, but this is really easy. I can basically eat whatever I want as long as I keep track of it. And since I'm nursing I get 15 extra points for the day, and I've been having a hard time using all of them! So here's to next week and hoping that the good news continues!

Finally!

2010-01-17T21:14:00.009-05:00

Not too much going on here! I started taking an online class for my Master's in Business Administration. I hate to say it, but the real reason I started was to keep my student loans deferred longer. But so far I am enjoying the class, even though it's really hard to do the school work with my little guy needing all my attention. So I really don't do anything with it unless Matt is home to watch Victor. Even then I still have to stop what I'm doing every 1 1/2-2 hours in order to nurse him and get him to take naps, etc. Oh well, so far it's working and hopefully it gets easier as I get into it more and get more used to school again. I also joined a group called Mothers and More. We have an official meeting once a month and also meet several times for playgroups and Moms Night Out and such. Hopefully we'll have a 2nd car soon and then I won't have to get rides from everyone all the time!!

I Finally got him smiling on camera!! How cute is he?!?He is getting really good at sitting. Of course, not all by himself, but he can for a few seconds. He gets really mad when you lay him down cause he HAS to be able to see what's going on.

My big guy. At 3 months he's over 16lbs now and about 25 inches long. I'm not sure exactly, since our next pedi appt isn't till next month. We just get on our scale here at home with him. He was 16.6 lbs last time we weighed him. A week before he was 3 months we had to switch him to size 3 diapers cause he pooped all over out of his diaper, a couple of times before we got the memo, lol.

"World's Cutest Alarm Clock" So true. I just wish I could reset it so it doesn't go off every 2 hours....

Loving his bumbo chair! He loves to sit up. Hahahaha! I love this face :0) makes me giggle everytime I look at it.

Sitting up in his cutie outfit. I love the hat!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T19:22:00.003-05:00

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Random Pictures

2009-12-25T18:58:00.012-05:00

Vic laying in the pack n play (where he sleeps) in his new swaddling blanket. It normally covers his legs too, but he'd wiggled his way out, lol!

Everyone loved the last picture I did like this, so I thought I'd take another :0)

Him sleeping in the Moby wrap.

We had another bad couple of days with him and this was the only way to get him to sleep for awhile. We started him on a different medicine for the reflux. Hopefully this one keeps working! I love his squishy lips in this picture!

I thought this one was cute cause matt was trying to get him to hold the smoothie bottle.

"I Love Mommy" Shortly after I took this picture he pooped all over this onsie, LOL!

Being a big boy!

he's thinking "I hate it when she does this to me"

In the car seat on the way to Cincinnati. The yellow blanket with the polka dots is reversible, on the other side are basketballs. It also has slits cut in it so you can lay it in the car seat and pull the straps though so you can still swaddle him up. So cool!

I caught him sucking his thumb!! He doesn't ever do this though. I think this is the 2nd time I've ever seen him do it. Usually he just shoves his whole fist in his mouth, lol!

His cute little fleece outfit that we got him at TJ Max for $5.

Meet the Baby Shower

2009-12-25T18:24:00.013-05:00

Matt's family had been trying for months to throw us a baby shower. For the last couple of months of my pregnancy, I had been unable to travel so they never got to do it. Finally, we had planned a trip up there on the 12th and they were going to throw us the shower then. Of course we had car trouble. Again. We took it into the shop and the water pump was busted and some other stuff that I can't even remember and it was going to cost us about $600 to fix. Plus, the part they needed to fix it, they couldn't get in until the next Monday. So we thought we were stuck at home AGAIN without a car.

Until Matt's mom suggested a rental car. Now, you think rental car, you think Expensive. But Enterprise was running a weekend special, you put $200 down and when you return the car you get $150 back, so it only costs you $50. I was like, Hell yes! We're going to do this more often instead of putting more miles and wear and tear on our car. So, the day AFTER we were supposed to be there and 2 hours AFTER the shower was supposed to start, we finally arrived in Cincinnati. Woo!

His family and friends were so very generous and we were given some really great gifts! Thank you all so much! I'll have thank you cards out soon, I promise!

Ok, it won't let me move the pictures like I normally would, so they aren't in any particular order.

These are from Sunday, the day after the shower. We had been given this adorable football outfit for him and when I was sorting through his clothes we found it and realized that he was going to have to wear it ASAP or he wouldn't fit into it.

Isn't it adorable?!?

Our little linebacker!!

Grandma Herbers (Matt's Mom) and Little Victor

The happy family

ignore how fat my face looks. It's only been 10 weeks, I'm still losing weight!!

Me and Victor at the shower.

Baby laying on the floor in the center of attention, of course!

Ma-Ma ( Matt's step-dad's mom) and Gma Zager (Matt's mom's mom)

Victor and Great-Gma Zager

2 Month Checkup

2009-12-25T18:14:00.002-05:00

At Victor's 2 month checkup he weighed 14lbs and 3oz, 90th percentile! and was 23 and 1/4 inches long, 75th percentile! My little boy is growing so strong and big! The doctor even made a comment about how strong he was and how good his head control already is. Yay!! I love my big strong boy! So, at 2 months old, he is wearing size 2 diapers and is in 3-6 month size clothes, some 6-9 stuff depending on how it's cut. He's getting soooo big!! The sleeper he is wearing in the picture is one that my mom sent us. It's 3-6, we thought for sure he wouldn't fit into it for another month at least! I had to go through all of his clothes and pack away all the stuff he doesn't fit into anymore. I can't believe he didn't even wear alot of it. Some stuff we had thought he was still too big for until we got it out and realized that it was already too small! :0( Oh well, he's got cuter stuff he can wear now :0)

Congratulations!

2009-12-14T10:30:00.005-05:00

Welcome Joshua Samuel Utkin!!

My oldest brother Nathan and his wife Kristy, just welcomed their 3rd little boy! He was born on Dec. 10 via scheduled c-section., He weighed 9lbs and 2oz and was 20 and 3/4 inches long.

This was Kristy the day before she delivered at 39weeks and 5days pregnant.

Congratulations!!!

Nathan is currently deployed to Afghanistan and was not able to come home for the birth. They chose to have him come home earlier in October for so that they could take a trip and spend time together as a family. He should be coming home in late March or April, we're not quite sure yet. I love you guys!!

Poor baby

2009-12-10T23:20:00.004-05:00

Oh, we had a rough couple of days. On Sunday he did almost this same thing, Monday he was a little better and slept most of the night like normal, but then Tuesday was AWFUL. Loooong story short, for almost 20 hours Vic did nothing but scream, eat for 2 minutes and sleep for 5 minutes at a time. Mostly scream. He was up from 10:30 am until 5am the next morning. I couldn't get him to eat and he wouldn't sleep for more than a few minutes and he was just soooo miserable. There were a couple of times that we were both crying at the same time. He was in pain and I was miserable cause I couldn't fix it....

