Long Time No Post

Sorry for the lack of updates, but things have just been so busy that it's been hard to find time to sit down and type.  The goodnews is that DH got me a smart phone for Christmas so now I can read blogs on the move, but I still prefer typing on the computer and I haven't opened the computer for most of Christmas break.
Speaking of which:
Reasons to become a teacher?
Number 1.  Christmas Break!  2 weeks of no-work, family time!
It's been a great 2 weeks.  I don't go back until Tuesday, but I'm already getting sad that the time is almost over.  Some of the higlights have been:  Our Church Christmas Eve service(s)!  We had a blast and it went really well.  I'm apart of the creative team that plans the services and we've been working on Christmas Eve since about September!  (Oh, and our next big feat is that Bethany Hamilton is going to be a guest speaker at our church on Jan. 22nd!  She's the young lady who was attacked by a Shark and the book/movie Soul Surfer is based on).
Another high light, my brother and SIL moved and we got to help!  (ha!)  That means I got to watch my nephew while my Bro and DH lifted heavy stuff.  Their new house is very nice, and closer, so we're excited for them.  But then, we all decided to spend the night on Christmas eve at their house, and while it was super fun while we were all awake, Macie did NOT sleep well.  Probably the second worst sleep of her life (seriously, not since she was a week old and breastfed 12 times in one night has she slept so poorly).  I think it was because we shared a room with her and she could see DH and I on the air-mattress.  So we were all SUPER tired all day on Christmas.  And I was too excited playing with my new phone to take a nap.  Oops.  Another highlight was that evening we shared a nice dinner with my Dad's family.  Despite the bad news I'm about to write, we seriously had a good time.  The bad news?  My dad was so drunk he didn't make it and my step mom said she's probably going to ask him to leave because his drinking is so out of control (he just recently came out of a month at B.etty Ford clinic by the way).  I'm pretty immune to my dad's alcoholic fiascos that it didn't phase me too much...but if you want to pray for him, that's about all I know to do anymore.  But in all seriousness, despite all of that, it was a nice Christmas.
Back to the highlights.  DH put up a new closet in Macie's big girl room, and was able to paint.  Tomorrow we're trading the double bed for a twin bed from some friends so that we can get ready to move her in there so our new little one will have a place to sleep when she comes in March.  Boy, March doesn't seem so far away anymore.  From now on, my appointments are every 2 weeks!  How did we already get to this place?!  She'll be here so soon!
And the last highlight (so far) is that DH and I got to spend 2 nights in Las Vegas to celebrate our anniversary.  Macie stayed with her Nana and we got to take a short vacation.  It was nice. I read The He.lp  in its intirety and DH watched football.  We did some shopping, GOOD eating, and lots of napping.  It was nice, but more importantly, nice to come home to a happy daughter.  It's hard to go away, but I think for the sake of staying connected, these little overnight dates a few times a year are important.  It was really fun.
AND, tomorrow is New Years Eve and we're going to celebrate with friends.  Very much looking forward to it, but a little wary of how Macie will do.  We'll take the pack and play and be ready to hang out and leave whenever we need.

Okay, that's a long update, and hopefully there will be pictures soon.  Happy New Years!

Photo Card

Polka Dot Christmas Wishes Christmas

Turn your favorite pictures into personalized Christmas cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

Now I see why everyone is sharing their Christmas cards.  Thank you Shutterfly for 10 dollars off my next order.  And seriously, do you guys see how cute this little girl is?  I can't believe she's 19 months already! 
Today we went and saw Santa too.  This month is just FLYING by.

November to December

Thanksgiving has come and gone.  It just makes me so surprised at how long you can look forward to something, and then, it's over in a flash.  We hosted thanksgiving again this year and it was a blast.  But now...It's the holiday season!  On Thursday we headed to Low.es to buy our tree!  We are still 'real' or live Christmas Tree people, but I don't mind fake trees.  I see the convience.  At any rate, we now have our tree up (I'll try to post a tree picture soon).  But I thought everyone should see how cute our little one was as we went tree shopping.  Cna you stand those mittens?  And yes, she did suck her thumb, even with the mittens on.   I'm starting to think she's pretty attached to her thumb (both literally and figuratively), but I'll deal with that when it's a problem.  God's word tells us not to worry.  So I'm taking His word on that. 

The house is still a mess from the transition to holiday decorations, but I'm hopeful to have a clean house by the end of the day.  Tonight is our Church's first ever Christmas Tree Lighting, so it's gonna be a great day. 
What are you doing to get in the Holiday Spirit? 

A Story to be Remembered...

You know how at some point, you start to realize that you're toddler is not a baby?  She walks (runs), eats grown up food, and stops needing 3 changes of clothing everytime you leave the house.  It's a mixed blessing to have a baby that is growing up.
BUT
Here is my story that will recount to all of you that toddlers still have lots of needs too...

Warning:  Gross Baby Poop story to follow. 

