21 Week Picture

Here's 21 Weeks! My last Belly Pic of 2007.



I have tomorrow off work - yippee! Jeff's and my goal these next couple days is to clean up the house a bit, get more organized, and mine in particular is to get the nursery EMPTY. I know it's a bit ambitious, and I doubt I'll get it 100% empty by Tuesday, but I think I can get a pretty good start on it. The great Breyer sell-off has begun, this last week I listed 35 of them on Ebay. It's a far cry from the 200+ I'd like to sell, but it'll help. I've been selling since we found out we were pregnant, so overall I think I have about 1/4 sold and gone of what I'd like to eventually be rid of. Of course I'd LIKE to keep them all, but there's just not enough climate-controlled space in the house to store 300 plastic horses! The other nice perk is getting back some of the money we spent on fertility treatment to get this baby in the first place! I always knew my collecting obsession would come in handy at some point. :) Just so you think I'm weird, (yes I know I am) and because I'm bored and have their pictures online, here are couple that have sold this week.





This last girl I don't particularly want to sell, but I think the timing is just right on her. I won her on Ebay less than a year ago and paid $100. Right now I have people making offers on her, my last offer was $200. I think I'll accept that one, as another one like her sold about a month ago for $200. Not bad appreciation for less than 1 year. She is special because only 333 of her were made in 1987. Of those 333, probably 90% were played with and made worthless, but she is 100% perfect. I'd like to hold onto her, but I doubt the 100% appreciation will last a real long time, so I should strike while the iron is hot.



So now you know a little bit more about me and my horse collecting! :) I started when I was less than 10 years old, so my collection has accumulated quite a bit over the years. I'm a tad obsessive about them, and yes, I even take them to plastic horse shows, but in my defense, it increases their value. People will pay more for a horse who has won ribbons. (Model horse collectors are weird people.) So, whatever it takes to make them more valuable!

I hope you have a wonderful and safe New Years Eve, and a Happy 2008!

20 Week Picture

I'm 21 weeks today! About time to post my 20 week picture, huh? Can't say I'm too eager to post this one, I'm not a fan. But, to retain consistency...



My latest fun pregnancy development is acid reflux. It started a little over a week ago, and comes anytime I eat anything. Looks like it's time to buy some stock in Tums! I've also gotten 2 bloody noses in the last week, after never having a bloody nose ONCE in my life! Pregnancy does some weird things.

I thought I'd also throw a couple pictures of Bailey up here that I took with my new camera.





Such a sweet girl! She needs a trim around her face though.

We don't have too many plans for the weekend, we've been trying to re-organize the house, find a place for everything, and find a place for all the junk we've had in the nursery! So we'd like to continue with that project this weekend, I'd like to get the nursery almost cleared out. Maybe we'll go shopping at Lowe's to find a ceiling fan for the baby's room. Tomorrow night we're going to a Dallas Mavericks game while Joel is in town. Other than that, I'm looking forward to a nice, long 4 day weekend!

Lots to Talk About!

First of all, I hope you had a very Merry Christmas! I wish I could say the same for myself.

I got to spend the hours going from Christmas Eve to Christmas Day in the ER! I'm not sure if I came down with the flu or food poisoning (we suspect food poisoning), I started feeling sick in the late afternoon of Christmas Eve. After having lots of "fun" symptoms I don't need to get into, and then finally throwing up 5 times around 10:00pm, I called the local hospital to see at what point they think I needed to be seen. She asked me to describe what was coming up, and after I did, she said I needed to go to the ER right away, that could be blood. They just don't mess around when it comes to pregnancy.

So, the whole family packed up and went! This was at 11:30 pm. They checked me out, and I had a small fever, but the baby had been kicking all evening so I knew it was ok. The nurse got the heartbeat with the doppler, 175 bpm. The dr came in and talked to me, and said it very well could have been food poisoning, or he said there's also a 24 hour flu going around, and it could be that. He said if I were in serious danger, I would be seeing bright red blood, so he wasn't too concerned. He gave me some Zofran, had me sip some water, wait around about 45 minutes, then they released me. Sent me home with more Zofran.

