Milestones baby

Jonathan rolled over tonight! He'd done it a couple of times at about 3 weeks old, but I don't think he meant to. Tonight he did it 3 or 4 times in a row and you could tell it was deliberate. I got it on video & thought I'd share:



I can't believe he's growing up so quickly.

The nice list

I hope everyone had a great Christmas! I can't believe it's over already.

We spent Christmas Eve with Chris' parents, Grandma & Bevvy and had a great time. It was so much fun spending time with them; of course most of the time was spent watching Jonathan. What was he doing? Oh nothing really, but it's amazing how long you can sit and watch him just lay in the floor and kick! On Christmas my parents, grandma & Haley were all here. And of course Jonathan was the center of attention. He's just so cute you can't help it. He really racked up on the gifts both days, but of course he has no idea. Here's a picture of all of his loot:

He got an activity center from Chris' parents, a Bumbo Seat from us, and as you can see, so much other stuff! He's definitely got enough clothes & toys to last him awhile!

I must've been on Santa's "nice list" this year too! (Giving birth to the first child & grandchild helped tremendously I think! LOL) Chris' parents got me a wonderful set of stainless steel cookware. Now that I'm staying home and cooking more often, I really needed a new set. I feel so professional! If only owning good cookware could imrove my cooking skills!

I thought Chris and I had decided to just do a "together gift". We bought a new all-in-one photo printer, so I didn't get him anything else. Well, then on Christmas morning, he surprises me by telling me he'd ordered the Vera Bradley diaper bag I've been wanting:

Isn't it GORGEOUS! Chris' parents got me the wallet that matches. I'm high society now! LOL

I also got a couple of great handmade gifts from my mom & grandma. One of them was this recipe box:

It's decorated to match my kitchen and I can't wait to fill it up with new recipes. If you have any good ones, send them my way!

Chris got a lot of great stuff too! Mostly clothes, which he needed. He also got a couple of DVD's; Elf and Glory Road. He loves both of those movies, so he was excited. I took a picture of his goodies too:

I felt bad that I didn't get him anything else, so I told him to order seasons 4 & 5 of 24 on DVD.

All in all it was a great Christmas. The gifts were nice of course, but the best part to me was spending time with our families & enjoying Jonathan's first Christmas together. Next year is going to be a lot of fun too as he'll know a little more about what's going on.

This has been a long one, but before I go, I just want to say CONGRATULATIONS to Kevin & Pam! They found out on the 22nd that they're expecting a little BOY! We are so excited for them, and can't wait to meet little Michael Ethan. Kevin & Chris have been best friends since birth, so it's exciting to think that our sons will be best friends too. Carrying on a wonderful family tradition! Now we just have to wait until February to find out what Michael & Lisa are having.....

Saturday & Santa Bubby

Saturday was such a great day. It started off with me meeting Rebecca & Laurel at Archiver's to work on my Christmas cards. I hadn't scrapped in so long, I was worried I'd forgotten how. Although making Christmas cards isn't exactly scrapping, it felt so good to get out & be social and creative. After I finished my cards we all went to lunch at Chili's and had a great time. Apparently you can cover their coasters & make mini-albumns out of them. We decided to swipe the ones on our table, then Rebecca told our server that we were doing a project & asked if we could have some more. By the time we left, she & I both had about 30 coasters! I think the waitress thought we were a little strange but, hey, you gotta do what you gotta do!

After I left the ladies to scrap the rest of the day away, Chris' parents kept Jonathan and we went on a date night. We had such a great time. The plan originally was to go to the movies, but by the time we got to the mall there wouldn't have been much time to get tickets, get snacks & find seats. So we decided to go down to Jillian's to play games & bowl. We had a little competition going on, and in the end Chris won, but I sure kicked his butt at the fighting game & pin ball. We never did bowl, they were very busy & we wouldn't have been able to get a lane until after 9:00. I had been away from my baby all day, so I was ready to get back to him. But we had a really great time just being together. We're definitely going to make it a regular thing. I don't want us to lose touch with one another now that Jonathan is here. We'll just have to make sure to make time for us as a couple. I was his wife long before I was Jonathan's mommy, and I can't forget that.

