A strange week

Monday morning when I got to work they told me that Cooper was sick and that we were going to take him to the doctor. The poor little guy did not feel good. He wanted to play but all he would do was crawl around and moan or cry. He was a little warm, had been throwing up, had diarrhea, and hadn't been eating. That morning he developed a rash. Turns out it was the stomach flu and the doctor said it was very contagious. I respectfully told them that I didn't want to work with him being that sick. If it was a runny nose, that's one thing but I've been sick 3 times during this pregnancy and it totally sucks. And all 3 times, Cooper was sick first. I'd rather not get paid and be healthy than get sick from Cooper and have to take un-paid time off because I'm sick. I hope he gets better soon though, I need the hours.

They are trying out another nanny this weekend. They didn't like the first one they tried out and this other one is the last one on the list so if she doesn't work I'll be staying past the end of January. I wouldn't mind the money, it would actually be really helpful, it's just getting harder to pick Cooper up and carry him around.

So this week I've been taking it easy. I've slept in when the baby has let me, he's woken me up by 5:00 AM 2 days. He clearly gets that from his father, that is in no way, shape, or form, any part of me! I took the dogs on a little hike yesterday, it was beautiful outside. and I've gotten a few little things done around the house. I hope to get all the Christmas stuff put away and the spare bathroom cleaned out and ready for renovations by the end of the weekend.

I've also been working on baby shower stuff. We were going to just throw our own out at the UT Golf Club but it was going to be a little too expensive. Thankfully we had 2 people offer to host showers so we're working on dates and guest lists.

I'm still working on that Vegas post. I promise it's coming soon.

Hope everyone has a happy new year!

27 Weeks

I can't believe we're at 27 weeks already and approaching the 3rd trimester. If you notice, the little counter on the side says how many more days we have and it's below 100!

Symptoms have been about the same. Heart burn and reflux have been the biggest annoyance and I'm always trying to stay on top of things so I don't get leg cramps at night. My feet were a little swollen before Vegas but they poofed up like an old Russian woman during the trip and have yet to return to normal, I may not see them again until after delivery. At least it's not summer. Someone mentioned swimming to help, but then I realized that I don't have a swim suit that I would fit into.

The baby is getting much stronger and he's flipping around constantly. Sometimes I have feet in my bladder and sometimes they are in my ribs. All of my internal organs have headed north so it's getting harder to breath. The cool think is sitting on the couch and watching him move. It's hard to imagine how big I'm going to be in 3 more months because I already feel like a beached whale.

This week:

• Your little one's brain continues its rapid growth. Don't forget to share music, conversation, and even books with your baby!
• Response to sound grows more consistent toward the end of the seventh month, when the network of nerves to the ear is complete. Your baby's hearing continues to develop, he or she may start to recognize your voice as well as your partner's.
• Lungs continue to grow and prepare for functioning outside of the womb. Each day in the womb greatly increases survival rates!
• He also continues to take small breaths and although he's only breathing in water and not air, it's still good practice for when he's born.
• Eyelids are now open more. Your baby can distinguish between light and dark.
• Retinas have formed.
• Your baby will grow over an inch this week alone! You may suspect this phenomenal growth rate repeats in the preteen years!
• Average size is now 14.4 inches (36.6cm) and 1.9 pound (875gm).

I'm working on a Vegas post, hopefully I'll get it up tomorrow.

Merry Christmas

We're going to spend the day with family. I hope everyone has a great and memorable Christmas.

Now I have to get back to wrapping presents because I'm so far behind on getting things done it's scary.


And Jonathan felt the baby move for the first time this morning!

We're home

The flight there was awful. We got delayed overnight and got there a day late. The baby didn't like the change in pressure on the way up and down in the plane. I'll write more about the whole trip later. The trip itself was good, but it's good to be home.

I also made the 26 week mark over the weekend. And I swear my belly is bigger since we left. My feet are killing me and are swollen but hopefully they'll recover in a day or so. We did a lot of walking.

For now I'm back to making Christmas presents... and hopefully I'll get some sleep at some point.

Happy Vega-Versary

Today Jonathan and I are going to Las Vegas for the weekend! Our 5th anniversary is on the 20th and this is actually the first year we've actually done anything. Usually we go to dinner, but that's it, no presents or anything because it's so close to Christmas. I didn't plan that very well.

Anyway, we are very excited, we have some friends who are coming too, and it should be a blast.

Jonathan,
I wanted to actually post a little note to you on our anniversary but I have a feeling we'll be too busy on our latest adventure. That and I'm not taking my computer and though the iphone is great for most everything else, blogging is challenging on that thing. I want you to know that the last 5 years have been the best time of my life. I've never been more happy or had more fun. I appreciate all that you do to make our lives possible and all that you do for me. I can't wait to start the next part of this adventure when our son is born. I don't know how it's possible, but since I've been pregnant I love you even more. You have been so amazing during this whole process and you even let me be right almost all the time, even when I'm not. You are going to be an amazing father and I am so grateful that I get to spend the rest of my life with you.