DH, Macie and I hit up Di.sneyland on Saturday.  Now, the backstory is that Macie has had about 4 days of pooping 5 or 6 times.  Sometimes soft, sometimes hard, but lots and lots of poop.  We don't know if something in her diet changed that we can't pinpoint, or if she has some of daddy's spicy sauce on her rice and that caused it, but generally, it just means she's had a really red bottom (ouch!) and we're ointmenting it up. 
At Disneyland, she said 'poopoos' at dinner and then a few minutes later, we smelled it.  So I took her into the bathroom at fan.tasyland and they have to baby changing tables (formica countertops, nothing special - the childcare center is where you have breathing room to change them).  I put her down and realized this was no ordinary poop.  She had been wearing a big coat (because hello, it's like 55 degrees out and we so.cal folks have no temperature control.  Everything below 72 might as well be freezing), and underneath that, her pants had exploded with poop all the way to her shoulders.  SHOULDERS!  She hasn't had a poop like this since she was 2 weeks old!  Apparently as I had carried her, my arm had been under her jacket, so the poop is now all over the arm of MY jacket!  And as I'm chaning her, I had done the public bathroom thing and laid the clean diaper underneath the dirty diaper to avoid her adorable bottom from having to rest on the surface where 100 other unknown baby bottoms had been.  This meant I ruined the next diaper before I even put it on her.
THat's when I realized this situation was far from under control.  The bathroom is crowded, there's a line of moms waiting to change their children's diapers, and I am stuck.  I have no hope of getting out of there anytime soon.  So I just mentally accept that this is my opportunity to be the parent all the other parents look at and think, 'gosh, I'm glad that's not me.  How embarassing for her'.  I start pulling off all the soiled clothing and thinking what am I going to do?  I don't have more clothes...until I realized I DID!  I had her PJ's with me (because she typically will fall asleep on the 20 minute drive home and hello, toddler already asleep, why wake her up?  Just bring PJ's!).  But if I didn't, I would've had to have left the bathroom with baby in diaper (and aren't I thankful that at least I still bring like 2 or 3 extra diapers with me incase something like this happens?  But no clothes anymore.) and walk her down to main street and pay way too much for a micky onesie for her to wear home.  But the PJ's saved it.  And I mean those clothes were COVERED in Poop.  I couldn't even rinse them out because it would've involved getting them soaked (and remember the super busy bathroom and super cold temperatures)
The lowest point for me, was when the 3rd woman next to me (who did not speak a word of English) kept looking over at me and shaking her head.  She then put her diaper wipes on the counter between us and patted them, essentially telling me to take a whole bunch (I took a few because I needed them, then I took a few more...then she pulled our 5 or 6 more and put them next to me.  I used them all.  She laughed as she left.  Not meanly, just laughed.).  I appriciated her nice-ness. 
And by the way, my daughter was now the one who's bottom was spreading poop all over the counter.  Remember how I don't want to put her naked bottom on there?  It's because of mom's and poop stories like this that I always wipe down the counter before hand.  And I will even more so continue to do that now.
When I was finally ready to exit the bathroom, soiled clothes in one hand, pj'd toddler in the other, it had been about 15 minutes since I had gone in.  DH had his own funny story.  At about 5 minutes, he was telling himself, 'that must've been a bad one'.  At 10 minutes he thought, 'okay, now I KNOW that was a bad one'.  Around 15 minutes, he heard two ladies exiting the bathroom say to each other, 'could you believe how much poop that mom was dealing with!?'.  Then I came out and when he saw Macie in her PJ's, he instinctively knew it had been a trying 15 minutes. 

The story ends well.  Macie rode the carousel in her PJ's, none the worse, and enjoyed herself.  We headed home and she got a big bath the next morning (because of the whole, sleeping toddler thing). 

She may be growing up, but I think she'll still need my help for a while.  And why do we do all this?

Because she's just so much fun.

18 months!

*this post is a week and a half late...*

Macie, You're so.much.fun.!  Seriously, I couldn't be more excited about being your momma. 
Stats:  At your 18 month check up you were 34 inches tall (96th%).  Only one more inch before you can go on the Gadget Roller Coaster in Toon Town!  Maybe after mamma has your baby sister we can go together.  By then you'll surely be taller than 35 inches!  You were 28.8 Lbs.  (92%). and your head was 86% (I don't remember the measurements).  The doctor said you are the perfect height for your weight and your progress is exactly where it should be.  You probably say around 15-20 words.  Some of your favorites are:

Football!  You went to 9 of 10 of Daddy's games this year.  While they did well, they didn't make it to playoffs, but at least now his reward is more Macie time!  You also met our mascot (we're Brahamas - Bulls to you and me) and I got the CUTEST picture.  Check you out.  You mastered the high five (just barely.)

You are running everywhere, that's nothing new.  You are trying to jump (almost!) and you L.O.V.E to dance.  You move your hands in the air and down again and twirling...you love to twirl. 

You've got the music in you.  You'll sit by momma at the piano and while mommy plays you help her and play a whole bunch too.  After about 15 minutes though you've had it and you want mommy to stop playing and play with you (which I'm only too happy to do).

You are an outdoorsy baby too! (when do I have to stop saying baby? You look like such a little girl!)  You enjoy playing outside and even now that it's cooler (like 60's ... ha!) you still love to go out with your cute jacket on.

We went to the pumpkin patch before halloween.  We even took some pictures with your cousin Logan.

I don't know that he was interested, but it sure was cute.
Other words you say: Up (for both up and down), more, please, No (with a very cute tone.  I don't know how long it will be cute for though), go,go,go (when watching football), and many others.

You are really starting to enjoy books!  Just recently you found the 'No David!' books.  I don't know if your daddy loves them, but you sure do.  I think it's because it's a word you can say.  You enjoy being read to every night before we pray.  In your children's Bible you flip right to the back and just look at Jesus and the little children.  I hope you grow up to love Jesus.  More than anything.

You eat just about anything, but of course from day to day your tastes change and something you liked yesterday you don't like today...but we're dealing with it.  I think Nana would make you just about anything you wanted, but Mommy and Daddy don't want you to be picky, so we just tough it out.

