2nd to last dr. appt...

So today i went to my 2nd to last Dr. appt. HURRAY! Joel was able to come with me this time but i have to say that he was less than thrilled since he got home at about 6:30am and my appt was at 10:45am. Anyways....they did the regular stuff...NST and weight and such...i only gained 1/2 a pound this time so that's great. Looks like my total weight gain is going to end at 145 lbs or less so thats only 30 lbs on the dot! I'm so proud of myself!! :) The doc also did the first 'checking' of everything...baby is laying extremely low so she is totally engaged, and i'm dialted about 1 cm. Hopefully with some effort on my part, that number will increase in the next 2 weeks greatly, LOL. The 'checking' hurt like HELL so i'm not looking forward to doing it again next week, and baby let me know that she was displeased as well. Oh well...next appt on Monday is my last appt and then i'll go in for her birth!! Joel and I are both SOOO anxious to meet her.

This past weekend was pretty uneventful otherwise...Joel had to work every day but Saturday so i spent some time shopping with my MIL and his aunt. We got a really cute little vinyl peel off thing with a quote for Kenzie's wall that is ADORABLE! It says 'Some people dream of angels, I hold one in my arms.' So Joel and I put that up over the weekend. I love it!!

Other than that i have nothing to really say...so yeah. I hope everyone has a Happy New Year! We will be busy with a party or get together on the 31st, 1st, and 2nd so we'll see how long I last through all of those!! hehe

^^^The countdown is wrong...i'm being induced so only 16 days to go!!!! HURRAY!!!

Christmas Update and so on...

So yesterday was Christmas and we had a WONDEFUL day. Backing up, Christmas Eve started with me getting off of work at 1:00 but then i had to enter the cave of doom...AKA Walmart on Christmas Eve plus it was POURING rain...that SUCKED. But I got home around 2:30 and we went and picked up Joel's mom and then all went to her uncle's house to hang out with family. It's a tradition that we all do and we all had fun. Only problem was that pretty much everyone who smokes in the family, which is about 5 people...smoke inside there so i had to keep away from people a lot. UCK! Joel's mom stayed with us that night because she fell and hurt her leg and it just made more sense for her to stay over since she was coming over th next morning anyways.

So arrive Christmas morning...Joel and i were up at 5am because i couldn't sleep and he was too excited, LOL. Mackenzie will never have to wake US up for Christmas, LOL. So we finished cleaning up and stacked the presents under the tree. Joel's mom woke up around 8:30 and made her breakfast quiche...YUMMO! Aunt Sandy and Susie arrived around 9-9:30 and we all ate breakfast and let the puppies open their gifts. Rupert got a box stuffed with pig ears, because he LOVES to tear into boxes, and he got a super cute sweater...Lilly got a beautiful purple and pink collar and a nylabone that she ate in about 2 mins. Plus they both got a bag of pupperoni treats. After breakfast we sat down to open presents. Joel LOVED his gifts from me and i got the cutest necklace from him with an 'M' on it for our daughter. I absolutely LOVE it. We also got a toaster oven, SWEET!, and i got a sewing machine yay! Joel got an awesome suit from his aunt that fit perfectly so we were BOTH happy about that. He feels nice and i get some eye candy. hehe. We got tons of other stuff too...but yeah. Kenzie got some more books and stuffed animal, including a little bear that says prayers...too cute.

We sat around and watched movies and let lunch cook and then all ate together again. Around 5pm everyone left and Joel and I took a 2 hr. nap. Then i took another hour nap, LOL.

Today i'm going shopping with Joel's mom and aunt to hit up some deals and specials so that should be fun.
As for baby updates...my feet are becoming little sausages because they swell up sooo bad. By about 12:00 my feet are killing me every day so that sucks. Luckily i'm off of work until 1/5 or i'd die. Well i should go get ready. Hope everyone had a great Christmas!!

Another Shower and a busy weekend....

So on Friday afternoon at work i was surprised with another baby shower from my co-workers. I was thrilled!! One of the ladies in our office makes cakes and always makes birthday cakes and such for the office, but she made me an absolutely adorable cake...as seen below....





And it was fun-fetti cake....my fave!!
I got tons of cute stuff, a few outfits, some pacifiers, diapers, blankets, stuffed animals, a diaper caddy/organizer for the changing table, and some general supplies too. The topper though was the gift that i guess everyone pitched in some money on....i got my playpen/bassinet/changing table!!! I was soooooo psyched about it! I put it together first thing on Saturday morning and it is just too cool. It has a little wind up mobile too!! So after all of that stuff i think we are just about entirely prepared, if not over-prepared for baby to get here! I went out and bought a changing table pad because i had two covers, but no pad; and i also got a little laundry hamper, appropriate for baby sized things, LOL.

I was out shopping with Joel's mom for that stuff ^ so i also got a few presents for Joel for Christmas too. I'm really excited about them because what i did get for him is not what he was expecting i dont think. I ended up getting him a bluetooth for his phone but we were out shopping together and found the perfect one, so he knows about that gift :(. Oh well. Joel and I spent all day on Saturday Christmas shopping and grocery shopping so i'm glad that it's just about all done now. We caught up on grocery shopping and fully 'stocked the shelves' since i have nearly 2 weeks off at home after Christmas, and then i'll be home for a LONG time.

Today (Sunday) we went to church and then came home because Joel had to work tonight. I cleaned up a little bit to prepare for Christmas being here this year, and then we just were lazy around the house after that. It was REALLY cold here today but our living room was so nice and cozy with the sun shining in and the fireplace roaring. I think right now it's about 10 degrees outside, with a 'feels like' of -5 though so it's not quite as cozy warm anymore, LOL.

Well that's about it for our weekend update.
As for baby...nothing much new but i am on weekly appt's now so i have an appt tomorrow. People are saying that I've 'dropped' so Mackenzie is prepping for her entry!! hurray!
Merry Christmas to everyone and i hope you all have a great Christmas!!!

Merry almost Christmas!!!!

So it's almost Christmas and i'm in a great mood and feeling happy :)
Why is that you may be asking? Well i'll tell you...

This weekend we are going to do all of our Christmas shopping, because Joel and I are the worst procrastinators known to man but I am looking forward to the day out and about. It also helps that Joel got his raise approved finally and they paid him the raise in back-pay to Sept. 11th, his one yr. mark....so that's always nice and helpful. Also....baby is only 4 more weeks away max, and there is nothing better than welcoming home our new baby girl so soon!! Also...I only have a few more days of work before my big break...from 1pm on Christmas eve through January 5th...and even then i only work that week and then go on maternity leave! Also...Christmas is at our house this year which is kind of a first for us so i'm going crazy thinking about everything we need to do...in a good way.

On the bad side...Joel has to work this Friday night, which NEVER happens so that kind of sucks, plus he'll work Sunday night so we'll miss our Christmas show at church :(
At least he is off for the holidays and stuff so that's nice.

Baby update: She is ready to get out of that cramped space even more so than i am ready for her to be out i think. She kicks and wriggles all day long trying to rip out through my side, belly button and rib cage. I have a strong feeling that she is just so uncomfortably cramped that she'll start to get me ready for her appearance close to my induction date anyways. I would love it if i had some sort of dialation when i go in to be induced since that makes things easier on both of us. Nursery is all set up and ready to go...we have sterile bottles and formula in the cabinets, i'm getting my missing 'pump' accessories on Monday from the hospital, and the changing table is prepped with diapers and lotions and butt paste :) Oh Kenzie we can't wait for you to get here!!! I have plans to read to her a little bit later on tonight before bed.

Well that's our update on how we're all doing and what we're doing. God has blessed us so much this Christmas season and we are just so happy. Last year was a rough one for us because we had just moved, were flat broke, and hardly got to even decorate for Christmas. I was so stressed out last year over everything. This year we are settled in, expecting our daughter soon, and no where near as strapped. I know that money isn't everything, and i know that there are other things to be even more thankful for by all means, but living comfortably really does help things out in our marriage, general life, and my stress levels. Thank God for our blessings!!

Baby Bump and Nursery

So this is just a post to update everyone on my immense hugeness, as well as the nursery that is just about done.

First off....let's get the hard part over...what follows may scare small children so please avert their eyes... :)

Ugg...please remember that the camera adds 10 pounds, LOL. And remember Hettie...this will be you soon enough too...so no gasping!

And now for some nursery pics....all we have left to do is put together my rocker/glider chair and set it up...so this is it! Just missing a baby!!

crib! still full of random blankets though

changing table and baskets FULL of baby supplies. The bottom shelf is full of diapers behind the 'other stuff' while the middle shelf houses my cute little baskets of towels andburp cloths and bath time supplies. And of course my cool Diaper Champ beside it with which to house poopy diapers :) (aren't the curtains just too cute too?!)

and lastly her bookshelf with matching stuffed animals from grammy. You can't even see the books, LOL, but i swear they are in there.

