Christmas in October

Can you believe that, with the exception of a few new addresses I need to get, I have all of my Christmas cards ready to mail? All 32 of them. Well, they need stamps, but otherwise they are ready!

And to amaze you even further.... all but a few of my baby announcements are addressed and stamped!

Now I just have to make sure I don't accidentally mail out the Christmas cards before the baby announcements have been filled in and sent (and the baby born of course!).... because I signed them with baby boy's name too and I don't want to ruin the surprise!

Oh yeah, I finished the baby blanket too! I'll post pictures soon.... maybe some nursery shots too since it's almost all ready, with the exception of the cushions for the glider. I'm so excited to show off my hard work!

I'm determined to get everything done early... because the way I've been feeling, I can't imagine this boy making it the full 39-40 weeks. I'm seriously hoping that once I'm past the 36 week mark they'll find a reason to go ahead with the c-section. As long as he's ready, which he already seems to be! He's been trying to dig his way out for awhile now! I can't believe how different everything has been this time around. I got big(ger) so much faster, and have had a lot more discomfort (and pain) this time around. Not to mention the acrobatic moves this little guy is constantly performing in there!

Pics coming soon....

Congrats and Prayers requested...

for my blogging buddy, Mony. She and I were due right around the same time, but due to kidney problems on her end her baby boy was delivered by c-section at 32 weeks. Please head over and extend your congratulations and best wishes for Mony and Cooper to have a speedy recovery! Thanks!

What the hell was that?

Ok, so apparently I finally got spam comments. Of course, I would have to get the longest, preachiest, least-sense-making spam. I couldn't even get through the whole thing just trying to skim it. I gave up.
Seriously, if you're going to spam me or preach to me or whatever the heck you were trying to do, at least make it relevant and understandable. And less than, I don't know, 100 words?
Sheesh.

30 Weeks

Time is flying by. I know I've been neglecting everyone here and I'm sorry! I keep meaning to post, but then I don't get around to it.
So here's a rundown of what's been going on:

The nursery is almost done - really, a lot of progress has been made! I'll post pitcures when it gets a little more done on it. It's just a little cluttery still.

I haven't started on the cushion covers for the glider. I do have the fabric, and the cushions have been cut, but I still haven't gotten the new sewing machine out of the box.

The granny square blanket for the baby is finally coming along. I finished the last of the squares 2 days ago and now I just need to get them all connected.

The shopping for baby stuff is almost done. At least as far as what will be needed for the first 3-6 months. Let me tell you, I am so thankful we had 3 baby showers thrown for us when pregnant with my daughter because there is no way our finances at the time would have allowed for everything we needed. This time around, because we are having a boy, we are still having to buy almost everything new. Turns out almost everything we had was pink or purple. Thankfully we are able to reuse the crib, infant carseat, a monitor, bouncy seat and some blankets. Basically everything else has been slowly purchased over the past several months. Including a dresser. I'm afraid to go back through my receipts and see the ridiculous amount of money that has been spent... and there's more to get! Until you have to actually get everything for a new baby yourself, you will never know what a wonderful gift a baby shower is! Not that I'm complaining - I'm having a blast picking out all the cute boy stuff, and we are lucky that we've been able to get by with only pulling a bit from savings. And I will admit that there are extras that weren't completely necessary that we've gotten anyways. All I'm saying is YOWZA, there is a lot to get for a baby! This is another prime example though of things that make me proud of how we manage our finances. That we are able to afford to do this on a single income, without charging anything, is a big accomplishment in my eyes. My husband and I both come from families that didn't do that great financially - money management being the primary problem in my family, lack of money the problem in his. So we are always very proud of what we've been able to accomplish for ourselves.

Is it just me or did that sort of turn into a 'yea us, we rock' post? Sorry!

For your viewing pleasure....

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!

He's a fiend, but he's so cute!

This adorable little fiend....

can't seem to stay out of trouble! He's always picking on the other cats (he's the baby). He climbs on me when I'm trying to do things - like crocheting. Push him off, he comes right back. Throw him off, he comes right back. He's a little thief too - he steals the little rugs and pillows from my daughter's dollhouse. He'll steal food from your plate if you take your eyes off it for 2 seconds.
So, last night I made cookies. I wrapped 2 of them in a paper towel and put them on a plate on the counter as a special treat for my daughter today. We came downstairs this morning and there was something all over the rug in the living room. Upon further inspection, I discovered it was pieces of cookie, everywhere! There was even most of 1 cookie still in one piece under the coffee table. The little fiend had gotten on the counter, somehow unwrapped the cookies (paper towel was still on the plate) and tried to eat them! Seriously, chocolate chip cookies!
I know I can't prove it was him, but I know it was. The other cats know not to go on the counters and they aren't little thieves like this guy.
What am I supposed to do when he looks at me with those adorable eyes? I want to wring his neck, but I can't bring myself to do it!