Speaking of toughing it out, you've had multiple time-outs.  You are so fun, and with that comes a strong personality (where did you get that from!?).  You love to stand up on your chair while staring us in the eyes, daring us to do anything.  We give you a warning and if you do it again, you get the naughty stool.  It's too early to tell if it's working, but since you generally cry, we figure it's probably doing something.

Macie, You're a sweetheart, and we love you so much.  I hope you keep growing just as you are and let us love you for a long, long time!

55 Dollars

It's amazing what you can do with 55 dollars...
You can eat a nice meal with your spouse. 
You can fill up a small tank of gas in your car.
You can have your dog groomed.

Or:

You can find out the gender of your baby!

Looks like Macie will be having a sister in March!  I was going to try to wait until our next Dr. Appointment in a few weeks and ask for a gender confirming ultrasound, but yesterday we were gathered with family, and we had lots of stuff to catch up on.  My brother and SIL are moving - they finally sold their house.  We were discussing the holidays, my father being in rehab (which is a good thing), and I just got this overwhelming urge to find the gender.  So I made a joke, "I have half a mind to go to pr.enatal pe.ek and find out the gender".  The whole room (including DH) said "okay!".  So before I knew it people had looked up the phone number on their iphones and I was calling, they said "Come in now", and 55 dollars later, we saw our little girl!

I still mean it when I say that I couldn't be dissapointed.  I just want a healthy baby.  And that's sooooo true.  But golly, I'm excited when I look at all the nice stuff Macie has (bedding, blankets, CLOTHES) and I think that I am grateful that I get to re-use them.  I didn't grow up with a sister, but I always thought it would be fun.  DH said he's going to start a Da.ve Ram.sey enevelope for femine hygene products.  Ha. (holler if you have drinking from the FPU/D.ave Ramsey coolaide!).

So I have been a terrible blogger as of late (what can I say, teaching 4 classes, plus raising an 18 month old (tomorrow she'll be a year and a half!, and being 20 weeks pregnant has taken most of my energy).  If it weren't for daylight savings time I don't know if I would've have even had a moment for this post!

Here is the big sister in her crib.  I love that she looks like she's posing in this picture. 

Ultrasound Appt

So yesterday we had our next OB appointment and I'm pleased to announce, all is well!  I have been asked over and over again, what do you hope it is?  And I say, "I couldn't possibly be disapointed.  I just want a healthy baby."
It looks like that's what I'm getting.  My 2nd trimester bloodwork came back normal, no need for further testing.  The ultrasound tech said everything looked great, she didn't see anything to be concerned about.
Amen!  Praise the Lord!
Oh, and the baby had it's legs crossed and wouldn't budge. 
So no gender identification.
But am I disappointed?  No.  Just happy about baby.  I'm going to assume it's a girl until proven otherwise (I'm thinking since there was no shot of a penis that even with legs crossed, there is a better chance it's a girl).
I think I get another ultrasound in a few more months (I think) and at that point I'll drink a little OJ before the appointment to get some movement. 

But seriously...What a relief.  A healthy baby to this point.  Tomorrow the baby will be 19 weeks.  I'm so getting ready for this to happen.  Or at least I should say that it's becoming more real.  I'm excited and scared, all rolled into one.
Take care ladies!

16 weeks

I don't have a belly shot for you, but I'll try to post one soon.
Yesterday marked week 16 for this pregnancy.  I think it's a boy.  My reason is because at the last appt. the heartbeat was found right away and with Macie, there was always a few tense moments as we were trying to find it.  So I suppose in my head I think that it's difficult to find girl heartbeats and boy heartbeats will be easy to find.  I'll find out on Oct. 24th!  Which is 2 1/2 weeks away, but still rapidly approaching.  That is the next dr. appt.   I'm excited as DH and I are going to take the day off from work so we can both go to the ultrasound.  Hoping for good news.  (and by the way, in terms of gender, I couldn't be dissapointed.  Boy or Girl = gift from God).
I think I'm feeling the baby move, it's nothing regular, but I feel the baby-shuffle every now and then.  Last night I sneezed and then there was definate movement. It was very reassuring.
I just haven't had much time to post with being back at work and raising an (almost) 17 month old, but I'm still reading what you guys are writing.  I decided one of the things I love about being connected on the blogging world is just finding out about traditions in other parts of the country.  With my last post I have been inspired to finally try '5 Guys' as that sounds like a pretty popular place to eat.  I have stopped my quest for burgers (as I finally started to gain weight, and that freaked me out a bit -- probably 3 pounds in 3 weeks...yikes!) but I'll still find a time to try 5 guys with the DH.

That's all for now.  Just checking in, and I hope all is well in the blogosphere.

Checkup and The Great Hamburger Taste Test

Let's start with the OB appt.
Measuring fine, no weight gain, blood pressure great, heartbeat found quickly. 

That probably took me longer to type than the time I spent with the dr.  I'm not really complaining, because if I spent more time with her, something would probably be wrong.  But I'm pleased.  Especially that we found the heartbeat after just a few moments.  I'm hoping and praying for a posterier placenta this time instead of anterior (where you don't feel the baby for a lot longer, and it's more difficult to find the heartbeat with the doppler).

On to more delicious things:

The Great Hamburger Taste Test  (If I could make that echo, I would.  'aste test, 'aste test, etc....)
I'm only admitting this because I haven't gained any weight so far.  (Actually, I think I'm up a pound, but I wore jeans to the first appt. and I had a light skirt on today).  BUT, I don't know if I would call is a craving, but in the last 5 weeks, I have been after hamburgers.  I suppose it's a craving.  It just sounded so good, all.the.time.  And I was dieting all of spring, and even when I'm not dieting, I usually get a chicken burger or salad if we have to go fast food. 