When he woke up at 9am and nothing had changed i.e. he was still screaming, although I did get him to eat for 5 minutes, which was the longest amount he had eaten since about 7pm the night before. But he was still sooo miserable that I called the pediatrician and asked for the soonest appointment they had. Doc examined him and determined that he did not have an ear infection or illness that he could see. He is pretty sure it's reflux. Within the past 2 weeks Vic has also started spitting up a lot more, which he never did before. So Vic is now on Zantac twice a day. It will take about a week to really work, but I've already noticed an improvement. He's been much happier today than yesterday even.

And on another note: He is 8 weeks old, weighs 14lbs and is in size 2 diapers and 3-6 month size clothes. He is such a big, healthy boy!!

Since he has been reaching and grabbing a bit more I've been trying to get him to play with some toys. I put the leg of this toy in his hand and he grabbed it and started swinging it around and trying to chew on it. I love it!! Pretty soon he'll really be able to play!

whoops

2009-12-03T12:48:00.013-05:00

Showing off the guns :0) Do you like the monkey blanket? Vic's Aunt Alice made it for us, love it!

I've been so bad at this lately! I keep meaning to update but everytime I think about it Vic wakes up and my plans all go out the window.

I had my 6 week checkup, almost 2 weeks ago. Things are looking good he said, except one spot where the doc cut me still wasn't healed all the way. Apparently it was a pretty deep cut. But other than that things are good!

Great news too! I don't know if you all remember that I got into a car accident when I was 26 weeks pregnant and totaled my car. Well, yesterday the car finally got paid off! Geico wouldn't pay the claim until they got the title for my car, and Chase LOST the title to my car and it has taken 6 months to get it straightened out. But it's paid off and we no longer have to make payments on a car that we don't have! YAY!!!

Victor has been good. He's been a bit more fussy over the last couple of weeks. I guess he's waking up from that newborn stage and starting to be a real baby now, lol. He's really only fussy in the evenings, and it's apparently very common and most babies are fussy in the evenings, so we just deal with it as best we can. He's been much better the last couple of days though. He's finally on a bit more regular schedule though. He eats about every 2 hours, and in the afternoons will take a 3-4 hour nap, but sometimes he'll just take a couple smaller naps. It just depends on how he's feeling that day I suppose. if he doesn't want to sleep he's impossible to put to sleep. He can be so tired that he's screaming at us and just will fight it and fight it until he finally just passes out. I start working on him when I notice he's yawning so that he won' t get like that, but it never helps. Oh well, he's only 7 weeks old, we'll get it figured out :0)

We took a trip to Cincinnati last weekend. Not Thanksgiving weekend, but the weekend before. He was good for the first half of the 4 hour trip and then I had to sit in back with him for the last 2 hours. Same thing on the trip back. I was thinking he would sleep more on the way back because he was exhausted. He really didn't get to sleep much while we were there. He gets wound up easily when there are alot of people around and refuses to go to sleep, or with all the people he gets woken up before he's really ready. So he was exhausted and didn't really sleep in the car, and of course was miserable when we got home. He doesn't like the car seat either so that doesn't help. As long as he is sleeping in it, he's good, but he HATES to sit in it if he's awake.

Seeing everyone was so nice! I know Matt wishes he could see them more. But, I also pointed out to him that he's been able to see alot of his family since Victor was born and I haven't seen ANYone from my side. It stinks having everyone so far away. I really wanted to be able to come home for Christmas this year. It's been so long since I've been back to Idaho, and my brother and sis-in-law are going to be there too and it just makes me so sad I can't see them. My sis-in-law (the other one) is having her 3rd baby, my 3rd nephew, on the 10th this month (scheduled c-section) and I really wanted to be able to go down and help her. Of course it's the same weekend that Matt's family wants to give us a baby shower..... And to top it off I don't think we're going to end up going anywhere because the car didn't respond well to the last trip and it needs some work again.

Anyway, that's the update! Here are some pictures for your viewing enjoyment :) I keep trying to get a picture of him smiling and everytime I try to snap it he quits. It's sooo cute though when he does!

Tummy Time!

Boxing with Daddy. Vic has started reaching for things. He doesn't have great control yet, but he is realizing that he can move his arms and he grabs my face all the time while we're playing together. I nibble on his fingers :) he smiles when I do that!
He does this all the time. He'll just lay there and arch his back and hang off the pillow and stare at the lamp.

He saw daddy with the camera and started reaching for him and started to slide off :0)

This picture makes me laugh :)

He fell asleep on my lap after nursing. You can see a little drop of milk on the corner of his mouth. He's just too precious for words....

This is what Daddy and baby did all morning on Thanksgiving while Mommy was cooking, lol. Watched the football game and slept. It was just the 3 of us and it was wonderful! I feel like we hardly get to spend much time together so it was great to have the whole day just us. I made a turkey breast, mashed potatos, stuffing, corn and gravy. And of course, my famous French Silk Pie. Ok, not really famous, but it should be! And if I do say so myself, everything turned out great!

1 Month Checkup

2009-11-12T18:54:00.007-05:00

Victor is 1 month old tomorrow! I can't believe we've had him for a whole month now :) At the beginning it was so surreal and I think I just felt like I was on the worlds longest babysitting job, lol! But now I can't imagine not having him. He coos and gurgles and I'm pretty sure he's working on smiling at me, there's a couple of times he looked awful close to it. But he's also been gassy, haha! He's just so adorable.

He had his 1 month appointment at the Pediatrician today. Victor now weighs 11 lbs and 2 oz (my little chunker!) and is 22 and 1/4 inches long. Head circumference is 15 inches. He also had to get another dose of the Hep B vaccine. As you can imagine he did NOT like that very much. After we got home he ate and then fell asleep for 3 hours and then woke up to eat again. I tried to keep him up for a little while, afraid that it would mess up his schedule and he would be impossible tonight. But after an hour he started crying and fussing. So I picked him up and sat in the recliner with him and 2 seconds later he was sound asleep. And that was an hour ago and he's not showing any signs of waking anytime soon. I guess he's just extra sleepy from the shot, everyone says it's normal so I'm trying not to worry about it and hopefully he'll just sleep the whole night through!

A couple of my favorite things about him:

(See? doesn't he look like he's smiling? or at least really close to it?)

~ When he is hungry and I turn him toward me to eat, he starts grunting and rooting around and it's so cute I laugh everytime.

~He never wakes up crying at night, he just lets me know he's ready to eat by sucking on his fingers and grunting.

~At night, he sleeps for 3-4 hours on the dot. A couple of times he's even gone 5 hours. Except for the first 2 days home from the hospital he has never screamed at night or been up for longer than it took to eat.

