HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Just wanted to wish my wonderful hubby a happy birthday, even though it was yesterday in case some of you forgot....

So, Happy Birthday Derek! I love you Sweetie and I hope you had a nice, relaxing day!

Did I die and wake up in a tropical climate???

Its been miserably hot here lately... yesterday it was 108!!! Thats unheard of around here! Anyways, the only thing I like about this crazy heat is the mornings and the nights because it cools down a little so that its more bearable, but its also humid and smells like a tropical island! :)

Anyways, this morning at about 10:30am, I glanced out the backdoor, and saw a gecko crawling across the fence.... wait, what?! I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, so I grabbed my camera before it ran off, and snapped some pictures of it. Looks like a gecko to me! So now I really feel like I died and went to a tropical climate heaven. Is it really possible to have a gecko in Western Oregon????

You can just sortof see it in this picture....

First ice cream cone

Jadon had his first ice cream cone ever this weekend. Saturday we had one of my favorite kinds of days, a family day, just the 3 of us and we didnt have plans to do anything so we just hung out at home and enjoyed each others company. I LOVE those days!!!!!
Anyways, for dinner we got some salmon and Derek grilled that on the grill... very yummy!!!! We also got some icecream and cones and after dinner we made Jadon his first icecream cone. I know, I can hear some of your comments already about depraiving him of such fine things in life as ice cream cones! Well you can hold your snarky comments (thanks Ashley for recently using that great word :) !!!) We dont buy ice cream that often unless its on sale and usually we dont buy it much at all unless i'm pregnant. ;) Jadon has had some bites of ice cream, but isnt really interested in it that much. That is, until he had it in a cone!

He had so much fun eating it from the cone! The next night I offered him some in a dish and he wanted nothing to do with it unless it was in a cone. He could care less about it, but since he can carry a cone around and eat and play at the same time, its a dream come true for him!

So, he made a nice little mess, and never did make it to the cone. The cone soaked up all the moisture of the icecream and it ended up a squished mess and with a big hole in the side.



Thats the squished cone... sorry its so blurry. The kid also needs a haircut, obviously!
Anywho, its hotter than the dickens right now. Its 98 and its only 2:30pm, we're supposed to get temps in the 100's for a few days, so my plan is to stay inside as much as possible, and open the door as little as possible. Thank goodness for our little window a/c unit we got a couple years ago, and new ceiling fans we got a couple months ago for the living room, master bedroom and Jadon's room!!!!! Otherwise, i'm afraid i'd croak!

Ultrasound *Update*

***The nurse called this morning, and the kidneys look fine now. So, good news!***

Today we had our follow up ultrasound for the baby's kidney. It went well! She is much bigger than she was 8 weeks ago! The tech took measurements of all of her parts and she was measuring exactly the size she should be, which is 29 weeks and 2 days. He also gave us a couple profile pictures, and a picture of the bottom of her foot. Oh, and we had him double check her privates to make sure that no winky sprouted in the last 8 weeks! She's definately still a she! ;)
We will get the results from the nurse in a day or two regarding the kidney.

She is still head down, which is great! At this point she will probably stay that way so I wont have to worry about her being breech (which I wasnt worried about anyways.) After our appointment though, I now feel quite a bit more relieved. For some reason I was worried that she hadnt grown in weeks and wouldnt be thriving in me. However, thats obviously not the case, and she seems to be doing wonderfully! Now my biggest and probably pretty much the only worry I have at this point, is an umbilical cord accident. I know I have no reason to worry about that happening, but you all know me! I'm a worry wart, so if there's anything at all that I can worry about, I will!!! :)

Things are moving right along. I'm starting to feel really uncomfortable by the time evening comes, and it feels like my belly is up in my throat! I'm also not as hungry, and I think part of it has to do with the fact that my stomach is probably beginning to be squished up into my other organs. The other part i'm sure is because i've been getting nauseated again. The nausea from first trimester never completely went away during second trimester, but it did get better and was just occasional, however now that I'm in 3rd trimester it seems to have picked up a little more again. I seriously dread breakfast in the morning! I always heard of women having morning sickness throughout their whole pregnancy, but never imagined i'd be one of the "lucky" ones! Oh well, I know it wont last forever, but it sure seems like it will! It will be so worth it in the end!

Also, i've been getting so exhausted. Yesterday evening I attempted some yard work which I normally LOVE doing, but by the time I finished I was sorely exhausted and aching all over! Unfortunately I dont like to take naps anymore.... I always end up waking up with a headache when I take naps, so I try to avoid sleeping, but I do often lay down and rest if I need to.

She's been getting hiccups several times a day also. Jadon would get hiccups about 3-4 times a day, and this little girl is the same way. Its cute at first, but it gets really annoying... like a tiny twitch in your belly that just wont stop!

