It's a BOY!

Hi lovelies~  Just wanted to pop in and share quick that Joseph Michael was born yesterday - Wednesday morning - just shortly before 8am. 

Oh Hi Everyone!

6 pounds, 7 ounces, 20.25 inches long.  He has a good amount of black hair, his father's widow's peak and an excellent set of lungs, lol!  He is just perfect.

Sorry I look naked here - I'm not, lol!  But I am SO in love with this little man!

We are both still in the hospital recovering and hope to be discharged home in then next day or two.  It has been a far cry from my first birth experience - in a good way.  More pictures and a brief birth story to come.  Thanks for all your well wishes via FB and email and text!!  I can't believe I have a son AND that I now have 2 kids ; )  Feeling so incredibly blessed...

Pool Day

I had big grand plans for a pool day today with my sweet little toddler.  What better way to pass the time while we wait for baby?  And mama could use a tan ; )

Well.  Let's just say it ended up with us spending about one hour total at the actual pool.  This was AFTER we went to the store to stock up on a few pool necessities (wing floaties, a little seated floaty, a sunbrella, swim diapers, etc.).  Came home, had a quick lunch and then tried to dress my sweet little toddler.  Who wasn't having it.  Lately, she HATES being changed, diaper or otherwise.  (Which is why she spent the evening in a diaper and a long shirt that *almost* passed as a dress.  Whatevs.  I didn't have it in me to battle her at the end of the day today...)

You can't even see my diaper!

As feisty and sassy as she's getting, I am loving her little personality.  She can be the SWEETEST little thing ever.  She'll come up to me and just lay her head on my chest and make an "Mmmmm" noise, meaning she wants to give me a kiss.  MELT!

And I don't want to forget some of the cute things she does. Lately she loves going into my spice cabinet that is a corner cabinet that spins, and pulling out her "favorites" (it's always the same ones).  Tonight she pulled out a small bottle of vanilla extract and carried it around for over an hour, toddling all over the house.  I made sure the cap was on good & tight and when I happened to check, I realized it has 35% alcohol by volume in it!  Ooops!  Why don't I just give her a vodka bottle to wander around with, lol!

I'm once again timing my contractions...it seems every evening they get pretty intense.  tonight they are intense and I'm having a lot of pressure...But I am being stubborn and not wanting to go in, only to be sent home again after a few hours (I'm sure every woman feels that way!).  Plus I see my OB first thing in the morning, so I'm willing to wait. 

The Waiting Game

So here I am, just waiting, waiting, waiting for Baby #2...  It's surreal to think that by Friday afternoon this week, we will have another baby!  I'm so excited, it's like Christmas x 10000!!

Anyway, to keep occupied, I've been feeding my shopping addiction a little more than I should.  Non-maternity clothes, cheap jewelry, things for the house, and Morgan always needs something ; )  Good thing there's only a few days left of this waiting because it could get expensive around here.  Sorry Hubs.

A very sobering realization set in yesterday though:  I have a solid 30 pounds to lose after baby's arrival (35 if I want to get to my happy weight).  It just seems completely and utterly overwhelming, especially knowing how time-intensive a newborn baby can be.

Anyway, when I'm not worrying about THAT, I've been chasing my toddler.  Everywhere.  She's on fire with this walking business!  and cutting more teeth.  So it's been interesting in our house.  She has also started tickling my toes saying "teek, teek, teeek" and it's the most adorable thing EVER!

I also went and got a pedicure this past weekend thinking it will be my last chance for a while.  Sometimes I feel bad that I reference everything to sound like I'm going away to prison or something.  It's not going to be that bad, right?  RIGHT?!?!  I mean, I know getting out with 2 kids is going to be a challenge at first, but I'm hopeful that like with my first, it gets easier over time.

I keep thinking "What else MUST get done before this baby arrives?"  I'm kind of driving myself crazy! On Sunday night, I thought we might have a baby coming sooner rather than later.  I started contracting fast & furious - they were 5-6 min apart for over an hour.  I finally got myself home to lie down and drink some water and they eased up.  I have to admit, both the Hubs and I were a little excited ; )

Did I mention we STILL DO NOT HAVE A NAME for this baby?  If you have any suggestions, it's a free-for-all at this point.  We are both burned out on trying to come up with something.