So I've decided to share what I've learned about fast food.  You're welcome.

So maybe I just gave myself permission, but it started with Jack in the Bo.x.  I really wanted an Ultimate Cheeseburger (which has 26 weight wa.tcher points, more than I'm allowed in a day).  I planned my week, and I finally went for it.  It was delicous.  It made my mouth water.  Pros - two patties of meat.  And mayo!  Where have you been all my dieting life!  Cons - no lettuce, tomato, or anything designed to make me feel even a little bit healthy.  Also, upgraded to the curly fries, and only had a few.  Tasted like they had been made the day before. 

Then the next time I was on my own for lunch, I hit up Burger Kin.g.  Their burger is the Who.pper.  It was good.  Not great, but good.  It had a good amount of veggies and stuff, but nothing about the burger was amazing or memorable.  The fries were also satisfactory.  Overall, a very satisfactory experience, but nothing noteworthy.

My next adventure was to Carl.s Jr.  I think in other states it goes by Har.dee's.  This burger was amazing.  I must say, I knew enough to order it without onions (I don't hate onions, but raw onions can sometimes be overwhelming).  The burger tasted as close to a barbequed burger as I found.  There was a good amount of greenery on the burger and ultimatly the patty was delicious.  By far, this was the best tasting burger I had.  AND, pair with it with fries that were hot and fresh, this was the winner.

BUT, I wasn't done yet.  I didn't know it was downhill from here.  Now, if you live in Southern California (soon expanding everywhere), then you know In n Ou.t.  (and I didn't try 5 guys, those just came to so. cal.  Anyone have any experience with them?  Should I continue my taste test and try them?).  So at In n Out, DH actually joined me on this challenged.  I decided to try a double double because in my life, I never had before, and heck, at this point, I'll probably never be so open about my red meat consumption, so I went for it.  It was good.  Really good.  Probably second place.  But it just didn't have the heartiness that I was craving.  The fries are also hit or miss for me.  They're made fresh (you watch the guys cut the potatoes) and sometimes they're just 'off'.  It was an 'off' day for me.  Maybe on another day this would beat Carl.s Jr., but not today.  Overall, this was the best value though.  Most food, least money.  Delicious.

And I suppose I should share my opinion of the worst.  This was the only place I had to drive a little bit out of my way in order try.    
THe burger patty was practically falling apart, even in the bun, and the pickels tasted too sweet.  Maybe they were the bread and butter kind instead of the dill that I am used to on a burger, but I didn't love it.  The fries were 'eh', and it just didn't mesh.  Not memorable, not gonna eat that particular burger again (I would go back, just try something else).

And then that leads to today.  I thought I was done, but as I was on my way to my OB appointment, I had some extra time to kill and lunch to eat, so I thought I'd try So.nic.  I didn't grow up eating sonic, there's only 3 within a 100 mile radious of my house that I know of, but a new one is not too far from my dr. office.  So I went for it.  I tried a regular soni.c burger combo with tots and a vanilla die.t coke (I am allowing myself one diet coke per day while pregnant.  I've given up coffee in order to do this).  Well, the Vanilla diet coke was amazing.  The burger was fine.  Probably as good as the who.pper from Bur.ger king.  But the tots were a nice salty side dish.  This would rank in the middle.

This concludes my five weeks of burger tasting.  Are you grossed out by the red meat or are you thinking, "how could I do this in MY town?!" 
I'd love to know your thoughts.  Did I miss any places?  Even if they're regional to your city, I'm always looking for the next burger (by always I mean since the past 5 weeks have led me towards burgers).

Final thoughts:
Every single place except In. N Out asked me if I wanted to 'go medium', or 'go large'.  I always said no (I'm pregnant not rediculous) and every time I didn't finish all the food.  This mindset of paying 40 cents more for 500 more calories is a problem in America.  We don't need, and we need to stop offering it.

When I share this experiment with friends IRL, I ask what they think my favorite was, and every time people have said Carl's J.r.  Apparently I've been missing out for a few years by just eating chicken burgers.  Everyone else seemed ot know that CJ's burgers are better.  And now I have proof to agree.

Just Truckin' Along...

Did I mention it's football season?

Our next Dr. appointment is this Thursday.  I'm excited and of course nervous.  I'm just anxious to hear that little heartbeat again.  I'm hoping we'll schedule the big ultrasound, as tomorrow I'll be 14 weeks.  This is getting exciting.  This morning as I was laying on the bed (ignoring the need to actually get OUT of bed) I was feeling my abdomen and I really can tell that the uterus is growing.  (I hope that's not too gross).  Under my belly button is much more firm.  I'm not showing all that much when standing, (hence no pictures) but I'm pretty fired up to see how this pregnancy looks compared to the last.
AND,
I was all excited because I hadn't gained any weight...until this week.  Ha.  I seem to be up 2 pounds.  I haven't been eating very well, and I suppose that will catch up with you sooner or later, so now I'm back to watching it again.  Not starving myself, just watching what I'm putting into my mouth.

And, as an adendum to the last post, I think Macie may have figured out this whole 1 nap thing.  Tomorrow would be one week of taking one nap from about noon until 2:30 or 3 every day.  The problem is we started Bible study last night and we kept her up until about 9:30, so we'll see how the sitter does with her today, but I'm hopeful she may have transistioned to one nap (we've been working on this for almost 3 months).  When did your little ones successfully go from two naps to one?

