18 Weeks

Yep, I knew not to much would happen around here today.  I'm not going to handle being car-less for too much longer.  I didn't spend a lot of time sitting like I thought I would, I just kept finding more odd jobs around the house to do.  Sewed the lamp shade back together, replaced a light bulb, Windex-ed the china hutch, then the back doors, then the side windows.  Wiped down a wall where Daisy likes to rub against and had created a dirt streak over the years.  Yeah.

Tonight for I actually used a recipe!  Amazing!  Sure it was for something simple like sliders, but I would have just slapped some mayo and cheese on it and called it a day.  Instead, I caramelized some onions, fried up some bacon, and toast Hawaiian rolls to put them on.  They were so good!  I have a couple of more recipes planned for this week, all coming from the Eat This Not That cook book I got for Christmas.  It's a start, right?

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 18 weeks

Size of baby: length of a bell pepper

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Ug. Well, last Monday I had posted that I'm only up 4 lbs according to that days' doctor appointment, but then Wednesday when I went in for the blood work they weighed me and I was up 7 lbs.  Now, it was different doctors, so different scale, because I'm fairly certain I didn't gain 3 lbs in two days.  We'll just have to see on Thursday's appointment what they say!

Maternity Clothes: I've pretty much made the switch all the way around, except for a few tops that are long enough and stretchy enough to keep me covered.

Gender: Thursday!  We find out Thursday!  I am so excited. STILL hoping for boy, but you know what?  Not one person has told me they think it's a boy.  EVERY. SINGLE. ONE.  has said girl.  Sara's even dreamed I'm having a girl.  Only a couple of more days!

Movement: Yes and yes.  Every day.  Especially when I sit down and my tummy bulges into the elastic of my pants.  He doesn't like that.  Soon Cody should be able to feel from the outside.

Sleep: Pregnancy wise still sleeping fine!  I've moved to pretty much only side sleeping, which will get old fast.  Allergy wise I'm holding my own.  Saturday night I actually slept through the night without waking once, something that hasn't happened in months.  Last night I only had one allergy attack at 3 AM.  I found some nasal spray in the medicine cabinet which has helped tremendously. 

What I miss: I did miss my champagne on New Years, but that's it.

Cravings: Nothing

Symptoms: Just the boobs, which has lessened even more this week. Loving my growing belly!  (although it's started itching more.  boo)

Best Moment this week: Realizing that my baby is going to be born this year.  Yay!

Switching it up

First of all, my boy finally got to wear his Christmas outfit today.  Between being out of town and having the sickies, I hadn't even gotten the tags off of it yet.  Of course I wanted to take a quick picture of him before we headed to bible class.  I mean, how hard is it to stand still for 15 seconds and flash a a quick smile?

Torture, apparently.

Pure and utter torture.  (and what you can't see are the perfect red/black/white argyle socks that go with it, and the tie is actually a red/black plaid)

Oh well.  Maybe the next time he wears it I'll try again for a winner.  Bible class went smoothly, I felt a little out of sorts at first since I hadn't taught the last two weeks, but the four 2 year olds that attended didn't really care.  And hopefully they can tell you that John and Jesus were cousins and Jesus got baptized and we should tell God "sorry" when we make the wrong choice.  That's a big hopeful. 

At lunch after church Luke promptly dropped his dressing-covered bread on my  clean turquoise dress, but he managed to keep himself stain free.  Amazing since he polished off his ravioli with extreme gusto (also amazing due to the fact that he'd already eaten a giant bread roll).  This kid has had QUITE the appetite the last few days.  It's been my first true glimpse at the years to come of trying to fill the bottomless pit that will be my adolescent son. 

When we got home he promptly fell asleep for his nap, and I got to work.  I thought I would go ahead and get my house work done today so that tomorrow I wouldn't be overwhelmed trying to do it AND go to the store.  I swept (which was so gross.  I've been slacking off over the break and combined with the fact that I've been wearing house shoes a lot I had NO IDEA my floors were so dirty.) and mopped, cleaned both bathrooms, emptied the dishwasher, ironed, AND did 3 loads of laundry.  You know, I've figured out a way to make laundry not so bad.  I didn't sort out every single item into piles on the floor, just rummaged through the basket for items that would go in the particular load I wanted to do.  It doesn't seem so annoying or whatever that way!  I think it's because I'm not making a bigger mess on my bedroom floor and the pressure is off to get it done right that day.  I'll do a load here, a load there, no biggie!  Riveting, eh?

