Daily Wanderings, Lifetime Wonderings

2010-01-08T19:39:00.002-06:00

Charlotte is very into kissing things right now, and thought this was so fun!

Pictures with Santa

2009-12-16T21:39:00.002-06:00

Not the greatest Santas, but we didn't think we'd get to see one at all!

The second one:

DONE with Santa!

2009-12-08T17:04:00.002-06:00

This is our gift from Charlotte to our parents, siblings, and my aunt. The plan was to make handprint ornaments, but that didn't work out, so we changed our game plan today. I'm really happy with how they all turned out! I took the dough and baked star ornaments first. Then came the painting:

She loved the mess!

Then came bath time:

Final product:

Then I added a white ribbon and wrote Love Charlotte, '09 on the back. I love them!

Charlotte is 6 months! (And 7!)

2009-11-05T19:32:00.002-06:00

Ok, I'm a little behind, so here is my make-up post! First, turning 6 months old. This was written on Sept 15th:

Charlotte is halfway to one! She is getting to be so much fun, I'm looking forward to what this coming month will bring. Charlotte can sit up on her own and play with toys by herself for 5-10 minutes. I've set up a little pallet of a comforter in the living room, so she can sit and play with us in the living room. She rolled over 4 times yesterday, doubling the total number of rolls ever. Charlotte has been enjoying more foods. She's had squash, apples, peas, avacado, peaches, pears and she tried a couple bites of cantalope, but that one didn't work! The rest was ok; she liked the peas way more than we thought she would considering how much she hates green beans! She gets really mad while I am getting her food together, so I bought puffs and she entertains herself with those. She has even gotten a few in her mouth! She has also had a few bites of banana, but those mostly get squished in her fingers.

This past weekend, we went to Bryan, TX and stayed with my grandparents and attended a wedding. Charlotte woke up with a cold on Saturday, so we've been dealing with a stuffy nose and occasional fever since then. She weighed in at 16lbs, 12.5oz today and is 27in long. Didn't get percentages today, but I think it's between 75 and 90% for both catagories. What a big girl! She gained almost 2 pounds in 3.5 weeks; hit a little growth spurt apparently! Now, pictures:

Turning 6mo:

Playing with mom and the puppies in the back yard:

Hysterical face! This cracks us up every time! She makes this face then snorts in and out repeatedly. She thinks it's funny when we do it back to her.

Happy bath time:

Pro pics at 6mo:

Now, 7 months old! This was written on Oct. 15th:
Another month has passed, and it's been a fun month! She's really beginning to learn, and I'm having fun watching her realizations. Yesterday, she was waving a toy around like usual, then she hit it on another plastic toy, then stopped, realizing that it makes a noise! So she put that one down, picked up another, and re-did the experiment; it worked again!!

Also yesterday, she was playing with a cup in the bathtub and was chewing on the rim. She started talking, then realized that it is a different and louder sound than just regularly talking! So she talked into the cup for the rest of the bath. Earlier this month, she realized that if you move your lips when you make noises, it sounds different. Now she "blah, bloh, blahs" all day long!

We have had our first 2-way interaction. The funny snorty face that she was making last month when she was mad, she now makes when she's happy and in a good mood! She loves waiting for you to make it back to her then she laughs! She also makes a funny coughing/laughing noise that she thinks is pretty fun. We go back and forth with both faces and noises and she loves it!

Another funny new thing is that she will suddenly throw her upper body into a 90 degree angle and look at you (or the dog or her toys, whatever!) sideways. You have to be careful if you're holding her; all of her weight changes quickly and you have to adapt or she will fall over!

She is getting so strong; she can hold herself up on the couch or a chair for 2-3 minutes at a time before her legs get tired. She gets so happy when she is standing! Bouncing has begun too. I don't think that's as much fun as she does when I'm aiming the spoon full of pureed carrots at her mouth and she's bouncing around! I've attached some pictures from our month of learning:

Turning 7mo:

A gift made for Daddy for his birthday:

Helping Daddy pack for a trip:

Gnawing on a baby squash at Nana:

Catching the water during bathtime at Nana's:

My little panda butt helping Granddad do some work:

Cheering on the Cowboys with Daddy:

It's a good thing Charlotte wasn't in charge of Noah's Ark!

"I Love My Mummy"

Game Day! Go Cowboys!

2009-09-26T22:36:00.003-05:00

This one is blurry, but I still like it!

Medical update

2009-09-17T08:19:00.002-05:00

The arthritis panel was negative. My ANA (inflammation) came back positive though. He said he's back to thinking it could be lupus. He was looking for lupus when I got pregnant and we stopped all testing and medications. Lupus is a whole 'nother ball game. I'm trying not to read too much about it yet. I did that last time and just scared myself! For now, we're starting a medication (when I finish nursing next week) that will take 2 to 3 months to tell if it is working. It is used to reduce inflammation in cases with arthritis, systemic lupus and other things. Hopefully that will help.

Yep, Charlotte turned 6mo Tuesday, but I haven't put the update on here yet! I'll get to it when I have time!

Charlotte is getting over a cold and got me up 7 times last night between 11p and 7a! She ate 4 of those times, so I guess that she was finally really hungry after being sick! I'm exhausted now and have a busy day. Oh well. C'est la vie!

Update!

2009-09-14T19:24:00.002-05:00

I went to the rheumatologist's office last Wednesday and he thinks it sounds like onset of rheumatoid arthritis (in addition to fibromyalgia). He drew blood and I should get test results on Wednesday. We'll determine a medicine treatment at that time.

They took 5 vials of blood, and I started to pass out! They had to fan me, get water, and a cool rag. I sat there for a while before they would let me leave. I've given more blood for tests before, but it came at a bad time of the month, so I was just really low in blood volume probably.

Weaning has been going well. Charlotte is taking to the formula just fine; that makes me feel a little better. It's still hard on me, but each day is a little better. I know that this is the best route for our family at this time.

Oh, the doctor said it's actually quite common for women to develop RA following a pregnancy. I have a friend that had that happen to her too! After her second son was born, hers was so bad that she had to have her husband open baby food jars for their older boy before he left for work, because she couldn't open them on her own! I'm grateful that mine isn't that bad, but I also don't want it to that point.

This weekend, we traveled to Bryan (TX) to attend a wedding. My grandparents live there, so they were thrilled to have us. The wedding was for a girl I met in first grade. I haven't seen her in 5 years, but I could not have been more excited to be there! It was great to see her, her mom and dad, her little sister, and now, her husband! We woke up Saturday morning with a sick baby. Poor C caught a cold (I think I know where, and I'm not happy about it) and was pretty miserable. Because of that, she didn't get to go to the reception with us, so we'll have to go back sometime so my friend and her family can meet C! By Sunday evening, Scott was sick too. He stayed home from work today, so it was like another 3 day weekend! :)

I started a Bible study today with some women from my Sunday school class. We will be studying Esther, and I'm really excited about it. My mom actually just finished it and said it was great.

Charlotte and I have her 6 month well visit and shots tomorrow! I'm in total denial that my tiny baby girl is about to be half a year old!! Pictures to come, I'm sure!

You asked for it

2009-09-04T07:38:00.002-05:00

An update on me:

I am in a hard place right now. My fibromyalgia seems to have returned. I know it was probably a matter of time, but sometimes pregnancy can make this kind of stuff go away forever, unexplained. I wanted to be in that teeny tiny percentage, but I'm not.

Last Friday morning, my left knee started hurting. Within two hours, I had shooting burning pain through my calf and pain radiating in my ankle down to my toes. My heel felt bruised for the next 2 days.

Then on Sunday, the same thing happened, but this time left shoulder to finger tips. Now every single night, my arm has a burning pain for hours on end. It hurts so bad.

I have a doctor appointment (rheumatologist) next Wednesday. He'll run blood tests again. He was looking for Lupus before I got pregnant, so he'll probably run that panel too. Basically, we'll be looking for the blood results to confirm an increase in inflamation at which point he will put me on medication.

Sadly, and I'm almost crying just typing this out, this will be the end of me nursing my baby girl. My goal was a year, and it looks like I've only made it to 6mo. I feel like my body is failing me. Logically, I always knew it was an option. In my heart, I made it so long without any pain at all. I wish I could say I can just tough it out, but I know my body and I know that if I let this go untreated it will only get worse. I know that formula is not poison, Scott and I were both on it as babies, but I also really wanted to give her breastmilk til she was 1. Scott has terrible allergies and I have lots of stomach issues, so I was hoping to help prevent those.

I'm really sad about it, dreading my appointment. At the same time, when my arm is throbbing and burning, I'm ready for medicine.

This weekend starts the rest of the year for us. Between now and the New Year, we'll be going to OK 4 or 5 times, spending 1 week then later 2 weeks there straight. We'll have family here a little, and celebrate 8 family birthdays (just mine and Scott's immediate families! Everyone but our moms and charlotte!). I've been dreading the start of this. When I get more stressed, it wreaks havoc on my body. I'll be ready for it to be all done.

In happier news, Charlotte will be 6 months old in just 2 weeks! I can't believe it! Scott and I just celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary Wednesday. My parents are coming this weekend and are going to keep her overnight Saturday. We're going out for a nice dinner then sleeping at a B&B in town. I cannot tell you how excited I am to get a full night's sleep! We even decided not to go to church Sunday morning, so that we can sleep as late as possible. It will be nice, I'm really excited!

So, there you go, an update on me. ;)

Adorable hats and my baby girl is sitting!

2009-08-17T20:01:00.002-05:00

I bought a couple of knit hats from a girl online. This is one; the other is brown with a white flower.

And look at my big (baby) girl sitting up! She was concentrating on sitting and watching the dogs that she couldn't be bothered to smile!

Charlotte is 5 months old!

2009-08-16T19:54:00.002-05:00

We can't believe that today (yesterday) we have a five month old; it just doesn't seem possible! She is getting stronger every day, loving to sit or stand whenever possible. She started tripodding about 3 weeks ago and just this week has started sitting up by herself. The longest she has gone has been about 10 seconds and we never leave her alone, but she always looks so proud of herself!

I've been asked how the dogs are doing; they're doing great! She is noticing them all the time now. She recognizes the sound of their tags rattling and their nails on the wood floor as they walk around. We go outside twice a day and sit on the living room floor about twice a day and play ball with Colby (Zoe just runs around barking at Colby, it's the annoying little sister in her). We have been working on the dogs' tolerance with Charlotte. Both dogs now let her grab, pet, hit and pull on them. Zoe just rolls over and lets C do whatever to her, including her ears and nose. Colby has even had his nose grabbed! He just moved away but no growling or anything. We've been really proud of both dogs! C will even hold their little milk bones and feed it to them. Zoe just about took a finger off grabbing it the first time, while Colby was very delicate and wouldn't pull at all. One of the pictures attached is Colby and Charlotte sharing some ball time.

This past month included a trip to Tulsa for a wedding, seeing Scott's side of the family while there, introducing cereals, veggies and fruits, her first trip to the zoo, discovering the toes can reach the mouth, swimming for the first time, and a whole new set of clothes - she is now totally in 3-6mo clothes! There were 3 babies her age at the Lake Day party so it was fun having other little bitties around in the pool. So far, Charlotte has had rice cereal, oatmeal, green beans, sweet potatoes, plums, bananas, carrots and butternut squash. The only ones she really dislikes is rice cereal (now, she liked it at first) and green beans. Bananas and plum together is a favorite! She had a few days of severe crankiness, leading us to wonder when teeth might appear. Today, the drooling had kept the whole family soaked!

Sorry there are so many pictures, I couldn't decide which ones were best, so you get them all! Also, there are a few new videos on youtube if you're interested. Go to youtube.com and search sjhovis.

PS: I sat her up facing me today with her dresser to her back and she sat up for almost 2 minutes playing with a toy with me! She only leaned back to her dresser once that whole time! What a big girl!

Hanging out with Grandma at the wedding:

Chomping those toes!

