A few updates and a picture...

Where do I start? There have been a few developments since (well even before) my last post.

First of all, I learned last week that my previously OVERactive thyroid (HYPERthyroidism) that has been under control and without ANY meds for nearly 5 years is now UNDERactive (HYPOthyroidism). SO, last week I was started on Synthroid. I am just praying that when I deliver I either go back to normal (whatever that is for me!) or back to hyperthyroid. I do NOT want to be hypothyroid for the rest of my life. I'm just praying it's just a fluke with this pregnancy and all will be well when I deliver (which could very well happen).

I wanted to thank ALL of you for your incredible comments on my last post. I also probably need to reveal a few things that may not have gotten across with that post.

#1--both my mom and MIL/FIL live 2.5 hours away. So it's not like DS can just go over there whenever he wants. As far as one of the moms taking him over night while we are in the hospital...my mom AND my sister will be staying at our house while we are in the hospital to take care of DS and our dog. That has already been established. :)

#2--FIL is house-bound. He is in very bad shape health-wise and can't leave the house. He smoked I don't know how many packs a day for a LOT of years and it finally caught up with him in October of 2004. He's morbidly obese (but has managed to lose 80# just with diet) but he still weighs somewhere near 350 or so. He can't get up out of his recliner very often and the most exercise he gets is walking to the kitchen to eat dinner (if he even does that) or to get up and go to the bathroom. He's on oxygen 24/7 (and he no longer smokes--thank god). So this is why MIL always gets DS at her house...and probably why she won't come stay with us even if we ask. MIL still smokes (not in the house) so we are really anal about her holding the baby (we were like this with DS too) when she's just smoked. DH is allergic to smoke too so that's why we are really cautious.

#3--DH is perfectly capable of taking care of DS when I am in the hospital but we know we will have help for that part of the event...it's just when we get home. :) DH is very good about doing things around the house (except laundry) that need to be done so I am not worried there.

We are both united on this front...we both feel the exact same way and we both WANT DS there. I've already made a few decisions about how things will go in the hospital--NO ONE will hold the baby until DS does. It will be me, then DH, then DS. I don't care if we have to wait until DS gets there from home or school (40 minutes away), he will hold the baby before anyone else does. And when he gets there, everyone will leave the room for a few minutes so we can have those few moments to ourselves.

You know the one thing that would really help?? Even if no one comes to stay with us after the baby is born...the least they could do is leave us with a few gift cards to order in if we need/want to a few nights. But I doubt anyone suggests that. The thing that irks me to no end is when DH sister (SIL) had her 2nd--MIL went out of her way to help them (they live about 30 minutes away from each other). SIL got another shower with all new stuff b/c she got rid of everything after she had her 1st. MIL threw the shower for her and made sure she had the bare necessities. We have heard NOTHING from MIL about anything like that. No, I do NOT want another shower--we have EVERYTHING from DS. Yes, we have the basic necessities, but there are a few new things I want. But I doubt MIL even says anything to us. We are going to buy a new glider for the baby's room....MIL could offer to help out with that, but NADA. She's always talking about being fair to the grandkids when it comes to spending money on them for Christmas, birthdays, etc... But as of now, she's not being very fair to her kids. I know we still have a ways to go (11 weeks roughly) but I don't want to wait until the end to get everything in order. I won't complain (only to you guys :) but it's aggravating.

I know mom and MIL just want to help, but they can do it at my house! And I will stand firm on that one. MIL has always got special treatment b/c of the situation with FIL, but not this time with this situation. I feel bad, but I know this is what will be best for our family of FOUR!!! DS is so excited but I know this is going to be a HUGE adjustment for him and all of us but more for him (at least I think so). I know a lot of people think I'm crazy for kicking everyone out for the first week of baby's life, but we need that time to bond as a family. And especially with DH not working, it will be a GREAT time for all of us to be together. I really am looking forward to it.

