Names

Thank you so much to everyone who voted for a name! It definitely helped me to know that a lot of people like the name Julian. It's still not my favorite, but I'm more comfortable with it now. It's still my husband's favorite and all of a sudden my daughter has decided she likes Julian Alexander, after repeatedly saying she didn't like any of the names. I suspected some coaching by Daddy but he denies it. I can't even get her to accept Julian Nathaniel as a possibility - she is insisting on Julian Alexander. Hubby still hasn't told me his final decision so I don't know, but I am assuming Baby Boy's name will probably be Julian. I think I should get to decide on the middle name and I am quite partial to Nathaniel because of it's meaning (Gift of God).

I'm trying to call him by Julian every now and then but it still doesn't feel right to me. I'm sure that will change after he is born!

28 week visit

Today I am 27 weeks and 4 days pregnant....
Blood Pressure: 138/82, up from 118/70-something 4 weeks ago
Weight: up 6.6 pounds from 4 weeks ago
Fundal Height: 31cm
Baby's Heart Rate: 167
So.... I'm measuring very large at this point. Almost 3 1/2 weeks ahead, and we all know it isn't because my due date is off. It's also not because I've gained too much weight, because I've only gained about 14 pounds, although the weight gain has definitely picked up in the past couple weeks. So, I'm a bit concerned about gestational diabetes, being as that I am high risk for it. I take the test next week so I guess we'll see. The nurse wasn't concerned about anything, but she also couldn't really be bothered to devote much time to me, as usual. I think that consistently measuring further and further ahead is a possible concern. I also think my blood pressure is a possible concern, since I'm borderline for hypertension right now. 140/90 is the point at which you are considered for preeclampsia. I'm quite surprised and a bit ticked that they aren't bothering to even test my urine for protein (they never tested it when I was pregnant with my daughter too - I thought it was something you were supposed to get every visit???) or do anything else to make sure everything is ok. Guess that unless I actually develop preeclampsia, and end up in Labor & Delivery, they probably won't concern themselves with anything. That'd be the norm for the quality of care we get.

Right now I'm just going to assume that everything is fine and just keep an eye on my symptoms (shortness of breath, headaches, high blood pressure, somewhat rapid weight gain, all signs which they are ignoring). I still think the headaches and shortness of breath are because I've been sick for a month, so hopefully the antibiotic they finally gave me will help with that. And it doesn't help that I seem to have a linebacker cooking in the oven which limits my lung capacity! I swear, this boy might be a 9 pounder or more! I hope not, because I have some cute newborn clothes for him!

I guess what I'm saying is that everything appears to be fine right now, so I'm not too worried!

Nursery progress

Here is what the room looked like originally.

First step was to remove the old furniture. Then we painted the blue.

Last night, we spent about 2 hours putting the border on 2 1/2 walls. Only 1 1/2 to go!

Boy am I beat! I've been trying to do too much.... but there is so much to do! I feel like I'm running out of time. The c-section should be in 11 weeks give or take a few days! In that time, here are some of the 'projects' that have to be completed:
-Finish putting up the border
-Reassemble crib
-Buy dresser
-Decide on room arrangement
-Finish shopping for essentials
-Wash everything, put bedding on crib and the queen mattress I'll be sleeping on
-Organize all the clothes, blankets, etc
-Finish crocheting blanket, which won't be quick or easy
-Cut and shape cushions for glider
-Buy sewing machine and learn how to use it
-Make cushion covers
-Probably redecorate daughters room so she doesn't feel left out
And anything else that we think of or happens to come up!

Can you see why I'm stressed? I am, however, very excited about the projects. The nursery is coming together just the way I wanted, so hopefully everything else will too!

Sewing Help

I bought a glider today. Used, not in great shape but works fine. Cushions are disgusting, even after washing. So, I plan to make new cushions. I've even picked out the fabric and plan to get it tomorrow. I am assuming that I can use polyfoam for the cushions and just sew covers for them.

Does anyone know anything about this? I don't sew - I've been considering a sewing machine for a long time, and if anyone can advise me on how to make these cushion covers I have no problem buying a machine to do it. Hopefully it will be easy to learn. I certainly have other uses for the sewing machine (I'm constantly hemming my daughters clothes by hand) so it would be money well spent.

My only alternative is probably hiring someone to make them. I looked on Cr@igs1ist and found someone advertising 35 yrs sewing experience so I can call her, but I'm not completely comfortable trusting that, plus I'd much rather save the money (assuming she'll charge a decent amount).