Flying baby

Thinking rice cereal is foul

Getting ready to go out to dinner with Mom and Dad

Sleeping at said dinner! In the middle of TGIFriday's

Tripodding on Mom's lap

First trip to the zoo

Lake Day

One of the new outfits

PJs that Mom bought and loves! They say "Tweet Me Nice."

Hanging with Colby

Playing Nintendo, Daddy is so proud!

Pics from swimming!

2009-08-03T15:13:00.002-05:00

Our Sunday school class had a lake party yesterday and Charlotte went swimming!!

Charlotte would like me to remind you that the camera adds 10 pounds. To her tummy.

My favorite pic from the day, her cracking up while I tickled her with kisses!

Some pictures!

2009-07-31T17:56:00.002-05:00

Charlotte is tripod sitting now. Here is one of her on my lap sitting with no help from mom:

And we went to the zoo today with some friends! Doesn't she look thrilled?!? :)

That's it for now. Sorry if I got your hopes up for a good picture post!

Rough week

2009-07-31T07:55:00.002-05:00

This was a very rough week. Charlotte cried for three days straight (Mon-Wed) and it wasn't until I was talking to a fellow mom/friend that it dawned on us that she was going through a growth spurt. 4.5 months isn't a "normal" spurt time, so I was keeping her feedings at 3 hours apart, leaving her hungry all the time. I felt horrible when I figured it out. We gave her 5oz more milk on Wednesday evening and I let her eat when she wanted to yesterday, and that made a huge difference. My happy baby was back! Still a little cranky, but not like the beginning of the week.

It was really frustrating. I had felt like I was having supply issues (she is still exclusively breast fed but we started one meal of solids a couple of weeks ago) so it totally makes sense to me now. I was and I wasn't having supply problems. My supply was staying the same, but her need was greater so it was upsetting us both. My body seems to have caught up a little, she seemed satisfied yesterday. Whew!

I'm tired, but holding up ok other than that. I am thankful it is the weekend. Time for some Daddy/Daughter bonding time, doncha think?!?

Charlotte is tripod sitting now (on her bottom, propping up with her arms). It's so cute! I've gotten a couple pics, but I don't have them on the computer yet. I'll post them soon, hopefully!

Charlotte: 4 months old

2009-07-15T21:08:00.002-05:00

Charlotte has had a very exciting month!

Charlotte and I went to Dallas for an entire week for Kappa Phi at the end of June. Charlotte's Nana (my mom) came and stayed with us; I think they both felt spoiled! Unfortunately, I was so busy, I don't have a single picture of us there! It was a hot week, highs around a hundred the whole time. Her face would get red just going from the dorm to the cafeteria, and it really wasn't that far. She did great, getting passed around to anyone that would hold her. The last night there, she decided she was done being a good girl, and she melted down. It took some Tylenol and about 3 hours of distress before she finally passed out for the night.

Charlotte celebrated her first Fourth of July this month... by going to bed early! We didn't attemp any fireworks this year. We didn't want to get out then have to battle 45 minutes of traffic to get home, especially if she was unhappy! We were just back from Dallas, so we were both happy for a little extra sleep.

She is still not sleeping through the night, but we started solids tonight: rice cereal. Not sure she likes it yet! Hopefully that will help. We went to the peditrician's today. Miss C is 14lbs, 5.5oz (putting her in the 68th percentile for her age) and 25in (79th%).

Scott and I are really enjoying her now. She's laughed only 3 times, but she smiles daily, and it's the best feeling in the world.

Here are some pictures from this past month:
This is a tiny rocking chair from my mom's church. They were going to throw it out and my mom grabbed it for Charlotte! She can't really sit up yet. Scott was sitting right in front of her in case he needed to catch her!

My 4 month old

Gagging herself while eating rice cereal. You'd have thought I was trying to poison her!

Getting kisses from Daddy!

Funny picture taken by Daddy

Enjoying her walker

3 month pro pics

2009-07-08T21:14:00.002-05:00

Almost time to go!

2009-06-23T21:28:00.002-05:00

Charlotte and I are heading to Dallas on Thursday for Kappa Phi National Council. I am the Council Marshal, which means I'm the go-for person and am supposed to know a little about everything. I've done lots of prep work, and I'm ready to go!

Well. Not really. Nothing is packet yet. But in my head I'm ready to go!

It's going to be hard being away from Scott for a week. My mom is coming to Council to help me with C, but it's going to be different since she doesn't know C's routine or how we normally do thing. I know it's not a big deal if she reads books before bathtime for a week, but we always do it after. I'm still nursing C, so that's going to pose a challenge as I'll be in and out of meetings and activities all week. Mom is bringing a mini fridge, so I'll just have to make sure that there is enough pumped in there while I'm out.

We had C's first pro picture session at JCPenney last Friday. I will be getting a cd with all the pictures, but here's a sneak peek:

I won't be getting the rest of the pics on here til after Council, probably.

I've developed a huge headache during the typing of this. Time to step away from the computer, and head to bed. Good night!

Charlotte is 3 months now!

2009-06-16T21:44:00.001-05:00

I know some of this has already been on here, but this was the email I sent for 3 months:

This past month has been filled with fun for our family! At the end of May, we made our first road trip with Charlotte, up to Ponca City and Stillwater, OK. She did (mostly) great in the car with minimal fussing! We took her to my sister's graduation which was outside in a stadium. She was eating a bottle during part of the time of calling names, and every time a group would cheer or someone would sound an air horn, she would startle and get such wide eyes looking around! During this trip, she met her great grandma Frazier, great aunt Tricia, and one of my best friends, her husband, and their little girl for the first time! We all had a good trip, and it was a much needed break.

Last week was VBS, and Charlotte was not the youngest baby there! Our church has had a baby boom, and there was another baby 2 weeks younger. Charlotte went with me to the opening and closing assemblies, enjoying the lights and people watching. The middle couple of hours she spent in the infant nursery; it was harder on me than her! They said that she never cried (except for the 10 minutes one day that all SIX babies cried!) and that she was welcome back anytime!

Sunday, June 14th, Charlotte was baptised at our church in Tyler. She looked a little startled when the water touched her head, but she snuggled with my mom afterwards and woke up very happy. We've taken her to church 4 or 5 times now, and she's been great every time!

Yesterday, she figured out how to suck her bottom lip and, whenever she was awake, was making kissy suction noises all day! She even woke me up this morning doing that! She is becoming so alert and really enjoys watching the world around her. She'd rather face out than face whomever is holding her. She loves looking at books, and she's reaching for and holding a set of plastic alphabet rings now. She watches the dogs run outside and grabbed a hold of Zoe's face one morning. Zoe looked startled but just sat there! I had to unfist Charlotte's hand, then Zoe went right back to licking her!

No pictures tonight, but I'll do them soon!

LONG UPDATE AHEAD!

2009-05-31T21:35:00.005-05:00

Only start this if you have time and a cup of coffee. Or tea. I don't drink coffee. Don't worry, I've included lots of pictures to keep it interesting!

It's been a while, no? Lots to update! In no particular order...

Memorial Day weekend: We spent the weekend in Oklahoma. My baby sister graduated high school! We went to her graduation (235ish in her class, she finished 17th she thinks) and it was short and sweet. All the grandparents were there, 2 aunts, me, Scott, Charlotte and my parents. Some of the family:

Holly, my sister, sang with her choir one last time, and she also sang the national anthem as a quartet; she is a soprano. We went up on Thursday, stopping after 7 hours of driving to visit my old office to show off the baby. A $35 parking ticket on campus that we're not going to pay later, we made the final hour to Ponca and relaxed the rest of the night. The next day was graduation. It began at 8p, which is past C's bedtime, so I wasn't sure how that was going to go, but she did great! She was asleep when we got there, but she woke up with the noise of the crowd and just chilled in her carseat for a while.

She got hungry, so we broke out a bottle to entertain her for a while. Many of the families had airhorns and every time one went off or a bunch of people cheered, she got HUGE eyes and looked very startled, but she never stopped eating! :) My sister and my mom, after graduation:

On Saturday, we met a couple of friends and their baby for lunch. They live in Arkansas but were in OK for the weekend, so we found a place between where we all were and caught up! Baby H was born in January. We hadn't met her and she hadn't met C yet, so it was so much fun! The girls smiled at each other, so cute!!

That night, my sister and 2 friends had a get together for the families, so we went to that before headed to Scott's parent's house. The two friends:

It was a late night because we sat up chatting with his parents and sister. Sunday morning, we went to our old church to show off C and hardly anyone was there!! There might have been a youth trip, as I saw not a one there (I used to volunteer with the youth). We hung out at Scott's parent's house with some friends for the afternoon. It's so great to see people you haven't seen in a long time!

Monday, it was time to head home. It used to take us 6hrs, but with baby and feeding it took about 7.5 to get home. Scott mowed when we got home, and I unpacked and started laundry. A boring end to a really great weekend. Because he's cute, here's a pic of our nephew:

Shredding: Scott and I have started Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred DVD. We have completed 5 days so far and are so sore! The goal is to do it 30 days in a row, so we are 1/6 of the way done. We may try to do it longer than 30 days, that's just the first goal. It's only 20 minutes a day, but we struggle to make it each time! The first day was a killer, but we're getting better. I didn't take measurements before, but I did use string to measure my chest, waist, and hips. I'm anxious to see how many inches I can lose. I really want to fit back into my prepregnancy pants so that I don't have to buy a whole new wardrobe. I did check my starting weight, but I know it's just a number. I mean, I hope I lose weight, but if I don't, I'd settle for fitting back into my black pants! Day 30 is the day I leave for a conference in Dallas, so I can't skip any days! Oh, Jillian Michaels is the Jillian from the Biggest Loser, fyi. And I'll let you know at the end if I lost any inches. Maybe by then I'll be brave enough to measure my string lengths. [No pictures here, it's not a pretty sight. Imagine lots of sweat and there ya go!]

Charlotte: Her routine is working! She is finally sleeping a little more at night! I am beginning to realize that one day she will not need me in the middle of the night, and that makes me a little sad. I like being the one that can take care of her needs, and it's so quiet in the middle of the night, just us. That said, I am happy that she is starting to sleep longer. Now when every. single. person. asks me if she's sleeping through the night yet, I can say yes. I mean, really, is it a competition?? No! Babies develop at different rates, and you're not the one getting up with her, so what does it matter to you?? But, technically, yes, she is sleeping through the night, 3 nights in a row now. 5 hours, then 5 hours, then 6 last night. She actually went 7 hours between her feeds last night skipping one entirely, but she fought sleep for that first hour, making it only 6. Sleeping in the cradle at the inlaw's house:

She has been smiling more lately too. Especially if you say "buh buh buh" to her over and over. She's practicing her B's and blowing bubbles! She sticks her tongue out too if she's especially smiley!

This past Friday and Saturday, she was pretty grouchy all day. Today off and on too. I think she's tired, so tomorrow I'll probably let her sleep whatever she needs to. She's usually tired after the weekend anyway and needs extra sleep.

My job: I am officially a SAHM now (stay at home Mom!) and I'm excited about that. Me staying home was our goal, but Scott's job was in question for a while. Starting in January, they've been doing layoffs at his company every 4 weeks, never knowing in advance which area would be affected. We had said that if he still had a job on June 1, I would not go back to work. We hung onto my job a while to make sure that, come the end of maternity leave, one of us still had a job. June 1 is tomorrow, so I begin a new job. Staying home is tough! Days are long, and, even on the days we actually stay home the whole day, there are things that I want to get done that just don't happen. I can't go out and work in the yard when she is sleeping, because what if she wakes and I need to get to her and I'm covered in dirt?? No can do, so I did yard work today while she and Scott napped! Even though it was 94 degrees out, I loved being outside and getting dirty. (I may be sleeping all day with her tomorrow, I'm wiped out!!)