So this all left me with the good feeling that all I had to do tomorrow was go to the store for our weekly food trip.  And then I realized that Cody's truck was still out and I'd be left yet again without a car.  So it was either go tonight or be hungry until 5:30 tomorrow. So guess what this selfless mother and wife did?  Yep.  Went to Walmart on a crowded Sunday night instead of an empty Monday morning.  At least I got to leave Luke at home.  Not that he's much trouble at the store, but there's just something peaceful about walking up and down those isle all by your lonesome.  The only thing was that I, not thinking, parked under a tree.  A tree full of birds.  When I came out with my goods my car was a car full of bird poop.  Covered.  I mean COVERED.  I should have know better, Ashley did this not to long ago and had to go to a car wash immediately.  Now I know how she felt.  I stopped at a gas station, topped off the tank for Cody (because I'm just awesome like that) and ran the car through the wash.  It's been AT LEAST three years since I've washed my car in any way shape or form (at least.) and probably a couple of decades since I've gone through a car wash (we were always taught of the evils of car washes growing up, and how they ruin your paint).  At first I was a little sad that Luke wasn't in the car to get to see it, and then the machine started up.  For a split second I thought my car was rolling backwards, then I realized it was in park and only the machine was moving.  Very odd sensation.  Then the rollers came.  Umm.....that thing was scary.  I was NOT a fan.  How sad is it that a car wash freaked a 27 year old out.  But it did.  And now I'll have night mares about it.

I do have to say though, I have the GREAT feeling of knowing I have not a thing I have to do tomorrow.  I can couch and coffee it up as much as I want without feeling guilty.  We can watch a movie, I can piddle on the sewing machine, heck I can fix the lamp shade in the bedroom if I want (yeah, the entire thing ripped off the rim the other day, so there is just a metal wire around the bulb and the shade is on the floor, still around the stand).  It's a good thing Mondays are my pregnancy update days, because otherwise you might be in store for a whole lotta nuthin tomorrow.

A New Year and Christmas #6

Yesterday we spent the whole day bumming around.  Nothing productive was done.  At 6 Luke and I headed over to my dear Sara's house for a NYE party.  And when I say party, I mean a small gathering of good friends (kids included) where we sat in comfortable clothes and chatted until midnight.  The last two years I've spent New Years at home, first with a 6 month old, then with an 18 month old, and always had him in bed promptly at bed time.  This year when the Foltermann's sent out the invite, I knew it was good timing.  I felt Luke was able to handle one night of late festivities, and my choices were to either sit at home on my couch alone while Cody played his computer game or go be amongst people who love me and would provide adult conversation.  And I'm so glad we went!  I had a great time with my girls and Luke had a great time with the boys.  He's so funny....in group settings like that he doesn't want to play with the kids, he doesn't want to always be in the same room with me (although he did hit me up for food regularly.  Ha!), he wants to be hanging with the men.  He conned his way into one dad's lap to watch airplane stuff on an iPad (and later got the same dad to read him a book), weaseled his way into another dad's lap for a round of horse-y, watched tv with another, and was even caught wrestling.  My night sounds a little more boring in comparison, but I promise it was just as satisfying. 

At midnight we watched the ball drop, toasted champagne (okay, I was the lone wolf with sparkling grape juice), and I kissed my sweet boy.  By 12:10 our shoes were on and we were headed to the car.  Hey, he didn't need to stay out any later than necessary! 

I was convinced that our New Year's day would start at 7:15 just like it does every morning, even though he went to bed HOURS later than normal, but he slept till 9.  Yay!  It's a good thing too, because he wasn't getting a nap today.  No nap on a day he was already missing 2-3 hours of sleep was risky business, but it couldn't be helped.  Traditionally Cody's dad's side of the family celebrates Christmas at this time, so off we were.  Luckily Cody's aunt and uncle only live 25 minutes away and there was a yummy lunch.  After lunch there were a few more presents for Luke......

and the ladies had a book exchange.  I got one that takes unhealthy but yummy restaurant recipes and makes them healthy.  I've already picked out a couple to start with!  (we'll see if I follow through though.  We know how I am about cooking.)  We were back in the car by 4 and my exhausted little boy was out before we hit the main road.  Poor thing rarely sleeps in the car, and unfortunately it wasn't a very long trip.  I kept him up until 7:45 tonight, and his heads been on the pillow for 30 minutes now and he's already out.  I actually don't think I'll be too far behind him, I didn't sleep much last night due to allergies.  I'm beat!