So that's it...just some pics for everyone to look at. Hopefully soon there will be a little person in the room using all of the stuff. But not before Joel puts together my rocking chair!!!!!

YIKES! GD sux

Ok so i had a 33 wk u/s yesterday to monitor Kenzie's growth....and holy mackerel she is measuring about 2 weeks ahead of where she 'should' be. She is 5lbs 15oz. (HR 130) so now i'm thinking that the doctor won't even let me go until January 11th. I wouldn't mind getting her off of my ACHING hips a little early....but delivering at 38 weeks would kind of freak me out because of her lung development. I know that she would probably be just fine, but it still worries me. It was amazing to see our girl again though let me just say. It's hard to make things out on the u/s this far along since she is so squished up in there, but it was still really cool. We got a few pics of her too. One of her arm, one of her leg (dad's long legs), a skull head shot, and a picture that shows her hair!! LOL. When the tech was showing us her facial features and stuff we could see her moving her mouth open and closed and swallowing the fluids. It was just so cool to peer into her little world.
I don't have another Dr. appt until Monday so i'll know then what we're going to do i guess, but my gut feeling is that a normal delivery is looking less and less like a possibility. Unless my body realizes that she needs to come early and starts dialating and prepping, i'm afraid a c-section will be in my future. Well, whatever it takes to get her here safe and sound is fine with me, but i'd so love to go normally. Buuut then again i DON'T want to go normally if she is a 10 pounder! LOL

Just 5 more weeks...Just 5 more weeks

So I've been awake since 5am because apparently Mackenzie has had enough sleep, and now it's time to play games and roll around and kick and hiccup and kick some more and then roll around again. Ugg...this is getting really painful on my bladder :(
Let's see....this weekend was just full of wonderfulness and praises t God!! On Friday, when Joel got paid he got paid for all of his un-used sick time, which helped out A LOT with bills and Christmas shopping and catching up. Then i got news that my yearly raise was approved so hurray for that!! We also discovered a Buffalo Wild Wings that just opened near us so we went and had dinner there together after i got off of work.
Then Yesterday was my baby shower and we got a lot of really cute stuff! Lots of baby clothes, which granted she already had LOTS, but the more the merrier :P. We also got one of those t.v. baby monitor things so i can watch her while she sleeps, which i'm sure will help out this nervous totally paranoid mommy, LOL. We also got 2 different hand made blankets, one for me, one for Kenzie. Uhmm....bedding and curtains finally, and a few other baby accessories like bath time stuff and bottle system stuff.
Last night we went out for dinner with Jami/Ethan and their two kiddos...again to BW3's because they hadn't been yet. Their 2 yr. old was eating his chicken strips and fries with ranch dressing, i mean the boy LOVES ranch dressing apparently...and at the moment i guess none of us were watching him, but i looked over and he had dipped both of his hands into the ranch dressing and was just licking it all off of his fingers. Who needs food to dip into the ranch when you have fingers right? :)

Today we're going to church, and then we are going to Joel's aunt's house for a little family time get together and a 'family baby shower.' I'm excited all over again. Mackenzie's nursery is now totally full of diapers and clothes and picture frames and blankets and all kinds of books and stuffed animals. There is still a lot to get and do, but hopefully over my little Christmas break we can get all of that fun stuff done so we're ready for her arrival.

On Monday i have an ultrasound to check on her growth and make sure everything is going well. YAY! I'm taking a 1/2 day from work and then Joel will meet me at the hospital for that. I just can't wait to see this little girly again. I really hope that they do a 3D u/s since she is so big and all. I wouldn't think you'd be able to see much with a regular one at this point since she is taking up SO much space. But we'll see.

Well i'm going to go and do laundry....Happy weekend to all!

It's been a while!!

My My My what a long time it has been since I’ve posted anything! Lots to say…not much time to say it in since I’m at work.

Thanksgiving was fabulous….we went to my mom’s house in Seveirville, TN and hung out with them for 2 days. Had a wonderful meal and lots of fun with mom and Dave and their new shih-tzu puppy. J
Came back on Saturday and Lilly was great for Joel’s aunt, but unfortunately broke a small window pane and sliced both her nose and her paw open a little. She is doing fine now but we have to keep her arm bandaged up or else it bleeds since it is on her dew claw foot pad L Poor girl.
Today was my 33 wk doctor appt and it was wonderful!! My doctor walked in and asked if I had been scheduled yet, I was like uhmm for what? Well your induction of course! Hehe….because I have GD they induce early to avoid the baby getting too big…so I have an ‘official’ delivery date now. I will go in to be induced on 1/11 and deliver hopefully on 1/12!! I’m sooooo excited! Only 6 more weeks to go and we’ll be holding our little Mackenzie! I had my first NST test done too where they hook a monitor up to my belly for 20 mins and watch her heartbeat and I have to press a button whenever I feel her move. Kenzie passed that with flying colors so all is great with her! I have an ultrasound to be schedule sometime this week to monitor her growth and make sure that she is growing ok for her due date now. Yay we get to see her again!! I’m getting soooo excited!
This weekend is our first and biggest baby shower, one on Saturday with friends/family/church etc and then one on Sunday for just family. I’m psyched about both of them! Eek! Baby things!!!
So for now I should go because I should really work at least SOME today. I’ll write up more later….maybe….

Diabeetus

Well yesterday was my first day being an official 'diabetic.' I went and met with my dietician in the morning and watched a video on how gestational diabetes is caused and how it all works. Luckily i do feel a little bit better that there really is nothing i can do or could have done to prevent it. My body is simply either insulin resistant, or not creating enough period due to the VAST increase of hormones going on, especially in the last month or so.
I got my little blood testing kit and learned how to use that. It's no fun but at least it isn't as painful as i would have thought. Just a little bitty prick on my finger, a squeeze, and i'm done. So far since breakfast yesterday i've been right on with my readings and goals. I'm quite proud of myself that i have managed it so far. I know there is a long way to go but i have a good start. It's not so difficult to eat better and make good choices, but it is hard when i'm at work for example and i have to eat very specific groups of foods at specific times. I get 3 meals and 3 snacks per day, which is nice, but i do have to cut back on my milk intake, LOL.
Joel brought a smile to my face this morning at least. I hop on the computer and log in under my name and what do i see? A picture of a cat that looks just like the guy on the 'Liberty' diabetes testing supplies commercial....and it just says above the cat....'Diabeetus.'
I got a great kick out of that one. :) So i just finished my Dr. approved breakfast of toast with peanut butter and an 8 oz. glass of milk so i should get ready for work now. TGIF!!

GTT and a good weekend...

Joel and i had SUCH a good weekend this weekend. It was really cold the whole time so we had our fire going the whole time. We had planned to plan nothing for the weekend and were successful with that. Friday we ate pasta and sat around watching tv until we fell asleep. Saturday we woke up and sat around some more. I made waffles for breakfast :)...yummo! We didn't even shower until the late afternoon...it was wonderful. We cooked chicken kabobs for dinner with fried rice...more yummo. You can tell where my preggo brain is, LOL.
Sunday we went to church and Joel's mom came with us. We had lunch afterwards and ran some errands and went to see Joel's great aunt for a little while. Overall it was a very relaxing and wonderful weekend full of warmth and relaxation. I did get more ambitious of Saturday afternoon and re-arranged the living room in prep for baby and Christmas. I wanted more space in here and there was too much 'stuff' too. So now it's nice and clean and spacious! HURRAY!
As for my glucose test, i finally got the results tonight. My final #'s are supposed to be between 75 and 110, and i had a final blood sugar of 96...so it was still pretty high, and my first hour was of course really high. So my doc wants to be cautious and she's sending me to work with a dietician of sorts to talk to me about what i should/should not eat. I don't think i'll need to test my blood sugar or anything since technically i was within the 'normal' range, but i guess it's good to be careful. SO i guess it's good news and bad news. But overall i'm happy with the results. I kind of knew that i had blood sugar issues since i always have had weird reactions to not eating or not having any sugar in a day. But anywho...

As for baby...she is getting big and is up to my ribs now. She doesn't like my ribs so she is trying to kick them out of her way. I think she has finally turned to be up/down instead of side to side because i feel much 'bigger' in a different way now. Plus the kicking has relocated :). I can't believe i have 9 more weeks to go, and at the same time, ONLY 9 weeks to go. It's very bittersweet really. I am miserable with back pain and hip pain and heartburn and not being able to breathe, but i also can't wait to hold her in my arms and have our lives change so copmpletely.

Well i'm gonna head off to bed soon. Have a good week everyone!

Why I Am Fabulous!

Ok Hettie....this one is for you....

Why i am fabulous...