If you think about it...I'm thinking we have maybe 11 weeks left before this one arrives. Now that's SCARY!!!! I think that once I have my next ultrasound (in my mind it's scheduled for April 4th and I will be almost 36 weeks) the doctor will want to induce come 38 weeks b/c the baby is big. :) I feel huge and I really feel like this week I have popped out even more. Baby FEELS huge too. I go back to the doctor next Thursday the 7th so we'll see what she says then.

Here is a picture of me and my friend at her baby shower this past Saturday (1/26). In this picture, I am 25 weeks and she is 33 weeks. She doesn't even LOOK pregnant! She was jealous of my belly--HA! That's a first :) But in my defense, I think that outfit makes me look a lot bigger than I really am. But maybe it doesn't? I have no idea!!!



I think that's it from me for now. We are going to be snowed in tomorrow and I CAN'T WAIT!!! DS will be home, I have to work 3 hours and then we are going to just chill out all day long. I know there will be a nap in our plans tomorrow afternoon. :) We are supposed to get anywhere from 4-8 inches of snow with ice too. Yeah, we're staying in!

Have a great day! I'll check back in soon!!!

Am I wrong?

This is kind of a bitchy post, but I have to get these thoughts out here.

Last week, I was talking to MIL on the phone. She informs me that she took the week of DS bday off. DS birthday is 4/28. My due date is May 4, with a tentative induction set for May 1 if no baby by then. Now, in the past she has taken this week off so she can have DS for a few days but NOT on his birthday. That is my day with him. But this year, ALL of that is different. There will be NO WAY in hell that she can have him b/c #1--I can not travel at that point (MIL lives 2.5 hours south of us and we usually meet about halfway) and #2--I AM DUE THAT WEEK! DUH!

Okay, so this past weekend we visit "home". Sunday before we leave, my mom makes a comment to DS that after the baby gets here she will just bring him home with her (again...2.5 hours south) once we bring the baby home. WTF?!?! I told her no way in hell. Then DH pipes in that he thinks that's what his mom is planning too. I'm sorry but you are NOT taking my baby away from me just b/c baby #2 arrives! This poor boy--his world is going to be turned upside down as it is. To take him away from us just b/c there is a new baby--that is just plain WRONG!!!!!!!!!! The last thing I want is for him to think he's been replaced or that we can't have both him and baby #2 around. But still for my mom and MIL to think they are just going to whisk him away for a week--I DON'T THINK SO!

Then my mom says to me, well apparently you haven't had your 2nd kid and I have! I said yes you did, but you know what? Your mommy came and stayed with you after you had your babies--that's what I want MY mommy to do! Well her mom (my granny) didn't work. Who cares?!? My mom has vacation time. And yes, I said all of this to my mom. I am just so ticked off at this whole thing. I mean really!! I am a little ticked at DH for not speaking up to his mom (I wasn't there or I would have, believe me!)

I just don't understand how they all can think this is okay? DH will take a week off of work (or maybe more) to stay home and we will ALL be there--it will be our bonding time, just the 4 of us. Then I figured my mom would would come up and help me out for a couple days when DH goes back to work. Mom said yesterday we'll just make the plans once the time is here. I told her--it doesn't matter if we make them now or then--DS is NOT leaving. PERIOD. So am I wrong in my thinking??

I KNOW it's going to be rough. I realize this. Sleepless nights, nursing, and a toddler. But hey--it was rough when DS was born. And then we got zero help--no one brought us meals or helped us out or cooked for us. This time I expect a little bit more help and I will vocalize that too. I'm just dumbfounded and ticked that they think this way. Why couldn't MIL have asked us what we had planned? Why couldn't she have taken the 3rd week of May off instead of DS birthday week?? With her job, once you put in your vacation time (especially a week) you can't change it. STUPID! I know she wants to spend time with DS for his birthday, but it makes things VERY hard on us to get him to her and then get him back in time for his birthday and have his party and then his party at school....ugh. But no one ever asks us what WE want. They just assume! And this year it's ALL different. His party is April 5th (maybe I won't tell her about that part--just kidding!) and at my appointment the next week, we will probably look at an induction earlier than May 1. I'm just so frustrated with all of this. Makes me sick no one ever asks us. Idiots.