We got home around 1:30 am, and we were all so exhausted. My only problem was, if I laid down, I felt like throwing up. So I parked myself on the living room couch propped up against the arm to keep me in a somewhat vertical position. I slept about 2-3 hours, and got up at 4, drank a little water, kept it down fine, so I decided to try to go to bed at 4:30. Mistake. I didn't even make it half hour before running to the bathroom, throwing up 3 more times. So back to the couch I went. I got another hour or so of sleep, but mostly stared off into space in the living room. Everyone woke up Christmas morning and we all opened our presents, I was pretty out of it! The rest of the day all I could do was lay on the couch falling in and out of sleep. I hardly had the energy to stand up. The rest of the family went over to Jeff's grandpa's for Christmas Dinner, but I knew there was no way I could eat or be around food like that, much less have the energy to get up and go, so on the couch I stayed. I was actually able to sleep in bed that night, which was nice. By that point I think I was getting better, it was just taking a while to get energy back. We came home yesterday (the 26th) and stopped at my parents' house for dinner. It was my first time attempting to eat anything other than crackers and jello!

Today I'm still a little touchy, but on the road to normalcy again.

In pregnancy news, I had my big 20 week ultrasound today! They said all is looking good! The baby weighs 12 oz, which my doctor said is on the low side of normal, but still perfectly healthy. He said maybe the baby will help me out and stay on the low side of normal to help me out during delivery! But then he said don't hold my breath. :) Baby's heartrate was 140 BPM! That shocked the heck out of me, especially because the nurse at the ER on Christmas Eve said it was 175 BPM! After the ultrasound, my doctor came in the room and said, "So, do you know what you're having?" I said, "Nope!" And he said "I do!" I'm like NO FAIR!! For some reason it didn't bother me not to find out, but knowing the HE knows kills me! haha. I think it's funny though, and you could tell he thought it was fun being the only one who knows. :)

The u/s tech said the baby has long, skinny feet:


The baby put it's hand up on it's head, and we got a cute front shot. I love that tubby belly! (it reminds me of Micah's!) Jeff said the baby was thinking.


Here's the best profile we could get, the baby was facing inwards, making it difficult to get a good profile.


And this picture kinda scares me!! My friend said it looks like a pirate baby!


It was so fun to see the little one in there! I have my 20 week pictures in my camera at home, I'll have to get them uploaded and posted soon. I'm 21 weeks tomorrow!

20 Weeks!

Woohoo! I'm halfway there! Crazy. I very well could be OVER halfway right now! I don't feel like I've been pregnant that long.

To mark the occasion, I had another "first" last night - I felt the baby from the OUTSIDE, with my hand! I was sitting in bed after putting on my belly butter, and I pressed down onto my stomach, held it firmly for about 10 seconds, and then released. While I was pressing down, I felt the baby squirm a little bit inside, but I didn't feel anything on my hand. Then, when I let up on the pressure, I kept my hand there, and the baby gave me a nice big kick in the hand!! :) It was so fun! I tired it again, but it didn't work. Jeff will probably have to wait another week or two until the baby is strong enough to give consistent, strong kicks to be able to feel it, but it's fun to play with my baby! Even if I am just serving as a nuisance.

I also had some VERY strange dreams last night. I hear it's par for the course though. One of them was that I was approaching my due date, but not overly close, it was a good 2-3 weeks early. I went to the hospital for a check-up, and they told me they were going to induce me. Next thing I know they're wheeling in the epidural cart, gave me one, hooked me up to pitocin, and left me to progress! In my dream 24 hours passed and I still wasn't having regular contractions. People kept coming to the hospital and giving me matching "mommy and baby" outfits for us to wear, and then someone brought me some nursing pajamas to wear after the baby is born, and they told me "I bought them in the biggest size they sold, I hope it works.." What is THAT supposed to mean??!! Thanks a lot! Then later in the dream, if you're a Gilmore Girls fan you'll know who I'm talking about, but the character Kirk from Gilmore Girls came and tried to kill me! Nice.

I like to spend time on Babycenter's message boards. They have "Birth Clubs" where you can hang out with other women due at the same time as you, in my case May. By this point, a good 70% of the ladies have had their "big" ultrasounds and now know whether they're having a little boy or girl, so there is an official post about what they are naming their child. So far, out of 60 responses from people who are having girls, there are 9 Sophias! Crazy! That name came out of no where. I do think it's cute, but I can't believe how quickly it skyrocketed into popularity.

