Monday, October 25, 2010

Belly Status – 13 Weeks

I documented my entire pregnancy with Mallory so I must do the same with this one, right?  I will also try my very hardest not to whine too much and be positive. 

Please excuse my baby girl’s mullet and my bed head with crazy eyes.

IMG_9615 edit Yes, I am showing!!  They say you show sooner with your second and they are so right.

Ups:

~ I’m very excited to have a newborn in the house again.  : )  I’ve been lurking around on a blog and she just had baby #4 and seeing her baby pictures and hearing her stories (even her nursing stories) just gets me all giddy and excited again.  It also scares me – trying to figure out how to do things and go places with TWO!  People tell me going to two is the hardest… adding more from there is nothing.  : ) 

~ I lost 5-6 pounds!  I had about that much left to get rid of from my first pregnancy and I finally did it.  Granted I didn’t do a thing at all – chalk it all up to morning sickness.  But I was thrilled to step onto the scale to see that I will be starting off this pregnancy at my pre-pregnancy weight.

~ Mallory runs around with the ultra sound pictures saying “baby”.  It is so adorable!  Granted it looks nothing like a baby in her eyes, yet we told her that was a baby and now she walks around with it.

Downs:

~ Sick.  Sick.  Sick.  I either feel nauseous or I have really bad heartburn which makes me feel nauseous.  However, it is getting better.  I have been meal planning and cooking suppers the last couple of days.  Granted they are not extravagant, but they are home cooked.

~ The last couple of days I have been really weak and light headed.

~ Sleeping issues.  After Mally goes to bed at night, I make my nest on the couch and my eyes can’t stay open and I’m out until Jesse tells me it is time for bed.  Then I get in bed and lay awake for 2 hours!  I usually wake up multiple times a night and end up waking up early in the morning waiting for the alarm to go off.

~ Dreams.  When I am sleeping I’m dreaming wild crazy extravagant dreams.  Dreams that are so detailed that when you wake up you feel exhausted from the dream.  Some are so wild and detailed that it keeps me awake and I can’t stop thinking about it and trying to figure out how I came up with that.

Here is my post with pregnancy #1 about the same time.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Ultra Sound Video

Last Wednesday I went for my ultra sound to figure out my due date.  I had a really awesome ultra sound tech and she sent me home with videos and pictures!  Baby was just a wiggling in there and she was shocked because it is not very often that you get a baby this young (11 weeks 5 days old) that is this active.

We had to sneak up on baby just to get the heart beat.  She sneaked around and I had to hold my breath and stop giggling.  We caught baby!  : )

The ultra sound tech and I joked about how this could be sign of my future with another active little one.  Mallory can’t sit still and she doesn’t snuggle (unless she is teething – then I get my baby snuggles… or if she wants me to hold her and not put her down she will snuggle her little head on my shoulder and pat my back – gets me every time and I hold her.  She already knows how to work the system!)

She measures baby and tells me my new due date of April 29th.  5 days sooner then what they had originally told me.

I’ve been trying for weeks now to upload a video of Mallory.  I have let it upload over night… still it doesn’t work.  I just tried again last night and it failed.  Sorry Natalie.  I’ve been trying to get you a video of Mally in action.  Maybe I need to take a brand new video and try again!  : )  I’m not giving up yet!

Monday, October 18, 2010

Grandpa and Puppies

I’m sitting outside right now – its 52 degrees however the sun is shinning.  Mally is running around with sidewalk chalk looking for rocks.  See she is teething and I’m to the point where I will do anything not to hear one minute of crying whining clinging sobbing mess and going outside does that for her.  Maggie is chasing the light shadows that my computer screen is making.  And me… I thought I would tell you about Mallory and her Grandpa and Puppies.

Grandpa.  Mallory and my Dad have some sort of special connection.  I’m not sure when or how it happened.  A few weeks ago Mallory got to spend the afternoon with my parents so that I could work for the day.  She helped them clean out flower gardens, went for four wheeler rides, collect leaves, went to the woods and saw some of her great-uncles.  While they were cleaning out the gardens Mallory decided she was done with that and started hanging on mom’s legs.  My Mom of course picks her up and walks around and distracts her for awhile.  They go see what Grandpa is doing.  Grandpa was picking up all of Grandma’s piles from the garden.  Mallory wanted Grandpa.  Grandpa takes her for a few moments then tries to give her back to Grandma so he can finish his work.  She won’t go!  She wants to stay by Grandpa.  Well guess who had to do Grandpa’s work?  Grandma!!  Teehee!

This weekend we were at my parents again.  Mallory is teething and only wants me.  If someone else has her she is constantly asking for momma and is not content until she gets back to me.  Then in walks my Dad (Grandpa).  She instantly goes by him.  He can pick her up and snuggle with her.  Read her books.  Grandpa is special to her.

Puppies.  Then there are puppies.  Let me tell you she can spot a puppy a mile away.  We will be driving in the truck and she is now big enough she can see out the window.  She spots those puppies as we are driving by.  At the bank there is a little tiny dog in the waiting area.  Every time we go to the bank she has to go see that dog.  She knows (and remembers) its there.  Then it is a screaming crying fit when we have to leave the dog there.  I think everyone there is use to us walking out crying over having to leave the puppy.