On a brighter note....this is the last week of my 2nd trimester. Next week starts the 3rd and final trimester. Less than 14 weeks at this point!

Any of you out there who say it's a girl--I LOVE ALL OF YOU!!! All weekend, everyone kept saying it's a boy. THREE people said girl. 3! Don't get me wrong, I would LOVE another boy. LOVE it! But at some point, I want a girl. And I'd rather have that sooner than later. It just puts more pressure on DH for the next one. :) And we still can not come up with a girl name. DH is STUCK on Izzie. I like the name, but need a good middle name to go with it. But I don't LOVE the name. I love Eva, but DH doesn't. It would be so much easier if we knew the sex of this baby....but we don't. Sometimes, I regret not finding out, but most of the time I like to guess. I'm just glad we don't live near our family or they would drive me crazy with their guesses!

I think I've rambled on long enough today. I hope this makes sense. I'll try to post a picture from my friend's baby shower this weekend. She doesn't even look pregnant. She's jealous of my belly! HA! That's a first :)

I want that scale!!!

Check out Roni’s new contest! I can win a Nutrition Smart Scale from Eat Smart and so can you! Click here for details!

Pictures as promised!

I know I'm REALLY late with this, but things around here have been CRAZY!!!!!!!! I'll explain more later, but here is a picture. Taken yesterday b/c, alas, I never got to it last week.


Here's another one b/c DS HAD to be in the picture with me. But isn't this just precious?!?!?!


Okay, onto the craziness....

Last weekend they took our system down for an upgrade at work. Supposed to be up Monday at 6 AM. I get on a little before 7 and there is a note....not gonna be up until NOON! Okay, fine. Noon rolls around (this is Monday remember) and still no system. Finally at 1:30 we get an email--it's down until FURTHER NOTICE. Okay...so at this point, I've gotten in 2.5 hours of my normally 10.5 hour day. I was TICKED! So I quit at 1:30 and took a nap b/c I had yet another headache. Woke up from that a little after 4, have to go pick up DH car so we go pick up DS and off we go to get the car. We get home, still no email that our system is up. Headache is finally gone (it was a sinus headache, not a migraine--thankfully!) so I go to bed. Up bright and early Tuesday morning--still no system. So at this point, I decide I'm not wasting another day of daycare so I cancel daycare. 830 system comes back. Oh but wait...not for those that work AT HOME! So we have to wait even longer....it did not come back up until WEDNESDAY!!!!!!!!!! So for 2 days, I sat around home (well not really b/c I did do a few things around here) constantly checking email and constantly wondering how in the heck I was going to get my time in that week. It was like I was on call and I am not paid to be on call! So Wednesday I worked 12 hours....Thursday I worked 12 hours and Friday I worked 11.

OH MY GEESH! I was wiped out every day. Saturday I was dragging b/c I was so darn tired. And then I had to work yesterday b/c I am off this Thursday and Friday to spend some quality time with DS. UGH. So when I wasn't checking email those 2 days last week, I was working in the baby's room, no where near the home computer or my laptop. And by the end of the week, I was horizontal on the couch w/in 10 minutes of being done working. It was BAD!

So that's my craziness, but it was a helluva week and I hope we NEVER have to do that again! It sucked so bad!!! So here I am. :) Sorry for the delay in posting but I just couldn't sit down at the computer last week and type out a long post.

Dazey said she thinks I need to come up with some girl names b/c she thinks it's a girl. Believe me, I would LOVE to come up with some girl names. But I got nothin'! Neither does DH. I found out this week that DS thinks a brother is a girl and a sister is a boy.

So, if you ask him--is mommy having a brother or a sister? He says sister.