Thankfully, The Bachelorette was on last night to take my mind off things....I never watch this show in past seasons, but I kinda like Emily and her feistiness.  So far I like Doug (but there's got to be a flaw SOMEWHERE?  Despite the fact they depicted him as a man who couldn't utter an intelligent string of words last week) so I'm super sad he got sent home.  I think I kinda like that Shawn guy too.  I'm so happy she booted Ryan, aka Mr. IlovemyselfmorethanGod.  Uggh, he needed to go from the beginning. I don't really care for Arie and I keep hearing she ends up with Jef -- he looks like he's 11 years old and strikes me as awkward.  Clearly I have a lot of time on my hands to dissect each of these men ; ) 

Friday Randoms & 38 Weeks

• I've been off bedrest for 4 days now and while it has been AWESOME, my husband keeps taking my new mommymobile to work, leaving us vehicle-less!  Boo to that.  He desperately needs a new vehicle, but it might be a while seeing as how we just bought mine.
• Anyway... Morgan and I ventured out Wednesday to get groceries.  Exciting, right?  I hadn't been to the store in over a month!  It took me forever and I had to keep stopping for contractions (while not making a scene), but we made it through.  I had big grand plans to run all over the place yesterday, but that one trip to Kroger wore me out!
• Summer is here!  I really wanted to take Mo to a splash park with the MOMS Club yesterday, but I don't think I could wrangle her myself right now.  So we've been keeping cool by playing out back in her little pool and splash table.  I let her go diaperless and she loved that.  I fear I've started a new obsession for her because getting a diaper on her has become nearly impossible since then!
• And it's a good thing I got off bedrest when I did -- because little Miss is WALKING!  We knew it was a long time coming since she took her first steps alone over a month ago -- but she just needs to gain more confidence.  Also I've noticed she walks more when she's not thinking about it and people aren't making a big deal over it.  She'll be carrying a book around, looking like she's reading it, just walking along.  But as soon as I say something or divert her attention, she gets all wobbly and plops down.  Same if I whip out the video camera...I have to be very discreet.  Meaning my 10-octave higher, screechy, excited, annoying Mommy voice has to be stifled ; )

I gots places to go Mama!

Look out, I'm coming through!

 She turned 16 months old yesterday.  My baby *sigh*....

• Morgan has also figured out how to climb up on the furniture and loves to sit on the couch now, so in between chasing her around, I'm dodging heart attacks to keep her from falling off the furniture!

"Don't mind me mommy...I'm just gonna hop up on the couch and get out of that sunlight!"

• In other toddler development, Morgan has been so much more emotional lately.  She is obsessed with grabbing people's noses and last night when we told her "No", she got SO sad...quivery lip, and then full-blown dramatic crying.  Needless to say there have been a lot of tears this week.  A preview of what's to come with raising a girl??  She also cut another tooth, so that's not helping the crankiness.
• 
• As far as the pregnancy front goes...still hanging on.  As mentioned, still having lots of contractions, but they haven't been regular when I've timed them, so nothing to get excited about.  I've mentally accepted I'm going to be pregnant for another 7 days ; )  I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...
• I ordered neon pink shorts for my post-baby bod.  Hopefully that will motivate me to exercise and make good eating decisions from the get-go.  Let's just say laying around on bedrest for 4+ weeks did nothing for my physique (but a small price to pay if it helped baby stay on the inside and grow safely a little longer!)

And here we are at 38 weeks!  Gettaloadofthatbelly!

Total Weight Gain: 22-23 pounds.

Wickedawful Heartburn.

Really weak/deconditioned from a month+ worth of bedrest.

Lots of contractions all day and all night.

I sleep best from 3am - 6am.

Baby #2 parties AS SOON AS I lay down every.single.night.

Nursery is Ready.

Mommy is Ready.

Hospital bags are packed.

You can come anytime now Baby - we can't wait to have you here!!!!!

Dr. Appt. Update

I stopped the Procardia late last night.  I thought I would begin contracting something fierce, but to my surprise, they seem to have eased up!

So it was no surprise at today's appointment when my dr. checked me to hear "No change".  I was TOTALLY fine with that, considering I've officially been sprung free from bedrest!!!  Woo Hoo!!!  He said not to do anything crazy:  No squats, lunges, or castor oil, lol!

I asked him what his prediction was for this baby to come....he said he now thinks I will make it to my scheduled c-section date next week.  I'll see him again next week, get checked out and we'll go over all the ins & outs of a scheduled c-section.  He promised it would be a lot less chaotic than my emergency c-section with Morgan, ha ha!

Just for reference since I've been unable too lazy to get a decent bumpdate post up, I'm 37w3d and up +21 pounds.  I've really been gaining lately.  Could be the ice cream I've been having every night -- that seriously needs to stop.  But I've noticed too that I'm retaining a lot o fluid, especially in my legs and feet later in the day.  It's super attractive.