Church: There have been lots of changes at church. I had 3 (5) bosses when I worked there, 3 full time, 1 associate, and 1 part time. The only of those still there are the associate and the part timer! Two of the FTs quit and one was laid off. So those departments are all going through changes. Also, a new Sunday school class formed for Young Couples. Seeing as we are a young couple, it would seem logical for us to join that class. However, we are in the old YC class, now the Faith Class. We are the youngest in the class and have been since it started almost 2 years ago. I have felt some pressure to join the new class, but we tried it out today, and I don't feel like we will be going back to it. There is nothing wrong with it, but we are still the youngest! We feel like we can stay in our current, more developed class and be the youngest instead of moving to the new, developing class. I've been thinking about it since January, when we were first asked to switch, but the class didn't start til April, and we weren't going to church then. We were finally able to say we tried it out today though.

That's all I can think of for now. It's late, I'm sore, and I'm tired. I hope that you all have a good week!

PS: I had to do all the pictures twice, because I didn't do them right the first time. That's how much I love you people that read things like this when you probably have better things to do with your time. :)

Two Months Old!

2009-05-15T12:08:00.003-05:00

Charlotte had her 2 month check up today. She is 12lbs, 2oz (84th percentile for her age) and 23.2 inches long (83%)! We knew she had grown more, we just didn't know how much! Then she had her shots, and that was not happy for her or for Mommy! Daddy came along to be with Charlotte during her shots while Mommy didn't watch from across the room. Her shots were at about 9am, and she's been asleep since then.

This past month has brought lots of fun! Charlotte began smiling around 6 weeks, and we see it daily now. She is really happy when you get her up from a nap and after she finishes eating. We've heard 3 giggles, and I hope that they become more frequent soon! We all went to church for Mother's Day and we had a good time! She slept for about 2/3 of the service and was good and quiet for the rest. Then I took her to my work to show her off! She smiled and cooed for 2 hours, never getting unhappy. The next day, I met a couple of girls at the movies, and Charlotte and I saw her first movie! Again, she slept, woke up and ate, then went back to sleep. Such a good girl!

Enjoy some pictures from Month Two:

One step forward, three steps back

2009-05-07T13:09:00.000-05:00

My positivity from yesterday has flown out the window. We had a good night's sleep 2 nights ago, followed by a great day yesterday. Then last night, starting about 10:15, we could not get her to sleep. I tried for an hour, Scott tried another hour. Then she slept for 15 minutes at a time the rest of the night. I think her tummy was hurting. She hadn't pooped in almost 48 hours, so when she finally did around 1:15, I thought, whew, now we can all sleep.

Not so much. At 5, I asked Scott to take her to the living room so I could get an hour and a half of sleep. He battled with her during that time. I got up to feed her a little before 7, and she was a happy smiling baby, no matter not sleeping all night. (Scott and me? No smiles there.)

She started yawning, so I put her down for a nap at 8, and I could not get her to sleep until 8:45, and that was with her laying on me. We slept til 9:30. I just battled her second nap for 1.5 hours, and finally got her up, because it's only 10 minutes now until her next feeding. She is sitting in the Boppy next to me on the couch, just about asleep.

I'm exhausted. Scott is going to take her tonight and let me sleep. He laughed that if she didn't sleep last night and doesn't sleep all day, she'll pass out tonight and he'll have an easy night! Not funny, because I bet that's true.

Ok, now she's sound asleep. Great.

Good Night's Sleep!

2009-05-06T08:14:00.001-05:00

Well, "good" might be a stretch, but we had a decent night last night!

We put her to bed at 8, and I fed her at 10:30. She didn't wake up again until 1:30. She woke up about 3:15, fussing. I read yesterday that when a baby wakes up before 3 hours have passed, they probably don't need food, especially if they ate well the last time, but that they just need help getting back to sleep. I gave her the pacifier, and she didn't wake up again until 4:30!

This is the first time in at least 3 weeks that she slept between 2 and 4! I got up to feed her at 4:30, and she had decided that she was ready to get up. She was giggly, smiley and cooing at me. It took all I had to put her back in bed! I just wanted to talk to her and watch her smile. I felt good at that point, I think I had gotten about 5 hours of sleep total by then. But I put her back down with her pacifier. I replaced it every 10 minutes for the next two hours, but I told Scott, I'd rather replace a pacifier for 2 hours than be holding a screaming baby!

Her pacifier kept falling out, because she was keeping her head turned, staring at the light coming from the bathroom. She does this thing when she is happy where if you touch her lips with her pacifier, she "talks" so every time I went to replace it, she started chatting with me!

We got up at 6:30, I fed her, she grinned for 15 minutes or so after then played on her playmat while I ate breakfast. She is back down for a morning nap, and now it's my turn. We're going to try to get out to Walmart this morning, but it looks like rain. We may have to wait til this afternoon.

And finally, her first smile captured on camera:

Five Weeks Old

2009-05-01T11:39:00.001-05:00

I thought I posted this when I sent the email out, but I guess I didn't! So this is a week late, as she will actually be 7 weeks tomorrow!

Charlotte will be 6 weeks old tomorrow, and week 5 was a lot of fun! The most exciting thing is that Charlotte started smiling yesterday! We've gotten her to do it probably 10 times today, but she shuts it off as soon as the camera comes out. We will catch that allusive smile soon, I hope! Charlotte found herself in the mirror this week and has enjoyed staring at herself in the mirror in her crib! We have started a bedtime routine, in hopes that it will help her figure out when to sleep. At the start of the week, she had her days and nights reversed, but by the end of the week, it's starting to turn around. Thank goodness! I had 3 friends visit this week (2 from out of town) and that was good for me. Charlotte got to be held by someone else, and I got a little break! Another friend in town kept Charlotte at her house a couple of hours on Friday while I ran errands all by myself! It was nice to have that break but I was ready to get back home with her. Here are a few pictures from this week.

A few things

2009-04-18T15:37:00.010-05:00

1. I had a request for an update on our nephew, so here goes! Little I is 18 months as of Thursday. In his 17th month, he began walking! We got to see him here when he came to visit Charlotte, and it was so fun watching him toddle around. We took some pictures of the cousins together.

After a while, then both got tired of taking pictures!

As of a week ago Wednesday, Nephew I is officially part of the family! For Korean adoptions (don't know if this is for every country, or if it varies by country), the child cannot become officially adopted until 6 months have passed. At that point, paperwork has to be filed, and a court date is set. K and T went to the court day last week, an official oath ("you will raise this son as if he were your biological son, etc") was read, they agreed to it, I think they signed something, and it was official! Now, they have more paperwork to do, and he will be granted his SS card and a birth certificate. If it had not been for our little one at home, I would have really liked to have been there with them in the courtroom. I kick myself often for not being at the gate when they came home from Korea with him. No one was there to greet them, and I'm mad that I didn't go. Again, no one was there with them for this very exciting day. I so wish I could have gone.

Doesn't he look super cute in his bucket hat? He was checking out Charlotte's swing.

2. Last night was incredibly hard. I've not been sleeping well for a while now. Big shocker with a newborn, right? Well, with fibromyalgia, I don't sleep well, and I'm starting to feel that kind of not sleeping coming back. Night before last, Charlotte slept well, waking to eat about 12:30a, 3:45a and 5:45a. I was still awake when she got up that first time, despite turning my light out about 11p. Last night was way worse. I wasn't sleeping, C wasn't sleeping. She was very noisy, her paci kept falling out, that would upset her, so I had to keep replacing it. She sleeps in a tall bouncy seat right next to my side of the bed, so I didn't have to keep getting up, I just wasn't sleeping. She woke to eat about 1:45a and during that feed, it dawned on me just how tired I was. I started sobbing. I wasn't going to wake Scott up, because what good would it do to have 2 tired parents (and I'm very jealous of his sleeping abilities. Very jealous. Like I've told him this before.). Colby Jack gets very worried when I cry, and he heard me and started barking at me. This woke Scott up and he just started holding me. C was back in her seat by then, but still wide awake. He took her to the living room so I could finally get some sleep in a quiet room. I went out to the living room at 3; she was crying. I fed her again, trying to top her off and make her fall asleep. I just couldn't sleep. I was awake until 4a. The last time I saw on the clock was 4:00a and she woke up hungry and Scott brought her in our bedroom at 7:02a. So at the most, I got 3 hours of sleep. She ate, then dozed in and out until 10a. We all three dozed during that time, sleeping about 30-60 minutes at a time (me, anyway). Such a long tiring night. I really didn't think i was going to make it.

After I fed her and put her back in her chair when I was crying, I was just thinking "I can't do this anymore. I can't keep feeding her, listening to her, holding her when she cries, I just can't do any of it." Then I thought about a story I read yesterday of a 2m old dying of SIDS and I cried harder. I would do all of that, every night for the rest of my life, if I knew she was safe and alive. I have a giant fear of something terrible happening to her, mostly at my hands (not that I'm thinking of hurting her, I just see these accidental sitations play out). Things I can prevent, like me dropping her, or tripping over something and her flying across the room, or me forgetting to buckle her into her car seat and me getting in an accident (I've never been in a wreck, knock on wood). Even though she is a noisy sleeper, I am determined to keep her in our room a while. Studies show a reduced risk of SIDS when babies sleep near their mothers, especially in the same room. She will be moving to her pack and play at the foot of our bed as soon as her eating schedule settles out a little. And as soon as I empty the PNP of all the clothes, blankets, and diapers that are currently in there!

She is asleep on my chest right now. I love her, I just get so frustrated sometimes. Being a mom is hard, and I get jealous of Scott. He gets to go to work where there isn't a crying baby. I don't want to go back to work, I just wish I could get away sometimes too. He sleeps like a log. He can roll over, see that she's eating, and two breaths later, he's lightly snoring. When I wake up, it takes at least 5 minutes to fall back asleep, but usually more like 15. He has Friday afternoons off, and he took a 3 hour nap yesterday. I was exhausted too, but C was sleeping restlessly, and I kept waking up with her. I wish that he had taken her, but I know that he needs his sleep too. After he got up, I fed her then he took her for 2 hours while I napped. I wish we could do that every day!

3. I went to my rheumatologist last week. We re-ran bloodwork, and he wants me to go back on medications. They would go through the breastmilk, so we will be holding off until either a) we stop bfing or b) my body pain/sleep issues become so great that I can't stand it anymore. I don't know when either of those will happen, time will tell. I am thinking of emailing a couple of friends of mine that are pharmacists and asking if there is a sleep aid that does not transfer into the milk. Once she starts eating on a more regular basis (or sleeping through the night!!) I may take something. It's not healthy for me to not sleep, and I'm afraid that's where I'm headed.

Wow, this went a lot longer than I thought it would!! To lighten things back up, here are some more pictures!

From the Easter "photo shoot"

From the real Easter day - we never made it out of our pjs!

And finally, her one month picture! We've weighed her on our home scale and estimate her to be around 10 pounds already. She is out growing her newborn clothes as we speak. I put her in a sleeper tonight that we will have to retire after tonight! It makes me sad, it's so cute! She started a medication for reflux a week and a half ago, but I don't think it's making her tummy feel better. I'm going to make an appointment with the pedi, so we'll get more exact measurements this week.

Time for an update!

2009-04-06T16:00:00.003-05:00

I'll do a quick update now, but it will probably be short as I'm 1-handed!

This is a family pic at 1 week old. She was very unhappy during our "photo shoot" so as soon as she would stop screaming, we would smile and hope for the best!

The runner-up for the baby announcement card. It was taken by Scott, and a large printed version of it is in the mail as we speak, so we can hang it in the house! We love this one!

Another picture that was in the running for the announcement card. I love her face in this one, so happy! My mom caught this picture, about 4-5 days old.

Another picture in the running for the announcement card. Just kidding :)

I thought it was funny though! I think Scott took it, about 6 days old?

It's hard to tell by this angle (but I love her tiny feet!) but she is sucking her paci! This picture was taken about 30 minutes ago. This past week, she's been eating non-stop. Like every 1-2 hours during the day and 2-3 hours at night. There have been times where she's eaten every hour for 5 hours at a time! I think it's been a growth spurt, but the past couple of nights, I've thought that some of it might just be soothing nursing. She's rejected the paci almost every single time we've tried it, until today!!! Mama is relieved!! And it's her outfit cute? Ok, you can't really see it, but take my word for it, it's adorable! The onesie says "I can make you smile" on the front, and she sure can. I love the pink and green combo, too. Shocker, I know! :)

Scott's sister, her husband, and our nephew were here this past weekend. We decided to set up the cousins and try for a cute Easter picture. Well, she did ok for a few minutes, then there was a meltdown that was only settled by lying on Mama's chest. This is the result, a content alert baby! This one is in black and white but I'll post some of the Easter pictures in a separate post and you can see her dress!

