As promised...

I'll try to get an update posted while the household is happy!

I spilled a cup of coffee on my laptop which broke my keyboard, so I was without my laptop while we waited for a new keyboard to get here. It took awhile! I'm so glad to have my laptop back now!

We've been doing well. Jadon is doing REALLY well in his big bed (knock on wood.) He loves it, and anytime we have company, he has to show it off to our guests. He's pretty proud of it.
The other day he counted to 14 (well, he skipped 13), we are amazed by him every day and how much he learns and picks up!! He is amazing!

Avery is doing well too... turning into quite a butterball. She's quite a pig. And i'm thinking she's going through a growth spurt as i've been feeding her every 1-2 hours for the last couple of days. She's wearing clothes now that Jadon wore when he was 6 months old.... its just insane! She's quite a smiley thing too when you catch her in the right mood. It takes almost nothing to get her to smile. Very cute!
Dare I say this?.... she sleeps through the night. Yes, she sleeps 5 and 6 hour stretches almost every night! (5 hours is considered "sleeping through the night" for a baby) Again, knock on wood. Of course, she is in bed with me most of the time. Often she starts out in her bed next to ours, but wakes up once to eat and comes to bed with me then. Anyways, she's been sleeping through the night since she was about a week or so old, but I had to wake her up in the earlier weeks every 3 hours to eat (per pediatrician's recommendation).

I'm still so amazed at how different it is to have a full term baby versus a preemie!

Anyways, thats about all I can think of right now to update on.... and Avery's beginning to cry so I need to go anyways.

Sorry...

Sorry its been so long since I have posted. I broke my laptop, so i've been without my computer for awhile while we await for parts to fix it. Yes, we have 2 other computers that I can use, but I rarely go into our office where those computers are located because Jadon gets into everything when i'm in here, and I think Avery hates this room because every time I bring her in here she screams and screams. Plus, its too difficult to drag both kids around the house with me everywhere, so usually we just spend most of the day downstairs wheres its most convenient.

Anyways, just wanted to let you know.... should be back with my computer today... or at least sometime this week! :)

Smile!

I can't believe I forgot to mention in my last post today that we got a few smiles from Avery today... and i'm not talking about the sleep smiles, or gas smiles... i'm talking real smiles! Today's her 1 month birthday, so its fitting that today we'd get our first smiles! Jadon didnt smile at us until he was 7 weeks old... unless you go by his gestational age, then he was only 2 weeks old. ;)

She's also been doing alot of "talking" lately, and i'm so excited, I just got her on camera talking! By the way, that is her absolute favorite place to lay- on the couch where we change her diapers.... she will lay there for a long time just looking around from side to side.... we arent sure why she likes that spot so much, but we imagine its because theres a lamp on each side of the couch that she can look at..???? Dunno.... whatever the reason, we love to lay her there because she just lays there happily cooing and other than that, we hardly hear a peep out of her! :)

We've been talking to Jadon about Christmas lately because he doesnt remember from last year. Anyways, he thinks that Christmas is a person. Tonight when I was tucking him into bed, I was laying there talking with him and he said "... and Christmas will come in a car!"
Let me just say, I love my kids!

Same old, same old

Nothing new or exciting to report. We've had two great nights in a row! Jadon has slept all night long, and Avery slept from 11pm or so until 6am!!

Jadon's doing great in his new bed... no problems at all, and he seems to like it alot. In fact he has been staying in his bed instead of sleeping on the floor! He's as goofy as ever! He's doing pretty good with Avery most of the time.... but he hates it when I am holding Avery and giving her attention, and sometimes throws a bit of a fit that is obvious jealousy and frustration. Its sometimes hard trying to juggle the needs of both kids on my own, but I am learning and getting better.

Avery just graduated out of her newborn diapers into size 1. She is becoming quite the chunk! Shes also outgrowing her newborn clothing pretty quickly too, and can wear a few 3 month items. Shes getting some fat thighs! They are now several rolls rather than just one roll. Its weird to see her grow so fast since Jadon grew so slowly (he could wear his newborn clothes until he was 6 months old!) I am still so in awe of how different it has been taking care of a preemie and a full term baby....everything is different!
I weighed myself the other day, then immediately got on the scale again holding Avery, and the difference was 10 lbs. Of course she was wearing pants and a new diaper, so its not exactly 10 lbs difference, but I imagine shes getting close to 10 lbs!

Its soooooo nice to have my energy back again! I can hardly stand having to sit down to nurse, especially in the evenings when i'm sitting for most of the evening. It drove me nuts having such a small amount of energy during pregnancy that I guess I feel like making up for lost time! :) When the kids are napping, i'm busily cleaning something or organizing something. Yesterday and today I cleaned out our closet and went through our dresser, and i've now got 4 bags of clothes and old bedding to get rid of! Feels so good to organize! I love organizing!!!!!! I wish I could make a business out of it! Not to mention the house is feeling so cramped lately that we feel desperate to keep it WELL organized and clean.

I ventured out to Kmart by myself with the kids the other day....first time out by myself with both of them. It went well! Avery just slept in her carrier, and Jadon was well behaved.

Sorry, no new pix to share... its true what they all say.... you dont take nearly as many pictures of your second child as you do with your first! ;)

Holy cow, another post!! :)

Last week we decided we were going to convert Jadon's toddler bed into a normal bed, so we went and ordered a full sized mattress for his bed on tuesday, and it came saturday. Jadon was SOOO excited- both for the new bed, and because a big delivery truck stopped at HIS house!!!

Here he is in his first night in his really big boys bed.


We decided to convert his bed because he was rapidly outgrowing his toddler bed for one thing. Also, we decided to use his crib mattress for Avery's crib instead of buying a whole new mattress for her bed. And, since she will hopefully be in her crib within a few months, we needed to convert his bed very soon.
He slept fine in his "new" bed... no better than normal, and no worse either. The kids room is quite packed now, but thats ok... our entired house is packed, so thats nothing new! Hopefully someday by the time the kids are bigger, we'll be able to buy something a little bigger. Until then, i'm just glad to have a roof over my head and a warm, nice place to call home.
I'm excited to cuddle up in bed with him and read to him before he goes to sleep. I have fond memories of my mom reading to me in bed before turning out the lights, so I hope that its something that he will always look back on fondly as well.

3 weeks

Hard to believe its already been 3 weeks since Avery was born! On one hand it feels like just yesterday she was born, and on the other hand it seems like she's been with us forever.

I think its obvious that i've been too busy to update the blog as frequently as I used to. I imagine after this newborn stage passes that that might change a little, but I wont make any promises. ;)

Things have been busy around here with a newborn and a busy toddler. Jadon is getting more comfortable around Avery, he gives her kisses alot. But at the same time, he can get a little aggressive with her, and I think that stems from frustration over me holding her all the time. Miss Avery likes to eat and sleep, and when she's not doing that she is usually crying (loudly!!) From about 5pm until about 10:30pm she eats almost constantly (cluster feeds), so I am pretty much confined to the rocker all evening long. She sleeps pretty well at night...knock on wood.

Shes also creating a lot of laundry for me. She only poops about 1-3 times a day, and so when she does go, she makes quite a mess all over her clothes. She has already stained almost all of her newborn clothing already.

I do miss Jadon alot since I dont get to "see" him as much as I used to. So doing the things that we used to do together are really special now when i'm able to do them... like reading before bed, and cuddling in the morning. On monday, my wonderful husband made Jadon and I get out of the house together while he stayed home with the baby. So, Jadon and I did some shopping at the mall, and then went to the library for awhile. It was good for both of us to get out of the house together. The first 2 weeks after Avery was born, I felt so horribly guilty that pretty much everything in Jadon's world had changed so quickly. There were several early mornings when i'd be up nursing Avery and Jadon would wake up and come to our bedroom, and Derek would take him back to his bed crying because he wanted to be in mommy's bed too. I'm sure he doesnt understand why he is the only one in the house who is not aloud to be in our bedroom at night. Anyways, there were several of those mornings where i'd just be sobbing in bed while I nursed Avery because I felt so guilty and I missed cuddling with him in the mornings so bad.

