Me and My Girls

My amniotic fluid levels are at 25cm which is the highest side of normal, they will rescan me in 2 weeks and make sure they are still ok but other than that no further testing which would mean a 3 hour glucose test for no real reason since my one hour was 84 (way normal) and I have no personal or family history of gestational diabetes! I received this latest picture of my little one, can you see her face with her little hands bunched up under her cheeks? Its not a very good picture but its something to take home which is always fun :o)

She is head down instead of sideways which makes Momma very happy however surprisingly not any more comfortable :o( I was hoping that when she turned I would no longer have this crazy intense pain under my right rib but I suppose that is not going to happen. I am 34 weeks today and I think that this picture is long overdue.

This picture was taken in our den/office. Its a nice cozy room that is 3 steps down off of the kitchen. There is a bathroom and Kellys room and the garage and basement access all through this room and we recently got the office desks computer things unpacked and set up so my wireless connection is now MUCH faster and I am able to do more on the computer again without "borrowing" a connection from the neighbors shhhh :o)

Here is a precious little stinker that posed for a picture for me momentarily in the den next to the wood burning stove. I actually meant to get a picture of the stove also so that you could appreciate its wonderfulness but then I (naturally) focused in on my little girl :o)

She got a MUCH needed haircut last night and did fairly well sitting on my lap. She was weirded out and annoyed by the stylist being so close to her but we made it through and are better because of it! The dirty mullet was getting out of control and now she is my precious little girl again! Which makes me happy after about 2 weeks of crazy psycho monster baby who would throw a fit at the drop of a hat! She was Dr Jekyll/Mr Hyde with "yes mam" one minute and screaming on the floor the next! I couldn't make her happy with anything I tried! Yesterday and today have been much better and she is actually her funny little self again. She started saying Yes mam without me even teaching her, I have her say "yes mamma" when I am giving her instructions but she came up with yes mam on her own and would even shorten it to "yeah mam" sometimes :o)

She declares that she sees the swings and slides at any park we drive by and says "Ohhhh Kiiiidds" even when there aren't any there :o)
Gramps is her new best friend and she calls him "Mamps"
When we go to the grocery store she points at the Folgers Coffee cans and says "mus mus" because my dad feeds Musket out of them when he is in the house so that his ears dont hang into the water and make a big mess :o) It took me a few minutes to realize why she was calling coffee mus mus!

Pictures and Things

How sad is it that I am letting my child sit in front of the T.V while she eats right now just because she complained when I told her she had to sit in her high chair to eat cereal? I am having such a hard time with her throwing fits. I have spied a tooth coming in so I feel like that gives her a little bit of an excuse besides just early terrible two's. But I find myself either constantly disciplining, fighting with her, or compromising and giving her something I know will appease her. Like yesterdays fit in the grocery store because she wanted a banana and not sit in the cart, since it was a 5 second run to the store for Aunt Kelly I gave in and shoved a pacifier in her mouth which pleased her and Aunt Kel very much since she said she won the loudest child in the store award!
Anyway this post was supposed to be more fun than the fact that I have an emotional and difficult child right now :o)

What the Living room looked like during the rehab work with the awful blue color and dark trim

The living room this morning with child watching PBS and all! I LOVE the white trim and the 2 big book shelves that I am not feeling very creative about... however there is about 5 feet between the couch and the shelves that is perfect for hiding Annies toys!

Annie on our first morning in the new house helping unpack her refrigerator magnets

Joes nephews and Annie in a picture taken for mothers day. Brady the 6 month old is standing in the back because he doesn't bend well and is so strong that Carter cant hold onto him he ends up flipping backwards. So Charlotte held him and I edited her out of the picture :o)

Having a popcorn 'dessert' after a picnic lunch in the backyard

First Day in The New House

I began typing this on Monday night and was unable to finish. However I wanted to share it with you all so just pretend like it is Monday May 17th :o)



It has happened, the day has arrived! I live in my very own home! We arrived late yesterday afternoon and with help from Joe's mom and George we got the living room furniture in place on the area rug and the hard wood floors were all mopped by me on my hands and knees! I love a good clean floor. I decided that the pro's of mopping 2 rooms on your hands and knees is that its a good position to help encourage baby girl to flip, the cons of spending all that time down there is heartburn :o)

Last night after dinner at Joe's moms while I washed our sheets we came home and put our nice freshly washed sheets on My Very Own Bed!!! Let me tell you, after spending 6 weeks in a full size bed our Queen size bed felt like a King! I didn't really sleep any differently than I have been, however when I woke up I was so comfortable that I didn't need to cry, curse or go to the couch which is what I have been doing lately :o)

Annie slept fairly well considering she was in a new room, a new bed, with the street light streaming in the uncovered window.