~ He loves his bath! He hated sponge baths, but since we've been able to give him tub baths he just sits in the little whale tub and coos at us.

Just hanging out in the tub. He loves when you trickle the warm water over him.

~When Matt kisses him he scrucnches his face up, cause I guess Matt's beard tickles him.

~He will poo, and then 10 minutes later when we're pretty sure he's done we change him. And then as soon as the new diaper is on him he'll let loose again. I joke and tell Matt giving him a new diaper is a surefire way to get him to poo!

His poo face. HAHA!

~ He does not like it when I drink caffeine. Back in his first week I think it was, I had 2 cups of coffee and then he was up until 5:30 in the morning. I don't drink coffee anymore! lol! Maybe this doesn't qualify as one of my favorite things... I miss my coffee!!

This onsie was in with the ton of stuff we got from friends and I found it the other day and decided he needed to wear it. It was SO funny when Matt got home from work and went to pick Vic up to change his diaper and saw what it said. Matt just looks at me and goes "Seriously?" then looked at Vic and said "I can't believe what Mommy's got you wearing. Good thing you don't care about that stuff yet..."

Amazing

2009-11-07T09:33:00.012-05:00

I sit and stare at his little perfectly formed ears, and his little fingers, and toes and can't believe that we made him. Almost 4 weeks later and I still have a hard time believing that he was in my belly. The entire process just amazes me. How an egg and a sperm come together and turn into a beautiful baby just seems impossible. He's so beautiful..... I can't wait to see what kind of a man he will be. I hope he is just like his father!

I have the most amazing husband. The other night Victor was being especially fussy and would not go to sleep for anything, Matt took him to change his diaper. In the 2 minutes that Matt was out of the room I fell asleep because I was that exhausted. So Matt took Victor downstairs and sat with him on the couch for an hour while I slept. And then later got up with him to change him again when he heard him crying. He is so amazing to try and give me a break when he can, plus I know he loves the time he gets to spend with Victor as well. I'm so blessed to have 2 such wonderful men in my life!

On a different note: There is sooo much information about childrearing out there, that it's almost impossible to know what to follow. Some theories say have him on a schedule starting day 1 or he'll run your life, others say to hold him all the time, have him sleep in your bed so he grows up secure. Some say breastfeed till he's 2 or 3, others till he's 1. Some say don't breastfeed at all! There is just soooo much advice and information, how do you sort through it all? Victor is on a pretty good schedule at night, once he falls asleep he only wakes up about every 4 hours to eat and then goes right back to sleep. It's during the day that he's all over the place. Sometimes he eats every 3 hours, sometimes every hour, it just depends. And according to a lot of ideas he should be on a firm schedule. But if he's hungry I'm not going to NOT feed him just because it's not "time". So basically we're doing it on demand, but how else do you feed a baby? honestly? He's hungry so you feed him, that's how it works. I guess it's like my mom said, you just have to figure out what works for your baby, because every baby is different.

Here are some pictures!

He just sits and stares at the little motor part of it the entire time he's in it like he's trying to figure out how it works.
Giving daddy kisses. Matts beard tickles him so he makes the funniest faces everytime Matt kisses him.

Hanging out on Mommy's tummy.

"Mom, put the camera down"

"Mom, seriously."

I was trying to get a picture of his sleeper, it says, "Could I be any Cutier?" yes, Cutier.

I had to get some naked baby pics to show his girlfriends later :0)

Playtime!!

Hanging out with Daddy after a bath. I thought his little pose was so funny!

New toys

2009-10-29T17:38:00.008-04:00

We went out to Target this morning and got Victor a new toy! It's an activity mat for him to lay on for tummy time and just general fun. I'm sure you've all seen them. We get reward points on our debit card and last week I cashed some of our points in for a $25 gift card to Target. Woo for free stuff! I have to say, there was a moment in Target that just kind of warmed my heart and made me love my husband even more. Victor had a power poop moment in the middle of the store so Matt took off with the Winnie the Pooh diaper bag slung over his shoulder and baby Vic in the other arm to the bathroom to change him. That picture of him being all daddy is stuck in my mind, it was soooo adorable! Taking a break from tummy time. It's hard work!

Tummy Time!

Playing with his new toy

He was having fun, I swear!

Before going to Target. I was excited cause we finally got him to look at the camera.

Another try, lol. He was being squirmy.

He's soooo adorable when he's sleeping that I just can't resist taking pictures.

This is his little baseball uniform. He wore it out to Target this morning, and also wore it home from the hospital. Our little Slugger!

2 weeks old!

2009-10-27T11:38:00.012-04:00

He's starting to be awake a bit more during the day so we've started doing a few little activities. Nothing major of course, just putting the toy bar on his bouncy chair and letting him stare at those, or puttin ghim in his swing. Just small things to keep his attention without overstimulating him. And Victor's Great-Grandma Greta, Great-Grandpa Victor and Great-Aunt Vicki came through Charleston on a road trip and got to meet the little man. We were so glad they were able to stop by and we really enjoyed seeing them! It's still a pretty rough life though, lol.

Activity Time! Notice the big yawn on his face? yea, we're real exciting.

Playing

"What's up mom?"

Such a cute face :0)

Sleeping

Great-Grandpa Vic, Daddy and Little Vic

Big Vic, Great-Grandma Greta and Great-Aunt Vicki

Big Vic, Daddy and Little Vic again

Vic and Great-Grandma Greta.

Not too much else going on here. Just hanging out with the little guy taking it day by day. We're going to have some more visitors this weekend so expect more pictures!

We're still here :)

2009-10-23T13:03:00.009-04:00

Little foot with long monkey toes

Holding the little man after a "power poop" I was laughing so hard I was crying!

Same :) I look awesome I know...

Daddy and Vic after his first bath. He just sat there staring at us, like, "What the HELL did you just do to me.."

He always gets his hands up bu his face in the cutest little poses.

"Hey guys!"

Precious baby

Victor is now 10 days old. It's been a whirlwind trying to figure out when he's hungry, when he's just fussy cause mommy had too much coffee (lol), when he's gassy, etc... I think we're getting the hang of it now, but why don't kids come with a manual? ha!

Victor Stephen Meyers

2009-10-17T16:45:00.007-04:00

He's Here! He arrived Oct. 13, 2009 at 5:47pm. Weighing 8lbs and 15oz, 21 inches long, he's already on his way to being a linebacker!!

We arrived at the hospital around 7:45pm on Monday night. I got all hooked up to the machines and was already having contractions and didn't even know it! The nurse kept asking me, "did you feel that?" I was all, "feel what?" Too bad that didn't last long, haha!