Derek has been amazing these last 3 weeks. I dont know what I would have done without him. He had to go back to work on thursday, and I was really worried how things would go with me alone with the two kids, but things have actually gone pretty smoothly so far. I've managed to get both the kids down for naps at the same time so I have some free time in the afternoon.

Thats pretty much how things have been for us in the last week... just getting to know Avery and her temperment, learning how to handle 2 kids instead of one, and helping Jadon adjust to the changes as painlessly as possible.

Overall, I feel pretty darn lucky and blessed though. I have a wonderful husband who is also a wonderful father, and two beautiful children. Its weird to think that last year at this time I was about to have my 4th miscarriage (november 1st.) I remember wondering if we'd ever have another baby, and I even started imaging that we might only have one child. Now, here we are a year later and we have a beautiful, 3 week old baby girl. Never in a million years did I imagine that this is where we'd be a year later. I am blessed!

Well its taken me 3 weeks to complete this 3 minutes slideshow, but hope you enjoy it!

Avery's 2 week appt

We just got back from Avery's 2 week appt. She is doing very good. She is now 21inches long, and weighs 8lbs 6oz. Yes, thats right... in just 9 days she gained just 1 oz shy of a pound. Little piglet!! Since she has been eating so much, I managed to lose all my pregnancy weight in 11 days! She is literally sucking the pounds right off of me!
On the downside, the doctor instructed us to not leave the house unless we have to. They are seeing alot of really nasty bugs all of the sudden that are not good for tiny babies. So Jadon and I are going to have to get creative at home after Derek goes back to work, since we are going to be stuck at home! I might have to make another run to Michael's craft store! :) Darn, too bad! ;)

Another successful haircut

Jadon's got his daddy's hair, and anytime their hair starts getting a little longer, they look like they are wearing helmets on their heads. They were both in need of a cut, so last night, Derek helped Jadon overcome his fear of the hair cutting clippers, and gave Jadon a buzz. We are very proud of him because this has been a HUGE fear of his since he was about a year old. Here's some pictures of my brave guy:

Then, in another moment of bravery, Derek decided to buzz his hair also. I dont have a picture of that yet. They both look much better! I'm not a fan of long hair on either of them since they have such bushy hair.

Avery's Birth Story

Our long awaited baby girl arrived on Oct. 8th! She weighed 7lbs 9oz, and 19 1/4 inches long. Derek and I were both surprised she was so short... Jadon was 19 inches when he was born and that was 5 weeks early!
Having a full term baby is a completely different experience to having a preterm baby. We were able to leave the hospital the day after she was born, and we didnt have to deal with any issues that come with preemies, ie, jaundice, difficulty breathing, trouble maintaining body temp, etc.
Jadon has been doing really well. He was really having a hard time when we were in the hospital, but I think he was worried about seeing me in a hospital bed, and the whole hospital setting. He has really warmed up to Avery too since we have been home, and now he seems to really love her.

Anyways, the birth story! I'm not sure where to start really. I had about 2 contractions a day for about a month leading up to the delivery. A week and a half before she was born, I was 3cm dilated... a week later, I was dilated to 3 1/2 cm, and she was really moving her way down. The day before she was born, I woke up with alot of pressure down there, and I kept having these pains (they didnt feel like contractions... it felt more like the pressure would momentarily increase drastically for about a minute). All day I had them, although I wasnt convinced they were contractions, I still timed them several times throughout the day. They were very irregular, and ranged anywhere from 7 minutes apart to 18 minutes apart, and even almost completely stopped that afternoon. By late evening, they were getting more painful, but I STILL wasnt convinced it was contractions, but I was convinced that the baby would be coming soon. We went to bed that night, and I continued to have these pains all night, and probably about 2 an hour and they would wake me up from sleeping. At 4am, I was woken up by a particularly painful one and right in the middle of it, my water broke. I woke Derek and told him my water broke, so he starts getting ready to go to the hospital. I was still not convinced. My pains were still very irregular up until then, and I could still function through them for the most part, so I didnt think it was quite time to go to the hospital. Derek insisted we go. I convinced myself to go as well because I was not feeling the baby move at all and was really worried something was wrong. We left the house about 4:15am or so... while in the car, the pain was beginning to get worse, and started to become regularly 5 minutes apart. Once at the hospital, everything went downhill. The nurse asked me to go the the bathroom and change into a gown... While I was in the bathroom, I had 3 consecutive contractions with no relief between them.
The nurse checked me, and I was dilated to 5cm. About 5 minutes or so later, I felt like I needed to push BAD! I yelled to the nurse that I felt like I needed to poop. She checked me again, and I was fully dilated. It was time to go!! The doctor wasnt there yet, so they had the hospital midwife come in and monitor things. I think they tried to get me to not push much since the doctor wasnt there yet, so I did alot of panting, but the urge to push overcame me several times. Finally the doctor got there right as the baby was crowning, and I think I only pushed once or twice after she got there! At 5:28am, our 2nd little miracle was born!

Let me just say, I had been planning to get an epidural for the delivery, but obviously when you dilate 5cm in 5 minutes, theres no time for ANY pain meds! So, she was born completely naturally. I'm proud of myself, but at the same time, IT HURT!!!!!!!!! Unfortunately the recovery wasnt as grand as they make natural births sound... at least for me. I was doing alot of bleeding, so they put me on pitocin to help me contract (that hurt), and gave me a shot of something in the leg to help with bleeding also. Also, as soon as she was born, my blood pressure shot up for awhile so they had to monitor me for awhile.

Thats all for now! I'll post more later when I get a chance!

Baby poll

So, in looking at the baby poll, I was trying to figure out how to decide who wins.... My first thought was the person who got the closest without going over (like the Price is Right.) So far, that would make Ashley the winner! Ashley, how bizarre that you were the only one to choose an overdue date, and yet as long as I don't go past the 14th, you're the winner! :)
Of course, then we have to figure out who got the closest weight/length as well! At my last appt, the doctor guessed she was between 7.5 and 8 lbs- totally average. Of course, thats just a guess that can be off by a pound or more; there's no way of knowing how much the baby weighs just by feeling her on the outside.

I'm still in shock that she hasn't arrived yet!

Almost 40 weeks

Had another appt today. I'm now 3.5 cm dilated and baby's head is really dropping.
Woke up this morning with an unpleasant headache that has now turned into a migraine. I'm not very thrilled about this... but I guess I have to finish out this pregnancy with a bang.

labor induction

Well, I dont think the full moon is going to induce my labor tonight, but I may have just potentially triggered it on my own! Ok, probably not, but I wouldn't be surprised if it did!

I was in the garage putting away some groceries in the pantry.... one of the bags of groceries was full of bags of cereal, and had been sitting in the garage for awhile unemptied. Well tonight I was putting them away, and a spider was in the bag but I didn't know it. I pulled out a bag of cereal, and the spider was on the bag, and it dropped down from the bag and brushed my hand. Wasn't just any old spider... it was one of the big brownish/blackish ones that I am absolutely TERRIFIED of... and it was HUGE!!!!!!!!!!! When I saw it in the bag and realized what had just taken place, I flipped out, ran out of the garage hopping around like a jumping bean, shaking every limb on my body, squealing. Derek just stood and watched me for a minute. He knows of my intense fear of those kinds of spider, but I dont think one has ever actually touched me, so I don't know that he has ever seen me freak out quite that bad over one... to be honest, I dont know if I have ever had a reason to freak out that bad over one. Anyways, after feeling and seeing that spider, i felt like I could have ran a marathon in record time... I had so much adrenaline pumping through me, I didn't even realize I was hopping around like that, and for the first time in 9 months, I think I completely forgot that I was pregnant.... until Derek said "well that might get your labor started!"

39w3d

No news. Sunday there is a full moon, so i'm keeping my fingers crossed! I know, i'm starting to go to the extreme, but honestly, time really seems to be standing still. To make things worse, my sciatic nerve is hurting now, and I can barely walk sometimes. I've been spending alot of time sitting on the heating pad, which really doesnt help much. Then I start to feel like i'm going to go nuts from not doing anything, so I get up to do something, and just force myself to do things through the stabbing pain in my rear.
Well, thats it... nothing new... still no sign of the little lady making her grand entrance!