This morning after serving Annie stale cheerios out of her diaper bag and yesterdays leftover cup of juice out of the fridge, Joe's mom called and offered to come over and help me get things organized! She was a Godsend! I was feeling QUITE overwhelmed just looking around at all the boxes that needed unpacking and the things that needed to be cleaned. I was fine with getting it done little by little over the next few weeks, however I couldn't decide what to do first. Gerri also offered to bring over a bedroom set for Annie's room that used to be her girls! Our plan was to use the Antique bedroom set that we had in the guest bedroom at the old house but this one is much more fun and kid friendly! Now we can set up the other one in the basement and still have a place for guests!

Gerri shows up with Joe's 6 month old nephew (his playmat, excersaucer, bouncy seat and toys for entertainment) 2 dressers and a smaller 3 drawer chest, her sewing kit and sewing machine just in case we get around to making curtains!!!!!

Guess what... we accomplished everything I could have imagined and more! The woman is a work horse and I was inspired by her drive! We unpacked about 4 boxes in the kitchen, rearranged the pantry, mopped the floor, dusted the Dining Room furniture, mopped the floor, stacked Dining Room boxes (as the hutch hasn't been put together yet) Arranged Annies furniture and put her clothes and toys away, unpacked about 5 boxes in our room and put all of our clothes away, arranged towels in the linen closet and things under the bathroom sink, carried boxes in from the garage and unpacked them or put them in the places where they needed to go, then headed to the basement to arrange all the boxes that were going to remain in storage! I now have a wall of Christmas boxes, a space for baby clothes and an wall of general storage things! We pulled out all the heavy boxes and furniture so that Joe could bring them upstairs when he got home and this all happened between the hours of 10 and 5!!!

I was SO happy that we completed all of these things and that I didn't get called into work because I was on call from 11-11 so I got paid $3 an hour to work at my house :o) What a deal!

So that is the story of my first day in our new house. I will have more fun stories and pictures to come!

Mothers Day

As Annie cried out tonight from her "bed" (which is a pack-n-play in the corner of Aunt Char's guest room) with a semi awake, scared, sob I jumped at the chance to go in and rock her in my arms one more time on Mothers Day. She has been going to sleep without a word for about 3 weeks now and without a bottle for a week! I think the nice weather and the longer days have afforded us one tired girl once bed time arrives that she simply falls asleep without a fight. As I looked at her in the dark and tried to balance her over my growing belly I couldn't believe how big she has gotten.
I must say I am not upset about how big she is, I am having so much fun with her right now at this age.

I am glad there is a day to honor Moms and it made me think of all the things that make us the mothers that we are. I suppose I actually became a mother about 37 weeks before this picture was taken and realized it about 3o weeks before this time. Sadly I don't have a picture of myself pacing around the house that day saying "Oh my God" with a big smile on my face! Or a picture of Joe's face at dinner when I told him that he was going to be a dad.

Mothers Day also made me think a lot about my Momma and how I love her too much! I must say that even though she is The Very Best Momma in the whole world hands down most of my life she was just "the momma". I love that we have a connection now that I know what its like to have children of my own and the pride and love you feel when you look at them and interact with them through the day. I know my Mom felt this way because she kept increasing her joy 5 times! I am sure that things like the terrible two's and teenagers probably gave my mom feelings other than joy and pride and I am sure I will experience these things as well. And I am excited to experience the joys of mothering more than one spoiled little girl :o)

Happy Belated Mothers Day my Blogging Friends!

Fun - vs - Not Fun

Fun: New house
Not Fun: Living somewhere other than your new house.

Fun: New Carpet FINALLY being installed
Not Fun: Having to sit in an empty house while carpet is being installed.

Fun: Bonnie Tyler's "Holding out for a Hero" being played on the carpet installers radio just to remind you of your completely weird, fun & music loving husband who throws all caution to the wind on your family vacation and sings along at the top of his lungs! "He's gotta be strong, he's gotta be fast and he's gotta be fresh from the fight!" I swear he would have used a hairbrush microphone if someone would have handed it to him :o)
Not Fun: A husband who is cranky and without personality every day after only getting a few hours of sleep for weeks on end... ever painted your ENTIRE house including ceilings, trim and doors? No? I don't recommend it!

Fun: Annie realizing that sounds change when she plugs her ears with her little fingers.
Not Fun: Annie screaming at the top of her lungs with her fingers in her ears because its sounds cool :o)

Fun: Being at work to find out that your friend is delivering her baby down the hall and being able to run to be by her side and offer support and hugs.
Not Fun: Having to watch your friend deliver her pre-term baby especially when yours is the EXACT same gestational age :o( However I will leave the fun delivery details to the momma :o)

As you can tell things are pretty much the same around here, I would give an EMID (estimated move in date) but I have given up trying to figure that out. I will be here with my 4 pillows ready for my bed when my husband tells me it is ready for me no matter what time of day :o) In the mean time Kelly gets to move in tonight after carpet is installed! I am excited that someone gets to live here!