So, can anyone offer me any help or suggestions? Pretty please?

Working on the Nursery

Have I told you our plans for the nursery yet? Well, let me enlighten you! I'm so excited because we finally got started on it yesterday.

Our spare room is/was green. Very bright green. The color is called Honeydew and let me tell you it definitely brightens up a room! While I like the color, it was a bit much for me. I really want to do something to detract from the bright green, but wasn't sure what to do. Originally I thought about striping the room with another, darker green. Then I thought about painting the bottom half of the walls darker green. Then I had my best idea yet and thought maybe I could find a nice border with that bright green and some other color in it so I could bring another color onto the walls. After a little research, I found the perfect border here. Went to the actual store (which was an adventure in itself thanks to part of the highway being closed) and luckily they had it! It's a discontinued item so I was worried.

So, after finding the border, I got a zillion paint samples and we matched up the blue that's on the border. Yesterday we painted the top 1/3 or so of the wall blue. Now we just have to get the border up (it's going to divide the two colors). If we can do it (never done a border before) I think it'll turn out really cute! I'm super excited to get it done and terrified to get started because I'm afraid we're going to screw up the border. Wish us lots of luck please!

Wake Up Call

Every morning for a week, my daughter has woken me up by shouting "MAMA I GOT TO GO PEE" over and over until I get to her room. Now I'm sure some of you are saying, wow that's great that she tells you she needs to pee instead of peeing in her bed. Yes, that is great.... except that for 6 months or more she would hold her pee all night, wake up, play with her stuffed animals, I'd hear her playing quietly, I'd get up, wash my face, get dressed, then go get her, usually 10-15 minutes after she woke up. All of a sudden, she can't wait in the morning.

The big problem? I am not a morning person. Not in the slightest. Under normal circumstances I am not capable of jumping out of bed and, well, functioning, as soon as I wake up. Add in the pregnancy waking me up 1-2 times a night to pee, and the cough waking me up another 2-3 times, all this after I finally even manage to get to sleep, and I am not doing well in the morning. I am extremely crabby and tired. I do not appreciate being shouted at to wake up. I do not like having to immediately jump out of bed and race to her room, every morning.

Possible solutions? The only one my husband and I have thought of is teaching her to go use the potty by herself. The problems with that? She doesn't know how to wipe and she also can't seem to get her p@anties up past her butt - they get all twisted. Not to mention that she never gets out of bed without permission and I kind of like that. I like not having to worry about her leaving her room in the middle of the night.... because she won't even leave her bed. If she drops a stuffed animal, she calls for me to get it.

Oh, and I've thought about setting an alarm so I wake up before her, but she wakes up at different times every morning. This week it's been 8-8:30 every morning, but in a normal week it can be anywhere from 8:30-10am.

Also, we do limit her fluid intake in the evenings. Once dinner is over the juice/water is put away (usually an hour or more before bed), then she gets a very small drink of water right before bed, and also uses the potty.

So, I'm seeking advice, because I don't know how many more mornings I can handle being woken up by shouting and having to leap right out of bed. Any suggestions?

Name Poll

My husband asked me to poll ya'll about our name picks. Obviously we each have our favorite, but we're curious as to what others think. Without involving all the people who know us because we're considering keeping it a surprise. So here are the choices:

Alexander Jaiden
Jaiden Alexander
Jaiden Nathaniel
Julian Alexander
Julian Nathaniel

Please tell me what you like best.... and why. All of you who don't usually comment, please come out of the shadows for this one, we could really use your input! Thanks!

3D/4D Ultrasound

I made my appointment today! September 28. Unfortunately I have to drive almost an hour and a half to get to the appointment, but it should be well worth it! We did this when I was pregnant with my daughter too and it was amazing! I highly recommend it, if you can do it. I have to get my doctor to sign an authorization, which I didn't need last time (though he gave his approval, it just wasn't required), so I have to remember to get that at my next appointment.
Here's what we'll be getting.... more than we'd get if we paid $60 more and went to the place closer to home:
• Complete Limited Diagnostic Ultrasound Session
• Two colorized thermal prints of your baby/babies.
• Gender Determination* (Upon request)
• CD with 15-30 high-resolution 3D still images suitable for
printing and emailing to family and friends.
• DVD video of your ultrasound including: 2D, 3D & 4D segments (as appropriate), set to music
• One year FREE access to BabyPeeks™, a customized online Baby Website. Everything you need to share your pregnancy experience with friends and family online! ($49.95 value)

I think this will be especially good this time because our daughter will be able to clearly see a baby on the screen, moving around. She truly seems to understand the whole "baby brother in Mama's belly" thing and we've told her about how when the baby is big enough Mama will have to go to the hospital so the doctors can take the baby out of Mama's belly. She's very smart... and adorable with how she talks to her baby brother and tells him she loves him. She hugs my belly all the time and sometimes gives him kisses. So I really hope she enjoys this. It might be hard at the appointment, trying to see on the little screen, but we'll be able to put it on the big screen at home and point everything out to her.

