Goodbye 2008!

What a year of change. Some good and some bad. We are hoping that 2009 is much more boring. I several ways I think it will be but in others...not so much! Such as picking out a baby swing! Lance and I spent 2 hours in Babies R Us looking at swings, bouncers, strollers, car seats, ect. Do you need a bouncy seat with you have a swing that vibrates? Is it better to have the swing with the stuff above the baby's head vs just on the tray in front of them? Such decisions!! We also picked up several unisex Christmas outfits for next year. It was so exciting to be picking out things for the baby! Now if we can just get through the "big u/s" with good news then I'll feel much more relaxed over this whole pregnancy!

Happy New Year to everyone! Apparently ours is going to go out with a bang or more a leak as Lance just reported to me that our main water heater is leaking water. ~sigh~ We've been wanting to switch to a boiler system so now is as good a time as any, I guess! Well, not actually now but on Friday or next week!

Hurry up and wait.

Lance and I are sitting in the hospital...we've been here since 6:30 am today and most of yesterday afternoon and evening while Lee (my brother) is getting tests done due to his liver problems. No problems with Baby2!! Yesterday everything went really well and so far everything is good today. Lee is getting a liver biopsy right now so Lance and I are heading for the cafeteria. We actually had a great breakfast this morning! Lee is going to be sedated for the procedure so he'll be in recovery for a couple of hours. We can go sit with him once he gets back. He is usually very out of it but comfortable. I've never had anything like this done so I'm hoping that the biopsy isn't too painful. It didn't sound to bad. We will be heading home with Lee either today or tomorrow depending on the weather and how Lee feels. B'ville has already received 6 inches of snow this morning with more on the way.

We have 3 parties to attend tomorrow for New Year's Eve. 2 in B'ville and 1 in Fargo. It will be lots of fun but this pregnant girl needs some good sleep in order to even consider staying up until midnight! Then we have Lance's family coming over New Year's Day to celebrate Christmas. We'll have a full house since Lee is staying with us until Sunday but we have lots of beds and lots of couches! Then we're off to Brai.nerd friday to go to Dennis and Joanne's house for the weekend. Lots of activites and travel plus we hit the road for work on Sunday for a week full of travel. YIKES... makes me tired just thinking about all of it!!

What a nice Christmas!

It was relaxed and enjoyable. Spent with my family Christmas eve and Lance's family Christmas day. It was so nice. We have one more Christmas to go with Lance's mom's side of the family on New Year's Day. I received some great gifts!! Lee and Lance gave me a Cuis.enart mixer! I have a smaller Kitc.henaid mixer but there are many times when I wished it was bigger. This thing is heavy duty!! I also received some fabulous scrapbook stuff! YAY!! Baby2 even had a present! Grandma Fahy made Baby2 some blankets. Very nice!
On Christmas Day Lance, his parents, Lee and I started working on the nursery! I've had everything picked out since Lily but we never started on it because we found out about Lily's problems. So once we got pregnant with Baby2 then I picked up paint after 12 weeks so we could get started. I took a bunch of pictures of before during and we're not to after or done yet so that will have to wait:) I also haven't uploaded the pics yet but I will soon! I turned out SO cute!! I absolutely love it!

Merry Christmas to all!

I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! I hope that everyone finds their stockings filled with all sorts of fun goodies:)
We are off to my Grandma's house for church, supper and gift opening then Lance's parents are coming over tomorrow. I actually think we might start working on the nursery!! How exciting!!

I hope everyone can remember the less fortunate this holiday season and do something nice for someone whether it's giving a gift, a friendly smile or just your time. It's so important to ~give~ plus it is SO much more rewarding than receiving.

Be safe and enjoy everything your life has been blessed with!

We've got movement!

While we were in SD for work, Lance and I were talking and I absently rubbing my belly. Lance asked if I was hurting... I realized what I was doing and told him no. I concentrated on it a little bit and then realized Baby2 is doing the same thing Lily did when I first felt her around 16 wks. It's like they rub their little foot or hand up and down my insides and tickles like crazy. So I gave Baby2 a little poke but s/he didn't care. S/he kept on rubbing. Dang kid!! We've got attitude already! Shouldn't that wait until at least the teenager years?? Wishful thinking huh?!

Well, I've gotten all the Christmas baking done, presents wrapped and all is ready for Christmas! Bring on the festivities!! My brother is staying with us for a couple of weeks so I'm hoping to get some work out of him. That might be wishful thinking too! He's very artistic so I'm going to have him start on the nursery painting. We're doing 3 colors and a mural so there will be lots of work to do but it's going to be gender neutral so we only have to do it once! My MIL and AIL are going to help too so that should be fun! I'll post pictures when it happens. I bought the Low-VO paint since the nursery is right next to our bedroom. It was expensive but worth it in my opinion.

I need to get caught up on my JYC too as I'm WAY behind. I think I'll just be doing the journaling and very little scrapping in order to catch up. Maybe tomorrow!!

Oh the snow!!

We almost got stuck in SD yesterday! We had more work to do with a blizzard coming into town and Lance ~had~ to get to the cities for the Vik.ings game today so we decided to postpone the work and get out of dodge! Or rather Sioux Falls! The roads weren't too bad...there were a few places that were no visibility but not impossible. They got better and better as we continued north. It's very nice to be home even if it was spent getting L unpacked, reloaded and packed again. L went straight to the garage and went to snow blowing for a couple of hours. He's such a hard worker that I'm afraid he's going to burn out pretty soon if he doesn't slow down his schedule, be it proefssional or personal! He does pretty well on little sleep (which will come in very handy in 6 months!!) but then he crashes. I'm just waiting for the crash...I'm guessing it will happen Christmas eve and day. He'll sleep until noon and then he's good to go. What a guy!

I'm over my cold! YAY!! I'm cleaning, watching football and doing laundry. It's nice to get the house in tip top shape! L thinks I'm nesting but I told him it's too soon for that. Yet I have found myself cleaning the walls (WTH??), cleaning garbage cans and vaccuming/cleaning carpet like crazy. What do you girls think?? Is this nesting?? If it is, I'll take it as I LOVE a clean house!! I think I have spring fever too which is illegal this early in the winter in MN but I can't help it. Bring on the tulips, pastel colors, horse shows and easter!!! I'm a freak, I know:/

sniffle, cough, hack.....