19 Week Picture

Without further delay, here's my 19 week picture!



More and more strangers are starting to notice, and I love it. I love getting questions, people asking when I'm due, and saying stuff like "Oh! My birthday is May 10!" Stuff like that. It's just so much fun. I'm very thankful to be having an easy pregnancy thus far. I know people who have had miserable pregnancies, and it makes me sad that they didn't get to enjoy it. I love watching all the changes, feeling my little baby move, and just experiencing everything.

A few nights ago I got together with some friends, and we took a fun picture of everyone with their hands on my belly. :)



We're going to have to repeat once more when I'm huuuge, and then again after the baby is here. Fun!

The further along I get, the more and more I'm feeling the baby move and kick. At first I was lucky to feel it 2-3 times a day, and now I'm getting more like 4-5 active periods a day, lasting about 20-30 minutes each time! The baby definitely gets fired up just when I'm going to bed. It'll kick around for a while when I'm trying to fall asleep! :) And sometimes when I wake up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, it'll give me a few kicks... "I was sleeping, mom!!" And it still loves food, every time I eat it wakes up and moves around a bit. :)

I found out this morning that our friends (and my former roommate) Adam & Amanda Coleman are expecting their first baby! Yay! That is so fun. They live in Ft Worth so hopefully next summer we can get our two little ones together! Maybe we can meet in the middle for a late summer Rangers Baseball game or something.

My Sick Weekend in Tucson

Just after I posted Thursday that I was sick, I realized I needed to go home and take a nap before our flight. So I did. When I woke up from my nap, I took my temperature because during my whole nap I had the chills, but was sweating when I woke up. My temperature was 101!!! The literature my OB gave me said to call if my temp ever goes over 100, so I called them and talked a bit, they said if it gets any higher, or I take a turn for the worse, I'd have to come in right away. I didn't have the guts to tell them I was flying off to Arizona, with my luck they'd tell me I have to stay home! They told me to take Tylenol to keep the fever down. (And good luck with the rest of your symptoms!)

The flight went surprisingly well considering how sick I was, I think I was sort of out of it all day. We arrived in Arizona safe and sound.

Friday (my birthday) was even worse than Thursday. The fever was still there, but I was able to keep it under control with Tylenol. But I still had congestion, sore throat, headache, dizziness, all that fun stuff. We got up early and went to my brother's graduation, had a quick lunch, then came back to the condo. I went back to bed, fell in and out of various states of sleep, until dinnertime. My dad planned a big celebration dinner at the Melting Pot, one of our favorite restaurants, to celebrate my brother and my birthday. I was so miserable the whole time. I had chills for the first half of the meal, and was dying of heatstroke the second half... And I couldn't taste any of it because I was so plugged up. Boo. Here's a picture of the happy event.



I'll spare you the rest of the details, but Saturday and Sunday were about the same, except the fever was finally gone. My sore throat got worse and worse through the weekend though. I was glad to get home on Sunday night.

I did get to spend some time with little Micah though. Steve (Andrea's husband) had a cold, and Micah was congested himself, so she let me hold him! I made sure I washed my hands carefully before holding or touching him. Saturday and Sunday morning she after she changed and fed him, she'd hand him off to me so we could have some time together while she showered and got ready. :) It was alot of fun. I was careful not to breathe on him too. :) He is so sweet. I can't believe the next time I'll see the little guy he'll be almost 6 months old! Here's a couple pictures!





To keep this post pregnancy-related, I did have my first bout of REAL round ligament pain on Saturday! The resort we were at had a heated pool, so we went swimming on Saturday afternoon and evening. After we were done swimming, about an hour later, I was sitting in a chair at my parents' condo, and was struck with this lightning sharp pain in my lower-right hip/belly area. Everyone in the room looked at me like I was dying as I cried out in pain! haha. I got up to try to walk it off and the pain almost took me to my knees! I was talking to my friend Rachel on the phone at the time, trying to figure out where we were going to meet to eat out that night! haha She had no clue. The pain continued for about 4 hours or so. We got to meet up with Lee and Rachel, it was so great to see them. It hurt really bad as I got out of my chair to leave the restaurant. Then, when we got back to the condo, as suddenly as it came, it was gone. Weird stuff.

