I went down to the doctor today for my 37 week checkup. And walked away a very nervous mommy! At this stage with the other boys nothing was happening up in there, so I was not prepared to be told I am at a 3, and 75% effaced! How did that happen?!?!?!?!?
Great, now I am going to be watching the clock on every braxton hicks, because we live an hour away from the hospital, and who knows what will happen. We are crossing our fingers he stays in there a bit longer, so his lungs can finish developing. I just feel like a walking, ticking time bomb now. :-)
Good news on Oren though. We haven't had any migraine episodes since Sunday night! We think it may have been related to the fever he had, that he then passed on to Nathan. It may be something we have to deal with again in the future, but now we have an idea what it is and how to help him deal with the scary things he sees and hears.
And my bathroom got cleaned! I had this irresistable urge to scrub the toilet and tub last night, after making a batch of Rachel's little apple pies and doing the dishes. Boy, was I tired afterwards, but William had lots of fun watching me make the potty all white, and handing me paper towels. :-)
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Hurray!
For one thing, Oren didn't run a fever all day. And just had a mild one this evening so we gave him a motrin just to be on the safe side for tonight. Bouncing around all day! Hopefully I'll be able to sleep without worrying if he's going to start screaming any minute. We're going to get him an eye exam and a doctor's appointment for a medicine adjustment. Hopefully that will help with possible eye strain and stress.
And I completely forgot to mention that we have an induction date! Unless something goes wrong with my numbers, his fluid levels, his heart rate.... or my water breaks or I go into labor before then - they will induce me on the 13th! That's 39 weeks, and officially would be the longest I'll have ever been pregnant. We are crossing our fingers he cooks in there until then, because Mark and I would love to take this baby home with us when I leave. So far so good, everything is looking fantastic. Internal checks start this week.... joy..... but I only have 2 more doctor's appointments until our induction date! He's almost here!
(Mark freaked a bit when his mom asked how many days just a second ago, and he figured out it was just 16 days left. Max. I think it's hitting him we'll actually have 4 kids in a couple weeks....)
And I completely forgot to mention that we have an induction date! Unless something goes wrong with my numbers, his fluid levels, his heart rate.... or my water breaks or I go into labor before then - they will induce me on the 13th! That's 39 weeks, and officially would be the longest I'll have ever been pregnant. We are crossing our fingers he cooks in there until then, because Mark and I would love to take this baby home with us when I leave. So far so good, everything is looking fantastic. Internal checks start this week.... joy..... but I only have 2 more doctor's appointments until our induction date! He's almost here!
(Mark freaked a bit when his mom asked how many days just a second ago, and he figured out it was just 16 days left. Max. I think it's hitting him we'll actually have 4 kids in a couple weeks....)
Oren's little adventure
I don't know whether he would call it an adventure or not, but it's sure been interesting!
Apperantly Oren has been having migraines this weekend. Not the plain headache kind where it just hurts really bad. The kind where his eyes and ears play tricks on him and he sees scary things spinning around and hears tornados, which understandably freaks him out and he literally is screaming in terror. Which kind of scares Mommy and Daddy.....
He had a headache Friday afternoon, but then Friday night had a fever too and did the whole screaming episode thing twice. Saturday morning was just a fever, but after his afternoon motrin kicked in he took a nap. When he woke up he had another huge screaming in terror episode, so we loaded up and took him to the ER. I don't normally take the kids there unless it's stitches or something, but I couldn't connect a migraine and possible vertigo or hallucinations, with a fever. We thought it better to be safe.
It took me a while to track down a sitter, because as luck would have it there was Relief Society general broadcast last night and all the mom's were gone. The one mom that I knew wouldn't be was the piano mom who just had her baby. Which meant that her daughter would not be needed to watch kids, so she may be home and could watch mine so I could be at the ER with Mark and Oren. Fortunately she was home and free to come immediately! And agreed to turn a blind eye to my kitchen - I had absolutely no clean dishes..... we'll just leave it at that. When we got home she told me how amazed she was at how well the boys went to bed. No fussing or getting out of the bed or anything. Just laid down and went to sleep, both of them! (I love how good they are at bedtime.... I usually need that cooperation by then and have been blessed with just what I need)
We are to look out for anything even more wierd: not able to walk straight, can't focus on us, seizure symptoms, or if the episodes are still happening by Monday. As well as temperature checks to see if it's fever induced. But he was able to come home last night! They are also doing a strep culture just to see if that's what is causing the fever, slight congestion, and irritated throat.
And I am so grateful to have a priesthood holder in our home. He had another episode at midnight after we got home that ended in a somewhat sobbing Mommy. It's hard when I can't just make something scary go away. He said it helped that I kept telling him "it isn't real, we're right here with you" over and over, and we just held him tight until it passed. Afterwards Mark was able to give him a blessing, and he fell right to sleep and slept the whole rest of the night. No fever this morning. I don't know how much he heard of his blessing, but I know that it helped! Mark slept on Oren's bed last night in case he woke up screaming again, and I promised to walk quickly and not run from our room. I don't think either of us slept well..... I guess we'll be taking a nap later today!