I can't leave you without a couple of pictures of the boy. My nickname for Jonathan is "bubby", so these are called "Santa Bubby".... I sense a layout title!!!

Motivation

As I sit here, I'm watching the Biggest Loser live finale. I am amazed at how much weight the contestants have lost & how wonderful they look. I would love to go on this show, but I don't think I could handle being away from my family for 3 months. Somehow I need to get my rear in gear & do something about my weight. I don't want Jonathan growing up with a fat mommy. I want to be able to play with him, take him to the park and run around, and I don't want him to be ashamed of me when he's around his friends. He may be the motivation that I've always needed. I need to work out a plan & stick with it. I know carbs are a big problem for me, so if I do nothing else I need to work on that. Wish me luck, I may be looking to you all for accountability.

Speaking of Jonathan, (which is all I seem to do lately), we went to the doctor for his 2 month check-up. As of today he weighs 13 lbs 8.5 oz (95%) and is 24" long (90%). He's a big boy! Since his 1 month check-up he's gained 2 pounds and 1/2". Dr. Morgan said that she heard a heart murmur, but she's not too worried about it. Although, since he's had it since birth she wants us to go visit a cardiologist to get it checked out. Chris & I aren't worried about it as we both had murmurs as children and are just fine. So, we go next week to get that checked out. He also had to get 4 shots today. Poor little thing. He did really good though & didn't cry TOO much. He's been a little more fussy today than usual, but that's that's to be expected. Here's a picture of my little man at 2 months old:

Telling a story

Just thought I'd share this little video that I took yesterday of Jonathan "talking" to me. He sounds like he's really trying to say something, too cute:

Little boy smiles

Life can't get much better than this...

Dedication

I can't believe it's December already. Since Jonathan's been here time has been flying by. But it's worth every minute.

We had Jonathan dedicated on 11/26. A lot of people were there for his special day; my parents, Haley, Chris' parents, Grandma Ruby, Aunt Bevvy, Aunt Sandra & Uncle Claude, Kevin, Pam & Destiny, Mike & Janie & Kori all came out to be a part. It was held at All Nations Church and Pastor Frank did a wonderful job. He spoke some great things over Jonathan. It was such an emotional time. Us and the other two couples who were having their children dedicated had all suffered with infertility and/or miscarriages, so it was truly a miracle that we were all standing there. Thankfully Kevin was kind enough to video the dedication for us so I can go back & hear again what Pastor Frank said. Here are a couple of pictures that Haley took:

Chris' parents bought Jonathan the cutest outfit for him to wear. He looked like such a little man in his cordoury pants & sweater vest.

Another big thing happened this week... I went in to Hitachi & gave my notice that I'm not returning to work. I have to say that no one was too surprised. It's been my goal to be a stay at home mom since forever, and I've never been too shy about it. My boss was very understanding & said that she knew I was making the best decision for us. It was a little weird knowing that I won't be going back to work there anymore; even though I'd known since before Jonathan was born, it was finally official. I'd worked there since 1998 and had made some good friends. While I'll miss them, I know I'm doing what I was put on this earth to do, and I wouldn't change it for anything.

Christmas season is upon us again. I won't be doing a whole lot of shopping this year. We decided to have a family photo taken & that will be the gift for most, if not all of our family. It really takes the pressure off knowing that I don't have to brave the malls. I still have to decorate the tree. It's been sitting in our living room since the night before Thanksgiving. I had grand intentions of having it all decorated since everyone came over here for dinner, but Mom & I didn't start cooking until 10 p.m. and by 3 a.m. when we were done, I was just too tired. I tried to have a "tree decorating party" after we ate Thanksgiving dinner, but no one seemed too interested. So, there it sits, still bare. Well, it does have a Winnie-the-Pooh angel on top, so that should count for something. Haley is coming over for a bit tomorrow, and I think we're going to decorate it then.