My beautiful baby sister, snuggling with my baby girl, about 6 days old.

This was the winner for the announcement card! We turned it black and white and cropped some of the blanket out and some of the top off. I love love love the bow in her hair!!

Having a baby is tiring but so worth it! She is 3 weeks and one day old today. We had her 2 week peditrician appointment last week. They look for infants to be back to their birth weight by 2 weeks, and she was 9 oz over! Told you she's a big eater!! She's also an inch longer than when she was born.

2w stats: 7lbs, 12oz, 21.5 inches long

Top o' the mornin to ya!

2009-03-18T05:15:00.004-05:00

Charlotte and I are wondering how all our fine readers are doing this morning at 5:16! We're chillin in the recliner in the living room to let Daddy get 1.5 hours of good sleep before he heads back to work today.

We got home Tuesday, March 17th just before lunchtime. My parents are here for the week which has been really nice so far! Mom and Dad made a great dinner last night (pot roast, green beans, mashed potatoes, gravy and rolls!), and Scott's parents are coming to meet their granddaughter this afternoon. We were all tired yesterday afternoon and napped for a while. Seeing as C is eating for the4th time since 11:00 last night, I suspect more napping will happen today!

(Typing 1-handed is slow!)

I'm going to go stare at my baby a while now, just wanted to let you know that we are home and doing well! Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers these past few months, they really paid off!

Introducing Baby Charlotte!

2009-03-15T18:23:00.004-05:00

Born at 7:09am, weighing 7lbs, 3.3oz, and 20.5 inches long

This picture is at about 11 hours old.

Ignore me... look at the brand new, 5 minute old baby!

15 minutes old, tasting her fingers!

I woke up at 2:47 to go to the bathroom, and thought, wow, my back is really hurting. Oh wait, no it's not! Oh wait again, yes it is! ALOT!!! Um, this is a real contraction...
I had 2 (not timed), rolled over at 3:30, felt warm water, jumped out of bed, more water. Determined that my water broke and the contractions went to 2-3 minutes apart and hurt like heck!! We got to the hospital about 4, checked at 4:15 and I was told I was already 6-7cm! I got the epidural about 5:30, it kicked in after about 5 more contractions, then I relaxed a little until we started pushing! I pushed for maybe 30-40 minutes and she was born!

Scott saw the whole thing and said it was the most amazing thing he'd ever seen. He's been so good with her, I love it! :)

She has slept most of the day, we have not. I'm hoping that we'll get some really good sleep tonight (minus the bp checks, the weight check for Charlotte at midnight, and the other vital checks, feedings, and diaper changes!). We will probably be here until Tuesday morning. We are so excited that she's here!

Nope.

2009-03-12T17:08:00.003-05:00

The contractions stopped after a while, so I'm still pregnant.

I realize that I'm not at my due date yet, but I seriously feel like she's never going to come out. Having contractions since mid-January, and real (slightly painful) contractions for a week now, it's exhausting!

I baked a cake for baby Tuesday night, wrote "Happy Birthday Charlotte" on it, told her she could have the whole thing if she came out; it didn't work. Scott and I are stuck with a whole confetti cake now! Darn... :)

I cannot cannot cannot wait for her, it's killing me and Scott!

Real Contractions!

2009-03-10T17:25:00.002-05:00

I had some real contractions this morning, timeable at 5 minutes apart for about 3 hours. They have tapered off since then, but we're going for a walk tonight. Hopefully that will kick them back up!!

Don't forget, full moon and big storm tonight, I can't wait! :)

Oh, just a tiny bit more progress today, but the doc said I could be within just a couple of days, so that's exciting!

Still here, still pregnant

2009-03-09T10:01:00.002-05:00

We are 38 weeks today, and I hope I don't make it to 39!

My predictions keep failing (which should teach me a lesson to not make predictions!) but my next one is delivering on Wednesday. Tuesday night is a full moon plus there is a big storm coming in. Change in barometric pressure and full moons are shown to send women into labor, so I'm hoping it'll be a double doozy for me! There is a girl from our childbirth class (Hi, Sara!!) who is scheduled to be induced Tuesday night, so I've joked with her that we'll be there at the same time. I hope she goes before then, but if not, I hope we're there together! I want to meet Anna/Aaron too. :)

We laid low this weekend, I'm still recovering from a head cold (9 days now) and Scott seemed to have a touch of it, so we didn't do too much. Saturday, we went to the mall, walked around a little, then went home again. Scott stayed home and watched the OSU/OU game, and our Cowboys just couldn't get ahead. They did great though against a high-ranked team on their court. We were proud, and I can't wait to see them in the NCAA tourney! I went out with 5 ladies from Sunday school, and we got pedicures and out to dinner at Villa Montez. Yummy! It was nice to get out, and now I have pretty toes to look at during labor!

Sunday, Scott needed more sleep (still not feeling well, and we can't have 2 of us sick!) so we stayed home from church. We went to Walmart, did a little grocery shopping, then came back home and I napped from 12:30-2:30. I'm just not sleeping at night, and when I do, I'm having the strangest dreams. Like last night, we were at the mall (not really ours, though, it was super nice!) eating quesadillas from the movie theater and listening to the Easter Bunny read a book to small children about gun control. I can't explain any of it, but it's making me laugh this morning!

I got to work early, to check in 45 kids for a youth trip. They are off and I'm left here with nothing to do all day. I've got 5 bosses and they are all gone. Today will be a good day to catch up on some internet stuff, I guess.

I'll update on here as soon as I can with baby news if anything happens. Send some good vibes!

No baby yet!

2009-03-05T14:19:00.003-06:00

Welp, my prediction of 3/3/09 was wrong. My new prediction is tomorrow (3/6/09 - because that's just a cool date!!) but I don't know about that! My mom's bday is Saturday, and my mother in law's bday is next Saturday! We shall see!!

I've had a bad head cold this week: scratchy throat, upset stomach, headache, stuffy face, and a cough. The coughing has been the worst part, as about every other cough sets off another contraction, and that's just annoying! My throat isn't too scratchy today, so hopefully I'm getting better.

We went to my 37 week check up Tuesday, and the doctor told us that I'm dialated to 1cm and 90% effaced already! She said that the key to progress for first time pregnancies is the effacement and that 90% at 37 weeks is great!

So we decided to get this baby out last night. We went out for Mexican (spicy food is supposed to help, so say Ye Olde Wives), then power walked (power waddled??) the mall twice, then I came home and sat/bounced/tried not to fall off of the exercise ball for about 2 hours. No luck. A little bit of cramping while walking, but I think it was just my body protesting the exercise!

While we were at the mall, Scott said that this could be the last time we're there without a stroller, and he wanted to commemorate the night (he was very convinced that what we were doing was going to result in a baby last night!) so we found a photo booth while walking. He also wanted Charlotte in a picture, so the second frame is just our stomachs! I love it! As soon as he got home, he put the pictures on the fridge.

I think he's getting a little sentimental about this time of our lives coming to an end and something new starting. We were eating breakfast this morning, and he leaned over and rubbed my belly and said good morning to Charlotte. Pretty soon, we'll be rubbing her little belly!

So, in all, I'm still here, still pregnant, and ready to meet our little girl!!

Nursery Pictures

2009-02-23T21:51:00.007-06:00

(I wrote a new post tonight, just below this one!)

View from doorway, a short white bookcase will go under the window on the right.

This is to the left of the door, closet on the right

Continuing around to the right

Continuing to the right

And a little further to the right

And to the right again, back to the front door

My girl dog, in her favorite spot, the middle of the room!

This is the Christmas ornament I wrote about in my last post. Isn't it pretty??

I'm still pregnant

2009-02-23T17:26:00.003-06:00

Hey, sorry I'm a bad blogger! I go a few weeks where I update all the time, then even longer when I don't!!

I'm still around, still pregnant, but not still on bedrest! Yay! I'm at 36 weeks today. At 34 weeks, I was released back to "normal life" with the fear of a super early baby gone. I have only gone back to work parttime, working 4-6 hours a day and resting in the afternoons.

We had our baby shower at my work and it was really fun! My mom, Scott's family, his sister and our nephew, and even my grandparents were able to come! My dad had to stay home with my sister because she was taking the ACT that day. Two women from my church/coworkers did an amazing job, and I'll try to get some pictures on here soon. I didn't take any with my camera, so I'm waiting on others to send me some! I was still considered to be on bedrest at that point, so I was sitting most of the shower.

My coworkers pitched in and got us our pack and play as well as stuff to make a great diaper cake! Lots of diapers, 2 bibs, 6 spoons, 4 blankets, 3 toys, a stuffed animal, travel sized Johnson's baby stuff, 2 pacifiers... All in the diaper cake!! It was my favorite gift of the day. Oh, the other one was a Baby's First Christmas ornament made by my Mom's friend. It also is the first thing we've gotten with Charlotte's name on it, so special!

This past weekend was Scott's work shower. He's in a small group, so it was us, a single guy and 2 other couples. It was at his bosses house and his kids were around too. We had Mexican for dinner, and cookie cake for dessert. We got our baby carrier, some diapers, a jumper that you hang in the doorway, 2 Swaddle Me wraps, and some hangers. Small shower, but it was nice of them to do anything at all!

I've cashed in my completion coupon for Babies R Us on the stuff I wanted to have before she arrives, then I got it all washed up (and her clothes) so we're ready for her to come now! Oh, and her nursery is done, I need to take some pictures! I'll do that tonight! I'll post a few as well as tonight's weekly picture (36 weeks!).

The doctor said today that Charlotte is head down, like she has been the whole time, butt straight up, and she's facing my spine. It's made for an uncomfortable day with her back bone facing straight forward, every movement just makes her stick straight out!

We are just hanging around the house for a while. We don't have any plans for the next few weeks, even though everyone keeps telling us to go on a trip or plan some special thing for just the two of us while we can. Honestly, doing too much leaves me with lots of contractions, tired, and achy, and really, we enjoy being at home together. Tonight we grilled steaks and have just relaxed, filling out the baby book and watching tv. That's the kind of stuff we like to do! We are both so excited that Charlotte really could come any day now! My prediction: 3/3/09. Guess we'll see!

Update

2009-01-26T16:07:00.002-06:00

My last post was on Sunday. I ended up back in L&D on Monday, but as soon as I got hooked up to the monitors, the contractions stopped. I felt dumb, but the nurse was extremely nice and told me that I'm always doing the right thing by coming in if I'm afraid that something is wrong.

I went back to my doctor on Thursday and she reran the fetal fibronectin test and it came back negative again, which gets me to 33w3d (32w today). I am not working this week or next week. If my doctor thinks I'm good to go back to normal activity, I will try to go back to work the week after that. It would be the start of my 34th week which is a great milestone for the baby. 37w is considered full term and that is the ultimate goal. March 2 is 37 weeks, so I've told Charlotte that anytime in March is good with me! If I do end up going back to work before she comes, I will start at parttime, probably 4 hours/day, and see how that goes.

This weekend, my family came and the 5 of us cooked a ton on Saturday! I tried to mostly sit down and watch, or cut veggies or whatever, but I know I was up more than I was comfortable with. We cooked full sized meals, then froze them in 2-person portions. We counted about 24 meals for the two of us in our freezer now! Sunday I was exhausted. Scott and I went to church for a whole hour, and that was all I could take. By the time I got back home, I'd had 6 contractions in an hour, so I knew I needed to lie down again after that..

I cannot share more now, but Scott and I are experiencing a personal stress that neither of us need in our lives at this point. (Don't worry, we're good! Still in love, still going strong!) Last week was rough with this new stress and me being on bedrest, so it resulted in us getting snappy with each other. This week is off to a better start! We would ask for prayers for this stress, that we would be at peace with any outcome.