1. i am a good wife
2. i am a mature 22 yr. old with a house and a baby on the way
3. i defied the odds and got married at 18, and still am!!
4. i am a good daughter/daughter-in-law
5. i love my husband
6. i love God
7. i take care of our two pups
8. i love to take day trips with my husband
9. my fave thing to do is sit at home all weekend with my husband
10. i think i've managed pregnancy well
11. i haven't gained 412 lbs!! :)
12. i finished HS in the top 10 people
13. i went BACK to school after taking a year off
14. i went back to college for FREE!
15. i am a member of a wonderful church
16. i have surrounded myself with wonderful and uplifting friends, love you all!
17. i don't drink sodas! LOL
18. i am politically informed and participate in my government and society
19. i am still a kid at heart
20. i am thankful for everything that i have and have been given in life

ok that's me!! :) pass it on and now someone else needs to do this too!

30 weeks down, only 10 to go!

WOW. Saying that i only have 10 more weeks to go seems like SUCH a short time! I can't believe that our little girly will be here in 10 weeks or less...hopefully a little less, but not by much LOL.
Today i had my 'fat girl' realization. Granted i've been 'enormous' for a little while now, at least i feel that way, but today while getting dressed for work i took out some of the clothes that my sister had sent me when i first found out. Well 7 months ago her clothes were HUGE on me, didn't even come close to fitting. Today, i took out a pair of dress pants, and they fit perfectly. LOL it's so funny how much you can grow in these 9 short months. Granted it's been 22.5 well earned pounds causing it, but i'm happy with my size and think i'm doing great, and so does my doc. Hurray!
Anywho.....this past week has been pretty un-eventful. It's been raining almost all week long, but has also been down in the 40's at the high point of the day so needless to say...it's cold. The puppies went outside this morning to do their business....got two paw steps out the door, and turned around as if to say...uhmm....no way...uh uh.
I did take my 3 hr glucose test finally yesterday and it hurt like a mo-fo! I had 5 blood draws, and 6 urine samples. Madness. I'm surprised i could pee that much, LOL. I'm hoping to have the results soon today.
This weekend we don't have many plans, and by many...i mean NONE. We've been out and about all weekend these past few weekends, which is very un-like us so this weekend we've decided to do a lot of nothing. My hopes are that we can come home on Friday and sit our bums in the living room until Monday morning. We'll get the fire going nice and hot, and just enjoy the cold weather together.
Well that's it for me, have a good weekend everyone!

Glucose Tests and another NEW TIRE!

So to update you all on how my 3 hr. glucose test went....it didn't. I got to the hospital at like 6:07...right on time. I hadn't eaten since 8pm the night before, and i made sure to avoid any extra sugar all day long. I even avoided the birthday cake at the party for Joel's aunt. SUCKED. So we get to the hospital i tell them that my doc sent over paperwork, they have it, it's no problem, i go to the lab area and get my drink. I force the nasty thing down, it's horrible as expected, and then a long horrible hour later i get called for my blood draw. They draw my blood, which this time hurt really badly...and then the lady says ok that's it! So i say uhh no...i am here for the 3 hr. test?! She says that my paperwork only said the 1 hr one. SO i ask if i can do the 3 hr one and she says that i have to start out with a more sugary drink for that one so i can't do it. Basically i'm screwed. So now i just have to hope and pray and hope and pray that i for some reason pass the test this time so i don't have to do this again. I really hate fasting, and that drink is awful! Plus i know my insurance will get billed for this 2nd round of test and i'll get deductibles....so that's a whole different subject i'll have to fight later. Anyways....so i'll get the results on Monday and then call my doc and yell at her. grr.
As for the rest of our weekend...Friday night was lots of fun. Joel's mom and 2 aunt's came over to celebrate Sandy's birthday and we ordered pizza and played Apples to Apples all night long. Lot's of fun times. Saturday was spent at Joel's friend's house from work teaching his family how to shoot guns since they never have before and want to learn. That was a pretty good time and i did shoot off 5 rounds and did pretty well. YAY!
Sunday was church and then to Walmart to get my tire patched...buuuuuuut the tread was too low for them to patch it and we had to buy another new tire. So now i have 3 new tires, 1 old. I'm sure i'll bust that one soon enough though :(
For now we are enjoying our evening at home together. Today's high was 48 so we have had a fire going all day and it's so warm and cozy. I can't wait to snuggle up on the couch with my hubby and baby girl and drift off to sleepy town :)
We also got to see the rest of our maternity pics so we get to go through all of the proofs and pick what we want now. I love all of them so it will be hard to choose a few out of the 76 options!!
Well i hope everyone had a good weekend!

Another day another tire gone bad...

So on our way back from FL we had a tire blow out and had to replace both front tires. No biggie since they were old anyways and we knew it. So now i get to work today (everything is fine) and when my boss comes in 30 mins later she tells me that i have a flat tire in the back now!? Now i can't exactly walk out there and pick up my spare, lay on the ground to jack the car up and replace the tire, even though i do know how to. So i have to ask one of the like 3 men at our work to help me out. Luckily he obliged so it got changed out just fine, and thank GOD it is a fix-able flat with just a piece of metal in the tire....hopefully. I'm going to stop by walmart on the way home and have them fix it. Ugg how annoying this is. I'm tired of bad tires!

Anywho...in other news....I failed my 1 hr. glucose test so now i have to go and take the 3 hr. test to see if i've developed gestational diabetes. I really hope that i don't have it of course, but the good side would be that Little Ms. Kenzie would probably be delivered a few weeks early, which is always nice :). Saturday morning is the 3 hr test and i am dreading every second of it. YUCK 3 orange drinks. :::blech:::

Friday night we're having Joel's family over to celebrate Aunt Susie's birthday so that should be fun, but i'll have to turn in early since i'll be up at 6am for the testing. Oh well...should be a fun night.
As for the baby update....this past week has brought along another little 'first.' I have started to really feel Kenzie's body shape inside my belly. I can feel a big round head or a butt and i can rub along her body to feel her all curled up inside. It's really cool. While sitting at work i saw my belly go really weird shapes...bubbled out then flat then back and forth really fast. I laughed out loud and when my co-worker looked over she saw it too and was like what's so funn-WOAH! That's weird! LOL. So now we sit and watch the alien baby in my belly for fun.

Well i should get back to work. I'll blog more lata!!

Maternity Pic Preview

So we had our pics made and are THIRLLED with the results. Kara did such a great job and took SO many pics for us. Here are some samples!! :)

Weekend of Fun!

So i'm really glad that it is Friday because a) this week has D-R-A-G-G-E-D on FOREVER...and b) i get to spend all day Saturday with my hubby, and then get our maternity pics taken. Joel and I haven't had pics done of 'us' since the wedding so i'm really excited to see how they turn out. I'm going to go to Old Navy today to get a new shirt/outfit for the pics too so shopping is always exciting hehe.
It's still really cold outside which is lovely...staying below 65 in the afternoon...so i'll get to wear my little peacoat for ths pics like i wanted to....just makes it seem more like fall. I keep picturing all of these different poses in my head that i want to do so i should probably start writing them down for Kara (our friend/photog) to try and work with. I'm such an 'artsy' person and love photography myself (though i'm not SO great at it) so i'll probably be difficult to work with.
As far as our family update...nothing too new to report. I had another checkup on Weds. and mom and baby are doing great. Mom has gained a total of 19 lbs so they say i'm right on track but i am technically gaining over a pound per week, which i don't really want to continue so i'm going to need to start working out more or walking around the neghborhood now that it's cool out. I don't understand how i can put on a pound per week and not see it EVERYWHERE. I mean when i put on that much weight after we got married it was OBVIOUS but now other than the obvious belly, i don't know where that 19 pounds is hiding! Oh well...i guess it's a good thing that i don't have flappy 'teacher arms' or a double chin yet, LOL.
Joel is doing well and work is starting to pick up and get busy in prep forthe holiday season. It's a bittersweet thing because he does get a lot more overtime, which really helps us out financially, but i don't get to see him very much during the week. But then again i only saw him for like 20 mins most days anyways so it's not like we're missing out on too much. His company has also been really gracious so far this year with the profit sharing so it's nice to look forward to that. I guess the shrinking economy hasn't affected the 'drinking economy' too much. I mean...when people get sad...they drink....when people celebrate...they drink. SO i guess it's a pretty safe business, which is sad to think about but hey...it's a job right?
Ok i should go and get ready for work now. I hope everyone has a great weekend and to Vanessa, if you still ever read this...Congrats Mrs. Sanyer!!!! :)

Kicks Kicks and more Kicks!