Still going...39weeks 2days

Still no end in sight. Starting to actually wonder about going OVER my due date, which is a really really strange thought, considering I thought she'd be close to a month old already! Months ago I remember joking about her being overdue, but never thought it would actually happen... now i'm beginning to think twice about it happening. It definately seems like a good possibility now.

Derek and I have been praying for patience because time just seems to be dragging by at slower than a snails pace. At least I know she's getting a nice layer of fat on her... wont have to worry about any preemie clothes this time around, thats for sure! Hopefully we wont have to spend any time in the NICU either!

Latest update- 38weeks 6 days

Had another appt this morning.... same old same old.
Check for swelling- i dont have any (although this week I can no longer wear my wedding ring) Blood pressure- staying the same.
Baby's heartbeat- still good- 152 bpm
Uterus growth- not much changes anymore
Baby's position- head is coming way down- probably why I can't move without feeling like i'm going to split in two.
Dilation? yup- 3 cm

So, still nothing, just continuing to play the waiting game. Will update more when something changes. Next appt- next week.

Barometric pressure change

There's a small barometric pressure change coming beginning of next week, so i'm hoping that it will start labor! :)

With each passing day, i'm beginning to think that Jadon was born early because of the stress I was under from my job during the last few months of him being in-utero.

Anyways, here's another belly picture. Last one we did was 3 weeks ago, and I thought for sure it would be the last one, so you can imagine the shock i'm feeling that we were able to take another one! As you can see, my shirts are all getting way too small, and I constantly have to make sure they are covering my big belly! Apparently Jadon wanted to be in the picture posing like mommy ;)

38 weeks and 4 days!!

Nothing

Wish I could tell you all that i'm having contractions, or that my water broke, but I can't. Nothing has changed. I had an appt tuesday, they didn't check me for dilation or anything since I havent been having any contractions. But, the doctor did feel that the babys head had dropped really low into my pelvis. She seemed surprised and asked if I was feeling pressure down there.... I havent noticed any addition pressure... I've got a bowling ball inside of me, so obviously there's pressure down there all the time, but havent really felt that its been worse.
So, thats the only thing thats changed. I keep thinking that any day she'll be here... but at the same time, it doesnt feel like she's ever coming.
I remember about 2 months ago, I was reading a blog of a lady who was 38 weeks pregnant... her second child was born premature like Jadon, and she thought for sure that #3 would be born early as well. However, there she was in her 38th week, and no sign of the baby coming yet. I remember reading about how the mom was feeling pretty down being so far with no sign of the baby coming yet. I couldnt understand it then, but I can now!!!! My bags have been packed for a month... both Derek and I thought she'd be here by now. Its hard to wait, especially since I'm just growing increasingly moody and uncomfortable... and time seems to be standing still. I keep reminding myself that the longer shes in there, the better off she will be.

Still going.....

Here we are, tomorrow will be 38 weeks. I thought for sure i'd have had her by now!
I'm growing increasingly uncomfortable with each passing day (each passing hour!) Heartburn is in full force, and even Zantac is only partially helping now. And my back and feet are hurting after only being on my feet for a little bit. My mid-section aches- hips, groin, etc. which makes it hard to walk like a human. Totally understand why pregnant women waddle now! Its not comfortable to do much of anything... sitting, standing, laying down, etc. I'm getting increasingly irritable with not being able to do anything. My flower beds are littered with weeds, and it drives me nuts that I can't bend over to pick them!!! I've got my work cut out for me next spring! Actually, i'm just getting increasingly irritable - period. I know i'm whining, but i'm soooooooooooo uncomfortable!!!!!!! :) I'm sooooooooo ready to have this baby out of my belly, and into my arms!

Nothings changed yet, as far as I know. No contractions, although i'm getting a few cramps here and there on a daily basis now.
Tonight we went for a walk.... my hope is to get things moving a little! I doubt its going to work, and i'm afraid this little one is feeling comfy and cozy in there and isnt wanting to come out!

I really have nothing to talk about because i'm feeling very cranky and irritable lately! I hate feeling this way when I know there are women out there who would give anything to be in this position...however, i'm convinced that if they actually were in this position, and this uncomfortable, they too would be cranky and feeling guilty for being cranky! :) I think its just something that happens when you get to the 9th month of pregnancy, because I never made it to the 9th month with Jadon, and I was still relatively comfortable with him. It wasn't until this 37th week that I have REALLY started feeling miserable.

Time to come out little girl!!!!!!!

Full term!!

Its official! We are full term now! We made it! The progesterone shots seemed to do their job!
Also, its wednesday today, and I don't have to get poked in the hip!! How exciting!! However, I did get a flu shot yesterday. The doctor was joking that I just couldnt go a week without getting a shot.
Anyways, we had another weekly appt yesterday, all looks good. Blood pressure still holding steady, growth is right on track. Haven't had any contractions (that i'm aware of) however, I never felt any with Jadon until I was actually in labor.... so, who knows! I don't seem to be a person that notices having braxton hicks contractions.... only thing is i've had cramping here and there over the last couple months, but in the last couple weeks they've been more frequent, and almost every day i'll have at least one now.
So, now we just wait! Its weird... every night I go to bed thinking "could this be the night? could tomorrow be the day???" Never got to play the waiting game with Jadon, so this is new to us! Derek told me tonight he's getting nervous/excited thinking about the birth and introducing Jadon to his baby sister.

Ten wonderful years!

Ten years ago today, Derek and I became a pair! Hard to believe its been 10 years already, but at the same time it feels like we've been together forever (and thats not a bad thing!)

Its weird to look back 10 years ago and see where we've come. Ten years ago, we had no idea we'd be getting married, switching jobs several times, going to Hawaii and Florida together, be pregnant 6 times, lose 4 babies, buy a house, buy an SUV that we LOVED... sell the SUV that we loved, have a beautiful son who we adore and expecting a daughter any time. Of course, there's many many many more things that have happened between all of that, but those are the bigger events in our life together over the last 10 years!

Through all the ups and downs that come with every relationship, I can honestly say that I love Derek more and more every day, especially when I look at what a wonderful husband he is, the fantastic father that he has become, and a hard worker who supports his family the best that he can.

I love you Derek!

Its done!

The progesterone shots are all finished! All 20 of them!!!! I don't know who's more relieved, me or Derek! Now we don't have to dread our Wednesday nights! ;)
So far, all the extra progesterone i've been prescribed over the last 8 months has done its job!!! I couldn't be more thankful!! Now I just have to wait for my progesterone levels to drop, and then our little girl will be on her way!

36 weeks!!

Well, we made it to 36 weeks! Now i'm ok with her coming any time!
Had my first weekly appt today, and everything is going good. Measuring just about right, and the doctor guesstimated that the baby weighs close to 6 pounds, but still in the 5 pound range. Of course, thats just a complete guesstimate! That weight is completely average for 36 weeks, so she's on track to being a normal sized baby! Phew! I dont think i'll have to worry about delivering an 8+ pound baby! In fact, I feel that shes going to be pretty tiny. I feel much smaller than I did with Jadon. And with Jadon, they were predicting he would be a big guy of 8-9 lbs.
Of course, it also depends on when she comes! If she comes this week (like Derek is certain is going to happen) then she'll definately be tiny!!
Anyways, as I was saying, everythings looking good! Doctor expects that i'll have a really fast labor though, since Jadon's was only 5 hours. Derek and I are a little nervous about doing this the normal way- not being in the hospital already when I go into labor, but being at home when labor starts, like most people! We are both starting to feel nervous! Every day I think to myself, "today could be the day!" And it makes me instantly nervous!

At the risk of sounding like more of a germ freak than I already am, i'd like to remind everyone who plans to come visit us after our little lady is born, please remember to wash your hands thoroughly before holding her. Also, now is a good time for everyone to try to stay as healthy as possible, and if youre sick, or have been exposed to someone who is sick, please stay away. I know this sounds rude, but after everything we've been through to get to this point, I dont want to have something happen to her because she caught some kind of bug from someone. So please, use common sense.