Accomplished

Yesterday was spent running around town(s).  I got some blood work done so the results will be in by my appointment next week, although they didn't do all that I wanted them too.  And the frustrating thing was that I hadn't even planned on doing this testing, but since I wanted to get some other things checked too I figured I could knock it all out together.  I was a tad upset.  But then Mom took Luke and I to lunch (she had stayed with him here at the house while I went...I thought it would take 20 minutes but I was gone an HOUR and a HALF because they didn't have my paper work ready.  That didn't make me mad either.) and after nap time we went to get Ashley and took her furniture shopping, where I found a bedroom suit for her and she bought it!  I don't have furniture jealousy at all.  I've only been wanting a bedroom suit for oh, three years now.  (Guess where my furniture money went all of a sudden?)

Then I was all set to have a great night's sleep- no rain, allergy meds in action way before bed time, sore throat almost gone- when SOMEONE decided to have a rough night.  Luke woke up at 12:45 crying and then spent the next three hours tossing and turning and moaning.  Not a clue what was wrong.  He wasn't feverish, he shouldn't have been starving.  Finally I just had to turn on the lights to snap him out of it, sat on the side of the bed questioning him in an agitated tone, and he finally went back to sleep after that.  So much for my refreshing night.  I haven't gotten a good night's sleep in at least a week and it's really wearing on me. 

This morning for breakfast I fixed some biscuits and coffee.  This last grocery trip found some frozen biscuits in my basket.  They start out like this:

And after 20 minutes in the oven come out like this:

Okay, they don't double, but they sure are flaky and creamy and wonderful when slathered with butter and drizzled with honey.  After breakfast I got to work.  I told myself that I wanted to clean out that computer room over the Christmas break while Kayden was gone, and umm....he comes back Monday.  So I tossed and donated and rearranged various spots in my house to accommodate what I couldn't part with.  It's not half bad!  The bottom of my linen closet has been cluttered wasted space for years (okay, the three years we've lived here) and now it neatly houses my sewing machine, sewing basket, knitting basket, scrapbook paper bag, a few other bags I use when traveling, and my  tub of scarves.  Why I need so many scarves when I live in a place that's still 75 in December (yes, that was the temp today) but I just can't part with any of them.  I love wearing them when the thermometer reads anything less than 55.  Between that, the preparing of dinner, and the folding of all the laundry from earlier this week, my whole day was gone.  Now I just have to "encourage" Cody to get on the ball sometime this year.  Hmmm...that will be over in a day.  Sometime this decade.  Nope, that won't work either.  Let's just say he better hop to soon.

I would like to say that the night ended on a sweet note, but unfortunately that was not the case.  Have I mentioned that I'm a little sleep deprived and pregnancy is causing little patience?  That coupled with trying to give Luke his antibiotic caused us to spiral out of control fast.  We can get the medicine into his mouth, but for the life of me, we CAN NOT get him to swallow it.  We wait.  We blow in his face.  We offer juice (he just drinks some juice and then dribbles everything out).  We bribe with rocking.  We threaten with spanking.  We spank him.  He will. not. I repeat WILL. NOT. swallow it.  Finally after the third small dose ended up on the floor I picked him up at arm's length,  carried him to bed, and shut the door.  No teeth brushing, no story, no puppy, no blanket, not even jammies.  Just bed.  If he doesn't get any down on his last dose tomorrow, I'm not sure what will happen because the kid has barely taken in any of it. 

17 Weeks

Lord have mercy, my boy is back.  He was up this morning at 7 raring to go.  I told him groggily from bed that it wasn't time to get up yet and he needed to go back to night night.  Instead of climbing back into bed (or our bed for that matter) he ran into the living room and played straight until nap time.  Plus his appetite was back, he actually ate all three meals today!  At one point I just had to grab the camera.  Remember the tubs I bought yesterday to corral the toys?  Someone had a different idea for them.  He was in and out.  In and out.

and the toys that belong in them?

When he finally got distracted by something else an hour later I quickly cleaned it all up.

Much better! 

We spent the rest of the day at home, where I de-Christmas-fied the house (aka- found a home for all the new things we've gotten) and did loads and loads of laundry.  yaaaaaAAAAAYYYYY Me!  (sometimes it's okay to cheer for yourself, mkay?)   And now for the late update.  The shirt I'm wearing is actually Cody's.  I did have on sweat pants too, but I changed to jeans just for the picture.  You're welcome!  I don't think it's much better than what I would have come up with from yesterday, but at least I didn't skip out.  And sorry the sign is crooked.  It's surprisingly hard to hold that thing straight.

Pregnancy Highlights:


How Far Along: 17 weeks

Size of baby: weight of a turnip, which would be 5 oz.  He is also 5 inches long from crown to rump!