Making Christmas presents

I'm going crazy trying to get all the Christmas presents made. Jonathan is even helping out a bit. But here is one that I finished and it looks good. I made Cooper a little hat for his first ski trip, they're leaving Thursday.

He even left it on his head. Isn't he cute?

25 weeks & date night

Tonight Jonathan and I had a date! We won tickets to a comedy show at the Paramount and it was great. My favorite by far was a guy named Mike Reyburn. Here's a clip, one that he did. It's Led Zeppellin sings Dr. Seuss.



And I'm now 25 weeks pregnant. I'm getting bigger and baby is getting stronger. The reflux and heart burn are annoying. Even when I haven't eaten anything for 2 hours, I still have reflux. If I had money to put into the stock market, I'd invest in Tums.

Here is a rare shot of me wearing make up. It was for the big date. And it was taken in the baby's room so you can see the nice color of the walls.

This week:

• The structures of the spine begin to form -- joints, ligaments and rings. These will protect the all important spinal cord which serves as the information transmitter for your child's body.
• Blood vessels of the lungs develop.
• Your baby's nostrils begin to open. There is a study out of Belfast that suggests babies at this stage have the capability of scent preferences!
• The nerves around the mouth and lip area are showing more sensitivity now. When baby is rooting for food later on, these will be valuable!
• His swallowing reflexes are developing.
• Dexterity is improving. Your baby can make a fist and would clasp objects placed in palm.
• Your child has now obtained an approximate length of 13.6 inches (34.6cm) and weighs 1.46 pound (660gm).

And I'll leave you with a close up...

Homade House-hold Cleaners: Clean House, Clean Planet

I got this book (Clean House, Clean Planet by Karen Logan) on a recommendation and it got great reviews on Amazon. Given that we will soon have a little one crawling around and putting everything in his mouth I would prefer to not clean with a bunch of chemicals. At the same time, I want things to be clean. So I'm not really doing this for the planet (I suppose it's an added bonus) but I'm doing it for the kid.

According to the book you can basically stop buying all cleaners and just make your own. They tell you how to make everything from all-purpose cleaners, to disinfectants, to furniture polishes, to laundry detergents and dishwasher detergent.

I followed the guide lines in the book and started out getting my containers, then ingredients. I would actually suggest figuring out what cleaners you want to make first, then getting the container and ingredients you need for them. Getting everything at once was a little more expensive than I had anticipated, but on the plus side I don't have to buy anymore.

The containers: There is a list in the book of suggested containers, sizes, and quality guidelines, and it's too long to put it up here. I definitely see the point in buying the better containers. You want to be able to adjust the spray on your squirt bottle and you don't want something that's going to clog or break after a few uses. I think I paid about $3.50 for each of my big bottles here, sure I could have gotten them for $1 but I would have to replace them much sooner. I would also suggest collecting empty container from around the house. As you finish with something in a bottle (like shampoo) just wash the container and keep it to use for a cleaner.

Next are the ingredients. The most expensive thing was the essential oils, but that's also my favorite part. And those may be some tiny bottles, but they last forever. I ordered mine from Amazon and I think I paid about $17 for 8 different oils.

Shopping list:
baking soda (get the biggest box)
liquid soap: castile, vegetable-oil based, or glycerin (I got the non-scented castile soap at HEB)
white distilled vinegar
lemon juice
borax (this is the one thing I could not find at HEB, I guess I'll have to try walmart)
club soda
purified water: or you can use a home filtration system if you have one
There is also a list of things you should have around, like salt, petroleum jelly, and olive oil, but I'm not going to list them all because I have yet to need them.

Now for the fun part - mixing things!
I stared out with a basic all-purpose cleaner (mostly for the kitchen counters)

Ingredients: (for a 16 oz squirt bottle)
10 oz water, 4 oz vinegar, 1 tbsp liquid soap soap.

How to Make: Use warm water and stir in the soap, add the vinegar, dump into the squirt bottle.

Review: It worked fine. I wasn't too impressed until after the counter had dried and I came back to it. I think it looked the cleanest it ever has and I would have easily eaten off of it. This ones a keeper.

Next it was onto the bathrooms. One of my big concerns is the diaper pail(s). Given that we'll be using cloth diapers and they'll be sitting the the pails for a day or so, I can imagine the smell. Bleach is what I've always used to clean out these types of things and I haven't ruled it out yet but here are 2 ideas to try first. There are 2 things to keep the smell under control, one is simply putting some smelly essential oil on a paper towel and putting that at the bottom of the pail. The other is using this recipe and sprinkling it in the pail and using it to clean the pail while diapers are being washed.

Doctor Diaper Pail: Disinfecting spray alternative (works to clean the bathroom too)

Ingredients: (in shaker)
1 cup baking soda, 50 drops tea tree oil; optional lemon and lavender oil too.

How to Make: Add the oil(s) to the baking soda and stir with a work to get all the lumps out.

Review: This was super easy to make. I added the lemon and lavender oils and it smells great. As a cleaner I was much more impressed with the next one. Obviously I haven't tried it out on a diaper pail, but I have hope.