I started an art project last week that will go in Charlotte's room. I'm going to try to finish it up tomorrow or Wednesday then I will post pictures. I'm so proud of how they look right now, I hope they look great once they're done!

For now, the dogs and I hang out on the couch most of the day. Scott comes home for lunch every day and it's a great break for me. I'm afraid of getting depressed while sitting home all day alone, so I really hope that things continue to improve so I can go back to work in a couple of weeks. I don't really have anything else to say, my life is pretty boring right now.

Thank you all for your kind comments on my last post. As far as what you can do for us, just praying would be great. God has Scott, Charlotte and me in his hands, it's hard to remember that sometimes. Thanks for your friendships!

Bedrest, etc.

2009-01-18T18:24:00.002-06:00

11 days ago, my Braxton Hicks contractions went from 1 or 2 per day to about 40 on that day. I got put on bedrest for 3 days and just told to take it easy after that. I went back to work last week, made it 36 hours for the week. I had to leave early one day after having lots of contractions one afternoon and a doctor appointment another day.

Yesterday morning, I had a few (5 in 4 hours) so I decided to go to Albertson's for a while. We were out about an hour, and I had to come home and rest after that. It felt like I'd had one big contraction during that time, so I knew I needed to lie down. I behaved after that and everything was fine.

This morning, I got up and had 5 in an hour, which is when my doc said I need to go to the hospital to be monitored. I layed back down and they went away, so I tried not to work about it. I got up to take a shower so we could go to church. After I got out of my shower, I had 5 in 48 minutes, so instead of church we went to the hospital. I got hooked up to the monitor and answered about 328,384,780 questions. The nurse left for a while and Scott and I just chatted in our triage room for a while. She came back in and said Ok, we're going to put an IV in, pump in a liter of fluid, then give you some sedation. Have you ever had Demerol and phenergen?

It was at this point, I freaked out a little. I had being sedated (just plain scares me!), so I asked what was going on. She said that I was having "timable" contractions. Really having no choice, I said ok. She told Scott to go to Admissions to take care of some paperwork and insurance stuff. When he left, I called my mom. The nurse, Sharon, was really nice. Brought me a wet washcloth because I had cried a little, then she got me hooked up to the IV. After that ran a little while, she came in with the sedatives and put those in the line too. After about half of that, I was feeling a little loopy. Scott came back and I floated while we talked. They slowed down, so we were allowed to go home with intructions of strict bedrest today.

Fortunately, I don't have work tomorrow, so I'll be able to take it easy again. My doc was on call, and I was afraid that she was going to put me on full bedrest, so I was glad she didn't. If I get back up to 5 or more an hour, I'm supposed to go back to get monitored again.

It was pretty scary once she nurse told me that they were timeable. When she was administering the sedatives, I asked how close together they were, and she told me they had been running 5 minutes apart. I couldn't believe it, I must not have been feeling some of them!

That's my update. My hips hurt from lying on my sides for so long, but if it's what's best for baby Charlotte, that's what I'll do.

Insomnia

2008-12-26T05:56:00.002-06:00

No, not the movie, the reality.

Scott and I turned our light out at 12:30am. I woke up the first time about 3. I drifted back off again until 4:30. I got out of bed at 5:22. I've been reading blogs and sale ads since then. Not sleeping is one of the worst side effects of fibromyalgia for me and the reason I've taken prescription sleep aid for 3.5 years. Once we found out we were pregnant, I stopped them cold turkey. For a while I slept well, because my body was so tired! Now though (and the last 3 months) I'm awake every night. My doc says I can take Tylenol PM 2-3 times per week (it's safe every night, but my body will adjust to it) so I do. Usually that helps me, but night before last, I couldn't even tell that I'd taken anything. Bummer. (Sorry that I use parentheses a lot, it's how my mind works.)

Scott's parents are in our guest room, and his sister and her family are in our back room. I'm in the living room. If none of them were there, I'd probably also have two dogs curled up at my feet, but I was afraid they (Zoe!) would get to excited and try to find the rest of the family! When closed doors are involved, she prefers to sit outside of them and cry. I didn't think that would be the family's preference, so they are still in the bedroom wtih Scott!

Christmas was great! I had been planning for last night's dinner since the start of November. That's when I made my menu and started my shopping, buying whatever was on sale that would still be good at Christmas or could freeze. I was really nervous about this meal quite frankly. Scott's mom would be here (you know, a son and his mom that cooks everything and cooks it well!) and I was nervous that something, or everything, would go wrong and I would end up on my bed sobbing. Well, maybe pride goeth before a fall, but everything turned out great! My menu: brown sugar glazed ham, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, deviled eggs, green pea salad, cherry salad, and Hawaiian rolls! Everything came out hot and at the same time, which is more than I can say for a normal lunch some days. This morning's casserole might burn and I might end up on the bed sobbing, but for now, I will revel in the success of last night's meal. Oh, did I mention that I made it all? From scratch? (Well, except for the rolls, because really, nothing is as yummy as Hawaiian rolls!)

Scott might have hated that notebook I started writing in in early November, but he liked the dinner! I'm such a planner, but this proves that it worked! (I lost the notebook in our pit of a house a few times, sending me to tears and him to running around the house until the lost prize was found again!)

So many of you out in the blogosphere (not that many read this page, but I read lots of others!) I was thinking about you today/yesterday. To the ones that lost a child this year, to the ones that gained a child, to the one who has lost both parents at a young age but is such a strong woman, to the parents/grandparents whom I try to learn from, to the many many others that have influenced me with a simple post, thank you for what you do. Thank you for living your life (and blogging about it!), for sharing your lessons, and for just being awesome. God bless you all!

I got tagged!!! Merry Christmas!!!!

2008-12-25T09:59:00.009-06:00

The lovely Melissa has tagged me! I've never been tagged before, so I'm really excited! Thanks!

Ok, I'm supposed to go to my 6th picture folder, post the 6th picture, then tell the story behind it. I happen to LOVE this picture, so I'm glad this is the 6th one!

This is my nephew, I. This is his first Christmas as a part of our family. He is 14 months old, and was adopted by Scott's sister when he was 10 months old. He is such a happy addition to our family!

Ok, this picture was taken about 20 minutes after I met him. They had only been home 4 days or so before we were able to get to their house. He was kind of cranky that weekend, but who wouldn't be after being taken from their home, placed with people who spoke a funny language, and flown halfway around the world! You can tell from this picture that he really studies people, faces, and whatever is going on! I just love this little guy! They will be arriving at our house this afternoon to celebrate Christmas, so we'll get to watch him open presents later! Yay!

Scott's parents arrived yesterday night, we went to dinner, then to a Christmas Eve service at our church. Today we got up, had pancakes, and now we're just kind of sitting around. I don't know what today will bring!

It's weird not being with "my" family for this day. I know that Scott's family is mine also, but you know what I mean. These aren't the folks I have memories with, traditions with, etc. My parents took my sister to NYC for Christmas as her graduation trip. Their travel day is a whole post in itself, I'll save that for another time!

I hope that you are with people you love today. I hope that you think about the Son that was sent for us, as a tiny baby laid in a manger. Scott and I played Mary and Joseph at a children's event at our church, and I keep thinking back to that. Here we are, expecting a baby, sitting on hay, laying a "baby" in the manger, and feeling the fear and excitement of being parents of our own soon! I wish I had the faith and trust that Mary and Joseph had!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!! (Ok, it's only 10am, but maybe you won't read this until night time!!)

So much to do...

2008-12-08T07:33:00.006-06:00

Edit #1: 12/11
Edit #2: 12/25

My list of things to do by Dec. 24th (the day Scott's parents arrive) just keeps growing and growing! Scott is in Minnesota until Thursday, so I have very lofty goals of getting things done before then! I will update this list as things get worked on, so you can be really excited for me! Doesn't that sound like fun?

~~Set up Christmas tree~~ It's up but not decorated yet, I'm waiting for Scott to be home to do it with me!
~~Put together tall baby dresser~~ Finished by Scott before he left
~~Put together long baby dresser~~ Also finished by Scott before he left, but I helped him move it into the baby's room!
~~Paint baby's room~~ Completed the weekend before Tgiving, then touched up last week
~~Set up day bed~~ Yay, a two day project, done!
~~Set up crib~~
~~Clean up front room - working on it...~~
Find room divider?
Straighten up garage
~~Hang Christmas lights~~
~~Write Christmas cards~~ (I'm about halfway done...)
~~Mail Christmas cards~~ (I've bought the stamps!)
Change out hooks and handles on shutters
~~Change sheets in front room~~
Install CO detecter and ~~fire alarm~~
~~Order my sister's bday present~~

Wish me luck!

Blogging while I cook!!

2008-12-01T18:33:00.002-06:00

(to the tune of "Whistle While You Work")

Welp, we made it back from Thanksgiving in one piece. Traffic was a nightmare (stupid drivers going way to fast and too close to others!), and we were grateful to get home.

Tonight for dinner, we're having Taco Bake. Layers of tortillas, taco meat, cheese, and refried beans all baked in the oven. Between each step, I'll write a little here, so this will probably just be a hodge podge post. I can do that, this is my blog. :) Oh, while it's baking, I'm also going to cook some tator tots, because that's what Charlotte wants.

Here are some thoughts from today:
~What does it mean when your husband, upon seeing you after work and after taking your heavy coat off, says "woah!" because you suddenly look bigger than when you left for work? We always take my weekly picture on Monday, so it was that time tonight when we got home. Yeah, made me feel really good. This was after I told him I was feeling big and uncomfortable today! I guess I was bigger!
~Walmart at 5pm is always bad.
~I picked up our crib mattress today, that was exciting!
~Scott is finishing the baby's room (painting) right now, then we'll move furniture in there soon.
~Work was long and boring today. I don't think it helped that my back is really tired/sore. Lots of riding in the car+being pregnant+not sleeping well=24/7 achy back.
~Sorry this is a boring post.
~I got my first comment from a stranger today about being pregnant, that was fun!
~I wish that family lived closer sometimes. Not that I'd be over there all the time, it would be nice to have that option though.
~I just put my tator tots in, and we're very excited about that!
~I will post pics whenever I get them off my camera. Maybe tonight?
~Did you catch that I told you my baby girl's name earlier in this post?? Middle name: Elizabeth.

That is it for now. I'm going to go wash dishes then sort mail from the 5 days we were gone!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T22:22:00.002-06:00

Wow, what a different Thanksgiving this has been! We travelled (took 9.5 hours) yesterday, as did my aunt and grandparents from TX to my parents' house in OK. We get here and find that Mom's oven decided to quit on Tuesday! No problem, they also have a convection oven, so it would take a little prior planning but we could still make everything that we wanted to.

Wait... the convection oven quit last night at 9:45!! As we were cooking the turkey!! So Mom and Dad have a very generous friend who offered to cook it for us, so they took it to her house at 9:45 and went back to get it about 11:45 or midnight. Once it cooled, they were able to debone it to put it in the fridge. They went to bed about 1:30am!

Then today, we had to figure out what could be done in the crockpot. Our solutions: green bean casserole and the dressing. Both turned out well, and everything else was cooked in the microwave. For once, Mom had gotten rolls that just had to be heated, not actually cooked, so that wasn't a problem either!

We have lots of desserts and lots of snacky foods, so we've eaten way too much today. Baby girl (name to be announced soon!) really liked all the food, she's been moving lots since about noon today!

Tonight, after my grandparents went to their hotel (and my sister went to bed - she's not feeling too well) the rest of us played Trivial Pursuit, girls v. boys. I helped my team to victory with 3 of the 6 pie pieces! That never happens, so it was really exciting.

We've been wrangling dogs all day, 3 little ones and one big one. They're really fun to have around and have been the topics of many conversations. I love my pups!

I hope that the rest of you have enjoyed your holiday! So much to give thanks for this year!

Nursery Pictures!!