Around 9pm they inserted the cervadil in order to try and ripen my cervix a bit more to make the pitocin more effective. After the cervadil was in, the contractions definitely got a little more intense, nothing major yet, but definitly there! I was able to sleep between them, but they were strong enough that each one woke me up and they were about 5min apart, so not much sleep :) Out came the Cervadil at 4am, then at 5am tried to start pitocin. At this point, I was dilated to 1cm. They started the pitocin drip and I immediatley had a ridiculously strong contraction and they lost Vic's hearbeat on the monitor. They stopped the pitocin and had me keep rolling back and forth making sure they could get his hearbeat. They finally restarted the pitocin at 6am with no further incidents.

They contractions kept getting stronger until I really had to keep breathing through them and couldn't focus on anything else. Around 8:30am the doc came in, checked me, I was only at 1 and 1/2 cm, and he broke my water. He also said that since I really wasn't progressing much, basically if there was no progress the next time he checked me we'd be having a c-section.

He had broken my water and they had upped the pitocin at the same time and I thought I was going to die. The contractions were about a minute apart and lasting at least 45 seconds a piece, there was almost no break between them. Doc said that even though I wasn't very far along yet, since he had broken my water we were in for the long haul regardless so I was offered the epidural. For a second I wasn't sure if I wanted to wait or not, then I had another contraction and said yes!

So at 9:45am I recieved my epidural. Thank God for modern medicine! I have no idea how people give birth naturally. Granted, my labor was being induced and if it had been naturally occurring it probably would have been a bit easier to deal with. Anyways... so I got to sleep for a couple of hours. I could still kind of feel the contractions in my bottom area, but def not painful like they had been. Around 1:30, 2pm he came in to check me again and I was at 3cm, yay! I was progressing and didn't have to immediately have a c-section. I was allowed to continue laboring and hoping things continued to progress.

Of course, we didn't have to wait long. About this time I started being able to feel the contractions more through the epidural. Not like before, but definitely strong and I was having to breathe through them. So they showed me how to give myself a little extra boost with the little push button. Except it wasn't doing anything. They quickly got bad enough that I couldn't even focus on breathing through them. They were 2 minutes apart and lasting about a minute apiece. Matt was unbelievable and was right there holding my hand, reminding me to breathe, and getting me ice chips or anything I needed. They even had the anethiseologist come back in to give me a second dose. About 2:30 the nurse decided to check me again (about a half hour after I had been checked and been at 3cm) and I was about 6cm. She said that she figured that's why the epidural wasn't working, I was prgoressing very quickly all of a sudden and it just couldn't keep up! At 3pm she checked me again and I was 9cm and I could feel her moving his head around. I dilated from 3cm to 9cm in an hour! I can't imagine what it would have felt like without the epidural!

Finally my body slowed down a bit and the pain meds were able to kick back in a bit. My legs were completely numb by this point. I could still feel the contractions in my butt, but I could sleep through some of them and they let me nap for about a half hour. About 4 or 4:30 I was at 10cm and we did a couple of practice pushes, and then decided to let me sit up in bed for a bit and let the baby come down a bit more.

About 5:15 we started pushing again. At 5:47pm little Victor was born!! I can not explain the feeling seeing him when the doctor held him up and put him on my stomach. I'm crying now again just thinking about it. It was just such an incredible feeling... First thought "holy crap, we really had a baby! He was really in there!"

They took him to the warmer to clean him up and everything and I was crying and Matt was kissing me.... hearing Victor cry was amazing, I hated hearing him cry but I was so glad that he was!

Then the told us they were calling in the NICU crew. Scared everything out of me.... The nurse said his color was very pale and his chest was retracting when he was breathing. Then a minute or two later when the NICU doc came in they said he was fine!! Apparently he just needed a minute or two to adjust to life outside the womb :) But geez, they scared the crap out of us!

Of course, during all this the nurses kept saying, "oh what big feet he has!" "what a big baby!" Finally they told us he was 8lbs and 15oz. I was amazed. When I had the ultrasound to check his weight about 4 weeks before they had said 7lbs 8oz and we knew it was possible he was going to be big, but we also knew there was some room for error. Apparently they were right on and he is just a little chunker!! The doctor said that if he'd know how big Vic was going to be he never thought I would have done it. He'd thought I was going to end up with a c-section from the get go, and then I delivered a 9lb baby, HA! Showed you doc!

I did end up with a few stitches, but nothing major and they really haven't bothered me that much, a little sore of course, but not like I had imagined. The first couple of days my back actually hurt more than anything. I could barely stand up without feeling like my back was going to snap in half, apparently a combination of the epidural and rolling up in the pushing position..you know, and just having a baby, lol.

I have to take a minute and tell everyone how I have the best husband in the entire world. He stayed with me in the hospital the entire time, even at the beginning when nothing was really going on. He asked repeatedly what I needed and immeditely got anything and everything, many times he got things he thought I needed but I just didn't want to ask for. He held the little tray for me when I threw up, and stayed by my side during everything. I love him soo much.... I can't believe how lucky I am to get to spend the rest of my life with him as my husband and the father of my beautiful little boy.

Daddy and little Victor.

Victor being cute :) He sleeps in the bouncy chair alot, but don't turn on the vibrator! He doesn't like that part of it yet.

Victor cuddling on mommy. I love his little cheeks and his lips..... I know I'm biased, but he's just so stinking cute!

here we go!!

2009-10-12T15:17:00.002-04:00

We are going to the hospital tonight at 8pm to be induced!! The other doctor that I saw before is going to be taking care of me, so at least Ive met him before and I know my doctor trusts him. I've been running around this morning since I found out trying to finish up a couple little things. I'm going to try and take a little nap before I have to pick Matt up from work cause then we are going straight to the hospital!!

I'm sooooo nervous!! All this time I've known that labor and delivery is going to happen but now it's really REAL! I have to give BIRTH!! hahaha! I'm a little anxious, not gonna lie! Matt's just been grinning nonstop and saying "I'm gonna be a daddy!" He's so freaking cute, I can't wait to see my little man look just like him!! I get to meet my baby, finally!!! Yaaayyy!!

wow.

2009-10-09T14:44:00.002-04:00

The doctor he wanted to do the induction is out of town until Monday. At that point he will review my chart to see if he even wants to do the induction. His office doesn't consider me "post dates" until 1 week after my due date, I don't even know if they'll care about the puppps. In the meantime..... if I go into labor, I don't have a doctor to deliver my baby!

You'd think with my due date approaching, he would have had some back up plans in place, not to mention for his other patients as well. I just keep thinking about going into labor and some strange person I've never met, who doesn't know me or my husband, calling the shots about my child's birth.

I want my baby and I want someone I know to deliver him. this is sooo frustrating.....

ok, 40 week appt.

2009-10-09T10:42:00.008-04:00

If you read the post below this one you'll see how my night went and how ready I was for this appointment.