Total Weight Gain/Loss: According to the doctor's office yesterday, I've gained a pound putting me up to total of 4 lbs gained.  But I have the feeling that the numbers will rise drastically soon due to the incredible amount of sweets I've eaten lately.  I don't think I mentioned that Cody got me 2 lbs of Godiva chocolate for Christmas?!  Holy moly, that thing is three trays deep of pure rice goodness.  I'm almost done with the first one.

Maternity Clothes: I've pretty much made the switch all the way around, except for a few tops that are long enough and stretchy enough to keep me covered. 

Gender: We'll find out in a little over a week!  I'm getting so excited!  Except tomorrow I have to go do a bunch of blood work.  :(  *sniff* I hate this part.  It's the quad screen (for genetic disorders) and I'm going to request some thyroid testing.  I could put it off a couple of more weeks, but I'd like to get it over with and this way we can discuss the results at my appointment next week.

Movement: I'm confident he's moving around in there.  Last night I was laying on my back in bed with my hand pressed into my abdomen and I felt two little thumps.  I SO HOPE it's getting to the point where we can feel it outside the womb!

Sleep: Not so great, but that's more of me being sick and my allergies being out of control.  But, I hate to say, I think my hips are going to start giving me trouble soon.  They've been getting a little stiff after awhile.  I was hoping this would hold off longer.  For me it's the worst part of pregnancy!

What I miss: I was thisclose to stopping for sushi one night for a dish I'm pretty sure isn't raw but has cooked shrimp.  But I didn't, just in case.  I could taste it though.
Cravings: Nothing

Symptoms: Just the boobs, which has lessened this week. I'm so thankful that my body is gracious towards pregnancy. I LOVE being pregnant! I really do!

Best Moment this week: I wish I could say Christmas was the best thing about this week.  While it was very good, being under the weather brought the celebration down a notch. 

No update

Sorry, there's no pregnancy  update today.  While I feel much better, there is still a touch of death around the eyes so a picture's out of the question, plus Cody and I got into a ginormous fight and I don't want to ask him to take it. 

This morning I woke up and I could tell we were both marginally better.  Even so, I called both of our doctors and made appointments.  I wanted to make sure I didn't need to be taking anything for Flicker's sake and Luke's snot had turned from clear to goopy green with the worst death breath ever, no matter how much I brushed his teeth or forced him to eat something.  I got an appointment for 10- sinus infection- and Luke an appointment for 12- beginnings of bronchitis and an acute asthma attack.  We both got antibiotics (the same one actually!) and I was so glad we went.  In between the appointments we ran to Target to get some more stacking tubs to corral all the toys in the living room.  Much needed. 

Soon it was nap time (he didn't sleep nearly as long today) and while he was down I took all the Christmas decorations down.  I would have liked to rest too, but I was itching to get this done.  Plus I want to make sure I sleep tonight.  When he got up we went to the grocery store for our weekly groceries, then it was time to fix dinner.  After dinner I took down the tree and put it away, then it was bath time and bed time for one little boy.  I know he is feeling better because I put him down at 8 but he laid in bed chattering and awake until 10.  Yep.  2 hours.  We've both had our first dose of antibiotic so we are on the road to recovery!

Sick day and missed Christmas #5

There was a slight hiccup with trying to go to bed early Saturday night.  My problem was that I couldn't sleep.  As I laid in bed I could feel the little invisible hands going at my throat with a cheese grater and pumping hot air in there to swell it.  I barely slept all night I was in so much pain and I didn't know what I could take due to pregnancy.  When Luke woke up in the morning at 8 I called Mom to sub for me in bible class and went back to sleep.  Luckily Cody had fallen asleep on the couch at 5 the night before so he was okay to get up with Luke.

When I finally got up at 11 I just moved to the couch.  I laid there as Luke semi-played with his toys, I could tell that he didn't still didn't feel great and was  running a low fever.  We suffered through the rest of the morning until I deemed it naptime at 1.  Cody left for his grandmother's house and we slept until 4.  I felt bad about us missing the Christmas with his mom's side of the family, but when you're sick you're sick.  Once we woke up I forced myself to drink some water and nibble on some grapes.  Poor Flicker was being starved from my lack of appetite.  That's not good.  I called Mom and she brought me some soup while I made Luke and I a grilled cheese sandwich, but neither of us felt like eating it.  Back to bed by 7 for us!

Merry Christmas!

I hope you're having a blessed day!  A post dated account of Christmas Eve to come later, as well as a detailed account of today.  ;)

Christmas Morning (Christmas #4)

I actually woke up on Christmas morning on my own, at 8:30.  What?!  That should have been a big clue to the day.  Since Luke wasn't up yet I went into the kitchen to get the rest of breakfast in the oven (the part I didn't stay up until midnight doing) and the any other last minute details ready I had forgotten. 