Just so everyone knows ahead of time, we have chosen not to have anyone in the delivery room with us, other than the doctors and nurses. After she's born, we'll have Jadon come in the room with us for awhile so as a family we can get to know our new edition. When we are ready, we'll let everyone else come in. This was our plan for when we had Jadon too, but things didn't work out quite that way since he came early and ended up in the NICU. Really hoping that this time around we can do things "normally"- normal labor/birth, and hospital stay. I know of course that rarely do things go "normally" when it comes to labor and delivery, and even full term babies can end up in the NICU, but i'm really praying we dont have to go through that again!

Anyways, i've got my last progesterone shot tomorrow! I'm so excited!!! The doctor was really pleased and happy that we have made it this far!

I'll leave you with a picture of my handsome little man!

This and That

Here's the latest belly picture- at 35 weeks and 5 days! I've made it almost a week farther than with Jadon so far! My shirts are all beginning to get too short, but I hate to buy new ones since I'm only going to be wearing them for a very short time! So, i'm just trying to make do with the few that I have that still fit! ;) I did go shopping the other day for some PJ's to wear at the hospital. The other day I mentioned that i'd started packing my bags, and realized that my PJ's consist of Derek's old T-shirts that after years and years of wear and tear, are stained and extremely holey. And then sweat pants. Its quite embarrasing actually... I never really paid too much attention to them until recently.
Derek and I were also talking about when we think the baby will be coming. Derek thinks that sometime this week she will come. I, on the other hand, think she's going to hold off for much longer.
I've always wondered if my job caused me to have Jadon so early. During the last couple months at the clinic, we were under a ton of stress trying to learn a new program, and then when they went live with the new program, it was just HORRIBLY stressful. Also, the last month that I was there, we were having to train a bunch of new people, which is stressful enough in itself, but with the new program, it was absolutely awful. Anyways, 2 weeks after I quit my job, I ended up in the hospital, only to have him a week later. So, i've always wondered if my major stress at my job caused me to have him early, since extreme stress can cause early labor. Only time will tell I guess! We've got one more shot in 2 days, and then i'm done, and she'll be free to come whenever she pleases!

Some good news (I hope) is that I haven't been nauseated in the mornings for most of this week! I say I hope because I've had a couple days here and there in the past when I havent been nauseated, and then it comes back again... so I am hoping that it is gone for good!!
The bad news is, now I am getting hungry by 9:30 or 10am... and I mean STARVING hungry! To the point where I have almost no energy to make it through until lunchtime.

In other news-

Well, Derek and I are growing increasingly suspicious of one of our neighbors. Its a man who lives alone in his house.... he's probably in his 50's or 60's. Anyways, he used to live a block away with some lady (who we get mail for all the time from drug and alchohol rehab centers.) Then a couple years ago, he moved into the house across the street to our side. He's always been a very private person... I dont think i've ever seen his blinds opened the entire time he's lived there. Which is fine, some people are just private. Anyways, weird things have been going on at his house lately... we've called the cops a couple months ago when a guy and girl were trying to get into the house for 30-45 minutes without any luck. We'd never seen them before.
We've seen this man arrested at his house before.
Recently we think someone broke into his car.
The cops are at this mans house ALOT.
Lately, he's been doing some weird things... like installing a piece of board to the top of his fence that looks like a saw (like to keep people from climbing over the fence.)
Last week, he installed a servailance camera outside his house.
He also has had a red porch light for awhile, but recently added a blue light to one of the lights by his fence as well..... however, they are not always on.
Tonight, he traded the blue light for a motion flood light, as well as the light on the other side of his garage. This evening, he kept coming out of his house about every 1 minute (and i'm not exaggerating that)... going to the end of his driveway, looking down the street (like he was waiting for someone), then would go back inside.

We are just starting to get really suspicious of his activities. We joke about him being a drug dealer or something, but its really not funny... and lately we've been failing to find any humor in his weirdness. We dont like living next to someone that we know nothing about, who has strange activity at his house, and cops there all the time. Whether he deals drugs or what, we are not liking it... especially since i'm home alone all day, and we are trying to raise our young children.

Anyways, Derek's been looking online at houses for sale lately. This is such a horrible time to sell a house, but tonight after his weird antics (by the way, he is still going outside his house looking every couple of minutes... and its been well over 3 hours since he started doing it) Derek said he feels like we should hurry up and get the house upgraded and put on the market asap. We are beginning to feel very uncomfortable living next door to him. Between my wild imagination, and from watching too many crime drama's on TV, I just imagine all the worst things that could happen. It just stinks living next to someone who makes you feel very uneasy like this.

Sadly, we are now constantly watching his house for anything weird, suspicious or different. If something is going on at his house, I want to know about it, even if that means spying on him all the time!

The Name Game

When you're expecting a new baby, one thing that people ALWAYS ask you is "do you have a name picked out?" I'm guilty of asking too. Well, I hate when complete strangers ask, since we are not telling the name until she's born... I feel stupid telling a complete stranger that I can't tell them because we aren't telling until after the birth. So, this time around, i've just been telling strangers that we haven't really talked about names much.... which is completely true! We've had our kids names picked out since before we were married... so we haven't had to talk much about names during our pregnancies.

Anyways, I know everyone just hates it that we won't tell names until after baby is born. But, we have good reasons for it.
First of all, we find out the gender, so we have to keep SOMETHING a surprise!
Secondly, EVERYONE has an opinion about names, whether its good or bad, and to be honest- we just don't care what everyone's opinions are. So, if we don't tell the name, we don't have to worry about people whining and complaining about the name! Because, after she's born, and we announce the name, there's pretty much no turning back, so people just have to keep their mouths shut. :)

With that said, I will give you a couple clues that will be of absolutely no help to you if you're trying to think of the name! :)
First clue- Neither first nor middle is a family name on any side! We decided long ago that we would never do a family name because there's no doubt that there would always be someone in the family who would get their feelings hurt.
Second clue- both Jadon's and Baby Girls full names (first, middle, and last) have the same amount of letters.
Third clue- I expect some people will think the name is hiteous. Thats ok, because its our child and we can name her Sticky Bugar if we want to! ;) But ultimately, we love the name and after everyone finds out why they will understand..... but that won't necessarily change how they feel about it though.
Fourth clue- its not a Jr. name. (for example Alicia Jr.... it just dawned on me, do they do Jr. names for girls?? Or is that just a boy thing?)
Fifth clue- dont worry, its not a weird name like Apple or Coco! :)

Its September!!

Lets have a baby this month!!! :)

Well, we reached 35 weeks, so this is officially the longest i've been pregnant now. And as miserably uncomfortable as I am, I'm praying we make it to 36/37 weeks at least. We'd like to be able to bring our baby girl home after a couple days rather than after a week in the NICU!

So, I think its safe to assume that based on the size Jadon was when he was born at this time, the baby should be close to 5.5 lbs, and 19 inches! Amazing!! There's never a moment in my life when i'm NOT completely amazed by the beauty of pregnancy!

I feel so blessed! Thinking about how far we've come now, I feel blessed, amazed, and this whole thing is so surreal still! I prayed so hard for this baby to make it, and now here we are at 35 weeks and talking about when we think she's going to make her debut, and the closet is full of her clothes, and the crib is all set up, etc. And oddly enough, there's still days when I dont really feel pregnant. Even though my belly is hard as a rock and uncomfortable and morphs into strange shapes as the baby moves around. And even though I pee about 900 times a day and feel sick in the mornings still. Even though I can hardly make it to lunch because i'm so out of energy by 10:30am. Even though having this baby is all I can think about right now... I still dont feel like i'm actually pregnant. Like I said, its surreal to me, and I don't think i'll really truly believe it until I am in labor.