Earth Scrub: Tub and Tile Cleaner

Ingredients: (for 16 oz. bottle)
1 & 2/3 cups baking soda, 1/2 cup liquid soap, 1/2 cup water, 2 tbsp. vinegar, Optional essential oil.

How to Make: In a bowl mix the baking soda, liquid soap, and water. Stir until the lumps are gone. Add the vinegar and oil, pour into container.

Review: I love this one! It was fun to make and reminded me of something I would have tried as a kid. Plus when I added the vinegar it bubbled and fizzed. I cleaned the bathroom counter with it and it worked great. Next time I'll use the combination of oils from the previous recipe (tea tree, lavender, lemon). But this is by far my favorite. It got all the gunk and stuff off the counter and out of the sinks very easily and it didn't take a lot of rinsing. After I scrubbed the counter top, I just rinsed the rag and wiped it once and it was gone. You can use it just about anywhere, the tub, sink, toilet bowl, garbage cans, any greasy, grimy job.


From left to right we have a floor cleaner (very similar to the all-purpose cleaner, just concentrated) I didn't put it up because I haven't tried it yet. The big bottle is the all-purpose cleaner, the one with the blue lid is the Earth Scrub, and the shaker is the Diaper Pail disinfectant. I need some labels!

Basically, I really like it so far. I don't know that I will ever completely give up my bleach and I don't plan on using only baking soda in the dishwasher (that is what's recommended) but I do like that I'm using far fewer chemical. And who knows, I may get adventurous one day and try making my own laundry detergent. I must admit that I'm curious...

Rule #1: Don't scare mommy!

I feel the baby move on a very regular basis and have since about week 19. Every 2 or 3 hours I feel something. Sometimes it's just a little kick but most of the time it's several. Last night I was sitting on the couch and I even told Jonathan, "wow, he's getting stronger" because I got some big movements.

Then today I didn't feel anything. At all. All day. At first I was thinking that maybe he was having a lazy day but even on lazy days I feel something. So I called the doctors office and they told me to come in.

The nurse put a monitor on me, at first she couldn't find the heart beat which just about made my heart stop, but she did find it. Thank God. The nurse tracked it for about 5 min and it was fine. The doc came in and did a sonogram and baby was moving.

So, my placenta is at the front and it always has been. Until last night, his feet had been down and his head by the placenta. Last night all those big movements I was feeling was him turning head down and now his feet are kicking the placenta, which is why I haven't felt anything.

Anyways, everything is fine. I have felt a few little movements since I left the dr's office but not much. The doc was glad that I came in and told me that I did the right thing and that that's what they're there for. I love my doc.

24 weeks - Viability!

This is the best picture we got at the sonogram the other day. He was wiggly and stubborn at the same time. The other clear picture we got was of his boy parts. There is no doubt about his gender. The white blob in front of (above) his face is his placenta. The placenta is high and in the front so his head is right around my belly button and his feet are down. He seems to like that position right now. Sometimes I'll feel him kick towards my left side, which I prefer to him kicking straight down, but it's always one of the two.

We are now officially at 24 weeks which is considered viability. What that means is that if the baby were born now they would do everything possible to keep him alive. The chances aren't great and the risk of having long term problems are high so we wan't to keep him cooking for a while longer but it is a big milestone.

I have a runny nose and a headache. Everyone seems to have something right now so I guess it was just a matter of time before I picked something up. Hopefully this is as bad as it gets. This is the down side of being pregnant during the winter instead of the summer, there are so many more germs and the chances of getting sick are much higher. And when you are sick, all you can take is Tylenol, Sudafed, or Benadryl.

The child birth preparation class yesterday was okay. It was good to find out what happens in the hospital and what the standard procedures are. It just re-confirmed that I love my doctor. All of his staff has been with him for a long time, and as long as everything is ok medically he lets the patient call the shots. He's very big into making this my day and even though things don't always go as planned he does everything he can to help the plan happen. He also delivers 90% of his own patients. All during the week, even in the middle of the night, he's the one there. If I have the baby on a weekend it's whom ever is on-call, so we're shooting for a week day.

We are also back to not knowing which hospital we're going to be at. The nurses have all been talking like it's going to be up north. We now need to take a tour and pre-register at that one just in case.

This week:

• Bring on the bulk! Baby gains about 6 ounces this week. The weight is in muscle, bone mass and organs.
• His body begins to fill out with his appearance increasingly becoming more like a newborn.
• Taste buds begin to form. If mom drinks something strange or bitter, baby may be observed showing his distaste.
• Little creases have appeared on his palms. The muscular coordination of his hands has improved as he sucks his thumb.
• Over the next seven days the sweat glands will be forming in the skin.
• His lungs are developing "branches" of the respiratory "tree" and cells that produce surfactant, a substance that helps the air sacs inflate easily.
• This week your baby is officially considered viable.
• Baby weighs 1.3 pound (600gm) and is 11.8 inches (30cm) long -- almost the length of a ruler! (ours is 1.4 lbs, according to the sonogram)
  

Longhorns got screwed

No one really understands the BCS rankings, even the people who claim to have no idea what they're talking about. It's a computer that spits out numbers that everyone goes by. That being said, 2 teams played for the Big 12 championship, the winner of that games generally goes to the national championship (if the computer deam them worthy). Both the teams that went to the Big 12 game were beaten by the Longhorns earlier this season.