The Hubs is off work today so he & Morgan accompanied me to my appointment.  As for the rest of this day, I feel like a new woman, so I'm going to Target ; )  And then who knows? 

Happy Fathers Day!

To my sweet Hubs - the best Daddy Morgan and Baby #2 could ask for!

We spent the day just hanging out together as a family, and then later met up with his side of the family for a little Cajun/Creole dinner out.  It was great to get out, but I ate WAY too much!  The Hubs even made me try fried alligator.  It was alright!  Tasted like chicken ; )

And to my own Father....Thanks for always being there.  We love you! 

(I tried uploading more photos of my Dad, but Blogger is telling me I'm out of space on Picasa Web and need to buy  more.  Anyone else having any tips on how to fix this - without deleting previous blog post photos?)

Park Morning & My Morgie Moo

I had been feeling really guilty lately that Morgan never gets to leave the house and go do fun summer things.    Here I am about to bring another baby into the world and Morgan's little world is going to be rocked.  So I wanted to get a few things written down before things get crazy in this house.  I never want to forget this time.

 She is so active now and curious - about everything!  This morning after breakfast, we hurried out the door with Daddy and drove to a nearby park.  (Bedrest, schmedrest.  I needed to get out of the house desperately!)

I waddled and manned the camera while the Hubs pushed our sweet little girl in the swing.  She was very cautious, and a little skeptical, but really enjoyed it by the end.

 And then she screamed and cried the whole way home ; )  I just love this time with her; this age, everything.  She will be 16 months old next week and I can't help but get a little emotional seeing how fast she is growing up.

She's talking more and today added "Uh-Oh!" to her vocabulary, after she kept dropping her juice on the floor and I said it.  But hers sounds more like "Ooh-Ooh!".  So cute!

After her bath tonight, she kept saying "Done".  "Done".  And stood up in the tub like she was all finished and ready to be plucked out and dried off.

She is still saying "Bay-beee!" and of course "Da Da!".  When Daddy comes home from work, she goes crazy yelling and clapping "Da-Da! Da-Da! Da-Da!"  It's quite the show!  She even says "Do-Ta!" for Dakota.  And my favorite -- since she STILL isn't saying "Mama" -- is "Wowwww!"  The ways she says is with such surprise & wonder in her voice, and at the appropriate times, is SO adorable!  There are a few other words she keeps trying, but I can't quite make them out just yet.

She has become quite the climber.  Climbing on EVERYTHING!  But she is very cautious at the same time.  

She can walk, taking several steps alone, but just loses her confidence.  She's practically running if you hold  onto her hands!

She hates having her face and hands wiped off after eating and will throw the biggest fit.

 She is very affectionate and gives hugs & kisses on demand.  Her kisses are her pursing her lips and leaning up against your face/mouth and making the "Mmmmm" noise.  I demand them about 100 times a day ; )

 And lately she's been snuggling up to me, just resting her head on my chest.  When she plays, and I'm on the floor playing with her or just watching her - she will scoot her little butt right up against me and keep on playing as long as she's touching me.

Her Daddy & I love her SO much....it's impossible to put into words.  We are so lucky God picked US to be her parents!

37 Weeks - Full Term

Woo Hoo!  We made it!

Lately she's all over me!  And I have to admit:  I sorta love it.  A lot ; )

Hanging out with Auntie Nee-Nee

I love her little smile here, too bad I cut her head off!  Or she moved, which is always the case these days.  Toddler in constant motion.

More splash table fun.  That hat kills me!

Insisted on wearing her sunnies for lunch.  Inside.  Why not?



The porch:  Finally tiled.  Ahhh!  I foresee many days of fun and food out here!

I'm taking a break from High Five for Friday today, btw.  Not that I don't have a bazillion things to be thankful for, because I do!

But the Hubs will be home soon and he is off all weekend -- PLUS Monday too.  Which is going to be really nice to have him come with me to my appointment on Monday morning when the dr. checks me again.  I will have gone OFF my Procardia and OFF bedrest, so I think a little somethin' somethin' should be happening then??  My doctor's office called me back today and the nurse said he definitely wants to see me first thing Monday morning and that I should not move my appointment out later.  So...who knows.

Looking forward to another relaxing weekend -- it could be our last before the chaos starts!  And celebrating Father's Day on Sunday with my amazing hard-working Hubs.  Hope you all have a fantastic weekend!