When I woke up yesterday morning to go to work, my throat was on FIRE. I knew there was no way I was going to work. It hurt so bad I was crying! I called my OB and told them I needed to come in, I can't take it anymore. They got me an appointment for 3:10 in the afternoon, so I chilled at home, and took a 3 hour nap. THAT was nice! The doctor said that my throat looked pretty red, and they were going to go ahead and treat me with antibiotics. Ahh what a difference. When I woke up this morning, I'm still tired, congested, and have a headache, but the sore throat is gone, which was the worst. While I was at the doctor, I also asked to make sure what I experienced on Saturday was round ligament pain, since the same spot was sore again. Sure enough, that's what it was! That's fun stuff, I tell you. Andrea said she'd had some soreness, but never the "bring you to your knees" type of pain like I had that night!

So I think I'm on the road to recovery! That was one long, awful weekend though! Hopefully I can heal up in time for Christmas, but I really wish I could have been feeling well this weekend.

I'm also overdue for my 19 week picture. I'll try to get that taken tonight.

It's official, I'm sick.

I'm so mad and sad at the same time. Seriously, I don't know what else I could have done to prevent myself from getting sick. See my post 2 days ago to see all the preventative measures I was taking, and in addition taking extra Vitamin C AND sleeping in the guest room...

And here I am today, sick as a dog. Of course Jeff could take all kinds of medicines to make him feel better, but I'm stuck with throat lozenges.

Is my immune system seriously that crappy that given all the precautions I took, I still can't keep myself from getting sick?! I might as well have licked his dirty kleenexes.

The worst part about it all is that I wont be able to hold, cuddle, or come within 20 feet of of sweet Micah. Being sick stinks, but I'm most upset that I don't get to spend quality time with the little guy I'll probably only get to see 1-2 times a year! :( So sad.

Maybe I should pack rubber gloves and a breathing mask, and see if they let me hold him for a minute or two. hehe.

I love Liz Lange Maternity at Target!

For all my pregnant and someday-to-be-pregnant friends:

Be sure to check out Target! I find great stuff every time I go. Yesterday I made a trip over there, just to see what they had. I ended up with:

Gaucho-length grey trouser pants, that will be perfect for work in the spring. $6

I also got a pair of super cute black dress pants! They have 3 decorative buttons across the pocket which I think are ugly, but I can remove them easily and have a way cute pair of pants! $6 (Wearing them to work today, actually.)

I also got a dress, made out of a silky/satiny material. I bought it one size bigger because it's definitely a warmer-weather dress. Cute for showers, or work, whatever! $12

Plus I had a $5 off coupon thanks to my friend Terra. :)

So yes, while all of these items WERE on clearance, any of these items, even at Old Navy, would be at least 2x the cost even on clearance, but I feel like the quality is at least comparable, if not better at Target.

The red shirt I'm wearing in our Christmas picture is from Target too!

They key to finding great deals at Target is they mix their maternity clearance clothes with the plus-size clearance clothes. So sometimes you have to dig a little bit, but it's usually pretty easy to spot the wonderful maternity waist band. :)

18 Weeks

Sorry I'm a bit late, but here's my 18 week post and picture!



Look how round I am!! I love it! Everything is going so well. I'm loving every minute! You really forget about how miserable the first trimester was when everything is so fun in the second trimester. But that being said, I really don't have a WHOLE lot to complain about the first.

The worst thing that's going on is the baby's sporadic activity. He/she was really active last week on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday with several kicks per day. Saturday I didn't feel a whole lot until late in the evening, I ate a piece of cake, and got one good kick out of the baby. Sunday and Monday, I felt nothing. Let me tell you, that is scary after you've gotten used to activity!! I read in all my books and asked my online mommy friends, and they all say it's normal to go a few days without feeling anything while the baby is still this small. It could have changed positions and is now kicking inwards instead of outwards, or something like that. This morning, after eating a few Cornflake wreaths, I think I have felt a little stirring a couple of times, so that's making me feel better. I'll be glad to feel a swift kick again though!