Appt starts off normal, I only gained 1 lb since last time hooray! everything else is fine, then I go in to wait. That's always the longest part of course.

Doc walks in and says hi. I also say hello. he says "I'm not even going to ask how you're feeling because I'm pretty sure I know, you're SOBP (Sick Of Being Pregnant)." I laugh and say, "well, it probably wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the damn rash." he then asked if I'd tried the benadryl cream that he had told me to use, I told him that I had and that nothing was really working. I then told him how I haven't been sleeping, for example, last night I fell asleep around 1am, tossed and turned for a couple of hours, woke up at 4am and couldn't get back to sleep. I didn't even have to get real worked up about it and he was dead serious, "That's not right, we've got to get you delivered. You've got to get some sleep." So he examined me real quick, still fingertip dilated but now about 80% effaced (yay for SOME progress). Then told me to get dressed but stay put because he'd make a few phone calls and be right back.

A little background here. A few months ago he broke a vertabrae in his back and for the month of July wasn't even seeing patients. I had been referred to his old partner for my appt that month. Apparently he has recently reinjured his back, either the same injury or a new one, I'm not for sure. Anyways, he is not currently allowed to deliver babies or exert more than 20lbs of pressure on his back.

So he came back in and told me that because of what was going on with his back he would not be able to deliver my baby, otherwise he'd have sent me to L&D right then. As it is, he had made a few calls and no one he was comfortable with was available to deliver today. So he has a call in to his old partner (the one I saw in July) to see if he's available to do it Sunday/Monday. Right now I'm just waiting to hear from them as to what's going on.

I knew his back was still bothering him, but hadn't realized he was still unable to do deliveries. Now I don't even WANT to go into labor. Cause if I do, I won't even have a doctor!!! So now I'm hoping that this new doc will be available and my little man will hold on until then. I don't even want to know what would happen if I went into labor and who would end up working on me. At least if it's this other doc, I've met him before. So that's what happened and what's going on. I'll update as soon as I get a phone call!

Oh, and for kicks and giggles here are a few photos Matt and I took last night. We figured it would be the last ones we took so we goofed around a bit.

Regular photo :) I probably should have picked a better sweater, but it was the first one I grabbed, haha! I shouldn't be wearing stripes at this point....

This one, Matt caught me in the middle of saying something and he laughed so hard at this one I promised I'd post it. Cute, I know.

My sweater is working WAAAY too hard in this one..... whoa. "Please come out baby!" "Why won't he come out? Doesn't he like us?" lol.

Sleep? what's that?

2009-10-09T05:58:00.002-04:00

After taking my benadryl and smearing my body with benadryl cream, I fell asleep around 1am. After tossing and turning, waking up several times with either a braxton hicks contraction or itching some part of my body, I woke up at 4am and could not go back to sleep. This has become the norm over the last several days or so. My doctor's appointment is at 8:30am. I'm going to tell him how miserable I am and show him how the stupid rash has spread all over my legs and arms now. I know he probably won't induce me today. It's friday and he wants to have his weekend so I'm sure he'll just tell me to suck it up a couple more days and induce on Monday. I am going to tell him that if he doesn't induce me today that I WILL go into labor tomorrow night just to mess with his weekend.

If it weren't for the PUPPPs I would be fine with waiting even another week if I had to, but I just can't take this anymore!!! I'm really going to go insane..... I can't remember the last time I slept longer than an hour and a half without waking up. I know, I know, the baby is not going to let me sleep much longer than that anyways. But at least then it won't be because of my own discomfort and I'll finally have my son! Anyways.....that's my little middle of the night rant. Hoping for some good news later!

Lumps.

2009-10-05T13:08:00.004-04:00

See the large lump on my right side? Yep, that's my baby. Part of him anyways. I'm not even sure which part.... He's just kind of all over the place. This picture really doesn't do it justice, it looks much stanger in real life. Oh and the red marks all over my belly? yea, that's my PUPPPs.

Now the lump has moved a bit more to the middle. I wish i could have gotten a video of this, it was really very funny! He was moving like crazy all over and Matt was dying laughing cause my belly looked so funny. All the time he does this! Instead of coming out he just tries to stretch me out more. I think he's going to stay in there forever.

Week 39

2009-10-02T19:37:00.005-04:00

Still Pregnant! And I tell you what, he's really enjoying himself in there. I told Matt the other day that if little man acts the same out here as he does in my belly than we are screwed because he never seems to sleep!! I swear he is always squirming and doing his best to stretch me a little more. I just keep telling him that if he wants more room he's gonna have to come out! I do love watching my belly stretch and contort into strange shapes. It makes me laugh! He's definitely out of room.

My PUPPPs rash has started to spread to my legs and is about to drive me crazy. I'm doing my best not to scratch because that just makes it worse. I feel like I have chicken pox or something, lol! Thank goodness for Benadryl or I would not be sleeping at all. I didn't take any last night and slept maybe 3 hours. Luckily today was my last day at work!! I'm officially on Maternity Leave so baby needs to hurry up and come out!!!

I had my weekly appointment this morning. There is a little bit of progress! I'm still fingertip dilated, but instead of being 40% effaced I'm up to about 60% and baby's head dropped from a -2 station down to between 0 and -1. So Doc got pretty excited about that! From the way he'd been talking I thought for sure he'd want to set an induction date for this week, but he was really excited about my progress. Apparently it's harder to efface than it is to dilate and effacement is more a measure of whether or not my body is ready than dilation is. So he said we'd go ahead and set my appointment for next week and that hopefully I wouldn't make it. If I am still pregnant at that appointment than most likely he'll induce me that next monday.

I love these cartoons :)

Update on my mom:

I got to talk to her!! I cried a little bit, I'm not going to lie. I haven't talked to her in over a month! The last time I talked to her was the day after her surgery on August 21. She's a little soft spoken and its harder for her to talk now for a long time. Considering how long she had tubes in her throat and was sedated it's not surprising. She's in the rehab part of the hospital now and is working on getting muscle strength back so she can walk and do more things on her own. She'll probably be there at least a couple of weeks. But she's getting better! Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers!

I asked Matt if there was anything he wanted me to put in here for him and all he said was "It's almost baby time!" So I guess that sums it up!! haha!

38 weeks.

2009-09-25T10:34:00.003-04:00

38 weeks.