Apperantly Oren has been having migraines this weekend. Not the plain headache kind where it just hurts really bad. The kind where his eyes and ears play tricks on him and he sees scary things spinning around and hears tornados, which understandably freaks him out and he literally is screaming in terror. Which kind of scares Mommy and Daddy.....
He had a headache Friday afternoon, but then Friday night had a fever too and did the whole screaming episode thing twice. Saturday morning was just a fever, but after his afternoon motrin kicked in he took a nap. When he woke up he had another huge screaming in terror episode, so we loaded up and took him to the ER. I don't normally take the kids there unless it's stitches or something, but I couldn't connect a migraine and possible vertigo or hallucinations, with a fever. We thought it better to be safe.
It took me a while to track down a sitter, because as luck would have it there was Relief Society general broadcast last night and all the mom's were gone. The one mom that I knew wouldn't be was the piano mom who just had her baby. Which meant that her daughter would not be needed to watch kids, so she may be home and could watch mine so I could be at the ER with Mark and Oren. Fortunately she was home and free to come immediately! And agreed to turn a blind eye to my kitchen - I had absolutely no clean dishes..... we'll just leave it at that. When we got home she told me how amazed she was at how well the boys went to bed. No fussing or getting out of the bed or anything. Just laid down and went to sleep, both of them! (I love how good they are at bedtime.... I usually need that cooperation by then and have been blessed with just what I need)
We are to look out for anything even more wierd: not able to walk straight, can't focus on us, seizure symptoms, or if the episodes are still happening by Monday. As well as temperature checks to see if it's fever induced. But he was able to come home last night! They are also doing a strep culture just to see if that's what is causing the fever, slight congestion, and irritated throat.
And I am so grateful to have a priesthood holder in our home. He had another episode at midnight after we got home that ended in a somewhat sobbing Mommy. It's hard when I can't just make something scary go away. He said it helped that I kept telling him "it isn't real, we're right here with you" over and over, and we just held him tight until it passed. Afterwards Mark was able to give him a blessing, and he fell right to sleep and slept the whole rest of the night. No fever this morning. I don't know how much he heard of his blessing, but I know that it helped! Mark slept on Oren's bed last night in case he woke up screaming again, and I promised to walk quickly and not run from our room. I don't think either of us slept well..... I guess we'll be taking a nap later today!
Friday, September 25, 2009
William....
*shakes head*
I must have the most stubborn 2yr old ever! I took him down to the school yesterday for pictures, since they were squeezing in younger siblings when they could this year. I got there right as the ladies were supposed to be going on lunch but they were so sweet and agreed to try him really quick.
Over 5 minutes later, we still didn't have a picture! The Little Pill would stand there smiling all cute, but not at the camera. At the floor. Or at the lady helping him stand on the platform. When he looked up at the camera at all it was with his arm across his face! Or he'd get off and lay on the floor! I told the crew to go ahead with lunch, we'd wait a while and try before the kindergartener's time slot after their break. They thought he was adorable and were determined to get his picture so they agreed.
We sat and chatted in the classroom/studio with some of the volunteers whom I know about the boys and pregnancy, and all sorts of fun stuff for a good 1/2 hour. Then the ladies came back and we gave it another shot.
Holy cow! He wouldn't even stand up on the platform! We had to sit him on top of it instead! He refused to look at the camera, or the ladies, or even the talking Elmo they were using for an attention getter. He looked up once and put one hand over his mouth and the other over his eyes. At this point we are all laughing because it's too funny how stubborn this kid was being. I told them I don't even care if he's looking at the camera, because the last time we had his picture done he was looking at the lights and it turned out super cute anyway. Anything they could snap was fine with me at this point.
We finally got the shot though. I was crouched off to the side holding him still and figured I'd try tickling him. The photographer had perfect timing, because she caught him with his head at a great angle, and a huge laughing - real - smile on his face. He's looking off to the side, not at the camera, but I love how it turned out! Just in time too, because then the kindergarteners walked in for their slot. So I got to make sure Nathan's cowlick was staying down for his picture.
Thank you photo ladies for being more stubborn than my son and helping me get a great picture to send to Grandma this year and hang on my wall!
I must have the most stubborn 2yr old ever! I took him down to the school yesterday for pictures, since they were squeezing in younger siblings when they could this year. I got there right as the ladies were supposed to be going on lunch but they were so sweet and agreed to try him really quick.
Over 5 minutes later, we still didn't have a picture! The Little Pill would stand there smiling all cute, but not at the camera. At the floor. Or at the lady helping him stand on the platform. When he looked up at the camera at all it was with his arm across his face! Or he'd get off and lay on the floor! I told the crew to go ahead with lunch, we'd wait a while and try before the kindergartener's time slot after their break. They thought he was adorable and were determined to get his picture so they agreed.