Alright – I need to go crunch some leaves with this little squirt and give Maggie a break from chasing the light reflections from the screen.

Monday, October 11, 2010

The Symptoms Tell Me…

Here are the symptoms I have been having…

~ My hair is falling out.

~ I have zero, I mean zero, energy.  I just want to sit and stare and maybe blink every 3 minutes.  That’s all I have energy for, nothing else.

~ I’m tired.  I am so tired.  I shouldn’t be tired… I haven’t done anything except sit, stare, and blink every 3 minutes.

~ The dreams!  I’m having vivid wild crazy horrible dreams.

~ I’m nauseous!  I am nauseous all day long.  There are rare moments where I feel normal.  I can’t eat.  I can’t drink.  I can’t open the fridge without fighting the temptation to run to the bathroom and hurl.  I can’t open the pantry because Jesse’s can of chili might still be in there and if I see it… I have to fight the temptation to run to the bathroom and hurl.  (I turned that chili can around so I don’t have to look at it anymore.)

I tell Jesse… that’s it - something is wrong with me.  I’m getting a pregnancy test.  *gasp!* 

And…

I’m pregnant!!!  : )

It’s funny how this all goes down when it is your second child.  I stop, get a test… get home… take it… walk away… come back… says positive.  Giggle.  Go back to doing what I was doing.  Finally find Jesse and tell him that it was positive.  Throw the test away.

With Mallory I was a ball of all kinds of emotions and took 3 tests and saved all three of them so that every once in a while I could go back and check and make sure that they still said positive.

I don’t remember having morning sickness this much the first time around… but I’m sick pretty much all day long.

Getting Mallory breakfast and lunch are HUGE jobs these days.  One morning I was just pouring her a glass of milk and it took everything in me to get the glass to her so I could run to the bathroom.

By the time supper rolls around – I can’t do it.  I can’t cook.  I can’t even look in the fridge.  My poor family is not getting the most healthiest meals ever… pretty much what ever pre-made freezer food I can find they eat.  Or Jesse is in charge of feeding himself and Mallory while I watch and attempt to eat a little something.