Current and Recent Projects

I've been meaning to post about this for a while now, but I just haven't done it. A couple weeks ago I decided I had to figure out a way to crochet despite the injured thumb. So I tried to make my first baby hat ever. And it worked! It was a little awkward not using my left thumb, but I managed! Since then I have made 2 more hats. I've also been working on a baby blanket since I found out I was pregnant. It's much harder to do without a thumb but I'm slowly making a little progress. The picture below shows the 2 baby hats and different portions of the blanket. When it's done (if I ever get there!) the blanket will consist of squares of alternating colors, all connected by the multi-colored yarn. Something I've never done before so it will be interesting! I still have to put the border on the blue and yellow ones and I haven't even started on the green and blue ones. Hopefully by the time the baby is born I'll be done!

I missed my blogoversary!

I knew it was sometime around now that I started this blog last year.... so I just looked it up. August 2! I missed my own blogoversary! Oh well.
Since I'm sick today (and have been for 4-5 days now), humor me and do some virtual celebrating with me even if it's belated! In the virtual world I'm not hacking up my lungs and my thumb isn't the most disgusting slow-healing thing on the planet. So, drinks are on me and I insist everyone have some form of chocolate. Me, I'm thinking French Silk Pie and hot chocolate because it feels so good on my throat!

Now, who wants to do my grocery shopping for me? I need milk and robitussin among other things but I don't want to cough my germs all over everyone and everything at the store! Hubby is out of town all week so he can't go. Any volunteers? ;)

Quick update w/ a great pic!

Sorry I didn't get back sooner to let you know how the ultrasound went....

Our son is fine! They saw everything they needed to see and we even got pictures this time (thanks to my sweet talking the tech into sneaking me into the room with a working camera)!

This is very short because it's after 2am and today is my daughter's 3rd birthday so we've got a big day planned. I just finished up the cupcakes and the cleanup so I've got to get to bed!

Here's the latest picture of our little boy!

The thumb, revisited

3 weeks later, and it is still in bad shape. Definitely feels (and is) a thousand times better (because it really was bad!), but it is healing so slowly it's driving me insane! I still can't do squat with it as it is very tender. I'm dying to get back to crocheting, especially now that we know we are having a boy - the blanket I was making is going to be perfect! We also were considering a short weekend trip in just under 2 weeks and I was going to take our daughter swimming while my husband hooked up with some friends at a gaming convention of sorts.... but I'm not supposed to submerge my thumb in water and I'm sure chlorine wouldn't feel wonderful either. Not too sure what to do as far as those plans go...

I think I now officially have one of the ugliest thumbs in the world!

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21 weeks, my how time flies!

Got a call from radiology this morning asking if I can come in Wednesday at 2pm for my ultrasound. Of course I said yes! I haven't heard from the doctor yet.... she came back from leave today so hopefully I'll get a call. But I have a feeling (just knowing the way the mi1it@ry clinics work) that she won't bother calling. She probably figures that I'm getting the ultrasound, what else would I need to talk to her for. Gee, maybe a little reassurance? Especially since when I talked to the OB clinic last Monday they told me I wouldn't get the next ultrasound until my 24 week appointment. I told them that radiology told me to come back in 2 weeks, so they said they'd leave a note for the doctor but I'd have to wait to talk to her. Since I haven't talked to her, just got a call basically saying come in asap for our next available ultrasound appointment, I don't know if she saw something in the other ultrasound to be concerned about or if she's just humoring my request to get in sooner. I'm still not really worrying about it, but I do hope that she calls today anyways. I'll feel a little better after finally talking to a doctor!

This little boy has got to be the most active in-utero baby ever! He is already keeping me up at night with his antics, and he is so strong and active that my husband got to feel him kick 2 weeks ago and my daughter felt him last week. I sit in bed at night and watch my stomach jump from him dancing around. I love it! But this seems really early for visible movement that can be felt by people from outside the belly (at 19 weeks?!), so I'm a little concerned that he might be really big or something. He sure feels like he's filling my belly up completely!

For those of you who are curious.... here's a new belly shot, taken this morning. I'm getting huge huh?