16 months!

Well, our Miss Macie is 16 months old (on the 7th) and it's time to update about how she's growing!
Macie, at 16 months you:

Love Brushing your teeth! (and momma loves that Dadda does this with you most nights after you drink your milk)

Say Momma, Dadda, touch, moon, and a whole bunch of other words.  Dee Dee Dow is an expression you use all.the.time.  You're daddy and I don't know what it means, but we think it's awful cute.

You finally have enough hair (and momma has enough skills) for pigtails.  You don't always leave them in, but they are super cute!  You haven't had a haircut, but I'm contemplating having it cut just to even some parts out.  We'll have to see about that.

Love reading Goodnight moon (at all times of the day).  You love to say "hush" with the old lady who was whispering hush. 

You have watched a baby genious DVD that has songs on it, and you will be in the middle of the grocery store or ta.rget and start doing the tune of 'the whe.els on the bus'.  I really hope you love music as much as your momma.  And especially that you love Praising Jesus as much as your parents.

Naps are hard.  You take one good nap, and usually get really, really cranky around 5 pm.  Just late enough that we don't want you to take a nap, but just early enough that 3 hours to bedtime is really rough.  Last night you gave daddy a run for his money while momma was at a church meeting.  We're hoping in the next few months (weeks, days maybe!) to get the one nap to 3 hours or so, so that you'll just be content with one nap.  It's not like one day they need two naps and the next day it's one.  It's been about 3 months of transition so far.  Boo.

Also, discipline is getting more complicated.  We haven't spanked you, but you don't seem to mind the 'clap. growl' (dr. karp) or timeout.  You're just pretty go with the flow when you are in trouble.  Sounds like trouble for mama!

You got sick almost a month and a half ago.  It was scary, you actually had a fever that got up to 105!  The after hours care was less concerned with your temperature because you were still behaving okay.  But geez, don't scare us like that again!  It turned out to just be something viral that only lasted about 48 hours (and your temp wasn't that high the whole time), but it was awful.  No more sickness!

You just cut your 15th tooth.  Just missing one incisor and your back four molars.  Pretty good I'd say.

You are a GOOD eater.  You still eat veggies without complaint.  The only trick is to give you the food in order.  Veggies first, main course, then fruit.  You would eat fruit all the live long day if we let you.  Not that it's bad, just that we want you to get all the nourishment you need!

You help daddy make breakfast. 

Generally Macie, you are one of the sweetest kids I've ever met.  You aren't perfect, but you sure are fun.  If your little sibling is as fun as you, we're going to have a good time in the future!

Back to Work

Today marks a week and a half that I've been back at work.  I think I've mentioned that this year I get to be 'part' time.  This is fantastic.  As a high school teacher, it's not always easy to get a partial assignment.  What this means is, I work every day of the week, but I'm technically done at 11:10.  yup.  11:10!  It's amazing!  It's hard though.  The tardy bell rings for my first class (zero period) at 7:00.  I have 39 kids in my zero period economics class.  If you think I'm crazy for being up that early, just imagine them!  At least I'm getting paid!
It's been going well, but it's made for a busy mama.  When I get home (between 12 and 1 depending on how much preparing I have to do for the next day) I find that Macie is usually just waking up.  LOVE it!  The only down side...I'M SO TIRED!   I'm so excited to have another baby, but it's made the back to work transistion a little tougher than before.  So the afternoons we have to be creative, also, it's been so hot that almost everyone is cranky. 
What do you all do when it's hot in the afternoon and there's no nap in sight?  I'd love some input!

OB appt

Wednesday was our first appointment with my regular OB.  With my first pregnancy I took the easy route.  I figured one OB was as good as another.  Anybody laughing yet?  Exactly.  He was not the Dr. for me.  We ended up switching to another Dr around 5 months.  And while the experience was fine, this time I've sought out a better doctor.  The one that everyone gets so excited when they hear her name.  And I must say, I was not disappointed.  She was worth the wait (yes, I waited about 20 minutes while naked with the gown open in the front).  Super nice, lots of energy, very relate-able. 
Thank you!
So the appointment Wednesday was just her.  She said things looked good, but my ultrasound wasn't scheduled until Friday (yesterday).  So yesterday I got to see this:

Yup.  There's a baby in there!

So there you have it!  We measured a week ahead of where we thought we were.  So as of today I am 10 weeks 4 days.  My due date was changed to March 21st.  I told the US tech that made sense since my HCG levels were so high.

Last night we told my mother in law (who only cried twice) and today we'll share with my brother and sister in law.  It's hard figuring out the order in which to tell people.  I haven't told any of my friends (unless hairstylist counts), and I don't want my family to put anything on line (this is when I hate facebook), so I think this will be the week where we tell everyone. 

We know a lot can still happen, but I also know that this is God's baby, and if I get to take care of it for 10 weeks or 70 years, it's still God's.  It's hard to register that bad things can happen, but I also feel like I wasted a lot of my first pregnancy being worried, and I want to give that up this time.  (any solutions to worrying?  ha).

But there is our update.  Now we're just trying to stay cool.  It's supposed to be about 104 today.  But I know some of you are having a hurricane head your way, so I've completely got the temperature in perspective.  AND, might I add, that some fellow Southern Californians were so mean about the Earthquake in DC - making fun.  BUT, can I just say that we get half an inch of rain and it becomes 'Storm watch, 2011' on the news.  (I'm not making that up).  If we had a hurricane or tropical storm heading toward up, you would think Jesus would be coming with it.  So I'm hoping everyone stays safe and dry no matter where you are.