The lack of energy is hard for me.  My days are too busy to have no energy.  Before I knew I was pregnant I increased my iron supply and was drinking soda to stay awake.  Now I just don’t fight it anymore and Mallory and I have very low key days where I just sit on the floor and she brings me tons of books to read. 

~~~~~~

I wrote all the above about a month and half ago.  I waited to post it until I had my first Dr. appointment… which was today.  I wanted it to be official before I announced it. 

I am pregnant – however we don’t know my due date yet.  I kept track of dates, except she thinks I’m off.  My uterus is higher and bigger then it should be.  She got out the ultra sound machine and the baby also looks bigger then it should.  I have to go back on Wednesday for an ultra sound so they can measure and do some calculations and then I’ll have a due date.  She first told me May 4th and that I was a day shy from 11 weeks.  Now… I’m not sure… I am thinking they are going to tell me I’m about 2 to 3 weeks farther along then we think.

Here is Mally showing off the baby…

IMG_9600 We could see little legs and arms.  We could also see baby kicking around.  I have even felt like I have felt a few movements, but I thought I was crazy… I  might not be.  : ) 

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Mally yelling “BABY” at Jesse.

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Thursday, October 07, 2010

16 Months!

I haven’t posted an updated on Mallory since she turned a year.  She does so much now that I thought I better get it documented.

She knows where her head, nose, eyes, teeth, belly, ears, fingers, hands & toes are.

IMG_9563 She says so many words and I’m not even sure if I can remember them all.  Pup, Maaaay (Maggie), Momma, Dada, BaamPa (Grandpa), Car, Apple, Milk, Cup, Stuck, Be (Blankie), Bye, Eyes, Cracker, Cookie, Cows, Duck, Kitty, Pig, Truck, Ball, Cheese, and the list goes on…

She knows that a cow says moo, a sheep says baa-baa, a puppy says woof-woof, and bunnies sniff… she sniffs.

She is walking full-time.  However she is extremely clumsy.  She falls down a ton!  The more tired she is the more she falls.

IMG_9552 She eats all regular food now.  She has been a little more fussier lately about eating and not eating as much as she use to.  However, she usually does eat really good for at least one meal – usually breakfast.

This week I started to take her down to one nap.  Killer.  I liked my two naps.  : )  (Now I have to get two jobs done in one nap!)  She seems to be adjusting fairly well to the one nap.

IMG_9554 She has 10 teeth… 6 on top and 4 on the bottom.

She loves to play outside and ride on her bikes, pick up leaves, rocks and color with chalk.

She likes big noisy equipment.  When she hears a lawnmower – she thinks she needs a ride on it.  She watches Grandpa run all the big heavy equipment when he is here. 

She thinks all dogs are “Maaay” (Maggie).

IMG_9561 She loves her blankie!  I can hardly get it from her to wash it.  One morning I was going to go wash it and she saw it and started having a panic attack, yelling Be and tugging and pulling until I gave it to her.  Then she gets it and says, Be and snuggles it.  She also has to smell her blanket.  It. Cracks. Me. Up.  She takes the corner of her blanket and sniffs it… she sniffs really loud too so you can hear her smelling it.  Sometimes I like to be silly and take a corner of her blanket and start sniffing it… she can’t handle it she comes running and has to sniff it too. 

The ‘ol Nuk has been causing some troubles lately.  She recently got really dependent on him.  She was sneaking into her room and stealing him.  Then she runs past you so you won’t take it away.  Now Nuk has to sit on top of her dresser, where she can’t reach.  She still goes into her room looking for nuk and then comes out by me with this sad little look and says nuk?  nuk?  I tell her she gets nuk when she goes ni-night.  For some reason that usually works and she goes and does something else, or goes and gets her blanket.

IMG_9555 She’s a rugged girl.  She not really into all things girl – even though I dress her totally girly.  She likes to ride on toys.  She even tries to ride on things that are not toys.  She likes trucks.  She likes balls.  She likes animals.  She likes dirt.  She likes rocks.  Speaking of rocks… she more like loves rocks.  Now that we have some gravel in our yard (going to the new garage) she is constantly over there picking up rocks.  Then she has to put them in her pockets.  Now that I think of it – I have to remember that her skirt she was wearing the other day has a HUGE pocket full of rocks before I wash it.

She is loving the crunchy leaves outside right now.  She likes to go for little walks down the street and crunch all the leaves on the side of the road. (No sidewalks on our street.)  The other night I went for a walk with the neighbor and I filled her cup holders on her stroller with leaves – which was so fun for her.  She played with those leaves the whole time.  She also spotted pums (pumpkins) everywhere!  She was pointing and yelling about pums the whole time.  And ducks!  The ducks/geese are starting to fly over and they were noisy that night and she just watched them up in the sky.  So cute to watch her take in all this stuff.

Help.  She loves to help.  She will even say help, when she wants to help you.  I’ve started bringing her into the kitchen to “help”.  The only trouble is I cook and I don’t bake… and when I do cook – I’m fast and messy and usually don’t want help.  So I’ve been trying to do some easy baking so that she can help.  So far we have taken frozen cookies out of the freezer and she helped put them on the cookie sheet.  First she had to sample each frozen cookie before putting it on the sheet.  We made muffins (from a box).  We also made pudding… she started eating the pudding dust before I could even get the milk in there and start stirring.  She also likes to help me with FreyMoto.  Some days I have to go out in the garage and start working on some orders and I’ll bring her with.  Usually she just rides around on her toys or colors with chalk – but sometimes she wants to help.  So I give her little jobs to do and she loves it.  She has to bring me parts from a drawer.  She has to sometimes re-fill drawers when they are empty.  Now, don’t get me wrong this doesn’t hold her attention for too long, but she feels special and stomps around and yells.

IMG_9562 She can pick up all her toys before bed – by herself.  I just have to tell her once to pick up toys and she gets to work.

I’m sure there are plenty more things that she is doing now that I forgot, but this is enough for now.

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Wednesday, October 06, 2010

Pudding Paint

I braved it and let Mally paint with pudding yesterday morning. 

Please excuse the bed head.  Now that she has hair it is really fine and fuzzy and unruly.

IMG_9566Of course she had to paint a picture of Elmo.

IMG_9568Then all the Mmm’s started.

IMG_9569I don’t think I have ever given her pudding before – I’m usually not a fan of the stuff.  I had this box of pudding since probably college.  I’m sure it moved from my college apartment – out to Oregon – and back again.  I even have tapioca pudding.  Who eats that stuff?  And why did I buy it?   I bet my Mom sent it in one of my care packages.  Sometimes she would send random stuff in those care packages.  : )

IMG_9571 She starts out eating all sweet and neat.

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Then she gets goofy.  Then messy!

IMG_9577At one point I caught her with the entire bowl up to her mouth.  I’m not sure if she was trying to drink it or if she was licking the bowl.

I saved her first art project and found 3 picture frames that were still in the wrapper… and framed it!  I want to hang these frames on my dining room wall as our “kid art corner”.  Now I just need to do 2 more projects to fill the other frames so I can complete the corner.  Jesse laughed at my pudding Elmo all framed up, but I think it is so cute.

Monday, October 04, 2010

Garage Phase 4

We have concrete!  They came last week and got the foundation poured.

IMG_9564Here is our retaining wall that needs to be re-done.  However, our school landscaper was here tonight and he says that he has enough kids that some of them can work on this wall… some can do our patio… and some can do our fire pit!!!  Score!  They start tomorrow! IMG_9546

I never showed you the front retaining wall that Jesse did.  Next spring we will landscape it.

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Mallory thinks it is her new play area.  She has to always go check out her pumpkin.

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P.S. My Mom just posted awesome pictures of Mallory that she took.  Check them out.