22 Week Update

I forgot to take a picture! :{ I owe you one. I will take one tonight.

How far along?
I am 22 weeks and 5 days, 121 days to go!


Baby is the size of...
a spaghetti squash?  Or, in my book, a large squash.

My sister suggested that I take photos and give updates with the item compared to the baby. I really liked it; but, at this point in time, I have no idea where I would find a spaghetti squash. At the local farmer's market?

Symptoms:
I still feel about the same. The under-side of my tummy is feeling lots of pressure lately. I think that Olive is pushing down sometimes; but then, sometimes it just seems like my stomach muscles can't carry this big ole' uterus of mine! haha. I had to lie down for a while the other night, because it was so uncomfortable.

I asked my doctor about my veins popping out like crazy! She said that it was the increased blood flow and that the older I get, the more susceptible I am to it, since my vein walls get weaker. Good to know - I just hope to avoid spider veins or varicose veins. It is bad enough that I am one of the 50% of women who get stretch marks. :{

Anything New?
Well, I had a doctor's appointment last Friday. It was pretty basic. Olive's heartbeat was loud and clear! She kept kicking at the monitor again though. I tell you, this one is going to be feisty! I can't imagine her being more feisty than Lucy; but, I think it's going to happen!

I will be going in for my gestational diabetes check next month. I don't think I have much to be concerned about; however, one of the indicators is having diabetes in the family, which I do. So, I always have to be prepared. If so, we can handle it. They also mentioned having a RhoGAM shot and/or screening. I wasn't too sure what that was and it was mentioned with such little importance that I didn't bother asking.

Well, I got a call from the doctor's office to set up an appointment and they mentioned getting a shot. I asked what the shot was for and the scheduler told me that it was better that I talk to a nurse about it. The nurse was busy and is supposed to call me back. Naturally, I googled it. It is a precaution, apparently because I have a negative blood type.

Basically, what I understood, is that when the mother is negative and the father is positive, the fetus can inherit the positive from the father. Problems can arise when the fetus's blood has the positive factor and the mother's blood does not. If our bloods were to ever mix somehow, which I guess is somewhat common, my body could start attacking the baby's blood, and essentially the baby, as a "foreign object."

Now, my first question is, "Well, why don't we take Heath's blood and see if it is positive and if we even need to worry." But, I am sure that they can't simply just take my word for it that Heath is the father. They have to take precaution because of the baby...which makes sense I guess.

Overall, my doctor made it seem like not a big deal at all. And, my co-worker who has three children said that she got the shot with her children and no big deal. So, I'm not going to fret quite yet. It is something that I literally can't control. I know my doctor will do what is best for Olive and me.

If you want to read more about this whole RhoGAM and blood type thing, go here: http://www.americanpregnancy.org/pregnancycomplications/rhfactor.html. I admit. I am still a little fuzzy on it all.

I will definitely ask the nurse why I didn't have to do anything with Lucy, and now I do...hmmm...

New With Heath?
Well, he gave me the best Mother's Day weekend ever! :) He was so sweet and spoiled me like crazy! :)  I appreciate him so much as a husband and a daddy. I woke up Sunday morning to breakfast croissants! Yay! :) Soooo delicious! As you know, they got me in trouble with Lucy, weight wise. I had to give them up. :( But, an occasional one or two, here and there won't hurt...too bad. :)

Lucy and him also gave me an awesome present and picked up Chinese food for me, for supper. It was delicious. I think I ate all but one Crab Rangoon on my own. Oops! Mmm...I'm making myself hungry.

Anyway, he has been really good about taking the helm with Lucy. He gets up with her in the middle of the night for me. Granted, she does go to his side of the bed and I don't even wake up sometimes. And, he often ends up just putting her in bed with us. :[ But, I appreciate it, even if I wake up to her wheezing in my ear. He has informed me that our bed allows room for one more...which worries me and my future rest. Heath, Lucy, Olive, and me, in a queen-sized bed? Oh boy!