Our little baby Kenzie has gotten super active and really strong recently so i decided that it was time to do the 'kick count' that i am at the point of being able to rely on now. You're supposed to see if you can feel 10 kicks within one hour. If you feel less than you should rest and drink a sugary drink and try again...if nothing still then call the doc. So while sitting here at work i did it once early in the morning and i got 10 kicks and rolls in 2 minutes, LOL. Later on when she was being lazy i tried again and it took a whopping 17 mins to feel 10 kicks. Needless to say i think our little girly is growing fine and getting strong. :) I can see my belly jumping whenever i lay down and watch it, which is fun. Joel is still amazed at how hard she can kick whenever he feels her.
This weekend should be fun, Joel and I were blessed by his company with a HUGE profit share bonus so we get to have a date night and some baby stuff shopping. I'm psyched, plus i get to buy a cute shirt now for our maternity photo session next weekend. Whoot Whoot!
Well i'm at work now and gotta do some real work...but i'll update this weekend and maybe include some nusery pics since everything is really starting to come together. Crib, bedding, changing table, clothes, dresser, toys, and all of the neccessities! I'm so excited! Everything feels so REAL now!!!!

ACK! 91 days to go!

I can't believe i only have 91 more days to go! How exciting! eep-ah!

So anyways....i'm going to vent about dumb people for a moment. I stopped at a gas station a few days ago to get a gallon of milk to get me through the next 3 days (LOL), and this guy walks in. He looks at me and says so how far along are you? I say 6.5 mos. He then says woah! gonna have a big baby huh, it's a boy? To which i replied with a half smile, no it's actually a girl, and left it at that. Now i know that i have a pretty good sized belly, but when i look at it and try to imagine a 12 inch 2 pound little girl in there, i can't even see how she fits in there at all!? I don't think people, especially men who don't fully understand pregnancy and how it progresses, understand that it's not like the baby is a little tadpole anymore. I mean my uterus is the size of a friggin soccer ball! Not to mention that i did keep all of my intestines and they gotta go somewhere! It's not neccessarily making me self-consious or anything, it's just annoying!? I only have like 12-13 more weeks to go in this pregnancy so of course i'm going to be big! Plus i'm only 5'3'' and 129 lbs so it's gonna show. I dunno, i guess the guy was just a moron. What would he say if he saw me 10 wks from now....'beached whale on aisle 7!' LOL
Anywho....we had a great vacation and Vanessa's wedding went wonderfully. I'll have to blog more about the vacation later...gotta get back to work.

Another appt check-up!

Today i had my 25 wk appt. The doc was at the hospital doing a delivery at 9 so it took forever for her to come back to the office and see the patients there, but i understand the reason why so no biggie.
Are you guys ready for this....i gained...drumroll please......7 pounds this month! Now i know that a lot of that is baby and all...but goodness! I feel bigger but not THAT much bigger, LOL. But all is good and pretty well right on track because i'm just over half way done and under 1/2 way to the 'typical 30 lbs' i am supposed to gain. Baby was measuring perfect and the heartbeat was of course, nice and strong. I'm starting to feel pretty regular movements so it's fun, but at the same time not. This morning i got to sleep in a little because of the appt at 9am, and at 5:30 little girly decided it was my normal time to wake up so she went on a kicking spree for a while. It's still fun to feel her moving and growing inside of me, but when i want to sleep...i wanna sleep! :)
We're on the final countdown now to our vacation and i'm trying to get the house all cleaned up and tidy before we leave. I don't have too much left to do but it will be hectic on Thursday night i'm sure.
Well i gots to eat my lunch and get back to work so i'll try and check in lata! if not, i'll see most of you guys next week! :) hurray!

Thuuuuuuuuursday

Well it’s Thursday….another week has almost come and gone. Woop Woop! I’m starting to get sooooooo excited about our trip to FL! Granted I’m going to miss the cool weather that we’re having up here….it’s 46 right now with a high of like 69….but I do also miss the nice warm and sunny beaches in FL. I don’t know what I’m going to do with myself for the whole week without my Rupert and Lilly though. Lilly has such separation anxiety that I’m actually worried about her mental stability, LOL. Luckily though Joel’s friend has agreed to house sit for us and that is Lilly’s boyfriend, so maybe she’ll end up enjoying the time with him even more than she does with us! Rupert will be fine; I’m more worried about how much I’ll miss the little pig-man.
We’re starting to plan the trip a little more and get into details. I think on the way down we’re going to meet up with my mom and her hubby and do a late dinner or something. It’s going to be really late, but it’s the only way we’ll get to see them so yeah. We’ll get to Knoxville around 10pm I think and they’ll meet us somewhere in there. Hopefully we can find a restaurant that is still open, LOL.
I’m getting full-blown into my ‘nesting’ mode right now and am oddly looking forward to the weekend so that I can clean. How weird is that? I know I won’t have much time during the next week to do it so I figure I should get it all done this weekend for our houseguest. J Shampoo carpets, wash everything fabric, wash the bedding, organize everything, leave a note for him with all of the details for everything, sweep/mop the kitchen floor, ugh! So much to do!! But I’m excited to do it! (I’m a weirdo)
Poor Joel, he has no idea what he is in for on Friday next week. He needs to sleep for as long as he can since he’ll be the one driving through most of the night. So far I have him taking me to work, loading up the car, changing the oil in the car, talking to Chris about coming over and stuff, he has to go to the store and get his tobacco for the week, getting snacks/groceries, packing his own stuff….the list goes on and on. Hehe…he has no idea yet, LOL.
I really wish that I could take a ½ day on Friday as I had originally planned, but with the windstorm that we had a few weeks ago I took a ½ day because I couldn’t call in to work to see if we were even open, and I had no power anyways. Phooey. I know I could ask for it and probably get it, but then I’d only have 2 days left total for the year, and that just won’t work at all. If it weren’t for having a Dr. appt on Weds. I could probably cut out an hour early, but with the appt I’ll already be having to make up 2 hours and I can’t make up any more than that.
Well hopefully today on my lunch break I can get down to the eyeglass store/place/thingy and get my Rx sunglasses ordered. I have been putting it off forever but I need to get them before the end of the year since I get one pair per year and next year I need to get new regular glasses.
Well….i’ve blabbed on long enough for now I guess. I should probably get back to work or something……see you all soon!!!

Ugg

So today is a yucky day. I’m at work but I don’t really know for how long. I’m trying not to use anymore vacation days at all, but if I don’t start to feel better soon I may have to take a halfer.
Buuut for my updates…nothing exciting to tell….we had an uneventful weekend, but Joel was on t.v. for our church, LOL. We volunteer to help out with Angel Food on one Saturday per month and this time the local news was there. Much to Joel’s dismay he did make it onto the news, but only in the background of the shots, no interviews or anything. Luckily I managed to keep my fat self out of the picture. J
Sunday we had church and then went to Joel’s mom’s house to celebrate grandma’s birthday. She passed away a while ago but Joel’s mom wanted all of the kids to come over and celebrate the day so it was a full house. Sherry (MIL) finally got to feel Mackenzie kick and so she was thrilled about that.
Today brings cool weather and the promise of a long week of cool weather so I’m really happy. I love the fall and I’m so over the hot days of 90+ weather. Today’s high is like 68 or something so whooot whooot!
Tomorrow marks Mackenzie’s point of ‘viability,’ so basically if she was born anytime after this point she has a ‘chance’ of surviving. Granted I want her to stay in there and cook much much longer, but it’s still comforting to know that she has a 70% chance of survival from this point on, and everyday that she cooks her chances increase by another 3%.
Both Joel and I are starting to get really excited about our vacation down to FL. We’re not really making it an all out ‘vacation’ because let’s face it…the economy isn’t exactly promoting a wealth of extra spending money right now, and with baby on the way we need to save as much as possible, but we both just so want the time off to relax and see friends and spend time together. I’m actually really excited about the drive down too, as weird as that may sound. We used to take mini road trips all the time when we first got married and we haven’t really driven much of anywhere in over a year now. It should work out well though, Joel will pick me up from work and we’ll leave from here, and then he’ll drive most of the way through the night. He’s off on Friday so he can sleep all day while I’m at work. Anyways, he’ll drive until we get to south GA or so and then I’ll take over so he can get some more rest. I can’t believe how soon it is….less than 2 weeks now! Eep!
Well I still feel like a sack of poo so I’m going to spend most of today sitting at my desk doing nothing, especially since we have nothing to do today. Ugg.

24 wk update....

So i'm a few days short of 24 wks but i thought it was time to update the baby bump pics....so i'll post more tomorrow, but right now my belly is full of baby and pasta so i need to lay down :)

and one for Vanessa....this is me in the bridesmaid dress....though it needs a few alterations...