Why is it that I can't seem to kick this cold? Dang pregnancy-related weaker immune system! I feel like poo! I do think it should be illegal to have a runny nose that you can't breathe out of. If it can run then there has to be some room for air to get up it.
So in Lance's defense from my last post, I'm not feeling well hence the not so nice comments about my normally wonderful hubby. Granted he did do (or not do) all those things but I shouldn't have ~attacked~ him on my blog like that. He shouldn't have left his preggo wife in a snow bank but all is well so whatever! I don't have the energy to fight with him.

I'm packing up today to go meet L in southern MN & SD for work. I'm not looking forward to it but one has to work so I must go. I'm just wrapping up some loose ends here and then I'm off. It is bitterly cold here... -10 degrees and that does not include the wind chill. Brrrrrr! I'm going to bundle up and hit the road. I must remember to pack my survival kit in case my trusty trai.lbla.zer decides to leave me on the side of the road. It's never happened (knock on wood) but just in case!!

Holy.... SNOW!

Well we have enough snow now! Actually we have enough snow for quite some time, thank you very much! The storm hit Saturday nite and by Sunday morning most of eastern ND and western MN were shut down. We had a 3 foot drift in our front walk way and a 2 foot drift in the driveway...not too bad. By Sunday evening, there was a 6 ft drift on our sidewalk to our front door and a 4 ft drift in the driveway. Now keep in mind that wonderful husband of mine who was suppose to be home decided he couldn't afford to get snowed in so he left early Sunday morning (4 am) to get to IA for work. Nice:/ Not only was the snowblower still in the horse trailer but there was no gas either. Plus a pregnant wife. Not cool! I was PISSED! Not only did he leave me high and dry or should I say stuck in a drift but he didn't really seem to care. He's like "you don't have anywhere to go". Um thanks a lot. Now we do have 2 4-wheel drive vehicles in our garage/driveway but the drifts were so high that there was NO way I could bust through them. Lance did call one of his buddies to come snowblow me out but he wasn't coming until noon because he works in B'ville so he was at work. Mike was willing to come help me on his lunch break! What a guy! So I bundle up, get the snowblower out of the trailer, luckily it has a little gas left in it. Spend 15 minutes trying to start the dumb thing then I'm rolling. Not only did I snowblow most of our driveway (no thanks to my husband) but I knocked down the huge drift in front of our front door and shoveled most of that away. Then I dug out some of a window well (my scraproom window) so I can get some natural light in there. Luckily our neighbor noticed it was me snowblowing and he came over to help me with the huge drift at the end of the driveway. Mike came over at noon and finished the front walkway. I'm wondering if snowblowing and shoveling is a ~no no~ for the pregnant? Lance doesn't care... he told me if I was so concerned then why didn't I wait for Mike to blow the driveway? Hello?! Mike is on his lunch break, Mr. I never think of anyone else but myself or my business! Thanks a lot for all the love and concern. Blah!

Running, Running, Running

why is it that I seem to be doing tons of things but nothing ever gets accomplished? Plus I'm always tired. Now that I am in the 2nd trimester, my energy needs to get back up there again so I can get some of my projects accomplished before Baby2 arrives. Poor Lance has been doing so much and I've been a lump. I do get things done but just not like I use to. Grrrrr.

I'm off to get my haircut today and run some errands. Lance is on his way home so that is very nice because we're suppose to be getting quite the storm this weekend. It usually storms when he's gone so I have to shovel or snowblow. Not this weekend!! YAY!!

We have a relatively boring weekend coming up so I'm really looking forward to that! Lance needs some down time to recover from his travels and catch up on some sleep so we're going to lay low this weekend! Maybe go to a movie!

mmmmm... Grape Juice!

For the last 2-3 weeks I have craved grape juice. Now I like grape juice but never like this! I'm not one to ever wake up during the middle of the night and go eat or drink something. The last couple of weeks, if I wake up I immediately think "I bet grape juice would be great right now". It's so weird!

I almost finished all my Christmas shopping yesterday. This is such a relief! I'm hoping to get all the wrapping done with today, along with shoveling the driveway since it only snows when Lance is gone. I have Chix Nite tonight so there will be a lot of laughing and drinking (not for me!). I'm sure I'll be the DD! I also need to get caught up on my JYC pages as I fell behind while participating in Ember's wedding and all the fun festivities.