We sat and chatted in the classroom/studio with some of the volunteers whom I know about the boys and pregnancy, and all sorts of fun stuff for a good 1/2 hour. Then the ladies came back and we gave it another shot.
Holy cow! He wouldn't even stand up on the platform! We had to sit him on top of it instead! He refused to look at the camera, or the ladies, or even the talking Elmo they were using for an attention getter. He looked up once and put one hand over his mouth and the other over his eyes. At this point we are all laughing because it's too funny how stubborn this kid was being. I told them I don't even care if he's looking at the camera, because the last time we had his picture done he was looking at the lights and it turned out super cute anyway. Anything they could snap was fine with me at this point.
We finally got the shot though. I was crouched off to the side holding him still and figured I'd try tickling him. The photographer had perfect timing, because she caught him with his head at a great angle, and a huge laughing - real - smile on his face. He's looking off to the side, not at the camera, but I love how it turned out! Just in time too, because then the kindergarteners walked in for their slot. So I got to make sure Nathan's cowlick was staying down for his picture.
Thank you photo ladies for being more stubborn than my son and helping me get a great picture to send to Grandma this year and hang on my wall!
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Cleaning!
I can't really say "cleaning like a mad woman" because I actually was a mad woman this evening. Not nesting really, just the mess had ticked me off long enough and the boys wouldn't calm down this evening.
So I put them to work! Hey, I'm not the one who dumped all the dominoes on the living room floor, or threw clothes all over (okay, I did put William's pj's on the floor, but the socks weren't my fault), or rip papers or cut them in shreds and leave them everywhere. I sure didn't take the "hot rice sock" for sore muscles and open it all over the boys' room or dump all the train pieces and cars out all over the floor or shove pull-ups under the bed. (totally gross....)
I don't imagine they liked drill sergeant mommy this evening, and I didn't exactly enjoy it either. But they got their mess cleaned up! And I was nice enough to do the vacumming up of the rice for them, which only took me a good 30 minutes. (Ever try to vacumm rice? Doesn't work too well....) So now I hurt, and feel guilty for the enormous amount of yelling that I did, but their room had been bugging me for 3 weeks, and the living room for 3 days and I just couldn't take it anymore!
I'm not totally a bad mommy though. We went to the store to get my boppy pillow, and I let them pick out an ice cream treat for their after school snack. That was before all the yelling, but still.....
On a more pleasant note, school pictures are tomorrow, so Oren and Nathan got to visit the barber shop this afternoon! My, they are handsome young men! We couldn't get William in the chair, so I'll do him tomorrow, or at least gel it down for pictures. He's a bit of a fuzzball. Their school lets siblings do pictures too, which is very nice of them. So I'll get new pictures to hang on my wall, and grandmas will get new ones for their frames at Christmas time!
Now I'm off for a nice, long hot shower and then my bed. And hopefully a better mood tomorrow. :-)
So I put them to work! Hey, I'm not the one who dumped all the dominoes on the living room floor, or threw clothes all over (okay, I did put William's pj's on the floor, but the socks weren't my fault), or rip papers or cut them in shreds and leave them everywhere. I sure didn't take the "hot rice sock" for sore muscles and open it all over the boys' room or dump all the train pieces and cars out all over the floor or shove pull-ups under the bed. (totally gross....)
I don't imagine they liked drill sergeant mommy this evening, and I didn't exactly enjoy it either. But they got their mess cleaned up! And I was nice enough to do the vacumming up of the rice for them, which only took me a good 30 minutes. (Ever try to vacumm rice? Doesn't work too well....) So now I hurt, and feel guilty for the enormous amount of yelling that I did, but their room had been bugging me for 3 weeks, and the living room for 3 days and I just couldn't take it anymore!
I'm not totally a bad mommy though. We went to the store to get my boppy pillow, and I let them pick out an ice cream treat for their after school snack. That was before all the yelling, but still.....
On a more pleasant note, school pictures are tomorrow, so Oren and Nathan got to visit the barber shop this afternoon! My, they are handsome young men! We couldn't get William in the chair, so I'll do him tomorrow, or at least gel it down for pictures. He's a bit of a fuzzball. Their school lets siblings do pictures too, which is very nice of them. So I'll get new pictures to hang on my wall, and grandmas will get new ones for their frames at Christmas time!
Now I'm off for a nice, long hot shower and then my bed. And hopefully a better mood tomorrow. :-)
Monday, September 21, 2009
Easing up my schedule!
I had this sneaky feeling that I wouldn't be teaching piano lessons this week to the mom due on Saturday. I was right! She had her baby today! The very thoughtful other mom of my students called me this afternoon to let me know, so I wouldn't show up tomorrow to teach and there be nobody there. So my afternoons will be easing up somewhat now. Now I can work on getting the energy to clean my house before my own baby gets here! That's 2 whole evenings a week I didn't have before! I hope to find the time tomorrow to go visit her and bring her their baby towel.... crossing fingers.