Hello Mr. Hicks...Mr Braxton-Hicks

So since this is like my pregnancy journal and i post all of the changes here i thought i'd post real quick about my new adventures with Mr. Braxton-Hicks. While Joel and I were grocery shopping this past weekend i got a really strong hard cramp like sensation and had to stop and lean over the cart for a few mins. It kind of worried me but it went away shortly after. Then last night while in bed it hit me again. I can only assume that this is the braxton-hicks contractions starting to kick in...and man they pack a mean punch. They only last a minute or two but it does not feel so good. My stomach just gets sorta all tied up in knots and i have to sit/lay down/curl up in the fetal position to make them go away. I tell you what I'm sooooo for the epidural when it comes time to deliver. I mean these things are manageable but 8 hours of them every few mins......God help me....God save Joel.
:)

(Insert creative title here)

Well today is Weds. and it has been a week since i posted so i should probably post again. I'm at work and really wanting to go home. I've been getting into the exhaustion again and i don't really know why. It's not like i'm extremely active by any stretch of the imagination, but i also move around at work a relatively good amount. I dunno...maybe i'm just getting more and more lazy as my waistline increases.

This past weekend Joel and I had a very nice and relaxing time. Friday night we went out to dinner with his friend's and their gf. We had mexican which of course, baby always likes :)
Saturday was the 'lazy day.' I woke up at like 7am and wanted to clean up the house so i vacuumed because i'm crazy like that, and picked up the living room etc etc. Once Joel woke up we sat around and watched tv and did nothing in our PJ's until like 3pm. Then we decided it was time to join the world of the living and got showers and stuff and went grocery shopping. I hate grocery shopping, seems like such a waste of money, LOL LOL.
Sunday was church as usual and then back home to eat our pork roast. Yummo! Joel's friend came over for a while and i just kinda sat around on my bum all evening.

Yesterday i came home to a nice surprise...my friend 'Nessa sent me, well 'us' a package in the mail for 'Kenzie. This little girl is so spoiled, she got 3 onesies, socks, shoes, and a dress from Nessa to expand her already adorable wardrobe. I can't wait to get all of the stuff from my sister to add to the wardrobe and really get things going. I also can't wait for baby showers and stuff to start getting the room decorated!! eep!

Well that's about all i can think about to say....i guess i'll try to post more often, i just don't have very much interesting to say these days.

So Awesome!

Ok today has by far been the coolest baby thing in a while. I was laying in bed asleep (ofcourse) at 4am, and Ms. Kenzie decided to wake me up. She was moving around and i could feel little kicks and jabs as i have for a little while now and so i laid my hand on my belly. Well just then she like full on laid on my hand and moved across it. I have only felt little jabs before, sorta like a muscle spasm sensation, but this one was full on baby movement. It's the first time that i've felt like there is really a life inside of me. Too cool. :) She kept doing it for like 10 mins but then i got tired and wanted to go back to sleep so i poked her and moved around and she stopped. :) It was just too cool. Im pretty sure that she has finally decided to move up some now since the kicks and movements were no longer IN my pelvis but rather up near my belly button, so that's a huge relief.
Well i gotta go to work now....Hasta!

Ack Hurricanes!

So we moved away from FL assuming that we'd never deal with Hurricane problems again....but this past weekend we did!! Hurricane Ike's remains flew over the Kentuckiana area and the wind streams apparently combined just right to create MAJOR wind problems. We had gusts of 75-80mph but steady 60mph. We lost power at about 11 or so on Sunday AM we assume (but we were at church) and just got it back around 10:30 on Monday AM. Joel's mom is still out of power, along with nearly half of Louisville/Indiana. Luckily God spared our house and we didn't have much damage.....a few branches down but nothing hit the house so we were very blessed. It's crazy how everything has developed. Lights are still down in a lot of major intersections and gas prcies are absurd at like $4.15, not to mention the hour long wait to get it at all in the city. In our town the lines aren't too bad and luckily we got gas on Friday so haven't needed it yet but i will have to pay out the bum soon for it!
Joel's mom may be coming over tonight if she doesn't have power back but we'll see how that goes.
Well i'm back off to work. Speaking of which, yesterday we had no cell tower so i had no way to see if work was 'open' so i stayed home, since most of the area was HARD hit. But then around 11 i got cell service and found out that the office was open so i came in around 1:00 to work a 1/2 day, but then they let us leave early at 3:00....so that was a big help and was nice. I was able to go to WalMart near our side of town and they had fully stocked shelves and got some food. We are faring a lot better than most so we've been very blessed. Well ok i'm outtie....... :)

HAVE A NICE DAY!!!

HURRAY!

So i know i keep talking baby stuff....but this weekend hit a pretty exciting landmark for us both. I was sitting at the computer on Saturday morning, doing the usual and i started to feel a couple of really good strong kicks from the inside and outside, to where there was no doubt that it was her. I called Joel over to feel but once he got here she had stopped. So we went over and lay down on the couch and she started to do it again. This time Joel got to feel her kick his hand and it was just so cool. She gets really active in the morning because as i sit here now i can feel an occassional movement or kick. YAY! FINALLY!

SO as for our weekend.....we didn't do too much, but both of us had trouble sleeping the whole time. Friday night Joel couldn't sleep so he was up almost all night long and i just stayed on the couch. Saturday night i couldn't sleep so we both were on the couch watching tv for 3 hours before i gave up and took a benadryl to help knock me out. Sunday we went to Jen and Joe's house, a couple from our church, and had lunch with them after church. I slept ok until about 4:00 this morning and then just couldn't sleep anymore so i've called in to work so i can try and rest today. Monday is our 'slow' day at work so i'd rather miss a Monday and be able to work all through the week. I hope that i can bump up my weds. dr. appt to today sometime too so i don't have to make up that time at work. Hopefully all goes well and i can sleep at some point today for a good long time.

Our puppies seem to have NO PROBLEM sleeping as they seem to sleep all day long and just mock my pain, LOL. Lazy furbabies.

1/2 way there!

So tomorrow is 20 weeks!! Half way down the road to meeting Ms. Laurel Mackenzie. HURRAY! It's been a long rough road, but it's getting easier and easier....now if only she'd move off of my bladder and stop playing 'waterbed.' LOL

This weekend we had a great time shopping for little girl stuff and got tons and tons of clothes. She's only been known to be a 'she' for a few days but she's already spoiled rotten.

I'm feeling great these days and have so much energy back! I just got home from work, cooked dinner, did laundry, fed the dogs, and cleaned up the dishes from making dinner. So now i can crash. hehe

Well i'm gonna go and sit my happy butt on the couch now! Here is the update for the 20 week photo!!

AAAAH! I posted a big long thing below but it got deleted!!!! agh!!!!

Sooooo details....

She is a girly...Ms. Laurel Mackenzie and she looks perfect. She measured 10 0z. (49th percentile) and her heartbeat was 136. She was a mover and shaker the whole time and kept her 'goods' a secret for forever!!! We eventually did an interior ultrasound and got a good shot of her...ahem...hamburger buns. :) I also saw that i have an 'anterior placenta' meaning that the placenta is between her and me so that's why i haven't felt a lot of movement...but that's no problem. She was a perfect little girly for everything else and we got tons of great pics. In one....she is grabbing her little toes with her hand....so cute.

SO daddy has come to terms with the fact that he will be an eternal push-over to her little 'batting' eyelashes. And mom has already gone pink outfit shopping. Grandma Cummings got to come in to the room and see her at the very end of the u/s (they wouldn't let her come in the whole time) and she cried when she saw her movin' around. :)

So we have more plans to go out shopping today and we're both just so excited to finally have a name for the baby bump :) HURRAY!

YAY for Pink Team!!

YAY for girlies!!!!!!

AAAHHHH!

I am in just the most un-wreckable good mood today!! At 4:00 today i have my BIG u/s and i'm just PSYCHED! It started yesterday on my way home from work....i was just dancing to crazy music the whole hour drive home. Then i got home and cleaned the carpets, the living room, and the kitchen/dishes...everything i wanted to get done this weekend so now i can relax. PLUS...my friend Jami had her baby yesterday at the same hospital as my u/s so i get to get my thing done, and then get to go and hold a brand new baby girl!! Then we're going shopping with MIL and DH for baby stuff (FINALLY) and momma stuff. And i think o my way home i'll get a hair cut/style too. Not to mention that i discovered a great new feel good cute outfit that was given to me in maternity stuff. It didn't fit before so i cast it off...but now it fits great. I feel so cute today...perfect mood to meet baby finally! Sorry if this is totally scatter-brained....but i'm just so excited and happy and thrilled and yay!!!!!! I haven't felt this good in 5 months...since we found out! LOL

OK i'll be sure and call or text everyone tonight on the outcome of the baby-viewing!!! yay yay yay!!!

I'm gonna go and dance around to music now to try and calm down. HEHE

Sunday Update....

So today Joel and I went to church of course and had a wonderful time as always. We are going through Genesis and it is actually really good. Today we were covering the fall of man and the consequences/punishments given to man/woman. Very interesting insight there but i digress....LOL
Joel is asleep on the couch now and i didn't want to watch Olympic water polo....so here i sit.