There is such a great vibe going around right now with a bunch of my friends getting pregnant, having healthy babies and all sorts of merriment in the baby department! Congrats to everyone that has been blessed and many prayers to all of you for healthy pregnancies and babies!!

~~~Phew~~~

What a weekend! Ember's wedding was beautiful! Everything worked out great. Everyone looked great. It was fun! I'll post pics when I get some uploaded and receive some from others as I was less than stellar with the camera this weekend. I was so exhausted with all the activities that the camera didn't make it's usual appearance as often as normal.

The girls did manage to wedge me in my dress but I felt really puffy. Like I'm bloated all over. Even my face is really filling out....not cool! I wasn't like that at all with Lily! I'm hoping this is a phase otherwise I'm going to look like a sumo wrestler by the time June rolls around. EEK! It's all for a good cause though.

This week is full of Christmas cards, the last of the shopping, cookie making and general merriment! The Holiday Lights contest is Thursday so Lance has the house looking fabulous.

edited to include a couple of pics from Ember's wedding!

Another great d/a!!!

We were in and out of the OB in record time! I think it took a total of 15 minutes and that included my flu shot, me gaining 2 lbs (boo!), hearing Baby2's heartbeat for the first time (150 bpm) and discussing whether or not to do quad screening test. We did the quad test with Lily but only because Dr. R recommended it. He thought there was something wrong so he wanted the results. Since this is not the case this time around, we've decided to forgo that test as it's extremely inaccurate and if it did come back abnormal (even falsely so) that would be more stress than I want or my blood pressure could take. So we decided to go directly to the Level 2 u/s for our "big" u/s. There is a perinatologist that comes to Fa.rgo every other week so we're going to have him do our big u/s instead of just an u/s tech with the regular machine. This is solely for reassurance that everything is fine. Dr. R doesn't think it's needed but wants us to be able to relax and enjoy this pregnancy instead of waiting for the shit to hit the fan again. We really appreciate that! My next appt is 1-9-09 at 16.5 wks. Lance was so shocked that it's not sooner as we're use to seeing Dr. R every other week or so. I told him this is how it's done when you have a regular pregnancy! It kinda freaked him out:) I thought that was too cute!

Today is our 4th wedding anniversary! I can not believe it's already been 4 years! Time flies when you're having fun!! Marriage is SO much better than I ever thought it could or would be. I know this is partly (ok, mostly!!) because I have such an amazing hubby. He is more than I ever thought my husband would be. He's going to be such a great father too. I can't wait to see it!

My JYC prompt today was "the perfect Christmas". This is my journaling.... my page will be added once I've done it!

Our perfect Christmas…includes more days like today! Today was such a perfect day that we couldn’t ask for anything more as we’ve been so blessed. It is our 4th anniversary. We are in our beautiful home with our gorgeous Christmas tree glowing. We’re warm, safe and happy. We just heard Baby2’s heartbeat for the first time today at our 12 week doctor’s appt. We had a wonderful lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings that was on sale. I found Lily’s ornament at Hobby Lobby (50% off). It is a pair of beautiful pink angel wings. I luckily found the last one. It’s absolutely perfect; as anyone who looks at our tree will know exactly what and who the pink wings represent.
We decided to set up for a picture in front of our Christmas tree with all the animals to document our perfect Christmas. This is when everything went a rye! Uggs doesn’t like to be held but will put up with Lance so Lance is holding the brown meow. Teddy wants to look at Lance not at the camera. The fat one is just plain “out of here”. So I hit the timer on the camera, run to grab the fat one and stand next to Teddy. Well Teddy turns around to look at Lance because Uggs is howling. So I put the fat one down on the couch to reset the timer. I get that taken care of and the fat one is gone. I’m chasing the dang cat around the kitchen table all the while the camera timer is beeping. Needless to say, I get the giggles and we get a picture of Lance, Uggs and Teddy watching me chase Maui around. I finally catch the fat cat and reset the timer. I scurry to the tree and we got this picture….it’s not picture perfect but we will take it! Phew!!!

Eventhough this is my 2nd pregnancy...

this one is SO different from the 1st one, symptom wise. Is it normal to have mild cramping in the lower uterus area? It wasn't painful per se but annoying enough that I wanted to rub it to make it go away. Is this something I need to call the doctor for? I have an appt on Thursday so I'll mention it to him but do I need to worry about this? Ladies?? ...not Lee.... who is telling everyone that I'm just eating for 2 because it's the holidays. He's such a shit!

I did lay down for a couple of hours with my feet up and that totally helped so am I just lifting too much and over-doing it?? Again, no comments Lee!!!

Here is my 2nd page for my JYC album. It's not very eventful here weather-wise.... which is so surprising for December in Minnesota!

First day of Journal Your Christmas!

Here is my LO for my JYC album:

This is the u/s picture from our d/a 3 weeks ago. ~blush~ It's been hanging on the fridge since and I thought I took a picture of it but alas I didn't! We have another d/a on Thursday so I swear I'll post that u/s picture sooner.

These little beauties showed up on my doorstep last Wed (day before Thanksgiving) from my wonderful hubby! He's so good with surprises like that!! Love that about him:) They are some of the most beautiful, healthy flowers I've ever received. Love them...love him!

Today, I'm making Christmas cookies after I run to town to get groceries and do the final fitting on my bridesmaid dress. I'm still at a loss as what to wear under my dress. With the corsetted back there is always the chance that the panel will move around and show WAY more of my backside than necessary if I wear my normal undies. EEK! I tried one size larger spanx but the belly did not like them. I don't like ~regular~ undies as they never stay in the right place. Any suggestions ladies??

Rockin' around the Christmas tree!

It is Christmas decorations for as far as the eye can see! Lance is on the ladder as we speak, setting up his train that goes around the top of the tree. He loves this train but it doesn't match my color scheme. Do you think he would notice it if I painted it to match the purple scheme of the tree and room? I bet he wouldn't... We'll see....
We're listening to Christmas carols, Lee and the animals are entertaining us with their antics and I'm putting decorations on the tree and surfing the net. Now if it could be softly snowing, it would be perfect!

The entryway is packed full of totes. So hopefully no one comes over because there's no way they would get in the front door. We're not decorating as much as we did last year because A) we're not on the Tour of Homes this year and B)most of the decorations are going to be packed up in the Trailblazer to be used for decor at Ember's wedding.

I've got pictures of thanksgiving that I need to post but I'm using Lance's laptop and the pictures are on my computer downstairs... so it will have to wait until later.

So thankful!