To be fair, their was a 3 way tie for one of the spots. I just don't get how it makes sense for a team that has 5 loses gets to play in the game when two other teams only have 1 loss.

I saw a sign around town this week that said, "To us OU will always be #2, and we're not talking about rankings" All I can say is that I'm going to be so pissed if OU wins the national title after we beat them.

And then my dad sent me this. It totally explains how the BCS works in terms that anyone can understand:

BCS DECLARES GERMANY WINNER OF WORLD WAR II US Ranked 4th!!!!

After determining the Big-12 championship game participants the BCS computers were put to work on other major contests and today the BCS declared Germany to be the winner of World War II.

"Germany put together an incredible number of victories beginning with the annexation of Austria and the Sudetenland and continuing on into conference play with defeats of Poland, France, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium and the Netherlands. Their only losses came against the US and Russia; however considering their entire body of work--including an incredibly tough Strength of Schedule--our computers deemed them worthy of the #1 ranking."

Questioned about the #4 ranking of the United States the BCS commissioner stated "The US only had two major victories--Japan and Germany. The computer models, unlike humans, aren't influenced by head-to-head contests--they consider each contest to be only a single, equally-weighted
event."

German Chancellor Adolph Hitler said "Yes, we lost to the US; but we defeated #2 ranked France in only 6 weeks." Herr Hitler has been criticized for seeking dramatic victories to earn 'style points' to enhance Germany's rankings. Hitler protested "Our contest with Poland was in doubt until the final day and the conditions in Norway were incredibly challenging and demanded the application of additional forces."

The French ranking has also come under scrutiny. The BCS commented " France had a single loss against Germany and following a preseason #1 ranking they only fell to #2."

Japan was ranked #3 with victories including Manchuria, Borneo and the Philippines.

Sonogram

I haven't put the pictures on my computer yet but the sonogram went really well. Our little guy looks perfect! He's measuring about 3 days behind but they said that was perfect. All of his organs looked great and his body parts are all there. We saw him swallowing and sucking on his hands. He was also a bit stubborn, the sonographer was trying to get a cross section of his spine and he wouldn't move. I have no idea where he gets the stubbornness from...

After the appointment we walked over to the hospital and took a tour of labor and delivery. We also signed up for a child birth preparation class that's tomorrow from 9 to 4, so it's going to be a long day.

My belly is really sore now from having it poked, prodded, and shaken around for so long. I don't think the baby liked it either, he sure did kick a lot during the process. Hopefully it will be better in the morning.

spray-n-wash STAT!

I was re-painting a wall in the baby's room because it needed an extra layer. I couldn't locate my painting clothes so I just did it in my underwear. No problem right, just keep everything clean.

So I got it painted and was cleaning up. Given that it's a bit chilly today I was getting cold so I put my clothes back on. Now you have to understand that I have 3 pairs of pants that I can wear. I have 1 pair of jeans, 1 pair of stretchy pants that I can only wear with long shirts, and 1 pair of sweat pants that I love.

I was wearing the sweat pants and carrying the can of paint, I'm sure you can see where this is going. After I put the paint in the garage I noticed that the side of my pants were covered in paint! AHHHH. I immediately stripped them off and put spray-n-wash on them and stuck them in the washer. I'm praying for the best. I did happen to notice that they also had a small hole in the back of the leg near the butt. I may be down to 2 pairs of pants. :-(

And Baxter has bad gas today.

Tomorrow is our big sonogram where they measure all his body parts and organs. Keep your fingers crossed that we have 10 fingers and 10 toes.

A family affair

Yesterday Jonathan's family came over to help paint the baby's room. It looks awesome, and I love the color. Jennifer, June and I did most of it but I think everyone was involved in some way.

Jonathan made up snacks and went to get another gallon of paint, and everyone else had a paint brush or roller at some point. Today I did some touch up spots and cleaned everything up and it's all done. Now we can work on actually getting things in there.

Here are my helpers, hard a work:

Even Emily helped, she was very excited to get to help paint her cousin's room.

And She was so cute!
Thanks everyone! I could have never done that myself.

23 weeks

Yesterday makes 23 weeks. The little guy has been quiet today, but I've been moving around a lot. I've gotten to where I always have to have tums around, otherwise I'm miserable. Other than that, no new symptoms. My feet still hurt and my hips are sore but I don't think those things are going to go away.

The baby's hearing is fine. The other night I was in bed and I heard this huge sound coming from something inside me. It was loud to me so I can only imagine how loud it was to him. After the second time it happened he started kicking around. He had been sleeping but that woke him up.

He's getting stronger and I've felt him move from the outside a few times, still not very often though.

This week:

• Proportions of the body are now quite similar to a newborn although thinner since he hasn't begun to form body fat.
• Bones located in the middle ear harden.
• Your baby is able to hear.
  