With Lucy?
It seems like in the past week, she has just grown up so much! She is getting so big, not only physically. She is talking so much and is so smart! I literally cried the other day because she just amazes me. Yes - I think this time it was the hormones. haha.

We are in the middle of week 2 of no binkie and I think I can officially say, without jinxing myself, it is gone (knock on wood, just in case). I don't think we will turn back now. :) Also, in Lucy news, she went potty on the big girl potty again!! :)

After changing her diaper, I just decided to leave it off. I thought if I let her run around the house naked (since it is hot out), that she will either pee on the floor or tell us when she has to go. Her telling us has been our biggest issue. To be honest, Heath and I didn't think that she would just pee on the floor. We were kind of right. She went pee a little in her booster seat and immediately panicked and told me that she needed a diaper. I took her to the potty and she didn't want to go. It was about 20 minutes later and she told Heath that she had to go and went! :) We were really proud. It looks like being naked in the evenings will become "a thing" until she starts telling us on her own.

The checklist is getting done! We have 18 more weeks!

Anything else?

How could there possible be? This is the longest post ever, right? Well, there is more!  My sister got Olive her first "official" gift.

 How cute is that?! The blacked-out area is our last name. I absolutely LOVE this onesie. I can't wait until she is here and can wear it. :)

By the way, how unbelievable tired do I look in this photo?

Well, that is all for today. Have a good week. We will be going to the zoo next week; so, the days can't go fast enough for me. I'm so excited! :)

Too Late?

So, is it too late to talk about Christmas? And, share our photos?

Well, if it is, sorry. I am awful about gathering pictures from our camera. But, I finally got a whole bunch - including Christmas! Here they are...

We started our kick-off to Christmas by going to see...who else, but Santa Claus?

Lucy had her new Christmas dress on.

She did alright. No tears! :) She was more interested in the candy canes than anything else. I just wish 'binkie' hadn't been in the picture. :{

It was a fun family night.

In early December, Lucy got her letter from Santa Claus. She was pretty excited to get mail, but otherwise oblivious about the content. However, when she gets older I think she will enjoy seeing these letters, marking her year's milestones and 'what to work on.'

We filled most of our evenings reading Christmas stories in front of the Christmas tree. Lucy loved reading 'Charlie Brown's Christmas' and 'Twas' the Night Before Christmas.' She even has two Hallmark books that her Mimi and Grandpa recorded for her.

I'll admit, by the end I was begging to read something other than Charlie Brown. I love it; but, boy, does it get old. Thirty nights of reading it is a lot! Good grief! ;)

We, again, spent Christmas Eve as a family. We made sure to take another family photo in front of the Christmas tree.

Once we got home, Lucy loved opening her stocking. She got a lot of goodies and some more, small books!

 

We left the camera out all night and Santa took a picture of the presents he left under the tree! Doesn't this photos just seem warm? :)

The next morning, Lucy was in a sleepy daze. She tried out her new recliner while we opened other gifts.

It was a wonderful holiday season. I am sad that it is again so far away. However, each year with Lucy is so exciting and new! I know we have many great years to come...

Now, onto Valentines! :)

Gift Opening

There are a few gifts under our tree already. I started shopping on Black Friday and somehow managed to wrap about 30 presents and put them under the tree.  It has been tough though. We have been trying to keep Lucy away from the presents. She doesn't necessarily want to open them; but, she wants to play with the bows or rip the tags off. So far, so good...
Last night, we were watching Rudolph and the Misfit Toys. A commercial came on of a boy opening a Christmas present. Inside was a toy dinosaur. The boy cheered and starting playing.

I heard a gasp.

I looked at Lucy, just in time to see her eyebrows raise, her mouth open, and a look of epiphany come across her face. She turns toward the tree and takes off in a sprint across the room. She picks up a gift from under the tree and looks at me with an anticipating smile. I had to laugh.

Then, unfortunately, I had to tell her no. I tried to explain that they weren't for her and she had to wait for Santa to come. She didn't seem to mind the explanation too much. She was easily distracted when the show came back on.

I think she is starting to understand gifts. :)

Lucy's First Birthday?