Yesterday was nice, we were home most all day long but then went out with Jami/Ethan for Jami's birthday dinner at Kansai....Japanese Hibachi grill...yummo!!
Friday was another stay at home day but it was still nice. I came home from work around 2:00 and Joel came home from his friend's house around 5:00. I'm glad he got to see his friend, they haven't gotten any time together in months since he is in the National Guard. Funny thing that happened when he went to his house.....i guess his friend's girlfriend came over too, with her dog and when Joel saw the dog he said aww a Lilly girl...because she was a black lab mix just like our Lilly...well then his friend paused and said what? how did you know that? LOL Apparently their dog's name is Lilly as well and she is a black lab/boxer mix. hehe.

As far as baby updates go...baby is making him/herself known FINALLY! We have felt a few kicks here or there when we are reading to him/her. I can't wait for Friday when we'll finally find out if it is a him or her.

In a few hours we'll be going with Joel's mom to a potluck get together thing at her church so that should be fun. We haven't seen a lot of her friends since we found out we were preggo so i'm sure i'll be getting a lot of 'woah's!' haha. (boy do i feel huge)

So anywho....that's about it for our updates. Hope everyone is having as relaxing of a weekend as we are!! Now i think i'll go and join Joel for a nap...let that HUGE platter of pasta digest. :)

17 week Mug Shot

So here's my 17 week mug shot....minus my mug. LOL

Another Thursday has come..

So it's Thursday again and THANK GOD for it! Friday is just one more day away.
Nothing too new and exciting to blog about today i guess. I found out that another girl in our office is preggers too but she is only at 8 weeks now so i'm the 'elder' of the group LOL. She's been lucky to not really have any morning sickness yet...sux for me! I still get random bouts of it, i.e. last night...but it's tolerable and rare enough that it doesn't get to me too much.
So Joel and I are planning another weekend in. Last weekend wasn't too successful for staying in since we each went out seperately on Saturday so we were apart from like 9am until 5pm. Hopefully this weekend we can just take it nice and slow and relax and have some 'us' time.
I'll be buying my bridesmaid dress for 'Nessa's wedding on Friday and I'm thrilled that i was able to find a stretchy style of dress for my ever expanding waist-line...or lack thereof. :)
Well that's really about it for now i guess. We are really trying to start saving some money for our trip to FL in October so i think the weekends will mostly be stay-at-home weekends for us for a little while. Gas is killing us so going anywhere we have to consider how much gas it will take to do it!
Well I should get back to work...they like me to work around here which i just think is really over-rated. Oh well...such is life in the business world. Maternity-leave cannot come soon enough!!

16 down, 24 to go

So I had my 16 week appt today and all was great, super, splendid! The baby's heartbeat was super easy to find and nice and strong. Hearing that little :::thump thump thump::: will never get old. I gained 4 pounds so it's nice to see that i'm finally starting to put on some weight to match my baby bumpage. On the one bad side they did detect that i was getting a UTI, but it's so early that i didn't even know it yet so i'm just glad that they caught it and hopefully i can avoid any symptoms by taking the meds early.
There is a test now that i am faced with, the alphafeto-protein test....that joel and i haven't decided on yet. It's a blood test run on me that can detect if the baby is more prone to or has downs syndrome or spina bifida, + a few other problems. There is no harm to the baby or anything, unlike the nuchal translucency test, so at first i was ok with it. But the more i think about it...the more i think it's just another test that i don't really need. We had already decided early on not to run any of the crazy tests that are dangerous at all or poke our baby or anything. But with this, it's just hard to decide. If something were found to be wrong, how would we react then? Do we even want to know? Sometimes there are false positives on tests, and that would put a damper on the excitement of having our child!? Plus if something were found to possibly be wrong, what other tests would we be approached with? It seems better to just avoid the test, but we are going to pray about it and sleep on it to see what we, and God decide is best for us and our little bundle of baby.
So all in all it was a good day and a good appt. Our BIG ultrasound is scheduled for August 29th too so we just can't wait for that!!! yay!!!!

Exciting!!

So this past week has been sort of exciting....
in daily news...On Sunday we finally officially joined our new church! Hurray! We also had lunch with another young couple there and that was a good time...yay for that!
Our weekend was pretty good, but too short. The past 2 weekends now we've been busy busy busy running errands and going to see other people or do other stuff. It's nice, but at the same time, we hardly get enough time for just the two of us as is so when we have a busy weekend, it's just that much worse. So this next weekend we've made plans to do nothing...absolutely nothing. We're going to stay in Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and work on the baby room, and clean house, and hang out together. It is some much needed time.
On the baby news front....this week brings me feelings of baby movement!!! I can't be sure because as a 1st time preggo it's hard to tell what is gas, digestive system movements, just random body stuff, or baby. Buuuut i was laying on the couch last night and i felt a very distinct :::thump thump thump::: in the right area. So i think that was it. I've been feeling little flutters here and there recently that i've thought...well maybe....but i'm pretty sure that last night was it. It's all so exciting!!
Also....Joel's mom picked up our crib for us. We aren't sure if it's been gifted to us or if we are going to pay her back for it...unclear...LOL....but either way...we have it and it's on the way.
On a random sadder note.....the whole story of Caylee Anthony missing down there is making me angry now. They are dragging Jesus' family into this because he 'might' be the father of the girl. I'm sorry but that has absolutely no baring on the case seeing as how he was killed in a car accident over a year ago. My heart goes out to his family as i'm sure the last thing they want right now is more media coverage than they've already had to deal with. I really hope that they are able to find Caylee alive, and that Casey is put in jail for a long long time for being so stupid about her own daughter. Our prayers go out for her sake as well. But if something terrible did happen to that little girl, via her own mother....then God have mercy on Casey, because i know i wouldn't if i were in her family.

Rupert likes to help mom with the household chores

:)

Weekend Update....

Well this past weekend was a good, fun, and relaxing one. On Friday evening we went to our pastor's house for dinner and to discuss our inquiry into church membership. I guess we are the first one's to want to join since the new method of 'acceptance' if you will. I guess previously they just welcomed in whoever wanted to join, but that has caused problems....understandably. So now they really try to get to know people better and gave us a church constitution and statement of faith to read over and we discussed our stories and stuff. It was a good time and now we just want to join all the more. Saturday we went to the church and volunteered to help out with a new program they are doing called Angel Food. People can buy bulk food through the church for a low price basically. SO we helped distribute the food and then went back to our friend's house to eat lunch and hang out with them. We had a good time to got to play with their little baby too. :) good practice :)

Sunday we went to church and then Joel went to his smoke shop and hung out with the guys while i went back home and cleaned house some...FINALLY! Then we got groceries and came back home to chillax!! LOL

No new baby things to inform of....it seems like i never have updates...but we do get to find out what he/she is in less than a month so that's really exciting!!!!! yay!!! I'm really hoping to feel baby move soon as skinnier women tend to feel the baby move earlier sometimes and it can happen anywhere from 14 to 20 weeks....hopefully i feel it soon!!

Baby Bump Alert!

Well nothing new to update everyone (meaning Hettie and Brewner lol) on but i did take a baby bump picture tonight so here ya' go!! Don't mind the absolute chaos of the bedroom behind me...i'm too tired to clean. :) Maybe i don't look that much bigger afterall....but still....i feel bigger...and my clothes seem to have shrunk mainly in the waistband. ;)

Hello Again!

So this morning started out terribly....i woke up to Lilly scratching at our bedroom door....which is really odd seeing as how she sleeps inside of a locked up kennel. So i wake up at 5:20 to find that her butt had exploded inside the kennel, as did her stomach, and she had unlatched the bars and gotten out. Soooooo i spent the morning cleaning up poop, washing everything, cleaning the carpet up, bathing her. Aaaaand i had to leave for work by 7:00 and be ready for work myself. So needless to say, we had fun.
As for me and baby...all is still well and i am just looking forward to maybe being able to feel him/her moving soon. eep!
Joel is still doing well and enjoying his job, though i wish the other woman would retire soon so he could switch to daytime shift...grr.
Well i'm at work now and don't have much else new to post about so i guess i'll leave it at that and hope that my day continues to improve. Can't get much worse than waking up to dog poop all over your house and the dog right?

ER today

Well today didn't start out very well. I woke up around 5:40 and went to the bathroom only to find a pretty good amount of bleeding. Luckily, Joel walked in the door at that moment, and we went to the ER down the road. We got right in becausr that hospital is so small and never busy. The doctor checked me and said i was still closed up and seemed ok, and they also located baby's heartbeat. My main concern now is that they said it was around 120, when on Monday's Dr. visit they said it was around 150. So now i'm home, waiting for my doctor to call me back to see if she wants to see me today as well, or not. I really hope she does want to see me because i'd really like to have an u/s done to maybe determine where the bleeding came from, since that is abnormal at 13 weeks.
It's the scariest thing to not know what is happening to your baby. On the good side though, when they were trying to find the heartbeat, they kept having to move around because the little bugger moved away from the doppler every 15 seconds or so. This is definitely Joel's baby...difficult as ever. Well it's almsot 9am so my doc should be in soon...here's hoping...