We had to run to town today to get new stickers for the car, and get groceries, so I did my friend's daughter's piano lesson at her house today instead of mine. Bless her heart, she offered to feed us dinner and made sure it was stuff I could eat, and watched the boys while I ran to Walmart for the week's menu stuff I needed. I had a hard time making it through the store, it hurt, so I was so glad that I didn't have all 3 boys with me as well. I think Mark will have to come shopping with me from now on, I got back to the milk section to start and just going that far my back was killing me and ligaments were pulling in the front! Time to start paring down my errands now.
And we did a mini class with our doula on Saturday. Learning my pain coping techiniques, giving Mark a head's up on what a c-section would be like for me if I ended up with one despite our best efforts, and getting the car seat base installed. She's a licensed installer so we figured we may as well have it done right. I'm really glad I found her, and that Mark let me spend 6 months piano lesson money on hiring her. Already I feel much more prepared this time around, and confident about my ability to handle things. Even Mark is comfortable around her, he spent the whole class in his pajama/lounging pants! Somehow just knowing she'll be there with us takes a lot of stress off me. Which is a good thing right now.
Now I just have to get the bags packed for everybody, which I'm almost nervous to do. I had them ready right about now with Nathan and William, and had them 3 weeks early! Which would be next week! Of course, I had this many braxton hicks right about now with Oren and he was 2 weeks early, so we'll see how this goes. This weekend was fun...... ouch. But better to be prepared than trying to be frantically packing in pain, or relying on Mark to bring me what I need and stuff that fits. :-)
Sorry I keep posting baby/pregnancy stuff and updates. It's pretty much the only thing going on for us right now that every gets any new news with all the appointments I have and everything. The boys are doing well in school, and William is adjusting to his brother's being gone. Which basically means that I haven't gotten to go to the bathroom without him for a while now. He's sleeping well by himself in the nursery, and bedtimes are pretty smooth now with staggered bedtimes. Oren continues to amaze us with his reading ability, and Nathan has gotten a good behavior jelly bean every Friday! Hurray!
We had to run to town today to get new stickers for the car, and get groceries, so I did my friend's daughter's piano lesson at her house today instead of mine. Bless her heart, she offered to feed us dinner and made sure it was stuff I could eat, and watched the boys while I ran to Walmart for the week's menu stuff I needed. I had a hard time making it through the store, it hurt, so I was so glad that I didn't have all 3 boys with me as well. I think Mark will have to come shopping with me from now on, I got back to the milk section to start and just going that far my back was killing me and ligaments were pulling in the front! Time to start paring down my errands now.
And we did a mini class with our doula on Saturday. Learning my pain coping techiniques, giving Mark a head's up on what a c-section would be like for me if I ended up with one despite our best efforts, and getting the car seat base installed. She's a licensed installer so we figured we may as well have it done right. I'm really glad I found her, and that Mark let me spend 6 months piano lesson money on hiring her. Already I feel much more prepared this time around, and confident about my ability to handle things. Even Mark is comfortable around her, he spent the whole class in his pajama/lounging pants! Somehow just knowing she'll be there with us takes a lot of stress off me. Which is a good thing right now.
Now I just have to get the bags packed for everybody, which I'm almost nervous to do. I had them ready right about now with Nathan and William, and had them 3 weeks early! Which would be next week! Of course, I had this many braxton hicks right about now with Oren and he was 2 weeks early, so we'll see how this goes. This weekend was fun...... ouch. But better to be prepared than trying to be frantically packing in pain, or relying on Mark to bring me what I need and stuff that fits. :-)
Sorry I keep posting baby/pregnancy stuff and updates. It's pretty much the only thing going on for us right now that every gets any new news with all the appointments I have and everything. The boys are doing well in school, and William is adjusting to his brother's being gone. Which basically means that I haven't gotten to go to the bathroom without him for a while now. He's sleeping well by himself in the nursery, and bedtimes are pretty smooth now with staggered bedtimes. Oren continues to amaze us with his reading ability, and Nathan has gotten a good behavior jelly bean every Friday! Hurray!
Friday, September 18, 2009
Another busy day!
It's been fun having NST's twice a week. Lots of trips to Boise! Today's test had a small ultrasound to check fluid levels too. They've dropped a bunch since Tuesday, but there's still plenty in there. Sometimes there are large pockets of fluid they can't measure because of the angle of the baby, or there's a big loop of cord right through it... so there may be more in there they just can't measure it. Either way, I'm not worried although they asked if I had noticed leaking. I'm ... um.... very well hydrated judging by all the trips to the bathroom lately!