Happy Saturday



Vacation and...

A heartbeat!
Sorry it has taken so long to post, I'm just getting used ot our good news!  We had a heartbeat at 6w3d and so far so good.  It's still a long haul, and I am being cautios, but each day that goes by without spotting is a huge hurtle as far as I'm concerend.  I'ts not the best picture, but it's what the doc gave us, it's the measure of the baby.  A grain of rice has never wreaked so much havoc on a human body (actually, it happens all the time), but again we are pleased and shocked and hoping this is not just a dream.

And then one of the reasons I"m not posting much these days is that we went to Lake Tahoe for a week in Nor Cal.  It was beautiful as always and lots of fun.  We were with friends and family and we chose not to tell them about our news, so I was a little more quiet than usual (seeing as how I was thinking about the baby every other thought but then couldn't say anything).  So this is another reason why this blog is so helpful, it's a place to share and be happy.  We're not waiting for a particular reason to tell everyone, I just have this image of being already in my second trimester before we share our news, and then the wait for everyone won't be as long.  ALTHOUGH, we already told my mom (she babysat while we went to the ultrasound), and then the nanny house-sat for us while we were on vacation and I got home and realized I left the positive pregnancy test on the counter in the bathroom.  Oops.  She didn't mention it, but I'm pretty sure she knows.  Ha.  The best laid plans.

Football coaching starts for DH tomorrow, and then the following week is teacher meetings.  I'm not dreading the school year, but I'm planning to enjoy these next few weeks before going back to work.

How are you spending the end of summer?

Getting Closer

This Friday is our ultrasound.  I'm mostly confident, but every now and then I don't feel much of anything and my mind goes berzerk.  But then my boobs will ache and I'll thank God.  Whatever happens, I know this is in God's will, but it's still so weird.  I am having the hardest time getting over a 'planned, yet still unplanned' pregancy.  We were trying.  But...it happened!  And, no matter what the outcome, one reason I'm shocked is that for the 3 full years we tried before having Macie I never had a positive preganncy test.  Not one.  Just stark white and blank. 
And in March we had a chemical pregnancy (but still a positive test), and now this.  I'm actually 6W1D.  THat floors me.  God is so amazing, and has done such powerful things, but something as 'mundane' as creating a baby just blows my mind.  I don't know why our journey included all those years of no baby, I just know that God has given me the best family I could have dreamed of and it was all in His time and He is never wrong.  So we are praising God for this pregnancy, and working really hard to keep it a secret for a while.  For a myriad of reasons, but the biggest, is that our last pregancy was so long.  We told everyone at 7 weeks.  If we can wait until 12 or 14+ weeks, then there will be a little less waiting around.  (in theory).
I'll check in when I know more.  I'm doing another blood draw tomorrow in anticipation of Friday's ultrasound.

Quick update

I know this is way late, but I got Friday's beta results on monday, and it was good.  7000.  That's a tremendous growth.
It's now Thursday and we have an ultrasound scheduled for next Friday.  I'm excited, but at moments I don't feel quite as pregnant, and I just wonder how everythings going.  I'm looking forward to all kinds of nausea and sickness so I have more confidence.  Ultimately though, I know my confidence is in Christ and that is enough.
But I still struggle with worry.  So...praise Jesus for each day this baby is growing and developing.  I'll post more when I know more.  Happy weekend everyone!  (early)

keeping you updated

So this morning I got a hold of the RE and the nurse had me do some blood work.  They checked my Beta and Progesterone.
Drum Roll Please...
Beta: 1500
Progesterone:  24.6

She broke it down for me.  My LMP was June 21st (maybe the 20th, depending on how you look at it, I started the afternoon of the 20th, but not full flow until the 21st). 
Anyway, The nurse said this afternoon that they like to see the numbers over 100 for this time.  And I'm at 1500.  So I'm not thinking twins, I'm thinking I ovulated early.  And if it were twins, I would have to publicly apologize to J.lo. and Mark An.thony*.  But seriously?  That's a high beta.
Also, she said the if someone is not on a progesterone supplement they want to see the level around 14-15, and if they are, they want it to be around 25.  So without a supplement I'm super high.

I'm hoping this is a sticky baby for sure.  Thank you for all your nice comments.  I feel like there have been so many 'second' baby announcements lately and I know up until last night I was worried that wouldn't ever happen for us.  So I'm still praying and thinking for this baby and for all of you ladies.
I also know that there is a LONG journey between now and whenever the due date would be.
All I know is that right now I want to go put my fee up on the couch and watch the lastest Next Foo.d Network Star with my husband. 
My next blood draw will be this saturday, and then an ultra sound the first week in August.  Thank you for being so encouraging.  It was hard not to tell everyone today what I was thinking about, but it's helpful to share this with you all sweet ladies.

On to the tv!

*I was really mean when JLo announced that they had a hard time conceiveing and then 'suddenly' became pregnant with twins.  I think the words 'liar' and 'false' were used.  It's difficult to imagine there was no reproductive help for them to concieve.  Althought ultimately, who cares, right?