In other news, Jeff is sick. :( He came down with whatever he has over the weekend. It started as a sore throat, and has now moved on to severe congestion. I'm scared to death to get sick, because I can't take anything, and we're leaving for Arizona in 2 days, and I want to be able to cuddle with Micah! Jeff isn't allowed to touch me, I walk around the house every day spraying everything he touches with antibacterial spray, I wash my hands every 20 minutes, and carry around antibacterial hand lotion at all times! haha, Overreacting much?? Oh well. Better safe than sorry. Today I'm noticing a little increased congestion, but otherwise still normal. So please say a little prayer for me that I can stay healthy!

The other biggest development of Week 18 is that tummy sleeping is done. I've been dreading this day. But that's pretty good that I made it almost halfway before having to give that up! And I'm doing surprisingly well. Right now the most comfortable position is lying half on my tummy, half on my side. I'm sure it won't be long until even that won't work anymore, and I'll be fully on my side, but at least it's a slow process and I have time to get used to anything!

I'm spreading Cocoa Butter on my belly every night. That stuff smells so darn good! I love to get in bed about 30 minutes early, rub on my belly butter, and then just sit there and enjoy the scent for a while before I go to bed! Yeah, I know I'm weird. My belly button is getting a little bit shallow, that is weird to watch stretch out, and a little scary to think it's going to stretch all the way out!

The Baby Loves Choir!

Last night was a dress rehearsal for our Christmas Event/Concert at church. I sing in the choir. During our first song, the baby started kicking me a bit. During the second song, I felt a completely NEW sensation... The baby must have done backflip or something! It was the weirdest thing I've ever felt! The only way I can try to describe it is if you have an aquarium fish cupped in your hands and it squirms! It was definitely a different sensation from kicks. I've never really heard people talking about squirming or flipping, so it was sort of unexpected! Definitely cool though. I hope the baby does it again soon!

All my books say the baby is just starting to be able to hear, so I'm sure it was just enjoying the music! I need to pull out the headphones and start playing all my favorite songs for the baby. :)

Tailbone Pain and a Baby Girl?

Yesterday brought another new pregnancy joy to me - tailbone pain. It was nagging a little bit early in the day, but by the afternoon I was just plain miserable. I was literally sitting tilted sideways on my chair, sitting on my thigh/hip, alternating butt cheeks, and slouching way down in my chair so I was sitting on my lower back, trying to keep all pressure off my tailbone! I'm not sure what happened. I didn't sit hard on anything, or injure it somehow... Probably just the beginning of pregnancy aches. I had to leave work early because I just wanted to lay down on my stomach, taking all pressure off my tailbone. I went home and took an hour nap, that was great. When I woke up, it felt a little better, and I tried to remain in a lying down position for the rest of the night, whenever possible. This morning it feels a little bit "nagging" again, so I hope I'm not in for a similar day. If this continues I may have to go out and look for one of those nerdy donut pillows!

Yesterday on Babycenter, a girl predicted that I'm having a baby girl based on my belly shape. I love to hear speculation!

In non-baby news, I've made the playoffs in both of my fantasy football leagues. Yay me. I'm actually in second place in my work league, where I actually have some money riding on the league! Woohoo!

I'm also on a cooking roll. I made dinner Monday night and last night... And have plans on making dinner tonight! That is a record for me. I haven't had a streak longer than 1 night of cooking my entire pregnancy. PLUS I brought my lunch yesterday for the first time the whole pregnancy. I stopped bringing lunch because in the first trimester, I could never plan on what I was going to eat. I never knew what I would be able to eat that day until I was actually hungry for lunch, so it was useless trying to plan ahead!

My latest craving is apples. I can't get enough. I have one every day, if not two a day. They're just so yummy, crispy, juicy, and delicious!

I'm really missing snow this week. Hearing all of my northern friends talk about snow (and see their pictures) it's making me homesick for a white Christmas! I just keep telling myself I'm going to Minnesota in January, so I'll get my fill then. Jeff said some year he wants to spend Christmas somewhere up north so he can experience a true white Christmas. I think that sounds like a lot of fun. Maybe when the kid(s) are old enough to appreciate the snow, and go sledding. I miss sledding. I'd love to go in January, but I don't know if that's probably too risky.