I am also so grateful that God is giving us the chance to raise a boy and a girl! I was in Target last week getting some baby stuff, and I was looking at baby girl clothes, and as I wandered on, the clothing sizes got bigger until it was bigger toddler stuff, and I looked up at all the racks, and saw all the boys clothes, and girls clothes, and I just felt so lucky to get to experience both. I know this is probably a silly thing to be so excited over considering how much I would have LOVED to have another boy. However, regardless of what the gender of this baby ended up being, this is most likely our last. We are bursting at the seams in our house, and really couldnt fit a third child in here. Plus, the thought of having to go through all of what we went through last year again is not very appealing to either Derek or I. And, for my own selfish reason, I HATE FIRST TRIMESTER thanks to the horrific weekly migraines I got. So, I feel grateful that God is blessing us with not only a mommy's boy, but a daddy's girl too.

Speaking of mommy's boy, have I mentioned before how much I LOVE cuddling with Jadon in the morning??? The other day I got up before him, and when he woke up, I heard him go into our room, and then I didnt hear him anymore, so I went up to see what he was doing. He was standing in the doorway to our room looking out and I told him good morning, and he points to our bed and mumbles something along the lines of "want mommy to cuddle with Jadon." So, how could I turn that down!!! Of course I laid down and cuddled with him! :) He seems to love this little tradition as much as me. I hope and pray that it doesnt change after the baby comes. Its such a special time for me.... it really makes all the tantrums, all the mood swings, all the messy meals, all the trials of being a mother to a busy toddler boy SO worth it!

I found an old doll of mine the other day, and we've been "practicing" with the doll, so here he is playing with the doll in the bouncer.


And here he is trying to learn to ride his tricycle a week or so ago.

By the way, I forgot to mention that I changed the background of the blog to something a little more "girly" in preparation to welcome our little girl.

34 weeks, 6 days!!!

We've reached the day in the pregnancy when Jadon was born! This is a HUGE milestone!! Now, every day that i'm pregnant after today will be the most pregnant i've ever been.
Wasnt sure if I was going to make it to today! Yesterday morning I was feeling pretty crampy, but nothing too frequent or regular, so I didnt bother trying to time them or anything... just kept my eye on them. The cramping was gone by the time we were done eating lunch, and I was fine the rest of the day. Derek wouldnt let me do anything all day. So, he was Mr. Mom. He cleaned, cooked dinner, took care of Jadon and me, etc. Plus, I think he had a burst of the nesting instinct too because he was doing all this cleaning- Moving things around so he could vacuum underneath stuff, and mopping... that sort of thing. It was pretty amusing to see him scurying about all day, he seemed to be tireless! He's so sweet! :)
Anyways, i've had a headache the last couple days, so I havent wanted to do a whole lot anyways.

This morning I woke up feeling like I was getting the stomach flu... my head was pounding still, and anytime I sat up I felt like I was going to throw up. That had Derek and I both worried because the morning I had Jadon, I woke up feeling sick like that in the hospital, and I was sure that one of the nurses must've passed on a bug to me. I got up, took some tylenol, and Derek stayed home from work for a bit to take care of Jadon. After an hour or so I was feeling much better... I think my stomach ache was just the popcorn I ate last night not agreeing well with me because I kept burping it, and now I will never eat popcorn again!

But, the bottom line is, I feel like a ticking time bomb now, and any little thing that happens makes us think that now is the time!

Doppler

I'm getting ready to send back the doppler that I've been renting, except that i'm having a hard time saying goodbye to it. I know, i'm a weirdo! But, its been such a lifesaver for me since I was at 15 weeks, I almost feel like its been a good friend who's been there for me everytime I have needed the extra support. I dont know how I would have gotten through the last few months without it. Its been my lifeline!!! I had always planned to send it back around 20 weeks when you can definately feel baby moving. However, up until around 26 weeks, id still go a day or two where I wouldnt feel her moving regularly, and it would scare me to death. And then after that I kept thinking that if I sent it back, I knew something bad would happen and I'd wish I had the doppler with me to check on baby. I still feel like that sometimes.

Anyways, my doppler has been worth every penny of what we've spent on renting it (which is $25/month.) And i'm so glad my hubby has been so supportive of me needing it. I'm sure at times he's thought I was completely nuts, but he's kept his mouth shut like a good boy. ;)

So, my time with my doppler is drawing to a close, and it wont be long now until we are holding our baby girl!

My water broke!

Not this time, but when i was pregnant with Jadon, today is the day when my water broke with him! At 34 weeks and 2 days. Such a weird thought!
Derek made us a video of Jadon's first year of life so we can see what we have to look forward to again with having a baby in the house. Seeing him in the hospital, so tiny and completely helpless..... sometimes I look at him, and its strange to me that he is upright, and walking around, talking, eating, running, playing, etc. Considering how they start out completely helpless and dependent, and here 2.5 years later he is a little person!! Absolutely Amazing to say the least!!!

I only have 2 more progesterone shots left! I cant believe it! When I'm done, i'll be more than happy for her to come anytime after I finish them! I am getting sooo uncomfortable! And my belly itches sometimes, and my old stretch marks from my pregnancy with Jadon are growing new stretchmarks. I know its a small price to pay, but its sad to see them growing. Especially since i've gained less than half of what I gained with Jadon at this point. :(

Tic toc tic toc.....

I think she's coming early. This morning I am almost 100% certain I lost my mucus plug. This means that the labor process has begun (the cervix has begun to efface and dilate), although after lots of research, once you lose your plug, labor can begin anywhere from a day to 3 weeks later. Keeping my fingers crossed that it doesnt happen until closer to the 3 week mark!!

I had another OB appt this afternoon, and saw one of the other doctors. She didnt seem concerned about it, just wants me to keep doing the shots (I only have 3 left!!!) and if anything changes to call them. My blood pressure was creeping up a tad, but still within an acceptable range... whew!!! Next appt in 2 weeks I will get checked for Group B strep, and see if i'm dilating and they'll be able to tell me if my "cork" is really gone! ;)

Strangely enough, today is the day in the pregnancy when I lost my plug with Jadon... didnt realize this until after this mornings incident! The difference is that with him, I also started spotting right before I lost it.

So what do we do now? Well, Derek is now insisting that I start taking it easy and rest a lot to try to keep her in as long as possible!! Thankfully, i've done most of the cleaning and organizing that I wanted to do before she comes, so I dont need to protest with him! ;) And i've got all her clothes washed, dried and hung. I've got my new bedside cosleeper all set up (thanks mom!!!!!) Really, all thats left is the baby! I know I mentioned that I was going to spend a day cooking meals for after she comes, but I decided that the thought of being in the kitchen ALL DAY LONG, and even worse on my FEET all day long, was really not appealing at all. So, i've picked out a bunch of recipes, and have been making 2 meals a week, but instead of cooking all day, i've just been making the meals for dinner, but then doubling the recipies so that I can freeze the other half of them. Its worked out really well!! I have 6 meals in the freezer waiting for me now!

So, I really feel all set and ready, but praying she stays put for at least 2 more weeks!

Nows your chance.....

So, just a reminder about the baby poll! If you want to change your guesses, now's the time to do it! And here's a little helpful hint: Derek weighed 6lbs 14oz at birth, and he was 19.5 inches long. I weighed 8lbs 13oz at birth, and was 21 inches long. (Jadon was 5lbs 6oz at birth- but he was born 5 weeks early, so i'll let you do the math to determine how big he would have been had he stayed cookin' until 40 weeks!)
It wont be long now, in fact, this thursday marks the point in the pregnancy when my water broke with Jadon!! (34weeks 2 days) Really puts into perspective how early he was!
Now watch, I say that and then she'll end up being late! ;)

Oh, and I have another cute Jadon story. ... yes, i'm getting alot of those now! Today him and I were on our way home from town, and we were behind a pickup truck that was leaking water from the back of it. I didnt even give it a second glance, but Jadon said "that truck is peein'!" ;)

More cute stories

As promised, here's a picture of Gingerbread Woman keeping Jadon company while he sleeps.


Jadon informed me yesterday that Mt. Everest is the tallest mountain.

A couple weeks ago, Jadon and I were at Michaels Craft store, (i'm making the baby's babybook), and everytime we go there, he wants to look at the stickers. But, not just any stickers! He wants to look at the instrument stickers! Well a couple weeks ago when we were there, we were in an aisle with the stickers, and these two older women overheard him talking about the instrument stickers he was holding. The one lady asked him what a couple of the instruments were, and of course he knew them all. She was impressed that he knew his instruments so well. Then she asked him if he was going to play an instrument someday and he nodded, and she asked which one and he said "oboe."