Not much going on. Had my doctors appt today. Still fingertip dilated, 50% effaced and -2 station. It's so frustrating to hear that nothing is changing particularly since he was so worried a couple of weeks ago that I was going to deliver early. Oh yea, and I have PUPPPs. Pruritic Urticarial Papules and Plagues of Pregnancy. Basically it's a nasty rash that starts on the belly and can spread to the rest of your body. It itches like you wouldn't frickin believe and there's basically nothing you can do about it except deliver the baby. So I've been taking benadryl to sleep at night, which is no longer working, and using a hydrocortizone cream on it which works ok I guess, but only as long as there is nothing touching my skin. The second I pull my shirt down or something touches me I start itching again. So between that and the carpal tunnel and generally being a whale, you can imagine I'm not sleeping much. I could go on and on but I'm tired of complaining and I know everyone is tired of hearing it. It's not even that I'm tired of being pregnant (although I am) I'm just sooo ready to have my baby! I want him here more than anything. Plus once he's out of my belly, Matt can hold him for awhile :0) I've had him for the last 9 months, I figure it's his turn, ha!

Matt played in UC's alumni baseball game last weekend and they kicked butt! The alumni (any of the players can come back and play, there were some guys playing from back in 1990) won the game 21-15. He pitched the last inning and kept the students from scoring. My man won the game! woo!

Mom's doing better. She is starting to talk a little bit and eating a bit more as well. She shouldn't be in the ICU much longer. So things are going well there. Hopefully she'll continue to make progress quickly and be home soon.

That's all for now!

Celebrate!

2009-09-20T20:33:00.003-04:00

Matt is now officially the sole Store Manager of The Liquor Company. Woo hoo! Way to go babe! Whether this promotion will lead to another raise is yet to be known (but we can hope right?) seeing as how he just got one it's hard to say... But a girl can dream :0)

I'm so proud of my hubby, yay!

37 weeks and counting....

2009-09-17T13:11:00.003-04:00

37 weeks. Officially full-term and ready to go! I almost don't fit in the doorway anymore, haha. I feel pretty maxed out, can I really get any bigger?

Oh! I started a poll on the side of the blog there so people can vote and say what week they think I'll deliver in. I might start another one to guess his weight too. I gotta have something fun to do!

Had my appointment today, no change in the cervix, which doc said was good, but I said, "that depends on your definition of good. Good for me right now would be about 2-3cm!" Oh well, he'll come when he comes I guess :) I did get another ultrasound! They did one to check his size and position. Victor is still head-down ready for delivery, woo! Right before we went back I had this horrible feeling they were going to tell me he'd flipped and we were going to have to have a c-section. Thank goodness he didn't!

Little man is weighing in at a whopping 7lbs and 8ozs! She did say that could be give or take about 7ozs, so anywhere between 7-8lbs. I know several people who said their measurements were way off, so I asked her about that. She said that usually, if they are off by more than a pound it's because the baby wouldn't cooperate in order to get clear enough shots for the measurements. Since she was able to get clear shots of his head, abdomen, spine and legs, our mearement should be pretty close. I'm guessing about 8lbs at birth. Which will hopefully be SOON!!

I'm actually not as uncomfortable this week as I was last week. I'm taking advantage of that and I'm going to be taking some walks and maybe running some stairs, haha! Doc is guessing I'll gointo labor next week, but I don't know if he's basing that on anything or just throwing it out there. I hope he's right though!

On a different note: my mom. They took her off the sedative last week and she's finally starting to respond a little bit. Since she'd been out for so long (3 weeks now) it took awhile for the sedative to wear off since so much of it was stored in her body. She is breathing on her own, they took out the ventilator, but she still has a trach tube (in case they need to help her breathe) so she still can't talk. She's been opening her eyes and looking at people when they talk to her, and moving her arms and legs a bit. They got her into a chair the other day, kind of had to strap her in to it though. Again, since she's been out for 3 weeks she's lost a TON of muscle tone and she's going to have to go through rehab in order to teach her how to swallow, eat, to talk and to basically walk again. She's slowly getting better, but it's going to be a long road until she's 100% again. It's good to hear she's getting better, but SOOOO frustrating to know how slow it is. I was talking to my dad about it and the thing I kept thinking about is if I go into labor and have Victor, I couldn't even call her to tell her. Hopefully she'll be talking soon and I can' finally talk to her again! It's been almost a month since her original surgery and I only talked to her once the day after for about 2 mintues. I miss my mommy!

Say what?

2009-09-10T22:28:00.005-04:00

Week 36. Technically 4 left. I'm praying for just 2..... I may kill someone if i go longer than that...

I think the cartoon says it all....

Did you know that your cervix can go back? As in, my cervix is firmer this week than it was last week. I did not know it could go backwards! And I'm totally irritated. Granted, I'm only 36 weeks and my doc is happy about this little development because it means my bed rest has been working and I'm not progressing too quickly, too early. But come on!!! I'm sooo ready to have this kid. He did say that lil man's head has dropped further, at which point I wanted to say DUH. I'm had constant pressure/pain very low alll day and I can tell it's from him being lower. It's almost like constant Braxton hicks contractions. Very annoying, and extremely uncomfortable.

I am measuring 2cm behind what I should be at this point, doc almost guarantees that it is because lil guys head has dropped so much lower, but I still get another ultrasound next week to check his growth. yay! I'll never turn down an opportunity to see lil vic :)

I feel kind of bad, like I'm always complaining about being pregnant. But I told Matt that for all the times I did NOT complain before, I'm making up for it in the next few weeks. He has agreed that this is fair and he will smile and tell me he loves all the while :0) that's why I love him *kisses to him*

1 Wonderful Year!

2009-09-06T10:06:00.012-04:00

One year ago today we became man and wife. He is everything to me, he makes me laugh when the last thing I want to do is laugh and always makes me feel better whenever I'm a little bit down. I can't (and don't want to) imagine my life without him. He is the first person I want to call when something funny happens, the first one I want to tell everything to. Knowing I come home to him and he comes home to me makes every day like Christmas! He is the father of my son, and I hope that my son turns out just like him. If Victor is even half the man that my husband is, I consider myself the luckiest woman on earth! They say the first year of marriage is the hardest, and I've heard that the first pregnancy is one of the hardest things for a couple (next to the first year actually WITH a child) and since we knocked out 2 of those already, I think we're SET!

Happy Anniversary Babe! I love you!

One of our enagement photos
exchanging rings

K-I-S-S-I-N-G, First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a baby in a baby carriage!

Big sigh of relief, We got Married!! Yay!!!

First Dance "Bring It On Home" "When your long day is over, and you can barely hang your head, the fate of the world is on your shoulders, bring it on home to me..."

I think this picture is funny

Bridal Shots

The whole gang. We had so much fun!

what now?

2009-09-05T20:03:00.003-04:00

So walked out of the house this morning to go to work and the car wouldn't start. Just a click, click, click..... Geez, Seriously!? It's the only car we have right now to get both of us to work and doctors appts and now it's not gonna freaking work. We think it's the battery. We're hoping and praying it's the battery because, while we don't want to have to pay for a new battery, it's better than paying for a lot of other work that is sure to be a LOT more expensive. And, since it's Labor Day weekend, everything is closed and we can't even get it looked at till Tuesday.