Right after my NST I met Amanda at Costco again. This time we were stocking our own freezers. Sometimes it's cheaper at the commissary, but if you know the right cuts of meat you can get some good deals per pound. I came home with 20lbs of chicken breast, 6 1/2 lbs worth of pork roasts, 3 meals worth of very thick pork chops (I like the thick ones, because they stay tender and I don't need as many chops to satisfy Mark), and a 10lb log of ground beef that I divided into 8 packets. Whew! Of course, there was the large box of fudgesicles, low carb of course, and the granola that was cheaper per ounce than malt-o-meal cereal from Walmart. But those are just extra goodies. It feels good to have my freezer stocked with some basics for meals.
I've also started freezing meals for after baby. This was great after William, I loved the convienence. A couple casseroles and a batch of soup so far, but it's a start. It's so easy to do a double batch of something and freeze the extra, that it would be silly not to use the energy while I have it to cook. And with piano lessons in the evening I need to plan meals ahead of time in case it would be easier to crock pot - Tuesdays - or casserole, like Thursdays. I don't do this all the time, but it sure makes the last few weeks when I'm feeling brain dead and drained a lot easier.
And I've now got some very excited piano students. Some of them have picked out their Christmas Recital pieces! Since I'm taking off most of October, we'll only have about 6 weeks to get ready, so I want to introduce the songs before. Don't want to start cold when I come back in November! Everybody has so much fun with Christmas songs, nobody is complaining about choosing them early. :-)
Right after my NST I met Amanda at Costco again. This time we were stocking our own freezers. Sometimes it's cheaper at the commissary, but if you know the right cuts of meat you can get some good deals per pound. I came home with 20lbs of chicken breast, 6 1/2 lbs worth of pork roasts, 3 meals worth of very thick pork chops (I like the thick ones, because they stay tender and I don't need as many chops to satisfy Mark), and a 10lb log of ground beef that I divided into 8 packets. Whew! Of course, there was the large box of fudgesicles, low carb of course, and the granola that was cheaper per ounce than malt-o-meal cereal from Walmart. But those are just extra goodies. It feels good to have my freezer stocked with some basics for meals.
I've also started freezing meals for after baby. This was great after William, I loved the convienence. A couple casseroles and a batch of soup so far, but it's a start. It's so easy to do a double batch of something and freeze the extra, that it would be silly not to use the energy while I have it to cook. And with piano lessons in the evening I need to plan meals ahead of time in case it would be easier to crock pot - Tuesdays - or casserole, like Thursdays. I don't do this all the time, but it sure makes the last few weeks when I'm feeling brain dead and drained a lot easier.
And I've now got some very excited piano students. Some of them have picked out their Christmas Recital pieces! Since I'm taking off most of October, we'll only have about 6 weeks to get ready, so I want to introduce the songs before. Don't want to start cold when I come back in November! Everybody has so much fun with Christmas songs, nobody is complaining about choosing them early. :-)
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Why not?
We got our modem up and running, and then the next day it zonked out on us! Fortunately the technician that had to come out just traded us another one and set us up - without a call out fee. What a nice guy! I just found it funny that we waited forever for the new modem, had internet for less than 12 hours, and then it went back out. Why not?
But I had another ob appointment Tuesday, it went great. Who doesn't love the Group B Strep test? Baby's NST went fine, very reassuring. And then it was upstairs for my ultrasound. Last time he had jumped from the 50th% for weight, to the 70th%. Uh oh.... But this latest scan showed that must have been just a growth spurt and he slowed back down, because although his head is still in the 70th% for size, his weight is back down at 50th%. I have more than enough fluid, which is fantastic! The doctor seemed apologetic when he told me the baby had a nice big head, but that doesn't bother me a bit. I was just worried about him jumping up even higher on his weight, but he's fine. So he weighs about 5lbs 12 oz.
Just a few more weeks left! Just in time for my favorite pair of maternity pants, and most comfortable, to start getting a hole in the thigh. Ugh.
But I had another ob appointment Tuesday, it went great. Who doesn't love the Group B Strep test? Baby's NST went fine, very reassuring. And then it was upstairs for my ultrasound. Last time he had jumped from the 50th% for weight, to the 70th%. Uh oh.... But this latest scan showed that must have been just a growth spurt and he slowed back down, because although his head is still in the 70th% for size, his weight is back down at 50th%. I have more than enough fluid, which is fantastic! The doctor seemed apologetic when he told me the baby had a nice big head, but that doesn't bother me a bit. I was just worried about him jumping up even higher on his weight, but he's fine. So he weighs about 5lbs 12 oz.
Just a few more weeks left! Just in time for my favorite pair of maternity pants, and most comfortable, to start getting a hole in the thigh. Ugh.
Monday, September 14, 2009
We're back!
Man, that was a long week. I could have gone to the library and used their computers, but that would mean dragging kids and last week was just packed anyway.
Tuesday was our first Non-Stress Test. Baby did great, was nicely cooperative and gave us some good movements with nice heartrate accelerations. I was quite dehydrated though which showed up as a clenching, irritable uterus. Oops! Lots of water for me!