I knew that he was learning things from watching Little Einsteins! ;)

He's just too cute!

We have two trees in our backyard that were never expected to live. I put one in one of the corners without even digging a hole to put it in, and low and behold, the next spring it started growing! The other one I did try to salvage a little. I put it in a big whiskey barrel, but wasnt expecting it to get too big in that.
Well, needless to say, both trees are growing and thriving VERY well! Too well actually. They are getting to be huge, and overhanging the fences into our neighbors yards. Since we live in such close proximity to each other in our small little development, come autumn when those trees shed their leaves, its all going to end up in our neighbors yards.
So, we decided we needed to move them or do something with them. I REALLY love having them in the yard... makes me feel like we have more privacy, plus they provide great shade in the afternoons/evenings! But i'm just not sure what to do with them. It doesnt matter where we move them in the backyard, they are going to get big and shed all over the neighbors.
Tonight we cut one of them down :( and the other one we are going to try to move to the spot where that one was. I doubt this is a good solution, and we will probably end up cutting it down as well.

Anyways, the point of my story was this. I was finishing up cleaning the kitchen after dinner tonight when Derek started working on digging up the one tree. He got the wheelbarrow out, and Jadon was out in the backyard with him. I heard Jadon tell Derek "Thats a dinger binger!" He was talking about the wheelbarrow. All night long he called it a dinger binger. I'm pretty sure he got this terminology off of one of his Little Einsteins shows, but i'm not 100% sure. We were pretty amused by it though. He's just getting to the age where he says adorably cute things unknowingly. Time to get out my paper and pen and start writing down some of these cute phrases! :)

We have this pot holder that I got from someone for Christmas last year, and its a gingerbread woman. One day while we were waiting for Derek to get home from work, I was using this gingerbread woman potholder like a puppet. He loved it, and after that, Jadon really took to this potholder! Now, Gingerbread Woman (thats her name), has to do everything with him- read his books, brush his teeth, sleep in bed with him, etc.
This afternoon I went to get him up from his nap, and laying on the pillow beside him was Gingerbread Woman. He had put her comfortably resting on the pillow beside him. I took pictures that i'll have to post soon, but its pretty cute. :)

Enchanted Forest

Today we went to Enchanted Forest! I love that place, i've always loved it! This was Jadon's first time there. Jadon wasnt feeling very brave today like he was when we were at the county fair. You have to admit, some of the stuff at Enchanted Forest can be a little scary to little children. So, it started right at the beginning when you walk through all the little castles and stuff that are dark inside and some have the scarier characters from the old stories. So, he was very uneasy going through all of those to begin with. Once we got to the rides, he saw the bobsled and wanted to ride that, but Daddy said no. The thing always feels like its going to ride right off the tracks!!

Anyways, we headed up to the kiddy rides, and Jadon's new favorite word lately is "no" so everytime we asked if he wanted to go on something, he said no. We could barely even get a smile out of him... like I said, he wasnt feeling as brave as he did a couple weeks ago at the fair. Anyways, Derek talked him into going on the little kiddy train. The first time they came around, here's the look I got from Jadon... he looks like he is giving me the stink eye!

But, by the time the ride finished he was smiling and looked like he had a slightly good time.
Then we went and sat (the pregnant lady needed a rest) and we watched the Frog Hopper ride for a bit, and convinced Jadon to go on that too. He was fine until the thing started hopping, then he looked like he was going to start crying. His face was white as a sheet by the time the ride finished! However I managed to get a little smirk out of him at the end of the ride.

One of his favorite parts was the water/light show. He loves sprinklers and water, so we knew he'd like that. It had him entranced through almost the whole thing, and he barely moved a muscle, which is weird since he is such a BUSY BODY!
Anyways, here's some other pictures throughout the beginning of the park. Just so Derek couldnt argue with me, I quickly suggested he take mine and Jadon's picture in front of humpty dumpty... my hope was that Humpty would make me look skinnier, but I dunno, I think we look pretty close in shape! :) At least Jadon's smiling!!
He also enjoyed the crooked house, but I didnt get a smile from him until he was coming out.
Derek took him down the big slide from the woman who lived in a shoe. His expression going down was the same that he had going down the slide at the fair- terror!
One of his favorite parts was an area where you can insert quarters and you get to drive a boat around. He and another little boy who was close to his age stood there next to each other "driving" the boats (neither was actually driving as there were no quarters in either of their machines)... he had a blast doing that, and we could have stayed there all day if we had let him!
This was supposed to go up with the other train pictures, but i'm too lazy to move it. This was his face before the train started moving.... he wanted to get off.
By the time we left, I think he enjoyed himself somewhat, and he passed out in the car pretty quickly! Hopefully next year when we go he'll enjoy it a little more.

The germ freaks nightmare

Last night I had a dream that the neighborhood sewer system was not working properly, and everyones toilets and drains were backing up into their houses. This was just a problem in our neighborhood only that was apparently caused by everyone in the neighborhood using antibacterial soap. The soap was causing the pipes to get clogged. So, to fix the problem, they banned the entire neighborhood from using any antibacterial soaps. *gasp!!!!*

I also had a dream that I got preeclampsia and I had to deliver the baby early.

And a third dream I remember had a great big spider in it, but thats all I remember of that dream.

Obviously i'm not sleeping well at night, and this time its not because of Jadon!

Camera

We got our new camera last night! I have to admit, I am a little intimidated by it! Its so big and theres soooooo much to it! Derek seems to be having a blast learning all the ropes to it though.... so that makes me nervous! I'm afraid he'll have the camera all the time now, and I'll end up in all the pictures! This camera also has the video function, like our last camera. This was important to us! We love our little video's!

Anyways, today is Derek's friday at work. He has friday and monday off for our anniversary, which is on sunday! Usually he takes a week off, but he wants to save as much time as possible for when the baby is born.
I am so proud of him... he just had his yearly review at work, and the review was EXCELLENT! I have always known that he is a fantastic worker, and an asset to any company, but its nice that he is finally in a company and under management that recognizes all his hard work! He never got any credit at the clinic, and it would make me so mad!
Unfortunately he doesnt get a great raise for his excellent review (doesnt get any raise at all actually.) But hopefully once the economy picks up again, they'll promote him or something! We're just thankful that he has a job!

I am beginning to get really uncomfortable, and wonder how in the world i'm going to make it 2 more months, and how in the world this baby is going to be able to fit anymore growth in there! I cannot get comfortable for the life of me. Sitting is really uncomfortable- my belly feels like its jammed up into my throat, and the baby always has her heel crammed up in my ribs. Standing isnt comfortable either- my feet and back begin hurting from all the extra weight (which by the way, i've gained about 15 pounds so far. With Jadon, I gained 35 pounds total, so i'm hoping to not gain as much this time around!) Laying down isnt very comfortable either thanks to the heartburn. So, i'm beginning to feel very ready to have this baby and get my comfort back! :) I'm feeling very restless and irritable since I cant get comfortable!

Oh dear

Well, I spent the entire weekend with a migraine. Yes, thats right, a migraine. I havent had one since shortly after first trimester ended, so the fact that I got one now really worries me. I'm afraid i'm going to start getting migraines again in this last stretch. In an effort to try to not freak myself out over the thought of more migraines, I tried to tell myself that I'm almost done, only 8 more weeks at the most (unless she's late), I can do this!! Then I started thinking, if theres 8 weeks left, and worst case scenario, I get 1 migraine a week (which is about how often I got them in the first trimester), thats 8 migraines. They all last at least 2 days, so thats 16 days worth of migraines... thats more than 2 weeks!!!!!!!! The absolutely mortifies me!!! So, i'm hoping and praying that this weekends migraine was just a fluke!! I look forward to being able to take my migraine meds again! Thankfully I am able to take them while breastfeeding!