• The eyes are formed, though the iris still lacks pigmentation.
• The pancreas, essential in the production of hormones, is developing steadily. He has begun producing insulin, important for the breakdown of sugars.
• If born now, your baby has a 15% chance of survival, his odds going up with each passing day.
• The average baby at this stage weighs 1.1 pound (501gm) and is 11.38 inches (28.9cm) long.

so much to be thankful for

I was going to do a post and list all the things that I'm thankful for, but the list just got too long :-)

Tomorrow we're going to pain the baby's room and then maybe we'll be able to start pulling it together... I hope.

96 years

Today would have been my Nanny's 96th birthday. It's funny, I still can't find the right words to say about her, nothing seems good enough. She had a long life, a great life, and I'm grateful for that, but she didn't think she was done living. In her mind, she still had so much she was looking forward to. Her body may have been old, but her mind and her spirit still had so much and that's what makes it hard. When you see someone suffer with illness or fade over time it can be comforting when they finally go, but Nanny wasn't like that. She was the spunkiest little old lady I knew and by far the sharpest resident at that nursing home. I am so thankful that she didn't suffer, she wasn't crippled by the stroke, and that it was quick but no matter how I try and justify it, I would so much rather just have her back.

Nanny took care of me every day after school, from kindergarten through high school. She was always there. When she'd pick me up from school I'd always ask for a chocolate malt and french frys. Sometimes we'd go out for them, and sometimes she'd make them at home. I didn't get them all the time, it was a treat, but I always think of her when I have a chocolate malt.

Anyways, I could go on forever here, tell tons of stories, share lots of pictures (which I will put a few up in the next few days) but I'm too tried right now. I just got back from having dinner with my family at her favorite restraunt, Catfish Parlor. We would have been there tonight with her and I think she'd be thrilled to know that 20 of us got together to celebrate.

Another one bits the dust

Yes internet, that's right, things are still breaking around here. Only things around here seem to have a slow death, we can see them coming and watch them suffer and die miserably. This time it's our 5 disc DVD player. We've cleaned it, blown air into it, and now we're down to banging on it when it doesn't work. We're not replacing it any time soon. We have a one disc DVD player that will do in its place. It means we'll have to walk from the couch to the TV more often, which doesn't seem bad, but when you've been spoiled by being able to switch between DVD's and have two different people have what they want in there and pregnancy suck your butt into the couch like a magnet, it's a bummer.

22 Weeks!

It seems like time is flying now, thank God. I hope it continues this way. Not much is new, but the acid reflux and heart burn are getting worse. I don't expect them to get any better until this is over with. The headaches are mostly gone, which is great. My feet hurt but if I wear shoes most of the time it helps.

I love feeling him move around. Jonathan can't wait to feel him, he's just too little still. Jonathan often talks to him, reads to him, and sings or resits poetry to him. It's very cute.

This week:

• Your baby weighs close to a pound at this point!
• Your baby can now hear your conversations more clearly than before!. When you talk, read, or sing, expect her to hear you. Studies have found that newborns will suck more vigorously when read to from a book they heard frequently in utero.
• Eyelids and eyebrows are fully formed.
  
• Fingernails have grown to the end of the fingers.
• Be prepared for all those "Why" questions coming! Your baby's brain has entered a stage of rapid growth.
  
• With some help from mom, baby's liver is starting to break down bilirubin, a substance produced by red blood cells.
• If your baby is male his testes begin their descent to the scrotum.
• Primitive sperm have formed and he is producing testosterone.
• Length is 10.94 inches (27.8cm); weight is nearly 1 pound (430gm).

refrigerator woes, and a belly shot

This is being delivered on Sunday. We're just praying that things are done breaking around here. We're having to put some projects on hold and re-arrange things to make everything work, but at least I'm still working for a little while longer. And now our refrigerator will match the rest of our appliances.

Also, here's a belly picture. As you can see, I'm getting big! I had a stranger mention something to me at the grocery store the other day. At least I don't just look fat anymore.

21 Weeks

The little guy is definitely growing, I feel him more every day. Today I tried to take a nap but he wouldn't stop kicking me. It's cute now, but I have a feeling that it's going to get old. Unfortunately my feet are growing and most of my shoes are too small now. It's a bummer because I love my shoes. I went and got some ugly crocks, I don't like how they look but they fit.

My stomach still isn't back to normal. I'm hoping it regulates soon. And my back and hips are still really sore. It's not nearly as bad as it was a few weeks ago though, thank God.

Oh, and thanks to my friend Beth we have a bunch of 0-3 month clothes! They are so tiny and cute!

Here is how the baby looks in my belly this week:

• White blood cells are under production. Leukocytes (or white blood cells) form our body's defense system. They help fight infections and diseases.
• Your little one's skin has changed from translucent to become more opaque.
• Your infant's tongue is fully formed. If you were able to peek you might catch your son or daughter practicing giving you a raspberry!
• Baby swallows more this week. After your baby takes in amniotic fluid, his body absorbs the water in the liquid and moves the rest into the large bowel. This is good practice for his digestive system!
• Wake and sleep periods become more consistent. Some research suggests that baby sets her internal clock to match the outside world's even before birth! Your eating and sleeping habits as well levels of light and noise serve as her signals.
• Length is now measured crown to heel.
• Baby measures about 10.51 inches (26.7cm) and weighs nearly 12.7 ounces (360g).