If you ask him--is mommy having a boy or a girl? He says boy.

So this whole time I've been thinking girl b/c of what he's said and he's got it backwards! So now, all signs point to a boy. :) Oh well, I will be thrilled with either one.

Remember the first tag of 2008 I did? If not, check it out here. I said if I could have dinner with anyone, it would be an ex-friend Tiffany.

You are NEVER going to guess who I had lunch with on Saturday?

Yep--Tiffany. How is that for odd? And eerie?

She called me Friday morning straight out of the blue and asked if we could meet for lunch on Saturday. I said sure. We met, she apologized and said she'd done a lot of growing up in the year and a half and that she missed me as a friend.

I about fell over! I was thrilled to talk to her. We sat there for 2.5 hours at Applebee's! So it looks like an old friendship has blossomed again. We are not the BFFs we were and we may never be--well we won't be b/c I have one BFF and that's superjayman! I can tell superJ anything and everything and vice versa. I USED to have that, for the most part, with Tiffany, but not anymore. But wow. Talk about starting the new year off right!

Okay, I have rambled long enough. I have got to get back to work. I'll try to post again this week. It SEEMS to be calmer, but it's only Monday. :)

Have a great day!

24 WEEKS!

WOO HOO!!!!

What does 24 weeks mean? It means VIABILITY! Not that I want my baby to make an entrance any time before 38 weeks, but if he/she would at this point it would have a chance for survival with a lot of challenges and a lot of time in the NICU.

As for me, I am doing fairly well. Went back to the doctor this week. All is well. I need to keep my body hydrated to really help with the migraines. And it has, so that is good. As for the baby, well, I am measuring 3 weeks ahead (meaning as of this past Wednesday I was measuring 26 weeks instead of 23). But the doctor isn't concerned...YET. The baby/uterus hasn't settled down into my pelvis yet and when it does and it's still big, then she'll start thinking seriously about it. I will have an ultrasound between 34 & 36 weeks to help determine the baby's size at that point and we may induce a littler earlier just to make sure I can safely deliver this one vaginally. DS was 8# 15 oz, 22 inches long, so I am accustomed to big babies :) If this one is a little smaller, that's fine...but I still would like at least 8#. I like em bigger and fatter! :) Doc thinks I won't have a problem with that one at all. We talked about an induction on May 1 if I don't go by then and assuming baby is not too big at that point too. DH thinks it will happen on April 28 (DS birthday) naturally. He thinks I'll get up that morning and get in the shower and then my water will break. Then both my babies would be born on April 28.

Have you all seen dazey's blog lately? She's having TWINS!!!!! How awesome is that?!?!

I'm going to have DH take a picture of me today and then I'll get it posted this week. I go back to the doctor in February, then at that point I start going every 2 weeks until 36 weeks...then it's every week. ARGH!!! I told DH this yesterday and he got kinda freaked out about it. He was like--"oh wow, you're that close? Guess we need to get some names narrowed down." We have boy names picked out--Nicholas Matthew (Nic), Elijah Matthew (Eli), and Izaac Jeramia (Zac). I like Izaac b/c then I would have Zac and Xander. :) But no girls name yet. So I guess this must be a boy, right?!?

Thanks for the recipe and freezing ideas. I'm going to try a few things today while the game is on--GO COLTS!!!! I'm outta here. Have a GREAT day! :)

Any make ahead meal people out there?

I am frustrated with the whole cooking thing. Every weekend I have the greatest intentions and plan a menu for the week. I even buy the food. But most of the time, after working all day I am EXHAUSTED! So this weekend, I am planning to cook ahead for the week. I must admit, I am a cook ahead virgin. I've NEVER cooked ahead before. NEVER! How do you do it? Is it hard? I am fully prepared for it to be time consuming, but HOW much time are we talking? All day? 2 days?