Surprise

I'm supposed to get AF today, so last night I took a preg.nancy test just to confirm it was negative before gearing up for this FET.
Um...It was positive. 
It was REALLY positive.  I didn't take a picture, but the control line is much darker than the hcg line.
I didn't even have to wait for the test.  By the time I finished going #1, I glanced down, and it was positive.
Does this mean I'm pregnant?  I had that chemical pregnancy last March/April, and I'm a little gunshy, but you bet your bottom dollar I'm calling the RE today.  Not only because I need to update them about the cycle, but because I think I want to be monitored by them.  I know it's an out of pocket expense, but when it comes to this pregnancy...I'm trying hard not to be too excited. 
I also know that last time I started spotting at 4w1d, and that would be tomorrow.  So I'm not calling the ob/gyn for a week or so.  But the RE?  I'll be calling him as soon as they open.
I'd covet your prayers here.  We're not telling anyone IRL, for as long as we can, so that's why I'm sharing so early here.  There has to be a place to talk about it, you know?!

Oh.My.Word.  A positive pregnancy test.  Hoping for good numbers and everything!  I'll keep you all updated as soon as I know what hte plan will be.

What we're up to

 We did two weeks of 'parent and me' swim lessons.  This equated to 30 minutes a day of holding Macie trying to get her to blow bubbles.  It was terrific.  I loved every moment of it.  She enjoyed the water more and more each day, and by the end, we even 'dropped' her off the diving board (into the hands of her instructor).  She signed that she wanted 'more'.  It was super cute. 

 

 Isn't this girl just adorable!  Below is us today.  The swim lessons have made me look super tan, but now I don't have foundation that matches my skin tone (I know, poor me!).  I'm just justifying the lack of makeup I have on.

 And lastly, my cousin got married on Friday and posed for a picture.  It was beautiful, and we had a nice time.  Macie missed her afternoon nap however, so by 7 o'clock she had had it. 

Dh only has 2 more weeks of summer school and then we'll get two weeks off together as a family before teacher meetings start.  Where does the time go?  I'm not worrying about it, but every once in a while I have to remind myself that summer won't last forever.

And in other infertility news, we have decided to persue a FET at the end of August.  I had an intake appointment with the same RE we used before.  We have two embryos left, one 6 cell, one 7 cell (at 3 days I think) and everything so far looks like a go.  Tomorrow I will have a mock transfer for the Dr. to make his notes, and once I start my period in a few weeks I'll begin the nuv.a ring and it'll be on!  We're trying to avoid telling anyone IRL, just two girlfriends that I meet with weekly know.  Not that we have anything to be ashamed of, mostly because we want to maybe have a chance to surprise people.  Maybe.

What have you been up to?

d

All About Macie!

Macie is 13 1/2 months, and I just feel like time is going so quickly.  This is my documentation of all things Macie at this stage.
Macie has been taking steps since 9 months and walking well since 10 months. 
She currently calls almost everyone 'Dada' or 'hidada'.  It's cute, but I'm still trying to get a mama out of her directed towards me.  Ha.
Her first word was "agua" which is spanish for Water.  We're trying to teach her both english and spanish, but I know we need to be speaking more spanish at home than we do. 
Other words are 'touch' (it sounds like ta-ch), hi (usually hidada), ca for car, ka-ka for coffee (and in turn, all hot beverages).
Sign language words are more, please, all done, water, milk.

I admit, I wonder if because she's got 3 lanugages (including sign) that she's not speaking as much as she 'should'.  She has never even tried to speak please or more because the signing gets the point across so well.

She communicates well, if you ask her where something is, she'll usually point.  She knows who mom, dad, nana, and uncle Jim are.  And her dogs, Gipper and Nancy.
When she's really tired she'll start acting drunk and that's how we know to put her to bed.  She'll walk around in circles until she falls down, she'll get slap happy, and she starts to tickle EVERYONE.  It's really my favorite time of day.
At 13 1/2 months she is still taking two naps.  Generally one from 9-11 and then another one from 2-4 (or 3-4).  She goes to bed around 8 and gets up around 7.   well, those are the times she's in her crib.  She may actually wake up before 7, but she plays nicely and doesn't scream so I leave her in there until 7. 

Macie eats breakfast when she gets up, this week che.erios and bananas do the trick.  Lunch is when she wakes up from her morning nap, pb&j or girlled cheese are lunch time staples (with a healthy dose of cottage cheese since she doesn't drink a lot of milk these days).  Sometimes a snack when she wakes up from her afternoon nap, and then family dinner around 6.  She still takes a bottle of 8-10 oz of whole milk before going to bed, but she's less and less interested in that and it's just breaking my heart!  I love the cuddle time the bottles gave us, and I'm sad to see it go.  She weaned herself off the morning bottle just about a few weeks ago, and we stopped the lunch/dinner bottles after her birthday.
Macie drinks all liquids from a straw (beside the before bed bottle).  She never took to a sippy cup, and I'm so happy with the straw I just don't want to try the sippy cup again.

This little girl is a huge blessing and staying home with her for the summer is my own personal blessing.  I will say that it's not always easy.  Just this week we've had what i would consider her first full-blown tantrum (she wanted a cracker before her milk and that's not how we operate in this house!).  I know there are tough times a head, but she is so sweet and I'm so honored to be entrusted to take care of her that I can honestly say every moment is worth it.

That's all for now, just want to have some good documentation of how my little one was at 13 months.  Happy Thursday to you all.

Well, here we are and I love it! This is the second week I've been out of school and I'm just lapping it up. Last week was fun because dh had 3 days off before summer school started, so we really enjoyed ourselves. We had debated about renewing our dis.neyland passes because we knew she was just too little to appriciate all things di.sney. HOWEVER, we realized that most of our friends have them and WE miss them, so we took dh's coaching stipend and purchased them.
Family picture outside the petting zoo.
Waiting for the Mark T.wain boat to go!
We went on a few rides - I think Dum.bo was the current favorite, and have since been there 3 times (only for a few hours at a time...girl's got to nap).

