08 November 2009

Big Stinkin' Update

Gah! Why does it take so much effort to get motivated to blog lately? Oh yes, the pregnancy thing. ;) Third trimester is apparently sucking my energy out of my body. Thus it makes it hard to do things, like think. But, I digress... let me update you on things going on in our household.

When H1N1 Attacks: About the 15th of October, I came down with a funny cough. I call it a funny cough, because if you know me, when I get sick, it ALWAYS starts in my throat. I have enlarged, scarred tonsils, and I like to joke that they'd swab me for strep if I went in with a broken leg. So it was very unusual to have a cough & no sore throat. This progressed to what I though was just a semi-nasty cold. By that Saturday, Doug was sick, too. We skipped church on Sunday, and by then Sariah was just starting to cough. We didn't think much about it until Doug spiked a 104 degree temperature. So we called our clinic. By the time they called us back, Doug's fever had gone down with tylenol, but they prescribed me Tamiflu since I'm in a high risk category. We also scheduled an appointment for Sariah and she was also given the Tamiflu. By Monday, I felt like a million dollars, so I went to de-germing our entire house. Sariah also felt fine, her worst symptom ended up being a mild temperature. Poor Doug was still down for the count. By Monday night, he was having a hard time breathing. When I woke up Tuesday, it was so bad, he could barely catch his breath, so it was off to urgent care for him.

Long story short, Doug missed a whole week of work, had an X-ray of his lungs, was prescribed some inhaler meds & a cough suppressant, followed by an antibiotic & a steroid on Friday for bloodied mucus in his nose. We also ended up buying a humidifier & a neti pot, which was oh so fun. Poor Doug! He's feeling much better now & can say he survived the "epidemic." And I'll just add that I hope none of you come down with H1N1, but if you do, I hope you can get the Tamiflu, because that stuff rocks!

Halloween: Oh how thankful that the sickness drama was the week before all our Halloween festivities. We had at least 5 parties to attend that week, making Sariah's costume totally worth the time & effort I put into it. And here she is!
Just in case you were wondering, yes, I made the dress myself. I found all the materials at Walmart, and I even let Sariah choose the fabric & lace. We found her hat at Walmart, too, just in the toy section, not the Halloween stuff. The horse was a find at Target & her boots came from Target.com.

Monday we went to a party hosted by one of our friends from the Library. This is year 3 of having all the kids from our former baby story time get together at Halloween. I wish I hadn't forgotten my camera! There were tons of fun crafts for the kids to do. Sariah enjoyed stringing beads onto piper cleaners & making bracelets the best.

Wednesday we headed to our ward playgroup. Thursday at dance class the girls got to wear their costumes.

They learned a fun dance to the Purple People Eater song. I got a video, so we'll see if it ever gets onto the internet, it depends on how agreeable the dying laptop will be.

Friday morning was the annual library costume pageant. Several of our friends were there, and we had fun singing songs & eating treats. Friday night was our ward Trunk or Treat. We enjoyed the yummy soups & bread.
This year was the first year that we took Sariah out to the trunk or treat part of the evening. Doug took her out & unfortunately, there aren't any good pictures. It was very dark, very cold & very windy! Doug tells me that Sariah seemed very confused, but I know she enjoyed the candy we let her eat afterward.

Saturday night we did our first official Trick or Treating. We didn't go very many places, just to some of our neighbor houses & then over to Richard & Chrissie's house.
There's a nice older couple across the street that we went to first, who weren't planning on handing out candy, but had bought a big box of M&Ms just for Sariah. After that, she wouldn't really hold her pumpkin herself, in the hopes more big boxes of candy would be given that don't fit in her little pumpkin. No such luck, though. She did enjoy visiting Richard & Chrissie because they gave her several pieces of candy & pumpkin seed (which she surprisingly loved!) We had to dash home early because we had Stake Conference that night, but I'd say our first foray into Halloween was a success!

First salon visit: The Monday after Halloween we decided we'd go get Sariah's hair cut. It was flipping out funny in the back, getting long enough to start getting really tangled again, and we're doing 3 year portraits on the 19th, so I wanted her to have a good cut. Here's the finished product.
She did such a good job in the chair! She sat very still in the chair & held her head exactly like the lady asked her to. I was very proud. (I can't believe she'll be 3 in just over a week!)