So I've been searching the internet for some tips. I've found a few, but that's it. I am scared. I hate the thought of another week of "what's for dinner?" and my reply being "whatever you can find." I've come up with 2 meals that I can freeze ahead of time--meatloaf and lasagna, but I need more. Before this baby comes, I want to have some HOMEMADE meals in the freezer that we can pull out if there is no one staying with us (i.e, mom) to cook for us.

I am in a soup mood this week so I am going to make Roni's lentil soup again for the week and vegetarian chili. That should cover at least 2 nights, if not 3. But I know DH won't want to eat soup all week and DS won't even try it. ARGH!!!!!!! I think I only need 5 nights, so just have to come up with 2 more. But I am just struggling. This mom thing can really stink sometimes. When it was just me and the hub, I didn't always plan meals--it was just whatever we had on hand (usually a helper meal, which we no longer eat) but now, I want to eat nutritious meals that I have made. It's just so difficult!!

So, I am asking--any of you out there that read this--even the lurkers--come out and give me some ideas! I'll take any and all suggestions/tips you can give me. This is so new to me. Cooking ahead. Who would've thunk it?!? :)

I hope you have a great weekend!! I'm off to do some more research and see what I can find.

First tag of 2008!

Thanks to Chris for the tag!

1. If you could fly where would you fly to?
Australia--I've always wanted to go and one day DH and I plan to take our whole family...one day.

2. If you could sing one song for the rest of your life what would it be?
That's a hard one....I really don't know. I love all kinds of music and songs. Maybe Butterfly Kisses b/c my dad sang that to me on my wedding day and I always tear up when I hear it.

3. If you could have dinner with any one tonight, dead or alive, who would it be?
Oh this is hard. There are a couple people. I would have to say an ex-friend Tiffany. She ended our friendship for really stupid jealous reasons and I never got a chance to defend myself or explain things and it's bugged me ever since. Other than that it would be BFF Superjayman b/c she lives so far away now and we can sit and talk for HOURS!!!

4. If you could learn to dance, which one would it be?
Ballroom--I love the elegant feel it has and everyone always makes it look so easy.

5. If you could hug 5 people, who would they be?
DS, DH, mom, dad, and my grandma

6. If you could take every one you knew out for dinner, which restaurant would it be?
St. Elmo's Steakhouse--it's one of my favorites but too pricey for us to go with anyone else.

7. If you could fix one thing physically in yourself what would it be?
The lip I have on my stomach. Even when I was 144#, I still had this lip of fat. I WILL have it removed one day though.

I tag anyone who reads this. :)

So I spent Thursday afternoon in the hospital

Thanks to that wonderful migraine, my doctor sent me to triage to get some fluids and some serious pain meds! I woke up yesterday still with a migraine. The Vicodin I had taken the night before didn't even help. I hadn't slept a full night in almost a week and on top of all of that I was severely dehydrated. I have no idea how I was dehydrated b/c I drink so many fluids...water, OJ, lemonade, diet coke, etc... But I was. It was so bad when the nurse put the needle in my arm, my vein blew and now I have a HUGE bruise bigger than a half dollar on my arm. It's not pretty!! The doctor sent me home with a script from Ambien and orders to NOT work today and to take it easy this weekend. NOT A PROBLEM!!!! DH had to come get me b/c I had driven myself to the doctor and after the high dose pain meds and narcotics, I wasn't allowed to drive. But man I feel tons better. Baby is fine too. None of this affected the baby. The migraines are driven by hormones per my doctor. She also told me to basically keep some caffeine in me at all times. At least one coke a day if not 2 that way the blood vessels in my head are not constricted thus causing a migraine...caffeine helps alleviate that. Who would've thunk?!?!

Oh and I slept better last night than I had in WEEKS!!! Thank you Ambien!!! :) I slept for 11 hours straight.

And this funny story to end with....the nurse in triage was trying to find the baby's heartbeat (it was 130 for those keeping track) and when she stuck the wand on one place of my belly, he/she kicked me right where the wand was. It was hilarious!!!!