Wednesday we left town right after school to head over to Mom's for Zaylee's birthday party. Probably a crazy thing to do, but I wasn't going to miss my niece's birthday! She's grown so much since we saw her at Thanksgiving time last year, what a beautiful little lady she's turning into. It was nice to sit and chat with everybody but Morgan, who was at school. Mom sent me home with some garden goodness, and the boys were so excited about the pumpkins I got to pick. Steph and I got to compare baby bumps, and look at her latest ultrasound pics..... her little girl has Thomas's cheeks already. So adorable!
Thursday was therapy, Nathan did great as always. He's such a hard worker! And he's come such a long way since we started 2 years ago. Nobody knew what the problem was, just what it wasn't. And now we're just fine tuning his speech and even though he has an IEP (individualized education plan - for special needs students) at the school, it's just for speech therapy for the insurance and doesn't need to go to the resource room for special classes. They said he's far too smart for resource anyway and it wouldn't do him any good. Yay!
Friday was another NST in Boise, that one went well too. After chugging water for several days I was no longer dehydrated, and he was active without going crazy. We did a quick ultrasound to check his fluid levels, and they were great. That's my big worry, since William had a fluid issue, and I am very glad they are keeping such a close eye on everything. So reassuring. Afterwards I met Amanda at the local Costco for our big luncheon shopping trip. I had been craving their chicken bake from the food stand thing all week, and let me tell you, it was just as good as I was imagining it to be the whole time! I had made the fondant for the cake earlier in the week, but I actually baked the cakes for the luncheon Friday night. The secret to making a $0.89 cake mix taste almost like homemade but moister? Let it cool partly on a wire rack, pop it back in the pan and cover with foil. Let it sit overnight and decorate the next day. Yum!
Saturday was BUSY! Mark took off with the boys to town about 10 to see the Air Force Appreciation Day parade. It's a yearly huge event right here, since without the base, the town wouldn't be much. Carnival, booths, huge 90 minute parade, jet flyovers..... the works. He took all 3 boys by himself! And didn't get home until after 3! Turns out he took them down to the parade, then out to lunch for tacos since I wasn't there - I can't eat them - and then bought wrist bands for them all for the carnival and did all the kiddy rides with them. Special Daddy time....
Meanwhile, I frosted the cakes, got them all covered with the fondant, and stacked them. Did a cute button border - Steph will have to post a picture since I was having blood sugar issues and never did get a picture or even bring my camera to the luncheon. Amanda came over and we did the rest of the prep work on the food. Mark came home just as we were packing everything up to go over to the church and set up. So I got to see him for just a minute and then we were gone.
It was so much fun! Mom and all my sisters were there, the other mommy's-to-be, Amanda and her daughters, and about 8 sisters from the ward. We all got to chat and eat yummy food, and some sweet ladies even brought presents anyway. We all received some new books for the baby, a loaf of banana bread which didn't last long here at home, and some thoughtfully frozen burritos to stick in the freezer and pull out as a dinner option. I additionally got the neatest blanket, with slits stitched into it for the straps of the car seat to go through. So it sits in the bottom of the car seat and then after you buckle the baby up, you wrap him up in the blanket. It can't fall out, and doesn't interfere with the straps. Genius! The best gift though was getting to celebrate having a new baby with my good friends pregnant right along with me, and my family there to enjoy.
Mark is very brave. I got home at 6 ish, and he was getting the boys some dinner. Then he decided that Oren hadn't gotten to ride some of the bigger rides and since they both still had on their wristbands, he'd take Oren back to the carnival. So they went and played another 2 hours. Let's just say that Oren was tired the next day.... So was Mark. :-) What a guy to spend all that time with his kiddos.
I'm very glad to have internet back, I missed it. And missed getting to read what everybody is up to! We have another NST tomorrow, and then an ultrasound/doctor's appointment right after. Wonder how big he's gotten now? His kicks aren't so sweet anymore, they're downright painful most of the time. Just a few more weeks!
Tuesday was our first Non-Stress Test. Baby did great, was nicely cooperative and gave us some good movements with nice heartrate accelerations. I was quite dehydrated though which showed up as a clenching, irritable uterus. Oops! Lots of water for me!
Wednesday we left town right after school to head over to Mom's for Zaylee's birthday party. Probably a crazy thing to do, but I wasn't going to miss my niece's birthday! She's grown so much since we saw her at Thanksgiving time last year, what a beautiful little lady she's turning into. It was nice to sit and chat with everybody but Morgan, who was at school. Mom sent me home with some garden goodness, and the boys were so excited about the pumpkins I got to pick. Steph and I got to compare baby bumps, and look at her latest ultrasound pics..... her little girl has Thomas's cheeks already. So adorable!
Thursday was therapy, Nathan did great as always. He's such a hard worker! And he's come such a long way since we started 2 years ago. Nobody knew what the problem was, just what it wasn't. And now we're just fine tuning his speech and even though he has an IEP (individualized education plan - for special needs students) at the school, it's just for speech therapy for the insurance and doesn't need to go to the resource room for special classes. They said he's far too smart for resource anyway and it wouldn't do him any good. Yay!