Other tidbits: I survived my first Sunday as Primary Chorister. We're working on singing songs off my "fall singing tree" right now. Two weeks ago, Sariah helped me collect pretty fall colored leaves. Then I laminated them, wrote songs on the back & attached them to a poster of a tree I colored. I'm doing my best to learn the kids names & attitudes, but I'll admit to being still very nervous.

Sariah loves swim lessons. She's doing so good, too. Saturday they gave the kids all diving rings and had them blowing bubbles through them. Sariah loved this. Its the first time I've really seen her blow bubbles. Soon she'll be old enough to move up to the kids only classes & while she's definitely ready skill wise, she'll have to be potty trained first. We've marked Thanksgiving weekend for the next big potty push. Wish us luck!

Speaking of kids only classes. Tomorrow is Sariah's very first Pre-school story time. Its the first time she'll go into story time without me. I think she's excited, there's at least 4 or 5 of her friends in the same class. Mommy is understandably upset that her baby has grown up & doesn't need her anymore, but she's blaming it on pregnancy hormones... ;)

Finally, speaking of pregnancy, its still going well. All doctor's appointments are looking good. We're finally in the phase where we go to the doctor every 2 weeks. That, combined with the sisters-in-law that will be having babies soon has got me excited for the end of this pregnancy, even though we have a ways to go still. My hips are still holding out (thanks to my body pillow,) but I'm still sore in other places & I'm moving slower. I've had to stop picking Sariah up, because carrying her 31 lbs. disagrees with my uterus. Sariah is understandably upset by this development. She is excited about having a brother. She loves to go in "brother's room" and point out that baby brother is in my tummy. She tells me she's going to be very nice to brother & very helpful for mommy. We're all very excited.

So there it is, our lives caught up to date. Don't be surprised if I don't get another post out until Sariah's birthday, I've got such a mushy brain! :)

02 November 2009

Um, yeah

So a ton of things have been going on here, starting 2 weeks ago when we were all sick, esp. Doug. Then this last week we had tons of Halloween festivities, and I went to the dr. today (looking good!)

So I promise a real update as soon as I feel coherent enough to form sentences into paragraphs and explain stuff... I've been battling a sinus infection that feels like I've been punched in my left cheek, so thinking hurts... Please stand by...

29 October 2009

Happy 30th Lisa!

dsc00589

To my "Sister," Lisa, Happy 30th Birthday! Honestly? Its not as bad as we thought... :) Love ya!

13 October 2009

Neun und Neunzig

At some point last night, my little creepy floating baby reminded me that I had only 100 days until my due date. To that thought, I went, "Really? Sweet!" Honestly, the second pregnancy isn't as busy as my first. We already have a lot of things ready, and as soon as we found out it was a boy we went out & got clothes & decorated the nursery. We seem to be in a hold pattern for now. Thankfully, its fall, so there's lots of things to keep us busy!

Some basic pregnancy updates.

*I'm feeling tons better. About 2 or 3 days before my birthday, I realized that I had energy again! I started feeling (almost) normal again, except of course for the bulging belly. My food aversions are gone, and its nice to be able to eat again. (I've gained a bit of weight to prove it!) So the 2nd trimester came a little late (like 10 weeks) but thankfully it came!

*Everything is looking good at my doctor's appointments. I'm still nervous about having another big baby. Last week I measured on the outside about a week ahead. We'll just have to see what happens. I get to go in for glucose testing in about 2 weeks. Joy.

*I've been feeling movement since week 14, but its nice to start getting those good hard kicks. Unfortunately, they are extremely low. I can't be certain, but it seems like this little boy's feet are wedged low near my cervix. Almost all the movement is under my belly. My kidneys and colon feel like they are getting a beating all night long. Hopefully he unwedges soon and flips, no breach babies please!

*We're getting Sariah use to the idea of baby brother. She knows the room where we change her diaper is "brother's room." She's still in love with babies, which is a good thing. Yesterday, we were over at a friend's house, and she kept telling me she had to "pet" the baby. She even got to hold him. I think she's going to be a great big sister.

*Doug came back from the Priesthood session of General Conference totally excited about being a father to a boy. He's going to be a great example to our little guy!

*Finally, here's a shot of me with 99 days to go, a day shy of 26 weeks... scary, isn't it?