Since I will be busy cooking, celebrating and enjoying the moment tomorrow, I thought I would list all the things I'm thankful for today:) This is such a wonderful time of the year that many people forget to slow down and take it all in. Lance and I really try to ~not~ be those people. Tonight we're heading to a special Thanksgiving church service at Hope (the church that we got married at). We both love that church so much that it's hard to switch to a closer one...so we haven't. I'm cooking and STILL cleaning today. I wore out yesterday after getting SO much done but still a few things need my attention today.

So onto the thankful list:

1. my fabulous husband!! He has to be #1 because he's such a great guy for all that he does & is. I'm a very lucky woman;)
2. Lily & Baby2 (they are a very close 2nd to their daddy!)
3. my family & friends (which include all our pets too!!)
4. stretchy pants (a must for any pregnant woman)
5. fitting in my bridesmaid dress
6. getting a start on my Journal Your Christmas album put together so I don't fall behind
7. the Great Pumpkin Dessert that's baking in the oven and making the house smell wonderful

There are so many other things but I'll leave it at that. What are you thankful for?

If you are traveling for the holidays, drive safely! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

Journal Your Christmas Year#2

Shimelle's info for this class is located here. I took this class last year and absolutely loved it. It really helps you remember the true meaning and spirit of Christmas. I love that the prompts inspire me to journal as that is definitely the shortcoming in my scrapping. If you are needing some Christmas spirit or inspiration this season, definitely look into this class. It's not just for scrapbookers either. Anyone needing a creative outlet (writing, photography, ect) would really enjoy this class. I made my mom and grandma doing it with me last year. They both enjoyed it!

There's a new cowboy in town.

Or should I say cowcat?! This is Maui's new favorite place to nap...on my show saddle! I always bring all my horse stuff inside for the winter as it's not good for the leather to be frozen.





I also fit in my dress!! What a relief! When you look at me from the front, you can't even tell I'm pregnant. Then I turn sideways and YIKES! I have a serious growth protruding out of my belly area. So yay for fitting in the dress.

Today is the day of cleaning! I must get this house in shape before all the guests arrive on Thanksgiving. Gotta run!!

Think skinny thoughts.

I'm off to try on my bridesmaid dress this morning and get it fitted or unfitted. Even as the belly is expanding in unheard of proportions, I do believe the A-line-ness of the dress will work in my favor. I'm also going to get the rest of the Thanksgiving groceries and pick up some groceries for Ember as she's still having a crazy time with Aaron's dad in the hospital and running back and forth to Minneapolis plus a little thing called HER WEDDING in 2WEEKS! Yikes!!

Once back home, I'll be cleaning and getting some of the food in order and lined up. Nothing glamorous or fun but essential. I might sneak in a nap too;) We'll see!

I'm going to try to talk Lance into going to Twili.ght with me too. I want to avoid all the screaming teenage girls so maybe we can go during the day! I've read all the books and they are amazing!! I love them:) We'll see how long it takes to get everything done in Fargo.

100th Post!!

Yay for 100 posts!! I've got a few more things to add to my "pregnancy weirdisms" post that I just couldn't remember last nite....the memory loss is one of them!! If you want a good laugh, read the comment section from the "Pregnancy Weirdisms" post and you will laugh your butt off. That is my brother, Lee, that is ~anon~! He just found out how to add comments so he is now going to be the comic relief on this blog as he is forever telling me how I should be nice to my husband and not try to trick him into thinking vaccuming is fun or that I should get him something fun for Christmas not tools to better do my projects with. Whatever! I AM perfectly wonderful to my husband eventhough Lance would agree to some of the things that Lee mentioned such as being sniffed at when coming home and occasionally being my sherpa:) At least Lance knows he's needed! As for man bitch, just wait until you see what you will be doing in the nursery while you're on Christmas vacation, Lee!!! Better bring your painting gear!

So to add on to the preggo weirdisms list:

• why is it that the memory is the first to go? Lance says I have CRSS... Can't Remember Shit Syndrome but only while pregnant. I know the blood is probably not going to my brain as often because it's spending more time in my uterus but really?? That's the last thing a pregnant lady needs is to lose her memory. EEK!
• why are my pregnancy dreams SO much more vivid and random?? A couple nights ago I dreamt about my college roommate who I haven't talked to or seen in a bazillion years. Last night I dreamt about Ember's wedding and how I forgot to paint my toe nails and I was freaking out because all I had was purple polish and not red to match the decor. I am wearing open-toed sandal/heels for the wedding so people will be able to see my toes but my dress is to the floor so it's really not THAT big of a deal. Apparently it was in my dream though! I do have reoccurring characters in my dreams but they are always in a different city/location/place. Just weird!

Today I'm cleaning. We're hosting Thanksgiving so I want to get a jump start on cleaning so I don't have to worry about it next week. I'm also pulling down the wallpaper in the soon-to-be nursery. I spray this stuff on it and it pull off beautifully but it runs down the walls and makes a mess. So I'll do it today before Lance cleans all the carpets this weekend. I hope everyone has a great weekend and is all geared up for Thanksgiving and Black Friday. Lance and I shop on Black Friday so that will be a great time and even better because Lee is going to give us his credit card so we can buy a tv for him and whatever I want (scrapbook stuff/unicorn/another cat/ect). Yes, that IS what you said, Lee. I distinctly remember it....maybe you have pregnancy brain???

Pregnancy weirdisms

• why is it that on TLC "Taking The Baby Home...the first 36 hours" does the man/husband say how tired he is and how it's been such a long couple of days and he just needs sleep? Umm, what exactly have you done, sir, that has made you so sleepy?

Is it giving birth? no

Is it feeding an infant with your body as the nourishment? no

Is it from bleeding like a stuffed pig? no

So let's see...you counted 1-8 several times, you held your wife's hand and sometimes a leg in the serious moments, told all the relatives the size/sex/name, held your new baby. Hmmm, anything else?? I can see why you are so exhausted....

Seriously! Get over yourself as you did NOTHING in the whole process. If you weren't there, your baby would still be born and fed and taken care of. You are NOT an essential part of the equation except in the conception. Give your wife some frickin love for ALL that she did, you selfish pig! Ugh. Can you tell I'm not watching that show again!

• $185 maternity jeans.... seriously?? They are very cool looking but really?? That much?! Now I'm a semi-high maintenance girl so I'm fine with spending money (especially my hubbys!! NO comments Lee!!) but to spend that much on maternity jeans? I couldn't even get myself to try them on.
• The wonderful "try to sneak a peek at the belly while the maybe pregnant or maybe put on some weight girl is not looking" move. Seriously...we see you...