Because you asked...

I've had several people ask what we still need for the baby. Well, lots of crap. 1st, there's the registry. Check out the links to the right. We're going to try the cloth diaper thing so we need some supplies and diapers for that, those are on the Amazon registry. Also, the little guy needs clothes. I have a few things but oddly enough I have no idea how much we really need.

We were going to go with IKEA sheets and decore, but I was having trouble finding the pictures I wanted and even the sheet set. And then I found this on ebay for only $50.00 so this is what we're using. I actually like it much better, it's very cute. I'll register for a few other accessories at babies-r-us.

We'd like this from IKEA, it's the TROFAST storage combination, but we'd like different colored bins. This is just an accessory, nothing that's necessary but great for toys and stuff.We have a dresser from my nanny, but Jonathan is worried that it's not very stable. Eventually we'd like this one from IKEA, it matches the crib. It's the LEKSVIK 4-drawer chest.
I also like this from IKEA. It's the LEKSVIK High Cabinet.



My parents already got us the crib, here it is!

And they got us the glider/ottoman! I think they're a little excited about the baby. :-) Here it is just out of the box.

And me putting it together.

And the finished product. It looks great.

Thank you mom and dad!

As you can tell from the pictures, the room needs a little paint.

We have a thumb sucker!

I went into the doctor today to be checked. Yesterday I had pain in my lower abdomen that lasted 9 hours. I talked to the nurse yesterday evening and she told me to get checked today. Everything was fine, they took some blood and are running some tests but the pain is gone and they aren't worried.

I saw the little guy sucking his thumb on the sonogram again. He was huge compared to 5 weeks ago. He was measuring good though and his heart rate was perfect.

If I could fine the little camera I'd get a belly picture up. Today at the grocery store was the first time a stranger mentioned something about being pregnant to me. Clearly the bump is getting bigger.

Ask a Toddler...

This video cracks me up, enjoy!

Sick up-date

I didn't work today, I stayed at home in bed. Things are getting better. I drank a ton of water and some gatoraid. For most of the day I ate mostly bland food, rice, bananas, and apple sauce. This evening I craved veggies and broke down and had some peas and some squash. I'm having a little more cramping this evening after the veggies, but it was worth it.

The plan is to work tomorrow, as long as tonight and the morning are okay.

Feeling crappy

I stared having some stomach cramping last night and was a little concerned, just because I didn't know what was going on.

And today I've had awful diarrhea and very painful cramping. I called the doctors office and they think I have a stomach virus of some kind. Lovely. I didn't eat much today, I tired, but I just couldn't ever get more than a few bites down. I'm drinking lots of water and gatoraid and praying I feel better soon.

I did work today but tomorrow is questionable, we'll see how I feel in the morning.

20 Weeks

1/2 way there! Things are going well. I feel him moving more, still not very consistently but it's getting easier to distinguish between what the baby feels like and what's digestion related. Jonathan reads to the baby most nights, usually Dr. Seuss. My back and hips are feeling better now that I've become good friends with the chiropractor. They are still a little sore but I can sleep okay and they don't stop me from doing things anymore, thank God. I'm still having a lot of headaches though, which is frustrating.

I had my 20 week nurse visit on Friday. Everything looked good, I got to hear his heart beat and it was strong, and we found out that I will be having the baby at Seton down town. I also scheduled the next big sonogram where they measure all the organs and body parts, it will be December 5th.

This Week:

• The rapid growth stage is about over. While things have slowed down, this next stage is vital to survival.
  
• The baby's heart grows stronger. His legs are reaching their relative size. With the increase muscle develop occurring as well, you will start feeling much more than tiny flutter kicks soon!
  
• Immunities are being transferred from you to your baby now. These immune cells will protect him from viruses you've already had for up to six months after birth!
  
• The nerve cells for taste, smell, hearing, seeing, and touch are now developing in a specialized areas of the brain. Production slows down as existing nerve cells grow larger and make more complex connections.
  
• Your baby may startle in reaction to loud sounds. Amazingly, he can actually hear noises outside of the womb. Familiar voices, music, and sounds that baby becomes accustomed to during his development stages often are calming after birth.
  
• Baby is about 6.46 inches (16.4cm) and weighs around 10.58 ounces (300g).

On a different note: I have someone coming out to look at the refrigerator tomorrow and assess the damage. We're keeping our fingers crossed.

The many faces of Grace

The last few days with Grace were good. I'm tired, very tired. Here are some pictures I took, in no particular order.

This one is a bit blurry, but very cute.

"Mmmmm, breakfast"

She's so cute!

She loved the waterfall.

"What's this thing on my head?"

"Can we go home yet?"