Well I had my latest appt yesterday, and all is good. I was worried that my blood pressure would be going up and they'd make me go on bedrest because of it, but so far it held steady. So, i'm bedrest free for another 2 weeks until my next appt when hopefully it will stay down again!!!
So all was good at the appt, I measured right on, baby's heartrate was in the 140's, and everything seems to be moving along well. Other than this HORRIBLE heartburn that I am getting. I've been taking a full dose of Zantac for a couple months now, and its starting to not be as effective, and in the early morning hours when i'm trying to sleep, the heartburn is keeping me awake. So, my next option is to do something stronger, so my OB suggested Prilosec. So, i'll be picking up some of that today and praying that it does the job better! I need all the sleep I can get now!
Derek's been treating me like a helpless puppy. ;) I think he is worried about the baby coming early again, and is trying to keep me as stress free as possible so that she'll stay in there longer. So, pretty much when he is around I am not aloud to do much of anything. ;) And when he is at work all day, he is telling me that I just need to sit and relax all day. Its sweet, I really have such a sweet, caring husband! :)

Jadon has definately hit terrible 2's lately. I like to call it toddler PMS. He'll be fine one minute, then having a cow the next. Or, he'll ask for something, so we'll give it to him, then he'll throw a fit that we are giving it to him because now he doesnt want it anymore. Its really quite amusing!

Well, I think thats about it on our end!

Anniversary camera

As you can see by the ticker on the right, our 6 year anniversary is less than 2 weeks away! Then in September we will have our other anniversary... of when we started dating. That will be 10 years!!!!!! Its hard to believe! There's nothing better than being married to your best friend and sharing your lives together! :)

Anyways, this year for our anniversary we decided that instead of getting each other gifts, we will just go and get ourselves a really nice camera. Our little digital camera has gotten lots of good use. Actually, we got our first digital right before our wedding, and that lasted us several years and several vacations. Then like 2 days before Jadon was born we got our current digital camera, and it has seen ALOT of miles as well, but not road miles- picture miles! We have SO MANY PICTURES of our little man!!! Now a few weeks ago that camera started making strange noises when we turn it on, so before our daughter arrives, we want to make sure we have a camera that isnt going to die on us right before she's born!

So, I cant wait to get the new camera and start sharing better quality pictures with you all! :)

County fair

We spent the evening at the fair. We got in free thanks to Derek's employer, also got a free dinner, thanks to Derek's employer. We just had to pay for parking and for the ride tickets. So, we only spent $22 total!

It was Jadon's first trip to the fair, and the first time Derek and I had been in many years... possibly a decade or more. It was incredibly hot, and I was dripping with sweat.

Derek went with Jadon on 3 little kiddy rides (I was not allowed on any rides since i've got a baby on board.) Anyways, we were a little worried how he'd react to the rides. He enjoyed watching the bigger ones while we were eating dinner. First he went on the carousel while Derek stood next to him and held him. He was smiling from ear to ear, and seeing his little face light up like that just about made my stomach flop into my throat and make me cry.

Then he went on a rollercoaster that was a pretty good rollercoaster for a little guy like Jadon. Derek could barely fit in the seat and had to contort his body to make himself fit. Anyways, Jadon didnt show much emotion on that ride, but he didnt look worried or scared.

Next was the big slide, and looking back at the pictures I took, he had a terrified look on his face the whole way down. Pretty amusing, but he still seemed to like it.

We also went and looked at all the animals, and he liked the horses.

Before the ride started

During the carousel ride

This is the rollercoaster before it started... it amuses me looking at how small of a place Derek had to fit into.. .he looks like a giant sittin in it!
There they are, second seat from the back, you can barely see Jadon's little head poking up over the side of the seat.
Here's the bottom of the slide... kindof hard to see Jadon's expression though :(

I cant wait to take a shower now! :)

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.

OB appt and glucose test

Today I had my glucose tolerance test. I dont mind drinking the drink, so it wasnt bad. My biggest problem is trying to drink it in 5 minutes... I like to sip my drinks, so I rarely chug-a-lug! I dont know when i'll find out if I passed the test or not... but hopefully I did!

In the middle of the test, I had an OB appt. My doctor got called out on an emergency, and another doctor was in surgery, and another doctor was out of the office... so that left 1 OB and 1 PA left in the office. So, I saw the PA today... she seemed a little overwhelmed, afterall, I dont think she really deals with OB patients as much as GYN patients. So, she did a good job considering the circumstances. Anyways, I measured big still- 27 weeks (i'll be 26 weeks on tuesday.) And baby's head is down still, so thats good! Lets just hope she stays that way!

I go back in a couple weeks for my other ultrasound to check the baby's kidney to see if its dilated still. If it is, then they will just do an ultrasound on the baby after the she is born. My OB told me at my last appt that its really not a big deal and its so common. So, we're excited to see her again, and get another verification that she's really a "she!"

So, I dont go back now until early August. Thats 6 weeks away, and I dont know if the receptionist meant to do that or not (usually you go every 4 weeks.) I'll be 32 weeks then!!!! YIKES!!! Also, at around this time in the pregnancy, you schedule all the rest of your appts until you deliver, because after my next appt, i'll go every 2 weeks, then the last month i'll go every week. It was really surreal scheduling all those! It felt like I can finally see a light at the end of this long tunnel! We're almost to the home stretch now!!! WOW!!!!!

Latest belly pix

I'm 25 weeks and 3 days pregnant today.... its been almost 2 weeks since my last belly pic, so here's the latest:



I've lost my chin, and my face is so fat, and my boobs are disappearing! Unfortunately I have never been blessed with growing boobs during pregnancy.... but that is probably a good thing!!:) Of course, I cant blame that on this pregnancy... that was already beginning to happen after gaining 15 pounds after the miscarriages last year! Needless to say, after having to look at my picture every 2 weeks (belly pix), and post them here in complete embarrasment, I am seriously motivated to get back in shape after the baby is born!!!!!
On a more positive note, my belly grew!! I'm so glad! I have felt like it hasnt grown at all in the last month, but it looks like it has! I woke up this morning and felt bigger, and noticed that my shirt was getting tighter and shorter around my belly! Horray! That makes me feel better because I took a big leap today and ordered the crib! I was so nervous ordering it, and I still dont feel the same excitement that I felt when we ordered Jadon's crib. I guess i'm afraid i'll jinx it or something.
Here's the crib:
http://www.simplybabyfurniture.com/071119.html

Anyways, saturday we are going to the coast. Lincoln City has a kite fesitval in June and October (and an indoor one in March), so we thought it would be alot of fun to go to that with Jadon. Plus, he loves the beach! And its supposed to be 70 there tomorrow! I'll be sure to take lots of pictures!

Can you guess what this is?

Any guesses what that is???? I'll give you a clue- its not poop!

The other night, Derek was trying to dish up some chocolate ice cream for himself, and it was really hard, and I think his hand must've slipped and the scoop of ice cream went flying under the microwave stand. We died laughing when he moved the microwave stand and that is what we saw! Good times!! :)

Our cute son

Took some videos and pictures of Jadon in the last couple of days and thought i'd share them with you since they are so cute!

This video is of him singing a song from Little Einsteins. It goes "This is my new song, you can sing along, I love when you and I sing a song." When he sings "love", he crosses his arms trying to do the sign for love. Oh yeah, and the balloon was from our Day out with Thomas... it was a weiner dog, but he took it apart and was using it as a microphone and a weed eater. Yes, a weed eater. He has a weird fascination with yard tools that make noise, and can match each sound with the correct lawn tool- ie- lawn mower, weed eater, leaf blower, etc.

This one was just a cute one of him drinking through a fun straw.

And here's just a couple cute pictures.

What a ham! Anyways, we've been really busy this week, Jadon and I have had alot of errands to run, and Derek is CRAZY busy at work with a big project. I have even devoted many of my "breaks" (my hour long break when Jadon is napping) to helping Derek out by being his test subject. And even some evenings when i'm dealing with a hungry, cranky toddler, and trying to cook dinner at the same time. I keep telling him I should get paid for my services, but I have yet to see a paycheck. ;)

Our day out with Thomas (beware: picture overload)

Today we FINALLY got to go spend the day with Thomas the Train! After months, then weeks, then days of telling Jadon that we were going to go ride Thomas, it finally happened!
It was alot of fun! The drive up to Hood River was good- no traffic problems and clear weather.