Dr. Appointment today

I'm trying, but not doing a very good job...

I reeeealllly had my hopes high today for SOMETHING.  ANYTHING.  Progress of any sort!

But my OB checked me today and said I was still "About the same".  So evidently the meds are doing their job, despite the fact that I can barely make it 3-3.5 hours between pills.  You can only take them as frequently as every 4 hours.

I also expected to be released from bed rest since I am 37 weeks on Friday.  PLUS HE SAID I COULD GO OFF IT at my appointment last week!  He's making me stay on it til MONDAY.  Because he wants Father's Day off.  Awesome.  I felt like a little kid arguing with him..."But you said!!!!!"

He said he'll take me off both the medication and bed rest Monday.  And then?  Who knows.  I don't know how fast things will happen after that.  I called to get clarification on something and didn't even get a call back.  He wants to check me on Monday also, instead of waiting until my usual Wednesday appointment.  Will it happen that fast?  Or will that appointment be a waste of time?  If nothing has changed...

Needless to say I'm grumpy.  I will resume blogging when my attitude is a little better.  I feel like such a whiner, but here's the thing:  I can handle the meds and the painful contractions and the physical misery (albeit with a lot of whining).  What I can't handle is being confined to my house - namely the chair, couch, bed rotation 24/7, doing nothing but thinking about how miserable I am.  I've barely seen the outside world in the last month.  OK, this pity party's over now.

I need to remind myself:

I'm healthy.  

This baby is healthy.  

This baby is full-term.  

This baby will come home with me. 

I have everything I need.  

I have so many people who care about 

and are helping us. 

I am blessed.  I am blessed.  I am blessed.

Nursery Reveal

As I continue to grow this precious little bebe inside me, I decided to get on the ball and get some photographs of the nursery taken.  There are still some personalized little details I'd like to add, but won't be able to until after bebe arrives.

If you remember from an earlier post, here was the ugly "before", which was my husband's office.  I wasn't allowed in this room and it. was. a. disaster!  From the grandma-ish faux-finish paint, to the big gawdy window treatments, to all the dark way-too-big for the space furniture.  Just bad.  Bad all around.

BEFORE:

And here is the After:

Dakota can often be found in here, hiding out.

Need more Poms!

Need to add something above the changing table

I LOVE how calm, CLEAN, and peaceful it is in here now.  Part of me wants to leave it exactly as is, because I know it will be cluttered with "stuff" once baby is here.

But some things I want to do/add include:

• Add a white floating shelf above the changing table.  I am also still toying with the idea of a large cursive-font cutout monogram to go here, but if this baby is a boy, that might be a bit too feminine?
• Finish the Poms mobile above the crib.  I will either add more white and some pastel colors or hang some gray ones up there.  I think the colors would be more fun for bebe to look at though!  It looks kinda skimpy now...
• Get a circular area rug for the center of the room.  I've looked online like it's my full-time job and not found anything I loved that wasn't ridiculously expensive.

Am I missing anything here guys??

Here's a list of where we got everything, in case anyone's wondering:

• Crib/changing table/nightstand/tall chest: Pottery Barn Kids (Larkin Collection).  We got a great deal on this set because they discontinued the color of the furniture - but we couldn't get the same color of crib.  So we decided we didn't care that it didn't match perfectly (the crib is a brighter white and everything else is a creamy-off-white.  Oh well.  It was worth the $$$ saved)
• Glider Rocker & Ottoman:  Babies R'Us  (I wouldn't order from them again, although I got a steal of a deal!)  So far, I've been using the rocker to read in the middle of the night when I can't sleep.  It is super comfortable, both pieces glide/rock/swivel smoothly and I LOVE the high back on the chair to rest my head & neck on.
• Lamp & shade on nightstand:  Lowe's
• Fabric Bunting hung behind crib:  Etsy seller BooBahBlue ( http://www.etsy.com/shop/boobahblue).  Flawless to work with, fast shipping, highly recommend!
• White Poms:  Leftover from Morgan's 1st Birthday party....no lie!  Got them at a local party store and haven't had a chance to go back and get more yet.
• Framed Italian animal print - got this from an Etsy seller for Morgan's room, but "relocated" it to new baby's room.  She never even noticed it when it was in her room, but now whenever she comes in here, she points and babbles until someone lifts her up and names off all the animals on it.  
• Crib bumper, fitted sheet & blackout curtain panels:  Pottery Barn Kids Harper gray & white collection

You maybe noticed the crib looks a little "lived in"....Morgan's been sleeping in here since we had guests in town that used her bedroom.  Also, this room is easier for people that are here helping us out with her (no stairs!).  I will remove the bumper pad and we'll raise the mattress back up for the new bebe, even though the plan is for him/her to sleep in the bassinet in our bedroom for the first few months.