• I always have to pee when I'm running errands. I normally (non-preggo) have a bladder of steel. As soon as I'm pregnant, that goes out the window so it's me and all the old women in the bathroom. They are the worst at the staring. Why is that?

OK...I'm done with what turned into a complaining post.

On a better note, Teddy now smells like a sugar cookie! You've gotta love that...thank you Petco! He's so clean and fluffy and not stinky! It's great.

Uggs is getting better. He's starting to walk more and go up and down the stairs.

So, I'm off to watch Ug.ly Be.tty and Greys. Have a great night:)

Poor Uggs

We took Uggs to the vet yesterday and they diagnosed him with a severe tendon strain on the right hind and mild strain on the left hind. The vet is guessing that Uggs jumped off of something and landed wrong. This happened on Thursday, then on Sunday Lance walked up into our loft all bundled up from being outside and Uggs freaked out and jumped off the couch (which is low but the injury was already there) and made the strain worse. Now Uggs can barely walk in the hind end so he's on cat bed rest. Poor thing!! We didn't get any pain meds for him because we don't want him to move too much and rip the tendons. He is better today then yesterday and Sunday so he is improving. He's laying under Lance's side of the bed just purring like crazy when you check on him.

I want to send well wishes and prayers to Ember & Aaron as they are in Minneapolis with her father-in-law who had a heart attack at the Minneapolis Airport last Friday while trying to catch his connecting flight home. It sounds like he's getting better but the chance that he'll be able to attend the wedding is definitely in jeopardy.

Also needing some well wishes and prayers but for a good reason is Kat and her DH, Thomas, as they are off to the hospital this morning to delivery their son, Cullen! He is breech resulting in a c-section for Kat so I want to send them lots of positive vibes for their very exciting day!

Comparing pregnancies.

I haven't gotten a pregnancy journal made/started for this pregnancy as I've been so tired and the basement has a funny smell that only I can smell. It's apparently a pregnancy thing! So I'm going to try to journal here once a week (at least) about Baby2 so that way I can have info for my preggo journal once I make it.

Comparing Lily vs Baby2

Lily:
-mild heartburn at bedtime
-all day and night nausea for 2.5 weeks
-super tired
-slightly sensitive to smells
-can't stand chocolate or diet dew
-hair/nails growing like weeds
-very bloated during the 1st tri
-gained no weight in 21wks

Baby2:
-lots of heartburn all the time especially at bedtime
-extremely sensitive to smells especially air freshners
-mild nausea if I don't eat right away when I start to feel hungry
-still can't stand diet dew but can do a little chocolate as long as it's not straight chocolate...it's
got to be with something else like the scotcharoo bar I had yesterday! Yummy!!
-super tired
-mild acne
-hair/nails growing like weeds
-expanding A LOT faster this time
-not as bloated feeling
-gained 2 lbs at 9wks

So going by the extreme differences in the pregnancy, I'm going to put my vote in that it's probably a boy. I'll be very surprised if it's another girl. I'd like a couple of each so I don't care what the sex is as long as s/he is healthy!!

Right now I'm watching foo.tball and surfing the net while Gri.swald, I mean Lance, is working on the Chri.stmas lites. It was such a nice day out that I put up all of the lites on the bushes in the front and back yard and Griswald was on the roof. It's nice to have a lot of that done before the snow flies and stays!

Tomorrow is Lily's Due Date

Since I will be gone all day tomorrow, I wanted to mention that Nov. 15 is Lily's due date. As I look at the ticker on the top of my blog, I can't believe that so many things happened in just those short 9 months since finding out I was pregnant to learning about Lily's problems to her going to heaven and then getting pregnant again on the first try and now I'm over 9 weeks along with Baby2 on Lily's due date. EEK that is a lot to happen in a very small time. Normally I just go to horse shows all spring/summer/fall...which takes a lot less emotion than what happened this year. I guess the reward isn't a baby either:/

As I watch many friends struggling to get pregnant with their 1st babies, it brings to mind the saying "it is better to have loved and lost than to never have loved before". Which I feel is very true in my situation. We are so grateful to have had Lily for those 5.5 months but still feel pain, especially tomorrow, as we're not bringing her home from the hospital but starting over with Baby2. The pain is not the heartbreaking ache that we felt after we lost her in July but more of a sense of loss for what could have been.
I also remember one of my friends (who also lost their 1st) saying that they would never have had their Miss Q (as they were only planning on having one baby) if they wouldn't have lost their 1st one. Not that she wanted to lose the 1st baby but she can't imagine life without Miss Q. So I too think of that...we would never have THIS Baby2 if we didn't lose Lily. We would have A Baby2 but not this one as that would be impossible. Of course we never wanted to lose Lily but that was never our choice either. As a Type A/control freak, the fact that I have almost no control over the whole baby thing freaks me out. I really have a problem with that...but again I have no control over that either:/

So I just wanted to take a minute and thank God for the blessing that is Lily and thank God again for Baby2 as only he knows what is in store for Lance and I and our parenting expedition.

On a different note, I think we have a sick cat. Poor Uggs was been limping on his right hind leg for the last 2 days. He's also sleeping a lot. He seems to have more life in him today but when he sleeps his breathing is weird and I just don't like the way he looks. I'm going to call the vet to see what they say and probably bring him in today or Monday. Of course this always happens to us on Friday! At least we do have an emergency pet hospital for nites and weekends and Casse.lton Vet Clinic can usually slide us in on Saturday morning as they have before with Teddy. I'll let you know how things go.

Have a great weekend! It's snowing lightly here and sounds like it will for most of the day but nothing is staying on the ground. Tis the season!

1st dr. appt a success!

We had our 1st official doctor appt this morning and everything looked great! This is a huge relief to Lance and I as this was the appt that Dr. R thought something looked wrong/weird with Lily. He said Baby2 looks perfect and sees nothing to be concerned with!! YAY!!! We have a picture but I need to scan it so I will do that tomorrow. I can't really tell what is what but I think I see a leg:)
I've gained 2 lbs also:/ I was hoping that I would stay the same weight as I did with Lily (never went up a single lb all 21 weeks but I had a lot more sickness with Lily too) but alas that is not going to be the case! My jeans feel looser in the butt and thighs but the tummy is barely fitting. I guess it's going to be stretchy pants sooner than later. I just hope I can wedge myself into my bridesmaid dress in 3 weeks. God willing and grease helping -I will;)

No snow yet!

Just rain. Most of ND, SD and some of MN have snow but not us! I'm a little disappointed that there isn't a flurry of white stuff out my window but then I think "it's only November". There is plenty of time for snow! Still there is something nice about being snowed in.