Overall, I am just getting to be eager to get my body back, eager to get my energy back, and most of all eager to meet our daughter! Saddly, this will most likely be our last baby. This has just been such a long, and trying experience, I just dont know if we can go through all of this again. Plus, the first trimester migraines absolutely KILL me!

Oh yeah, funny story... while we were waiting in the waiting room to get the ultrasound, a man came out of the bathroom that was across the room, and Jadon said really loudly "he's all done poopin'... he's all done peepin' !" (he says peeping for peeing)

6 weeks

It just dawned on me today that I am now 6 weeks away from when I delivered Jadon! Scary thought!!! My goal is to make it 7 more weeks, which would put me at 36 weeks, and the time when I stop the progesterone shots... but 8 or 9 weeks would be even better and put me at "full term!"

Next week I get to stop taking the baby asprin! I'm so excited to stop taking that! During the first trimester, those baby asprin pills tasted so horribly bad I could barely choke them down. Funny how now I don't taste them at all!

We are still having issues with Jadon going to bed at night. It seems like just when we figure out something that works for a week or so, he figures out some other way to make things miserable for all of us, including himself. So, now we have resorted to putting the baby gate up in his doorway. This comes after we have warned him about getting out of bed several times. Let me tell you, HE HATES THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But, to him, continually getting out of bed is a game. It hasn't mattered what we have done, nothing seems to be "punishment" to him. So, this is finally the first thing that seems to qualify as punishment to him since he is stuck in his room and cant get out. I'm sure this will work for a week... i'm sure next week we'll be back to square 1.
Its just frustrating because we have ALWAYS had such sleeping issues with him! Since day one he has given us grief when it comes to sleeping. Still praying that by the time he is a teenager he'll be a better sleeper, but at the rate we're going, I dunno.....

My dream last night

Last night I dreamed that I was pregnant again- let me explain this a little more. I was still pregnant as I am right now, however, like cats can do, I managed to get pregnant again while already pregnant. Strange, I know! Dreams during pregnancy are weird!

Anyways, in the dream I ended up having another miscarriage. It was really sad. And I was so confused, not understanding why it was happening AGAIN. :(

Today

Its been a busy day, yet at the same time we didn't do much of anything... funny how that works!

I got my hair done today... it has been well over a year since my last trip to the hairdresser, so I felt that it was time. My hair was to the point that it was going to drive me nuts, so it was definately time! Anyways, my mom came and babysat with some of the kids, and Jadon had a good time as always but was exhausted by the time they left. Mom managed to empty all the dirty dishes from my dishwasher and put them away, thinking they were clean. Thats the second time she's done that while babysitting! :) Thanks Mom for keeping things interesting around here and for trying to be helpful! I do appreciate that! ;)

Anyways, it was miserably hot here today- 95- so we stayed inside until this evening when the sun finally dipped behind some houses and shaded our backyard, and Jadon then played in his pool. I got a few good videos of him squirting us with his water toys- he thinks its absolutely hilarious. Unfortunately you dont get to see those, as he is naked and I feel weird posting video's of his naked front on here for the entire world to see. Buns are ok for your viewing pleasure, but not the hotdog! ;)

So I did get a picture of him sitting in his pool tonight. And a few pictures from the other day when he was outside playing with our cat Bear. But first, here's a few random pics from the last few days. This first one was after Jadons nap. Since his naps are so short (30-45 minutes) he has a hard time waking up, and this was after I had already gotten him up, he threw a fit then laid on the floor and fell right back to sleep. Its almost as difficult as trying to get his daddy out of bed in the morning!

Then the next two are just cute pictures I took of Jadon and Derek on the couch together.

Do you think he loves the cat????

And finally here's tonights belly pic and my new haircut. Still not sure if I like the bangs or not.... my hubby said they arent his favorite, but then again, he's never seen me with bangs before. I'll see how I feel about them after I have to try to style them. They were supposed to be the side sweeping bangs that are so popular right now, but apparently I have cowlicks on both sides of my bangs, and right in the middle, so getting them to side sweep like that will be next to impossible. Rats!

Anywho, this belly pic is at 28 weeks and 2 days! Horray for 3rd trimester! Horray, I only have to take baby asprin for a week and a half more, and Horray that theres only a couple months left!

The crib

Here's a picture of baby girl's crib. We got it in the mail a week or two ago, and I am THRILLED with it! It is sooooo beautiful!! We want to thank my grandparents from the bottoms of our hearts for buying our cribs for us. We are so grateful, and I am just ecstatic over this crib! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! G&G! WE LOVE YOU!!!

Here's Jadon's bed, converted to a toddler bed....unfortunately when he was teething as a baby, he beavered his way around the bed, so now we'll have to sand it and restain it when he gets older. Yes, we tried using those rubber rails, but those are worthless, kids figure out how to take those off in just a few minutes. I recently painted the letters above his bed and hung them (notice the "O" is green... that was a complete accident!!! Obviously if I had been thinking clearly I wouldnt have done that!) Anyways, I painted letters to hang over baby girl's bed too, but I wont hang those until after she is born. :) So, sorry if any of you thought you could sneak over and find out what her name is ahead of time! It aint happenin' ! I have her letters hidden away.