I wanted to say thank you to swizzlepop for the wonderful idea of getting another chair to rock the baby in and letting DS have the one he was rocked in. I mentioned it to DH and we just might do it!! I love the idea of him someday rocking his babies in that chair!!!!!

Gotta run...have to go pick up my car from the hospital. The is the one thing that sucks about not having any family here. Oh well. At least DH has a flexible job!!!

Have a great one!!!

Happy New Year!

I hope you all had a safe and happy New Year's Eve!! And I hope all of our hopes and dreams can become realities in 2008! Here's to a great year!!!

First of all....MIGRAINES SUCK!!!! It is now 4:00 here in Indy and I have been battling one since 11. NOT fun! Then, I ended up vomiting (sorry if that's TMI) so I quit work and laid down for 3 hours. SO here I sit, eating some lunch and I can still feel that d@mn migraine but now it's at the back of my head, not the front. This is one of those pregnancy things for me. I got them when I was pregnant with DS but they didn't last this long into it. And I've never thrown up with one before. I hope and pray it's not the flu and I don't think it is b/c I don't feel bad otherwise.

Remember how I told you about DH and the big contract? Well, it's been pushed back for now. It's a technicality thing (for lack of a better word). One of the vendors that wasn't chosen in the top 5 questioned about the scoring so they had to pull the RFP and re-do the scoring. It's just a set back for now, but him and his team think they made it before, they'll make the top 5 again. But now it looks like it may be May or June when he has to go out to WA to demo it. That might be interesting for me! Alone with 2 kids!! ACK!!! But he told me not to say anything about it anymore. He thinks I jinxed it b/c we told a few people. He's superstitious that way. But that's fine too. So just say a prayer that he gets in the top 5 again....when the time comes!

The one thing about being pregnant on January 1st....no new year's resolutions to make! WOO HOO!!!! I would like to be back in the 150s by this time next year, but I can't exactly take those steps now. :)

We got the crib together for the baby's room on New Year's Day and then got all the stuff out of the attic. Holy Crap! There is a lot of stuff that babies require! DS had so much fun helping us get it all out and get stuff together. But he was NOT happy when we took the rocking chair out of his room to put in the baby's room. That made him cry which made me cry. We will probably put it back, we were just trying to see where everything was going to go. But he was heart broken! We decided that before the baby arrives we are going to do something special for him...we just don't know what. Like a DS weekend. We may go to the children's museum then out for cheeseburgers (his one food group he will eat now!) or take him to Chuck E. Cheese (although both DH and I would rather pull our fingernails out with pliers than go there!) or to a movie or ??? I don't know. I have no idea!!! Any ideas out there?? We tried asking him what he wanted to do and that didn't go very well. I may put all the options we can come up with in a hat and let him draw one out. I am sure if he had his way (and me too!) we would take a weekend and go to Disney for a day or 2. That would be the ultimate, I think. But that requires a little bit more money than I am willing to spend.

I made one of Roni's homemade soups last night. It was AWESOME!!! I had never tried lentils but her homemade lentil soup recipe looked so good I had to try it. DH liked it too. DS wouldn't touch it. That's okay....he's going to start eating stuff he doesn't know he's eating b/c I bought Jessica Seinfeld's new cookbook over the weekend. Deceptively Delicious looks to be an amazing idea. I went to the store the other day and I am going to try to sneak a few things in on my DS. Lately he has become a picky eater. I don't know why...maybe just the age, but man it's getting old! He loves cooked green beans, carrots, broccoli, and corn on the cob, but he won't venture to anything else. I've tried numerous times to get him to eat sweet potato fries and he wants nothing to do with them. SO I am going to give this puree thing a shot. I'll let you know how it turns out!

I better get off here. DH called and I have to pick up DS b/c he is swamped at work. So I am going to get him while the headache is at a dull point. I will probably take some Vicodin tonight (ok'd by my OB) and then go to bed early. I'll check back later!!! Have a great night!!