These next two pictures are really great, but I had to edit the mosquitoes out.


"Hook Em' Horns"


"Please God, let the longhorns win the national title"

Election Night 2008

I'm so ready for this election to be over with, I really don't care who wins at this point. 2 years of campaigning is WAY too long, all we need is 2 months. And people have gotten really ugly about this one. It's difficult to even talk to people about it because of how defensive and violent most people get. It's crazy.

What I want my kid to know about the election is to go vote. I don't care who they vote for but I don't think people should complain about the government unless they've voted.

Thank God it's almost over.

19 Weeks

The pregnancy has been rather un-eventful lately... thank God. My appetite has increased but baby is going through a growth spurt so I'm assuming those two things are related. The only thing that has been really different is that the baby has moved to my butt and is growing there now. My back and hips are still rather sore but the chiropractor is helping a ton. I'm hoping to get a massage later in the week and I think that will help a lot too.

This Week:

• Your baby has the same awake and sleep patterns of a newborn. He has a favorite position for sleep and recognizable active and rest periods.
• Throughout baby's body, nerves are being coated with a fatty substance called myelin, which insulates the nerves so that impulses can flow smoothly.
• Scalp hair becomes apparent this week. It has sprouted and continues to grow.
• The milk teeth buds have already developed and over the next few days the buds for the permanent teeth will begin to form behind the milk teeth.
• If it's a boy, the genitals are distinct and recognizable.
• Your baby is swallowing amniotic fluid and his or her kidneys are making urine.
• Your little one's size is around 6.02 inches (15.3cm) and 8.47 ounces (240gm).

I'll be spend some of the later part of the week with this little girl. This is my youngest niece, Grace. My brother and sister-in-law are going on vacation to Mexico and both sets of grandparents and I are taking care of her. It should be an interesting week.

The funeral

Later today is Nanny's funeral. There's so much that I want to say about her but I just can't put it into words right now. I think I just need to get past today. Everyone is coming over to our house after the burial so I've been cleaning for the past two days, I've at least had that to keep me busy.

The good news is that timing wise everything worked out well. My cousin Jeffery (the oldest great-grandchild) who plays pro football for the Carolina Panthers has a bi-week and he was already at his lake house in Marble Falls. The cousins from Houston were all planning on being together this weekend anyways, so they drove up. And my dad, who could have been out of the country for work and who has been out of town for the last 4 weeks was flying back Thursday morning anyways. Most of us would have dropped everything and been here anyways but Jeffery's schedule is tricky and if my dad had been in Japan or Germany God only knows when he would have gotten back.

On a completely different note, my back completely freaked out on me Wednesday. I just picked a chiropractor off the insurance list and they were able to get me in that afternoon. Cooper went with me and cried most of the time but he was fine. I really liked him, it helped some and I've been back once already. Both my back, left hip, and elbow have been sore the last few days. But then again I haven't been sleeping great and I've been on my feet all day with the cleaning. Tomorrow I'm planning on staying on the couch most of the day.

Dear Jesus,

My grandma (Nanny) went to live with you tonight. She was the best Nanny ever and always took such good care of me when I was little so please take extra good care of her.

I'm very sad that she won't get to meet the little boy that's growing inside me. She was so excited about him. So please introduce her to him before he arrives to be with us so that he knows how wonderful she was.

love,
Sheryl

We're buying the next kid

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that I'm pregnant.

But...
Here's what's going on. I woke up at 4:00 AM and couldn't go back to sleep because my hips were hurting so much. I'm having a ton of sciatica so it hurts to go from standing to sitting and vise versa and walking too much hurts, plus my back hurts. The headaches still haven't gone away and I'm still tried most of the time.

I'm not even half way yet and I'm ready for this to be over with. I think I'll set up a massage later in the week and see if that helps. I always suspected I'd be a cranky pregnant woman... I'm getting there.

18 Weeks

Today marks 18 weeks gestation, getting close to the half way mark! Yesterday morning the little guy woke me up by moving around. It was the first time that I felt him really consistently. There were some little taps and flutters, I had slept in a little and I guess he was telling me that he was hungry. I threw up once this week but for the most part I'm past the nausea. My back is a little sore but it's not too bad. I feel the ligaments stretching on a regular basis but it's not really painful, just annoying, and it doesn't last long. I'm still have a ton of headaches, the doctor said that it's a hormone thing and will pass soon.

If you look to the right, you'll notice I've added a baby registry. We're registering at Babies-R-Us and at Amazon.com. That way the people who would rather order something on-line can do so.

This week:

• Vernix (a white cheese-like protective material) forms on baby's skin with the lanugo (soft, lightly pigmented hair covering the body and limbs); both serving to protect your baby's skin during the months in water.
• Your placenta continues to grow and nourish the baby.
  
• Tiny air sacs called alveoli begin to form in lungs. He'll be putting these lungs to good use in just a few months!
• His vocal chords are formed. He goes through the motions of crying but without air she doesn't make a sound.
• Features of your baby's heart, including ventricles and chambers, should be visible during an ultrasound.
• Your baby measures about 5.59 inches (14.2cm) this week and weighs about 6.7 ounces (190gm).