Because it has been constant rain, Teddy has been inside for the majority of the time...only going out when necessary. It's amazing how little rain it takes to make a dog stink! We have this puppy cologne that smells like powder that we spray on him in between groomings. He absolutely HATES it! As soon as you go to the door that contains the spray, he takes off. He shows his teeth, sneezes and ruts like a bull. It is by far the funniest thing I've ever seen him do! We don't use the spray very often in the spring, summer or fall but definitely the winter! Once sprayed, he desperately wants to go outside to rub it off. He rolls around in the grass or snow trying to rub it off. Again, very funny! Due to my very sensitive pregnant nose, I can detect stinky dog from a mile away. I pulled out the spray this morning and had to bribe him with a treat and still chase him down. Right now he's running around the house trying to rub it off on anything he can. Do dogs not like to smell powder fresh?

I feel like I'm in a holding pattern.

I'm pregnant again (as I have been for most of 2008) with hopefully a MUCH BETTER turn out than the first time. I love the fact that it took us no time at all to get pregnant with Baby2 but I miss feeling like my normal self. I am ~not~ complaining about being pregnant because it is such a blessing and we are very lucky to be blessed again BUT there are things that I do miss from my ~normal~ life. I've been in the 1 trimester for 5 months in 2008 and it's getting a little old! Bear with me now as I list my "can't wait to do again"!! Again I'm not trying to take anything away from the blessing that is Miss Lily and Baby2 but if you've been pregnant, you know how the 1st tri can be ICK!

1. RIDE.MY.HORSE!!!
this is SO #1 on my list!! I can't wait to start showing again too. It's painful to have such an awesome horse just sitting in the pen waiting for me to get my crap together! To remedy this, Faith is going to the trainers in Feb for some finishing and hopefully I'm not too ginormous so I can show her in halter and showmanship while the trainer shows her in the riding classes. That should help fill my horse need:)

2. Be able to eat and smell anything and not gag.

3. Multitask
- I am the QUEEN of multitasking and I cannot do it while pregnant. I don't have the memory or the energy for it. I have SO many projects I'd like to get done but mostly I wind up on the couch taking a nap. Thank God I have an amazing and understandable husband.

4. Go from sun up to sun down (like I use to) and not need to sit and rest.

5. Lift my saddle out of the trailer by myself without my husband yelling at me.

6. Be able to get my butt into the bed in the gooseneck of our horse trailer without the help of a crane, fork lift or Lance pushing my butt all while I'm giggling so much that I can't pull myself up. It's quite the process to get up there while pregnant. Hence the need for a RV instead of the horsetrailer.

7. Drinking!
-whether it's Diet Dew or an ice cold beer, I would LOVE to have some! Now I ~know~ several people that don't give up caffeine while pregnant and do have an occasional alcoholic sip or two but I don't. For 2 reasons.....#1 is that Diet Dew tastes weird while I'm pregnant. It has a metallic taste...ick. #2 is because I'm basically a goody-two-shoes and while I ~might~ have a sip or 2 of wine around Christmas or Thanksgiving I couldn't in good conscience drink while being pregnant. My perinatologist (w/ Lily) said having a glass of wine early in the pregnancy was not a problem and that Lily wouldn't be getting any of it anyways. I still didn't have any but she's the expert so a little sip here or there might happen as long as it doesn't ~smell~ funny.

8. Plan where to eat a week or 2 ahead of time without worrying about whether it will agree with me or not. (this is such a pain!)

9. Button my pants!!

10. Snuggle with my hubby at night.
- I'm so warm all the time (more so than usual) and Lance is a furnace so it's more like a firm handshake or a pat on the shoulder than nice snuggling in bed. Although that's how we got into this ~situation~ so maybe I'll have to rethink that;-)

Go Vote!

Lance and I scheduled this week's work trip around being home tonight in time to vote. That and taking Faith to get new shoes tomorrow! It's so important to have your voice heard.

GO VOTE!

Other things on the agenda today include getting the black dye from the leather accents off of my red showmanship outfit. It cleaned up beautifully yesterday or so I thought. This morning there's black streaks all over! EEK! It better come off! I need to run to the post office and clean the house. Tomorrow is suppose to bring rain and then snow so I'm getting as many outside things done today as possible. Then I'm going to plop myself in front of the tv to see how the presidential outcome ends up.

Have a great voting day!

My first publication...

is finally here! I have 2 layouts in the November issue of Scrapbooking.com . These were picked up a few months ago but you have to keep it quiet until the issue is published. That was so hard for me to keep my mouth shut!!

Take a look:
http://scrapbooking.com/article/72520

What a Halloween it was!!!!

Here is Teddy in his dragon costume! He always wears a costume when he ~helps~ hand out candy to all the trick or treaters. It's a little small for him but he was a great sport with the whole costume thing:)

Next is Lance and I and Missy and Clay (my bff and her hubby) at our Halloween party. It was SO much fun!! Although this pregnant lady wasn't the life of the party as I was so tired but at least I made it longer than the other 2 preggos!
Lance and I are Cliff and Claire Huxtable from the Cosby Show!!






It was such a blast! I will post more pics of all the great costumes!!

Hope everyone had a great and safe Halloween!!

What a beautiful day!

Lance and I have been decorating the outside of the house for Halloween. It's one of our favorite holidays! We have fog machines and tombstones, things that scream at you when you walk by, an ogre...all sorts of fun things! We do make sure to put all the scary things a little higher as not to freak out the little kids:) I'll take pics to show you...

I'm off to start my cooking and baking for the big Halloween party on Saturday. Plus we need to finish the bathroom remodel and I need to put all my horse stuff away that's littering the basement as I finally got the trailer all unloaded for winter. It's always nice to go through everything, clean it and put it away for next spring! Can't wait! Although I'm going to have to wait for the riding part as I'll be huge by show season next year but I do plan on doing the halter and showmanship. I just need to find an outfit that will fit my expanding waist line! Elastic here I come;)

Hello Snow!

Yes, that's right...snow! We woke up yesterday to a full out blizzard...all most! The snow was blowing completely sideways and the ground was covered with snow. There is still some snow this morning but it should be gone by this afternoon. It's a tish too early for snow...at least for me.
Today, L and I are going shopping to get ready for our Halloween party plus running errands. Then I need to start baking so I don't have to make cut-off fingers, eye balls, ect all day on Friday. Fun fun!!!

Happy Friday!

On the agenda for today:

1. laundry
2. ironing (just a few items)
3. filing Microclean invoices
4. editing photos
5. fixing Jill's photo
6. enjoying the rain
7. taking Teddy for a walk
8. finishing and submitting the NDAQHA recipes for the cookbook
9. a nap
10. scrapping tonight

Hope everyone has a Happy Friday and a great weekend. We have ~snow~ in the forecast for Sunday. EEK!! Hopefully it'll softly snow then quickly melt as to not interfere in our Halloween party next Saturday!

U/S update:)

