I'm ready!

A relaxing weekend is EXACTLY what I needed. I am rejuvenated and ready for any "mommy-stuff" that's thrown at me...

PS. Don't try and fit in your old pre-child bikini bottoms post-children. NOT even funny!

movement!

So, I started to feel the baby move yesterday. Nothing huge, but when I lay still at night or in the morning I'm able to feel little flutters of movement... exciting! Also, my belly button has already popped - what!?

In other news, our family is doing the Dave Ramsey plan for our financial life. I know sacrificing "things" now, and not "keeping up with the Jones'" will pay off in the long run. But, none the less - I'm scared.

...and we have a stove - hallelujah!

Vaca!

We're going away for the weekend!!! For the first time since our honeymoon!
Figured it'll be the second to last time (we're going to a marriage conference at the Amway in Feb.) for the next oh, year and a half. So we're going to Bay Pointe Inn for our 2nd Anniversary. I'm so excited! The fall colors should be amazing - I can't wait. WE need this.

Ultrasounds

13 weeks
10 weeks
7 weeks

Baby two..

Third ultrasound today (5th? prenatal appt), and all is well.

They were looking for a specific measurement and couldn't quite get it - so it was literally an hour long!

It was neat, until they angled me way head down attempting to turn the baby. That was interesting. But, anyway no signs of down syndrome, all parts expected to been seen (ie: arms, hands, legs, feet, heat, heart, abdomen) were there, and in working order. 162(?)BPM, and kicking.

The tech said that the baby is calm for gestational age, and that s/he is measuring 4 days ahead.

It doesn't sound like much, but this is when babies start taking off on their own growth pattern, and of course ours is getting a running start at getting big already. Other things we talked about were possibilities of a VBAC. We've decided if the baby is measuring "small enough" (every woman can be different in what they can labor, despite the size of the woman. Knowing that it's not possible for me to labor a baby bigger than 9-9.5lbs) we're definitely going to try a VBAC.

The only other thing threatening that possibility would be that my body doesn't naturally go in to labor before, on, or shortly after my due date - they won't let me go much past because the scar tissue can only handle so much (again like every woman, every scar is different) and they won't risk rupture in a "clotter" like me.

So we're hoping for a small baby, where I go in to labor naturally. But, one thing I've learned with pregnancy via the last time is don't count on anything! Because most likely it will not happen the way you expect/hope/etc.

Other things discussed is that I (probably - can't tell for sure with out non stress tests) have a "hypersensitive" uterus. I'm already having braxton hicks contractions, and yes they are contractions for sure, because of this "hypersensitivity". They didn't explain to me exactly why it would be this way, but just said that it's nothing to worry about as long as I am not having cervical changes, fluid leaks, or bleeding. So, another thing to add to my all too frequent prenatal visits is cervical checks. I'll have my first in 6 weeks. Yay! my favorite. But, luckily they'll do it with ultrasound when I am having ultra sounds to spare me the ever so lovely manual check as much as possible.

I also have sciatica already. Again, not explained to me why so early, but none the less here. I asked for advice on how to handle it, and I got "rest and relaxation". Okay, GREAT. Thanks. So, I think I'll bring it up again with my midwife, and hope she'll be more sympathetic and explanatory. I don't think I can handle shooting leg pain for the next 6 months.

Speaking of, I can't believe that I'm already starting my second trimester. It just shows how much I didn't have to do with my first pregnancy, despite how busy I thought I was. I'm sure if I get pregnant again, I'll say the same about this pregnancy too though... But, everything is well. We got a really cute picture. I hope to scan it when ever we get the scanner hooked up. I have my full diagnostic ultrasound, and "cervical check" in 6 weeks, can't wait!

AND WE HAVE HEAT! HALLELUJAH THANK YOU LORD!
We've been with out heat for the last two weeks.
Also, big news for us, Ethan is currently spending the weekend at his Grandma "Foxy's", aka my mom's.
(side note, her last name is Brown, we call her Foxy Brown as a joke, hence Grandma Foxy)
I thought I'd be a wreck the second I handed him over, but I'm not.

I'm well, and enjoying the first time alone with my husband in over 9 months!!!

It's fantastic. Not that I don't want to drive down there and snatch him up every second.

But it's nice to have "couple" time.

So, in celebration of HEAT! and our time alone, we're going to The Corner Bar in Rockford for some white chicken chili. I tried it at a benefit for the Christian school system, and never had a chance to actually make it to the restaurant, and have more than the two tablespoons that delighted my tummy before.

So tonight, we're off to enjoy kid-less eating! MMMhhmm

hangin' in there!

So, yes! I'm barely alive!

It's been a crazy couple of weeks.
We moved out of our old house and in to our new house... but it wasn't as easy as it sounds.
We had problems with paper work on the new house, so we lived at my in-laws for 2 weeks.
And went to my parent's for the rest of the wait.
We ended up with $1,800 in unexpected costs to move in (ugh).
We're still mostly in boxes, with out appliances.

You don't realize how badly you need a washer, dryer, fridge, and stove until you don't have one for a whole week! I don't want to see fast food again... well, maybe Panera, because that's probably the only place I haven't eaten at this week.
We still have to pull out all the staples and tack strips in the rooms upstairs before we can actually get in to our bedrooms. Who ever laid the carpet thought it was necessary to put triple rows of staples all the way across the floors both ways... why?! anyway.
To top it all off I had to get a job, because the numbers were higher than expected due to a homestead tax problem. Basically we're paying taxes and insurance on a $185,000 (I think?) house because that was the last it was assessed at before the previous people destroyed it. Unfortunately that can't be fixed until after January because of some BS government rule. So, that makes me a working woman to at least January... At least I didn't have to get a "real" job though. I just work 2.5-3 hours a night at Millbrook for Karl vacuuming classrooms.
It just stinks because I'm still in the first trimester, feeling like I can sleep all day long, and I can't seem to get any sleep. I'm with bubs, and the dogs (usually a bigger pain than Ethan) attempting to clean and unpack this horrid house during the day. Karl comes home, relief! and then we have dinner, I go to work, come home with just enough time to kiss my kid, watch a half hour of TV, and go to bed...
Ahhh life!

In other news, we had our 2nd ultrasound Monday. The first was pretty uneventful - minus hearing the heart beat for the first time. Which is very exciting and relieving. But this time we got to see the shape of what I've been calling baby two. There wasn't a whole lot else to see since we're only 10 1/2 weeks, but there is a head, body, arms, legs, and heart - so that's good! We have another in two weeks, and then our full diagnostic 6 weeks after that. That's my favorite one! That's when we found out Ethan was an Ethan! So, everything is healthy and well with baby two - Thank God. And that's good.