Here's Macie girl with her dad on the teacups.

Then we were able to take a short family vacation to Huntin.gton Beach and stay at the Hy.att (which I HIGHLY reccommend, especially for families).

Okay, and this picture is just one of my favorites. my mom bought this outfit for Macie and I realized I needed to put her in it before she outgrew it. Shirley Temple Black lookout!

And this last picture just goes to show the bigger you are, the harder you cry. (this is my nephew with Macie by the way)
Happy summer everyone!

Back in it ...again

I just called the RE.
Oh my. What an interesting set of feelings I'm having.
No, I'm not PG, just trying to get that way. After last month's trial of se.x for 7 days in a row, I was really hoping that would do the trick. And then it didn't.

So I'm feeling like I have two more embryo's in storage, and I don't want to hem and haw about them. I don't want to ttc for another year and then have to make the decision about what to do. So we're just going to do it.
What spurred this is that we received the storage bill of 600 dollars that is due by June 4th. So it really made me think, am I going to store these two embryo's for the next two years and just try on our own? But then there is a small part of me that thinks since we did get pg, even if only briefly, maybe we don't need this FET? But both DH and I feel an obligation to these embryos to find out if they will take or not. I'd be so conflicted if I got PG without our dr. and then suddenly I'm 38 with 3 kids and have to decide what to do with these embryo's.
If they don't take, then at least we'll KNOW. And if we aren't pg again we'll cross over the bridge of another fresh cycle if/when we come to it.

All I know is, I'm back on the bandwaggon. I just called the RE and made our first appointment for July 5th. I'm a bit surprised that it is a fresh appointment, like starting over again. Meet with a nurse for a history, meet with the dr; go for an ultrasound. I suppose that's what's right, but I even have to get a referral from my primary care physician again, in hopes that my HMO will cover half the cost of the intake appointment. So that appointment is next Tuesday, June 7th.
Can you believe it? Back in it. Trying to win it. I am completely filled with different emotions. Adding number two feels much, much different than number 1 did.

I pray for God's direction in my life, and ask that the Lord would lead my family in the way He sees best.

Wouldn't be great to have another blessing like this one?

6 out of 7

I realized I never did a follow up to my post on the attempt to have 'marital relations' with dh for 7 days in a row.
We made is 6 out of 7.
I'd like to say that it made a huge change in our marriage. And it certainly was good. But I don't feel like our marriage is in trouble, and there hasn't been a huge shift in the universe since, but it was a good challenge, and I reccomend it.
The first day was probably the hardest (which is weird, right?) because we had gotten into a snit about something and I really had to work hard to deal with that situation instead of letting it simmer because we both knew we wanted to start this 'project' that night.
So that was really good. Both of us giving a little for the greater good of each other.
The sixth night was actually a date night, but we got home at 11:00, and that just wasn't going to happen. Plus my mom stayed the night to watch the baby and while that hasn't stopped us before (she doesn't read this blog), it did that night.
I learned that even if there isn't time for an afternoon delight than 8:30 isn't the worst time in the world like I used to think it was. I don't know if I could be up for the 365 days in a row that I've heard of. That just sounds hard. (excuse the pun).
Okay, enough humor, back to work grading papers at lunch. Only a few more weeks of work till I am a Stay at Home Mom all summer long!

Macie is One!

So on the 7th we had a rip-roaring, good ole' western birthday for our little one. It was so much fun, really made possible by me relinquishing control and letting people help me. I did so much pre-planning that when it came to that day I thought everything would go smoothly. And it did. But really because DH's family was there to help out and it seemed to be fun for everyone.

We were at a local park where we go frequently for walks in our neighboorhood. Very nice.

We had hamburgers, chips, dip, watermelon, ice tea and coca cola in bottles. Nothing says 'western' to me like drinking coke from a bottle (which I didn't do because of course I'm still dieting and while I have been hugely successful, I still am ...well, slightly huge. Ha!) My dad's parents were able to be there as well as my mothers' mom. We surprised my mom by flying her mom and sister in for the day (and because the next day was mothers day).

There was a pinata filled with candy.

We had stick horse races, but the dad's ended up helping out. There weren't a TON of kids, so we got the dad's involved. Notice Macie in the corner. All she wanted to do was collect the cones.

She's on her way. Don't know where, but she's got a balloon. What more does a 1 year old need?
Then there was the cake. I couldn't decide what to do, but with about 40 people, I knew I needed a lot of it. So I just stuck with a half-sheet and a 9x13 on top. I'm not gonna lie, I was really proud of how it turned out. My Grandmother taught me how to do cakes a few years ago (I think learning to sew would've been better for my waistline though). Here is me at home working on it the night before.

Dh took care of Macie most of the night because it took me a while. As in 3 hours just to decorate. I'm hoping in the future to get faster at it (that doesn't include cooking time. I baked it and put it in the freezer a few days earlier.) It was a success! Thank you GG!I was just gonna have a piece of cake for macie and not a separate 'smash' cake, but I had made an extra square of cake to perhaps make a 3rd layer, but I didn't, so I just decided to make a little one. I didn't apparently get a great picture of it. It says "Macie Smash!"
She was completely into the cake.
She cried when my mom took it away. She probably would've eating the whole thing if I'd let her (where did she get that from? ha!)

Macie, you are a doll and I love you more than I ever thought possible. I can't wait for lots more birthdays together!