2008-11-20T21:14:00.002-06:00

This is the start of our baby's room! It began with horrible wallpaper of tiny pink roses. We started to take it down easily, so we were psyched. Turns out, you shouldn't start in the closet; they don't use much glue in there! They do, however, use lots of glue in the real room! So it shredded like crazy! We had to get a perferator tool and used 3.5 bottles of glue remover! Huge mess, lots of time, and Scott did most of it. This was the first patch we tried:

Daddy is working really hard, but he poses because Mommy said to.
This is the color we're changing to, it's called Dancing Green, by Sherwin Williams.

This is our jail bird at the door to the baby's room. We didn't want to close the door so it would stay ventilated, so we put up the baby gate. She cried occasionally, and she was barking during this picture!

Mommy made Zoe try out our first big baby gift! She didn't like it until we put the bone cookie on the tray!

Those room pictures really didn't do our struggle justice, it was a pain!!

Bump Pictures!

2008-11-20T20:50:00.007-06:00

21 weeks

Ignore the giant butt I have here... It's the pants, I swear!!

22 weeks

See, not a huge butt here... right?

My new haircut!!

We've picked a name!

2008-11-20T10:13:00.000-06:00

But we're not telling for now! :)

Name that baby!!

2008-11-13T13:07:00.002-06:00

Scott and I are down to 3 names now (from 16 that we started with), who knows when we'll pick one! We really love all three and can't pick yet! What do you think?

Madelyn (Claire)
Charlotte (Elizabeth or Claire)
Sadie (Elizabeth)

I keep getting mixed answers!

In other baby news, we ended up taking down the wall paper in the baby's room. We thought it was going to come off nicely (the parts in the closet did!!) but it decided to shred instead. So we bought this thing that you roll over it that perforates the paper, then we spray a gel over it that (I guess?) disolves the wall paper glue. Anyways, it's a big huge mess, Scott won't let me do it because he is concerned about me not getting enough oxygen, so am I. He's about done though. Our goal is to get it primed and possibly painted by the end of the weekend. I've been taking pictures of the progress, so I need to get them loaded up to the computer!

The weather turned cold and rainy for a few days, and my body seems to be taking it pretty hard. My knees, hips, and back all hurt, as well as the muscles in between. I'm walking pretty stiffly, and I'm having a hard time getting up from sitting or bending over at all. I'm afraid this is what it's going to be like through the winter. Thank goodness we live where there are mild winters!

Funny Story

2008-11-03T17:06:00.003-06:00

This weekend, we had a garage sale. We had an old couch, a desk, a desk chair, a washer and dryer set and a couple of living room tables plus lots of random items and clothes, and we decided that we really wanted to get rid of it all! So we've been planning it for a while, ran an ad in the newspaper. Friday afternoon, we had the garage door open and we were working on pricing and arranging all the stuff. A neighbor lady came by. I can't remember her name though. She's originally from Germany and her husband is into gardening and is in a gardening club. He gave us a bunch of flowers for our front yard this summer. Anyways, that's all I know. So Germany comes by and says, I saw your great ad in the paper! I've got just a few items that I've been wanting to get rid of, would you mind if I brought them over to sell in your garage sale? Sure, we say, no problem! Just price them and bring them by! So we finish up and go inside about 6pm, but we still haven't seen her again. I just figured that she'll come back over at 7am when we open again. Well, we didn't see her again, so I looked down the street and she's got her own garage sale going on!! Complete with signs and everything!! I was so mad!! It was $25 to run the ad in the paper and she's getting all of our foot traffic!!! Scott just laughed at me, but I was upset. She had people constantly in her driveway and we'd have no one!! Also, we saw at least one person use our driveway to turn around in to go back to her house!!

So I'm checking the mail when I got home today, and this guy walks up and asks how our garage sale went. We'd not met, but it turns out that he lives on the other side of Germany. Nice guy. I told him that we sold our big stuff, and that was the point of the sale so it was successful. He asked how I liked our neighbor lady and her garage sale too. I said it was weird since she didn't have one planned originally!! He laughed and said that her and a few other old ladies on the street wait until someone else on the street is having one then they have one too!! I couldn't believe it! I thanked him for telling me that, then I didn't feel so bad. It's not just me, she does it to everyone! Now I can laugh but not on Saturday!

The sale was fine though, we moved our big items and made a little extra cash. That's good since we just picked up our baby furniture! Our bedding should arrive today or tomorrow, then we'll pick paint colors and get started on the nursery. Green walls, pink and green bedding, cherry furniture. I'll post pics as we get going!

It's a ...

2008-10-30T13:45:00.002-05:00

GIRL!

Scott and I are beyond thrilled that our baby girl is healthy and right on schedule! She's measuring right where she should be and it was amazing getting to see her this morning! We have a cd with pictures, but I'm not sure how to get them off yet. Once we get that figured out, you'll get to meet our daughter!

Our daughter... wow...

Pictures!

2008-10-28T21:32:00.004-05:00

Baby Bump at 16 weeks

Baby Bump at 17 weeks

Baby Bump at 18 weeks

Baby Bump at 19 weeks

Yay! 19 Weeks!!

funny story

2008-10-28T13:46:00.000-05:00

I couldn't find that thing that holds my pants upthis morning (bella band), so I came to work intending to put a rubber band on my pants (through the button hole) to keep them up. Well, my pants have 2 buttons, so that required 2 rubber bands. And the bigger, stretchier ones didn't work, they let my pants gap too much. So I put on 2 little, tight rubber bands. It's worked fine, and I didn't think a thing more about it.

I actually planned lunch away from work today with 2 coworkers. When I got up to go to lunch, I realized that I really need to go to the bathroom first, so I ran down the hall. I got into the stall and looked down to rediscover those rubber bands I'd forgotten about! Not good timing, I really had to go! Fortunately, no one else was in there, because I started dancing around in my haste to get the bands off! I'm going to have to give myself more time next time!! (Or find my bella band!!)

oh yeah

2008-10-28T13:10:00.000-05:00

And we ordered our baby furniture this weekend too! JCPenney's had baby furniture 15-40% off, so we took advantage of that and the free shipping by shipping it to our local store!

2 more days!

Great Weekend!

2008-10-27T09:37:00.002-05:00

Last week was far from great, so this weekend was especially nice. I wrote last week about the fun weekend we had with family in Stillwater. I left out the part about my nephew throwing up for 3 hours Saturday night. We all thought that his dinner just didn't agree with him, so we all cuddled on him and helped clean up his mess. Then Monday afternoon, his mom came down with the stomach virus, then Tuesday at midnight, my inlaws both had it, and it shot us both out of bed at 3am. From 3-5am we were rushing for the bathroom, sometimes at the same time. Scott and I both took off Tuesday and I stayed home Wednesday, Scott went in after lunchtime. That virus hung around until Friday or so, it was so draining! My aunt was supposed to come and stay with us Friday night, but I called and cancelled her earlier in the week. I'm glad I did, our house was a disaster! We spent the better part of Friday afternoon/evening and Saturday until 2:30 (Go Cowboys!) cleaning, organizing (nesting??) and just generally getting stuff done.

I don't what the reason behind my energy was. Here are some options.
1. First weekend at home where I wasn't sick with All Day Sickness since JULY!!
2. Rebound energy from the ADS (see above) and the stomach virus
3. Second trimester energy??

Whatever the cause, I'm glad it was here. When we moved into our house, we just threw stuff where it seemed convienent, and now that we know our house a little better, I got to organize some stuff. Mostly stuff in the laundry room. We have these great cabinets (that I cannot even begin to reach!) that were just sitting there, empty. I've fixed that problem! I think my new "system" will be great! :)

Saturday night, we had a few of my coworkers over for a Pumpkin Carving Party! I took some pictures, so I will post those tonight once they are uploaded to my computer. It was a lot of fun! I got to do a little cooking for it (I made Mummies (pigs in a blanket), cheese dip, punch, set out chips, and lots of candies!) with very little clean up which is always great!

Scott and I led the 4th grade Sunday School class yesterday morning as subs. We'd been warned about this class before, but it wasn't so bad. It was the Drama unit, so they kids got to get up and move around a little. I thought they followed directions really well. There were only 10 (3 girls, 7 boys) but I'd been warned that there could have been up to 17! All in all, I was pretty proud of the two of us, having never had to have a group of kids organized together!

The rest of our Sunday was good too. We went to lunch after work, then we went and voted. 6,100 people in our county voted this weekend! Once we got home, it was mid afternoon, and I was surprisingly still awake! I didn't feel the need for a nap, so I got some stuff done for our garage sale this weekend. We've got some big items (couch, washer/dryer, tables) and lots of little things, so I didn't want to wait until Friday to start! I swept out our garage and cleaned off some shelves to set stuff on. I began pricing a few things, but mostly just got things organized in my mind. We'll be ready to go Saturday morning at 7!

Today is 19 weeks exactly. That means that I'll be taking my "19 week" picture tonight! Once that's done, I'll upload it along with my pumpkin party pictures, and I'll try to get those posted on here!

Wows: energy this weekend, finally feeling better, time spent with friends, time spent with Scott this weekend
Pows: a friend couldn't come Saturday night because she was and still is sick

2008-10-20T14:28:00.002-05:00

Today is Oct. 20th. That means that there are only 10 days left until we find out if we're having a boy or a girl! I'm so excited! Apparently it's in my subconscious too, because I've been dreaming about it. And not good dreams. I guess I've been reading too much medical stuff because my last nightmare was really sad and scary.

So I'm going to Barnes and Noble when I get off work to buy Belly Laughs and A Girlfriend's Guide to Pregnancy. Both are supposed to be fun and really make fun of the strange things that happen during pregnancy. I'm ready for a few laughs and not so much medical stuff! My dreams need to lighten up!

Wows: 10 more days!
Pows: 10 more days :(

Home for a while

2008-10-19T09:26:00.003-05:00

Scott and I (and sometimes the pups) have been traveling so much lately. Three weekends in a row we've driven 6 hours on Friday and 6 hours on Sunday. This was the last of our fall travels until Thanksgiving, and we're so excited about that!

I'm sitting in Scott's parent's living room this morning. We're going to get on the road in about 30 minutes, drive our 6 hours, then be home for something like 5 weekends! It will be great!

We came to Stillwater this weekend to meet up with Scott's sister, K, and her baby, I, to celebrate his first birthday. They already did the traditional Korean Tol birthday. It's really interesting. They put out a platter with different items and let him pick 1 or 2 to see what his future holds: red thread (long life), money (wealth), book (scholar), mask (it was keychain sized - for warrior) and they did something American, a football (athlete). His first item was a book, then he threw it on the ground, so they let him grab something else and he grabbed the money. So Korean tradition tells us that he will be a wealthy scholar! I told K that it must mean that he will take care of his parents in their old age!

That's about all I've got for now. Let's see, wows and pows of the weekend:
Wows: hanging out with Scott's family, snuggling with baby I, seeing Scott playing dad with baby I, watching the OSU Cowboys go 7-0 for the season so far!
Pows: teaching my pups to leave the baby alone (Zoe just wants to be bffs and kept licking him, and Colby didn't like when I was holding Isaac, growling!), riding 6 hours on Friday, (about to ride 6 hours soon!), going back to work on Monday.

I wish the weekends were 5 days long, and the work weeks were only 2!

Writer's Workshop

2008-10-16T11:13:00.002-05:00

Mama's Losing It hosts a Writer's Workshop on Thursdays. I've been reading for a while, and I've decided to challenge myself to write it this week. It's a lot like journaling to me, and I've never been comfortable with that, so I'm not too sure what will come out of this! The prompt choices this week are:

1.) Recall a time when you did something to get noticed. Write about it.
2.) Begin with “I wish someone told me…”
3.) If you could rearrange three things about your life what would they be?
4.) What do you love to create?

I'm going to choose #2.

I wish someone told me that life wasn't easy. Wait, people did. Maybe I wish I had more specifics about what would not be easy or maybe that I had just believed "them."