Then, while I'm at work (my boss came on his way in and picked me up and Matt got a ride with one of his buddies) our landlord calls. They proceed to tell me that our neighbors pipes burst in their bathroom so they needed to get into our appt to see if anything leaked or if there was any damage. Luckily, there wasn't, but I was just thinking, "are you FREAKING kidding me?!?!"

so... yea. AWESOME.

the best one

2009-09-03T16:27:00.003-04:00

This is the best of the little video clips. He moves around a bit and you can see him moving his fingers by his chin.

And I have to say, the best part of the day was when I was watching these clips with Matt. He was hugging me and rubbing my belly and kept saying, "I'm so excited for the baby! Let's get him here now!" He's going to be such a good dad, I can't wait!

35 Week Appt and 4D Ultrasound

2009-09-03T11:51:00.011-04:00

Week 35! 5 More to go.

This is last weeks pic. I guess I look a lil bigger. I don't feel much bigger, but at this point whats the difference between a cow and a bigger cow? haha!

It's coming so quick now I feel like we're in fast forward. The beginning of it seemed to drag on forever and now it's almost here! My appointment this morning went really well. It was quick and non-eventful. He did my GBS (Group B Strep) test, so I'll get the results of that next week. There is no change in my cervix from last week so that's good for now. My FFN (test for premature labor) came back negative so I guess I won't be going into labor in the next week or so, haha, darn it! Apparently they had done a 4D ultrasound for someone yesterday that turned out really amazing and my doc was pretty excited. He asked if we'd planned on getting one and I told him I'd wanted too but hadn't really decided if we were going to or not. He was all "do it while you're here! it's awesome!" So I said, Ok! we got some pictures and a bunch of little video clips.

He was pretty much sleeping the whole time and not too thrilled with us for trying to wake him up. Look at him pouting with his face scrunched up and his big ol' lips!

I think he's going to look just like Matt, I can't wait!! Ultrasound tech said he's already got lots of hair too. I think it'll be blonde, just because Matt and I were both blonde when we were born.

Awww.....trying to sleep.....still pouting a bit.

Then he really got mad for trying to wake him up and he flipped us off! We're gonna have to curb That kind of behavior but it's still cute right now, hahaha!

I'm trying to post a couple of the video clips. Hopefully it works!

Bored... and upset....

2009-08-31T15:51:00.003-04:00

Me:
This partial bedrest thing is getting old really fast. I have probably been doing too many things around the house, such as finishing all the baby's laundry and trying to keep things neat, but it's so boring to just lay on the couch and I feel like such a louse not doing anything. But my body does remind me anytime I've been doing too much, cause I'll start contracting again and I go lay down as soon as I do. I have another appointment on Wednesday, hopefully things will still be normal.

I don't feel like I've grown very much in the past couple of weeks. If anything, I think I look smaller. I guess maybe Vic's just dropping down more and I'm not growing out as much. I'll be posting pictures soon and you can all tell me what you think.

Matt:

Is being absolutely wonderful as always. He has been cooking and helping me with laundry. His mom came down for a few days last week with the crib they bought for us and some of Matt's things from the house. Also the baby clothes that Matt's grandma got for us. So we got to spend a couple of days with her, which I know Matt loved since he doesn't get to see his family as much as he would like. I know everyone always says that you're not supposed to get along with your mother-in-law, but we've always gotten along very well, I think it scares Matt sometimes how much we are alike, haha! Hopefully after Victor is born his family will be able to come down and visit and we can spend some time with them all. So yesterday we put the crib together and vacuumed everything and were putting clothes away and trying to get things a bit more organized.

He was off Saturday and Sunday so we got to spend the entire weekend together! That pretty much never happens so it was wonderful to spend so much time together. In 5 more weeks (maybe less!) we'll cease to be Matt and Heidi and forever be Mom and Dad and as much as we're looking forward to this next phase, it's also nice to spend time just the 2 of us as much as we can until then. Next Sunday is our 1 year anniversary so hopefully we'll be able to spend a romantic weekend together doing absolutely nothing, haha!

My mom:
As of yesterday my mom was getting better. They had had her on a machine to help reduce the fuid that had accumulated in her body. She had lost a couple of liters of fluid and as a result was breathing much easier on her own. She is still on the ventilator but it was "on demand" and only helping when she needed it. So yesterday things were looking much better, they were starting to reduce the sedative as well so she could wake up a bit on her own.

As of today: she now has an infection and is retaining more fluid again. They have had to increase the sedative again because she was coughing and fighting the ventilator. They may try the CRRT (I think that's what she called it) machine again to help get rid of more of the fluid, but they won't try that until tomorrow, because they don't want to overwork her. She is also still bleeding from where they had to open her chest back up. Apparently they have a tube in there to keep fluid from accumulating around her heart again and since she WAS on a blood thinner (she's not anymore) it's still in her system though and they keep having to give her more blood.

It's so frustrating not being able to be there. And yesterday for my dad to tell me how things are looking up and today for grandma to tell me there's another set back.... it's just so hard. My mom always said that if there was anything weird that could happen, her body would be the one to do it. She's had Lupus since she was young, and Diabetes since I was born, so she's been dealing with doctors, medicines and hospitals most of her life. I'm kind of mad actually. She'd been doing fine with her heart valve just the way it was, probably not great, but ok, why did they have to decide to fix it now? It seems like every time she starts to get a bit better, something happens and she's right back where she started. I just wish there was something I could do, I feel so far away and helpless....

Another update

2009-08-27T10:13:00.002-04:00

I was at the docs office forever it felt like. Really it was about 4 hours. They did a quick ultrasound to check my fluid, then did a Non-Stress Test to make sure Vics heartrate and movements are good. All of which was wonderful. Yay! Then he checked my cervix again to see if the contractions were doing anything and I'm about 1/2cm dilated and still about 60%effaced. So his big concern is that my cervix is so soft already and that combined with the starting of dilation equals not great. So basically I've been put on partial bed rest. He did not use that term however. He said that i was only to be working 3 days a week for UP to 5 hours a day. When I'm not at work that doesn't mean I can run around town running errands and what not, I'm to be resting. He said to let Matt run around and get the groceries and take care of things.

I feel so guilty about work! They've been so great about working with me about everything and I feel like I'm putting them at so much of a disadvantage. But, I did talk to my boss about everything today and he was really nice about it. And I know that keeping little Vic inside for a bit longer takes priority over everything else. So, for now we'll just take things as they come and make the best of it.

My mom, as far as I've heard, is still being sedated for a day or so. They are hoping that since her kidneys are working and producing urine, her body will continue to flush out the extra fluid that has accumulated. Once the swelling goes down, they expect her liver function to go up where it needs to be. So right now it's really just a waiting game. Hopefully things continue to go in the right direction!