Friday was another NST in Boise, that one went well too. After chugging water for several days I was no longer dehydrated, and he was active without going crazy. We did a quick ultrasound to check his fluid levels, and they were great. That's my big worry, since William had a fluid issue, and I am very glad they are keeping such a close eye on everything. So reassuring. Afterwards I met Amanda at the local Costco for our big luncheon shopping trip. I had been craving their chicken bake from the food stand thing all week, and let me tell you, it was just as good as I was imagining it to be the whole time! I had made the fondant for the cake earlier in the week, but I actually baked the cakes for the luncheon Friday night. The secret to making a $0.89 cake mix taste almost like homemade but moister? Let it cool partly on a wire rack, pop it back in the pan and cover with foil. Let it sit overnight and decorate the next day. Yum!
Saturday was BUSY! Mark took off with the boys to town about 10 to see the Air Force Appreciation Day parade. It's a yearly huge event right here, since without the base, the town wouldn't be much. Carnival, booths, huge 90 minute parade, jet flyovers..... the works. He took all 3 boys by himself! And didn't get home until after 3! Turns out he took them down to the parade, then out to lunch for tacos since I wasn't there - I can't eat them - and then bought wrist bands for them all for the carnival and did all the kiddy rides with them. Special Daddy time....
Meanwhile, I frosted the cakes, got them all covered with the fondant, and stacked them. Did a cute button border - Steph will have to post a picture since I was having blood sugar issues and never did get a picture or even bring my camera to the luncheon. Amanda came over and we did the rest of the prep work on the food. Mark came home just as we were packing everything up to go over to the church and set up. So I got to see him for just a minute and then we were gone.
It was so much fun! Mom and all my sisters were there, the other mommy's-to-be, Amanda and her daughters, and about 8 sisters from the ward. We all got to chat and eat yummy food, and some sweet ladies even brought presents anyway. We all received some new books for the baby, a loaf of banana bread which didn't last long here at home, and some thoughtfully frozen burritos to stick in the freezer and pull out as a dinner option. I additionally got the neatest blanket, with slits stitched into it for the straps of the car seat to go through. So it sits in the bottom of the car seat and then after you buckle the baby up, you wrap him up in the blanket. It can't fall out, and doesn't interfere with the straps. Genius! The best gift though was getting to celebrate having a new baby with my good friends pregnant right along with me, and my family there to enjoy.
Mark is very brave. I got home at 6 ish, and he was getting the boys some dinner. Then he decided that Oren hadn't gotten to ride some of the bigger rides and since they both still had on their wristbands, he'd take Oren back to the carnival. So they went and played another 2 hours. Let's just say that Oren was tired the next day.... So was Mark. :-) What a guy to spend all that time with his kiddos.
I'm very glad to have internet back, I missed it. And missed getting to read what everybody is up to! We have another NST tomorrow, and then an ultrasound/doctor's appointment right after. Wonder how big he's gotten now? His kicks aren't so sweet anymore, they're downright painful most of the time. Just a few more weeks!
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
uh oh....
Due to some technical difficulties - ie. our modem somehow frying between the hours of 11pm Saturday and 9am Sunday - I have no internet until Monday evening. Thanks Mom for letting me borrow yours for a minute!
So I'll post once I get it back and tell everyone how the shower went, and my NST's that started this week and everything. :-)
(we're all going crazy......)
So I'll post once I get it back and tell everyone how the shower went, and my NST's that started this week and everything. :-)
(we're all going crazy......)
Friday, September 4, 2009
Girls Day Out!
I was talking yesterday with a friend from church about how the guys all had today off. They geta 4 day weekend, but the kids still had school. Bummer. I needed some stuff in Boise, and I know lots of neat places to go, so we thought it would be fun to hit the town together! Luckily, our men agreed to babysit little ones and drop off/pick up from school while we went and played. What sweethearts!
We had a blast! Joanns is so much funner when you are with somebody who likes fabric too. I showed her our local import market, where you can get Indian, Thai, Italian, British foods, and real Cadbury's candy from England. Plus really neat house decor and fun little toys for kids. Love the baskets! (at least.... I like to look at them because the price tags is ouch.) Then it was on to the huge party supply store for a needed ingredient for the baby shower cake. They have an M&M dispenser with all kinds of colors. Reds, yellows, blues, greens..... So you can buy all of one color! Any theme you can think of, you can buy party supplies for it. I love it!
Lunch time! We visited the Macaroni Grill. She'd been there about 7 years before, and since it was close we decided Italian sounded yummy. MMMMM! I had the best chicken that was grilled to perfection on big sprigs of rosemary. And I found out that they can do side orders of pasta, so my big bowl of Alfredo was only $2.00. Wow! I still only ate half the bowl, so I have plenty for bedtime snack later. Her daughter, whose 9 months old, really enjoyed the fresh bread they brought to the table. She's so cute!!!!!