"They" said that dating was hard. It wasn't, at first. Dating was easy! Get asked out, go to dinner, see a movie, go home. Then feelings get involved. That's where dating starts to become hard. Once feelings get invovled, good or bad, dating is hard!
"They" said college would be hard. It wasn't, at first, either! Go to class, study, do your work, take the tests, get good grades. Wait, doing all of that doesn't automatically lead to good grades?? What? You can study your tail off and squeak by on a test with a C!! That's where college gets hard! Then trying to figure out how to balance dating and college, that's hard too.
"They" said that marriage would be hard. Nope, piece of cake! (Getting to the wedding day, challenging, the actually being married part, easy!) Oh, Scott is still in college, I'm working a real job, and a fairy doesn't come at night to give us extra money, do the dishes, do the laundry, cook, clean or take out the trash?? Oooh, that's where it's hard!
"They" said that pregnancy would be hard, especially for me. At first, it was only hard to not shout our news from my rooftop! Then it was hard to keep my breakfast, lunch, and dinner in my stomach. Now it is hard waiting til the next ultrasound (2 weeks!!!). Then it will be hard to pick a name. Then it will be hard being pregnant and waiting! So far, my fibromyalgia hasn't flared up, and I pray that it doesn't. If it does, that will make things harder for sure.
"They" say that having kids is hard.
"They" say that raising kids is hard.

Something "they" don't tell you is to avoid all of these things. No one tells you that any of these items is so hard to never do them. That means that all of these hard things must be worth it! Dating? Yes
College? Yes
Marriage? Definitely yes!
Pregnancy? While I'm not done yet, I expect this to be a yes too!
Having and raising kids? People have done it as far back as Adam and Eve, so I'm going to go with a yes there too.

See, I didn't know where this was going, but I actually like the outcome. This tells me that just because something is hard doesn't mean it shouldn't be done! I'm glad I did this writing today, thanks, Mama Kat!!

Whew!

2008-10-15T13:58:00.002-05:00

Life has been kind of crazy lately! We're 17 weeks along and I'm finally not feeling sick all the time! That is such a blessing. I'm able to be around people eating meat now! I will try to remember to post my latest belly pictures. We've taken them every Monday since week 12. I can tell a difference in the way my pants fit, but nothing is really visible yet.

Last weekend was my Jen's baby shower! It was a lot of fun, but the best part was just hanging out with her and her hubby at her grandparent's house the nights before and after. We went from living together for our senior year of college, to seeing each other about once a year since then; it's no fun! She is expecting Hannah Brooke mid-January, and I can't wait to meet her!

Two of my coworkers have a kindergartner. Every day they ask her what her Wows and Pows of the school day were, Wows being what was the best part of the day, Pows being something disappointing or bad about the day. I've realized that I've been giving myself Wows and Pows daily for a while too without really thinking about it! I'm going to try to put that on my posts here too. What were your Wows and Pows of today?

10/15:
Wows: These yummy gummy life savers I'm enjoying right now; the grace that God made evident during our Wednesday meditation at work; my husband (away on business) called before he left his hotel for the day just to say hey; that my sick dog (Zoe) of a few days ago is home and feeling better; that my BCF (Best Canadian Friend) might be calling me tonight
Pows: That little Zoe has to take medication for the next 6 days; that Scott will not be home until tomorrow night; that someone ate the end of the cherry tomatoes out of the work fridge that I was so looking forward to; that today is National Stillbirth and Childloss Day

Tonight I will enjoy being at home with my pups, enjoying a quiet house, and looking forward to my husband being home soon. I have a coworker who is a year older than me. She and her husband have been married 3 years, but he has been in Afghanistan for the last 15 months for work. I don't know who he works for, but I would hate my husband to be away for that long, and especially to there. I just couldn't handle it. Scott has been gone since Monday, and that's long enough for me!

Happy Wednesday!

15 weeks!

2008-09-30T15:01:00.001-05:00

In my 15 week update email about Purple's development, I found out that s/he can hear me! Actually has been able to for a while, but is just now recognizing what s/he's hearing! The email encourages you to talk, sing, read to your baby starting now.

I told Scott that Purple can hear us now, and he started talking to my stomach. It was so cute, I loved it!

Also, he thinks we're having a girl, based on my morning sickness. We shall see, 4 weeks and 2 days from now!

Time to Update!

2008-09-25T13:37:00.002-05:00

Hey! Sorry it's been so long! I've been meaning to write a post for a while, but I only remembered when I was already busy! Ok, here goes:

Scott's sister and her hubby have been home 4 weeks with their baby. He began really sleeping though the night after about 2 weeks. He's starting to eat more foods now. She says he likes carrots, I think!
We are 14 weeks pregnant this week. We're due March 23rd. We've had one ultrasound so far (actually looking for a hernia!) and that was the coolest thing. Baby was moving, waving his/her hands and feet around, the heartbeat was in the 150s. We got 11 pictures and we've looked at them lots! I was pretty sick weeks 6-13, but that seems to be improving. I haven't gotten sick since last week. For those not pregnant yet, "morning" sickness is a total misnomer; it lasts all day!!
A friend that I "met" online almost 2 years ago is going through something so heartbreaking. It's not my story to tell, but please pray for this family and the challenging days ahead.
Hurricane Ike came through about 2 weeks ago. We were told to expect widespread power outages, but we were lucky and didn't have any problems with that. It took us about 1.5 hours to clean up our yard the next day, but nothing major there either.
Zoe has decided to dig again. She got out of the yard 4 times in 4 days a few weekends ago! 3 of those times, she dug out of our yard, landing herself in someone else's yard! Scott had to coax her back through! So now we've got to tie her up in the back yard. She's on a 30 yard run, so she can cover almost the whole yard, just not the fence lines!!

I know that I had other things I was going to write about, but I don't remember what it was. Scott was home sick yesterday, and today I'm the one laying on the couch. I've had a headache all day. I'm hoping it goes away. Tonight is Grey's Anatomy! Yay!! I'm so excited!

Growing, Growing, Gone!

2008-08-21T10:53:00.000-05:00

SIL and her hubby met their baby yesterday for the first time! I cried when I read her email. She held Isaac a bit, then passed him to his Daddy, and eventually he fell asleep in Daddy's arms. I had prayed that their first meeting would be a good one, and God is so good! They were not supposed to have him until Monday, then fly out Monday night at 8:50pm, but the agency said that they will probably be able to have him Saturday or Sunday instead! Yay!!

Also, I'm pregnant!

TRAVEL CALL!!!

2008-08-12T15:42:00.001-05:00

My SIL and her hubby got their travel call!! She emailed me to ask if we could have Saturday's shower at another date, because they are probably flying to Korea on Thursday! Please keep them in your prayers for:

1. Safe travel, to a country they've never been to, with a language they don't speak
2. A happy meeting with their forever baby for the very first time
3. A relatively easy travel back. Baby I will be on an 11 or 12 hour difference, so his timing will be completely off for a while. That travel day back to the US will be strange and scary for Baby I, K, and T.

Scott and I are so excited for them! This has been a long time coming, and it's finally here!

So sleepy!

2008-07-17T15:29:00.004-05:00

My fibromyalgia has decided to really kick up with regards to my sleep lately. Or my not-going-to-sleep-ever-again lately. It's been probably 2 or 3 months since I slept the whole night through. At first, months ago, I'd wake up, look at the clock like I always do, then I'd roll over and go back to sleep. That has progressed to waking up every hour, staying awake a while, and finally drifting off at 6 before the alarm goes off oat 6:30.

This is true for the weekends too, which really stinks.

Last night, I woke up about 2:30, and I was really hot (another problem plaguing me lately), so I turned the fan up a speed which helped immediately. I thought, great! That was an easy fix. At 3:15, I got out of bed, went to the living room, and proceded to watch 3 episodes of Fresh Prince. It was that or infomercials, but I didn't feel like listening about the chop and scoop anymore.

Colby came out with me, really confused why I was up at 3am. He decided that it would be a great time for him to go outside, so I waited for him to come back in. Then he wanted to walk around, clicking his nails on the ground. That would not help me go back to sleep, so I put a blanket on the floor by the couch and he slept there the rest of the night. I slept with the tv on when I finally fell back asleep.

I emailed my boss at 3:45, told him I wouldn't be coming in until "mid-day;" I like that term because it didn't nail me down to a time! After Scott left for work, I slept 7:45-9:15, then dozed off and on til 10. I woke up and watched Gilmore Girls while eating a peanut butter and honey sandwich. It was a good feel-good food for this morning.

I stayed home until lunchtime to have lunch with Scott, then I finally came in to work. I could have taken the whole day off and not fallen behind on anything at work, but I like to get paid too.
I told Scott that I'm going to be so physically active tonight, it's going to be crazy. I'm going to go for a walk with the pups when I get home, then I'm going to mow the lawn, lift some weights, walk again. Whatever it takes to not sit around before bedtime. I need to exhaust myself even more and see if that helps. My body is so exhauted already, I just don't understand why I'm not sleeping. When I wake up, my mind is wide awake, but my body isn't! Also, all this lack of sleep is making my hips hurt a lot. I can't sit without hurting right now!

Ah, the joys of fibromyalgia. Most of the time, I can handle it alright. Today is not one of those times.

A rodeo, a long drive, and a wedding; oh my!

2008-07-13T21:24:00.003-05:00

Friday night, Scott and I went to a rodeo! It actually ended up being more fun than we thought it would! We saw calf roping, barrel racing, bull riding, and calf wrestling! I thought that there would be a lot of drinking around, but they didn't even sell beer which was great. There was a family with 5 kids in front of us, and when they first sat down, I was worried that we wouldn't enjoy sitting by them, but it was really quite the opposite. They were so well behaved, enjoyed their cotton candy, and really liked each other's company! I think their dad must have been a rodeo guy sometime; he looked like one and dressed like one!

Saturday, we got to sleep in a little, then headed out to Norman, OK for a friend's wedding. It's our third and final wedding of the summer. It took about 5 hours, but it was really a fabulous wedding. I didn't really know any other guests except for a few that were Scott's classmates. When they all got back together, they talked about their current jobs. They're all engineers, so it was pretty boring! One of them, a bridesmaid, is the only one I knew, so during the reception, we chatted when we could. It was nice to see her and her husband since we weren't able to make it to their wedding last year.

We stayed at a nice hotel, slept in a little this morning, then really took our time getting back home. We went to Cracker Barrel in Norman on our way out of town; it was so yummy! Then we hit the road until we stopped for a little outlet mall shopping. Some books, a tie, and a few kitchen odds and ends later, we got back on the road and drove back to Tyler.

Overall, this was a great weekend and a great change of pace from a "regular" weekend. We were glad to get back home and see the pups! Some friends watched them, and said they did well, so we were happy to hear that! I hope you all had a fabulous weekend too!

Rodeo?

2008-07-11T16:01:00.003-05:00

Ok, now that we live in Tx, I decided that we needed to do something totally Texan! I heard about a rodeo on the radio yesterday, so I bought tickets today! It's tonight at 8, with a concert by Chris Cagle after the rodeo is over. I will try to take pictures of us there, because it should be a hoot, but I think my camera is on the fritz. Boo. It really will be funny tonight... :)

4th of July Weekend

2008-07-11T15:52:00.003-05:00

Scott and I had a great holiday weekend! Scott's sister, K, and her husband, T, came to visit! They hadn't seen our house before and had only been here to visit one other time, so it was really exciting. Usually T has to be back at their church to lead the youth Sunday school, but he took a week off so they got to stay! We went to see fireworks Friday night, the zoo and Hancock on Saturday. They even came to our church on Sunday and got to see me sing in the priase band.

They are such great people, great as family members, and great as a couple. It's always great to see them, but it's just different when it's the 4 of us. I wish we could do it more often. But that's all about to change! K and T are adopting a baby boy from Korea at the end of the summer! This adoption has so been a God thing. From the timing, to the funding, to the timing again. People who don't believe in God need to hear stories like this adoption (really can't share details, as they are not mine to share!), feel the goose bumps of things "just working out" and see that there is something bigger at play. God is so awesome, and I am lucky to have K and T, and soon I, in my life! I love that little guy already! He'll be about 10-11 months when he comes home, so it will be a huge change!

5 Item Meal:

2008-07-02T11:43:00.002-05:00

Thanks, Shannon, for hosting today's Works For Me Wednesday! I am always looking for easy meals, and you can't get much easier than 5 items or less!