Everything looks great with the little pumpkin! We could see the little heartbeat flickering like crazy and got a measurement of 162 bpm. It's absolutely tiny so it'll be interesting to see how much the pumpkin grows between this appt and the next one in 3 weeks. It's nice to have an appt and u/s go well for once! Very reassuring:) We didn't get pictures as there really was nothing much to see. We'll get pics from the 9 wk appt and show you those!

I'm starting be to a very difficult eater (just like before). Lance is so patient when it takes me forever to decide what I can and can't eat just to change my mind again. ~sigh~ I wouldn't trade it for the world if it means this baby is growing and developing like it should be. It does get a little old but I'll take it! At least I'm not having the all-day nausea YET!! Hopefully that will forget to hit:)

Lily's Story

I didn't realize I hadn't told Lily's whole story. I've told so many people that it's hard to remember who's heard it and who hasn't.
So it all started with the Quad Screen that my doctor had ordered that came back freakishly abnormal. The numbers were so abnormal that he wasn't sure what it was but sent us to Minne.apolis to the perinatologist for a Level 2 u/s and possibly an amino. We were able to get in right away so off to the cities we went. The level II u/s showed that Lily had a lot of fluid on her but no heart problems. The perinatologist figured it was probably Turner's Syndrome (which was confirmed with the amino). Turner's Syndrome is a freak mistake that happens at conception that results in the baby only getting 1 sex chromosome. So I have 46 xx but Lily had 45 x. Turner's Syndrome only has a 2% chance of survival to birth. Because of all the fluid on her, her chances weren't great but she didn't have the typical heart issues. All sorts of options were issued to us including termination which was ABSOLUTELY NOT what was going to happen. What if she was in the 2%? She was alive and moving like a little worm inside me, how could we do that? Ugh, just makes me sick that people would do that (my personal opinion). So if we could get Lily to 24 weeks then the perinatologist would go in and remove the fluid (which was not without risk but worth it to her survival, in our opinion). No one thought she'd make it to the 24 week mark. Actually they didn't think she'd make it much past our appt (which was at 17 wk). Luckily for us, she made it to 21 weeks. The amino was done (not painful at all!!) and the results came back 1.5 wks later confirming Turner's Syndrome.
The silver lining to this whole deal is that Turner's Syndrome has never happened to the same couple twice! EVER!! That is providing a little reassurance during this pregnancy. I made my first appt yesterday which will include a u/s on Thursday to check that everything is going well. It's not even with the ancient u/s machine that my ob uses, it's with the 20 wk "big u/s" machine. I'm excited but extremely nervous that everything looks good. I'll post an update after the appt.

Thanks to everyone for the congrats! L and I are thrilled but nervous. I'm glad my ob is so conservative and anal that we're going to be getting a lot of looks at the little pumpkin. Just hoping that everything is normal and this pregnancy is VERY boring!

What rose bush blooms now??

Apparently Lily's rose bush does...

I guess this rose bush doesn't realize that October in MN is chilly. It has about 5 buds on it so I guess the plan is to keep blooming!

Lee and his "new" truck.



He loves this thing! I called it a ~galopee~ which I didn't get a favorable response. I guess whatever floats his boat:)

AND...

HOLY CRAP, THAT'S RIGHT!! We NEVER thought it would happen this soon again. We obviously aren't waiting until 12 weeks to tell everyone as that didn't turn out so favorable in the end. I'm due in June and haven't made my first doctor appt yet, but it's on my to-do list.

So, if everyone wants to say a little prayer that this pregnancy will turn out better than the first one, that would be great! My Grandma said God wouldn't do that to us twice so I'm going to believe her and not worry about it because worrying won't get me anywhere!

I'm already starting to get a belly at 6 wks which is extremely early considering I didn't show until 20 wks with Lily. I'm assuming because this happened so soon after Lily (3 months) that my uterus is going to pop out A LOT faster. EEK! I still need to fit in my bridesmaid dress the beginning of December. Oh well. It's definitely for a good cause!!!

I ~puffy heart~ Sunday!

On the agenda for today...

• watch football ALL. DAY. LONG
• clean/organize the scraproom
• do some scrapping
• wait for Lee to get here with his new pickup (71 GMC)
• laundry
• harass the hubby about some ~honey do~ projects
• take a nap
• drink lots of water
• TRY to find something to eat although everything sounds yucky to me right now
• catalog all the Christmas gifts we've bought in my Holiday Planner (of course I have a Holiday Planner!! Do you expect any less from someone so type A/anal??)
• maybe a shower...maybe not!

Happy Sunday! A big post tomorrow with pics of Lee and his new pickup. Also, he's single ladies!! Quite a catch there...most of the time!

I love the positive!

• Positive thinking
• positive people
• positive $$ in my bank account
• positive tests unless it's for screening or cancer then I want Negative Negative Negative

Positive is great in my books right now and I'll take it!

More to come on the positive after we get back from another work trip!

Bring on the positive!!!

A new look!

Some of my fellow bloggers have changed up their blogs and I love the look of them. It looks like a scrapbook page so I want one too! What do you think? I love it!! Thanks Jewels and Kat for the inspiration! Change is good:)

What is this creature??

This little furball with huge teeth and claws has been found in our recessed windows wells TWICE! Once a couple of weeks ago and the 2nd time was on Sunday. What the heck is it? It's obviously noctural as it doesn't see well in the day as apparent when it's attacking the shovel Lance is trying to dig it out of the window well with. It's definitely aggressive as it was trying to chase both Lance and I on Sunday. Lance deposited in the field across from our house so hopefully it will stay there or move on for the fall and winter. Uggs found it the first time as he was tweaking out in one of our spare bedrooms. I went to check it out and there he/she was. Teddy found it on Sunday and was in the window well with it trying to attack it but he was too chicken, THANK GOD! I ran out there to see what he was barking at (his attack bark is much different then his ~the neighbors got a new car~ bark.) and quickly got him out of the window well and away from our fanged friend.

So...what do you think it is??

Oops!

It's been so long since I've been back in ~the game~ that I miscalculated my days and it's going to be THIS weekend not last weekend. Apparently I lost a week in there. Ha ha ha! Oops! I'm not feeling very confident but we'll see!

It's been raining like crazy for the last couple of days so I've been busy redoing our lower level bathroom (ripping wallpaper and painting) and decorating for Halloween and fall. I've also got a couple of knitting projects in the works including a fabulous Halloween scarf for myself. I hope to have it finished this weekend. I'll post pics when I'm done:)

How about those MN Vik.ings last nite on Monday Nite Foo.tball?? What an upset!! Go Vik.ings!! I would not be surprised if that turns out to be their last win as they suck but I'll take it:) I love foo.tball season!

Teddy and I are running into town today for appts. He stinks so he and the groomer can bond for awhile and I have VERY important things going on like getting my nails done!! It's my one vice! OK, maybe it's one of my vices!! Oh well:)