That was four months ago? What? Oh, so it was. Well, didn't you wonder what we did for it?

Me, being the awful photo-gatherer that I am, didn't share it all with you. Sorry! Better late than never? Of course.

We had a nice gathering at our house with cake, presents, and chatting. We don't have a lot of friends with children, yet. So, it was more of a child-themed, adult party - minus alcohol. :) Oh well. I will eventually get to make games and fun scavenger hunts!

After reviewing the many themes at Party USA, Heath and I decided on the Princess theme. Lucy is spoiled rotten and well, it seemed kind of fitting!

We didn't get too out of hand with decorations; however, we still managed to spend about $250 on her birthday all together. How did that happen?

Answer: one very large present. Oh yeah...

Here is the main table of cake and goodies - notice the cold, snowy background? Brrr.....

My mom made the wonderful cakes! She did an amazing job!

She used the princess banners with hearts, flowers, and butterflies for inspiration.

And this one, below, was Lucy's personal cake! :)

And, this is the hat that she wore for point two seconds -

We have one picture with her in it and she is snarling...seriously.

Everyone brought the best gifts (lots o' toys!), hence the need for a new playroom. Lucy loved opening gifts.

It's only been 4 months; but, I don't even recognize that little girl anymore!

Everything went as planned, except for Lucy eating the cake. She wanted no part in it. We literally poked it and tried to feed it to her for about 20 minutes, with no avail. Heath even squished her hand in it, which only made her mad. It was so not like on TV...

The ice cream? Well, that, she loved.

It was a wonderful day and we will always remember it fondly! It came and went so quickly. Before I know it, I'll be planning another (birthday that is, not a first - don't get too excited yet)!

The good news about the cake is that at her friend Ty's birthday, in May, she mutilated a chocolate cake - just as it should be done. :) She's learning.

Happy Monday! Hopefully you'll hear more from me this week. Last week I was at a work conference and spent a lot of my day in the car.. (insert super sad, pathetic, tired face here). By the time I got home, I was lucky if I even changed my clothing and got into bed. I hate getting up early... :{ Good information though! :)

Oh, and Happy Late Father's Day to all of you dads out there! I hope it was a good one!

A Ring to Match

For my birthday, or for basically any holiday (yes - I consider my birthday a holiday, haha), my mom goes way over the top with gifts. Many times they linger in for days following the event.

"Oh, here is something else that I forgot to give you the other night." 

"Mom, you didn't have to do that. You got me enough."

"I knew you would like it and I've had it for a while."

Trust me, this is the conversation more often than not. She asked me over for dinner the other night and when I got there she gave me a bag of blueberry bagels, a loaf of low-cal wheat bread, a loaf of honey wheat bread, and a loaf of Texas toast. When I asked what it was all about she just said, "I thought you would like the wheat bread and it's low-cal, and you said Lucy liked Texas toast."

She's right I guess. I did say that Lucy liked Texas toast. Touche'. But, I didn't mean for her to go out and get Lucy some. (I am excited about it though! :))

Anyway, my birthday was about a week ago and like most times, gifts seem to linger in. This time, she gave me a ring.

It says, "My daughter" on one side of the heart and "My joy" on the other side. It is to match my 'Push Prize' necklace. :) Isn't it adorable?!

My mom said that it could represent her relationship with me, or it could represent my relationship with Lucy.  Either way, I love it. I am a sucker for sentimental items/gifts.  I told my mom that I would someday pass the ring down to Lucy. :)  And, now I have something else to wear always.

The ring came with this little message too.

I thought this was so neat and fun, and special, that I decided to google the brand online. This is the site that I came up with: http://www.myobsession.com/home.html. There are so many cute ideas on this site for Inspirational Jewelry. I recommend taking a look around. You can get some great gift ideas.

Also, Mother's Day really isn't that far off.  You could do some early shopping.

I am fairly positive that my mom did not buy this ring online; so, if anyone does business with this site, please let me know. I can add an update about your experiences with them, for other prospective customers.

Enjoy! I know, I will!