Taco Soup:
1 lb. ground beef, cooked and drained
1 packet taco seasoning
1 packet dry ranch seasoning
corn
beans

Put in crockpot and stir it up! Cook on low 4-5 hours, or high 3. This also works on the stovetop. I personally like it better the next day, once the flavors are really blended. This is easy to put on the stove or in the crockpot while you are making tonight's dinner, then enjoy it tomorrow!

This recipe is very flexible. Add what your family likes, leave out what they don't! We like veggies in our soups, so we add 2 cans of corn and 1 can of pinto beans, sometimes two. Also, if you have it on hand, feel free to add green beans or another kind of bean, I bet black beans would be good. Also good with a can of rotel, a little different flavor. Is this cheating? It's more than 5 ingredients if you add all that stuff, but it can be very simple!

To eat, we like it with tortilla chips, a little cheese, and if it seems too spicy, a little sour cream.

Enjoy!

Blood:Water Mission

2008-07-02T09:21:00.003-05:00

Last night I went to a Sara Groves concert with special guest Donald Miller. It was benefitting the Blood:Water Mission, "a grassroots movement founded by the members of the band Jars of Clay to personally and creatively empower African communities to provide clean blood and clean water projects." (From the flyer at my church) It was called the Ride:Well Concert with a group that is riding across America. They left the west coast June 9 and arrived in Tyler, TX yesterday. They are ending in about 3.5 weeks in South Carolina, I think. Sara Groves was really good, and Donald Miller did a great job. They both captured the hearts and checkbooks of Tyler people. The goal was $40,000, which is enough to build 10 wells in Sub Saharan Africa. The total we heard, and they were still counting, was over $72,000! That's 17.5 wells! I was so incredibly surprised, but very excited. That's awesome!! And this morning, I got on facebook and found out that I know one of the riders! There were probably 20 or so, and I know one! I went to high school with him in MS, and I'm not at all surprised that he's participating in the ride. Good luck, Matt W!!

I've been busy lately, and I don't see that slowing down anytime soon! VBS was a few weeks ago at the church, then I got 45 youth off on a mission trip to MS. The next week was our Mission Week for our church. Our church as well as 2 other Methodist churches sponsor Mission Week every summer, and hundreds of people participate across Tyler. I think like 5-6 hundred! I worked with one of the youth projects and learned how to roof a house! I nailed shingles 7a-noon 2 days last week! It's really hot, hard work, but I felt really good when it was all said and done. Those kids are amazing, and I love being around their youth, excitement and (most of the time) attitudes. They are a blessing to my life, and I'm lucky to know them.

This past weekend, Scott and I traveled to Stillwater, OK for a friend's wedding. I was a little worried since I only knew like one other person at the wedding (the groom is Scott's friend), but it was really fun! The bride looked stunning, like she just stepped out of a bridal magazine! And the whole time could be described as casual shabby chic. Really fun weekend overall too. We got to hang out with friends and just sit around, chat, and play the wii on Saturday afternoon.

That's about it for now! Scott's sister and brother in law are coming to visit for the weekend. We're going to go see fireworks on Friday night, but no other plans besides that! It should be fun!!

*Update, He's not a rider, he works for Blood:Water Mission. Still cool!

My Kids

2008-06-20T10:44:00.002-05:00

Let me introduce you to my two children: Colby Jack and Zoe Jean.

This is our family from Thanksgiving 2007. Zoe is the black and white pup on the left, Colby is the reddish one on the right. I was just looking through my pictures on this computer and there aren't very many of Colby! Those are all on the other one! So this post will be mostly filled with Zoe!

This is Colby. He's a hybrid doggie. We've been told he looks like any/all of these: daschund, golden retriever, corgi, chihuhua, and many others. To us, he looks like a long haired weenie dog. Whatever he is, we love him!!

Likes: Playing ball, riding in the car with his head hanging out the window, wrestling with Zoe, chasing his cousin dogs around the yard, chewing bones, playing soccer, food, cheese, snuggling with me, playing with Scott, going for walks, dog classes, putting his ball under the couch or bed then barking at it until we get it out! hot dogs (ironic, right?)

Dislikes: getting in trouble, not being allowed to sleep on our bed, being outside without us, being separated from Zoe, taking medicine, getting his nails trimmed, taking a bath, anyone coming to the door

Full name: Colby Jack H__ Nicknames: CJ, Cheese Puff, Jackster, The Boy, Brother, Weiner Dog, Fatty, Chubby, Chunky Monkey

We got Colby almost 3 months after we got married. He'll be 2 in August (we got him when he was about 4 months old). He is grouchy, loving, protective, silly, and our first child!

This is my Zoe girl, celebrating Easter in her bunny suit! Zoe is also a hybrid dog, with the vet's best guess being the oh so vague, "wire terrier mix." Who knows what that means! We've watched the Terrier parts of dog shows, and she doesn't look like any of them!

Likes: Everything! She is so happy! Food, treats, being held, chasing birds, chasing Colby, chasing bugs or anything else that flies, riding in the car, now with her head out the window like big brother, rawhides, stuffed toys, sour cream, dancing on her back paws, watching tv, digging

Dislikes: being separated from Colby, people sneaking up on her, anyone yelling or being too loud, having toys taken away

This picture is from the first night we got her. Scott was playing video games and she just zonked out in my lap!

Full Name: Zoe (said like Zo-E) Jean H__ Nicknames: LBG (Little Black Girl), Sister, the Little One, Zo (said like Joe), Baby Girl, Little Girl
We got Zoe on Saturday, October 26th (also about 4 months old). That first week we had her, she started getting sick and was diagnosed with Parvovirus and we were told she had a 50/50 chance of surviving it. She was put on 24 hour care with IV drip through the weekend. We picked her up on Sunday morning, and our little fighter has been amazing ever since. We fell in love with her in that short week, both cried when we had to sign her euthanization forms, and were so happy that she made it through the weekend!

Not a single day goes by when we don't say something like "look how cute Zoe is being" or "Colby, you're so weird!" We love our little dogs!

Dog Days of Summer

2008-06-20T10:16:00.001-05:00

Today is Take Your Dog to Work Day! I heard it on tv this morning, and I casually mentioned it to my pups. Colby didn't look thrilled, but Zoe jumped up on the bed with me and started licking my face! She really wanted to go with me! I wish I could have, that would have been a fun day!

It's finally Friday, and we don't have any great plans for the weekend. We're going to go see a movie (don't know what movie yet), do a little gardening, and maybe tackle another fan installation. We will see. Hopefully, I'll get some sleep!

Happy weekend to you!

blah

2008-06-19T12:46:00.003-05:00

I haven't updated in a little bit, but that's because I've got the blahs. I just wrote my mom an email, so I'll put some of that on here too:

It's raining again (second or third day this week).

We got our new dryer installed this morning. Scott said he ran it before the Lowe's guys left, and said it doesn't make the thumping noise, so we're off to a good start! (We just got a new set last week, and the dryer made this strange noise. Turns out it had a dented drum, and since we were in the 7 day period, we got a whole new machine!)

Yesterday, I hosted the Mid high and Senior high Bible study at lunchtime. I ordered 6 pizzas (the church paid for them), and no one showed up. I was just the location, not the actual study part. It was me, Scott, the guy leading the study, then one girl came. She thought it was for the Presbyterian church. I guess she got two things in the mail, and confused the information. So I just had leftover pizza for lunch.

Since our house was already clean, we invited the L's over for dinner tonight. I'm going to try a new recipe for Pineapple-Glazed Porkchops, with baked potatoes and salad. Apple Pie for dessert. Now you wish you were here, don't you??

Work has been slow this week, but it's a welcome change from the past few weeks. Things will pick up again next week, so I'm enjoying this down time. My coworker's mom is still in the hospital. She had developed fluid in her lungs (strange how similar her stuff is to SIL) so I've been up to the hospital twice. Since it's to visit someone from the church, I get to count it as working time. Passed the Senior Pastor in the hallway on my way to her room, I think that got me some brownie points.

I'm so worn out. I've been calling my doctor's office every other day to no avail. The last I heard, the Doc was writing a letter, and the nurse would get back to me about more Provigil to last me a while. That was a week ago, and I'm still waiting to hear back. The last time I called was Tuesday morning. The voicemail said that Doc would be out of the office the 18th-20th, so now, even if I heard back from them, I can't get the script since he's gone! I'm having serious issues with the nurses. The other one is FOUR WEEKS this Friday on calling me back about something. I've also mentioned this issue in every message I've left. Four stinking weeks. Seriously!!!

Can you tell that I'm kinda bored? Because I am. I enjoy this down time (I do have something I could be doing, but it would put me to sleep right now), but it gives me lots of time to sit and think, and that's not always good.

SIL and BIL are going to come see us over the 4th of July weekend!

That's about it for now. Nothing too exciting!

Happy Monday!

2008-06-09T07:52:00.002-05:00

We had quite a weekend! My parents came to visit and see our new house, and we were very busy. My backyard had a good start (shaped beds, lots of trees) but it was really overgrown and weedy. Now, I have 2 small beds and one very very large bed weeded, planted and mulched. My back is feeling that mulch this morning! Oh, and since having mulch near your house can encourage termites, we put egg rock against the house instead. About 6 inches deep and 6 inches wide, it took lots of bags, but I really like the way it turned out. We've got bugs on one big plant and a mildew on another, so those need to be sprayed down, but other than that, the backyard looks awesome!

Last week, I had an EMG (electromyography). I'll try to explain what happed.
Background: Lots of pain in my hands since last November, but lots of blood work did not come up with any answers, so my doctor wanted to rule out carpul tunnel using the EMG.
The procedure: the doctor hooked a ground wire to my arm and attached two small pieces of metal attached to the machine on my hand. (You've seen what they put on someone when they are watching their hearts? It's like that but smaller.) Then he drew on my hands, wrists, and arms different spots that he wanted to check. He then used something that looked like a two pronged fork, felt around for a certain nerve or muscle, then shocked me three times in each spot. The first shock wasn't too bad, the second one was a little worse, then the third was really painful. He would measure from where he shocked me to one of the marks he drew. Using that measurement and the readings from the metal dots to determine how fast my nerves felt the shock and how fast it sent that shock back. After about 8 spots per arm, with three shocks each, he said that I have "Olympic class nerves." Unfortunately, we still had to finish the test, even though he didn't think it would turn anything out.
Part 2: This was very strange. The doctor took a needle and poked me in 5 spots in each arm. He would put the needle in, then irritate the muscle by moving the needle around. This time, the machine was listening to the firing in my muscles. When he would move the needle, it sounded like a record scratching; when he stopped moving it, the sound would change to a sound like "fit-fit-fit" which was the firing in the muscles. One place, he his a blood vessel and that really hurt. I got a stick in my bicep, tricep, another up top, one in my forearm in the doorknob turning muscle, then the last place was the most painful: if you make an "L" with your finger and thumb, there is that little flap of skin between them. That spot. No fat, no muscles, just nerves! It really hurt, and my hands and arms were sore for the next 4 hours or so.

I've got to finish getting ready and go to work. More about the updates on the house later!!

I want to win!

2008-06-05T09:42:00.004-05:00

Rocks in my Dryer is giving away an awesome set of cds this week, and I want to win! The giveaway is sponsored by http://www.wowonline.com/ because of the new cd WOW Hits 1. They are giving away a block of 18 cds, and I want to win!

Thanks Shannon!!

First Post

2008-06-05T08:55:00.000-05:00

I think that this blog has been a long time coming, seeing as how I've been reading lots of others' blogs for over a year! It's about time my comment is linked to somewhere!

About me: I am a 24 year old college grad working as an administrative assistant at my church in East Texas. I mostly love my job, but there are of course days that I just don't want to get out of bed! I am happily married (2 years this Sept.) and we just bought our first house. We moved last week, went out of town for a wedding, and my parents are visiting this weekend. I suspect this summer will be very busy, but I'm excited about the people I will meet, friends I will see, and the things I will do!