Have a happy Tuesday!

We're back!

Our trip in photos!

We had a great time, did a little work, saw a lot of fun places, can't wait to go back but I'm glad to be home:)

It's a catch up day and weekend. The house needs cleaning, I need to scrap, I need to go out to the barn to see Faith and I'd like to get started on my Christmas cards. I know...Christmas!! EEK!!

I'm hoping for something exciting to happen over the weekend but it might be a bfn too. I'm going to remain hopeful until proven otherwise!

Have a great weekend.

I love Upper Michigan!

It is absolutely gorgeous up here! I'll post pics when we get home. I love autumn!!

Lance and I are off to Door County for the weekend and then back to work on Monday. We've never been to Door County so it will be a blast:)

Pics to come in a few days!

Reminisce Design Team Entry

Here are some of the items that I made or already had made using Reminisce projects.

I love how they have sparkle or shimmer on almost all the papers. I'm instantly drawn to them as I'm drawn to most things glittery!

Happy happy Friday!

To do:

• make lots of food for E's bachlorette party
• get all the decorations & presents in a pile or in the trailblazer for E's party
• go pick up my bridesmaid dress as they are in already...The Shoppe told E it would be November!! Thank God, not so much!
• take pics of layouts that I've recently made for more submissions
• have a date nite with the hubby
• work out
• take Tedders for a walk...it has to be slow & controlled not run like a crazed maniac, Teddy!
• ice Teddy's leg (maybe ice my own as the old thighs are a tish sore from running...that should be the first clue that I need to be sitting on the couch eating cookies instead of pounding the tread on the treadmil. Too bad my pants don't agree with that!)
• phone calls
• sit in the sun, if only for a minute or ten
• read a little more (I can't seem to put down the Twilight series! If you haven't read them, RUN don't walk, to your nearest B&N and put them up!! Great reads!)
• breathe.

Have a great weekend! I will post lots of fun pics from the weekend. Only the tame ones though! E would kill me if I posted pics of her in compromising positions at her bach. party:) Although it will be VERY tempting.... We'll see :-)

Picture Tuesday.

Lance and the Cone Master in the Smart Car. Teddy loves to go for a ride anywhere even if it's just to the Post Office.

Poor Teddy and "the Cone"! Tedders is doing and feeling so much better. He still looks a little sad/pitiful. He was to wear the cone for one more week. He will NOT leave the wound alone so he and the cone have become very good friends! If you look close, you can see the incision on his right leg. It just looks like a long drak line down the front of his leg. We start doing therapy this week.

This is the crabby kitty! He had his 6-month grooming/shaving which we've been doing for years. He sheds like crazy so this is just a lot easier for all of us. He absolutely loves his tail so we tell the groomers not to touch it. He also does not do baths so they just do the dry bath and shaving. Apparently he was less than impressed with the whole grooming process as he vampire bit the lady helping the groomer. OOPS! The groomer explained that she relaxed her hold on his back legs and he tweeked out/ripped off the cone (used to protect against biting)/& latched on to the holder's arm. Now I saw the ~wound~...it was tiny little red mark. I've had WAY WORSE from Maui before. He's not mean, he's just a big/huge/strong cat that likes to play. Now I realize he wasn't playing but really?! You don't need antibiotics for that. I've seen zits bigger and more infected than that. Come on people! Seriously! Anyway...it's the crabby kitty cute?! When I got him home and let him out of the cat carrier, Lance & I noticed that one leg/butt cheek was shaved and the other was still furry...WTH?? This must have been the time of the vampire attack! It's pretty funny looking. We have since taken the scissors to his tush and tried to cut most of the furry cheek hair off.

After the cat episode, I walked into the kitchen and found these! I swear I have the best husband EVER! What a guy!! Aren't they beautiful?!

Lance hit the road today so I'm home with the pup-pup, dodging "the cone", ripping down wallpaper, cleaning floors, doing laundry, getting ready for E's bach-party this weekend. I hope to get some scrapping in tonight while watching "The Biggest Loser". I LOVE that show!! What a great reality show!! :)

Living with the cone.

Seriously. I've never been knocked over/run into/run over more in my entire life than I have in the last 4 days. Teddy is home from his surgery and doing great. Tuesday was a little rough. He was very uncomfortable and sore despite the pain meds. Each day he is getting better and better eventhough he's still not ~using~ his bum leg. He is just starting to stand on it. Otherwise he's a tripod. He has a 6 week rehab schedule starting next week that includes icing 3 x's a day and whirlpool therapy. Who on earth has a whirlpool for their dog??

In order to get him to leave the wound alone, he has to wear "the cone". Now "the cone" has a wing span of about 3 feet. Teddy is normally about 1 foot wide. He has been wearing the cone for four days (not solid but most of the time). He is NOT compensating for the extra wing span at all! He just runs you over/runs into you/bashes into the wall/doors/stair railings/pretty much everything. I'm going to be bruised from knee to ankle:)

Pictures to come!!

An early morning.

for us, as Lance & I brought Teddy to the vet for surgery this morning. He needs to have his knee cap fixed on the right hind leg. I guess it's a very common problem in smaller dogs. We knew he was going to have it fixed eventually as the symptoms have slowly been appearing. He's been pretty sore on it for the last couple of weeks so now is the time. Teddy will be on movement restrictions for 2 weeks. He has to be on a leash at ALL times during those 2 weeks so he doesn't run or jump and hurt something. At least he will be healed by the time snow flies, as that's his favorite time of year!

I asked him this morning if he wanted to go for a ride and he went nuts! He was flipping in circles and running around like a crazy dog! Apparently the sore knee/leg doesn't hurt THAT bad if he can do all that:) Silly dog!

Good luck with surgery Ted Ted and we'll see you tomorrow!

A Cool Quote.

I found this rub-on quote at an art fair and custom ordered it in purple (of course!). I just finally got around to putting it on the wall this morning. I must have looked like I didn't have a clue as Lance and Uggs decided I needed assistance. I use rub-ons all the time in my scrapping but I'll never turn down assistance of the 2-legged kind! The 4-legged kind is different:)

Today has been spent watching glorious football and cleaning and playing in my scraproom and knitting!! I love football season:) I love autumn! I do not love that it was 2 months ago yesterday that we lost Lily but I do like the fact that we are getting to start trying again. It's bittersweet though...if I was still pregnant I would only have 2 months left to go before we could meet our sweet baby girl. Now we're starting ALL OVER. Not cool. I just wish I knew how to get rid of that feeling of wasted time/missed opportunities/starting all over. I ~know~ that being pregnant and losing Lily was NOT a waste of time but I still have this overwhelming feeling of being behind in the game. I'm always on top of everything so to fall behind or have to start all over is tough for me... in anything! It's hard to explain.