Baby bump appt

So i had my 12 week appointment today and all went wonderfully perfect! I actually had no real weight gain yet. I weighed 115 to begin with, then dropped to 113 when i was really dehydrated, but they considered that as mostly just water weight. Now today i was back to 115. So all is well with momma.....As for baby....Joel and I both got to hear it's little heartbeat again....150-160 bpm...just right. All seems to be going well according to the doc. I will have to get an RH shot because i have A- blood and Joel is O+. I guess Joel never knew about the whole RH shot thing so he was asking all kinds of questions about it. Basically, if i don't get the shot, and the baby gets a + RH factor from Joel, there is a big chance that any future children that we have, my body would see as a foreign object, and they would attack it. Since we don't want that...i'll take the shot. :)
This past weekend we had a great time relaxing and partying. On Friday, i got off at 1:00 so we went to the YMCA pool and swam and sat our for a bit. Then we had dinner at a burger restaurant that was awesome, and the meal was free for 4 people because it was a pre-grand opening trial thingy. After that though i felt really sick and went to bed by 6pm and slept until 7am the next day. :( Saturday we went to a pool party and got to swim and relax in the sun again, which was very nice. Sunday was church, japanese hibachi grill for lunch, and then back home to clean up, do laundry, and relax. Overall we had a great weekend and i'm so so so relieved that it was able to end with a good baby bump check up. It's absolutely an amazing thing to hear your unborn child's little heartbeat. It's hard for the pregnancy to feel real because i don't have a huge belly yet, we aren't really buying baby things yet, i feel no kicks yet, it's just hard for it to be real. Hearing that little sound on the doppler though today just makes all of the mornings hugging the toilet, and all of the exhaustion and nausea so worth it. But i still wouldn't mind some of that bad stuff going away...FYI baby!!!
So now we only have 6-8 more weeks until the BIG Ultrasound!! Hopefully it will only be 6 more weeks because we are both just DYING to know what the gender is!
On the plus side we did finally agree on a boy name so now we have both of them picked out. A boy is be Alexander William Cummings, and a girl will be Laurel Mackenzie Cummings. :) So nice to see those names written out. HURRAY for babies!

close enough!!

Well the second trimester is close enough so i thought i would take a fully clothed baby bump pic....so here i am in all of my sweatpants and white tee glory! LOL

aaaand we're not making that picture any bigger because i look like crap....but you get the idea. not much...but it's there. Baby is now the size of a lime and my uterus is the size of a grapefruit. YAY!!!

Well for us....we had our housewarming party and had a great time and all. Had a good weekend. Maybe i'll feel more like typing all about it later...but for now...it was great...going back to work sucks...i hate my manager....i wish i could quit. LOL ;)

Almost there....

Well i'm nearer and nearer to the 2nd trimester every day! hurray! I really hope that the exhaustion and nausea goes away after that...hoping and praying...and so is Joel. He's starting to get really tired of it as it seems that he has the worst timing ever. Every time he walks in the door...i have just started throwing up or every weekend i have terrible spells...it's just no fun. He wants his normal wife back and i'd like to give her to him.
Well we started taking our 'watch me grow' pics but i'm not so sure i should post them since i'm just in like a sports bra and a skirt. The next ones will be more 'appropriate' LOL.
Joel and I are both looking forward to a long holiday weekend...he and i are both off for the weekend as of 1:00 on Thursday so that will be nice. Friday is our Pastor's party at his place, Saturday is the party at our place...and Sunday is date day where we are going out for the day together to do some shopping and eating out.
Well i'm gonna go and lay on the couch like the bump on a log that i am now so i'll write again soon!

Hello!!!!!

Hello again! I'm terrible at writing here i know. I need to start writing more soon though because it's sorta like a pregnancy journal on here too. Nothing new and exciting to report this week yet though. I don't have another Dr. appt until mid July and even then it will just be a simple check-up, but by then we should be able to hear the heartbeat through the doppler thingy, which will be awesome to hear again. I'm seriously considering renting one of those for like $20 p/mo. just because it's so cool to hear.

Anyways....Joel and I had a fun filled weekend last weekend. We had his office party at Churchill Downs on Saturday, but it was bitter-sweet. We had fun and all but unfortunately i 'got' to see what real horse racing is about. Though the horses appear to be treated very well...it's only until they hit the track. 2 more horses broke their legs and had to be put down in the 3 hours that we were there. SO that sucks and i'm even more opposed to the 'sport' now. But the party was fun. Then we had lunch with another couple from our new church after the Sunday morning service and that was nice. Then we had a cookout in the afternoon with friends. So overall we had some good times, but are also looking forward to a relaxing weekend full of nothingness this weekend ahead.

Well that's about it for me i guess. Keep baby in your prayers but everything appears to be doing well. I can't wait until baby actually has an appetite because i really miss eating. :(

Donut Seeds!

Oh thou donut seeds....how do i love thee......LOL
So the secret to my morning sickness is tea and Cheerios....so i've had 2 days now where i'm feeling great. I just really hope that it stays working, or the whole thing goes away for the most part anyways. It feels so good to feel good. YAY!
So Joel and I have a weekend of fun planned...well not really. But Tongiht we'll do dinner at his mom's house....her special meatloaf...YUMM-O! Then Saturday is his work party down at Churchill Downs, that should be good times and even if not...hey it's free food. But we did find out that they won't be serving any booze....what kind of crap is that? A booze distributor, not serving booze. Whatever, not that i could have any anyways, but Joel will probably just have a few beers from Churchill Downs anyways. Then we have our friend's kid's 2nd birthday party to attend, that'll be cute, he's a cutie! Then Sunday will probably be the day for groceries and errands, after church that is. So yay! And YAY for Joel's paycheck too. His company swithed from weekly pay to bi-weekly so last week was the first week without a paycheck at all so we've just been broke, but now today we got the 2 weeks worth, which is NICE. So today i get to eat whatever i want because payday is always our day to splurge a little and eat out and get what we want, within reason.
Well i'm at work now so i should probably do that...work.
Blah!

Alright so i went to the doc and all is ok, I'm not too de-hydrated to need an IV yet, but i just need to keep on trying to eat and drink whatever i can manage to keep down she said. I have only lost 2 pounds, but i can'tlose much more or i'll be under-weight. So here's hoping. Got a new and different Rx so i hope it works better!

Ugg

Holy cow. I just typed a big long blog and then it went away due to an error. You suck blog spot....you suck. Well anyways...i'm going back to the doctor this morning to get checked out for dehydration because i'm throwing everything up, all the time. I don't have time for more details now since i already typed them all once, LOL, but really....i'm just thoroughly exhausted because i have no food in me, and i can't keep much water down at all. I'll update later tonight on my status. :(

Back Up and Turn Around!

Well today started as any other day of late....wake up, throw up, get ready for work, go to work. I had a pretty crappy day at work to be honest. I got mad over a stupid thing early in the morning and let it ruin my whole day. I was going to just come home, eat dinner, and go to bed.

Well as i pulled into my driveway what do i see? A newly mulched flower bed, with newly planted little pink flowers. :) My MIL had come over today in the 95 degree weather, and mulched nearly all of our flower beds, and planted the cutest little pink flowers in our empty flower bed. It looks so awesome! Then i go inside and get ready to call her to say thank you, and what do i see on the table, but a note from our new church, sitting next to a tin. It is a little thank you for visiting the church (this is the 1st week we've put our info on the sign in sheet thingy) along with a tin full of homemade chocolate chip cookies.

It is absolutely amazing what God can do to turn your frown upside down when you need it most. I've been so worn out this week between Lilly's flea allergy, my nausea every day, the stupid IRS check situation, just everything. And now to come home to this sort of love and just awesomeness, is so welcome, and so appreciated. I LOVE OUR CHURCH and i LOVE MY MIL! :)

Our church is full of some of the most loving and friendly people we've ever met, and i actually am looking forward to going back....which hasn't happened for me since the whole divorce situation. I thank GOD that he led us to this home, this church, this life.

YAY!

Ultrasound!!

So we had our ultrasound today and everything went perfectly. Baby measured just right, only 4 days off our guesstimates, heartbeat at 154 bpm and 1.28cm long! We were thrilled to see and hear our little peanut! I cried the first time i heard the heartbeat...it really is an awesome awesome thing.

The baby is inside the dark circle and his head is on top. hurray! so tiny, and yet driving me so crazy with this nausea!!!

I'm back!