11 October 2009

Autumn Leaves are Falling Down

Can you tell what this is a picture of?Here, I'll give you a hint...
Yup, its our driveway, although its covered in leaves. The sad part? I swept it totally clean yesterday & Doug mowed all the leaves up. But then last night we had our first freeze and I guess the tree didn't take it well...
On another note... How cute is our daughter?
I think she's extremely cute!

07 October 2009

Where in the World?

We finished the baby's room last night! Well, I should say almost finished because I still have one or two more little things that I'm waiting on, but for the most part, its painted, and the big pictures are put up. We decided to go with a map theme for this room. Its based off a room I saw in a magazine, but we went with browns instead of blues, just in case I ever have to girl the room up at some point. You can ignore the ugly dresser & pack n play though, that's temporary baby furniture that will be replaced with a nice new bedroom set when baby is no longer a baby & ready for a big boy bed. So let's look at the pictures, shall we?


This is the corner of the room where our "changing closet" is located. That picture frame next to is is the one some of the postcards people are sending me will be placed. I have plans for the others as well, so no worries! The brown paint on the wall looks a funny color in these pictures, just know its a nicer color in person.The top of the dresser, once again, ignore the picture of Doug and I in the frame. That's our 32 weeks shot when I was pregnant with Sariah. It'll be replaced with a new one in about 7 weeks. The outfit on the dresser is his "coming home" outfit for the hospital. Its the same one as we used with Sariah, with a different blanket (it use to be Doug's) and a new small monkey toy.
These are the maps on the walls.
A close up of the stars that border the room, and the clock, which isn't too interesting, but useful when nursing in the middle of the night!
In case you're wondering, the temple pictured there is Chicago. We tried to go with the closest temples around for the kid's rooms, Sariah has a picture of Nauvoo in her room.
Check out my red curtains, I made those. :) They're "blackout" curtains, so they'll block more light out the room in the morning when the sun is streaming into the room.
(I see a Sariah...) The curtains are suppose to match that toy bucket & the red on the baskets you'll see in the changing closet.
Speaking of the changing closet, we added shelves on the other side (next picture) so we have a whole lot of storage on this side now. The green bucket is empty, but the other two are filled with boy clothes in bigger sizes.
Check out all the storage space! I love it!
So that's the room for now. If I find the cord for the other camera, I'll post the pictures Sariah took that document us painting it. Its been a fun project to work on during this last birthday/conference weekend. I'm glad to have it (mostly) done!

03 October 2009

The Big 3 - 0

Yesterday I left my twenties behind & moved into what I'm going to call the quiet thirties. I call it that because I won't hit a lot of milestones in my thirties. If you think about it, in your teens & twenties lots of stuff happens, high school, college, missions, marriage, first kids, etc. My thirties will still be filled with milestones for my kids, and lots of great life will be going on, but I'm hoping for a calmer existence that what my teens & twenties were!

So, in honor of my birthday, Doug took the day off from work. We woke up and he made me a yummy breakfast, then we hurried off to story time. Afterward we headed to the Home Depot for paint & shelving, and after lunch the day was spent painting the baby's room. I know what you're thinking, painting? Really? Yup, I've been waiting to start decorating that room all week, and what better day when my hubby is off work to do it! Its like my birthday present to me.

Sariah working hard
After the painting was finished, we had dinner out at the Olive Garden. Then after dinner, presents & bed time for little ones. Then Doug and I had birthday dessert. In the end I choose to make 2 cheesecakes, the Key Lime & the Brownie. It wasn't until I was beating the Brownie & the Key Lime was finished that I realized I didn't add the sugar into the Key Lime. It couldn't matter that much, could it? Oh yes it can! It turned out tasting like a very bad block of sour/bitter cheese. Doug managed to eat a piece by mooshing it together with the whipped topping, then we tossed the rest.

A very bad tasting Key Lime Cheesecake
A very tasty Brownie CheescakeThe Brownie Cheesecake turned out much better, although next time I think I'll try to either use less chocolate chips on the top, or make the "lines" thinner, because there are some seriously thick chocolate pieces on top!

All in all, it was a busy, productive, fun birthday. All joking aside, its not bad to be 30. There's some sort of stability about it. I'm looking forward to seeing what the next decade provides!!

The birthday girl & her adorable husband