We left home at 9:45am, and got to Hood River at 11:45am. Then we park, and board a school bus (which Jadon was thrilled about because he loves buses) and it shuttled us to the Day Out With Thomas event area. We had 2 hours until our train ride, so we went across the street and grabbed some pizza for lunch.

Then after lunch we went back to the event. They had all kinds of fun (and free) little booths of fun things for young kids to do.


First off, Jadon got a temporary tattoo of Thomas on his hand.


Next up I made him stand next to a poster of Thomas so I could get his picture. Of course he wouldnt smile for nothin'... he is much like his mommy and gets overwhelmed in large crowds, plus he had so many things to look at.

They had a bunch of bubble bowls set up with big wands for making bubbles with, and he enjoyed that. If you look closely, you can see a smile. ;)


There was a big, open tent set up with arts and crafts type things, and several sets of Thomas the Train toy tracks set up. Those were a hit with all the kids.
Here he is using stamps on a Thomas picture. He had alot of fun with the stamps.


Here I am helping him make a necklace out of noodles. He wasnt very interested in that. It was hard to get the noodles on the string, even for me.


Then it was time to ride Thomas!


When I ordered our tickets way back in March, I picked one of the back trains to ride on so that if we went around a corner, Jadon could see Thomas up ahead of us on the tracks. Turned out to be a good pick because there was only one other family in that car with us. So we basically got the whole car to ourselves! Unfortunately there was too much vegetation to see Thomas on the tracks in front of us on corners. The train ride was a half hour long, and it was very lulling, Jadon looked about ready to pass out several times. I felt like curling up on the seat and taking a quick snooze too.

No, thats not a whale Jadon's sitting next to. Derek insisted that he get a picture of the two of us on the train.

After the train ride, we stopped and saw Sir Topham Hat. Alot of the kids were afraid of him and threw fits when they were supposed to stand next to him for pictures. Jadon was one of those kids (was afraid of him... he didnt throw a fit though.) So, this is the best (and only) picture I got of him and Sir Topham Hat. Poor Sir Topham Hat!

Next stop was the balloon artist (is that what they are called???) Jadon got a weener dog.

Finally we headed to the gift shop, where they had another train set up and it ran all by itself, and I think that was the highlight of Jadon's day. He saw this train going and he was all smiles as he watched it.

Next stop was the little petting zoo, to which I failed to get any pictures. The sheep were sooo friendly, and came up to him and let him pet them alot. He really liked that also and kept talking about it in the car. By then we were beginning to get pooped, so we decided to board the bus and head back to our car. As you can see, he was exhausted.

We had planned to stop at Multnomah Falls on our way home, but shortly after we got onto I-84 after leaving Thomas, we ran into a torrential downpour. The day started out a little gray, and I thought for sure we'd have a few sprinkles at the event. However the sun came out and was there the whole time until shortly before we left when some gray clouds started rolling in. The forecast had been for p.m. showers, so I wasnt surprised to see the clouds... I WAS surprised at the flood of rain that we ended up getting on our drive. I'm telling you, i've never driven in rain like that before except in Florida. It was so hard to see, and finally when we got to Multnomah Falls, Derek decided to get off the interstate and wait for the rain to pass. Visibility was pretty much nothing, it was horrendous, and needless to say, I was a nervous wreck. We didnt get out and see the falls since it was pouring, and Jadon was passed out anyways. We waited for a bit, but the rain wasnt letting up, so we got back on the interstate and headed off with caution. It continued to pour the rest of the drive, and there were massive puddles all over the place. On top of that, it was getting to be rush hour, so traffic was awful.

We stopped almost as soon as we saw a sign for Portland, and decided that the first Food sign we saw, we'd get off and eat at. That turned out to be Elmers. While in Elmers, it continued raining hard. When we finished and went to get back on the freeway, the traffic was still horrific, so Derek thought maybe we'd find a mall nearby and could wait it out a little so we didnt have to deal with that traffic. Well, I dont know where the heck in Portland we were, but we didnt find any malls or anywhere to go for that matter, so we tried to head back but since it was rush hour, it took us 45 minutes to finally get back on the freeway. Then from there it didnt get much better. The rain stopped shortly after we got on the freeway though, and it looked like it hadnt even rained the rest of the way home. We didnt get home until 8pm, and Jadon was full of energy after having sat for so long, so we let him stay up for awhile and burn some energy off...(plus he hadnt pooped yet and he doesnt go a day without pooping, so we knew it was in there waiting to come out!)

Overall it was a fun family outing, but a horrible drive home. We did get a family picture taken with Thomas, but I will have to order it. Anyways, its late and time for bed now! I'm so wiped out! Hopefully we'll all sleep good tonight!

Another milestone reached!

Today I got my Progesterone refilled! For me, that was just another milestone to gladly be reached! After getting it, I got back into my car, and felt so relieved and happy to have reached this far that I almost cried. This pregnancy has been nothing but milestones.

First trimester, every day that passed successfully was a new milestone reached. Also, making it to each appt was a milestone. Other milestones: Getting to second trimester, making it to 16 weeks when i would start the progesterone shots, feeling baby moving, making it to the big ultrasound, making it to 24 weeks (viability).

From here, I have so much more confidence in this, yet i'll always be guarded because it still seems like its too good to be true, and I know alot can happen still. I know i'll get alot of negative comments about my pessimism, but thats just how I am. Right now, id rather not be in oblivion to things that could still happen, and then find out something has gone wrong and be completely dumbfounded. Like i've mentioned in previous posts, I like to be prepared for things. BUT, with that said, I am slowly beginning to relax more and more and I am thrilled and beyond belief and so grateful to be where I am today!

I keep looking at her ultrasound picture, and I am blown away by it. Its the most beautiful thing i've ever seen. To know that the little head in the picture is IN me, moving around and growing. I didnt feel much that way with Jadon. Mostly because the thought of labor/delivery scared the you-know-what out of me, but also because i'd only had one miscarriage and thought that i'd never have another one again. Having had several, I look at pregnancy in a completely different way now. My heart aches for women who struggle to get pregnant, or to stay pregnant. I wish with all my heart that I could do something to help them. I know how frustrating it is to feel like your body is letting you down in doing what it was created to do. To see pregnant women all over the place, to hear about people popping babies out left and right. Its such a frustrating and hopeless feeling. Its also something that so many people cannot understand. But, at the same time, there are alot of people who can understand.

When I got pregnant this time, I joined an online support group for women who are expecting after having had a loss. It has been so great to hear that I am not the only one who feels the way I feel, knowing that there are so many women out there who are pregnant and scared out of their minds that they will lose yet another baby, and at the same time, being able to share the excitement and triumph of reaching each new milestone. Seeing that I am not the only one who has horrible dates burned into my memory- Feb 2nd, the day my first little one was due. June 5th, the day I lost my first little one. Feb 17th, the day my 2nd angel baby was due. July 6th, the day my 2nd angel baby grew wings. November 1st, the day my 4th angel went to heaven.
BUT, amidst all of these bad dates, theres also some wonderful dates too: April 18th, the day Jadon was due... March 13th, the day he chose to come instead. And of course August 16th, the day I married my best friend! I'm hopeful that October 6th will be another positive date to add to my growing list of dates!

Well, I did not mean for this to go on like this. The purpose of this post was to celebrate another milestone on this crazy rollercoaster!

VIABILITY!!!

Today i'm 24 weeks, and to the point where the baby would have a chance to survive outside the womb if for some reason she was delivered now. I've been counting down the weeks until this day since about 16 weeks! From what i've heard, babies born at 24 weeks have about a 40% chance of survival with intensive neonatal care. By 26 weeks, theres a 60% chance, and with each week that passes, the odds increase dramatically from there.

She let me know that she was doing ok last night while I was laying in bed by moving around like CRAZY! And when I woke up this morning, she started in again. I can now breath a *little* sigh of relief to have reached this milestone.