It's about time for the little man to eat again, so I guess that's a wrap for now!

Thankful

It's Thanksgiving time again! This time of year always makes me think of all of the things I'm thankful for. As always, I'm eternally thankful for my wonderful husband, he's my rock and I don't know what I'd do without him. I've been so blessed with such a great circle of family and friends, I know I don't tell them often enough how much I appreciate them. And of course, this year, I have someone new to be thankful for, my son, Jonathan. God has truly blessed us with an amazing child. There were definitely times that I wondered if we would ever be able to have children, but God's timing is perfect, as always. Jonathan is such a blessing to us, I can't remember what life was like before him.

I'm also thankful for the opportunity to stay home and take care of him. Ever since I was a child all I've ever wanted was to be a Mommy, and now I wear that title like a badge of honor. I can't believe he's already going to be six weeks old this week. It's amazing, and kind of sad, how quickly the days go by. I could spend hours (and I do) just looking at his sweet face. He's started smiling now, really smiling at you, not those "baby smiles" that are random. It's so rewarding to get a little smile when you're talking to him. I can't wait to see how his personality develops as he gets older.

Here are a couple of pics I took on his 4 week "birthday":

My grandfather and his wife came from Missouri to visit about a week ago. He's quite smitten with his new great-grandson, and who could blame him. We took the opportunity to take a "four generation" picture while they were here. This is such a special picture as I don't get to see them much. Me, Jonathan, my mom & grandfather:

I guess I'd better head to bed now and try to get some sleep. I'm sure Jonathan will be up in a couple of hours wanting to eat. He actually sleeps really well. According to one book I saw, when a newborn sleeps 5 hours straight it's considered "sleeping through the night". In that case, he's pretty darn close. He usually sleeps about 4 1/2 hours a stretch at night, so we're very lucky in that area.

Until next time...

Recovering, again

It's beginning to feel like I'm always trying to recover from something. This year should definitely be dubbed, "The Year of the Surgery". Since January I've had 4 procedures done: ectopic removal, ERCP (gall stones removed), c-section and gall bladder removed. That's a lot for one person in a year, but thankfully it's over now. I can't think of another thing I could possibly have done before the end of the year, and that's fine by me. I'm ready to officially have my body back, and be able to do things for myself. I'm so very grateful to have family that is willing & able to help while I recover from the c-section & gall bladder surgery, but I have to admit that I'm ready to be able to do for myself. It's more about not wanting to feel like I'm taking advantage of people. Most of the time I feel like I CAN do certain things for myself, but the question is whether or not I SHOULD. Unfortunately right now the answer is no.

Jonathan is wonderful as always. I can't believe he's 4 weeks old today. He's really changing a lot, and growing a lot too I think. I'll have to get some pictures of him today & post them. Speaking of pictures, we have an appointment Saturday to get his one month pictures taken. Is it okay for me to post those once they're done? Maybe they'll be a link to see them online or something.

Can you believe Thanksgiving is only two week away! And then it's Christmas season! The time between Thanksgiving & Christmas is by far my favorite time of the year. I love the decorations, the get-togethers and most of all the Christmas music! One of the radio stations here in town, 94.9 Lite FM, is playing Christmas music every weekend until Thanksgiving. And then that's all they'll play until Christmas! I LOVE IT. I think I've figured out what I'm going to do for my Christmas cards this year. I just have to go buy the supplies and then I can get started. They are going to be MUCH simpler than last years, but they'll still be cute.

Until next time...

Time flies

Okay, so I'm pretty bad at this blogging thing all of a sudden. It's amazing to me how quickly days are flying by. I guess when you live from feeding to feeding, that's how it goes. Jonathan is three weeks old today if you can believe it! I can't tell you how much I love being a mom, it's all I've ever wanted to do. Jonathan is a wonderful baby, very content and good natured. Nights can be a little rough, but we're trying different things. I figured, if nothing else, I'd better at least post a few pictures of him. I've had some complaints! LOL

My mom was here for 10 days, and we had a great time. We did some photo shoots of the little man, and they turned out really good. Here are some of the shots from his "fall" and Halloween photo shoots:

We were lucky enough to catch a smile on this one! This one cracks me up. He looks so grown up!