Refrigerator note: It's still making the awful sound. We're going to try and find someone to come out and look at it this week. Then we're defaulting and buying a new one. It really sucks, but it gives me horrible splitting headaches and it's got to change, one way or the other.

Yosemite Vacation

Day 1 - Traveling
It was a long day. It took about 12 hours from door step to door step, the last 4 were spent in the car. We did stop at Trader Joe’s in Sacramento and now we see what all the hype is about, and we want one here. Other than a creepy lady at the air port, the day was mostly un-eventful. It was good to get there though.

Day 2 – Into the park
The trailer was parked about an hour drive outside the park. It was the closest place with full hook-up’s. Luckily we got to sleep in because it was really cold in the morning, cold to us Texans anyways, it was in the low 40’s. It warmed up nicely though and the day warmed up to the low 70’s.

This is the first thing you drive through when you enter the park.

On this day we took a bus tour up to Glacier Point. The valley floor, where the main road is, is at about 4,000 ft, Glacier Point is around 7,600 ft.

We found out some interesting things about the park. Like that Mariposa Grove and Yosemite Valley were the first area of land in the US to be set aside and protected by the government in 1864. It wasn’t made a national part until 1890, after Yellow Stone.

Yosemite also contains California’s oldest ski resort, Badger Pass.

Also, the Sierra Nevada mountain range is one giant piece of granite that’s 400 miles long and about 80 miles wide. It makes Enchanted Rook look like a pebble. The valley was carved out by glaciers which are no longer there.

The view from the top is nice.

One of the features of the landscape is a place they call Half-Dome, the other half was taken off by a glacier. Tom and Maury took our picture in front of it and Jonathan put his hands on my belly. From then on, they called me Half-Dome.

We hiked around a bit and ate ice cream. At the gift shop, back of the valley floor, we discovered fire mango. It was dried mango that was spicy, everyone loved it, but I wouldn’t touch it. Later in the trip they wiped the store out. I also found this cute little hat that I got for the baby. The model here is Guinness.

Day 3 – Giant Sequoia Trees
The first thing we did when we got to the park was go down to the Wawona hotel and have lunch. The hotel was built in 1874 and the food was very good.


Then we headed down to see the giant trees at Mariposa Grove. This was my favorite part of the trip. We hiked through the forest and it was like being in something out of Lord of the Rings, I swore the trees were going to start walking around.


This is us by a tree in the parking lot. Tom took a pine branch from Yosemite (a $300 fine if caught) and hand carved these walking sticks for us. They used to be one long branch and they are super light weight. We couldn’t take them on the plane so we’ll get them in February when they get back.


The roots of these trees only go down 6 to 8 feet, but they grow out. This is the bottom of one that has fallen over. Apparently this tree fell 300 years ago.

This tree is the Grizzly Giant, it’s between 1,900 to 2,400 years old. Its trunk is 30 feet across and it’s 90 feet around. It’s the oldest tree in the park, and the thing is massive. The picture doesn’t do it justice, it’s just too big to get a picture that accurately shows its size. This is taken from a distance and you can see the people at the bottom.

In 1895 the California tunnel tree was cut through. It’s still living and doing fine. They used to pull buggies through it.

This is Jonathan… being Jonathan ☺

And this is just a random tree that I took a picture of as we were hiking back down the trail. If you look really close you can see Jonathan standing next to the tree on the right side of the picture.

In the car on the way back to the camper I saw a bear on the side of a hill. We saw very little wild life the whole time we were there. A few birds and lots of squirrels, but that was about it. Jonathan saw a bear crossing the road on day 3.

That evening we watched the Longhorns win a great game! It was very nice of all the Aggies to watch the Longhorns, and even not pick on me too much. Of course the Aggies are doing so bad this season that they couldn’t talk much.

Day 4 – Off the wall
On our last day we first had a pick-nick in the meadow across from El Capitan, commonly known as the most popular climbing spot in the US, and looked for climbers.


At a height of 3,000 feet it takes most people about 3 days to climb it. They have slings that they attach to the face of it to sleep in. We saw 3 different groups of climbers.

The rest of the day was spent driving around to different look-outs and taking a few pictures.

And we went to the most expensive hotel in the park. Rooms ranged from $450 - $1,000 a night.

That evening we went out to dinner and then played a game called Quarto, which was fun. Overall it was an awesome trip and it was so good to spend some time with Tom and Maury. We are definitely going back to Yosemite and hiking more and exploring more of the park. I think we’ll go back in the spring time when all the water falls are flowing and everything is blooming.

Day 5 – Traveling again
This was just another long day, again about 12 hours of traveling. We got back to the house at about 12:30 AM and Jonathan had locked us out. He locked the door from the garage into the kitchen and all the windows were locked up tight. He had to climb into the attic and drop into our closet where the other entrance is.

The pregnancy went fine the whole time, nothing really to report, which is what we wanted. My hips got really sore from sleeping on the air mattress and my feet were swelling the whole time but my feet usually swell when I travel.