Some other good news for the day - Yesterday I got my AFP test results back, and it came back negative! So that's great news! (The test basically looks for downs syndrome and spina bifida.) So praise the Lord for a healthy baby thus far.

17 Week Picture

Here we go! Now I think I'm just plain fat.



Ouch. Oh well, we can always hope it starts sticking out front more soon rather than coming in all around! I've gained my first weight now in the last 2 weeks, I think I'm up 3-4 pounds or something. I'm sure Thanksgiving was the main contributor! haha. I had a doctor appointment on Friday, he said everything is looking perfect. I got to hear the heartbeat again, which is always fun. We've scheduled my "BIG" ultrasound for December 27. It's referred to as the Big u/s because that's when most people find out if they're having a boy or girl. For us, we'll just get to see the baby again, which will be fun because it's been a while, and this time it will be unmistakable as a baby, rather than blobs of various shapes and sizes! That will be fun.

Jeff and I had a wonderful weekend. We went down to San Antonio for the Big 12 Championship. Being here in Dallas, I always associate San Antonio as being "waaaay down there" and simply too far to ever take a trip to. It really isn't too bad at all! Closer than when I used to drive from Oklahoma City to Austin! We left Friday night, and spent the night in Round Rock. We got up the next morning, hit the outlet mall in San Marcos, then went into San Antonio.

The football game was SO much fun. We had bought 4 tickets on Ebay, and when we got there, people were basically giving tickets away, so there was no way we were going to be able to sell our other 2 tickets. So we just kept them, sat in the middle 2 seats, and had a buffer zone between us and the people next to us. That was sort of nice! I could sit sort of to the side and had plenty of leg room, especially because the guy in front of me kept putting his arms up on the seat back, and if I would have had to keep my legs frontwards, there would have been some issues there. :)

I got a little nervous when Missouri had that little trickery play to get the 2 point conversion and tied the game up, but we just came out and owned the second half. It was such a fun game to be at. I was SO annoyed with the Missouri fans though. Talk about classless. For some reason, the game was full of injuries, especially in the first half it seemed. Jeff said it was because neither of our teams were used to playing on turf. Anyway, an OU player was the first to be injured. He wasn't down on the ground more than a minute when the Missouri fans started chanting.. "MISSOURI!! BEAT OU! MISSOURI! BEAT OU!" Come on idiots, have some consideration for the injured player down on the field, providing the entertainment for you. Not too much later, a Missouri player went down. Our band stopped playing, and all our fans got quiet. I was glad to see our fans have the class there, no matter what side you're playing on, we respect the fact that a player getting injured is a solemn event, no one wants to see that happen. I was hoping we'd get that point across to Missouri. But we didn't. In the second half, another OU player went down. Did they have the same respect for us? Nope. They started up their chant again, and the band was playing a little pep song for the crowd. Klassy.

But in the end, we beat them. It was funny to watch the Mizzou fans begin to file out. Jeff and I were in the 3rd deck, and spotted some seats down in the front row of the end zone we wanted to go take over after the Mizzou fans left. With a few minutes left in the game, we went down there and hung out. We knew the Championship presentation would be on that end of the field, so we just waited. It was neat, we got to see all sorts of people walk by, Toby Keith included, but he never came over to where we were. After the presentation, all of the players came over to us and were giving us Hi-5's as they were headed down to the locker room. I got to give most of the team a Hi-5, Sam Bradford, AP, and Demarco Murray included, that was pretty fun. I couldn't believe how BIG some of those guys were! haha!

On our way home from San Antonio, we stopped at the Round Rock outlets and got some Christmas shopping done. That makes me less than 1/4 done with my shopping. HA! I need to get a move on.

We picked Bailey up on our way back into town. Our friends Clint and Kristin were babysitting her. While we were there, I had to snap a "Christmas Card" picture of Bailey and her boyfriend Chance.



It's a little dark, huh? I'm still trying to figure this camera out, it was only my second day using it!

For the record, another baby dream last night, except fast-forward a bit. I had a little toddler girl running around. So, Girl: 3 Boy: 2.