Another smile on this one. Such a cutie!

I may be a little biased, but I think he's just the cutest baby ever!

In other news, I get to have surgery again next week. I'm having my gall bladder taken out. I was a little surprised to have it scheduled so soon, but I'll be glad to have it taken care of. And, since it will be done before the end of the year, we won't have to pay for it. With all of the procedures I had to have done during the pregnancy, we met my out of pocket maximum a long time ago. Now that's making good use of your insurance coverage!

Well, I hope this was enough to hold y'all over for a little while. I promise I'll try to do better. Hopefully I can get some sort of routine worked out one of these days. Until then....

A lot to cover...

I can't believe it's been a week already! So much has happened in the last week, I don't even know where to begin. Let's see, I guess the birth story would be a good place...

We went in to the hospital Wednesday evening at 7:30 to be induced. I received my first dose of the medicine to start contractions at about 8:45, and it started working pretty quickly. The contractions weren't bad at that point, just kind of uncomfortable. As the night wore on, they became more intense and I asked for something to help me sleep so they brought me some Ambien. Well, that didn't really work. At some point I asked for something for the pain and they brough me some Stadol. Now that's powerful stuff! I was in a completely different world after that. They checked me sometime later and I had only dilated to 1 1/2 centimeters, I still had a LONG way to go. I don't remember what time they gave me the Pitocin to make the contractions stronger, but it worked by golly. Sometime in the afternoon they checked me again and I had progressed to 4 centimeters. I could have an epidural now! Unfortunately, the epidural only worked for about 2 hours. The doctors were saying that something was wrong with the pump, and I should still be getting the medicine, but I obviously wasn't. I have never felt pain like that in my life. Thank God for Chris. I never would have made it through without him. He was definitely my rock throughout the entire ordeal. At about 8 o'clock the nurse checked me again & said I was at about 5-6. They were going to up the Pitocin, and if I didn't make any progress by 9:00 they would start talking about a c-section. I was so glad to hear those words at that point. I had been laboring for nearly 24 hours, most of those without any pain medication, and I was completely worn out. At 9:00 she checked again and I had progressed to about a 7. The doctor said he wanted to wait another hour and I lost it. The only word I can think of to describe how I was feeling is desperation. I was in so much pain, and was so tired. Then it hit me that I was going to have to push out a nearly 9 pound baby with no pain help. I was so scared. I asked her to check me again at around 9:30, and she thought I'd progressed a little, but she called Dr. Doris in to check on me. He thought I had made a little progress too, but also said that I had been progressing very slowly. He said we could really go either way, keep trying the way we were or move on to a c-section and he left it up to me. I immediately said "C-section". It's amazing how quickly things happened after that. The anesthesiologist was in trying to get the epidural to work, because if they didn't, they'd have to put me to sleep & Chris wouldn't be able to be in there with me. Unfortunately, that's the way it worked out. They pumped me with so much medication, but I could still feel it when they'd pinch my right side. Obviously they weren't going to cut me open when I could feel it. So, off to sleep I went. And when I woke up, I had a son! It's kind of sad, because I don't really remember seeing Jonathan the first time because I was so drugged up, and I can't get those moments back. But I know that we did what we had to do. It turns out that he probably wouldn't have come out the "conventional" way after all, he was face up & trying to come out with his head cocked to one side. We made the right decision, and I'm happy about that.

Wow. That was a long story! I was going to post some more, but I think I'll just put a few pictures up & come back later for more. Here's my little man.

Have you ever seen such an adorable face?

He's here!!!!

I just have a minute, but I wanted to post about the most important & wonderful thing that has ever happened to me.... I have a son! It's amazing. I'll come back another time & post the whole long, hard story, but here are the basics...