Update

2009-08-26T11:29:00.002-04:00

My mom got out of surgery at about 1o'clock this morning. They are keeping her sedated for awhile, hoping that with the machines breathing for her she can rest a bit more. They were worried about her kidneys and saying she might have to be on dialysis for a few days, but so far her kidneys are making urine and her blood work is coming back good. SO, things are are good as they can be right now since she is still unconscious.

I however, was having BHC sporadically throughout the day and then after hearing about my mom was a little stressed out. They started getting worse and continued all night and this morning. So I've been told to lay here on the couch and not move until 1pm when my doc is back in the office and he can see me. I'm sure everything is fine, especially as they have calmed down since I've been resting. When I was up fixing lunch I did notice that they increased a bit, but I'm just continuing to drink a bunch of water and lay down so I'm sure things are fine. Thank you everyone for your prayers, and pleas continue to pray that she will continue down this path! thank you!

Please Pray for my Mom

2009-08-25T21:33:00.004-04:00

I mentioned in my last post about my mom's surgery on Friday. I just got a call from my dad. She started swelling today and was having a harder and harder time breathing throughout the day. An hour or so ago they took her back down to the ICU and put her back on the respirator in order for her to breathe. She is on medicine to get rid of the swelling, they think the extra fluid is what is keeping her from breathing. Hopefully they will get rid of the swelling and she will once more be able to breathe on her own. Update: I just got another phone call. There is too much fluid around her heart and she is being taken back to surgery. They have to open her back up and try to relieve the pressure.

Please, if you pray, Please pray for her.....

I want my mom to be ok...

I want my son to know his grandmother...

I want my mommy!!

Please, pray for her!

Good Doctor Appointment

2009-08-23T10:46:00.004-04:00

Belly- 33 Weeks

Last Sunday I woke up and while getting dressed I caught a look at my belly in the mirror and thought to myself. "hmmm, my belly looks smaller..." I just figured I was imagining things. Throughout the day I kept looking at my beachball (ha!) and thinking the same thing "it looks smaller.." I was also running to the bathroom even more frequently than usual (honestly, that's hard to imagine) cause it felt like Mr. Vic was grinding his head into my bladder. I asked Matt later on that evening if he thought it looked smaller, without any hesitation he says, "Yes!". So I figured that with the increase of pressure on my bladder and the different shape of my belly, Victor was starting to drop a bit more.

Monday brought not only peeing about every 20 minutes, but several braxton-hicks contractions throughout the day. Then Tuesday I woke up with BHC. They were more often than Monday and noticable enough that my boss made me call my doc just to make sure there wasn't anything I needed to do. I knew they weren't real contractions, and I also knew they weren't close enough together for him to want me to come in or anything but I called anyway. The nurse said just what I thought she'd say, that unless they were about 5-7 minutes apart there was nothing to worry about but try and drink more water (great, more trips to the bathroom) and rest when I can (yea, right, I have a 9 hour workday).

So wednesday morning rolls around and it's time for our docs appointment. The nurse had made a note in my file about the BHC and asked me if I was still having them, I told her I'd probably had 2 of them since I'd woken up. I'd been up for almost 2 hours, so no biggie. But my doc wanted to check my cervix just to make sure the contractions weren't doing anything. I am not dilating yet, but am about 60% effaced. Vic's still head down and his head is about a -3 station, which is still kind of high, I don't even want tot know what it's going to feel like when he drops more!! He also said that especially since Vic's been measuring big, he was not going to let me go past my due date. Doc thinks I'll go into labor on my own around 39 weeks, Matt thinks 37 weeks and I'm just praying I don't have to be induced!

The saving grace is that since I'm already starting to efface, at least I know my body is progressing on it's own. If I do end up having to be induced hopefully it wouldn't be very difficult. But still praying I don't need to be induced. I want things to start naturally. I just have this horrible thought that I'll end up being induced and then end up with a c-section and I REALLY don't want a c-section. I know alot of people have them and a lot of people do just fine with them, but I really want a regular delivery.

Anyways, the BHC continue while I'm up and walking around or at work or whatever and then as soon as I lay down they go away. Luckily, my boss has finally figured out that I'm really pregnant and is starting to cut back on my hours. I think it helps that I mentioned to her that my doc made a comment about me not working more than 6-7 hours as I get further along. So I'm still getting extra hours, but my shifts are shorter. For example, my typical shift on a Monday has been from 9-7. 10 hours. Tomorrow I'm working 8:30-12:30. yay! I was originally hired on at 25 hours to begin with, and have been working about 40 hours for several months. Partly it's my fault, everyone has to get all their vacation time in before I go on maternity leave, so I then have to help cover shifts while they're gone.

My mom had open heart surgery on Friday. A month or 2 ago they were doing a EEG and discovered that she had a devective valve that was probably a birth defect that no one had ever noticed before. So they had surgery to replace it. The surgery took about 6ish hours (I'm not sure exactly how long it was, just guessing) and she was pretty out of it for awhile afterwards, after having open-heart surgery who wouldn't be? They got the breathing tube out that night and yesterday they moved her off the ICU into her own room and she was even walking on her own for a bit! I'm so glad she's doing better and that she's going to be ok. She's still got a long recovery ahead, but she's a fighter and I know she's going to get better, fast!

Since Matt is now the co-manager, he's been working some extra hours. Part of it is since we still only have 1 car, if I get off an hour or so after him he'll just stay at work to finish things up before he comes to get me instead of going home and then driving right back. I have to say, one of the best things about only having one car means that we are actually spending alot more time together. Since there are only 7 more weeks until we are never alone again, I savor every moment that we get together.

Matt's baseball team played last Sunday night for the championship title. They won the first game against the #1 team and so they played a second game to figure out who the Champion was. They unfortunatly lost the 2nd game but they put up a great fight and still got 2nd place in the league! I'm so proud of my husband :)

soooo disgusting...

2009-08-18T22:41:00.002-04:00

I was at work today. A normal day at work, nothing terribly exciting. I was out working in the drive-thru part, it's a completely seperate little buidling from the rest of the bank, we call it the "cracker jack box" because it's basically a small room with 2 computers and a bathroom. Anyway, I walked into the bathroom and felt something tickle my arm. I look up after brushing at it and see what I think is a cobweb with a couple of gnats stuck in it. Then I realize that the "gnats" are moving. At this point I let out a "Oh my GOD!" because I realize that it is a recently hatched sack of baby spiders crawling ALL OVER THE WALL!!!! It was absolutely the most disgusting thing and I'm still itching all over my body just thinking about it. Boss called terminex, and the maintenance guy. I kind of hope the Terminex people show up tomorrow to spray because I can't be around all those chemicals so I'll get to go home :) heheh.... so selfish I know :)