I LOVE the light that comes in this room, however, blackout curtain panels are a must.  We still have the cellular shades up that help block out noise and let in filtered soft light (we didn't see a point in taking them down, they will be good for re-sale since they were custom ordered).  We realized Morgan wasn't sleeping well for naps when it was too bright in her room (and waking up EARLIER and EARLIER with the sunrise, uggh!).  I'd heard of people even putting tin foil over their child's windows to block out light.  While I  can appreciate the theory behind that idea, I wasn't crazy about how it would look.  So I waited until the PB Kids blackout panels went on sale and can say they are worth every penny!  (Morgan has the hot pink polka dot panels in her room).

So there you have it, the nursery!  It may not be Pinterest-worthy, and I don't yet have all those special little details and personal touches I want, but I love how it turned out!  

Now we just need a baby in there ; )

High Five for Friday

Linking up again with Lauren @ From My Grey Desk for this week's edition of High Five for Friday...
So here's what I'm high-fiving about this week:

1.  My peanut butter/banana/chia seed smoothie I made for breakfast this morning.  I finally hopped on the PB2 + Chia seed bandwagon... and oh my goodness, it was GOOD!  So good, in fact, that when I told the Hubs "Here, try this", he drank the WHOLE THING.  He usually refuses anything remotely healthy.  So I made myself another using the following ingredients:

• 1 banana
• 2 T PB2
• 2 T Chia Seeds
• 1 small container Chobani Vanilla Greek Yogurt
• A splash of skim milk

Blend all together in blender and *voila!!* healthy goodness!  I'm trying to gear myself up for all healthy eating once this bambino is born.  Because lately I've been indulging.  A lot ; )

If you don't already know about PB2, it's a powder-like substance derived from roasted peanuts.  The oil & fat is pressed out, eliminating 85% of the fat calories, while still tasting exactly like the real stuff.  You can mix in water to create a paste, though I haven't tried that yet.  I ordered mine from Amazon.

And Chia seeds are chock full of healthy omega fats, protein, antioxidants, and dietary fiber.  It's easy to store and doesn't go rancid (like ground flax seed), doesn't need to be ground, and forms a gel during digestion to help carry toxins out of the digestive system.  They have no flavor and absorb whatever flavor they are mixed into.  Good for smoothies, salads, etc.  Ordered this from Amazon also.

2.  THIS weather forecast.  It's gonna be WARM this weekend.  Like, HOT even.  I LOVE it!

Weekend Forecast

Updated: Jun 8, 2012, 10:09am EDT

Today Jun 8

85^°F

59^°F

Sunny

Sat Jun 9

88^°

63^°

Partly Cloudy

Sun Jun 10

89^°

68^°

Mostly Cloudy

3.  I slept on a futon last night.  The Hubs was on-call again and the threat of that pager going off all night long, in addition to my 3-5 potty breaks, in addition to his snoring, was more than I could handle, so I decided to sleep elsewhere.  And?  It was the best night's sleep I've had in quite some time!  I can't say it was the MOST comfortable, but I'll take it!  (I've resigned myself to the fact that "comfortable" just isn't going to happen for a while)

4.  My baby girl has been having so much fun this week with her Auntie Connie & Cousin Jacob in town.  Yesterday they hit up the Children's Museum.  She came home zonked out.  Today they hit up the zoo and again, came home passed out ; )  She was SO ready for some fun outside the house!

Post-nap bedhead and dirty face

Shoulder rides!

My baby is growing up too fast :(  Love her little skort!

5. I'm officially 36 weeks!  Hooray!  Bumpdate to come.  I joked to the Hubs this morning as he gave me a kiss goodbye before he left for work, "Today could be our baby's birthday!".  He's on-call this weekend too, in the middle of a 12-Days-In-A-Row stretch so I was trying to get a smile out of him. This baby's arrival could break up that long dreadful stretch nicely....I'm just sayin' ; )

Whoah Belly!  Um, even my maternity tank tops are not fully covering this big bump!

Although, on second thought?  It would be incredibly difficult, if not impossible, to find another doc to cover for him if I did deliver this weekend.  Fortunately, I would be at the same hospital and he could pop in and out between patients, but I kinda prefer to have my Baby Daddy right there with me the whole time.

What are you High-Fiving about this week?