Jonathan David made his appearance at 10:59 pm on October 12, 2006. He weighed 8 lbs 15 oz and was 21 1/2 inches long. BIG BOY! Here's one picture of him:

Isn't he precious! I have so many more pictures to go through, so I'll come post some more soon. Gotta go check on my little man....

M.I.A.

I'll probably be missing in action for the next several days. Why? I think I'll go have a baby! We are scheduled to go in to the hospital tonight at 7:30 to induce labor. Hopefully things will progress quickly and the labor will be smooth. I'm still a little up in the air about the epidural, but I'm just going in with an open mind, and we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. I'm a little nervous, just because it's an unknown, but I'm really not scared at all. I don't really like the unknown part of this, which is pretty much all of it. I like to be able talk to people, or read, and find out exactly what's going to happen. I've heard/read so many labor/birth stories, but every person's different, and every pregnancy is different. It's taking this control freak a little out of her comfort zone. But, I know that the reward at the end of this journey is going to make it all worthwhile.

So, the next time you "see" me, I'll be a mommy (wow, that's amazing) and I'll be sure to post some pictures as soon as possible. This little one has so many people who are anxiously awaiting his/her arrival.

Quick update

Well, I seem to have a very stubborn child on my hands. We had our 40 week appointment today, and based on last weeks information I was really hoping that we'd be sent in for induction this weekend. Not so much. Dr. Doris looked at the ultrasound and said that everything is measuring right on schedule. Also, he did an internal exam, and I'm not dilated at all. Not even a little bit. So, the plan is, that if the baby hasn't made his/her appearance by then, we're scheduled for an induction on Wednesday evening at 7:30. There are definitely good points about knowing exactly when you're going in to have the baby, you don't have to stress too much about it. You just show up, and they get things going for you. I'm so excited to know that by this time next week, we'll have our little one in our arms.

Okay, I have to go watch the re-air of Grey's Anatomy from last night. For some reason our DVR didn't record it, and I had watched CSI instead. Talk about a moment of panic when I realized it hadn't recorded. From the little snippets I read on the message board, it was a really good episode. Off to get my fix!

I know, I know

I've been a very bad blogger this week... the bad news is, it may only get worse for the next little bit, but I promise I'll have a good reason.

First things first... still pregnant! Hopefully I won't be saying that for too much longer as I'm definitely ready to meet this little one. We had our 39 week appointment last Friday, and what an appointment it was. I had my first internal exam (what fun that was) and unfortunately I hadn't dilated at all. I was really hoping that I'd made at least a little progress, but no. I was measuring 2 weeks ahead, which is a little unusual, but nothing to worry about according to the doctor. He said as long as it's within two weeks of where you are, it shouldn't be a problem. He then proceeded to mash around on my belly to get an estimate of how much the baby weighs, here's where things get fun. His first comment was, "Well, it's not a runt." Oh great. His estimate was 8 3/4 pounds.... which comes out to 8 lbs 12 oz. Holy big baby Batman!!! Needless to say I had a bit of a freak out moment, but calmed down eventually. We're going in on Wednesday for an ultrasound to get some more measurements and then we'll go from there. He did mention that we may wind up doing something sooner than later depending on the results. I take that to mean that it's quite likely that we'll be inducing labor sometime this week. Fine by me. Sign that eviction notice already!!! I'm so ready to get on with the next chapter in our lives, and it may just start this week.

Today is Chris' birthday. I am so thankful for my husband. He is definitely the most wonderful man I know. He's been absolutely amazing during this pregnancy, taking care of me when I was sick, making sure that I'm taking care of myself. He's always checking on me to make sure I'm okay & don't need anything. I thank God daily for blessing me with such a wonderful partner. On a little less mushy note...We were really hoping that the baby would make his/her appearance today, but unless something pretty drastic happens in the next hour and a half, it won't be happening. I know he's disappointed, and I've actually been feeling a little guilty about it. I know there's nothing I could've done, but it would've been so neat for him to share a birthday with our child. Especially since I share a birthday with my dad.