Food Fight

Alright moms I need your help here. I may have started a pattern that I am not sure how to get out of. I am not a strict parent on eating ridiculously healthy foods. I get excited when Annie eats something that is good for her and I offer her new foods often, however I dont make her eat something that she doesn't like. I figure I don't like all foods and I don't want to eat brussel sprouts at dinner just because my mom does! However there aren't many foods out there that I don't like.
I don't fix a lot of different meals, we have our favorites and our tried and trues and we stick to them. The problem with Annie has always been 2 things,
1. what I make is too spicy for her
2. Joe doesn't get home until late and she is starving so badly that I feed her something before he gets home and she has dessert (or sometimes colors) in her high chair while we eat dinner so that we are all still together at the table as a family.
If our meal is too spicy then I usually give her a Gerber meal or something that rounds out the food groups according to what she has had during the day.
Problem. The past few days she has been eating a little of what I give her, then pointing to our food on the table and wanting "this", we offer it to her, she spits it out and points to something else and this goes on until she has refused everything at the table twice and is screaming because we will not give her what she has already spit out twice!

Today at lunch after 2 bites of a gerber meal (which she clapped and celebrated over when I got it out) and half a banana she wanted my lunch. I offered her everything and she just kept pointing saying "this"! Finally I told her that she had to eat her meal or she could go to bed and she took her bib off and opted for bed!

So I ask you, does this mean she is old enough for the all or nothing discipline? Do I start making her eat foods that she doesn't like? I realllllly don't want to! Do I start making food that is more Annie friendly?
Another few contributing factors is that we have been eating so randomly at different peoples houses and in restaurants in the past month that this could just be a reflection of no routine, however I foresee fights over food in the future and I want to start early! Also she has been with Joe's family a lot and french fries, chicken nuggets and fruit are staples in their diets and what child wouldn't eat that for every meal?

So I ask, what would you do? Clean slate, start new, new dinner time rules? I like that I am laid back about some things and food is one of them, but I dont want to ruin my childs diet forever!

Update on Life

I don't feel like anything in my life is really exciting right now however there is plenty that I would like to document in history so here's a little update on the simple everyday life of mine lately.

We have been homeless for a little over 3 weeks now and looking at just under one more! It has been going very smoothly as far as I am concerned (I guess you should ask Charlotte and Nathanael). I was worried about Annie not sleeping through the night or being crazy bad or something. But she has been sleeping like CRAZY, 12+hours, and she is not acting up more than I think she normally would be :o)

Now that all of the wallpaper is off the walls at the new house I have been banned from it! I have to say it makes me crazy to just sit by and let Joe do all the work! He has a list a mile long to finish by tuesday but its all painting so I am not allowed in the house due to fumes! And he is so particular about things that he doesn't accept help!

Speaking of Tuesday that is The Day! The day the carpet is being installed! Other than carpet I don't care if all I have is a bed set up in the middle of the room I just want to sleep in it! I am so excited I can hardly stand it. I know that spoiled little me will want the rest of the house in order quickly after my good nights sleep in my bed, but for now I will pretend that is all I want :o) Joe is concentrating on the upstairs getting finished before carpet comes and will finish the downstairs after we move in because its all hardwood floors.

I promise I will sneak over there soon and get some pictures of the house so far!

Annie and I have been filling our days with busy things so that we are not sitting at Char's trying to entertain her with baby toys and the same 5 toys that she has been playing with for the past 3 weeks! Luckily it has been nice out and so we have been going to the park and such.

I have been feeling pretty good pregnancy wise. I am 29 weeks and officially in my final trimester! I passed my glucose tolerance test just fine, and am not surprisingly just a little anemic. I suppose I should have been taking my prenatal vitamins a little more often than once a week :o) So its some extra iron for me and I am hoping that it makes me feel a little more energized along with getting back to my exercise routine. I started back a few days ago and I can not express how much it helps! I have been having such belly discomfort in the afternoon and get winded so easily with no endurance whatsoever! After just two days I feel so much better and don't have the discomfort that I was having before.
I have been experiencing what the Dr and I think are some heart arrhythmias lately. Normal pregnancy stuff and not often enough to worry about it yet, just keeping an eye on it. I have to admit its scary annoying though.

I will leave you with a few pictures of Annie at the Creation Museum that I took today. We went out to the petting zoo because she has been so obsessed with animals lately but she was scared of them and was as usual excited to point out all of the common birds flying around. She also liked the floating bridge which I took advantage of as a photo shoot. ;o)