Jadon's sleeping saga update

Well we have had a little success in the sleeping dept. over the last week. We have really just been experimenting with trying different things, for instance, different nap times, bedtimes, etc.

This is what we know right now.... Jadon is NOT ready to drop his nap yet. We tried doing that for a couple of days, and he would fall asleep in the middle of dinner.

So, what we have no been doing is moving his nap a tad later (anywhere from 2-2:30pm) so he is tired for nap, and then we moved his bedtime to an hour later (9:30pm.) Which is insane to me! I always thought 8:30pm was a little late for a baby/toddler. We've kept his sleep routine the same, and it starts about an hour before his bedtime, and seems to work well so we didn't change that at all. But, now instead of being wide awake and unable to settle down for bedtime at 8:30pm, and getting out of bed every 2 minutes for an hour and a half, finally going to sleep between 10pm-11pm.... he is now tired when we put him down at 9:30pm, and just lays there talking for 15-30 minutes, and is usually sleep by 10pm.

After that though, the consistency is gone. Some nights he wakes up once or twice a night and while he usually always goes back to sleep easily after I take him back to his bed, it still disrupts my sleep, and I usually cant go back to sleep and will lay awake and frustrated that I cant sleep for an hour and a half to two hours.
Also, morning wake up times have not been consistent at all either. Sometimes he wakes up at 5:45am and comes to our room. At that point I just put him in our bed so that we can both hopefully go back to sleep quickly before either of us wakes up to the point that we cant sleep anymore. Anywhere from 5am-7am i'll do this, and he always goes back to sleep and will sleep in our bed anywhere from 7:45am to 9am. But, then again, on occasional days he'll sleep all night long in his own bed until 8:30am. THOSE are the days that I hope we can have on a more regular basis!!!

So, while our new arrangement is far from perfect, and only gives Derek and I about 30-60 minutes of time to ourselves in the evening, at least we have all been happier and less grumpy since we arent dealing with a little boy who wont stay in bed anymore. Its just frustrating because he was doing really well in the last year with sleeping, until we made the transition to his toddler bed.

On a different note, here is a video of Jadon singing his ABC's the other day:

All boy!

My son has recently discovered a love for dirt. Now we cant keep him out of the dirt when he's outside!
After lunch today, he was outside playing, and after I finished cleaning up I went out to see what he was doing, and this is what I found sitting in the dirt:

Here he is throwing dirt at me.

Looking a little sheepish after being scolded for throwing dirt at me.

Digging in the dirt with an empty flower pot.

Throwing dirt over the fencing... not sure why he likes doing that so much!

At one point he was laying in the dirt on his belly, but I wasn't fast enough with the camera to get a picture of that.

After that he came inside because he wanted some milk. But immediately after he'd finished his milk, he went right back outside. After wiping the counters off, I went back outside to see what he was up to, and sitting by the door was a used diaper. Not only does he love to play outside in the dirt, but he also likes to do it in the nude!
Happy as a clam- has a full belly, naked buns, and dirt, also the kitties to pick on! He just has a blast out there talking to himself or the cats, having a good old time!

Solicitors

We get so many solicitors in our neighborhood its not even funny. I have long since quit opening the door when someone knocks or rings the doorbell because i'm so sick of having to shoo them away all the time. Plus, they are getting more and more pushy! Once in a blue moon i'll open the door when someones there.

So this afternoon was one of those blue moon days. The doorbell rang late this afternoon, so I thought id open it. BIG mistake! It was some guy who said he was from some security type company. And he started talking to me about how since the economy is so bad, more and more break-in's are occuring, and blah blah blah. Ok, whatever, he seemed legit. Then he starts asking me things like "do you have any guns or dogs in the house?" And said that most break-in's happen through backdoors, and wanted to know if he could come in and see our backdoor. Immediately alarms were going off in my head and I declined but he was persistent wanting to know why. Grrr... I finally got rid of him and messaged Derek at work and told him what had just happened, and he came right home (it was time for him to come home anyways.) Derek felt uneasy about what I told him, so he called the cops and reported it. We got to see the cop stop and talk to the guy from our window, and from the looks of it, the guy was legit because the cop shook his hand and left after several minutes.

So, we may have overreacted a little to the situation, but at least we'll be able to sleep tonight. Con artists are getting so clever and sophisticated, I just dont trust anyone these days. Plus, what kind of door to door salesman asks those kinds of questions?? I understand they are just trying to do their job, but its so annoying! I'm more likely to respond to an ad for a company in the newspaper or flyer or something.

Funny thing though, he was back in the neighborhood at 8:30pm tonight ringing doorbells again, except this time he had a woman with him.