I'll definitely come update after my appointment on Wednesday, and who knows, by the weekend I may be posting pictures of our new addition. Wish us luck & pray for a easy/smooth labor and most importantly a healthy baby.

Awake

again. I know this is my body's way of getting ready for the sleepless nights to come, but I HATE it! I'm sleepy, and I want to sleep, but I can't seem to relax. I guess I should've gone to bed right after dinner at 7:30 when I could barely keep my eyes open. But I just knew that if I even took a little snooze, I wouldn't be able to sleep tonight. A lot of good that did me, here I sit, at nearly 1 a.m., blogging. I had intended to post earlier today, but never got around to it.

Since going out with the girls is probably going to be a little more difficult in the few months ahead, I wanted to have one more girls night out before the baby came. So, Lisa, Rebecca and I scheduled my "last hoorah" for Friday night. Well, actually we had scheduled it for a few Friday nights ago, but for some reason that didn't work out. I don't remember why. Anywho. I didn't really want to do anything too strenuous (not that we probably would have anyway), so we decided dinner & coffee would be great! We went to Zaxby's for dinner and it was so good! I could just about eat myself sick there. It was so nice to just sit & chat with no real time limit. Rebecca got a new car this week, and it needed a name, and I think we came up with the prefect one. I'm sure she'll blog about it, so check it out! It's a really fun story. We closed the place down and headed over to Starbucks for coffee. Well, Lisa & Rebecca had coffee. I'm not a coffee person so I had my favorite. A Double Chocolate Chip Frappucino! YUMMY!

We sat in a spot off to ourselves and just had a great time hanging out. Lisa & Rebecca are definitely two of my best friends. I am so blessed to have them in my life. I can always count on them for lots of laughter and even more good advice.

Starbucks closed at midnight, so we headed out just before then. It was such a wonderful evening, and a great way to celebrate my "last hoorah"! Thanks girls for a great time!

Well, I'm going to try and get comfy in the recliner and see if I can't catch some Z's as they float by.

Saturday

Today was a really nice day. Our little friend Emily came to stay the night, she's going to Regan's birthday party with us tomorrow. The main event of the day though was Haley coming over to be our photographer. I've always regretted that there aren't any pictures of Chris and I together from our honeymoon. I really wanted to make sure that we had some nice photos of us together during the pregnancy, so we went to the park & had a little photo shoot. Here are some of my favorites:

I think Haley did a great job, don't you? Also, here's one of the pictures of Emily... I can't believe she's six already!!!

Well, we have less than two weeks to go until the due date, and that's really hard to believe! We had our 38 week appointment, and as is common now, everything is still going well. My blood pressure went down some, to 112/72, he didn't mention my weight, so I assume all is well there. From what I've read, my weight shouldn't fluctuate too much at this point. He reiterated that basically we're just playing the waiting game at this point. So,now I'm on the lookout for any signs that I might be going into labor. I have been having a lot of contractions the last few days, but there hasn't been any pattern, I guess my body's just practicing. Whenever the baby decides he/she's ready, then I guess we will be too!

I'll probably blog again tomorrow because last night was my "last hoorah" with the girls, and we had a great time... so tune in again!

Progress

Finally, some progress on the garage door situation. Doors by Mike came out today to measure & give us a quote. They're going to be replacing it one day this week, probably Thursday or Friday. I can't even say how glad I'll be once it's fixed. You never realize how you take something so simple for granted until you don't have it for a while.

Still pregnant. I think I may have had some contractions today, but I just really don't know. If they were in fact contractions, they were about 4-5 minutes apart for about 30 minutes. Once I rolled to the other side they seemed to stop though. I just really don't like the whole "unknown" part of this process. I'm too much of a control freak to not know how this is going to work. I really wish my water would just break on it's own, as that's a definite sign that something is happening, but that only happens in about 15% of women. I have to admit, it's kind of freaking me out a little bit that we basically only have 2 weeks until the baby is due. Life is going to change so drastically, I just hope we're ready for it. Can you ever be ready for it? Probably not.