Note: Thank you to all who subscribed to my posts! It was exciting to see some new readers, or readers I didn't realize actually read my blog! haha.  This is the first post, post subscription. I hope it works; if it doesn't for you, by later this afternoon, please let me know. I can take a look at the settings again.

Lucy Note: She has taken four unaccompanied steps; but, we have had to coerce them out of her. She just doesn't want to do it herself yet. We are still working with her. I will let you know how it goes. :)

Our Christmas 2010

I had a recent request by one of my readers to share some of my Christmas traditions, now that it has passed. Specifically, the reader wanted to know about Lucy's Christmas and Santa's visit. I realize that we have all moved past Christmas and it is now just a pleasant memory, as we move toward 'warmer' thoughts. :) However, I like reflection and memories...and I am not one to disappoint a reader. So, here is a little bit about our Christmas.

First, we usually kick off our Christmas celebration with Black Friday. We don't get too crazy; but, there are some pretty great deals! The Saturday following we go to pick out our Christmas tree. We have been going to the same patch for 10 years (me and my dad, before Heath came along :)). This year was so exciting, being able to take Lucy. We even took a picture as a family in front of Lucy's first Christmas tree!


You may think that a real tree could cause some issues with Lucy; however, it didn't! It was so poky that it would hurt her hands; so, she left it alone! :) Sad.....I know. It only took a couple of pokes though for her to figure it out.

The first weekend in December, we go pick up our tree and decorate. If the weather is nice, Heath will even put up our Christmas lights. We go with simple, white lights for our tree and house.

Throughout the month I wrap presents as they come in from our online orders or shopping ventures. I work on getting our cards out as soon as time permits. And, about a week from Christmas, Lucy got her letter from Santa! I am very excited for the day that Lucy can write him first. :)

On Christmas Eve, we spent the evening as a little family. It was wonderful! We got dressed and ready to go out to eat and then to church.

A Christmas tradition that my family had was to open our stockings (from mom and dad) after church on Christmas Eve. I guess it was something to hold us kids over until morning. Stocking gifts were never big; but, they were still fun. I remember getting new toothbrushes, nail polish, jewelry, candy, gel pens, etc. I cannot wait to do that for Lucy too.

This year she got a plastic snow globe, yogurt bites, a Christmas book, some hair bows, new mittens, colorful socks, an 'L' ornament, leg warmers, and more.

Heath took some pictures of our tree afterward. We sat with Christmas music on, just enjoying the moment. Christmas Eve is always a time when I try to just soak in the moment and be thankful for my many, many blessings.

These were just the gifts for other family members; Santa hadn't visited yet!

We didn't set any cookies or milk out for Santa this year. Lucy doesn't understand yet; so, we will wait until next year. However, that doesn't mean Santa didn't eat some of my homemade peanut butter and chocolate cookies that night. ;)

Heath took a snapshot of this ornament too - Lucy's first Christmas ornament.

The next morning, Lucy woke us up bright and early. I cannot wait for the days that she runs into our room. However, her standing in her crib yelling did just fine. :)

Santa had come! He left lots of gifts too (all the green ones).

Lucy and I cuddled to open them.

She loved to open them and actually liked the gift MORE than the wrapping paper! As soon as she would see the toy, she'd start playing with it. Santa was smart though and took all the toys out of the wrappers, undid all the twisty ties, etc., and put the toy back in the box. So, Lucy could start playing with it immediately.

Lucy collected so many toys that we are considering making our basement a playroom, sooner than we originally thought! I cannot even name all the things she got - a rocking horse, tennis shoes, pea coat, a see-n-say, a sled, books, stuffed animals, a horse on wheels, an emergency vehicle, cars, stacking cups, clothes, and the list goes on...

We had seven family Christmases in all! That is what we get for having divorced parents, I guess. So, she made out very well.

I know that was just a quick overview of what all we do; perhaps next year I won't be as busy in December and will be able to share more along the way. I think so! :) Christmases are going to just get better and better, the older Lucy gets.

Hope you had a great Christmas too. And, here is to 325+ days until it comes again!