Ok ok i know it's been a while since i last posted but I'm back. I'm starting to get some sort of energy back now so i'm not just coming home to go to bed.

Tomorrow morning is our ultrasound and i'm really excited. All of my worries have pretty much ceased since nothing 'worrysome' has happened in over 2 weeks now, and my nausea is full blown, which is a good sign. So yay!

As for Joel and I...we are doing well. We spent most of the past weekend at home just relaxing around the house. We will be having a house warming party on July 5th so we are slowly working out way toward getting ready for that. I wanted to have some painting and wallpaper removal done, but with a baby on the way, i think the home improvements will take a back seat to baby preparations.

Lilly has had issues with fleas for the past few days. Dini (cat) got a few fleas and brought them into the house, and Lilly is allergic to them, so having just one flea throws her into a fit with hives and biting and scratching. So we are trying to nurse her through that. :( Poor girl.

Well that's us for now. I'm off to relax and watch some tv with my pups! Wish me luck tomorrow....the hardest part about ultrasounds is having to drink like 2 gallons of water and then they press on your bladder for 30 mins to get a good view. PAINFUL!! LOL

Updates!!

So today was a good day. I had a 1/2 day at work in order to make it to my appt. and pretty much the whole way home i spent switching between crying and praying, sometimes both. So i got to my appt. and things are looking up. My doc. isn't too concerned with any of the problems that i've had, and said that if something did go wrong it would be very obvious and painful too. It's still too early to get a good view of the baby in an ultrasound so they sch. that for June 10th. Luckily Joel will be able to go with me too so i'm psyched about that. So now we're just waiting for the next appt!! But i really do feel a lot better now, so THANK GOD!

As for Joel and I....we had a great long weekend together. I had a 1/2 day on Friday from work (freebie) and so we met up and had lunch together and then he saw a movie with his friend and i did dinner/shopping with his mom. I got a few maternity shirts just for fun, though i still have another 3 mos. until they are really needed. LOL.
Saturday was spent getting Joel some new sneaks and having lunch together again. Sunday we went to a new church and we really liked it. It was very small and friendly and a nice mix of modern/traditional worship. We will definitely be going back again!
Monday was spent at our friend's place having a cook out. She's about 6mos. along now so it was nice to talk to her about symptoms and stuff.

So overall we had a great weekend and today just topped it off so wonderfully. So i guess i'll leave it at that!!

eek!

I'm going to have to make this post a sort of quick one since i'm on break at work.
Just want to ask everyone to keep Joel, myself, and baby in their prayers. We are having some issues with baby. I had my 1st appt bumped up to Tuesday next week for everything to be checked out so just keep us in your prayers! I hope everything is ok, but it's really hard to not worry about it all the time.
We're going out for dinner/movie (Indiana Jones 4) tonight so hopefully that will keep our mind off of things.
Will update next week! Have a good holiday weekend!!!

And Baby Makes 3!!

So this is my 1st posting as a new momma. Well.....embryo momma....a momma all the same. Joel and I are so psyched and can hardly contain our excitement over this all. We found out on Thursday morning. I peed on a stick and kaboom! there it was. A '+' sign. I ended up taking 2 more and each time it was good. Joel rushed home from work right away and i went in to work a little bit late so we could spend some time together. My first appt isn't until June 9th, and we didn't really want to wait that long to tell people, so we just figured ahhh screw it...tell everyone now! LOL So we've told everyone! By Saturday night the whole family knew.
The only real symptom i'm having so far is the complete and utter fatigue. I feel like a 5 yr old who has been walking around Disney all day or something. LOL. I usually go to bed b/w 8-9pm which is kind of nice actually, although i do miss my nightly shows. I'm trying to eat healthier in general and learning to like my veggies. Joel thinks that i already have the pregnant stupids, but what does he know. ;)
As far as other things are concerned...nothing too new to update you on. New furniture for the bedroom thanks to Joel's mom...it's awesome and gorgeous and we love it! We finally have NICE bedroom furniture!! yay! Perfect for a new mommy!
Rachel said that she's sending me some of her books and some 'fat girl' clothes for when i get fat...so that will help out.
Well that's about it for me. I'll try to avoid making this a 'details about my preggo symptoms' board, since i'm sure you don't want to hear all about that. But for today....cut me some slack!

Scottish Festival/Mom Day

So Saturday was our Scottish Festival and Sunday was of course Mom Day.

The scottish festival turned out to be great! The weather was gorgeous and awesome,sunny and cool! Joel and his mom had a blast seeing things from their ancestory. I enjoyed it as well but i'm not quite as in to it overall. But i did enjoy the day outside with the family.

Mom day went well as well...cooked lunch together and then his mom came over. Then we all laid down and watched movies.

So i don't have too much else to write about....this weekend will be spent sitting around the house...since we spent a lot of money just spending the day out last weekend. So that's that....staying home this time!

Hope you all have a good weekend!

HAPPY FRIDAY!

Happy Friday!! Whoot Whoot! I heart Fridays. It's 'see Joey day' and it's 8 hours till the weekend day. =)
So nothing really has gone on since my last posting...so i'll keep this one short(er).
Joel and I are going to the Scottish festival this weekend, and as long as the rain holds off...it should be fun. It was kinda rainy at the last one we went to 2 years ago so i guess it's just bad timing every year. I love spending the day outside but when it's wet and overcast all day it really stinks.
We aren't sure what we're going to do for Mother's day yet with Joel's mom...money is tight so I wanted to just cook up a big family dinner and all eat together or something, but we'll see how that turns out.
I don't have any really funny or whitty remarks...so i'll leave with my frustration over gas prices. $3.84...are you kidding me with these prices people? Production costs haven't gone up that much...just because it's running low on the amount we have left doesn't mean that it should cost more!? This is crazy!! And why the H E double hockey sticks aren't we digging for our own American oil!? We have it....we just won't go get it! It sucks that every time we go somewhere now, we have to think...how much will it cost in gas...can we afford to use that gas? It's no fun to have to consider that with every move we make. Especially with living in a country-ish area...it's crazy! I have to lose time with Joel on the weekend so i can stop on my way home from work and go shopping by myself, just so that we don't have to make an extra 'special' trip. grr. It's annoying.
Well i'm done for the day. Hopefully this weekend will be fun and exciting and pretty outside!

Bye!!

Monday version of the Sunday update...

So yesterday's post was kind of done in a hurry because we were moving furniture in and redecorating everything and yeah...a mad house. But i didn't post about the most interesting part of my day. Joel and I were getting ready to head out to church around 9:45 on Sunday morning and i get a phone call. Weird for someone to be calling on Sunday this early but ok...i answer. It's my grandma. I haven't seen her in 4 years (since we got married) and we only really talk for a few minutes on special holidays. Things have been this way since the whole divorce. So apparently her and my grandpa are heading up to Michigan and have taken a longer route so that they can pass through Indiana and see us. So we set up to meet at Cracker Barrel off the interstate and have breakfast. She didn't really say that it was just the 2 of them, but since she didn't say that my dad was there i assumed that he wasn't. So Joel and I were both really nervous that it may be a ploy to get me to see/speak to my father. THANK GOD it wasn't. We got there and it was just my MiMi and PawPaw (that's what we call 'em). It was so so wonderful to see them. I guess I didn't realize how much it meant to me to keep contact with that side of the extended family. See they are the only grandparent's that i have ever really known since my mother's side is crazy...well...white trash. So to loose them in the divorce was nearly as bad as losing my father. So i was just overjoyed to see them again. We sat around and talked and ate breakfast together for all in all about 2 hours or so. I can't believe how much all of my cousins have grown up, it doesn't seem like they could have grown that much in 4 years, but my my they have. So it was a very good experience to see the family all in all. I know that i need to come to terms with a lot of things that happened in the divorce, and decide once and for all how i feel about my family on that side. I want to have my grandparent's in my life but i can't really have just them...if i accept one part, i have to accept it all. Everyone lives within probably 10 miles of each other in GA so it's not like i could just visit one of them. So...it's difficult. Joel and i both have to discuss everything because he hates my father, i think more than i do. His father left his family when he was young and after a long custody battle and messy divorce situation, he lost the relationship with his father as well. Joel means well, he really does, but i feel like he tries to protect me from being hurt, too much. It's almost like i'm a child and he just wants to make my decisions for me. He has already decided that our future children won't know my father at all, but i haven't really decided that yet. I know that it needs to be a mutual decision, but i don't think that Joel knows that. I realize that my father was a liar and was horrib;e to his own children in the divorce, but does that mean that i, that we should never forgive it? I don't know. Well anyways...the whole visit was wonderful, but it brought up a lot of thoughts that i really need to discuss with Joel. ugh...why does my family have to have so much drama?

Thanks for reading my rant on my family life....i'm certifiably crazy. I just know that at least Hettie understands me. LOL :)