My scrappy friend Kimberly is going through a rough time right now with her oldest son. Please keep her in your thoughts & prayers.

Off to bed, I want to get up early so I can stop by Wal-Mart on my way to work & pick up Clay's new CD.

Just browning

I had my 37 week appointment today. Everything went well, as usual. This week I was down 2 pounds, but since I think last weeks weight was off, I'm not sure how accurate that is. Dr. Doris said I'm still doing really well with my weight & to keep up the good work. It really hasn't been any "work", as I can't honestly say I've changed anything. According to the doctor's scale, I think my weight gain is right around 27 pounds, and I'm pretty pleased with that. Considering I was quite "fluffy" going into the pregnancy, I think it probably could have been much worse. Blood pressure was still good, 128/88 today. I did ask him if the fact that the bottom number keeps going up is a concern, and he didn't seem to think so. He said that if I had protein in my urine (sorry if TMI), or the top number was 140 or over they'd be worried. I've been having some swelling of my ankles & hands, but that's to be expected. As long as don't start "swelling up like the Michellin man" (his words, not mine), everything should be okay.

He also informed me that as of today I'm considered "full term." Which basically means that there shouldn't be any problems with the baby being born from here on out. We're just playing the waiting game. My mom put it very well today I think. She said, "So you're done cooking the baby, now you're just browning it." Ha! Good analogy mom.

Thankfully it appears that the insomnia was just a fluke. I actually slept pretty well last night. Well, that is other than dreaming about Nip/Tuck all night. I don't know what my deal is, I guess I shouldn't watch TV before bed. I've already had to stop watching Dog the Bounty Hunter because every time I did, I'd be chasing bad guys in my dreams & wouldn't rest all night. Then, the last two Monday's, I've dreamt about Prison Break. It's really hard to rest when you're reliving TV shows in your dreams. We'll see how it goes tonight, I didn't really watch anything too interesting, maybe I'm good to go.

I'm going to go test it right now... Nighty night.

Insomnia

I really hope this isn't going to become a normal thing. I'm tired, even sleepy, but I can't seem to go to sleep. My mind is just racing, and my body won't relax. Grrr. I was awake from about 4-5:30 last night/this morning, and now it's happening again. So, what am I doing.... blogging. It's been a few days, and now seems as good a time as any.

I had my 36 week OB checkup today. Everything looks good. My blood pressure was 126/80, which is good, unfortunately according to their scale I gained a few pounds from last week. I'm not really sure how many, but more than one is too many in my book. I wasn't expecting that at all because my scale at home shows I'd actually lost a pound. Oh well, not much I can do about it at this point. I did find out that I tested positive for Group B Strep. According to what I've heard, during class & from the doctor today, it's not really a big deal. Basically they'll just give me antibiotics in my IV during labor to protect the baby. Apparently it's pretty rare for the baby to have any complications from it. I have my next appointment on Wednesday, 9/13. Lets hope it's a good appointment too.

Tomorrow/today is Emily's birthday party. I'll have to get her mom's permission so I can post some pics of her here. Emily has kind of been our "surrogate" daughter pretty much since she was born. I worked with her mom, Amy, at Hitachi several years ago, and when Emily was born, she just stole my heart. We kept her overnight for the first time when she was 3 months old, and have been keeping her pretty regularly since then. She's just the sweetest little thing, she was a great baby, and is a great kid too! I can't believe she's 6 already and just started kindergarten! My, they grow up so fast.

One of my best friends, Rebecca, was in a pretty bad car accident this week. Thankfully she doensn't have any "major" injuries, but she's really sore, and her car is probably totalled. I know she's not looking forward to trying to find another car, but the important part is she wasn't hurt badly. LYLAS!

I guess that's enough for now. I'm going to try watching whatever "crap" is on TV at nearly 1 a.m., and see if that will put me to sleep.