On to mall for our last stop. I was bigger after William, and the nursing bras I used with him don't fit anymore. The straps won't stay up and it's just annoying. The lady at Motherhood Maternity was so nice, she measured me for fit and everything. I got a really comfortable one with a little room to grow when my milk comes in. Hurray! But we were tired after our busy day of running around so we headed home.
Of course, when I got home, it happened to be at the same time as my 4:00 piano lesson, so after leaving the house at 9am to pick her up and getting home just before 4pm I then taught piano for another 1 1/2 hours! 3 lessons back to back. Crazy! Then dinner needed cooked, so I stirred up an alfredo casserole thing which is cooking away in the oven while I prop my feet up to reduce swelling and enjoy the baby going nutso in there since I'm finally sitting still.
Whew! Busy day! (And Mark, being the angel that he is, did all the dishes in the kitchen, which was not exactly a small amount. And gardening. And mowing and weedwacking. Wow!)
We had a blast! Joanns is so much funner when you are with somebody who likes fabric too. I showed her our local import market, where you can get Indian, Thai, Italian, British foods, and real Cadbury's candy from England. Plus really neat house decor and fun little toys for kids. Love the baskets! (at least.... I like to look at them because the price tags is ouch.) Then it was on to the huge party supply store for a needed ingredient for the baby shower cake. They have an M&M dispenser with all kinds of colors. Reds, yellows, blues, greens..... So you can buy all of one color! Any theme you can think of, you can buy party supplies for it. I love it!
Lunch time! We visited the Macaroni Grill. She'd been there about 7 years before, and since it was close we decided Italian sounded yummy. MMMMM! I had the best chicken that was grilled to perfection on big sprigs of rosemary. And I found out that they can do side orders of pasta, so my big bowl of Alfredo was only $2.00. Wow! I still only ate half the bowl, so I have plenty for bedtime snack later. Her daughter, whose 9 months old, really enjoyed the fresh bread they brought to the table. She's so cute!!!!!
On to mall for our last stop. I was bigger after William, and the nursing bras I used with him don't fit anymore. The straps won't stay up and it's just annoying. The lady at Motherhood Maternity was so nice, she measured me for fit and everything. I got a really comfortable one with a little room to grow when my milk comes in. Hurray! But we were tired after our busy day of running around so we headed home.
Of course, when I got home, it happened to be at the same time as my 4:00 piano lesson, so after leaving the house at 9am to pick her up and getting home just before 4pm I then taught piano for another 1 1/2 hours! 3 lessons back to back. Crazy! Then dinner needed cooked, so I stirred up an alfredo casserole thing which is cooking away in the oven while I prop my feet up to reduce swelling and enjoy the baby going nutso in there since I'm finally sitting still.
Whew! Busy day! (And Mark, being the angel that he is, did all the dishes in the kitchen, which was not exactly a small amount. And gardening. And mowing and weedwacking. Wow!)
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Just a little luncheon....
Amanda and I have been having lots of fun planning this luncheon/shower thing. It's getting so close! We made the invites and handed or sent them out. We've even got an RSVP already. We asked people to, but our ward isn't great with actually letting the hosts know they'll be there.
We've planned the menu, and today sat down and figured up what all the food is going to cost based on a reasonable estimate of people attending. I'm sure glad we are splitting this between the 2 of us, because it would be a big ouch otherwise. I guess food for 30+ people costs more than a family of 5 would for one meal.... We're planning our shopping trip to get it all and the schedule for having it all ready to go and setting the room up.
There's the couple of games we picked out, and the small prizes for them.... all planned and mostly good to go. The cake design is set. Working on tableclothes.
We almost had a small panic when we heard about a Sister in the ward whose daughter was getting married that Saturday. But all's fine, she's getting married in Nampa at a building there. Whew! So we can use the church building. :-) Hopefully everything will turn out nice, and lots of people will come and celebrate these little babies with us. But even if it doesn't go over as planned or hardly anyone shows up.... at least my mom and sisters will be there, my good pregnant friends, my best friend, and we'll have lots of cake!
We've planned the menu, and today sat down and figured up what all the food is going to cost based on a reasonable estimate of people attending. I'm sure glad we are splitting this between the 2 of us, because it would be a big ouch otherwise. I guess food for 30+ people costs more than a family of 5 would for one meal.... We're planning our shopping trip to get it all and the schedule for having it all ready to go and setting the room up.
There's the couple of games we picked out, and the small prizes for them.... all planned and mostly good to go. The cake design is set. Working on tableclothes.
We almost had a small panic when we heard about a Sister in the ward whose daughter was getting married that Saturday. But all's fine, she's getting married in Nampa at a building there. Whew! So we can use the church building. :-) Hopefully everything will turn out nice, and lots of people will come and celebrate these little babies with us. But even if it doesn't go over as planned or hardly anyone shows up.... at least my mom and sisters will be there, my good pregnant friends, my best friend, and we'll have lots of cake!
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