Anyways, I'm so excited! I'm pretty sure, based on the profile ultrasound pic, that this little guy looks a lot like my husband. It'll be interesting to see the shape of his face!

I love free food and great service!

We were out running errands all afternoon yesterday, into the evening. Around 5 we decided to get some dinner. Went to one of our favorite places. Right off the bat our service was terrible. We were taken to our seats by the hostess and told she'd be back with bread as soon as it was ready (sometimes they run out and you wait a few minutes for the next batch). No big deal, she brought it right over within minutes. So our waiter finally comes to the table and takes our drink order. We told him we'd like some plates and could also use some more bread and extra butter, as we'd already gone through half of it. We waited for a while and he didn't come back. My husband went to the bathroom, returned and the waiter still hadn't come back. How long does it take to get a Dr Pepper and Iced Tea? So, finally after about 10 minutes he brings our drinks and takes our order. We told him we still needed plates and more bread and could we also please get straws for our drinks? Of course he says and walks away. We waited some more. Daughter had to go potty so my husband took her. Taking a child potty for #2 isn't super fast but when they returned our waiter still had not come back with our plates, bread, or straws. Meanwhile I had been watching the other tables around us be given fresh bread by their servers. And staring at my drink wishing I had a straw because I was thirsty! We don't like putting our mouths on restaurant glasses - we're finicky like that. So we said screw this and decided to leave. Obviously the service was probably not going to improve and we weren't going to deal with that lack of service for an entire meal.

We decided to make the manager aware (especially since we'd already ordered) so we tracked him down after having another server point him out. We explained that we were leaving and told him what had happened so far. He immediately said that he would take care of us personally from then on if we would sit back down. I was quite starving so we said ok. He directed us to a table, one booth over from where we were (the other one was already cleared off), brought us new drinks, with straws, and fresh bread and butter, with plates. Asked if we were ready to order and when we said we had given the other server our order he checked on that and verified it with us. He brought us new drinks before ours were half gone. Fresh bread and butter before we had finished our basket. Twice. Checked on us numerous times, even going so far as to apologize that the kitchen was so busy and our food was taking a long time. Which we understood, we have no problem waiting for our food on a busy night, but to wait for 20 minutes for bread, straws and plates was unacceptable!

Anyways, the food was great, the service was great, and when he brought us our check he told us he had taken care of it for our trouble. Now that's service! And that is why we love this place so much - the food is great and any time we've had a problem management has done an excellent job of taking care of it and making us happy!

That's great customer service and that's how you keep people coming back!

In case anyone is wondering, the restaurant is Tex@s R0@dhouse. Nice, casual, loud atmosphere that is perfect for bringing a toddler along and great food at realistic prices! And they obviously care about their customers!

24.5 week update

Here is a photo of a beached whale:


Looks much smaller from the front:


Definitely got a big boy cooking in there!

In other news:

The cough is still here... I think I mentioned it, but if not I have now! Just can't seem to kick it. Keep coughing up icky stuff - though doc earlier this week said my lungs sound clear. May call doc again Tuesday if it continues.

The thumb is still recovering. Last night I peeled it. Gross huh? Pretty much the entire top half of my thumb was covered in dead skin so I've gradually been 'encouraging' it off and last night a lot of it came off. It looks much better now! Still not completely healed but definitely well on it's way.

No more crocheting since I got sick. More projects to come.... I hope! Trying to convince myself to work with the yarn I have instead of buying new colors. But I think I need a dark blue. For another hat, of course!

The lovely Furrow named me a "Rockin' Girl Blogger"! I am honored! Alas, I do not know how to post the icon on my sidebar. Admittedly I haven't tried, but only because I don't think I can do it. If I figure it out, I will move ahead with nominations of my own. Perhaps when I feel better!

Well, that's about it! Off to the airport to pick up hubby!