Realization

I had a realization last night, one that should've come some time ago I think, that pretty soon it won't be just Chris and I anymore. While I'm looking forward to this new chapter in our life, more than I can say, I have to admit it made me a little sad to think about it. We've been "a couple" for so long now, being able to concentrate only on each other and take care of each others needs. Things are about to change in a very big way, and it's a little intimidating. I know we'll make every effort to stay attentive to each other & not lose what we've had. We're very blessed that our families are close by, as that will give us plenty of chances to spend some time alone when we need it. And I really plan to take advantage of that, I don't want to lose touch with him. I was his wife long before this baby came into our lives, and I'll be his wife long after the children move out & start theirs. This became a bit of a ramble... sorry about that.

This is completely off topic, but I read this morning that Steve Irwin, "The Crocodile Hunter" was killed today! Click here for the article. I just thought this was so sad, but at least he was doing something he loved. Let's all keep his family in our thoughts & prayers.

This is....

my kind of to-do list:

1. move sewing machine
2. put stroller in closet
3. wash pillow cases
4. straighten up nursery
5. clean out car
6. put extra cell phone chargers in bag
7. put Debora on call list
8. clean out fridge

It feels so good to cross items off a list, even if they're really small, like most of these were. But I knew if I didn't write them down, I'd likely forget. I'm sure I'll be making plenty more to-do lists over the next few weeks, but as long as they eventually look like this one, I'm okay.

Tonight is game night, and I'm really looking forward to everyone coming over. Michael & Lisa have a new board game called Imagineiff. We played it last night and had a great time.

My friend Laurel started her own blog the other day, go check it out:
Happiness is... Blogs are so addicting, I love reading about what's going on in everyone's life... even if I know most of it already.

I guess that's enough for now, I'd better go get ready for the day. Have a great holiday weekend!

No turning back now...

not that I ever could. We had our 35 week appointment today, and everything went well. I only gained one pound since last visit, which is good, so that puts me right about 24 pounds gained total. Not too bad I guess. He also said that if I went into labor at this point, they wouldn't try to stop it! I wasn't really expecting that conversation for a couple more weeks, but now it's out there. He wasn't going to schedule my next appointment until two weeks, but then noticed that my blood pressure was a bit higher than normal, so he went ahead and just scheduled it for next week. Apparently it wasn't too high, as he didn't seem worried, but he said we'll just keep an eye on things from here on out.

I haven't posted any belly pictures on here yet, so I thought I'd go ahead and do that. My grandma has been wanting to see them, so here goes:

19 weeks

21 weeks 1 day

24 weeks 5 days

26 weeks 1 day

28 weeks 1 day

32 weeks 6 days

35 weeks 1 day

Kinda out there, huh? It's so amazing to me that there is an actual human person growing inside my body. Everytime I see a baby now, I think about how there's one of those inside me. Bizzare!

Gettin' stuff done

At least I'm trying to. We started packing the hospital bag on Sunday, after doing a little shopping. Let me tell you, that made this whole "having a baby" thing more real. As of tomorrow I'll only have 5 weeks left. 5 WEEKS! And in all reality, the baby could really come at anytime, which kind of freaks me out. But, we're mostly prepared.

I wasn't too productive on Saturday unfortunately. I did manage to make a birthday card for my friend Leigh.

I have to give some of the credit to Rebecca for this one. I was having a pretty major brain cramp, and she helped me come out of it. I absolutely LOVE the alphabet stamps that I used. I think they've been used on every card I've made since buying them. The font is just too cute and they're a great size. I really like the paper too! Michael & Emily's birthdays are coming up, so I need to get their cards made in the next couple of weeks.

Something that I am really excited about is coming up on September 19th... Clay Aiken's new CD, A Thousand Different Ways is coming out that day!!! I am so ready for some "new" music from him. I say "new" because most of the songs on this CD are covers from the 70's, 80's and 90's, but to hear him sing different songs than the ones I've been listening to for the past three years will be great! He has a new look:

I'm still trying to get used to it, but it's growing on me.

Well, I guess that's all for now...