At 9 he was STILL asleep, but my grandmother called and the phone just happen to be right by his door.  He stumbled out of his room and I got all excited about "Santa came!  Santa came!" so we got Daddy, turned on the video camera, and went for his stocking.  At first I thought it was all going to be great.

But then it turned sour.  

He would not get off the floor.  We turned off the camera, I rocked him for awhile, and got him a plate of breakfast.  After a little while he calmed down and we were able to turn the camera back on and proceed.  This time was much better.  We got through his stocking and moved on to the presents. 

Half way through the presents all the grandparents started to arrive for brunch.  I really meant to get a picture of the table all set, but I forgot.  We had brunch, then everyone watched Luke play with his new toys.  He LOVED the train set, just like I thought he would.  By noon I could tell he was really starting to feel bad, and he had barely eaten any of the breakfast I'd set out for him.  His cough was increasing and his poor eyes were so droopy.  I put him down for a nap, but he didn't sleep for very long due to a coughing fit.  When he got up I could tell he felt BAD.  He was running a fever and just wanted to be held.  He sat with me for a long time, then sat with Daddy, and by 6:30 I was running a bath to put him in bed.  The kid was out by 7:15 (HOURS earlier than normal) and I soon followed suit because I was feeling pretty run down myself. 

Merry Christmas to us!

Christmas Eve (aka Christmas #3)

Christmas Eve dawned dreary and rainy today.  It rained a lot.  We bummed around the house for awhile before heading over to Mom's to make our Christmas cookies.  I should not have wasted that time. 

You see, the night before, I had checked on Luke before getting ready for bed and determined that his breathing was awful.  Horrid.  I gave him FOUR puffs of his rescue inhaler and it did nothing.  I was worried that he wasn't getting enough oxygen, coupled with the fact that he had developed a nasty sounding cough within the hour, so Cody and I scooped him up and ran up to Acute Kids emergency care before they closed at 11.  They diagnosed him with croup and gave him an oral dose of steroids to open up his throat.  What they didn't tell me was that it can upset kids' tummies (something I found out the next day), and 15 minutes later when we were pulling in to the drive way he threw it up.  Awesome.  I put him back to bed and the poor kid couldn't sleep.  I ended up laying down with him until he did.  My sweet boy. 

So when the morning was dark and rainy, it kinda fit the bill.  He wasn't too keen on making the cookies- playing Hot Wheels with Papa was much more enticing- but we had to have something to leave out for Santa! 

(eating the cookie dough was better than waiting!)

While he played a little longer and Mom finished up the cookies, I did a couple of quick errands so he wouldn't have to get out in the rain.  I wanted to get some congestion medicine for his runny nose and we needed a new filter for the humidifier, which I figured he would start to need. 

I should have stayed put.

When I ran up to CVS I stepped with both feet in a giant puddle that filled my shoes with cold water and soaked my jeans up to my calves.  They didn't have the filter, so I bought the medicine and left.  I knew where the only place to get the filter was.  It was the only place I didn't want to go. 

Wal Mart.

On Christmas Eve.

At noon. 

Talk about the trifecta of disasters. 

But I actually found a decent parking place, located my filter with relative easy, and EVEN was able to walk right up to a self check out register.  I don't think I've ever been in and out that quickly.  Jesus was with me.  I swung back by to pick up my boy, and we headed home for nap time.  My plan had been to get him down for a nap, then get me down for a nap until 4 so that I could have time to get me ready and some baking done before Christmas Eve dinner.  Momma wasn't feeling good and needed that nap. So I got out the humidifier, fixed it all up, and RIGHT BEFORE I put him to bed......disaster happened. 

A disaster called "the entire tank of water from the humidifier poured all over Luke's bookshelf crammed with hundreds of books".  Ya'll, I cried.  Only half the books (the side where the tank was) got wet, but it still led to a nap time that looked like this.

There were books everywhere.  Fanning them out to dry really ate into my time.  Finally I got him down, then me down, and I hoped the day would get better.  At 4 Luke actually woke up too, and I went through all the books that were dried.  More time wasted.  The baking of one item took longer than I thought, more time wasted, and I didn't get to the second thing.  But we made it to dinner on time, traditional Macaroni Grill with my family, and after 3 glasses of mango tea and eggplant Parmesan I felt better.

Then it was present time!  Per tradition, we open presents with my parents on Christmas Eve after dinner.  Luke had a ball.  There were big presents.

And little presents.

Presents not for him.

And presents just for him.

Plus a good family shot!  Hallelujah!

Then we went to get ready for Santa.  There was a letter to write:

Cookies to put out:

And a story to read:

Okay Santa, we're ready!